Lincoln Photos

Here are the photos I managed to squeeze in of Lincoln before my camera battery had to go and die on me! So sad!


These bronze casts were made of Lincoln when he first became president. He wanted to hold something in his right hand, so he's holding a broomstick! Haha.


Photo of Lincoln, not sure when it was taken. The note at the bottom was something Lincoln had written later, not during the time of the photo.


One of the last photographs ever taken of Lincoln, two months before he was assassinated.


A broadsheet offering a reward for Lincoln's assassins.

And that was all I got! It's too bad because I was really looking forward to taking pictures of flowers (it's a hobby of mine). Oh well, maybe next time?

Huntington Library

One of my gifts to Brian for his birthday was to take him to The Huntington Library. We decided to go this weekend (even though its closer to my house then Santa Barbara, where we were) because they had a special Lincoln exhibit that we both wanted to see. Lincoln is such an amazing person! I bought Brian a book called The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln for his birthday as a prelude to our visit, and he read it to me on the way to the Library. It's remarkable how smart and funny Lincoln truly was. Anyway, along with the Lincoln exhibit we saw many other things, but we still weren't able to see the whole place! We missed two whole art galleries! But we did manage to see most of the gardens.

Unfortunately, my camera battery died after only 16 pictures. Thank goodness I was able to get in the pictures of Lincoln. I took some pictures with my cell phone camera, but obviously those aren't the best quality. Here are the only pictures I have from our visit (they might take a bit to load):


This Bible was hand copied by monks! Everything is by hand, and its got gold in it!


Same for this lovely text.


This is only one of twelve copies left of the Gutenberg Bible on vellum. Amazing!


An unfinished map of the world. Look how big North America and South America are. Obviously cartographers still had more work to do.


Hamlet! My favorite play ever!

Slow Days

Not too much has gone on lately. Brian turned 27 April 16th, so Happy Birthday to him! We celebrated his birthday with his family that night, and the next day with his friends. Brian's family had a make-up Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, since the nieces were with their Dad on Easter. It was very fun! I found the most eggs but did not find either of the two "money eggs." Brian's mom hides money in two special tin eggs every year. Avonlea (Brian's niece) found one, and Robert (Brian's brother) found the other. Overall it was very fun!

We were supposed to go to Disneyland on Sunday, but unfortunately this unexpected heat wave that we are currently experiencing in Southern Cali trashed that idea. It was still in the 90s at 7pm. Today was also extremely hot. I think it got up to 102 at school. Bleh.

Dad and I worked on my Grad announcements tonight, and I will work on them some more tomorrow. My paycheck didn't show up so I'm a little bummed about that...not sure what happened. Anyway, Graduation is soon approaching so I'm mostly consumed by finishing up this semester!

Stay tuned for this weekend, when I take Brian to the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA!

Happy Belated Easter!

Last Easter Vigil was my Confirmation and First Communion! Hooray! Happy 1 year anniversary of being Catholic to me! :)

Brian and I attended Mass at the Santa Barbara Mission. They were running behind, and even though we came 20 minutes early, we only managed to get the very last seats in the side chapel. Unfortunately we were not able to see the mass except through a little window and door that connects to the church, but I think we had a good time anyway.

After Mass the priests had organized a little Easter egg hunt on the rose garden lawn for the little ones, so we stayed to watch that. It was very sweet. Brian then took me to Ihop for a big brunch! My favorite!

Then I treated us both to the Ty Warner Sea Center on Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara. Thanks for the half off coupon Mom and Dad! This place is really neat, almost all the sea animals were touchable, even the sand sharks. I even got to feed them! Here are some pictures:







Thanks for reading! :D

Sprin Break Pt. III

My "fans" have been complaining about my lack of updating...so here is the final installment in my Spring Break trilogy.

Sunday, March 29th

We woke up early again for breakfast at 9:15. This time it was a cranberry orange souffle with country fried potatoes! Mmmmm! It was so delicious. Of course I had the fresh fruit and yogurt again. After breakfast we packed up and said goodbye to our lovely room and checked out downstairs. We bought Olallieberry syrup and a magnet for our fridge. We took some final pictures and that was it!

Then we visited the chapel on top of the hill and the graveyard. The earliest date we found was 1882. More than 100 years ago! Here is the sign to the entrance of the graveyard:



We also went to another graveyard that was on the outskirts of Cambria, about 2 miles through a wooded path near a ranch, and it was even older. I think the earliest tombstone we found (and there were 10x as many graves here) was 1870. It was very humbling to see all the decorations people had put around the graves. Quite a few of those that had passed were in the military as well.

Finally, our last stop in Cambria was main street, where we visited more shops, and looked at realty stores. We got ice cream, and then headed to our next stop, Pismo Beach, and we drove through the beautiful wine country to get there!

A Vineyard:



Pismo Beach always seemed like an exciting place to visit, kind of like Hollywood, but when we got there, Brian and I really didn't like it. It just felt dirty and overpopulated. Eventually we chose to get a snack and drinks at a bar on the beach. We sat down in the back section of the bar where they had some tables and waited 20 minutes before we were noticed by the bartender. He asked for my I.D. and I reached into my purse...and my wallet was gone!

And this is where things get crazy.

Brian checked the car: it wasn't there. We called the Inn but they didn't have it either. We thought maybe someone had stolen it, but my purse had been under my arm the whole time. So...where do you think it was?

THE ICE CREAM SHOP!

After calling two different ice cream shops (there are 3 in Cambria), I finally got the right one! They said they had found it outside on the bench where we had been eating ice cream! I'm so lucky no one took it or something. So, to make a long story short, I had to drive all the way back from Pismo Beach to Cambria, and then back again to Santa Barbara. Sigh. At least my wallet wasn't stolen.

Thus ends the exciting story of my spring break adventure in Cambria. I then spent the week with Brian during my actual spring break from school, and then Brian and I went up to our friend's cabin in Lake Arrowhead April 3-5. Our time was mostly spent playing Rock Band and watching movies in PJs.

The End! Phew!

Spring Break Pt. II

Well, I figured I better write about the rest of our spring break before it slips out of my mind. So where did I leave off...

Saturday, March 28th

Woke up feeling very refreshed at 9. We had breakfast at 9:15. The Olallieberry Inn has a full breakfast each morning, and boy is it delicious! There was banana nut bread, fresh fruit with olallieberry yogurt, and then the main meal. Unfortunately for me it was Santa Rosa Eggs so I skipped out (I hate eggs). But Brian says it was delicious!

So then it was off to see the Elephant Seals in San Simeon. They were so hilarious! There were a couple of big guys, and we learned that they weighed up to 5,000lbs. Most of the males were gone because they are still out at sea. Most of the elephant seals on the beach were females and weaned pups who were molting. They kept throwing sand on themselves and making funny noises. It was also very amusing to watch them "walk" on the sand. It was like watching giant caterpillars haha. Here's a big fat male and some of his friends:



Then we went to the Piedras Blancas lighthouse, but it was closed! Sigh. I guess you can only go visit it with a tour on certain days. So since we had extra time until we had to be at Hearst Castle we went to another beach where the elephant seals were. These ones were even more lively and funny. Some of the teenage males were play fighting in the shallow water. We watched other seals go out and come back in from the water. It is so weird to see such a graceful water animal be so clumsy on land. It was very funny to watch them get so huffy about things. It was like all the seals were stepping on each others toes and they would all get upset and start yelling at one another. Lots of seal drama.



Then it was time for Hearst Castle. If you don't know about this place I definitely recommend reading up; it was very interesting. William Randolph Hearst was also a very interesting person. Most of the pictures I took here didn't come out as well as I might have liked (the ones inside the Castle) because we weren't allowed to use our flash. But, what I saw was truly amazing. I mean, this guy built the first and only American Castle in the most beautiful spot I've ever seen. Here is the view from the Castle:



The thing that struck me the most was the indoor pool that had gold in it. The pool was drained because they are renovating it; it was the first time it had been drained in over 20 years so I thought that that was cool. We got a much better look at how deep it was and the intricacy of the tiling.



Anyway, you have to see the Castle for yourself. It's kind of indescribable.

So after Hearst Castle we went back to Cambria to go shopping around the town. We didn't actually buy anything but it was fun window shopping. Finally, we had dinner at Robin's. It was very yummy, and the service was excellent. I highly recommend it. Well, that was Saturday. And what a good day it was!

Part III to follow soon!

Shopping Frenzy!

I've been really wanting to buy some stuff lately...but I'm kinda on a budget since I bought my new laptop lol. So I've been adding stuff to my Amazon Wish List so I don't forget what I want in the future.

Feel free to buy me lots of gifts :D

Spring Break

As promised, here are some more details and pictures on our wonderful spring break!

Friday, March 27th
Left Santa Barbara for Morro Bay around 11. Arrived at 1. Visited the Bay, the Aquarium, and some local shops. We saw wild sea otters out in the bay, opening clams with the rocks on their tummies. There were about five of them. We also saw two seals in the bay, I thought they were sea lions but I'm not sure. We drove to Morro Rock, which is this huge rock at the entrance of the Bay. You can learn more about it and Morro Bay here. If you are looking out to see, to the left of Morro Rock is the bay and a beach, and to the right is the ocean waves with some beach rocks. Living in these beach rocks is - you will never guess - squirrels! Hundreds and hundreds of squirrels that come right up to your toes and beg for food! Brian and I were amazed to see them sunning themselves on the beach rocks surrounded by seagulls. It was very strange.



Peregrine Falcons make their nests at the top of the rock, but we couldn't see that high up. Here's a great picture to give you an idea of it's size:



And finally, to conclude our trip to Morro Bay, I'm including this video for my mother, who's favorite animal is the sea otter. Excuse the cuss words at the beginning of the video, haha. If you turn the volume up loud enough you can actually here the sound of the clam hitting the rock.

More to follow!

**UPDATE**

Late Friday afternoon we drove up from Morro Bay to Cambria and checked in at the Olallieberry Inn, a wonderful Bed and Breakfast. We had the most beautiful room! It was on the second floor and it was so peaceful. We had homemade cookies, Hors d'œuvres, and wine. That night we ate at a Mexican restaurant, and watched movies on my laptop. It was great!