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.

I had to do a bit of an "ode to Dan and Beth" after I saw Will's blog with the picture of the table on it.

The couches in these pictures are a wonderful although well used contribution also made by the shack cousins. These couches have been fought over and coveted and at one point I almost lost them. They may need to be retired some day but right now they are well used and well loved.

The picture on the right is on permanent loan from Daniel and Bethany as well. Thanks to Carol, most of the cousins have a copy of her art work some where in their house.

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News about my car....

Today I was on the phone half the day with the insurance company of the guy who hit me. It's the military insurance company and I only have good things to say about them. Everything has gone really smoothly and today made me even happier to have had to deal with them.
I was on the phone with the agent who was telling me what the company could give me for my totalled car. I kind of was expecting to have to haggle and not really get enough for the car. I was hoping to get maybe, 1300 for it, maybe a little more.

A side note is that when I get nervous something happens to my brain and I don't hear things right especially when it comes to numbers.

So, the agent tells me a whole bunch of numbers that pertain to my car. I'm writing them down as he's telling me them and for some reason it didn't seem like the amount I needed. I can't expain what happened to my brain but it just stopped working. I told him that it didn't seem to be blue book price and I needed at least blue book for the car. He then quoted the numbers back to me and I again said that it didn't look quite right and could I call him back in a few minutes. He agreed and I hung up. After calling my dad's office and he wasn't in I called my mom at Biola. I told her my dilema and she asked me to tell me what the numbers were. I said 1...9...7...2... and eighty three cents..... She said "that sounds like you're getting above what you wanted". After talking to mom, Chris called and he confirmed this fact. I was in acuallity getting much more then I needed and when all was said and done, a little more than I had paid for the car in the first place..... wow.

I sheepishly called back the helpful agent and I gave an embarassed laugh and said that the quote sounded quite fair. He must have really thought I was a wierdo. Turning down money because it "wasn't blue book value".

*sigh*

NEW BLOGGING FAMILY MEMBERS


Welcome Erin and Jim to the fun of blogging. Erin I'm so glad you have an outlet for writing that we can all read. It's really a great way to stay connected with people you care about.

Today was a day of insurance calls. The reason being that this past weekend a very large double cab truck backed into my poor little Toyota. I was in it and had a front row seat to my hood buckleing and my grill getting crunched. I beeped my little horn and then just sat there in a state of contemplative unbelief. The most promanent thought I had was "oh this poor guy is not going to have a good Saturday".

Anyways, his insurance company is dealing with it and so far have been nice to work with. Hopefully I will have a sparkely new car by next week. Preferably a black vw beetle with pimped out getto tinted windows and lots of attitude. In reality I'll probably end up with a nice sensible Kia or something else with a good warrenty and lots of good rateings behind its name.

"Lurking in the kitchen"


While talking to sister Heidi tonight we got a bit hysterical over this phrase.

I used it in an explanation of a dilema I had tonight with my lovely roommate. Earlier this evening I got really overly emotional about having her boyfriend/future husband over for dinner and tv watching. As it turns out we had both had a very long day and needed different forms of relaxation that required the main living area of our small apartment.
I just wanted to putter around the house in my pj's and use the computer, clean the chin cage and just nest in. She needed to have her significant other come over and have dinner with her and veg out with him.

The dilema that I had was that I really had nowhere else to go to be comfortable. I was completely at a loss. My room is hot and a mess, and the bathroom is out of the question.... and I don't want to "lurk in the kitchen all night".
While telling Heidi this we burst out laughing because it was such a funny picture, this brooding person skulking around the kitchen suspisiously with some ominous music in the background.... da dunt, da dunt......... all very dramatic. I have to admit that when I got off the phone I felt much better.

I then realized that I have been in her shoes before and haven't been as thoughtful or flexible. Regretfully I've been thoughtless towards past roommates in the midst of my bliss. It's easy to do and feel righteously justified in the moment. blechh... Funny how a new perspective changes everything.

Everything is so big when you're three



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Musings about manic days


There are just some days where I can't handle alot of noise. When I turn on the radio in my car I can only handle classical music or little amounts of talk radio, no fun raucous rock or peppy country music. Today was one of those days. Everytime I would turn on music or there would be too much noise in the salon I felt overwelmed. Usually on days like this I just go about my day and bear it all the while getting more and more exhausted. Luckily today I had a big break in my day so I came home and slept for about an hour. It was LOVELY. It gave me just enough energy to finish the rest of my customers with relative politeness.

It's so funny to me how one day can be almost manicly great and fun and the sky is so blue and the air is so fresh and every song I hear makes me want to dance and sing and then other days are just so blah... I prefer the manic fun days. Of course I like the days that are just in between as well. Sane, comfortable, relaxed, normal.
Life is compiled of all these kind of days and as I've begun to see, one bad or unbalanced day or one fabulous day doesn't define my life. It's just one day in the midst of thousands of others. Ahh, that's a comforting thought.

A couple of snippets from the family vacation.



We went to Ventura for three nights and had a really relaxing and special time together as family. I probably could have gone for two more nights but it wasn't meant to be.

The first Pic is of Madeline with the furby that I bought on a whim thinking it woud be a fun time killer for the kids. It really turned out to be a bit of a pain and we all spent time telling the furby "I love you furby" and "hey furby, how are you?" and then trying to look up the furbish words that he would say. It got a bit tedious after while.



This picture was just two cute to leave out. Our little sam and "aunty Erin" having a special little moment before we all left to go home.


Some of the highlights were

1. digging a very large and deep sand fort at the beach. (thanks Jim and Erin) And seeing the kids revel in it.
2. Abby losing one of her front teeth
3. getting a chance to read my 'Harry Potter' book.
4. sleeping on a very comfy air mattress.
5. sitting around the camp fire and at night.

Yesterday I was listening to my usual crass morning talk show on the radio. I listen to it because most of the time they are really funny but there are about equal amounts of vulgarness as well.
I've tried listening to Christian radio in the morning when I get ready but I just can't hack the cheesyness factor. Trying to be positve all the time no matter what because anything less might be a downer and Christians don't like downers.... blechh

Anyways, I turned on the radio yesterday and the hosts had a psyhcic (s)? on the air. I was about to turn it off (because I do have some standards) and one of the dj's started to tell about a dream he had the night before. Here's about how it went.

"Last night I dreamed that Jesus came to me. (other hosts snickering). He was walking towards me with his hand up in the sign like the pope makes and he had MILLIONS of angels behind him. I mean millions and millions of angels. So he comes to my bedroom door and is looking at me. I sit up in bed and say to him 'wow Jesus, you roll deep.' Then he looks back at me and laughs like an amused laugh. and then he leaves."

I was hooked on the story and my scalp had a little chill because that's a magnificent picture of Jesus to me. A powerful, kind and interested leader, with millions of angels behind him like an army.

I was curious to see what the psyhcic had to say. So he pipes in and says " Oh I know what that means, it means 'be aware! You have gifted child'"
I just sat there in my car and laughed. Talk about goofy.

Now when I think of that story I can't help but smile, thinking about Jesus 'rolling deep'.

To the beach I go!!


Well, after tommorrow, I'll be making my way up to the beaches of Ventura for a few nights with the fam. This is the second summer that we've gone on a family trip with Erin's new hubby. Last year we all went up to Big Bear for about a week and it was so fun that we decided to do the same kind of thing this year accept at the beach.

I much prefer the beach to the mountains in the summer. For some reason last year I felt so crotchity up in the mountains. There were probably a few factors, being out of shape, hills to climb, altitude change and the fact that as I get older I'm a little less flexible. Actually the flexibility thing includes my attitude and my joints. Getting down on my hands and knees to get into my tent, accidentally rolling off my air matteress in the night, having to walk a ways in the cold dark campground at night to go to the bathroom.....
I've always thought of my self as a trooper but I wasn't feel'n very hearty on that trip.

It's funny but that trip was a bit of a wake-up call to me, that first of all I need to be able to roll with the punches a little better and second I want to be in better physical shape. Both of those make life alot easier to live, and alot more fun. Goodness gracious i was only 28 last year!
I've made a little progress in both areas and hopefully by next year I'll be ready to backpack around the world with no map! Now that would be fun.

By the way, sorry if all the colors on this blog are distracting. I just can't help myself!

When I walked out of the salon tonight, I noticed that the air had a fresh and surprisingly cool feel! Yeah, things may be cooling down a little!

I'm a little ways into the latest Harry Potter book and loving it. I bought it when it came out and started reading it and then realized I had no idea what was going on. It then clicked that I hadn't read the last one. So, after many pages and a slight reading headache I've embarked on the 6th book. I usually like to have a couple of books going at once. For some reason that keeps me interested.
While I was reading HP I picked up a copy of "Blankets by Craig Thompson, at Borders. I took it home and read the whole thing in an afternoon.

Maybe it was the intensity of the read or the subject matter, but it really affected me. Some of the situations in the book really resonated with me and touched some core beliefs. It's kind of a guy book because it's told from a guy point of view, but most 20 to 30 something's who grew up in a Christian environment would relate. Some may love it and of course some may totally hate it. But I can almost for sure say that you won't have nuetral feelings about if.

For Ellie, Here are some pictures of Bubba. I heard you liked chincillas. =)

For everyone else, as much as I think Bubba is the cutest thing around I won't be putting pictures of him up everyday. I know you are all soooo disappointed...Oh well....




Top - Actual size of sqirmy chin.
I found that by holding him this way he can't jump away so fast.

Left - favorite hiding place. (favorite box to chew)

Below - The nice thing about chinchillas is that they can be potty trained. Despite his dignity I had to get one picture.

A couple of pictures....



I couldn't continue without a picture of the mischievious chinchilla, bubba. Not the best picture of me but a rather cute one of him... I couldn't get him to stay still for more than a couple of seconds.



Me on the left, mom and sister erin, out today at the california grill in good 'ol Whittier.
My family is just so wonderfully amazing, and on days like today I can't help but be incredibley thankful that I have them.