Six Months and Counting

Time sure does fly by when you are having fun! Eric and I celebrated six months on Wednesday. It is crazy to think we have only been together for six months because it seems like I have known him my entire life. I think, in a way, I have. I cannot imagine a more perfect match for me. He was well worth the wait! :)

May
As you probably guessed by my lack of blogging the past month, May was a busy month. The best thing that happened was Eric's move to Colorado. He moved out here in early May and we are having a ton of fun together. The other big event in May, no where near as exciting or fun, was my decision to pull the plug on my first dissertation and start all over. I decided to change my study because I could not find a research participant. That came after eight months of work, 85 written pages, and 90 chapters and articles for the first topic. While I am taking on a lot of extra work right now to start over, I still hope to have my experiment completed before I move to Washington in September. Number one priority is to finish it so I don't need to worry about it while I am on internship. Number two priority is to get it published. I'll worry about that after I defend it though.

Eric and I have been cooking a lot and trying new recipes. Some new, some old, some borrowed. I think our greatest accomplishment so far is cooking Dad's pizza. It is the first time I ever tried cooking it on my own and I have to say our pizzas would have made Dad proud. They were super tasty and fun to make! One of our other favorites is Dad's Asian Shrimp Salad...so good and so easy.

April Cali Trip
The long overdue pictures from my trip to Ventura to visit Eric. We spent the first couple of days riding in Ventura. Those of you who have followed my blog for as long as it has existed may remember a race that I did in Ojai back in 2006. Ventura is right by Ojai and we rode through it a few times. I love riding in that part of the state. It is beautiful and has great roads for riding. And that is coming from a girl who is not a climber; although, Eric is trying his hardest to turn me into one...and it is sort of working.

We went to Monterey for a race Eric was doing and had a blast. It is such a cool town and well worth visiting. The night after his race we managed to find a candy shop with 100s of types of candy. It was a throwback to childhood as we went from barrel to barrel reminscing. It was kind of like Willy Wonka candy factory minus the oompa loompas, chocolate rivers, and scary boat rides.

The next day we went for a long ride up the coast. It was beautiful! Spring time in Cali is my favorite time to ride with all the blooming flowers and ocean in the background.

Before leaving town, we stopped by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is built right into the bay and so cool! We had to do a speed tour as they were closing soon after we got there but I am so glad we had the little time we did get. I definitely recommend a trip if you ever find yourself in Monterey.

This is outside the aquarium, they must do live feedings or something during the day. I thought it was a great photo opportunity. Eric is getting used to my self-portrait skills and complete inhibition about asking strangers to take our picture. That is something my family can appreciate! :)

Something I have never seen before were restaurants having street samples right outside their doors. Appearantly, Monterey is the place to go for clam chowder and some of the restaurants take it to the streets to entice you inside. I tried a few samples and have to say they were really good.