Getting fancy in Venice Beach

Saturday night, I was hired to drive a friend of Dorothy's to Venice Beach for a party.

I dropped her off at her party and had a free date night with this good looking fella!

We had a lot of fun walking around, checking out the town. There were some wild, funny things as shown above.

And then there were some super awesome, really modern, creative things as shown below.

We finished out the night dining at what we both decided was the fanciest restaurant we've ever been to. We wanted to go big, and we did. Holy cow. When we put our names in, they took our cell number and called us when our table was ready. But it wasn't a table; it was 2 stools at the "communal." It was packed and loud and swanky. The waiter came up to us, dressed in nice street clothes, and gave us menus we did not understand. Shane says, "So, we normally eat at Wendy's." HAA! The waiter gave us the rundown and we did it up. Homemade sodas, an appetizer of fine cheeses, orange zest goat cheese ravioli (5 ravioli to be exact), and chicks+fries. It was a fun/funny experience- we were in another world. And then we got the check - you don't want to know!

Overall, we decided we're very glad we live in Long Beach. But we had an awesome night out - bring on the old ladies who need rides!

Water Aerobics? Jewish Community Center??

Since I finished school last year I've been working on becoming a certified fitness instructor. It's been a lot more tricky to get into the field than I anticipated. Lots of money, time, training, and schmoozing involved. But, I've finally gotten my foot in the door! And my foot is in the door of the Jewish Community Center, teaching old ladies water aerobics!! I taught my very first class this morning. And boy was it funny. I don't know if they're going to come again...I think I may have even killed a few of them. Taking care of my old friend Dorothy has definitely helped to prepare me for this new adventure!

Wish me luck:)

Race on the Base

Last Saturday I completed my very first (sprint) triathlon! Shane was planning to do it with me until he injured his knee while surfing 3 weeks ago, dang it. But he was awesome and calm when I showed up to the race unprepared! Maybe I didn't do much triathlon training, or register correctly, or catch the pre-race meeting...but luckily in the end my schmoozing skills came in handy once again. I got my number pinned on just in time!

Shane hobbled around getting my bike in place, cheering, and filming. What a guy.

The race was a reverse, sprint triathlon, to be exact. I ran a 5k, biked 12 miles, then swam 200 meters. A perfect beginner triathlon. It took me about 1 hour and 23 minutes. 4th in my age group! I've decided I want to do it again next year, more prepared and with less messing around during transitions. It was fun!

Here's a little footage:

Brynne + Cade come to Cali

It was a sunny summer day in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I was 12 and had just moved into town from Spring,Texas.

As usual, I was riding my bike, following around my older brothers and their friends. When one of the boys spotted his sister, Brynne, he swiftly introduced us and ditched me with her!

AND BAM! Brynne+Sal=friends forever. Thanks for ditching me guys. Really!

(click on the pictures to enlarge)

Brynne now lives in Post Falls, Idaho with her husband and 2 cute boys (with another boy on the way!!).

She and her 4 year old, Cade, flew in for a 5 day Long Beach par-tay! Cade and I became fast friends.

We hit up the hot spots, starting with kayaking and paddle boarding the Naples canals.

Next, we cruised the beach bike path to the famous Long Beach Aquarium!

Cade loved it. Nemo fish and sharks were his faves.

And of course Disneyland! It was Cade's first time and he was pretty much mesmerized the entire day.

Other things we hit up: the beach playground, Sarah's house, In-N-Out, and Wahoo's Fish Tacos.

We gave her the real Long Beach, California flava!

THANKS FOR COMING BRYNNE! That was an epic 5 day friend extravaganza.

V-Day Shenanigans

My Valentine got creative and surprised me with this sweet new house plant!

It's called a money tree and it's really rad. Love it!

After a super romantic pizza and Sprite dinner at home, we joined these two hooligans for a little dessert!

First a toast...

Then a chocolate FEAST! Raspberries, strawberries, cheesecake, and rice crispie treats.

We know how to do it right! (I'm not going to pretend that I didn't make myself sick. Oops.)

And then this happened:

Such a darling Valentine's couple.

Blades of Glory

Sarah's sister, Sandy, recently returned from a mission in the Philippines. She's a lot of fun.

She was on the DANCE TEAM in high school and happened to keep ALL of her snazzy outfits!

So when I threw out the idea of ice skating, naturally, we decked ourselves out in her dance outfits and hit the ice.

Please notice Shane's right pant leg and Bryant's "Blue Steel" face.

All the 13 year olds couldn't stop giggling and pointing. It was awesome.

Drum roll please...the grand finale....

BAM!

Watch our Wipeout episode tonight!

You can now watch our ENTIRE Wipeout episode without commercials,

in one 43 minute Youtube video!

Enjoy watching us be goofy.

DT GF

Deseret Towers Girlfriend

This Ashely Mckell Bardsley.

She and I lived next door to each other our Freshman Year at BYU. She is totally awesome.

A lot of laughing happens when we get together.

She was on business staying in the nicest hotel in Laguna Beach, so I cruised down to hang with her!

The hotel had super fancy robes, so we wore them down to the hot tub:)

Long live college friendships!!

Anatomy of a Long Beach Sunset

Last night I documented the sun setting as I rode my bike down the beach.

It was amazingly beautiful. Check it out!

Oh, and yes, I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt on January 23rd.

Bring on the new year!

It happened: The 2nd Annual Build a Better Burger New Year's Eve Party!

We all got our creative juices flowing for a friendly competition.

I'm pleased to report that my Classy Cowabunga won the grand prize this year! I got lucky.

I'm excited to find out what adventures 2011 has in store for us.

Happy New Year!

5 YEARS!!!

To celebrate our 5th anniversary, my dear, sweet husband took me to see

West Side Story at the Pantages Theater in LA.

So so awesome! We loved it, even though Tony dies at the end.

Can you believe we've been married 5 years?? So crazy.

Even though when I did it, I was a freaked out little 20 year old who's head was spinning,

I made the right choice. I love being married to Shane more than anything.

If you can't tell, we kind of like each other:)