Who knew?

So I had this dream the other night...

I was in a big open room, like my parents' living room or something. You know the one. There were tons of us just hanging out, lounging on the furniture and floor. Seriously, like a real chill party, just talking and whatnot.

Suddenly, I realize I'm running late! (I'm not sure what it was I was running late for -- perhaps a hot date?) Anyway, I jump up and say, "I'm totally running late! I need to get ready!"

That's when my bff Scarlet Johansson jumps up with me and says, "Hollie! I can totally do your hair and makeup! PLEASE let me help you! I love doing other people's makeup!"

And so I let Scarlett Johannson help me get ready for whatever it was I was running late for.

Weird.

Btw, I'm not really a fan of Scarlett Johannson so I have NO idea where this came from...

The Unplanned Adventures of Sisters... (Part Three)

(Mount Shasta. And yes, that is crap on the windshield..)

And so we were on our way back to California. Destination, San Jose.

The trip back to California went by pretty quick thanks to awesome music on the iPods and beautiful scenery. We were sure to wave to my brother as we drove past his exit. there were tons of deer on at the shoulders of the freeways just chilling in the shade or chewing on some plants. I don't think I've ever seen so many of them at the side of the highway (alive that is)...

We arrived in San Jose a little after 11pm. I drove up to the Winchester Mystery House since this was our plan for the morning. Ashley has never been so I wanted to be sure she experienced the construction plans of Sarah Winchester. (More on that in a second.) We ended up staying in a motel that proved to be shady and very creepy. When we got our key, it was an actual key with the plastic keychain with the room number on it. It made both of us think of the John Cusack movie Identity... We opened the door to be pummeled by the smell of cigarette smoke. Ugh.. After we grabbed our stuff, including our bedding for we refused to sleep in their blankets and sheets, we were met by an army of bugs. Then Ashley came out of the bathroom and told me how it looked like someone had just taken a shower in there. In short, it was disgusting and creepy. We ended up barricading the front door with one of the big armchairs. then Ashley said "I've seen tis movie. Can we please put the other chair in front of the closet door?" I was more than happy to.

Needless to say, we made it through the night.

the Winchester Mystery House was so worth the $26! We did our usual thing of being the last people on the tour so we could take heaps of pictures. Let me give you a background on this mansion...

Sarah Winchester was the wife of the man who made Winchester rifles, etc. He died along with their child. After this, Sarah Winchester was told by a psychic that she needed to keep on building and adding on to the mansion to confuse the spirits that killed her husband and child, for they were the same spirits of those killed by the Winchester guns. The construction of the mansion lasted 30ish years, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, until she died.

(The stairway to nowhere)

(The door to nowhere)

In this house, there are stairs that lead to a ceiling, a door to nowhere on the 2nd floor, doors opening to walls, etc. We were very amused. She even had a seance room where she "met" with the spirits to tell her where to build next. This is also where she spied on her servants.

It was great fun and Ashley and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Oh, by the way, yes. Ghost Hunters did investigate there but could find no proof of a haunting. :)

(The supposedly haunted ballroom)

(Our tour guide, Ash -- and some Orbs!!!)

We continued on our way back home. As we rode, I read my "Haunting In California" book that I had bought from the gift shop. It just so happened the highway we were driving on had some paranormal activity! Pretty cool to read it as we drove on it. Of course, we are skeptics and nothing happened to us. We drove through Mount Shasta and The Grapevine and got caught in traffic in LA. We were finally home!! :D

(More pix from the great unplanned roadtrip Part Two-Seattle)

(The blog for these Seattle pix is posted below.)

(Me and Nya ready to Ghost Hunt in Seattle's Underground!)

(Sometimes you just can't help modeling when there's a wind. Ash and I thought so...)

(My bf at Pike's Market. Not the guy yelling, but the dude with the hat.)

(I totally wanted to put coins in this pig! I thought it was a big piggy bank!)

(We're on a troll trick!)

The Unplanned Adventures of Sisters... (Part Two)

And so we were off to Seattle! I have known my friend Nya for about 10 years. I worked with her at All Care and then she recruited me to Advanced Critical Care & Internal Medicine. then she moved to Denmark. she was my inspiration to just up and move to Hawaii. Why not?

On our way to Seattle, Ashley was sure to yell out Mt. Ranier again. We finally arrived to Nya's in the late afternoon. We were given the grand tour and met the man of the house, Jackson, a giant black lab mix with the best lazy demeanor ever. Nya decided it would be best if we started the evening with the most bizarre ice cream parlor I've ever experienced. Molly Moon's is an ice creamery that serves almost the equivalent ice cream to that of Harry Potters nasty jelly beans (but the ice cream doesn't have vomit as a flavor). Ashley and I both got the honey lavendar, which was like cold, creamed tea, and I added a scoop of the best chocolate ice cream I've ever had! Nya told me I needed to at least sample one of the more bizarre flavors so I went with Balsamic Strawberry. It wasn't too different than normal strawberry. Nya got black licorice ice cream. they also had Salted Caramel, Maple Walnut, etc.

(We didn't plan this trip to revolve around ice cream, but somehow, it happened!)

After that, we headed to a look out that Nya and Mandy had heard about. We drove up and up and finally came to a spot we could walk out to and eat our ice scream, admiring the Seattle scenery at night. It was beautiful!

When we got back, Ashley headed over to her friend Willy's, Mandy went to bed, and Nya and I sat up late watching youtube vidoes, laughing our heads off. It was so great to be together once again, just laughing and dorking around. I've missed that girl so much!

the next morning we headed downtown for our Underground Seattle Tour! We were thrilled to be doing this! They had this place on an episode of Ghost Hunters (which Ashley and I are obsessed with) and were ready to investigate! We arrived early so we decided to go get some Mediterranean food just across the street. That's where we had lunch Billy Bob Thornton. Willy confirmed this as he stared him down as we left.

(The restaurant we ate at and had lunch with Billy Bob Thornton.)

I don't know if you know of the history of Seattle, but being a part history major, I'd like to educate you. On June 6, 1889, a man named John E. Back inadvertently started a grease fire which spread 29 square city blocks. Fortunately, no one was hurt. There's a lot more of Seattle's history that I could go into, including plumbing problems causing sewer issues, etc, but I'll let you look that up yourself... Anyhoo, they decided to basically build the city on top of the old town. Hence, the underground tour. Many of the first floors of the buildings in Seattle are now basements.

The tour was quite entertaining and I was sure to take photo after photo. you know me and my documentation. :) We did see one dead thing... a rat that was in an alley between underground portions... But, no paranormal activity, although we did observe a few cool spots, but, you know, we're underground. It was a blast though!

(Underground Tour. Ashley was pointing out a cold spot and I heard a noise...)

After the tour, Nya took us down to the ferries. We were on a quest to find the best ice cream. (Total theme to this trip right?) We enjoyed the 35 minute ferry ride to Bainbridge. So much beauty to be had! the Seattle skyline was gorgeous! Mt. Ranier brought us to a discussion on Twilight (poor Nya just doesn't understand). We finally arrived to our destination and off we went, walking to the ice cream place called Mora. We all got 2 scoops, well, aside from Willy who decided on 3. I must say that Ashley's blueberry was the best I'd ever tasted! My strawberry cheesecake was pretty average, but my chocolate peanut butter was a dream! So delicious!! All in all, we decided that Molly Moon's was best between the two.

By the time we got back to the dock in Seattle, we were pretty tired. We were told by many that we had to experience Pike's Place Market, so we walked there next. Elevator it was! I figured we'd had enough exercise for the day even though we had to walk all the way back to the car. Why not give ourselves a break? It was pretty cool seeing all of the stuff and people there. We finally arrived to the fish tossing area where we stopped and took some pictures. Not too much tossing, but a lot of yelling! We then went into Nya's favorite little shop there that has food from all around Europe. Very cool store! I was hoping to find Tim Tams but I guess they are too Australian for them...

By the time we got back to Nya's we were all in zombie mode... until I busted out the episode of Ghost Hunters of the Underground Tour we had just done! It's always cool to see something on TV and then live, or vice versa! We watched several episodes as I tried to put a little fear into them with the creepiest ones. Then it was time to head out once again. Seriously, this is how you do Seattle in a day!

Nya and Mandy's friend was playing with a band at a place called The Tractor. We made a detour by stopping at the Freemont Troll! VERY cool! I guess a bunch of college students did this project to help prevent some negative things from happening in that area. The troll is also featured on the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. We got to The Tractor and really enjoyed the bands. By midnight, when all was said and done, we were exhausted to say the least. We got back to Nya's and crashed. Hard. What a fun time we'd had in Seattle!!

(The Fremont Troll. That's a REAL VW Bug it's got a hold of and a hubcap for its eye!)

The next morning, we woke up a little later than planned, go figure, and headed back to California. This would be the day we drove in 3 states! Off to San Jose or Santa Rosa, whichever worked out for the best!

(so sad to have to leave! One full day is not enough!)

(More pix from the great unplanned roadtrip)

(The Blog in which these pictures represent is below)

Auntie Ashley holding Anne just before she cried. Big brother O making sure Auntie Ashley makes no sudden moves.

Ashley and I under the Casino Monte Carlo arch at the prom scene in Twilight.

VJ, JK, Ash, O and I at one of the waterfalls we hiked to.

The special kid on the slide at the playground.

My brother's adorable family. Owen, Trudie, Jackie, VJ and Anne. Lake Oswego Oregon.

The Unplanned Adventures of Sisters... (Part One)

On June 3, my niece Anne Cosette was born to my sister in law Trudie and brother VJ. I had to go meet her. After all, I've met my other nieces and nephew soon after they were born and Cozy was no different. Plus, I'm unemployed and I have never taken a roadtrip up the west coast!

So my baby sister Ashley and I embarked on our journey. We left at 1:00 in the afternoon and planned on arriving for the last tour at the Winchester Mystery House. The Godfather (aka, our dad) presented the Tom Tom and showed us how to use it. "Francois" as he came to be known thanks to a previous trip, was quite helpful!

We were on our way. We had the typical roadtrip food of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, beef jerkey, granola bars, waters and diet coke. We were on our way!

We got to San Jose an hour after the last tour for the Winchester Mystery House. We decided to do it on the way home instead. (Plus we missed the exit entirely so we headed to San Francisco looking for a Del Taco.) Ashley has never driven in San Francisco so it was quite entertaining :) Somehow, we ended up on Lombard St. (one of the crookedest streets in the world!) as Del Taco mocked us. By now it was after 9pm and we weren't sure where to go from here. That's when we decided, hey, why don't we just camp? There's tons of campgrounds up here, let's find a Target! And that we did! So, we bought a two man tent and some emergency blankets. We already had our own bedding, food, flashlight, etc. As we started to continue north, we decided to stop by our cousin Lindy and Leonard's house in Santa Rosa. They were more than happy to see us on our surprise visit! We stayed about an hour and they insisted we stay the night, but we had our hearts set on camping after purchasing that tent! so we bid them adieu and were on our way! Francois gave us plenty of options of campgrounds and Ashley was set on Mt. Cucumber (which, was actually called Mt. Cumber, but she blames this mistake on the fact that she was driving).

(Ash, Lindy, Leonard and I in Santa Rosa. I can't tell you how many times we were offered wine. Such hospital family, I love them!)

After Lindy and Leonard's it was my turn to drive. Now as most of you know, I am a part-time insomniac and sleeping in the car is pretty much impossible for me. So, Ashley gave me one of her fat burners to help me out. The camp site was only 3 hours away. I could make it!

At 5:30am, after the sun had come up and I decided it would be best to just drive as far as we could, since I was wired, I pulled over into a rest stop. We pulled the sleeping pads that Lindy and Leonard offered us over the windows and slept. For about 4 hours. I couldn't sleep anymore so we headed to my brother's.

We finally arrived just before 1:00 in the afternoon. We were greeted by my niece Jackie (JK) and nephew Owen (O), as well as my brother making us some Boca burgers for lunch. Trudie came home from the grocery store and we were able to meet Cozy (or Annie Pie as O likes to call her). Nothing less than adorable! She is a tiny little thing and looks more like a cross between JK and O than anything. She's precious!

(Anne Cosette having "tubby time")

After we talked and rested a bit (well, Ashley did, I had no intention of sleeping till bedtime) we decided to take the kids to the pool, leaving Tru and Cozy behind to nap. The pool in Portland is at the high school and MAN, this is the COOLEST pool I've ever seen! It has a little frog slide in the wading pool, a diving board, a big waterslide like at the water parks, a whirlpool with another whirlpool inside of it that goes faster. Not a jacuzzi, but an actual whirlpool, like a lazy river! Ashley and I swam with JK and had a blast! O was with VJ and we met up later on. then we headed to the diving board where JK showed us how far she could jump off. It was a blast!

(JK, Ash and I underwater at the coolest pool I've ever seen)

Later in the evening, VJ took Ash and I to downtown Portland. We went to his favorite book store in the world, Powells. This place is HUGE. Now when I see a bookstore, it's like seeing something shiny -- I can't help myself. Luckily, I was too tired to look for more than one book, so I escaped with only one. Then we headed out for some gelato and then dinner at PF Changs. By the end of the night, 11:30pm when we left the restaurant, we crashed hard.

The next morning we were pleased as we were able to sleep in till 9am thanks to VJ and Trudie restraining their kids. :) Then we were off to church. Ashley and I chose to walk back to the house and take in the fresh air and the beauty that is Lake Oswego. When VJ returned, he took us on a little field trip to The View Point Inn, which coincidentally, is where they filmed the prom scene for Twilight! How adorable is our brother?? JK and O walked around with us checking the place out marveling at the view. Then we were off to the waterfalls! We did a small hike and enjoyed the waterfall and river. We made a couple other stops then headed back to the house.

It was such a blast playing with JK and O and meeting Cozy! She is such a good baby! I couldn't help but laugh when my little sister attempted to hold her. As soon as she was in her arms, she began to cry. That's when Ashley let me know of her fear of newborns, ha ha! VJ handed Cozy to Ashley one more time and I quickly shot a picture.

The next day, we were awoken at 7:30 (well, I was as Owen came in to check on me). This was totally permitted because I wanted to spend as much time with them before we headed to Seattle that evening. This time, we went to the park, leaving VJ at home to work. The kids road bikes and we walked over to the nearest park. It was hilarious because Owen decided to keep his bike helmet on while he was playing on the playground. He was the special kid on the slide, ha ha! Good thing he had it on though because he fell a couple of times. Hey, he's only 2 1/2... We had a picnic there and watched the kids play then headed back home.

After our goodbye's (and a bit more playing) we were off to Seattle!

On June 25th, 2009, part of my childhood died...

"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.” – Michael Jackson

Say what you will, but I am a huge Michael Jackson fan. When I heard he had died, I immediately had flashbacks of my childhood. Growing up with 3 older siblings, I knew who Michael Jackson was and loved his music. I remember looking through my sister Traci's Michael Jackson sticker album. I recalled her sparkly glove. I remember watching Thriller and being a tiny bit scared. I also remember watching Dangerous with my brother in the family room.

I was sad. It seemed as though when the King of Pop died, so did a piece of my childhood.

This must be how it felt when Elvis died.

So many great Facebook comments were left on the newsfeed. My brother sported my favorite: "Tonight, I will only wear one glove, and it will sparkle in his memory."

When I was in high school, our favorite thing to do was go to Disneyland JUST to watch Captain EO. I think it would only be appropriate to reopen Captain EO as a memorial for Michael Jackson.

(and yes, that IS Angelica Huston)

Sure, people think he is crazy. After all, he is an alleged pedophile (mark the 'alleged' part). There is no doubt that he IS the King of Pop. There is no doubt that he had a HUGE influence on the music industry. There is no doubt that he is a part of my childhood. I will listen to his music forever.

"I can’t find the words right now to express how deeply saddened I am by Michael’s passing. We have lost a genius and a true ambassador of not only Pop music but of all music. He has been an inspiration to multiple generations and I will always cherish the moments I shared with him on stage and all of the things I learned about music from him and the time we spent together. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones."

- Justin Timberlake

This was his last rehearsal before his death. I TOTALLY would have bought tickets for this tour...