Girl Crush.

I'm sure that if you've been reading my (randomness) blog, you can tell I have a girl crush on Ingrid Michaelson.  I can't help but love her music.  Like I've said before, it is what I turn to when I need to escape or express myself. Well, last Thursday on May 6, the most amazing thing happened to me...

(Everyone keeps calling me her twin.  I'm ok with that!)

Rewind about a week or two prior...

I had heard Ingrid was playing a secret show in L.A.  I spoke with my sister about it briefly and wanted to go SO bad!  I looked up tickets on the venue's website to buy them.  The words that stared back at me almost made me cry: SOLD OUT.  I was really bummed.  I've never had the opportunity to see Miss Michaelson play live and I had lost my chance, once again.

Thursday came and I'd grown a jealous feeling since I'd found out a couple of my friends had tickets.  I decided I was going to have a good day regardless.  I helped coworkers out more than usual and also gave them compliments.  I drove without my usual road rage and just put positive vibes out into the universe. After work, I stopped at Target to buy the new Charlaine Harris book, which I've been waiting for, and went home.  I went online, as I usually do, and checked my email.  While I was reading an email, a new message popped up -- from Ingrid Michaelson.  I quickly checked it out and read something very exciting: "We have just released 8 tickets for tonight's secret show.  Click here for details."

And so I did.  As I filled out the desired information, I thought to myself, "There's no way.  8 tickets??  I'm sure they're already gone."

 That's when I saw the most exciting sentence yet: "Your transaction has been completed.  You may pick up your tickets at Will Call." YESSS!!!!  Totally serendipitous!

(You and I.)

Gina and I got ready as quickly as possible and made it to see Ingrid Michaelson's secret, solo performance!  We met up with five of our friends and had such a wonderful evening.  I will never forget how much fun it was!  Who knew Ingrid Michaelson was so comical?!  I knew she was funny but some of the things she said just cracked me up!  She even mentioned something about the Target Stabber (http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7424975) stabbing some girl in the back, haha!!

One of my favorite parts was when she said, "I heard someone request the song 'Charlie.'  You know I actually ripped that song off.  Remember that song from TLC called 'Scrub?'  Check this out...."  She then proceeded to play the song 'Charlie' but then sang the lyrics to the TLC song!  We could not stop laughing!  And she sang almost the whole song!  It was fantastic.

(Ingrid kept showing everyone the best way to pose for pix, lol!)

She sang almost all of my favorite songs and even a new song she had written 2 days prior.  It was beautiful and we're hoping she releases it soon!  She then asked us what we thought of her hair because she had just dyed it.  One person replied that it was too dark and should be more orange.  Ingrid then decided to play a song based on the color orange.  She's so funny and amazingly talented!  It was so amazing to listen to her play live!

After Ingrid was done, we hung out a little bit and and just talked about how amazing the performance was.  Our friend Emily disappeared for a little bit and then came in with her camera.  She had just gotten a picture taken with my favorite artist!  So we all moseyed to the entrance of Hotel Cafe and hung out with Ingrid!  She was so gracious and so much fun.  We each took a picture with her, as well as a group shot.  She talked to us for a while and we had such a blast!  You know, just hanging out with Ingrid Michaelson.  Chatting.  Even talking about her love life!  (We promised we wouldn't say a word about the details though.  Sorry.)

(Suzette, April, Me, Ingrid, Jeni, Gina, Christi and Emily.)

Our friend April said the greatest thing to her.  She said, "We would just like to thank whoever the guy was that broke your heart so bad because your last album was just incredible!"  Ingrid took it as a huge compliment and said, "Thank you so much!  It was actually more than one guy."

What an amazing night it was!  She has been my favorite female artist ever since I heard her song on an episode of Grey's Anatomy in 2006.  I had to immediately see who sang it and download it right then and there!

 I am not afraid to say that I have a girl crush on Ingrid Michaelson.

(This one is one of my heartbreak songs)


(This is one of the covers she did, although it's not my video. I LOVE the way she did it though!)

My Person Reunion, Part II.

Now where were we?

The next morning we ventured over to Long Beach without any tickets to a boat to cross the ocean to Catalina.  It was more of a spontaneous day where we had absolutely no plans.  The only things we knew were we were going to Catalina sometime in the morning and diving the kelp forest.  That was it.  That's as far as we planned.

We got to Long Beach and just made it on the Catalina Flyer at 8:30am.  While we crossed the Pacific (about 40 minutes or so) to Catalina Island, we saw a Sea Lion just cruising around, having fun on his own.  We thought it was a pretty good omen!

When we arrived, we found the dive shop that my friend Ryan recommended, Scuba Luv.  We walked in to find a middle aged man pounding away on a tank -- fixing something on it, I suppose.  After I said good morning to him, I got the feeling we were interrupting him and he was not pleased we were inquiring about a guided dive.  He seemed a little condescending and he left a bitter taste in our mouths, so we left.

We walked to a dive place we saw on the green pier.  We were greeted by two nice men, one which seemed to be pretty attractive, and they were super nice.  We explained how we did go to Scuba Luv, but the man there was somewhat rude.  They asked us the man's name (which I forget now), and they said he must just be in a mood because he's typically nice.  Anyway, we signed up with this place and scheduled a shore dive with a guide (who happened to be the guy we thought was attractive).

We went to breakfast and walked around the island.  We met back at the dive shop where one of the workers greeted us.  He got a phone call while we were there.  Turns out, the guy from Scuba Luv was waiting for us and calling them to see if we'd showed up there.  He explained yes and hung up the phone.  We had just flaked on the mayor of Avalon.  Yup.  That's our luck.  We had offended the mayor of the island.

We then went to the trailer where they kept their gear and were handed XL 7mm wetsuits!  XL?!?  Yup.  I felt like a fatty until I put it on where it was huge in most places but did the job (for the most part).  We then met our guide who gave us the diving information.  (Turns out it was quite early and we were tired and hungry when we met him at the dive shop because he was not as good looking as we had once thought.  He was a good time though and he was way cool!)

Anyway, we helped each other with our gear and then went to the entry of the dive site.  Walking down steps in dive gear is NOT easy and I'm very happy to report that neither Marisa nor I slipped on the algae at the bottom of said steps (yay!).  Because the tide was low we had to enter the water by sitting down on the bottom step and waiting for a wave to come in to jump in.  I went first and immediately felt the chill of the water!  Soon we were all on our way.

(California's famous Garibaldi.)

(Sweet looking Sea Star)

(Arch of kelp)

It was very cool to see new creatures and be in a completely different atmosphere than the tropical places we've been to!  The Garibaldi were very populous and not frightened of us at all.  Our guide took us deeper to about 65-70 feet to where there are a couple of sunken sail boats (which Marisa missed, lol!).  I tried taking pictures but was so cold, I forgot to turn off the flash till later.  What an amazing atmosphere it was!  The kelp was so tall, it really was like swimming through a forest!

(Jacque Cousteau plaque)

(Our little stalker fish that followed us throughout the whole dive.)

After a few minutes of being down, the guide turned to me and then shrugged, with an "I don't know" expression.  I turned around to see Marisa was missing!  I had lost my buddy!  My person!  What a horrible buddy I was. :(  She finally appeared and explained to me that her foot had gotten tangled in the kelp.  And yes, I understood this with her sign language underwater.  That's what happens when you dive with your buddy all the time -- it's almost like some cool secret language that only you two understand, lol!

(So sad I was too cold to think about turning off the flash...)

(Yours truly)

As we continued, our guide (man, I wish I could recall his name) took us through more of the kelp, weaving in and out of it.  Looking up towards the surface of the water was just incredible!  The sun shone through in beams of light dancing with the kelp.  It was gorgeous!  We looked in different crannies but only saw fish -- which was ok because Marisa and I have never seen these fish diving!  We even saw a sweet looking Sea Star and spikey Sea Cucumbers.

(I love this picture for some reason)

Later in the dive, our guide pointed to someone, which we later found out was the mayor from Scuba Luv.  Ooops!  Our guide also picked up two rocks and started banging them together.  Pretty soon, we were greeted by a giant fish called a Sheepshead Fish.  He was pretty humongous, although not near as big as the Groupers in Australia.

(Our new friend, the fatty Sheepshead fish.)

We surfaced and as soon as our guide looked at me, he pointed and said, "You look cold!"  I'm sure we both had blue lips by then and we finally exited the water after much tribulation getting out during low tide.  We found out later that the temperature got down to 57 degrees!!!  As most of you know, anything below 73 and Marisa and I are freezing.  That's what happens when you're part reptilian. ;)

(Not quite sure why we stopped getting hit on at this point...)

It was an amazing dive overall and I'm so happy we were spontaneous enough to just go for it!  Even if it was only 57 degrees!  I'm proud of us for surviving that dive, even though we were only under for 38 minutes....

Totally worth it!

My Person Reunion, Part I.

The phrase, "My Person," was adopted from Grey's Anatomy.  It describes the friendship between Meredith and Christina.  This is how mine and Marisa's relationship is.  BFFFs (adopted from Pineapple Express.)

Well, My Person came out to visit her family, but took a detour to Huntington Beach and hung out with me for a few days.  Our first big event was to see Dinseynature's Oceans.  It was absolutely magnificent!  We are both wondering how we can do that -- swim with the Great White Sharks, film some Humpback Whales, etc.  It was just amazing.

We were going to go to Monterey for the weekend and visit the Monterey Aquarium, but we opted for something a little closer to my house.  We decided on Universal Studios -- which neither of us have been to for however many years.  It had changed quite a bit since the last time either of us were there.  We had a blast though and it turned out we picked a great day to go, too!

We pretty much accomplished everything we wanted!  We even checked out the new Simpsons ride and had a blast!  It's where Back to the Future used to be, so it's another virtual/simulator ride.  It's pretty fun though!  We also ran into lots of characters, which just seems to always happen when we go to these types of parks!  Beetlejuice even gave us kisses (yuck!) after we danced with a Mummy, Wolfman and Frankenstein's Monster.

(even ran into Paul Walker)

(and Vin Diesel...)

The best part of the whole day was when I FINALLY did something I've ALWAYS wanted to do!!!  You know how sometimes when you're standing in a line there's that someone behind you (usually a foreigner who doesn't understand the concept of personal space) and they're touching you??  Well, after about 5-10 minutes of this lady, literally, with no space between her and I, I just couldn't take it anymore!  I finally turned around, knowing she didn't speak a lick of English, and put the palm of my hand in her face (probably about 2 inches or so) and said in a very enunciated way, "STAY."

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!  I've always wanted to do that!  We couldn't stop laughing the rest of the day.  It was awesome and it totally worked!

After our fun day at Universal Studios (and Marisa making me go on Jurassic Park and get sopping wet --why must you always make me do those rides?!) we went to one of my favorite L.A. places that I haven't been to in a few years: Diddy Riese's.  It is just fantastic!!!  What it is, is this little cookie bakery/ice cream parlor.  They serve an ice cream cookie sandwich, with fresh baked cookies of your choice, and a scoop of ice cream, your choice, all for $1.50.  It is the perfect dessert!  I got my normal treat of 2 chocolate chip cookies with peanut butter ice cream (which has chunks of real peanut butter in).  Sooooo tasty!

It was a fantastic day for the both of us!  Just some great Southern California tourist fun!

Oh yeah, and we totally hung out with Miley Cyrus at Universal Studios...

Mystery Infection...

Well, for the past 24+ hours, my legs have been swelling on and off.  After starting some flu-like symptoms at work today, I decided to go to Urgent Care after work instead of working overtime.

After spending 4 hours or so of waiting, talking to nurses, talking with a P.A., and getting urine and blood drawn, the only answer I got was that my white blood cells are elevated.  This means I'm fighting some sort of infection.  Not sure what it is, but looks like my body is already on top of it!  I am waiting on more results and will hear about them within the next few days.  Hopefully, it's something I can quickly get over.

Man, the body is just incredible!  I am proud of the cat-like reflexes my body has whilst attacking this infection!  Way to go body!!

Mommy and Me.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to take Pickle, my mom, whale watching! Thanks be to my baby sister, Ashley, for donating her free rain check vouchers. (She moved to Portland and they were to expire at the end of the month.) I had gone a few weeks prior with some of my close friends with great success. This time, I decided it would be fun to spend time with my mom.

We drove to Balboa and got our tickets. While we were waiting to board, we enjoyed each other's company. I tried to help her out with her cell phone because she had internet added. My mom, being the hip woman that she is, was trying to figure out how to set up her facebook account on her phone. Seriously. She's super savvy.

Anyway, it was our turn to board and on our way up to the boat, we spotted a Round Stingray just chilling by the boat and dock! I was very tempted to pet her but she was just out of my reach. Anyway, we headed to our seats, while making friends with some ladies from Texas. 

(Bitty Stingray welcoming us to the boat.)

It was a blast!! My mom is an animal lover like me, so everything we saw was super exciting! We saw 3 Grey Whales and I tried to get heaps of pictures, but none of them really turned out too well since they were far from the boat. They weren't as exciting as some of the Humpbacks I've seen, since all we saw them do was come up for air. It was still a lot of fun. We also saw some California Sea Lions and a mega-pod of Common Dolphins.

(Stinky Sea Lions lay on top of each other to get some rays.)

(Grey Whale spout. Super close to shore too!)

(One of the hundreds of Common Dolphins.)

Overall, it was not a bad trip for my mom's first time whale watching! Even if we hadn't seen as much as we did, it's always a fun spending time with her.

(Nigel, the welcoming committee, greeting us back to the harbor.)

Jady Lady Time.

(At Bobby A's where my old boss from the restaurant I formerly worked at, cooks.)

(Such a happy little girl!)

(Got to love Photo Booth on Macbooks!)

(Jady loves seeing herself in the mirror, haha!)


(YAY!)

The Hunt is On!

(Note the "Hoppy Easter.")

Easter 2010 was a blast, as usual.  We got to stay at home and watch church on TV, thanks to General Conference.  (This was after finding my Easter basket in the bathtub this year. And yes, I do still get a basket!)  This year was special because my niece, Jaiden (now called Jady, thanks to her cousin Jackie naming her 'Jady Lady') was here with my sister Tiffany and husband Sean.

(Got to love Robin Eggs candy... Using it as lipstick.)

Jady is now 1 year old and was SUCH a blast to have around!  I even got to babysit her the last Friday night they were in town and what a fun girl she is!  She is obsessed with seeing herself in mirrors and on my Mac's camera!  She eve dances with herself!

Anyway, Easter was very fun!  One of the Benincosa traditions is big Easter Egg Hunt.  My siblings and cousins and I are all grown adults, the youngest being 22 years old (although Ashley had to miss out this year since she moved to Portland) and my parents still provide an egg hunt for us.   Let me tell you, it gets vicious!  no joke!  There are NO kids allowed in this hunt!  I don't even really know how it all began...  I know that Gramma used to put money in the eggs, so that was motivation for sure!

(Tiffer and I on the hunt with a truce not to steal each other's eggs.)

This year, my brother in law, Chris, had his family come and partake.  They even joined the Annual Benincosa Easter Egg Hunt!  I must say, they did a great job!  Especially since Jim, the father of the family, found the coveted Golden Egg.  Nice work Jim!  Several of us even found egss from last year's hunt!  Chris even found the last Gramma egg, which held $5!

Of course, I won.  I win every year because I'm THAT amazing.  (Not to mention, everyone cheats.  We learned it from Gramma, the President of the Liar's Club...)

(Traci and Chris getting appetizers started.)

(Tiffer prepping her Easter Basket Cake.)

(Pickle showing off her new Bunny Slippers from her basket.)

(the Godfather with his basket, which is also used during Christmas, if you weren't sure..)