I am aching everywhere…

well, I got sunburned this weekend and I can’t move. I am so stupid… although I used sunscreen (I thought I was getting really good with remembering to use sunscreen in these extreme temperatures, last weekend proved me wrong again…), I got burned on my calves and back. I can’t believe it.
Well, let’s tell the story from the start… Friday after work we had the Bookclub over for a BBQ. It wasn’t an offical bookclub meeting really (since we didn’t read a book because -yes I admit it – I didn’t manage to pick something to read). I had been pretty busy at work wrapping up my projects that I couldn’t even think about reading). So Stoyan, Claudia, Scott and his co-worker came over and with Maria and Aaron, we were a group of 8 people. It was fun!

I got a call from Regine that night and she asked if I would be interested to go the coast on Saturday with her and Elcin (both girls were at the dessert party – remember?). I thought that was a brilliant idea, since it was supposed to get really hot again and you can’t pass up the opportunity to get some cooler air at the coast. I asked Maria if she wanted to come along and so we left for Davis at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Elcin and Regine had rented a car, so we put our stuff in their car and were off for our adventure :)

We first drove to the Muir Woods lookout and it was kind of overcast and foggy when we got there. As you can see here…

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We drove a little further north after that to Stinson Beach and all of a sudden the clouds were gone and we had beautiful sunshine. We hung out at the beach for a couple of hours talking and lying around [and that’s where I didn’t pay attention to the spots that I hadn’t put sunscreen on].

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We had a good time though and laughed a lot :) From there, we drove up to Mt. Tamalpais where you have a beautiful view over the whole Bay Area. We had to take a little hike up the mountain, but the view was just gorgeous. A few clouds were coming into the Bay and it just looked amazing. Elcin couldn’t stop talking about the beautiful “stratocumulus clouds” [you gotta know that she’s getting a PhD in Athmospheric Sciences ;)]

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Around 6 p.m. we headed back to Davis and Maria and I had some dinner at Bakers Square – we could of course not resist to have some pie for dessert ;)
It was a very nice day – besides the fact that I was really exhausted from the heat, sunburned and possibly a little sun stroked. I went to bed pretty much right away.

On Sunday, I had agreed to meet Tatjana at the Arden Fair Mall. She needed to go shopping and wanted to see me again before I leave. Maria came along, because we wanted to go to the grocery store to buy stuff for Aaron’s birthday [which was today] afterwards.
It was really funny, because we went bra-shopping with Tatjana since she needed a strapless bra for a dress she is going to wear at a wedding next week. It can be quite entertaining when three girls are looking for bras *lol* :) as there were so many weird colors and all these supposedly “shaping” bras that just look ridiculous on you when you try them on.
We had quite a laugh in the fitting room! :

Well, and today was my last day at work… it was kind of weird, I must say. I expected it to be quite laid back, but it turned out to be a very busy day actually. I had to finish up some stuff for Gerald and also give him an overview over the projects I had been working on.
At lunch time, Gerald and Michelle took me out for a “good bye and see you soon” lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I had never been there before, but it was awesome :) I had a Grilled Shrimp & Bacon Club Sandwich and afterwards they made me order a piece of cheesecake (which fortunately we split among the three of us!) It was delicious :)

They were both kind of sad to say good bye and told me that they hope to have me back soon again. Gerald really complimented my work again, which was a great feeling!
I ended up staying at the office till 7pm, because I had to clean up my computer (didn’t want to leave private files on there) and also had to clean up my desk. ;)

Then we celebrated Aaron’s birthday tonight. Three friends had come from San Francisco and they made their own Sushi for dinner (I was actually still full from lunch and skipped dinner completely).
Later on, we went for a swim in the pool… Maria and I hadn’t really planned on going swimming, but ended up taking a swim in our clothes *lol* [I have to say that we did that voluntarily and weren’t pushed in by the guys or anything ;)]

Well, and now it’s another 8 days until I will be back in Germany… start the countdown ;)

P.S. Don’t read further if you’re not up for yet another exhausting visa-related story… I had mentioned that I needed to get my degree translated and evaluated, right? So I found out about this company in New York who does it and I faxed them my documents last week Monday and requested a 3-day service, because I needed the documents back pretty quickly. I didn’t get a confirmation or case number from them, so I called them Wednesday to make sure that they had gotten everything and they told me on the phone that someone was working on my case. Didn’t hear from them for the rest of the week and decided to call them again this morning. They were all confused and apologized, but said that my case hadn’t been completed [just great :( not that I needed the documents yesterday], so they asked me to fax the documents again and that it would be taken care of today (!). When I hung up, I was like whatever, this is no news to me.
Fortunately, they kept their word this time and faxed me a copy of the translation and evaluation in the afternoon (which I forwarded to my sponsor company) and I’ll get the hardcopy in the mail.
I hope everything is taken care of now… wouldn’t be surprised if there is still more to come though :(

  1. that looks like a great weekend (except for the sunburn :nono: )! and you’re off work now — freedom, sleeping in and looking forward to home and US!! :-D can’t wait, girl! and i think it’s amazing how one gets calmer about crap happening after having to deal with crap for so long (like you and your document-visa-crap..). it’s just not worth to sweat it, i guess. still unbelieveable… :mad: but you’re here soon and hopefully will have your new visa in no time then. *crossingfingers* :heartbeat: :heartbeat: :love:

  2. Welcome to your holidays! I hope you´ll manage to get all the private things done until you´ll head to Ventura. When will you actually go there? Thursday? Friday? Don´t stress yourself, hun…yeah, I know, it´s easily said.
    Love ya, hun, soooooo much! 13 days left…??:heartbeat:

  3. Pretty pictures!!! Too bad you got sunburned. Poor Sunny errr Sannie! ;-)
    I love the Cheesecake Factory! So yummy!! Especially that cheesecake. Mmmmm!?:yes: I hope to see you soon in Germany, that would be awesome!!
    Love ya!
    Sanna

  4. cutiepups, no wonder that you dont have to comment my posts if you write long entries like that…?:laugh: sorry about your sunburn, the pictures are awesome though!!! seems like you had a great time. happy for you! i miss you!!! 8 more days, wow. time goes by fast. did you use WES? i used that, was very weird as well….anyway, enjoy your last week there and i hope i will see you too sometime….?:coolman: love and hugs??:heartbeat:

  5. Sounds like an awesome weekend :-) I hope you have the best time ever when you go home :-) so many people are waiting to see you again :-)
    Love the pics!!
    ?:heartbeat: Love ya
    Cathy

  6. that sounds great – except of the trouble getting those papers translated… hope your sunburn is gone, mine is still here??:( but once we meet at ilka’s b-day-party it will be gone??:lol:

  7. Sweetie, a long story!! Good for you, you needed a little bit of adventure??:rolleyes: !
    You’re next one is coming!
    ?:sunny:Susi?:sunny:

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