We had another gorgeous day with no clouds visible on the sky all day. Thankfully the temperatures have dropped a bit so its not so hysterically hot any more.. Im not saying its not hot but at least temps are not +44C any more. Its more like +37C which is totally livable.

I slept in this morning and spent some quality time relaxing.
Gregg and I took Zara to the hairdresser and then we went for grocery shopping. We went to Albertson with Zara which gave Dionne some time to pack for her upcoming work trip to San Francisco.
When we got back home we had lunch and then we went outside to play in the pool ! Boy was it a great day. The kids were having so much fun in the pool.

Dionne had to leave at 3:30pm and while the kids had their nap I updated pictures and edited them so I could upload them to the blog.

When Gregg got home we started cooking so they had some dinner for the next few days and then we took the kids outside to play.

Maya and Zara are adorable and they got to be upstairs so that they could have their baths and go to bed. I cleaned the kitchen while Gregg put the kids to bed and when he was done with that task we exchanged music and pictures from my stay so that they could also have a copy of the pics I have taken.

Pictures from todays playtime by the pool

Posted at 6:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We had another gorgeous day with no clouds visible on the sky all day. It was really hot - over +44C and either swimming in the cold water or being inside in the aircondition were the options.

Ok, so its not really my birthday yet, but Dionne, Gregg and I have not been able to celebrate my birthday (or any other of our birthdays since we were 17 and 18 years old... (That is about... 17-18 years ago.. God, thats just scary to think about ....) so we had a summary birthday celebration tonight :D

The day started out with Dionne taking me to the hairdresser to get a haircut. When I got my haircut she got a pedicure at the nailsalon next door (the same one I went to the other day when I got my nails painted... beautiful artwork). I dont normally go to the hairdresser a lot and its only my second visit this year, so it was awesome to get get it cut and styled.
However after half an hour of blow drying my hair I was seriously starting to wonder how long it can take to blow dry a hair when its 39C outside.. I felt like melting and thats not a very nice feeling. When she finally finished the blow drying.... I felt the urge to escape so I asked her not to continue.. However the haircut turned out really nice :D Im very happy with it. After the haircut I went over to the CVS store to get ceral (Margaret - this one is for you) and then went to the nail salon to see if Dionne was done. Perfect timing is what we call that !

When we got home I was sooo tired, Im not certain from what though but I went to my room and fell asleep for 2 hours. When I woke up we had visitors. A friend of Dionne and Gregg that has 3 kids Maya and Zaras age so that they could all play together in the pool. That was nice.
At 3pm tia Vanessa came over to look after the kids and Gregg, Dionne and me went to have a nice evening out.

First stop was La Brea shopping centre where we did some shopping. It was a great mall. Pretty design, good collection of stores etc. However I didnt buy much. I have a limit and I soon dont have more room in my suitcases !!! Aich :D Hehehe

We then went to have dinner at the Cheesecake factory. It was a gorgeous dinner. I had caramel chicken. A spicy dish of chicken glaced in Caramel and for dessert I had White chocolate rasberry cheesecake. Sooooo good.
We had a great deal of fun and suddenly it was time to leave for the show.

We drove off to Fullerton and the Maverick Theatre where we had plans to see the play The Producers

Here are some reviews from the papers about the play:
OC Weekly
The Orange County Register

It was a great show and we had some nice eyecandy in the play too :D Greggs colleague Rick played one of the leads and the eyecandy was the other lead. Mr Leo Bloom played by Shaun-Michael McNamara... Good looking guy and talented too. However.. I must say I think they were all very talented and I enjoyed the show very much !

Thank you Gregg and Dionne !!
That was an amazing birthday present and a great night out with you !

Pictures:

Posted at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We had another gorgeous day with no clouds visible on the sky all day. It was really hot - over +44C and either swimming in the cold water or being inside in the aircondition were the options.

TGIF is my start for today! I spent the day working again. Not so much interesting to report during a work week, except for me playing pirate again in the pool for lunch and for dinner Vanessa and I went to a Burritos place called Cancun Burritos close to Edwards Cinemas at the Crossings Mall. After dinner at 6:40 we went to see Leonardo diCaprios latest movie
INCEPTION

Yet another of Leos movies that really hits home with me. I love his style with these darker movies like Shutter Island and Inception. I really love them.

Inception is about a breaking in the mind of the subject. Its about stealing secrets and planting ideas in someones head. Quite amazing. Its a difficult movie though as it has 4 levels of a story inside one.
It is rare that I dont throw stupid comments while watching a movie, but this one however, is so great that I was speechless. When we came out of the theatre - the only thing I wanted was to go in again and see it one more time.

Are you certain you are not dreaming?
Are you certain you are awake?
Are you certain you know what you are doing right now?
Are you certain Im not just a projection of your fantasy?

After the movie Vane and I went to get some drinks for refreshment and we had a crema quemada (creme brulee) for dessert !
We also stopped by Barnes and Nobles before she took me home. It was a fantastic evening. Perfect movie evening !

Posted at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We had another gorgeous day with no clouds visible on the sky all day. It was really hot - over +44C and either swimming in the cold water or being inside in the aircondition were the options.

Another workday with not much to report from, however during my lunch I had, like every other good pirate, to walk the plank and cool down. It was soooo hot that it was really not an option not to go swim. Good thing we have a swimming pool in the garden!

After work Vanessa and I went to get our nails done at the local nail salon. Vane got the spa treatment and pedicure where I only got the regular paint and decoration of the nails. However I could quickly tell that this girl was talented in the nail art area. She had a quick and skilled way of painting the most precious flowers on my nails. I must admit I think I have never had cuter nails than today !! Hope the nail polish wont wear out within the first few days at least.
The funny thing is that it probably didnt even cost a tiny part of what it would have costed in Norway. Thats scary.

After dinner I played a pirates captive again and had to walk the plank into the swimming pool :D I had so much fun enjoying these days by the pool :D

Some pictures.

Posted at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Its getting hotter by the day and we had temperatures up to +37C today. Sun from clear blue sky and lovely wind to cool down some in the afternoon.

First part of the day was of course used to put in my hours for work, then once I was done with todays efforts - I spent the rest of the afternoon in the sun working on my tan. I am getting there - slowly as I cant put in all the hours I want to, but Im getting there. Better slow than getting a sunburn anyways ! For dinner we went to the nearby park where there are playstations for kids and we could enjoy being outside at the same time.
It was a great day in company with Gregg, Dionne and Family !

Posted at 8:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, Finally the good weather reports are back ! Or - I moved myself so I got better weather :D Here in Norco we had temperatures up to +35C today. We started out with a little bit or mist in the morning, but that disappeared relatively fast. The rest of the day it was sunny from clear blue sky all day. We do have some wind between midday and 4pm but apart from that... gorgeous.

I spent the day working again. Not so much fun to report from during these hours, however for lunch we went to the local market to the pet store. That was nice. The kids are so lovely and they were so fascinated in the petstore. They loved it ! After work Dionne and I went to do groceries at CVS then we went home to feed the kids and prepare dinner for the night.
We had a lovely maple syrup glaced chicken and salads with Ice Cream for dinner.
Yummy.
The sunsets from Dionne and Greggs house are soo beautiful !

Pictures

Posted at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, Finally the good weather reports are back ! Or - I moved myself so I got better weather :D Here in Norco we had temperatures up to +30C today. We started out with a little bit or mist in the morning, but that disappeared relatively fast. The rest of the day it was sunny from clear blue sky all day. We do have some wind between midday and 4pm but apart from that... gorgeous.

So, Monday morning and back to work. I spent the day working from my new nice outdoors office :D I complained to my colleague in India that while opening some of the heavier application for work I kept loosing my VPN connection - where he says *Women* sitting at a bar near the pool and still complaning...
But, honestly i wasnt complaining because I was sitting outside by the pool near the bar, but because I had to work.. That being said.. I love my work ! I just really wish I could spend more time vacationing here and not just working :(

Anyways - I got through the workday and after work I went for a hike in the nearby areas. It was really hot but so nice to be outside !!

Pictures from my hike:

When I got back I got to play with the kids and help Dionne and Gregg making dinner. Gregg made us some delicious steak for dinner and that was great. I took nice sunset pictures as well :D

Posted at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It was a cloudy morning by San Diegos coastal line this morning however as we got closer to Fullerton and inland the sky cleared up and it was all sunny by the time I got to Fullerton. It was a great day and the temperatures were in the +30C.

I woke up, packed and Carissa took me to the train station. I was just 5 minutes late for the train and had to wait for 1,5 hours for the next train. However that was ok, I had a nice magazine that I was reading in and i had my iPod for musical additions :D

The train ride went without any special incidents:

Photos from travel:

However when I got to Fullerton I had to wait for almost 3 hours due to a misunderstanding about the time I was supposed to get picked up at. That was no problems though! I spent that time in the sun tanning while I was waiting. I found a nice little bench in the sun where I could enjoy my time.
Dionne came to pick me up and we went back to the house where I got to play with the kids and it was so nice to catch up with Di and Goo too :D
We prepared a gorgeous steak dinner and I got to take some great photo shoots of the sunset from the house. I am really pleased with my camera! I am very happy about that investment.

Photos from Dionne and Gregg

After dinner we smelt the unmistakeable smell of fire and Gregg and I went out to assure the fire was nowhere near us. Apparently several people had smelt it cause some neighbours had called the fire department. However the fire was not on our side of town. It was on the other cide of the city. We were just fooled because of the direction of the wind.
No further exiting news today.

Posted at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today has actually been on of the nicest days in San Diego yet. The sky cleared around 10am and the temperatures reach a high +25C even downtown and by the harbour. It was a lovely day.

Finally I felt better and although we rested in the morning Carissa and I left at 1 pm to get some photo-copies for her classes and then we went over to Lisa and Mels house to pick them up. The plan for the day was to go downtown to look around :D We went to the San Diego Seaport Village.
It was really beautiful and we had cookies and ice-cream and walked around in the shops at the harbour. We even found a scandinavian shop - so much for brining all the souvenirs as gifts to my friends - they can just go buy it themselves in the store ... oh well :) Hehehe.

We also took lots of pictures and it was really nice to see some of downtown :D

After the visit to Seaport Village we went back to Lisa and Mels place and picked up Zachs truck before we went home. Mel came with us and we had a pool party at Carissas house with Slurpees and Margaritas :D YAY.

I spent some time packing my suitcases as this is my last day in San Diego - time passes so fast its not even funny! before I went outside to join the girls again for some more of the party and then I went to sleep

See pictures from our trip to Seaport Village

Posted at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Temperatures today were nicer, we were up to +22C and the heavy cloud layer from yesterday disappeared after midday.

I set my alarm to 00:45 AM and went upstairs to work. We were having a meeting towards Norway that I had to participate to. Actually not only one but two meetings. Yesterday when I was sick I messed up the LAN port on my computer so it didnt work properly and the skype line wasnt all that good for the meetings, but it was better than not participating. When the meetings ended I was releived to be able to go to sleep !!! This was a tiny test that prooves that its going to be very difficult for me to fall into Norwegian time zone immediately.

I drank another theraflu tea before I went to bed and slept in. It was great. When I woke up I continued working to complete my work day and for lunch Carissas mom, Cindy, and I went to get Manicures and Pedicures :D That was sooo nice. 40usd for full pedicure, manicure and spa treatment !! Beat that. Hehehe. It felt so relaxing I almost fell asleep. So nice ! I loved it.
Then back to continue working before I had a nap to treat my flu again :D

For dinner Carissas sister Vanessa and bf Donnie came over and we had delicious home made Enchiladas :D YUMMY. That was really nice.

Tonights entertainment was the Movies Drive-In. A first for all and this was my first time to the drive-in. We went with Lisa, Melissa and Jamie and Rachel and Chubbs, all parked next to eachother.
First movie we saw was Twilight Eclipse that Carissa still hadnt seen.

Then we watched Letters to Juliet that was a lovely love story :D

Posted at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)