Another week...zoom zoom zoom!!

I can't get over how fast the weeks are flying by. I really think it has to do with work. Which is a good thing, but I also don't want to forget about the fun little things that make me love this life so much!

Sunday was great!! It'd been so long since we'd been in Santa Barbara to be able to go to Reality!! It was nice to be back. We went to hang out on the beach for a bit afterwards....although we didn't really think our plan through all the way. We got a blanket, picked up some sunscreen and water on the way there, and then headed down to the sand. It was pretty warm, so we got in the water to cool off, but didn't have a towel to clean up all the sand. And since we had sprayed ourselves with SPF 30, we weren't getting any color from our sitting there in the heat. Oh well....we'll put more planning into it next time. :)

I enjoyed a wonderful evening with Vanessa on Monday night. I always have a great time chatting with Vanessa. Our conversations are so insightful and always filled with faith. I like that about Vanessa. I just like Vanessa. She makes me smile, she makes a mean salad, and she has great hair. One of the funny and less important things we talked about was how the status of our hair (for me - good or bad bangs....for her - curly or straight) can totally affect the day. I know, boys just cannot understand this....but me and Vanessa....well, we saw eye to eye on that one. :)

Tuesday was a special fun photo shoot with Laura for Good Spoon! I can't wait to finish up the pics, and see what she does with them for her website!! Woohoo!! Think spoons, aprons, veggies....oh my!!

Wednesday, I managed to get Brett to head back out to the tennis court with me. I will say it again, tennis is hard, but so much fun. I hope that we can continue to get out there and play....because I KNOW that it's going to be rewarding once I figure out how to do it right!

Thursday night I'm pretty sure I did some laundry and packed. I think?? Anyone know what I did? Oh, I know I watched results with Danielle of SYTYCD. Was that all?

I got to work at 6am on Friday (I KNOW - can you believe it???) to try and get some work done while it was early on the east coast. It was a great morning at work, and I'm going to try that again soon. I left work at 3 so Brett and I could drive to Vegas for Brit & Drew's wedding reception.

We had a great time in Vegas this weekend. I always have a fun time with Brett's family. I got to see Harry Potter with all the girls (well, all the girls and CJ too) on Saturday morning while the boys golfed. I got to play event photographer on Saturday....and realized that it's tough work. I was happy to be able to capture some of the moments from the reception, and can't wait to go through all of those pics too....but I think I'll leave that kind of photography up to the people that really know what they're doing when it comes to that. I am going to continue to focus on families....that is where I get the most joy with my photography! :)

Ok...so....I'll be posting pictures from a few things coming up here soon....but for my own sake, I didn't want to pass up posting about my exciting week. Ha!!

OH....by the way. I'm having way too much fun making little videos with my phone. So, just for fun, here's a little video from our trip to Vegas on Friday. Isn't Brett just too cute?? I think so. :)

Let's break for Tennis!!

I can't believe that it's already Saturday. This week FLEW by. After 5 weeks of training and such, I feel like I really started my job on Monday.....cold calling, emailing, etc, getting the word out about AppFolio to property managers in FL. I am so excited about our product, letting people know about what we do....but I have to admit that it's a little daunting growing a territory from scratch for the first time ever. I love people, and would consider myself a people person, but I'm realizing now how much easier that is in person, or with people that are calling ME. :) Anyways, I know that I'll get more comfortable , and be good at it soon, so I'm really happy to be where I am.

Besides that, I didn't do too much this week. I still have my annoying cough and sniffles...seriously, how long is this going to last, so I was taking it easy. I DID get out on Wednesday and took my first ever newborn storytelling session. The Huie family is awesome, and I can't wait to get started on the pics of Jeremy, Leslie and their beautiful daughter, Molly.

For the last 3 nights now, both Brett and I sat in the same room, on our computers and worked. He's been the most busy person I know the last few weeks getting ready for the 2.0 release of ShowIt. I'm so proud of him, but I'd be lying if I said it'd be nice if he didn't have to work ALL the time. :) Just teasing....it's been really neat to see his hard work pay off and see how much their business has grown in the last year. I logged into the updated version myself today, and am already making a few changes to my site. It was super easy to make the changes, and I love the new layout.

Anyways.....since he's been so busy behind his computer, indoors, he's getting a little more pasty by the day. Not to mention that I, myself, have hardly seen the sun in a long time. I called him this afternoon and asked if he wanted a change of scenery, to get some fresh air, and play some tennis. I was actually surprised that he said yes, so my response was, "Oh?? OK!! I'm putting on my tennis shoes and heading over!".

We navigated through the constructoin at Westmont and made our way into court #7. Of course I was happy to enter this specific court!! I don't think that I've picked up a tennis racket since I was 8. I've really enjoyed watching tennis on TV lately, and for some reason, thought that I could do it.

Well, the folks in TV sure do make it look easy! We started out hitting against the wall to warm up. The whole benefit of hitting the wall so it always comes back to you, wasn't really working out for me. :) So, after Brett was warmed up, we hit opposite sides of the court and started to rally. Not too soon after, Brett asked me if I've ever picked up a racket before.

:)

So, he showed me what to do....even came up to me and mimicked the right motions for me, just as an instructor would. I had probably too big of a smile on my face...but hey, the instructor is also my cute boyfriend, so it's okay. I managed to get the swing of things (haha....another one for you, Emily) after a bit. Not on every try, but there were a few that were worth a "Great swing!" from Brett.

We also tried a two handed backswing and serving. I had fun, and I wasn't half bad for a beginner - go me!!! I got my heart rate up, and worked up a good sweat. Two things that I hadn't done in a while...so it was really great. :)

We grabbed a Blenders afterwards.....and now we've both been in front of our computers ever since we got back. It's been a relaxing weekend. I'm looking forward to church tomorrow and a start to a great week!!

Rueben + Girsh Park = Lunch Time Bliss

Found a new spot today in Goleta to enjoy my Rueben from Anna's Bakery. I turned down Storke and saw the sign for Girsh Park, and decided to give it a try.

It's right around the corner from a Post Office, and it seems that the Postal workers like this spot too. There were more than a few mailman trucks parked in the lot when I pulled in.

I found a picnic bench that had been baking in the sun, and sat down to enjoy my sandwich. I am still not used to the little bit of chill in the weather here, so I really loved that the bench had been toasting. It was warm to sit on!! :)

Favorite Thing to do at Lunch

One of my favorite things to do during lunch is get myself a sandwich from Anna's Bakery or Sam's to Go, and head over to Goleta Beach.

On a side note, every time I've been to Anna's, I've ordered something different. For those that know me and my history with restaurants, I usually get the same thing each time. Well, every time I've tried something new, and EVERY time, it's been totally scrumptious. Oh, AND, they give you a free cookie with each lunch. Bonus!!


Being able to get away and enjoy the beach from time to time during the week is just really wonderful!!

The Burger Bus

I heard about The Burger Bus from a few friends. I remembered it came to Goleta on Tuesdays, so Linn, Scott and I went to try it out.

You know how I like to support local restaurants...well, these burgers are made from ALL local ingredients.

Meat from Shalhoob Meat Company.
Bread from Our Daily Bread.
Cheese from Spring Hill Cheese.
Produce from Santa Barbara Farmers Market & Tri-County Produce.

It's a school bus that has been converted into a traveling restaurant.....and well, they make a MEAN burger!! It was SOOOO good!!!



We took ours back to the office, and enjoyed eating outdoors on the picnic tables across the street. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!! Do yourself a favor and find out when they'll be near you soon!!

Fireworks on the Fourth of July!!

We went to have a wonderfully yummy breakfast this morning with the rest of the crew at DJ's....eggs, bacon, pumpkin pancakes with homemade cinnamon whipped cream, topped with pecans and caramelized bananas. Anyone that knows me already knows that I had mine plain, but enjoyed them just as much as anyone else.

While the boys were talking work, Kylie and I went outside to bask in the sun a bit. After a little while, I was putting my jeans back on, and forgot that my phone was in the back pocket. It slipped out, and fell directly onto the concrete ground, cracking and shattering the screen. Oops!!! I was bummed....BUT......secretly excited that now I had a VALID reason to go get the new one. Heehee!! Brett got one a few weeks back, and it's screaming fast.....I had a little phone envy, so now that was going to be fixed!

We made a trip to the new Apple store downtown, and 15 minutes later, I walked out with a shiny new 32GB 3GS iPhone - woohoo!! Turns out that two of the other people that were visiting this weekend did the same thing today. :)

We chilled out in the afternoon, and then braved the crowds to go to the beach to watch the Santa Barbara fireworks.



I also used my new iPhone to capture some video. You know, back when I had my old phone I never though I'd do anything else other than make and recieve phone calls with my phone....ahhh, look how far I've come! :)

Click below to launch the video I put together. :)


It was the best way that I've ever seen fireworks before. We could feel the boom in our bodies as we were laying on the sand less than 100 yards from where they were being lauched. Well, that, and I was in the arms of the man I love! :) Happy Birthday USA!!

On a Boat!

Whoa...it was a long week. I caught something on the plane on the way back from Seattle....and it festered and made me 100% sick earlier this week. I even stayed home from work one day. I was told that I wasn't allowed to "breathe AppFolio air" anymore, and I was instructed to get better. I went to bed at 7pm twice this week, and slept for 13 hours. It helped a little bit, but I'm not in perfect health yet. I hope I get better soon - this cough and sniffling nose really blows - haha (that was for Emily).

But....the week went by rather fast, and before I knew it, I was having my first day off work due to a national holiday!! We were off work on Friday, the 3rd, and were able to enjoy a boat ride.

The ShowIt crew was all in town to hang out for the long weekend, and DJ arranged for everyone to go on the Double Dolphin on Friday afternoon. It was a nice, relaxing ride. We went around the harbor for about 2 hours, saw some dolphins, chatted with friends, and cuddled up with a blanket on the front of the boat.