We met up with Taylor, Nate and Sofia at Malibu Grand Prix in Redwood City for some Mini Golf. This weekend was unseasonably hot, so needless to say it was a little busy. But we had a good time. Sofia was really cute, chasing after our balls and taking peoples clubs and running away with them. I don’t think we determined who actually won at the end of the round, but i should mention that i scored a hole in one!

Jeff and I went out to dinner at Ikebana, our favorite Salinas sushi place. While we were stuffing our faces with food, we overheard one of the sushi chefs mentioning a fire in the house next door. Jeff went out to look first, then he came back and I went out. We both saw this house with bright orange flames coming out of the left window. As we were finishing our dinner we heard the procession of fire trucks and police cars come this way. While we walked out to our car, we witnessed the firefighters in action, taking chainsaws to the house and cutting out holes in the roof and cutting down walls.

On the car ride home, we saw Salinas Police pin down and handcuff a suspect on the side of the road in front of the Shell Gas Station by our house. What an eventful night! Cops are always busy here in this town.

After work today, Renee called and invited us to come to her first photography exhibit at the Monterey Museum of Art. It was part of an the “Arts Lounge” event, sponsored by TMDcreative and Salinas Steel Builders. Wine, music, food, and art! Renee’s photos were all steel/metal related. Our favorite photo is behind her on the right of this photo. I had a good time being social and seeing old friends/coworkers, as well as visiting the museum for the first time. After the event was over, we headed over to Lalapolooza for some drinks and more fun. Thanks Renee for inviting us! Congrats on your big artist moment!

I got my new Canon 50mm f/1.8 II lens today from Amazon.com and a free Tiffen UV filter. It takes some nice “bokeh” photos and doesn’t break the bank. Also in the mail, my monthly letter from my Grandma in Hawaii. She sends me my “omamori” - a good luck token from our Buddhist temple that i place in my purse to protect it from getting stolen or lost. My mom gave my Grandma all of my old stationery, so it’s funny to get letters from her written my own stationery that I used to use when i was in elementary school. This particular one was actually supposed to be folded into a origami-like t-shirt. But of course, Grandma didn’t know that. It made me laugh.

Patti went to Korea recently and brought me a back a present! She got me a pink pajama pants - complete with engrish, “I Love Happy”. Or is it “I Happy”? Whatever it is, its cute. =]

While I dislike driving home from work when it’s almost dark out, I do enjoy the pretty colors in the sky from the setting sun. It makes me feel like i’m driving through a painting.

We enjoyed some yummy waffle cones with mint chocolate chip ice cream today. I bought them from Safeway and I love that they came with red and white stripped wrappers, just like at the ice cream shop.

Jeff and I treked to Elkhorn Slough today - a tidal salt marsh located in the middle of the Monterey Bay. Jeff had never hiked the park before, and I’ve been once before on a college science field trip a few years ago. It was really windy and cold - but despite the weather we had a good time and at the end were pretty warmed up by all the walking. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

The Elkhorn Barn was still up, and apparently harboring some barn owls. We looked but couldn’t find any.

Jeff still had fun.

The cool part about the slough is that you can walk right next to the water and see a lot of different kinds of birds.

Foamy salt water! A part of the loop trail we walked on had a grove of dead trees like this one. Then we noticed they had weird holes in the trunk of the tree.

What a peaceful walk it was. The moon was out too.

After Elkhorn Slough we stopped by Marina State beach to watch the sunset. There was a very very thick layer of fog - so we couln’t really see the sunset over the water. It was so windy, I think the birds were going crazy. There was so many of them flying all over the place.

All in all a good day. We’re lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

While waiting for my car to get serviced at Toyota, I noticed all the magazines in the waiting room covering Election ‘08. Hmm, no covers with Obama on them. There had to be some in existence… but did customers take them, or did they just not get put out? Maybe Toyota kept the Obama covers for themselves — or they just didn’t want people reading them. Interesting.

Kathy recieved a package today at work. Inside was a herd of vintage plastic reindeer from eBay. Aren’t they too cute? The plastic is a weird off-white color that almost makes them look glow-in-the-dark.