Exploratorium

Clear back in September, Derek and I were trying to come up with something fun to do before we started work in October. Naturally I went to Google, because it is the source of all information (kind of like how Facebook is the source of all truth). While I was perusing the world wide web, I discovered that it was free museum day! Holy good timing! So we printed off a voucher and headed off to the San Francisco Exploratorium which is a "hands-on" museum (AKA swine-flu's best friend). It was really cool to see and play with a bunch of different exhibits. There were a MILLION children there, but hey, it was free. The Exploratorium is right next to the Palace of Fine Arts, which was beautiful! I loved all the details (you may have to click on the pics to understand what I'm saying).
Pillars that even made Derek feel small. :)

Before and After

Please forgive the crazy differences in lighting and the blurry camera (still waiting on a new one), but here is what our living room looked like before . . .

And after! Hooray new couches! Hooray comfy, overstuffed, ginormous couches! We are now going to have to rearrange the living room as it seems to have shrunk as soon as the new couches were delivered. Funny how that works.


Oh, and this is a picture of our table, figured while I was putting up apartment pictures, might as well put up several . . .
This was Derek's surprise after he started work at E&Y.

Halloween Fun

So, for our trick-or-treating this year, we went to Chili's. :) We also made Halloween sugar cookies about a week ago. They were long gone by the time Halloween actually rolled around.
There was also a ward Halloween party last Saturday. I was flying solo because Derek was feeling a little sick, but it was still fun. We combined with another ward and they decorated EVERYTHING. I was very impressed. It was fun to see the cute costumes. A lot of families dressed in themes. My favorite was a couple that dressed as a nun and a priest and had their baby in a Nacho Libre outfit. Awesome.
I was very proud of my costume. Being incredibly cheap, I went through my closet to see what I had. Lab coat + chemistry goggles + microbiology t-shirt + molecular models + short, poofable hair = one awesome mad scientist.
(Sorry the picture is fuzzy. My flash is broken so we have to use the "night" setting to be able to see anything, but it's such a long exposure it's super sensitive to movement).
If you look close, you can see the molecular models in my hair. Oh it was fun! At church the next day, I was asked repeatedly where my awesome hair was. Apparently it made an impression, haha.

Prayers Appreciated

My cousin, Riley, is 14 and an awesome kid. An avid baseball fan and player, he has been coming into his own as a pitcher. Unfortunately, he has become incredibly ill with the swine flu. When the flu developed into pneumonia he was checked into the hospital earlier this week. Here it was discovered that he had fluid outside his lungs as well as inside. They have done their best to drain the fluid ("drilled a hole" were my mom's words), but he is getting worse. He now has strep on top of the flu and pneumonia and has developed a staph infection. He's coughing up blood and now has been checked into the ICU. Seeing as how we're several states away, I couldn't think of much to do to help other than ask for as much of your help as I could. We'd appreciate prayers on his behalf and on behalf of his family. Thank you.
(PLEASE NOTE: the above details are relayed by my mom who, though I love her, makes mistakes in texts and sometimes information gets lost in translation. This is the story as I understand it and while the details may be slightly off, the seriousness of the situation isn't).

San Francisco Adventure

So Derek went to Bolivia on his mission and we were thinking, "Hey, we live in a cuturally-diverse area. I bet we could find some good Bolivian food around here." So we were off to the internet and found a place called Delany's that had Saltanas and Milanesa (two of Derek's FAVORITES) and figured it would be worth the drive into San Francisco. Then Derek realized he forgot his power cord at work so we had to take a little detour to go get it. By this time it's about 6:30 pm (I had become quite hungry, one might even say ravenous, at 4) and we're still a LONG ways away from the city. We decided to give it a try anyway.
I HATE THE 101. That freeway is so slow unless it's the middle of the night. It's moderate in the middle of the day. Morning or evening is COMPLETELY insane to try and traverse it. But that's exactly what we did. We were in stop and go traffic for about 40 minutes and only got about 1/3 of the way there. We were about ready to give up, but decided to see how the next 10 minutes would go. It finally opened up and we were (more speedily) on our way.
Getting around San Fran if you're not used to it is difficult to say the least, we managed to find our way okay, thanks to a detailed study of Google Maps before hand. We finally got to the road and saw Delany's! And then we saw the bars across the front of it. Either it was out of business (likely) or they closed at 7 on a Friday in SF (not likely). Derek and I just looked at each other. After fighting traffic for what seemed like forever and braving the "big city" we had no idea where to go. So we drove up Polk street trying to find a place. We found some parking (which was FREE--hallelujah!) and decided to walk around.
We found a cool looking place called The Crepe House and decided to give it a try. Derek got the Hawaiian crepe (cheddar, ham, brown sugar, soy sauce, pineapple) and I got the Mediterranean (cheddar, olives, artichoke, feta, onion, avocado) and both came with fried potatoes and salad (with a raspberry vinaigrette I think). I LOVED IT! It was so good. Derek thought it was okay, but felt he'd rather try somewhere new than go back. But I am MORE than willing to go again with anyone who wants to try it . . . :)
Anywho, just thought I'd tell you of our SF adventuring and awesome restaurants we are discovering. There's also an AMAZING, authentic taqueria super close to our complex. Mmmmm.

Sundry Items

Good news for YOU! Looks like we'll be visiting family for both of the upcoming holidays! We finalized our tickets today.

Tansy and I both had new adventures this week (after all this is the 'Leonardson Adventures' blog): taking the train to work! I'm taking it again tomorrow to go to the city.

Work is an adventure for both of us! We are certainly learning a lot on the job.

One more random note...

...warm up your voices...

...Tansy has recently...

...committed to sing...

...with a local...

...(gulp) opera...

Stay tuned for the latest!

For those of you who don't already know . . . :)

So we have some big news. As in HUGE news. It's going to change our lives and we feel so blessed. We honestly have been waiting for this day for a long time, and have put a lot of effort into making it happen.

I got a job (fooled you eh?).

As of last Monday, I am now a working woman again (hence the lack of blog updates). I work for a company called Jolly Technologies that does ID Badge and Visitor Management software. It's pretty cool; definitely something I have a lot to learn about. I was hired as an Admin assistant, which basically means I do whatever they want me to do (from filing to finances, phones to packaging). I have a 30-50 min drive each way, depending on traffic, but it's not too bad.

Derek starts "real" work on Monday (he's been in training for a week and a half). He's auditing Apple and their year-end is September 30, which means that it's their busy season right now. He's scheduled for 50 hours this week and next, so I'll probably have a bit of free time on my hands. Maybe more blog updates will happen.