The Mystery Spot. Everyone in Santa Cruz must do it at least once while they are here. Not because it's so great, but because it's just tradition; it's the mystery spot..

Apparently, it's this place where wacky things go on, like people lean and compasses waiver... Some people think it's just a crooked shack and a trick of the eye. Probably somewhere in between...

Here's Chris waiting for our tour to begin... (I took pictures 'cuz I was bored.. After the 3rd click of a close-up of his face, he got annoyed... =(

Here's my tour group walking up the steep path to the little shack...

Funny sign... The ! is tilted to an angle that many people are at this place!

Here we are at the shack, learning from the tour guide...

Here's the tour guide explaining the mysteries to us... When he puts the ball in the middle of the plank, which seems to tilt down (away from him), the ball rolls up, towards him!

Even the trees lean at this funky place...

Here's Chris inside the shack... Everyone leans like this in order to stay upright. This is balanced believe it or not!

I should've lined the picture up with the people and ground, not the shack, but you can see how drastically things are off at this place...

Here are two people standing in the shack.. Leaning to stay up right... I got really dizzy in this place and when I walked downhill, I sometimes felt like I was going to fall over. When I walked uphill, it felt like I was struggling to take a step...

And at the end of the tour, everyone gets a free bumper sticker! Look how cute Chris is! =))

See there! Under my subscriptions. Coming soon, it's IC Adventures! Since, I am a computer consultant at UCSC now, (wow, I sound like a geek just saying it), I get to be part of Mitch's IC Adventures. (Check out Meetch)... It's about all the weird stuff that goes on during our shifts at the computer labs... And it's live, if you tune in during a shift... My shifts are Thurs 6-9pm and Sat 3-6pm and Sun 6-9pm... So, if you want to keep me company while I'm at work, comment back to me... Sarah and Mitch will also contribute to the xanga, during their shifts.

Aside: I wouldn't recommend subscribing to it with daily emails or else your inbox will be cluttered with one liners...

I forgot! On Easter (well, the day before Easter) my family celebrated and my mom made this funky cake:

It's a lemon cake with really sugary white icing and shredded coconut. Then, she dyed some coconut green, so it looked like grass, and it's supposed to be a basket with like "eggs" (jelly beans) in it... It was kinda weird, but I thought the idea was funny. I didn't eat it 'cuz of the coconut, of course. Here she is at the table with her cake and her easter flower arrangement from our garden...

INCOMPLETE List of People in My Life & Life Lessons I've Learned From Them:

No full names for privacy and/or security reasons.

Kim – Smile, even though you’re aching. (If we smile, once in a while, we'll get back on track...)

Emily – Laugh at yourself when you fall.

Traci – Make your own judgments about people; do not base them off what others say.

Teresa – Work hard, but not too hard; Family is more important. (Stop and smell the roses)

Brian – Never say “I love you” unless you really mean it.

Mrs. Utsey – You can make anything happen.

Mr. Tyler – It’s important to take adventures. (Expect nothing... And expect everything)

Ginny - Attitude is everything.

Meagan - You can go to the edge and look into the abyss, but then you have to be able to walk away from the plunge.

Fr. Malo - Ask yourself, Do they make you a better person?

NOTE: If you are not on this very short list, this of course does not mean you are not meaningful to me or that you haven't taught me a valuable lesson; I probably just haven't realized it yet, hence the list is incomplete.

I don't understand where my mom gets all her energy. And this is not necessarily a compliment. It's healthy to have an abundant amount of energy, but my mom never stops. When she does actually stop moving, she falls asleep within 10 minutes. She's on the go, all the time. She's on the go from about 5am to 10pm everyday. She hardly even stops to eat. Most of the time, she just scarfs it down, while getting ready for her next move. Is this the definition of workaholic, or just crazy? We have this tradition that we stop, hold hands and take a breath before dinner (no praying or anything just one deep breath), because it is good for you to relax for a second right before you eat, I don't really know. Anyway, sometimes she talks straight through it and I have to remind her to breathe, then she breathes really fast and continues her sentence. When I was little, my famous phrase for her was "Stop and smell the roses." She moves so fast that she never even notices any flowers, much less smells them! I, of course am the exact opposite. I believe in taking a huge whiff and savoring the sweet scent. My mom says I do this not because I enjoy it, but because I know that one day the roses will inevitably be taken away. I don't know about this, but I do know that on my deathbed, I will be remembering their sweetness, not saying "What roses?" My grandparents are in town. My mom thinks they are bored to tears, so she sets them to work weeding and other manual labors. My grandpa ends up knocking himself out completing these chores. I think my mom should realize that relaxation does not equal boredom. I myself am always put to work on my vacations to run various errands that she can't seem to get done. Her problem is that she takes on the work of about 3 people, but in the end, she cannot do it all herself, so she must delegate it out and fill her days always trying to catch up. But, maybe she just likes to feel needed.

Post-Edit: This is neither the definition of workaholic nor just crazy. My sister has recently been informed of Hypomania, which sounds exactly like my mother, and is related to mental illnesses that run on that side of my family.

My mom has a quick analogy for how my sister and I are so different from one another:

Ginny would go into a candy store, but walk out with nothing because she couldn’t decide.

Kate would go into the candy store and say simply, “I’ll take one of everything."

Maybe you have to understand my sister and me more in order to get this, but it's very true. My mom also has a much longer analogy for her and her 3 sisters of what would happen on a Snow Day. I don't remember it, but she may repeat it in the next week orso, so maybe I can catch it.

SUN VALLEY, ID

My mom and dad wanted to take Chris somewhere, so we decided to go skiing in Sun Valley. We really love this place and the Lodge, which is very old and the inside looks to me like the hotel in The Shining...

Here is Chris and I at the famous Sun ice sculpture in front of the lodge. This photo is tradition for us. This year, they didn't freeze the pond and there were swans! Chris and I are standing on either side of the sun.

In the rooms, they had flat screen, wall-mountable TV's! I was excited!

Chris and me... Finally a decent picture to show other people! Show this one, Mrs. Witte, not me stuffing my face! =(

The base of the mountain...

Here are some views from the top:

Here's my parents

Chris and I at the top. Don't ask me why I have no hand.. =(

Chris, ready to ski!

And, at night, we play pool and bowl. I had to put this picture in, for my mom. She thought it was just GREAT! =|

Here's the Lodge at night. They put lots of christmas lights up and my mom loves it 'cuz she says it feels like Christmas all the time...

Ok, Here's New Years Eve get-together at the Witte's... All the pictures are blurry. The people looked blurry to me at the time, too...

Here's the whole group, well, minus Jon, who left at 11:30.. (loser), and me, who's taking the picture. It's Andy, Tony (Rachel on the phone, I think, or Diane), Blair, Brent, and Chris.. Yup, 5 guys and ME! It's any single girl's dream. Too bad I'm not single and most of those guys aren't either.

Here's Larry, the cat... He's licking his nose!

3 men in a tub, the butcher, baker and candlestick maker, aka, Tony, Andy, and Brent

Tony... putting clothes back on...errr..yeeea... I have a much less decent picture of Andy... Why me?!

Jon and me! Before he crashed and left...

Chris grabs the dice first to break a tie in Scene It...

Blair... on beer 10 of about 17 that night... =(

New Years Eve.

20 years ago, 1984: I was one year old, barely walking or talking, innocent in just about every way...

15 years ago, 1989: I was six. The Loma Prieta earthquake happened, my aunt got into a car accident that put her into a head brace and she almost died, my other aunt almost died giving birth to my cousin all in the same month. What an unlucky/lucky year...

13 years ago, 1991: My house had just burned down with my grandmother, and my life changed from innocence and naivete.

10 years ago, 1994: I was eleven and thought I knew the world, ready to tackle anything. My brother got married, (I think)... Yea, I thought I was cool, but I was really the biggest geek on the planet..

5 years ago, 1999: The big Y2K scare! That seems like just yesterday! We were about to enter a new millinium! How exciting! I was 16 and rockin in my cute convertible! How fun!

2 years ago, 2002: Graduated high school and started college, how scary and exciting...

1 year ago, 2003: Just barely in a relationship with Chris, came down to meet his friends and family for the first time... That seems like a long time ago, though, now.. haha, much more than just a year...

a month ago, November '04: Turned 21!!! Whoo.. I guess theses are the best times of my life, gotta live 'em up!

2 years from now, 2006: Graduate college and start the real world, with what? I have no idea. What a scary thought.

5 years from now, 2009: I'll be 26! Yikes! What on earth will I be doing?! How many adventures/tragedies will I go through? Sometimes I envy those of you who know exactly where you'll live and who you'll love and what you'll be doing in 5 years!!

20 years from now, 2024: I'll be 41!!! Oh my god! Ok, this is getting really scary, now, I'm gonna stop.

Christmas!!!

On Christmas eve, we were discussing a clay piece my sister made when she was very young... We thought it might have burned up, but weren't sure. Santa found it and put it in her stocking this morning... It's Cotton Candy and she used to lick it:

*photo missing*

My mom got in her stocking a.... ummm... a quite *phallic* salami. She couldn't figure out why Santa would put a salami in her stocking... My dad said, "Well, maybe he thought you would like it!" Ok, Dad!

*photo missing*

And what else would be in my dad's stocking, but a little bottle of JD!

*photo missing*

Here's my mom trying on a sweater she got from my dad. The color looks really good on her.

My mom's dog, Tyson even got dressed up for the holiday!

And here's a nice picture that my mom made my sister and I do so she could have something for her New Years Letter (she doesn't do xmas letters like everyone else, she does it for New Years, instead, I don't know why)

Yay! Sorry these pictures are all really bad of people, but I didn't want to spend the whole time taking and retaking pictures, so I only took one, then put down the camera so I could enjoy the festivities.. Then we ate brunch and that was about it... Now it's off to a friend/neighbor's for christmas dinner. I'm already tired.

On this day, the 19th of December, 2004, Mr. Peter Scott & Mrs. Teresa Ferguson are invited to join George Zimmer and friends for dinner and dancing at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco... George Zimmer, from The Men's Warehouse, is one of my dad's clients.

Here are Peter and Teresa ready to go out on their big date!

Don't they just make such a cute couple?!?

Oh! And one more, 'cuz we're just sooo proud of them!

Awww, ok, off you two go! Have fun, but not too much fun! Don't do anything I wouldn't do! Just say no!

God, didn't you hate it when parents were like this about Prom?! It was a relief if you even made it to the car!

I'm never letting my parents pick out the Christmas tree again! Look what they got:

Let's start from the top: The most important thing is the star. IT'S CROOKED! And there's no limb that sticks straight up for it, either!

2. What the heck is that gap about 3/4 of the way up?!?!

3. This picture makes it look good, but when you look at it in person, it's not Christmas tree shaped!! It looks more straight down than triangle or whatever... But it looks okay here...

4. They put it on top of soo many boxes that it looks funny. If you want a taller Christmas tree, get a taller one! Our ceiling is about 13 feet high, so we have room for a taller one..

Oh well. I wired the star straight, and we decorated it, so the gap doesn't really show, but this is one of the saddest, most embarrassing trees I've ever seen! =(

My sister wanted me to write this: "Ginny is the coolest sister ever! She only looks like she's 21." (She's 27)

Thanksgiving Day

4am I wake up and take a taxi to the airport. Ugh!

6am I board the plane and who should be there but Fr. Malo! (Yay, O'dowdians) I couldn't say much 'cuz I was holding up the line in the aisle, so I moved on. I wanted to get a picture to put on here, but after we landed, he disappeared, Kaiser Sose style (how do you spell Sose?).

1:30 pm Texas Time Arrive at my aunt and uncle's house. Then we ate a huge yummy turkey dinner. And napped while the boys watched football. Then we played pictionary.. Fun stuff.

Uncle Dave cutting the turkey

My Grandma's plate. Yum

My Grandma, my cousin's little girl Sidney, and my other cousin's month old baby Annabella

My grandpa, my cousin's other little girl, Landen, and my sister. (Don't ask me why she has orange hair. I don't understand)

Me with the baby... She was sooo tiny! A month old. I don't think I've ever held a baby that young. And one of the cutest babies I've ever seen.. maybe that's just 'cuz she's family.

My mom and the baby

Friday

We went to brunh with my grandparents then went to the mall, did a little Christmas shopping and then back to my family's house for Trivial Pursuit 90's Edition. We played younger generation versus older generation, and the parents kicked our butts! =(

Saturday

We went to Starbucks for breakfast then took my sister to the airport which she almost missed her flight. She went home to go to a bachelorette party, but was planning to meet us in Vegas. Then back to the mall with my mom to search for jeans for me.. No luck, but we got some more presents. Then we went to my family's again and played Pictionary again and ate a spicy Indian dinner. And we drew names for our Christmas exchange.

Sunday

I couldn't sleep until midnight and then I woke up at 6am and couldn't go back to sleep! We went to the airport and got on an earlier flight to Las Vegas. We stayed at the Venetian. It was very nice and our room was awesome. Then we walked to Mandalay Bay, which is waaay down at the other end of the strip... like 3,000 yards. Oh my! My feet hurt soo much 'cuz I was wearing heels. We met my sister at the House of Blues Gospel Brunch which was fun, but not really that great. Then we walked around the Luxor and Excalibor and then went back to the hotel. It was below freezing with strong winds outside, so we didn't want to go on the rollercoaster. We went around the hotel and shopped a little and then napped and then got ready for dinner. It was way overpriced and not very good, but we are spoiled 'cuz we come from the Bay Area with the best restaurants in the world. Then everyone was really tired and falling asleep, but we went to "O" and it was awesome! I personally liked Varekai better, 'cuz I could follow the story more, but everyone else said that they liked O better. My mom was falling asleep during the show. Quite annoying. When people appaulded she would wake up and clap extra hard. Haha. After the show, it was midnight and I was 21!!! Whoo hoo! So we walked around Bellagio and tried to find a table or a bar, but I was too indecisive so everyone got annoyed and then my sister wanted to see the inside of Paris 'cuz she'd never seen it before, so we went across the street. My dad's back was hurting and everyone was so tired. I felt bad, I didn't want to keep everyone up just for me, so I just wanted to get it over with, have a drink, gamble a little and then go to bed. So I got a Tequila Sunrise and they carded my sister, not me, then I played slots, then I was like ok, let's go to bed. Supposedly, my mom couldn't sleep, so at 2am, she tried to wake me up and go to Fremont Street (like the old Strip), but I didn't wake up! =( Oh well

I don't know why, but I took a picture of the Forum at Ceasar's

The House of Blues

And, finally, my sister, me and my dad tired on the bed...

Monday

We woke up, gambled and played Blackjack, because I'm 21 and I gotta play 21... I wouldn't have gotten carded, but my mom decided to announce that I was 21 today so the guy is like well then I guess I better check, huh? =( I let my whole family play with me, but we all lost. With a $25 minimum, it was an expensive 30 seconds! =( Then we played roulette. Again a $25 minimum. I put it on black. It landed on red 18 and that was that. =( How unlucky. It doesn't help with my mom screaming in my ear and getting all excited and loud. We're gambling, we gotta play it cool, and she's just embarrassing and bad luck going, "Well, what do we do?! I don't know what we're doing!?" Ugh... Anyway, then we checked out and got on a plane to home. I drove back to Santa Cruz and met Chris after his section. Finally some time to relax... All in all, I think Vegas is just not my family's style. We don't gamble and we laugh at the people who walk in front of us and say, "Wow, this is what it's really like, huh?" No! Go to Europe, it's NOTHING like the real thing! Ah well, Se la vie. (My sister corrected me that it's actually spelled: C'est le vie)