Stuff

One of my new friends from Anthropologie is a photographer and by that I mean a real one. She is trying to build up her website so I got to have my VERY own photoshoot last week. I probably won't get a 5 page spread in Cosmo, but they turned out pretty good for a beginner. On our way to the beach we stopped for breakfast in Brentwood and sat next to Helen Hunt. I didn't ask her for a picture because A-it looked like she had just rolled out of bed and B- I felt like she needed some time to herself. I did however get one of her backside and side profile
and my breakfast which was amazing
Moving on to my photoshoot in Malibu







If anyone needs a photographer and not just in California, call her because she is THE BEST and will hook you up!! Her website is jobimanson.com
On Friday night we went on a double date with Kathryn and Jeff. Randomly I went to highschool with Jeff and he is in our ward....small world After a yummy Indian dinner we went to the Observatory which is this amazing planetarium that looks out over like 50 different cities.
Jeff and Kathryn
Overlook of Hollywood

L.A. and the smog
Contest for who could come up with the most creative pic with Einstein. I think Al and Jeff tied.



Famous Griffith Observatory
We also went to the L.A. zoo which was fabulous.
Apparently there is Malaria at the zoo.....makes you feel good right before you go in Random animals at the zoo




This zoo has the prettiest grounds. I felt like I was in the middle of the jungle in some parts
Al loves Lions
This guy has this ridiculously big lens and I thought it would be funny to take a picture Al wanted me to know what it's like to be a giraffe, so he put me on his shoulders.
I love giraffes



Al is almost as long as the California Condor
Here we all are at the Los Angeles Zoo......next zoo is Santa Barbara

Dear Senator

In light of the healthcare bill that was passed through the House of Representatives this weekend, Al decided to write our senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, about the healthcare bill the senate is working on. Here is the letter they got from Al today...

*****PLEASE CONSIDER******
Healthcare. By implementing a public option you are crippling hospitals, doctors, surgeons, specialists, medical device companies, pharmaceutical companies, and ultimately the patients they all serve.

The quality of physicians will decrease because the public option will reduce their salaries so the most gifted and intelligent students will search out fields that will reward them and their families financially for their years of hard work. Today those people are surgeons, oncologists, and specialists that make up the best healthcare industry in the world. Post public option those people will search out other fields with PRIVATE companies that are more lucrative than the healthcare industry that will be enslaved to the gov't run public option.

A larger issue is the money! WHERE IS 800 BILLION DOLLARS COMING FROM? You will enslave the American people by putting them into debt that can't possibly be repaid! If I understand the argument correctly for this it is that over 10 years we will reduce the budget by 80 million dollars? I truly hope this isn't your financial analysis of this bill. You feel free to find me a company or investor that would invest 800 billion dollars for an 80 million dollar return in 10 years!! That is quite possibly the worst investment I've ever heard. If this bill is really about REDUCING THE BUDGET I believe you and I (mostly you because you're obviously more qualified) could sit down in 5 hours and find 80 million dollars in our budget that is being wasted or not used efficiently! I am confident that 80 million dollars is "wasted" in Medicare alone EACH YEAR! Fraud, overspending, and inefficiency are the common themes I see from Medicare, so If we're talking about reducing the budget lets not spend 800 Billion to do so.

Lastly, If you or any American would like to peer into the future to see how the gov't would run a healthcare plan look no further than Medicare! Medicare is a public option available to elderly people in this country. It is the most inefficient, poorly run, and least profitable healthcare plan in the country! If you were offered the opportunity to start an organization with the leadership and principals being a group of people who run a business that is going bankrupt, would you start it? That is why I don't want to start a public option with the very same people who run the Medicare program that will be bankrupt before it ever pays for my first annual check up! It is unfortunate, but I would say the gov't is far and away the least efficient and poorly run organization from an economic standpoint in the country. You and I have both heard stories and seen gov't workers who make $XX,XXX per year and their job is to sit at a computer and answer an email once a day. Or we have driven by a group of 5 road construction workers and 4 are leaning on their shovels while 1 is working. Those are mine and your tax dollars paying for that. Do we want a healthcare system run by that same organization? I do not.

I have told you only a few of the reasons I oppose the legislation being talked about in healthcare right now. Let me be a contributor and not a detractor. I am in favor of healthcare reform. It is necessary and eminent for this country and I applaud those who work so diligently to realize that goal. I am in favor of the professionals and companies that have built the greatest healthcare industry in the world sitting down, setting specific goals to benefit their patients, the American people, and coming up with a plan to remain profitable while lowering the cost of their GREAT service and making that service available to more people. I firmly believe this is possible without the poisonous intervention of the American gov't. Think about the miraculous and unthinkable things that have been accomplished by private and public companies in this century. Think of the advances in technology and medicine. It's like a fiction novel. Had we not lived it we wouldn't believe it. So let us use that same resource, that made this country the world leader it is today, and reform our healthcare system to a point that those who work in the industry are proud to do so and young scholars still dream of being doctors while more of the American people enjoy the greatest healthcare industry in the world and at a cost that allows all of us to provide for our families the way we want to.

I am almost resigned to the fact that the party lines are drawn in this debate and no words or testimonials could move you across that line, but a small part of me still believes in the great principals that our founding fathers built this nation on. I hope my voice, the voice of on American citizen, a healthcare worker, a patient several times over, and a provider of a family, will be heard by you, my representation, and that you will consider the effects of your signature and vote in this important legislation.

Legoland

I FINALLY got to go to Legoland!! I met my Aunt and Uncle there and spent the day looking at Legos.Blake and I with Pirate Lego guy
Blake getting his face painted. I thought about getting my painted before I went home to suprise Al.

The Three Little Pigs

Legos Legos.....Everything is Legos
This was probably the coolest one......A lifesize Volvo made out of Legos

Me and Lego Cop.....Oh yeah
I thought we were in a candy store until I walked up close and realized they are legos....suprise
Mary and Lego Pirate

This dragon was awesome
I wanted to ride these horses with Blake. I was over the age limit, but under the weight limit....what 13 year old weighs 170??
The Govenator
Next is Miniland which was my favorite. They have probably 8 major cities all made out of Legos. Here is the presidential election
Look close and there is Obama, his wife, and kids behind them
Wooohooo back in Las Vegas on the strip

The Getty Chinese Theatre
San Francisco
Miniland doesn't miss any details. Here are the seals on Pier 39
This is a Lego Shop where people work to build miniland. If you look closely you can see a guy sitting behind a desk most likely building things out of legos
Bionicle Man and Blake
Bob the Builder and Blake. We even got to watch a Bob the Bulder movie in 3D!!
and me and Darth. Janae if you're reading this tell Raymond and Henry I took this picture for them:)
On the way out of Legoland a mom and stroller built out of legos....hahah
Legoland was so much fun. I probably won't be back until we have kids or if someone else comes to visit, so until we meet again Legoland.

It's Official!!!

We're officially California residents!! I don't even want to think about how many hours we spent at the DMV or how I didn't know California gives you a written driving test, but we did it and here are the new licenses. Could they take a worse picture??
Oh and thank goodness we finally got rid of the Nevada license plates. My car looks so much better with the clean and pristine white one. Thank you California!! My license plate doesn't really say JRJRJR, but since there are a lot of creepers out there (and believe me I know a few) I figured it would be best to remain a little low key.