Holy Crap! We Just Went to Finland!!

What a great experience! My Mom grew up in Finland, and I still have a good chunk of family that lives there. I went once when I was about 2 years old, but obviously don't remember it at all. My cousin got married, so it was just the perfect excuse for me and hubs to go. I kept a daily journal so I wouldn't forget anything, but it will take some time to get that condensed and posted. As you might have guessed, we also took a crap-load of photos. So out of 1,500 pics, this is one I will share with you for now...

This is what Finland looks like at almost 11pm in the middle of summer. It was so weird that it never really got completely dark. Maybe for like an hour around midnight, and then the sun would be raising again at 1am. Glad I got to see this first hand, although it didn't make getting over jet lag any easier!

More to come...

Our WI Favorites

Our buddies from Wisconsin came for their annual summer visit. We just love when they are here. They kept this pregnant lady on her toes as we toured all around town. We saw LACMA, the Downtown L.A. Art Walk, the Getty, and spent some time with family as well. One is going off to college soon and the other is working a summer job. It won't be long before they're all grown up - and forget all about us!

4th of July

Usually for Independence Day we get together with the friends at someone's house to BBQ/relax. This year we wanted to mix it up a little, so we got together with the friends and went down to Long Beach. We had a great lunch at the Yardhouse and walked around Shoreline Village for a bit. We got yummy ice cream and then staked out our spot close to the water, so we could see the fireworks from the Queen Mary. It was a really fun day. Nice to go to a different town for a few hours. The only bummer was the traffic getting out was atrocious, but even so, that gave us more time to hang out and just be goofs. A large chunk of our conversation revolved around picking baby names, and it was pretty funny. Everything from Ignacio to Paunna to Grasustaja. (Don't ask! Haha.) Anyway, when we have those fun days, it always reminds me to be grateful for our friendships. These people have been in our lives for a long, long time and sometimes we take that for granted. But geez, you gotta love 'em.

Grown Ups

I didn't have extremely high hopes going into this movie, but I kept trying to remember that there aren't really any Adam Sandler movies I don't like. (Besides Little Nicky. Blech.) So I stayed positive. And I'm glad I did. It wasn't like the most amazing comedy writing ever. Or even the best story-line. But it seemed true to real life. Like these friends get together after many years and just rip on each other. It was just like our group of friends! So I could totally relate and I liked it just fine.

Is it wrong that I've had a crush on Adam Sandler since Billy Madison? Don't know what it is.