sunday started great, hit a gigantic speed bump, then ended pretty good. no pictures.
saturday, however, we went to the beach! pictures!
we decided on florence, it being the closest beach location. after trying three different routes (once getting derailed by a fire, then a most frustratingly unmapped dead end, then undergoing a mysterious car stall, then ending up going the right way and not knowing/planning it) and traveling an hour & fifteen minutes (about half of that without music, most annoying) up this mostly curvy, mostly scary hill going 55 getting passed by people going 70 UP HILL AROUND BIG-BUSHY-TREE-LINED CORNERS WITH LOTS OF SUNSHINE IN OUR FACES (ok it was stressful for me, very scary, and i've moved on) while my darling caught up on sleep, WE FINALLY MADE IT.
the water was freezing. i was prepared for this, being an oregon native, and expected cold water, cold wind, cold cold served on a bed of cold with cold. but apparently, "beach" to some people is synonymous with "warm."
we found this little driftwood hut shelter:
and went to the south jetty to watch the sun set into a cloudbank:
ronnie's excited to have a nice beach so close for surfing purposes. i'm excited that he's excited. this girl don't swim.
still cleaning sand out of everything. except the car. don't clean the car. memories, whoa whoa whoa memories...
kitten updates!
they are getting so big. today they had their first taste of 2% milk and pot pie gravy. yes really. don't hate me. it's like they think they're hybrid kitten/people and should do kitten things half the time, people things the other half.
such as, laundry:
and take a little stroll through the neighborhood:
i was so surprised when, without any encouragement or sister-companionship/examples, jack walked right out the open front door. we live in the third apartment at the end of our little complex, and he walked almost to the door of the first apartment without looking back once. he's usually the baby of the two, following me everywhere and not doing anything unless sally does it first, constantly needing to nap on my lap or taste what i'm eating or be involved in whatever i'm doing. sally's the more "cat" cat, curious and explorative, sticking solely to her own agenda and not giving a damn what anyone else is doing, and of course allowing us to be so lucky as to be graced with her presence and perhaps allow a small pat of the back of the ear before running away again.
in other news, how awesome is horrible reality television? an american version of ramsay's kitchen nightmares starting in the fall (i'm a huge fan of hell's kitchen and the original bbc kitchen nightmares), the hills, newport harbor, the pick-up artist, bret michaels' rock of love, another new season of the real world...ok not like i religiously subscribe to these shows, more like they're a reminder for not how to act or merely serve vicarious purposes. especially the real world. i've watched every single season of the real world. the london one was my favorite. now they're in australia. whores. anybody else find themselves succumbing to summer reality tv guilty pleasures?
i still think the ship inn, where ronnie and i met working together, has the best clam chowder ever.