Apple Picking SoCal Style!

    In places other than Southern California (also known as SoCal to us residence) children are frolicking in fall colored leaves, drinking hot coco, and putting on thicker sweaters as dark clouds begin to skitter across  the sky. But here in the OC we're dying of heat and wondering when-oh-when the rain will come. But its SoCal. It NEVER comes. So rather than be sad and depressed about the never coming fall weather I contrived a plan to do the most iconic fall like activity I could think of.

My mom reaching for an apple!

    Go apple picking!

   But where could there possibly be apple orchards in an almost desert? Why a beautiful, magical town called Julian, of course! It's quaint, its old, its got a working silver mine, and apple orchards. After much shuffling of schedules and being told by many an orchard 'sorry, we're full' and 'our apples died this year' I finally managed to find one. Armed with enthusiasm, fall clothing (and yes, I did nearly die of the heat), and a camera, I headed off to the orchard with my amused mother.

     With the energy and wonder of a five year old I carefully inspected every single apple tree and picked only the most scrumptious looking apples I could find, after all, these apples were for pie baking. I filled my basket to the brim, and never mind the heat, I looked pretty fantastic! Not that I cared, because it was apple day! The orchards were buzzing with a few bees still collecting the last of the nectar they needed, and red ants and I had a nice run of surprise attacks (guess who surprised who when they went to sit down!?). All in all, the apple picking was a success!

So delicious looking!!

      My fun filled day wasn't done yet though! We stopped into Julian, and after a delicious meal we meandered along the streets and rummaged through antique shops. I found a beautiful antique tea cup made in Finland, and even got a discount on it! I almost love it more than my Japanese made tea-cup! After that  we needed to replenish our rapidly depleting energies, so we went for the world famous Julian Apple Pies (my mom's REAL reason for going, and not my delightful company. Deceived again!). They were delicious,especially the ice cream they put on the side!We went through a few more antique shops, and then decided to head home, to beat out the other tourists still stuffing themselves with pie.

Part of Julian. Can you believe that's in Southern California!?

 

     It had been a beautiful day (Even if I DID overly dress the part for all the heat), and honestly, I had tons of fun prancing around an apple orchard pretending it was a cold day in Vermont. Next year, I think I'll pick twice as many apples!

Am I tempting you yet!?

Dating Is For The Young

The internet is a great place for almost everything, and especially for dating. I mean, where else could you meet five guys, chat with them, and then pick one or two you like for a date? Some might argue you could do the same at a bar, but I would like to point out that very rarely are those men coherent enough to string together a cohesive sentence that describes something other than "me, you, my bed."  or "you're hot. Let's grind!" Also you are safe from the risk of getting felt up or drugged.

      Recently I went on a few dates with a very nice guy that I met thanks to the internet. Now honestly I can say that I think he's smart, goal oriented, and very cute. I'm not sure on his sense of humor yet. As of now both dates have felt decidedly....date-ish. You know, where you sort of interview each other but are trying really hard NOT to make it seem like its an interview? Yeah. I find that its a bit hard to gauge his sense of humor because honestly, he hasn't told a lot of jokes. Then again, we haven't really gotten to the point of feeling comfortable with each other, I think. It's very hard to gauge him, and usually I have an eye sharper than a hawk when it comes to the emotional feelings of others. I have NO idea what he thinks of me.

      I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing.

    The first date we had I felt confident and pretty--which in my world is a rare feat indeed--and while I'm a known talker (I like to think of myself as a one man comedy show) I did try extra hard to ask lots of questions about him. So it was a bit off putting when his answers were...for lack of a better description, the complete opposite of how I tell answers (think the overly exaggerated expressions of silent films mixed with the the verbal and mental speed of the Gilmore Girls). He was interesting to listen to, but very rarely did a story flow into another story or another topic. Instead, it was a round of twenty (or fifty) questions.

    I had already told myself that this was going to be something light and casual, because the last couple times I had thought I had something I ruined it by being serious too fast (or in other words, being more prepared for a relationship than they were). So I was determined to take it slow this time, to just enjoy the moment and not take it for anything more than it was. I put my mouth in my foot so many times I'm surprised I didn't get hoof/mouth disease, and thus ensuring that I probably wouldn't get that second date. But the thought didn't bother me since I had taken this so lightly. But apparently my spunk and constant need to talk (out of nervousness, I assure you!) did not detour him, and he wanted a second date. So the same week I saw him again.

     Once more it was a round of twenty questions,a few awkward silences and me finally just apologizing for talking so much--which I would like to point out, he actually ENCOURAGED (what's wrong with him?!)--before we headed off to get lunch. I had assumed of course that at this point he would surely be sick of me, because after telling me at the end of our date "I would love for you to come to a potluck dinner with me and my friends" he didn't bother to call/text/e-mail me at all for three days (it was the same way for our second date as well). I assumed I had read too much into thinking he liked me (I realize at this point, I'm using a lot of 'assumes' here, but I'm a woman, and therefor entitled to it!) and had only said that to be polite before rapidly heading for the hills to join monks.

     Instead I ended up at his place the next week where we proceeded to make dinner (he's a vegetarian and while I enjoyed my meal of tofu and grain, I think I'd only last a couple days without actual meat in me) and watch a movie. During this movie watching I felt...awkward. Not sure of how much affection to give and realizing very rapidly that while I enjoyed his company I wasn't feeling that 'zing' or 'easiness' that all of my happily married/in-a-serious-relationship friends had and enjoyed. I felt like a 16 year old hiding out in the basement trying to remember the advice column of 16 Magazine. Needless to say I wasn't in any way, shape or form ready to do anything more than give him a hug.

       So after several days of trying to figure out if something was wrong with me, and taking a good hard look at the past few dates (and advice from family) I've come to the conclusion that while he IS a nice guy, dating him or feeling that 'spark' just isn't going to happen. And that's life. Trying to find the right time and way to say 'hey thanks, but no thanks' is the real kicker, and I still don't know how to do that. But after all of the ups and downs I will say now what I said when I was 16:

        Dating is for the young.