Happy Birthday to Me!

Jess, drowning his sorrows after the KU loss

Jess, Bobby and I chatting it up at The Frolic Room

being artsy

Hercules!

At the top of Eagle Rock. No whales in sight :)
What a great couple of weeks I've had! Jess and I got to journey back to Oklahoma for our friend's, Lindsay Gardner's (now Henderson), wedding. It was beautiful and so much fun. we got to hang out with nearly all of our Oklahoma friends since Lindsay conveniently went to Jenks High School (Jess was a jenks trojan) and she was a sorority sister of mine! She likes to claim that she is the reason that jess and I are even together, and sometimes we let her have the glory. The night before the wedding Jess's parents took jess and I out to a delicious steak dinner at the Avalon steakhouse. Jim (jess's dad) told us this is where all the gangsters of Tulsa use to come and play poker in the back. It was great to get to see Jim and Janet, they're always a hoot.

Jess's weekend was cut short as he left early, early sunday morning to get back to LA and work. Since I don't have a job (yet) I spent 5 more days seeing friends and family. I got to spend all of Sunday with my lovely friend Maggie. She just moved to Tulsa and started a new job as a pharmaceutical sales rep. She is already doing so good at it! We lounged all day and talked, talked talked! We glanced at the clock and realized 5 hours had gone by! Its good to have these kind of friends. I miss her so! We decided to get our butts off the couch and go see Alpha Dog (Justin Timberlake's film debut) It was pretty violent but pretty good. I recommend it. Plus, Heather Walquist, a seminole native, has a role.

Then it was off to the Nole for the rest of my stay in OK. I got to spend a lot of time with my sister and brad since they were closing on their new house at my dad's office! I'm so excited for them and I only wish I could have stayed longer to help paint, move, etc. They're professionals on that sort of stuff by now so I think they'll be alright. I went out with my BFF Candy for a classic night at Wewoka Country Club. Good times. I also got to have lunch with Candy's mom, Debbie. She was like my second mother growing up, and I haven't seen her in so long. My grandma braved the treacherous snow and ice and drove down to stay a night with me. We played double solitare (a favorite pass time of the grandaughters and grandma) and ate delicious grilled eggplant and mushrooms (another fave) I even got in some quality time with mom and dad in between their work and doctors appointments. Mom is going to get another neck surgery, but this is a good thing. She is very hurty all the time and any relief would be good. Dad had to get 2 ingrown toe nails removed (yuck). I am so glad I got to see so many people in my short trip home! I love you all!

I arrived back in LA on February 2nd for my first birthday surprise from Jess...He chopped all his hair off! For those of you who know and have seen Jess, he hasn't gotten a hair cut (maybe a trim) since Julyish 2005. It was getting long, girly and out of control. He looks so cute and he is the best boyfriend ever! I awoke on my birthday morning to my birthday song (Jess made this up and sang it to me over the phone last year) and the he told me my second surprise....we were going on a hike and whale watching! The whale watching is a funny story, but we'll get to that later. The hike was beautiful. It was in the santa monica mountains near malibu. Our goal was eagle rock at the top where we would go "whale watching". 2 hours and at least 2 miles later we arrive to our destination, with a very distant ocean in sight. So, no whale watching, but maybe another day. It was still gorgeous and we had a picnic with those mini bottles of wine.

We got back to our apartment and got ready for the night. We started the festivities early at a sports bar to watch A&M beat KU (poor jess) and then met some friends in Hollywood at the Frolic Room. It was a great night and so far 24 is not that bad.

JOB AND HOUSE UPDATE: We are pretty much 100% positive that the cute garage apartment in Santa Monica is ours, we just have to wait for the woman that lives there now to move out! hurry up woman! I have an interview with the Mathtopia people today at 4pm. maybe I won't be jobless anymore!

Thanks everybody for the awesome b-day phone calls, messages, and cards! I feel so loved!