thanksgiving

yesterday jeremy adn i met some of our friends out in la canada flinthills to run a 5k turkey trot. it was jeremy's (and all our friends) first race. there was live music, lots of dogs, and people with turkey hats (made out of fabric NOT real birds). we had a great time and at the end felt like we really earned our big meal! since my training for this race was lackluster at best, i didnt get a PR or anything. there was a couple of long slight hills that made the run really hard! all six of us finished within about 5 or so minutes of each other and we got free t-shirts AND helped feed the hungry. not a bad day's work... and all before 9 am!

jeremy and i came home and showered and put our pjs back on. we just ate dinner by ourselves and hung out and watched g.i. jane, the macy's parade, and football. it was GREAT! i madea turkey breast with apple cranberry stuffing, green bean casserole, cornbread, and mashed potatoes. we bought a pumpkin pie but when we went to eat it is was moldy!!!! we almost cried. hopefully we can get one at the store today. the cool whip in the fridge is lonely.

things i am thankful for:

jeremy and cricket

my friends and family

rex the yaris

my bike (i li-i-i-ike my bi-i-i-ike)

aquaphor

high heels

fraxel

a job and health insurance

my blackberry

los angeles public library

dvr

what are you thankful for?

The night before

The night before a big race it is important to get a good night's sleep and good nutrition. So the night before our turkey trot jeremy and I hit the blue room with dan and emily. Nothing like g'n'ts and darts til 2am. Woot woot!
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flowers and thorns

when i worked in ford hall we used to have staff meetings and we would go around the circle and say one happy thing and one bad thing that happened that day or week. there were all sorts of cutesy little names like flowers and thorns or rainbows and stormclouds etc. kinda lame.

flowers:
jeremy fixed the shower so now we have better water pressure than before. my showers last night and this morning were amazing. totally changed my outlook on life.

i have 1.5 days of work left until a four day weekend.

thorns:
i woke up today with a headache. nothing worse than that. i had a really crappy night of sleep i guess.

i got a flat tire on my way to work today on my bike. bah. i have to walk the bike home and thankfully jeremy knows how to fix it or replace it or whatever. he sure is handy!

in other news, which could fall under the thorn category i guess but is a really long story: several years ago, when the series had just come out, i drank the twilight koolaid. i own all the books in hardcover and waited ever so patiently for the fourth book to come out, devoured it in a day (thats an 800 or so page book!) and was ever so slightly disappointed by the way it ended. i am not planning to see the movie because i think the guy who plays edward looks ridiculous and has stupid hair. maybe i will rent it to avoid the hoardes to teenage girls who cheer everytime he does anything on screen (this actually happened to a friend of mine. im not making this stuff up). anyways, i am still ever so slightly obsessed by the series and am planning a re-read as soon as i get back the books i have out on loan. so when i heard that stephenie meyer was rewriting book one (twilight) from edward's perspective and calling it midnight sun, i was ecstatic. something to look forward to. yay!

my friend cara (another obsessive compulsive reader like myself) saw that ms. meyer had posted chapter 1 of midnight sun on her website and read it, then encouraged me to do the same. i resisted knowing that once i pop i just cant stop and it would be worse to read part and then have to wait. then, yesterday, i was reading a news article about the movie and they mentioned that stephenie had indefinitely postponed the release of midnight sun. say it aint so! so i went to her website and read all about it. someone leaked a copy of a manuscript she was working on and now she feels like she isnt "alone" with the book and lots of pressure so she is going to wait a few years (!) and try again. in the menatime she posted the leaked copy on her site so i had to read it. i couldnt stop myself.

the thorn in all of this (or the biggest thorn) is that the manuscript only goes until about the middle or so of twilight. although i obviously know what happens from bella's perspective, it is so interesting to hear what edward has to say... and now i wait. and wait. for the clamor to die down, for stephenie meyer to write anything else (her stand alone novel the host was great too- no vampires, just aliens that steal people's brains. doesnt it sound completely ridiculous? but it is SO good!), for something great to happen and the rest of midnight sun to magically appear.

i always feel like i am waiting for something. looking ahead and being excited about future things isnt wrong but spending too much time dwelling on that stuff can prevent living in the moment. my yoga teacher told us to pay attention to our posture. some people lean back when they sit, some people lean forward, some poeple sit straight up. it can be indicative of your thoughts - do you dwell in the past, look to the future, or live in the here and now? i am definitely a forward leaner. what are you?

That time of year

Today is our 3 1/2 year anniversary. (Our 42 monthaversary). Aw. Jeremy brought me flowers home on his lunch so they were here when I got home. I love him!
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my panties

are you completely scadalized yet?

i got a card in the mail (like victoria's secret often sends out) for a free pair of panties and $10 off any bra. so jeremy and i went to the mall and hit vs whilst we were there. when we walked in a saw a big sign advertising a sale on their cotton underwear (my fave): 7 for $25. so i picked out 8 new pairs and we checked out. 8 pairs for $26.56. not too shabby.

tonight i did the wash and washed all my new undies (i actually hate the word panties but it is so provocative which i love). i also washed old undies which i knew i was going to throw away.

is it weird that i wash underwear before throwing them away? throwing away dirty underwear completely grosses me out. am i crazy? anyone?

divorce

thats a big ugly scary word.

as a disclaimer it is NOT a word we use in our house, nor will we ever.

it is however a harsh reality that millions of families (including mine) deal with. jeremy and i struggle with the idea and with our family members and friends who have gotten divorced or are contemplating it and the stress and drama that inevitably ensues. it is hard and it sucks.

i read this article in relevant magazine (check it out - it is great) that i am posting a link to below. it is interesting and from teh perspective of a christian man who recently went through a divorce. i'm glad i read it and i think you might be too.

severance

!m!

My first autographed book

She wrote it gaelic "scotland forever". Love it!!!!
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what a crazy road trip!

so my friend cara and i are totally crazy. we deicded a month or so ago to drive to flagstaff to see one of our favorite authors give a lecture and sign books. so yesterday, at 4:40 am, my alarm goes off. i got up and made breakfast and got ready and she picked me up at 5:45. then we hit the road jack.

after a stop in victorville for coffee and in needles for gas we hit the arizona border.

we saw some crazy cacti that had fur, a golfball shaped house, and some really interesting street and landmark names.

for example: holy moses wash, devil dog road, and doug dog road. we have friends who have a dog named doug and we call him doug dog. love it! also now cara and i can keep saying holy moses wash instead of oh crap! heehee.

so we got to northern arizona university and ate carls jr for lunch. more on that later. we found our way (eventually) to the liberal arts building where diana gabaldon was givng a lecture and signing books. she talked about getting oublished, how she went from being a scientist to an author (start writing!) and her upcoming work ( a graphic novel, movie options, and the 7th book in the series. is it fall 2009 yet?) after she was speaking we lined up and got our copies of outlander signed. so exciting. then we got to meet her and take a picture with her.

then we drove around the university some more, and after accidentally finding ourselves back on the freeway headed to los angeles and having to turn around and come back, we found gabaldon hall, which we can only assume was named for diana since she did graduate from NAU. all of the people who live in gabaldon hall looked at us like we were crazy but we often get those looks so who cares?

not like i will see anyone i met that day again except for... CASSIE! she it the residence life coordinator at reilly hally at NAU so cara and i got to see her apartment and she took us out to dinner at oreganos, a local (awesome) italian restaurant. when cassie came around the corner to the front desk of her hall i realized we were dressed the same. black t shirt, black sweatshirt and jeans. even after living apart for years we still got it! then we drove all over creation looking for a shot glass for armando (seriously he better appreciate us! mulitple stops at multiple bars who all said - no we dont have any shot glasses but we do have pint glasses - how is that even close to being the same thing????) and back to her aprtment to change into our sweats before making the 7 hour drive home.

so i am officailly adding carls jr to the list of fast food that i will never eat and would rather starve. the list currently consists of only jack in the box (jack is so freaking creepy). then there were two. i got food poisoning. have you ever been disgustingly sick at 1 am after being awake for 20 hours in the middle of a seven hour car trip. SO not fun. we had to make more than a couple stops ont he way home - i am very familiar with multiple gas station bathrooms along the 40 now. so check that one off the bucket list.

when we got back into familiar territory along the 5 we saw huge flames and smoke coming from the mountains near the valley. we switched from our road trip cds (cara loooooves the brittle lens!) to the radio and listened intently as they talked about evacuating sylmar. this is really close to where my boss lives and we texted her and so far havent heard back. i am freaking out. multiple houses have burned down and there are still rescue workers out there trying to control the blaze 12 hours later. cara's husband fran is a police officer and he was called out there and spent 8 extra hours helping out. the wildfires here are awful. right now we are safe and prolly will continue to be but lots of people arent. so that totally put a damer on the end of our crazy road trip day.

now after sleeping for several hours i am awake and so happy that i got to meet one of my favorite authors! you can read her blog at: voyagesoftheartemis.blogspot.com

Crazy hair lady

When I went to the bathroo at work this morning (this was after riding my bike and i always wear a helmet) I realized that I was crazy hair lady.

Then multiple people said they liked my hair. Who is crazy now?
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malibu camping: the second edition part deux

saturday morning we rolled out our sleeping bags around 6:30. eleven hours of sleep. not too bad. we made our eggs in a bag then ran across the highway to the beach to call sarah and ryan and let them know which site we were at and to bring a ladle because i forgot mine and soup is hard to stir and serve without one.

then we waited. i worked on one of many baby blankets that i am making (everyone is having a baby except me, which i am totally fine with for now) and we played bocce. the sandbergs showed up at noon. we cooked sausages over the fire and then took kia to the beach. it was her first trip and after overcoming her fear of the waves/tide she started attacking the waves as they rolled back to sea. it was pretty funny. then we went rock climbing.

i made it to the normal person height and then ryan and jeremy decided to take that a step farther and climb all the way to the top. i was happy that jeremy has life insurance and scared for sarah because ryan doesnt. those crazy monkeys. kia halfheartedly attempted to follow them but didnt get very far.

the weather was perfect. i was in a tshirt and shorts for most of the day then put on longsleeves at the beach. but i got some sun in the morning! my cheeks were pink on sunday. :D i love socal!!!! we headed back to camp and played laddreball. we girls won the first two straight (with some great tosses under pressure by yours truly) and ryan changed his mind about playing best out of three to best our of five. then the boys won two straight and then it was getting dark so we had to stop. we ate taco soup for dinner followed by the most amazing licorice i have ever tasted from trader joes. it tasted like gushers without the squirty stuff in the middle. yum! after dinner the wind was really picking up so the five of us trooped into our tent to play some games. we played a dice game that i was horrible at and then this french card automobile game ( i was going to write card car game but thought everyone would think i just typed card twice and once poorly) called milles bourne (i think?). ryan and i versed jeremy and sarah. we lost but it was SO much fun. i am going to have to find that game and order it. kia was very well-behaved in the tent, staying on her blanket and occasionally emitting the most powerful stenchy gas ever. glad we had the windows open!

sunday morning we ate breakfast and packed up. the wind (love those santa anas!) was insane and we could even fold up our tent so jeremy just shoved it in the trunk to deal with later. sarah had to get back to reality for a rehearsal (christmas show rehearsals already!!!) so we left early-ish in the morning.

we took disappointing showers and unpacked. cricket was SO happy to see us - she was hungry! she had licked her can of food completely clean and her food bowl had crumbs in it. she still had plenty of water and she is in no danger of starving to death if you know what i mean. but it did make for a joyful reunion/welcome home!

malibu camping: the second edition

jeremy and i went out to pt mugu state park this past weekend for anoth camping trip. we headed out friday afternoon and the sandbergs joined us saturday at lunchtime. when we arrived friday afternoon the sun was already setting so we drove around and picked our spot (only a few spots away from the spot we had last time!) and told the ranger whic one we were in. when we turned around the loop again to park and unload there were two cars parked in the middle of the road with green stuff coming out of one of them. we managed to squeeze past (i love our subcompact yaris!!!!!) and park and started setting up the tent and getting stuff out for dinner etc. while watching the drama unfold between the two carfuls of people who had been in an accident. a big truck with two women and their dogs (dog friendly camping - kia sandberg came and it was fun!) backed into a jeep cherokee with teenagers/college aged kids (i was prolly only a couple years older than them but the way they were acting was waaaay more childish than i ever acted in college so they seemed like kids) and the jeep was leaking antifreeze and the front bumper was dented. the kid took several pictures of the accident and they exchanged insurance information. he called his gma or friends or somebody and was whining about how his car was totalled (it SO wasnt) and he needed a ride and was waiting for the police blah blah blah. he was SO annoying. over an hour after the accident had actually happened he finally walked over to the ranger station (a whole 3 minute walk) and told them about the accident and asked them to call CHiPs. by this time our tent was set up and i was cooking dinner while jeremy was blowing up our mats and arranging our bags (setting up house). at least an hour after this the CHiPs finally arrived.

please keep in mind that this asshole kid (there is really no other way to describe him) REFUSED to move his jeep out of the road. this is a one way road so he was basically blocking EVERYONE in. it was ridiculous. we had to move our car and people had to offroad to get around him. he kept saying "you have to go around. my car is totalled and i am waiting for the police." this is also after the lady who backed into him said "it was my fault and my insurance will pay for it." there were no injuries. he was just being annoying to all of us.

when the CHiPs arrived the first thing they did was ask if they had exchanged insurance information. check. the two officers looked at each other like why the hell did we have to drive all the way out here then? then they made him move his car. then they took some photographs and left. they were there for about 15 minutes. and it prooly took them at least 30 minutes each way to get to the park. great use of our resources stupid jeep driver. the truck lady had waited around this entire time to be nice even though there was no legal obligation for her to do so. as soon as the CHiPs took her statement she went off to her campsite to set up her tent in the dark.

then the tow truck arrived to get the jeep (and the kids, thank god) out of there. we had finished dinner, cleaned up and were just sitting by the fire, drinking and watching. it was total redneck entertainment. when all the excitement had died down, we went to bed. it was 7:30. yep. i love camping!

test results

the doctor called on monday (after i had to call him and remind him that i was waiting for him to call me) with my test results from the biopsies he took during my colonoscopy a couple weeks ago. there were no signs of cancer or pre-cancerous cells or dysplasia (which may be the wrong word because i think hip dyplasia is something golden retrievers are prone too). so thats a big wahoo!

the downside was he said there was inflammation correlating to mild ulcerative colitis. so although i feel great, my insides are still a little bit sickly. so i have to keep taking my medication for now. boo!

maybe when i see him in six months he will give me other better news.

View from the top

This is a five minute walk from our campsite. We could hear the waves crashing last night as we fell asleep. Wonderful.
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rain rain (seriously) go away

saturday was our friends', sarah and jason, wedding day. we were asked to go out to the university where they were getting married on saturday morning and help set up the tables and chairs etc and decorate. the wedding was to be held outside the building where mosaic has its offices and near where the pasadena campus meets. her dad made a sign to hang over the address on the building. so cool.

we spent serveral hours in the morning hauling stuff, winding fabric around the trees, moving food to the kitchen (including many many many flats of bottled water), etc. (this was after jeremy and i had been up until 3 am on halloween night). by lunch time we were tired and sore and hungry so we came home to eat and shower/get ready and rest. oh and to watch kstate get slaughtered by ku. incredibly depressing. we got dressed and headed back for the afternoon ceremony.

everyone here knows that it rains about 20 days of the 365.25 in a year. what are the odds that one of those days would be their wedding day? as everyone took their seats for the ceremony it started sprinkling. then raining harder and harder. finally we all had to go into one of the nearby buildings for shelter while all the men set up tents and moved all the reception stuff we spent the morning setting up inside. eventually the rain stopped and sarah still wanted to get married outside so the guys all dried of the chairs and we trooped back out and re-sat down. they got the ceremony going and right after they said their vows it started sprinking again. umbrellas popped up all over the place. thankfully this bout didnt last too long. sarah and jason were so happy and had amazing attitudes about the whole process.

sarah's dad perf

ormed the ceremony and when he asked if jason would take this woman and sarah would take this amn and they both said "i will" he said "AWESOME!" which was hilarious. after the ceremony (they did a unity sand art instead of lighting a candle which was cool) we moved inside for the cake and other desserts and the dance etc. jeremy took his turn during the dollar dance but we werent able to dance together at all. i was majorly disappointed. after the bridal party dances were over the dj played all fast songs and weird songs. (and some really inappropriate songs like promiscuous girl. seriously???? and big pimpin but NOT the edited version. which is fine for chillin in your car with the subs pumpin but not so cool when there are kids and grandmas listening). no slow songs, no swing songs, no linedancing songs. it really sucked. the best part of their reception was a photo booth where you go in and it takes four pictures that print out in a strip just like normal photo booths at the mall or wherever but the cool thing about this was it printed out two strips so they could keep one for their scrapbook and we could put one on our fridge. yay! this picture of us was after we got home. my face is weird. i was so tired and cranky after being on my feet almost all day, in the rain for most of it (it was sprinkling in the morning too) and sad that i didnt get to dance with jeremy. plus at the very end right before we did the sparkler exit, we took a group picture and the poeple i was standing next to were really rude. and the photographer kept changing her mind about what she wanted us to do. HOWEVER, the photos of the bridal party are insanely good. you can see them here. seriously. even if you dont know them, look at their pictures. awesome. sarah looked so gorgeou (like she doesnt in everyday life - yeah right).

thats it. in spite (or prolly because of) the rain, the wedding was gorgeous and there was an amazing sense of community among everyone attending. it was cool. and im so happy for them and that they are finally married!

shower pressure

one of those things you take for granted until it is gone. we have enjoyed great shower pressure at both of our apartments in la. our new one has some temperature control issues but we were learning to deal with it. all of the sudden, last week (after the water being shut off unexpectedly for the 7th time since june), the shower pressure has dwindled to a gentle rainfall. which is nice if you want to enjoy the weather change, but not so nice when you are trying to rinse soap off your back and shampoo out of your thick long(ish) hair.and our temperature choices are burn-your-skin-off hot or ice-age cold. all of this makes for an extremely unpleasant situation in the mornings before coffee.

they told us it would be fixed by monday and it wasnt.

im cranky. apparently, i really rely on the water beating down on me to wake up.

they better fix it soon. the future of the free world is at stake.

i voted. did you?

here is a sad but true statement about my voting in this election. i cared more about prop 2 than the presidential vote. part of that comes from knowing i live in a blue state, and part of that comes from not really liking either of the two main choices all that much. i almost voted for the green party (cynthia and rosa) but two women in the white house is just crazy talk (besides the fact that they would never ever win).

the funnier thing is, prop 2 wasnt even the gay marriage prop that was super hyped.

all i want is for all the chickens to be able to stretch their wings and have enough room to turn around in their cages. prop 2 passed overwhelmingly so thats good. (even though it is dangerous. and risky. and may cost me money. those ads are so ridiculous.) since we buy free range eggs anyways it didnt matter.

the thing that irritated me about watching election coverage was the news station (we were watching nbc) calling the race for obama at 8:01 pm (PST). obviously he has won by a pretty healthy margin and i think at this point it is indisputable but last night when california had barely closed the polls and there were still lines out the door at most polling places on the west coast and 0% of precincts were reporting in how can someone call the race at that point? and mccain just rolled over and made the phone call right away. he didnt even say wait and see. oh well. his speech was gracious and (hopefully) unifying. obama's kinda drug on and on. i stopped listening.

but it is pretty cool that i got to see our first black president. someday my kids will be studying this in senior government and i can tell them all about the historic election. so thats cool.

the most important point i have heard anyone say is for all of us to remember that washington d.c. isnt the end all be all for the world. and that our god is WAY bigger than the united states. hard to believe for us egocentric americans, but he could work through john or obama or cynthia and rosa.