Blurry pictures are sometimes my favorites. They are usually very unprepared and thought about only in the very last couple of seconds before the picure is taken. Even though they are a pain to look at, they usually can capture a moment that wouldn't have been captured if it were planned for. I love this picture of Chris because he looks like he's amused, relaxed and happy.

At first I wished it were sharper but that would have taken a steady hand and some preperation that would have included me fiddeling with the settings on the camera and then having Chris look over and notice that I needed help in trying to capture the lighting correctly, and then the moment would have been gone.

((News Flash))

Big news in So Cal. WE ARE EXPERIENCING WEATHER!!! Finally after a typically beautiful summer, today is the first rain of the Fall accompinied by real live thunder and lightening!
Last night while driving home, quite late, I saw huge jagged bolts of lightening all around me. Spectacular.
Any bit of weather is an event and it just gives me waves of much needed joy to look outside and see rain coming down.

I'm sitting here trying hard not to fall asleep but I know that I want to put these pictures up quickly. Today, Chris and I continued our new fun hobby of finding good places to hike. There's a beautiful wilderness area over the hills from Malibu that is just breathtaking. As soon as you walk for just 5 minutes you can only hear the noise of bugs and water (and the occasional fellow walker). Chris lead the way on a great trail that ended at a little lake/creek.

There were some very high rocks that he wanted us to try and climb. I didn't think I could handle it because of my fear of heights, but after he did it and I had scoped out a good way up, I was able to conquer my fears and climb it. I was very proud of myself for fighting the urge to just sit at the bottom and later be bummed that I didn't try. Chris was a great encouragement the whole day. When I thought that I couldn't go any further he would would gently push me to go just a little bit more. It's really amazing to know you can do something you didn't think you could before. He put up with alot of "I don't think I can's" and "I'm tired's". Thank you Chris.


This picture is at the top of the rock climb looking down a the lake. It was pretty steep.











Here's a picture of the way up.











I couldn't capture how breathtaking the scenery was, but I tried!


The thistle picture was taken by Chris.

"Bubba the terrible" (or, not so terrible but just really cute)....


A couple of pictures of Bubba being especially naughty. The paper he's chewing on he pulled from my desk. He made pretty good work of it.




The picture on the bottom left, is pretty typical of him trying to find a way out of the "play area". If I'm not careful he can jump over pretty much any barrier or sqirm under pretty small openings.

The problem with too much - an observation


Have you ever noticed how the over use of something takes away it's meaning. Like when I was younger, it still happens sometimes, but I would say a word like "stove" and it wouldn't sound right so I'd repeat it out loud or in my head so many times that it was only a sound that had no meaning to it. stove stove stove stove stovestovestovestovestove......

Anyways, today I was listening to a favorite cd and one of the songs was so good that I tried my new 'repeat' feature. Needless to say that song has lost a little bit of it's poignancy. I thought for sure that listening to the song over and over and over and over again would for sure make it better. Alas, I was wrong. I can still sing only half the song with conviction, actually not even half. There's a line in the song that keeps coming back to me and drowing out all the other words which is annoying not only to me but anyone in ear shot who hears me singing that one line absentmindedly over and over again.

So, I guess everyone was right all those years when they said that more is not always better.... it's just more.

Today called for a hike in the local hills. Chris and I have been trying to do some more "active" activities and one of the things we have enjoyed lately is hiking. Here are some of my favorite pictures.



The left is a picture of a local monk who happened to be hiking with a friend. I tried not to be too obvious in my picture taking.

There is finally a touch of fall in the air and it's making me really happy. I've come to the conclusion that the changing of the seasons is one of the things that keeps people happy and sane. (or at least me sane).

Speaking of things that bring sanity or happiness, my roommate just gave me a 'take five' candy bar and I don't think I've tasted something so yummy since a very rich peice of baclava about three years ago. Well, there are other things that are yummy too, but different kinds of yummy. There's good sushi with friends yummy and large steak and sweet potatoes yummy and then there's gourmet baby green salad with feta cheese yummy.... that's alot of yummy... and yes, I could go on. For some reason that candy bar was just really good. First because it was small, second because it has peanut butter, chocolate, crunchies and caramel. And third, at that moment I was craving chocolate. Perfect.

On to a new subject, I just returned from seeing the movie "Red Eye" with a friend. I was a bit aprehensive about the idea that it was a scary movie but this particular friend and I have a thing about going and seeing movies that we might not normally see. Leading us to see "Dragonfly" a few years ago and a few other forgettable films as well as some good ones as well.
This movie actually turned out to be great and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It wasn't too psyco, but more of a hang on to the edge of your seat drama thriller. There were a couple of moments where I had my ears plugged and my jacket over my face... but other than that I loved it.

"Deep thoughts brought on by buying a BRIGHT red car."





I never would have chosen red as my first color but it's beginning to grow on me a bit.

I wanted something less noticable and more dignified like silver or black but I think that I'll become quite fond of this jazzy, not so dignified, look at me color. It's funny but although I wish I was the kind of person that drove a hip yet mellow kind of car, I'm coming to terms with my sometimes deeply distressing yet completely real personality that likes living hard and being noticed (not for being cool) but for being fun or funny. When I try to supress that and desire to be something I'm not like "hip and suave", it comes out really goofy and stilted. It's also kind of uncomfortable.

It's funny that buying this bright red car and driving it around has opened my eyes in a new way to what God wants from me in my journey through life. To rest in the knowledge that who I'm made to be is good. Bright red, sometimes undignified and spastic, funny and sensitive, complicated and at times embarassingly simple. I'm beginning to taste what it feels like to be free.

All from a car......

I had to sit down and write a quick paragragh to celebrate a triumphant end to car shopping.

Yesterday, my dad and Chris went with me to Pasadena to look for just the perfect car. We stopped into the Pontiac dealer to look over the Vibe. It was stick shift, and had roll down windows and was red but I was willing to look. I test drove it and wasn't head over heals for it. It was the price I could afford but I was't quite ready to settle yet.
Chris suggested that we wander over to the Toyota lot to look around. The night before, my dad and I had looked at a very nice Matrix in Whittier and our two hours of dealings turned up nothing. So we were both a bit sceptical about looking there. But we did anyways.
My dad had an advertisement for a Matrix at a very reasonable price. It was a five speed but it had power windows.
To make a long story short, we got a very good salesman who wheeled and dealed and got me a red, automatic, power everything, Matrix for the same price as the paper deal.
I was bowled over by the proccess and it took half the day but I got a very nice car out of it.
Having Chris and my dad there was wonderful because they both know how to lighten tense situations and they both had me laughing much of the time.

I'll put a picture of the car on here as soon as I can get the car. Due to insurance issuse I couldn't drive the car off the lot yesterday so I'll have to wait until Tuesday to get it. *sigh*

Cookies, swimming, movies, and plenty of fun were the name of the game at my house today. I included a few of my favorite cookie decorating pics but didn't get any of the other activities. Abby also got a haircut (ala gretchen) and a manicure and pedicure (not by me).

As birthday's came and went I realized that I really wanted to do something fun with my nieces to celebrate. Since they live a bit far from me I decided to do an overnight celerbration which would allow a bit more time for fun. It turned out to be really fun. This is a 7 year old celerbration.
Madeline's 9 year old birthday is coming up at the end of this month and I'm already making plans.


So many pink cookies! All beautifully crafted by Abby.




She put alot of thought into the task at hand. We ended up making four plates of cookies and taking two of them to grammy and poppies house and one to Miss Lindsey from church. The other plates went to gma and gpa cox and the dehart family. There are lots of pink cookies floating around tonight!





One other highlight from our day was Abby losing a tooth in the middle of "Madagascar" at the dollar theater. I kept it in my purse the rest of the movie.