Going to the beach

Going to the beach
Originally uploaded by bethanythomason

We planned a full day at the beach, as you can see. He's so cute.

We See Things Upside Down

We See Things Upside Down, originally uploaded by shaycam.

We're getting ready to fly the friendly skies this week as we are heading to Washington D.C. for the 4th of July! So we decided it might be time to get Bethany a camera of her own. She doesn't really think it 's fun to lug around my larger, clunky SLR, so a simple point and shoot is great for her. We spent some time getting some last minute items for our trip today. You might think that would include getting new toothpaste and travel items, but honestly, it was more like buying music, movies, magazines, and taking a bag of clothes to Goodwill... and of course grabbing a bite to eat at Stone Fire Grill.

On our way back to our apartment this evening we were able to capture this fun shot on the elevator. They recently remodeled our elevators and they are looking classy. The new mirrors are making it more fun to get crazy photos.

Some other notable photos include:
Went to one restaurant and then decided to go someplace else:



This thing’s for sale.. wow.. can’t wait to see the inside!



Seriously, though.. we’re cute:



The Jetta might need a wash



mmm… StoneFire Grill

Lighthouses and Limousines

Shethany, originally uploaded by shaycam.

We started are Saturday by making a mix of songs for our day "date". I (Shay) started thumbing through my iTunes playlist and dragging songs to a mix I titled "Lighthouses and Limousines". The "lighthouse" part made since since we were going to visit the San Vicente Lighthouse (pictured above, obviously), but the "limousines" part I simply made up. Bethany even asked me about the "limousine" part, but I told her I just wanted another longer "L" word. And that's just the beginning.

We exited our apartment building and no sooner did we see a black limousine pulling out of the gas station! We started laughing and thought it was funny that we had titled our mix that, and our day began. Getting away this Saturday was our goal, but we really didn't care where; we just wanted to get out. That's why we chose to go to "Palos Verdes Estates." Basically, a fancy name for a bunch of rich people's houses on the California coast. But the Lighthouse we visited was neat because they had a "visitor center" type place there where people were whale watching, hanging out, and then there were some people taking pictures of their friends with blankets on their heads... we don't get it either. Apparently there is kind of a community, if you will, of whale watcher types. These people were intense. They even came complete with a chalkboard to which they kept count of the number of whales they saw. When we were there it was already up to 20 gray whales! Anyways, I think we need to get back to the limousines.

To our surprise, we saw more limousines than I believe we have ever seen. Our total count was 13! Quite honestly, we weren't on the hunt for limousines, but we just kept seeing them! It was really strange. You might think that we had some kind of foreknowledge, or whatever else, but we didn't. We just wanted a mix of songs for our "day away" and it ended up making the day that much more fun. So... I guess we're like prophets now? Well, I guess not. Now if we could just figure out how to get in a limo and go to a lighthouse, then we'd really be set. Yet, I think we're content with our, sweet, deluxe, classy, 1998 Volkswagen Jetta. Ahh.. whatever, I bet we still had more fun than the people in those limo's... I mean, look at us! We're so fun!

Happy weekend everyone!

The African Wall

Bethany got ambitious and "updated" our wall. We like to think of it as our "wall of the world". A friend got us that painting in Africa, and another friend got us one of those little animal statues from the Philippines.

Ok, that's all.

Sign Twirlers

I got a phone call from Bethany on Friday about something amazing, something extravagant. She was so excited about this that she had to call me and let me know. To my surprise, she wanted to talk about the "sign twirlers" that were working our local streets. Apparently, these guys are starting legitimate careers as sign twirlers. If you have no idea what these guys do, then be sure and google around for stuff about "sign twirling." Basically, they are human advertisers that hold sings on street corners telling us about local businesses. The guys Bethany was talking about were holding signs for a local Honda dealership. But these were not ordinary sign guys. The normal ones just hold the signs, sometimes dance with them, and pretty much act like they are on an iPod commercial. Not these guys. These were pro's. They can spin the sign like a pizza, go behind the back, and we even saw a guy kick spin the sign from the ground to his hand. My personal favorite move was the guy who was leaning back with one hand on the ground and the other straight up with the sign spinning on his palm. I don't think words can describe this signature move. Needless to say, they are amazing. For the first time we found ourselves wanting to go buy a Honda because we felt they were spending their marketing money wisely with these sign guys. So if you've got good hand-eye coordination and you're looking to make a few extra bucks on the side, maybe a career in sign twirling is just for you!