As SoCal continues, we are finding more and more fun things to do here in California!

First off, we discovered that California is a bit more livable than we were initially led to believe. We've heard how "expensive" it is in Cali. However, after a while here, we realized that a lot of it has to do with rent, taxes, expenses and all those other things. It's very possible to VISIT California on a budget, living here just takes a lot of patience and willingness to get charged more taxes for random stuff.

It's also great to have family out here. Every Wednesday, Alleigh and I have dinner with my Nana and her boyfriend Bernie. We even bring Finnegan along and he behaves himself (mostly...)

Visiting Nana!

We also went to my Aunt Marcy's new house for a 20-person Passover dinner! It was one of Alleigh's first experiencing with Jewish holidays and the mishegas that goes along with it. There was talking over each other, one upping of stories, cursing, clumsily stumbling our way through the prayers and traditional observations (pausing to explain significance to the goy in our midst) and all the other delightful little slices of family Jewish ceremonies (where most of the attendees are not Jewish...)

At Passover!

Another fun gathering we went to was a annual Beltane party hosted by Danielle of the Washing Well Wenches in SoCal. Set up in their AMAZING log cabin style mansion nestled in the mountains of  Idyllwild, CA, we were treated to killer food, awesome friends and roughly 30 degree weather! I played a bit of music, accompanying Ian of VanaMazi on a solo gig. There was even Whipped Cream Shots dispensed by the talented Kaitlin Chin suspended from silks attached to the ceiling. Knowing so many talented people and getting to celebrate both our talents and the emergence of spring was a ton of fun and we can't wait to do it again sometime :)

Apologies for the shiny flash but hey, I'm in one of the pictures!!

Now we are looking at friends coming to visit, work to be done around the house and a possible upcoming Disney trip! Meanwhile, we continue strong with our gym routine, pet care regimen and planning new, exciting adventures ahead.

Oh! I also made a fun new personal website to act as an online business card or basic profile for booking music gigs (which I decided I am going to do more of). I used Wix.com and didn't add too many frills. I hope to get some good video examples of my playing soon so I can add those to the site.

It's at http://gideon019.wix.com/gmcs

More to come as SoCal adventures continue!