Just Cruising!

Every bike needs one of these....

and every bike rider needs one of these....

I swear my dork level just went up 1000% when I put this thing on!!!  Oh well, here is to happy riding and a protected head (still wondering if $34.99 was too much to spend on protecting the contents in my head?).

Proof!

Surf lesson #2 was today and I have pictures to prove it!!  I love SUMMER, I LOVE my Friday's off and I LOVE the beach!  I met up with some of fav's the Gleason's and the Patcheak's for some beach side fun and of course the trusty long board came with again and Gina was able to snap a couple pictures of me and my new skills! 

Yep, that is me standing up!

Me again!!

After the beach I went back to the Gleason's house to get my car and stopped in to check out Georgie's blog!  Can you believe it, the little boy that I used to babysit has a blog?  It was so neat to see the blog that George and a few of his buddies have created after I gave George some words of wisdom on blogging (ex: don't every put anything on your blog that you would be embarrassed if someone saw it and asked you about it.) I became a follower of his blog and he became a follower a mine, who would of ever thought Georgie and I would be fellow bloggers? It is pretty cool that he and I now have a few things to talk about (Surfing and Blogging).

Check out George's Blog http://www.thegrommiesoftheoc.com/

A secret spot!

Little did I know, I have lived next door to an amazing little hideaway for seven years and never realized it, what is this amazing hideaway you ask, it is the Laguna Niguel Regional Park.  The other day my neighbor and I went for a bike ride and rode all around and through this park, it was so cool, talk about the perfect place for a summer picnic, there were plenty of BBQ's, picnic benches, a playground for the kiddo's, a lake to go fishing and boats to rent. I think the niece's and nephew are going to have to bring their parents, grandparents and to join their favorite Auntie Erin for summer time fun and who knows, maybe some s'more making too! 

So get this, it only costs $5.00 to park on the weekends, $25.00 to rent a boat for 5 hours and the memories with me PRICELESS!  Lol, kidding, the memories with the family PRICELESS! 

Sorry Another PSA!

Tonight the City of RSM hosted their second Summer Concert of the season, Neon Nation was playing and I thought they were great, but that is not the reason why I am blogging tonight.  Tonight's blog post is another one of my public service announcements,  again I know that I do not have kids and that I get all preachy on the do's and don'ts of raising them, but I kind of feel qualified with all of the years of babysitting (not the kind of babysitting where you play games and put them to bed babysitting, but the kind where you go places and do fun things) and from all of the years of running summer camps and going on field trips.  Anyways, I was sitting in my chair, hanging with my parents and I saw this cute little girl walk by me and I knew right away she was lost, I looked at my mom and said "she is lost", so I watched her wander around for a few minutes and then I went up to her and asked her if she was looking for her mommy and she said "yes", so I grabbed her hand and took her up to the band so they could make an announcement and hope to find her parents.  The best part of this whole situation is that the little girl could tell me her name, tell me what her Dad's name was and how old she was and she was only two!  She was probably closer to being three, but still it was awesome.  So my message tonight is to make sure that your kiddo's know what your names are not just mommy and daddy, but your real names, make sure they know their last name and their phone number.  Had this little girl not known her name and her dad's name it might of taken us longer to find her parent's. 

So some tips when you are going to public places with little ones.....

• Take a picture of them with your camera or cell phone before you leave home, that way you have a current picture of your child in the outfit that they are wearing at that particular place, that way if they get lost you can give the most update info to the police.
• Teach your children if the are lost to find someone that works there, meaning you find an employee in a uniform, show your child what the uniform looks like and tell them they can ask them for help, it works, had a summer camp kid who got lost and did that exact thing and we were all reunited.   
• Teach your child to find a mom with kids and ask her for help.
• Set-up meeting places, find the most obnoxious/large object that can been seen from far distances (like the purple gorilla at Wild Rivers) and make that your go to spot the minute you or your child cannot find each other, I can tell you from experience that it works.
• Get your child finger printed, it is free and it is very important. 
  

And just a reminder, it is summer time, it is hot out and it is swim season, please watch your kids around the pool.  Last week in Ladera Ranch a 14month old little boy drowned in a pool because his mom was not watching him (absolutely no excuse for that), had it not been for the 19 year old swim coach that was just leaving the pool hearing this mother's screams and his quick action to call 911 and start CPR this little guy most likely would not of survived.  Remember CPR saves lives, sign up for a class today, it is one of the best things you can do for your family. 

Surf's Up!

Well I have finally earned my California Girl status, after being born and raised in Huntington Beach it is about time I learn how to surf!  Yesterday, I met my friend Gina, one her boys and some of her girlfriends down at the river jetty (Huntington/Newport Beach border) for a fantastic beach day!  Gina, shows up to the beach with this huge brand new long board that she scored for free (her surfer husband thinks she is nuts) in her car and informs me that we are going surfing, I tell her she is nuts and I have no idea how to surf, well she won't take no for an answer and insists that we learn to surf (oh ya, that is right, she does not know how to surf either!). So after a few hours of burning tanning we head out into the water, thank goodness it was really warm and we start our surf lessons.  Gina tries a few times and then gives it to me, all I have to say is that it was awesome, after about a dozen tries I manage to stand up and catch a wave, it was the most amazing feeling, too bad she did not have a camera to capture the moment.  After about an hour we dragged ourselves out of the water and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon chatting and planning our next beach trip.  I have to say this morning when I woke up I was tempted to drive over to her house pick up the board and hit the waves again, I cannot wait till next Friday!

Surf's Up!

Lunch Break!

The #1 reason why you should always carry a beach chair in your car.....

This is how I spent my lunch hour, chillin in my chair and enjoying the sunshine

 (there may of been a mini power nap too)!

 

Too bad that was a bottle of water in the cup holder and not a cocktail!

Give a little!

This afternoon I got off work a little early because I needed to go buy a couple things for one of our camps and as I was leaving work I saw the American Red Cross Blood Mobile across the street in the RSM Library parking lot so I decided that I should go and give blood.  I made my way over there and boy did I time it right, there was no one waiting in line so I was able to go right in!  I answered all of their questions and had my finger pricked to test my iron level, well I failed the iron test, my iron level was only 11.9 and it needed to be 12.5, they asked me if I wanted to try the iron test again to see if they could get a better number, I said yes, they pricked my finger again and this time I got a 13.9, woohoo!  The got me all situated and and hooked up and I gave a pint of blood, I was amazed how quick it went, it took maybe 10 minutes or so.  However, being a first time blood donor, I had to wait longer before I was allowed to leave since I was not sure how my body would react.  So I sat and enjoyed my Oreo cookies and orange juice (nothing better than chocolate and orange juice, yum!) and waited for about 20 minutes, I never felt light headed just a little tired, who knows that could of been from a long day at work and from laying down. Well, my first blood donation would not be complete without photo's and a blog post so here you have it!  

The sticker they give you when you check in.

Looks at little shady, but it was much nicer inside.

Let the donation begin!

Look at all of that blood, I am impressed!

A sweet treat to keep me from passing out!

I am so glad I did this, it was so easy and painless, the most painful part of it all was the finger prick, I will totally do this again.  It was kind of cool, while I was waiting to leave there was a guy there telling us that today would mark his 6th gallon of blood that he has donated and that he has been donating in honor of his niece who was born with a lot of problems and has needed many blood transfusions in her short life.

For more information on how and where to become a blood donor visit the American Red Cross's website at http://www.redcross.org/donate/give/

National Ice Cream Day!!

In honor of National Ice Cream Day, it is only right that I acknowledge this tasty holiday and celebrate it with nice big bowl of ICE CREAM, however, I do realize that it is only 11:15am, but it has got to be 5:00pm somewhere, right?  Cheers to National Ice Cream Day, now go open your freezers and celebrate! 

Hey Batter Batter!!! Swiiiiiiiiiing Batter!

This morning I got a text from one of my favorite friends, Gina!  She and her family were in San Juan Capistrano for George's baseball game and wanted to meet for coffee.  Well given, it has been over 100 days without a Starbucks fix I figured I could indulge myself in a little white mocha goodness and met Gina for coffee.  After coffee I tagged along to George's baseball game and cheered on the HB Team, sadly they got stomped but it was great to see the little boy who I used to give swimming lessons and black eyes to  (first time I babysat him, he was 18 months old, he is now 15 and suffered his first black eye under my care, yet they called me back and I have been part of the family ever since!) play! 

Look at Georgie in ACTION....

Love these guys! Will and George

Vacation Brain

I took last week off from work, it was a much needed break from work and life and I am kind of wishing I could of taken two weeks off.  I did not do much the whole week and blogging was out of the question, I seriously had a bad case of vacation brain and could not muster up the strength to even open up my computer let alone come up with something to blog about.  So...I spent a lot of time at the pool, watched a lot of tv, went to the beach for my annual strips and cheese snack, napped, ate a lot of ICE CREAM, taught crazy B-Man swimming lessons, participated in a little retail therapy, went to a bonfire, added a little floral cheer to my kitchen table and baked in my really hot house!  Yes, of all weeks for my air conditioning not to work, it was my vacation week, so Gracie and I baked all week long.  Did you know a hot dog is a really good dog?  At one point I was not sure if Gracie was still alive, it was 93 degrees inside and she had not moved in hours. Well,we survived and have pictures to prove what a great week it was to do absolutely nothing!

Swim time with B-Man!

Strips and Cheese from Dwight's

Added a little color to my place!

Toes in the Sand

Bonfire at Tower 11

Trader Joe's Mint n Chip! YUM!

I think I could do this vacation thing fulltime, is 32 to young to retire?

Oh no what did I do?

This past Saturday I finally did it, I finally cut my hair, ahhh!  My hair was getting so long, so out of control and it sooo needed to be cut!  My friend Carrie gave me the number of the lady who cuts her hair, so I made an appointment and I did it!  12.5 inches were cut and will be donated to Locks of Love today!  I am not gonna lie, I hated it the first few days, I had a couple bad hair days that sent my mood into the dumps, but I have started to figure out how to style it and I am liking it more and more each day, not mention she thinned it out and it is really helping me with the heat and lack of AC in my place!

All of my hair!

The first cut!

After the first cut!

All of my blond hair headed to a great place for someone else to enjoy!