Photos

The new photos are up from the past couple nights (Coronado and Old Town). Check 'em out if you get a minute. PS I am taking a lot of flower pictures these days because I am making a photo album for my Grandma's for Christmas (and I also want to get cool nature shots, because I have been thinking about maybe trying to put a book out one day of my photography, or maybe just publishing a couple pictures in National Geographic or something like that).

Enjoy them (and let me know if you see any ghosts in the Old Town shots)!!

Birds of Paradise:

Hotel del Coronado: (Some Like It Hot, with Ms. Monroe was filmed here)

Old Town kaleidoscope:

Mom in her PROM Dress:

Mom's senior picture... It's the limo that took her to her PROM:

We were nervous about going into the Whaley House:

We'll just consider him "Hector" and his headless doll... Doesn't it sort of look like it's my head on the doll... CREEPY!!

Daisies

I think I am going to like this new show: In 'Pushing Daisies,' a humble baker is able to resurrect the deceased. Word is, this new ABC series has a lot of life. It starts October 3rd, and comes in on a channel that my TV gets, so I think I'll be tuning in :)

Strawberry Shortcake / Angel Food Cake

[Got this in an email, but thought it was cute]
Pick your dessert, and then look to see what psychiatrists think about you.

Here are your choices:


1. Angel Food Cake
2. Brownies
3. Lemon Meringue
4. Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Icing
5. Strawberry Shortcake
6. Chocolate on Chocolate
7. Ice Cream
8. Carrot Cake



No, you can't change your mind once you scroll down, so think carefully what your choice will be..........



OK - Now that you've made your choice, this is what the research says about you....



SCROLL DOWN----No Cheating









1. ANGEL FOOD CAKE-- Sweet, loving, cuddly. You love all warm and fuzzy items. A little nutty at times. Sometimes you need an ice cream cone at the end of the day. Others perceive you as being childlike and immature at times.

2. BROWNIES-- You are adventurous, love new ideas, and are a champion of underdogs and a slayer of dragons. When tempers flare up you whip out your saber. You are always the oddball with a unique sense of humor and direction. You tend to be very loyal.

3. LEMON MERINGUE-- Smooth, sexy, & articulate with your hands, you are an excellent after-dinner speaker and a good teacher. But don't try to walk and chew gum at the same time .A bit of a diva but you have many friends.

4. VANILLA CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING--Fun-loving, sassy, humorous, not very grounded in life; very indecisive and lack motivation. Everyone enjoys being around you, but you are a practical joker. Others should be cautious in making you mad. However, you are a friend for life.

5. STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE--Romantic, warm, loving. You care about other people, can be counted on in a pinch and expect the same in return. Intuitively keen. Can be very emotional.

6. CHOCOLATE ON CHOCOLATE-- Sexy, always ready to give and receive. Very creative, adventurous, ambitious, and passionate. You can appear to have a cold exterior, but are warm on the inside. Not afraid to take chances. Will not settle for anything average in life. Love to laugh.

7. ICE CREAM-- You like sports, whether it be baseball, football, basketball or soccer. If you could, you would like to participate, but you enjoy watching sports. You don't like to give up the remote control. You tend to be self-centered and high maintenance.

8. CARROT CAKE-- You are a very fun loving person, who likes to laugh. You are fun to be with. People like to hang out with you. You are a very warmhearted person and a little quirky at times. You have many loyal friends.

The Whaley House

Mom and I will be checking out The Whaley House tonight. Here is what their website says about the historic (and HAUNTED) house. Hopefully I won't get too nervous (since I have to admit, I am quite a scaredy cat)!! Mom likes to watch the Haunted Shows, so I thought it would be great for her to see it up close and personal (too bad I have to go too, hehe, just kidding, I ain't sceeerd).

Few houses in San Diego are as historically important as the Whaley House. In addition to being the Whaley Family home, it housed a granary, the County Court House, San Diego's first commercial theater, various businesses including Thomas Whaley's own general store, a ballroom, a billiard hall, school, and polling place. Significant events, such as the siezure of the court documents and records in 1871, and the suicide of Violet Whaley in 1885 profoundly affected Thomas and Anna Whaley. These events, as well as the hangings which occurred on the property before the house was constructed, have suffused the Whaley House with an air of mystery and added to its reputation as something more than just California State Historic Landmark #65.

According to the Travel Channel's America's Most Haunted, the house is the number one most haunted house in the United States. The alleged hauntings of the Whaley House have been reported on numerous other television programs and been written up in countless publications and books since the house first opened as a museum in 1960. Although we cannot state positively that the Whaley House is really haunted, the voluminous documentation of paranormal occurances at the site makes a compelling case. But, if there are ghosts at the Whaley House, who are they and why are they here?

The earliest documented ghost at the Whaley House is "Yankee Jim." James (aka Santiago) Robinson was convicted of attempted grand larceny in San Diego in 1852, and hanged on a gallows off the back of a wagon on the site where the house now stands. The local newspaper reported that he "kept his feet in the wagon as long as possible, but was finally pulled off. He swung back and forth like a pendulum until he strangled to death." Although Thomas Whaley had been a spectator at the execution, he did not let it disuade him from buying the property a few years later and building a home for his family there. According to the San Diego Union, "soon after the couple and their children moved in, heavy footsteps were heard moving about the house. Whaley described them as sounding as though they were made by the boots of a large man. Finally he came to the conclusion that these unexplained footfalls were made by Yankee Jim Robinson." Another source states that Lillian Whaley, the Whaleys' youngest daughter who lived in the house until 1953, "had been convinced the ghost of "Yankee Jim" haunted the Old House." A visitor to the museum in 1962 mentioned that "the ghost had driven her family from their visit there more than 60 years [earlier], her mother was unnerved by the phantom walking noise and the strange way the windows unlatched and flew up."

Many visitors to the house have reported encountering Thomas Whaley himself. The late June Reading, former curator of the museum, said, "We had a little girl perhaps 5 or 6 years old who waved to a man she said was standing in the parlor. We couldn't see him. But often children's sensitivity is greater than an adult's." However, many adults have reported seeing the apparition of Mr. Whaley, usually on the upper landing. One said he was "clad in frock coat and pantaloons, the face turned away from her, so she could not make it out. Suddenly it faded away."

The specter of Anna Whaley has also been reported, usually in the downstairs rooms or in the garden. In 1964, Mrs. Whaley's floating, drifting spirit appeared to [television personality Regis] Philbin. "All of a sudden I noticed something on the wall," Philbin reported. "There was something filmy white, it looked like an apparition of some kind, I got so excited I couldn't restrain myself! I flipped on the [flash]light and nothing was there but a portrait of Anna Whaley, the long-dead mistress of the house."

Other visitors have described seeing or sensing the presence of a woman in the courtroom. "I see a small figure of a woman," one visitor said, "who has a swarthy complexion. She is wearing a long full skirt, reaching to the floor. The skirt appears to be a calico or gingham, small print. She has a kind of cap on her head, dark hair and eyes and she is wearing gold hoops in her pierced ears. She seems to stay in this room, lives here, I gather." None of the Whaleys fit this description, but the house was rented out to numerous tenants over the years. Perhaps the mysterious woman in the courtroom was one of these.

Another presence reported by visitors and docents is that of a young girl, who is usually found in the dining room. Psychic Sybil Leek encountered this spirit during a visit in the 1960s. "It was a long-haired girl," Sybil said. "She was very quick, you know, in a longish dress. She went to the table in this room and I went to the chair." Urban legend has it that this is the ghost of a playmate of the Whaley children who accidentally broke her neck on a low-hanging clothesline in the backyard, and whose name was either Annabel or Carrie Washburn. There are no historic records of any child dying this way at the Whaley House; nor is there record of any family named Washburn residing in San Diego at the time. It is believed that the legend was started by a one-time employee of the Whaley House, in an effort to add to the house's mystique.

Even animals aren't left out of the singular occurances. A parapsychologist reported he saw a spotted dog, like a fox terrier, that ran down the hall with his ears flapping and into the dining room. The dog, he said, was an apparition. When they lived in the house, the Whaley's owned a terrier named Dolly Varden.

The Whaley House stands silently watching over San Diego Avenue as it has done for a century and a half. Every day visitors come from around the world to tour the historic museum. It contains so much history within its walls, that even the non-believer will enjoy the tour. For believers and sceptics alike, the house draws them back time and again, in search of those elusive ghosts. As Regis Philbin once said, "You know a lot of people pooh-pooh it because they can't see it. But there was something going on in that house."

Sole

Congrats to Ryan!! He signed a contract with Sole Technology yesterday!! They are up in Lake Forest, CA (which I think the commute is probably like 45-60 minutes). He is going to be working as a Jr. Designer in their web department for all their brands. It should be a great opportunity and I am sure he will learn a lot. Here is the link to their site if anyone wants to check it out...http://www.soletechnology.com/.

CONGRATS BABE!! I LOVE YOU AND AM SUPER PROUD!!

PS. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for Ryan's job situation.

Weather?

They are predicting WEATHER for Friday and Saturday... Uh oh. I got on the weather website (weather.com) and wanted to check out the 10-day (seeing that I just got Mom and I Padre tickets for Friday night's game). And I saw this warning:

Special Weather Statement


1100 AM PDT WED SEP 19 2007

...STRONG SEPTEMBER STORM FRIDAY AND SATURDAY...

A STRONG PACIFIC STORM FOR SEPTEMBER IS EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LATE FRIDAY AND EARLY SATURDAY. THIS STORM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE WEATHER RARELY SEEN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN SEPTEMBER. RAIN COULD BEGIN AS EARLY AS THURSDAY WITH SHOWERS INTO FRIDAY BUT THE HEAVIEST PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED FRIDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY SATURDAY MORNING.

RAINFALL TOTALS WILL BE QUITE VARIABLE DUE TO THE SHOWERY NATURE OF THE RAIN. PRELIMINARY RAINFALL ESTIMATES ARE FOR ABOUT A QUARTER TO HALF AN INCH NEAR THE COAST TO ONE INCH ON THE COASTAL MOUNTAIN SLOPES AND FOOTHILLS WITH UP TO A QUARTER INCH IN THE DESERTS. THERE COULD BE LOCAL LARGER AMOUNTS OF ONE AND A HALF TO TWO AND A HALF INCHES ON THE WEST AND SOUTHWEST FACING MOUNTAIN SLOPES OR IN CONVECTION. ANY SIGNIFICANT RAIN WILL BRING THE THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING AND DEBRIS FLOW IN AND BELOW RECENT BURN AREAS.

THE COLD AIR ALOFT WILL CAUSE ENOUGH INSTABILITY FOR A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. THE SNOW LEVEL WILL LOWER TO NEAR 6000 FEET LATE FRIDAY NIGHT. LOCAL STRONG GUSTY WINDS WILL PRECEDE AND ACCOMPANY THIS STORM... MAINLY IN THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. THERE IS ALSO THE POSSIBILITY OF WATERSPOUTS OVER THE COASTAL WATERS AND FUNNEL CLOUDS OR EVEN A TORNADO.

SHOWERS WILL TAPER OFF SATURDAY AFTERNOON AS THE STORM MOVES NORTHEAST. PEOPLE SHOULD STAY INFORMED ON THIS DEVELOPING STORM.

Of course... Just our luck... I know we need the rain, but I also know that I would like to go to the Padres game and I would also like my mom (and everyone else flying this weekend out of SD) to have a nice flight... I guess we will just have to see.

Photography

I love pictures (if you can't tell I take a LOT of pictures)!! I got this email with a TON of cool pics, so I thought I would post them.