girls' day

saturday morning i got up and drove to glendale to spend time with kayla and hailie. since kayla got a new job i havent had a chance to barely even text her much less see her. so the three of us walked from her apartment to the americana and got crepes and then shopped for a couple hours. it was great.

when i got home jeremy had been cleaning ALL day and the house smelled bleachy and great. i quickly changed and rinsed my face (we were sweaty walking around outside) then went and picked up bridget and owen and headed out to pasadena to meet jennifer and kris for tea.

we had HORRIBLE service. it took more than 20 minutes for the guy to come and take our order and that was after kris got up and told him we were ready. then we waited a while for our stuff. it was hot. there was a fan but i dont know if there was air con. the thought of drinking something hot in there made me sweat even more. our food came and it was good. we all got these cute tiered tray with scones and desserts and finger sandwiches and fruit. yum! jennifer and jerimiah are leaving today for dallas so it was our last time with the girls from small group. we had a great time even if the service was bad. just getting a refill on my ice water took a really long time. the tea room was busy at first, whch is what we thought the problem was, but by the end we were almost the only people in there and it took them 30 minutes to bring the check. whatev.

my scone was delish ( i LOVE clotted cream) and my little sandwiches were good too. i had mango peach black tea and it was great. everyone liked what they ordered and owen was super well behaved the whole time.

i was glad to get home to our air conditioned apartment and watch more olympics with jeremy.

movie making

i am all for amateur film making and have even been involved in a couple of those projects. it is fun (and educational!). so last night when we got home from the gym and discovered people from our complex shooting in the parking lot it was like oh cool whatev. we waited until the director yelled CUT to get out of the car and slam the doors.

then we went upstairs and i cooked dinner and we took showers and watched tv and went to bed around 10:30. i was falling asleep reading (surprise!) so i turned off the light and snuggled in my covers to sleep. then i hear a guy yelling outside our door. what the hell? get the hell away from me? the hell you say? etc. our door is right at the top of the stairs, and i thought it sounded like a guy kicking his girlfirend out of the house and considered getting the baseball bat and going to investigate and see if the police needed to be called for domestic disturbance or something. then i realized that if he hit her he would certainly hit me for sticking my nose in and jeremy didnt want to get out of bed either so we double checked that the door was locked and tried to fall asleep again. then i hear him again. and again. saying the exact same thing and jeremy realized (i was a little too tired for hard thinking at this point) that it was the same poeple shooting the movie from the parking lot. apparently yelling outside of your neighbors' door at 11 o clock at night is considered ok if you are shooting a film. good grief. i was really mad, but not mad enough to get out of bed. im surprised no one (like the ten other families whose doors are close enough to hear these guys yelling and have kids who are trying to sleep and get up and go to school tomorrow) yelled at them to shut the hell up! go the hell to bed! etc.

i didnt sleep well after that, but at least i was clean.

the day before yesterday after my crazy step/sculpt class at the gym i came home and made dinner for me and jeremy. when i went to take a shower there was no water. our water had been completely turned off. he went to investigate and found out there was a problem in one of the other apartments so they turned it off and "hoped to have it back on by the morning." i was naked, smelly and really angry. so i got our baby wipies out of the beach bag and gave myself a spit bath and rinsed my mouth with mouthwash and got into bed. i still felt disgusting. i was almost asleep and jeremy woke me up and said the water is back on. so i got up and took a shower and then laid in bed wide awake and clean. for like an hour.

it has been a rough couple of nights at our house. hopefully tonight is a little less dramatical.

!m!

olympic update

misty may and kerri walsh.
repeat gold medalists in beach volleyball.
nuff said.

(where can i buy some kinesio tape? do they make it in hot pink?)

We took a sick day today and headed to the beach. Everyone take a deep breath before reading on: I got in the water and swam. That's right. Yall doing ok? No one hyperventilating? I decided I had been putting off the actual ocean swimming portion of my triathlon training long enough. Even though the lifeguard board said KEEP BOTH FEET ON THE OCEAN FLOOR OR YOU WILL DIE (it really did say you would die) I did it. It helped that I saw two other swimmers. I didn't make it very far and that water was freaking cold but next time won't be as scary. Go me!!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

more goodbyes?

jerimiah and jennifer are leaving us! he graduated from fuller in may and they are headed to texas for their next adventure. they leave in about a week. thursday night we had a big going away party for them - it was super fun. lance, kris and phillip hosted "the game" which is always a good time. we will miss them so much!

gold medal contender

thinking about the routine...

transitioning from the high to low bar...


from the floor to the low bars...

the dismount...

perfect 10. oh wait we dont give perfect 10s anymore. or start value: 6.5 execution: 9.675

she wins the cat gymnastic olympics.

cricket is amazing.

banned books week

banned books week is coming up at the end of september and i thought i would take a look at the list and see what books i have read from it and what books i might read beofer the actual celebration. the thought of banning books in general is so weird to me. i understand why a parents would want their child to read age appropriate material or why a christian school library would censor their books for content but the idea of a publie library being asked to take a book off the shelf is ridiculous. if you dont want your kid to read it fine. but you dont get a say in what other peopels kids can read. anyways...

some of my absolutely favorite books from my childhood have been banned somewhere.

black beauty. i must've read this book a zillion times when i was going through my horse obsession/wanting to be a vet when i grew up phase. south africa has banned it because it has the word black in the title. i'm not making this up.

the adventures of huckleberry finn, call of the wild, the lorax (Dr Seuss?? i am still not making this up!) other childhood favorites. cmon people.

the da vinci code - i am still unsure how a fiction book can cause so much controversy in the church. oh wait i forgot about the golden compass and dont even get me started on harry potter (parents want this one banned not just because it "teaches kids to use witchcraft," which is ridiculous, but because it teaches them to disrespect thier elders. as if kids need to read seven 800 page books to learn that. seriously - your kid wants to read a huge book like that and you tell them no? what kind of a parent are you???) and while i am up on this soapbox... what is so wrong about letting your child read something where the main character has a different value system or religion than you? if your kid changes his mind because of that one book you prolly havent done a stellar job of teaching them truth and how to discern truth when lies are presented to them. teach your kids how to think for themselves and give them a copy of the giver or the handmaids tale (which was a fantastic book). sheesh. OR... read along with your child and (gasp) talk about what you agree with and disagree with in the book. did i knock anyone out of their seat?

freedom writers diary - the movie was great and i have the book from teh library right now, coincidentally enough. now i really cant wait to read it and see what the fuss is about! oh no! racial slurs! because i never would hear one i real life so i better not read them either!!!!

i can understand why an elementary school would not put "the joy of gay sex" or "the peaceful pill handbook" on their shelves. im not crazy. i just think the second graders might enjoy the lorax and prolly wont get the "biting socio-political commentary." im just saying.

some of these people challenge a book based on things they have read on the internet. we all know everything you read on the internet is 100% true so i can see why they would skip actually reading the books they want banned. <>

but don't take my word for it.

!m!

swimming with the fishes

michael phelps et al are SO my inspiration for my upcoming triathlon. ocean swimming is really scary esp since the water here is so cold. i've been riding my bike to and from work every day and im almost ready to take it to the streets. kris and i are doing hill running tomorrow (ick) - the tri course is really hilly for biking and running. last year's fastest woman was 1:10.17. my goal is to finish under 2 hours. if i do that i will prolly place in the top 20 in my age group which would be amazing. maybe my goal should just be to finish though. we were watching the olympic road races - those guys were biking for 6 straight hours! it made my butt hurt just to watch them.

last night good old michael brought home his third (3 for 3! go my favorite sports swimmer go! breaka a goal unit world record!) gold and the mens gymnasts got a bronze. in the sport thats trying to turn men gay (aka men's synchro diving) our boys didnt really look that great compared to the chinese team. i was on pins and needles waiting for someone to crack his head open doing back flips. sheesh. i cant handle the olympic pressure from the safety of my own couch. can you imagine what a nervous wreck i would be if by some miracle there was a sport i could actually compete in?

in other news, in a world record i prolly could beat if there was a world record for this sort of thing... i have read 324 books so far this year, averaging 1.44 a day. yep. i am pretty proud. of course there are thousands of books on my to-be-read shelf on shelfari but i am tortoise-ing my way through it. it would prolly help if i didnt add more everyday than i read everyday. oh well.

pet peeve #27

i really need to take the sign off the front of rex that says "all slow moving vehicles please pull out in front of me and go 10-20 miles under the speed limit forcing me to slam on my brakes even though im not going that fast" - i dont know who keeps putting it on there... SEAMUS!

beijing opening ceremonies

having vr during olympic time is the best! jeremy and i started watching the opening ceremonies last night but i fell asleep just after USA marched so we are finishing them right now. the artistic portion of the ceremony was amazing.

my favorite parts:
the light-up drums - those 2008 guys were amazing - completely together and the way the light spread out and flickered on cue - wow!
the globe with people running around it sideways and upside down
the geography lesson i got from all those cuontries in the parade of nations that i had never heard of
the tai chi guys "manipulationg energy" in perfect unison in perfect concentric circles around the piano players
the little boy who escaped the runnle of his school after the earthquake and went back in to help save his classmates because he was the hall monitor and felt responsible for their safety. yeah i was crying when he was walking with the chinese atheletes waving the olympic and chinese flags.
the stamp pad with the olympic colors that all the atheletes walked across tha is going to tour china after the games are over
the 2008 guys wearing the light up suits and how amazing they were
the footprint fireworks walking to the birdsnest stadium

not as favorite parts:
the flying goddesses with the light up olympic rings - cool technology but boring
the membrane around the top of the stadium and the fact that the announcers kept saying the word membrane. not one of my favorite words!

so overall it was great and and i cant wait to wach actual sporting events for the next couple weeks!!!!

i can ride my bike with no handlebars... no handlebars

a lady at work gave me a bike and jeremy fixed it up for me. yesterday we went and bought a helmet and water bottle and bike chain/lock so today i could start riding it to work.

it is about a 5 minute drive and mostly in our neighborhood the whole way. when we leave the house there is usually still a foggy layer over the valley so it wasnt hot or anything. i am excited to start riding my bike to other places as well - i am already coming up with places within riding distance (the library, target, the grocery store, maybe the gym, kris's house...)

now jeremy needs a bike so we can strap cricket on the back and go riding as a family!

!m!

beach day fun day

today was beach day. jeremy and i slept in and then headed out to zuma. lottie met us out there and we hung out and i read a couple of great books (i am up to 309 for 2008) and jeremy boogie boarded and lottie read magazines. it was the perfect day. the sun was hiding behind a cloud but as we all know: just because you can't see the sun doesn't mean the sun can't see you! we got great tans without being too hot and sweaty like last weekend.

last weekend on saturday we got to go to my co-worker's son's first birthday party. isaiah actually turned one in may buit this was the first chance ceci had to have his party. i was glad she waited because we were out of town over his actual birthday. it was a really fun party - lots of kids (they loved the bouncie house and the pinata) and food.

last night we went and saw the dark knight. it wa amazing. heath ledger's the joker was an incredible baddie and overall cool character. the film was dark but the way the incorporated some of the other bad guys was really cool. there were other cool toys introduced by lucius fox and the plot of the movie was great too. g see it!

we are watching for your consideration right now and cracking up. i freaking love these movies - this is spinal tap is still my fave but this one is pretty funny too. rent it!

!m!

p.s. breaking dawn came out today and although i preordered it i dont get it in the mail until next week. what a crock! i just started the host though so i am getting my stephenie meyer fix anyways.

the brittle lens at whisky a go go

last week bryce and his band, the brittle lens, came to town. they played at the whisky a go go, a super famous club in weho on the sunset strip. bryce and hans stayed with us on wednesday and the band played on thursday night.

we met two couples down at the club: lance and kris and ryan and kim. we had a great time! tbl was amazing in concert - it was the first time jeremy and i had seen them play. even though we have all their cds and got to hang in the studio during the recording of the newest one, whisper to the bomb, seeing them live was an amazing experience. they had so much energy. john cracked me up dancing around. they were all sweaty and gross after their thirty minute set. tons of others of their friends and family came out for the show - tbl had the most fans of any of the five bands playing that night.

we helped the band load their gear immediately after their set was finished so the next band could set up. after the band was loaded in they came back into the club and hung out with us and listened to the last two bands. tbl was definitely the best (not that i am prejudiced or anything).

bryce anem boys left on friday around lunchtime (jeremy and i were back to work of course) heading to colorado and then nebraska to finish their nationwide tour. pretty much my brother is awesoem and famous and kris has all the original members of the band's signatures on her very own copy of whisper to the bomb. (hans did a nice job on the graphics for their posters and cd covers too... i am patiently waiting for my tshirt)

if you want to have a brittle lens cd of your very own you can order one on amazon or download friends, lovers and floors on itunes. or you can ask bryce.

check them out on myspace: www.myspace.com/thebrittlelens