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

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!

this morning, around 11:45, we had the biggest earthquake i have felt so far since living in california. it was centered in chino hills, about 45 minutes or so from us. i was in the lunch room taking my lunch out of the microwave when i felt the tremors and started freaking out. i am very thankful there were four other more earthquake experienced people also eating lunch. they immediately got under the table and when the shaking stopped we headed outside. a lot of our kids were scared and all the adults were on their cell phones trying to get a hold of their kids and spouses making sure everyone was ok.

i was hungry and cranky that my lunch got interupted... scared because earthquakes are one of the scariest possible thing to me... trying to settle my heart from beating so fast and trying not to sweat to death in the sunshine... instant messaging with jeremy and making sure he was ok...

sheesh. natural disasters. give me a tornado or hurricane or blizzard any day. this forest fire and earthquake business is for the birds!

i hope cricket is ok!!!!!

sequoia 2008

this year (our third annual trip to sequoia) we drove up on friday with lance and kris. ryan and kim were already there (they spent the night on thursday night too). when we got there we set up our tent and then ate dinner. we spent the rest of the night around the campfire talking and laughing. there was a huge family at the campsites surrounding us with a yappy dog, screaming baby, and drunk 15 year olds. it was super fun and peaceful.

saturday we woke up, ate our eggs in a bag (always a winner while camping), and packed all six of us into lance and kris's suv to see grant's grove and buena vista point. the video below is the view from buena vista point. you can see 360 degres of mountains, trees and blue sky. it really is a good view!

we hiked (very leisurely) around most of the morning then headed back to the campsite for lunch. jeremy and i stayed behind while the other four people went on another hike in the afternoon. after a yummy dinner of taco soup we took a long walk to the amphitheater for a ranger talk about night hikes and nocturnal animals. he taught us how to call coyotes and owls and the noises that bears and raccoons and skunks make (oh my!). i know how to talk a skunk down from spraying though. hopefully that is a useful skill that i never have to actually use. we saw several deers walking to and from the program. lance almost got two of them with his frisbee but barely missed. it was pretty awesome though.

we got the fire going again for smores and made friends with our new quiet neighbor whose friends punked out on him and was lonely. he came over for breakfast too on sunday. :)

sunday morning we ate and packed and stopped to see general sherman and the sequoia museum on the way out of the park. the general is starting to really get his gangsta lean on... he might topple over at any point in time.

we made it to bakersfield for a late lunch at sonic - ryan had never been! can you even imagine such a thing??? kris and i wanted to stop at a sporting goods store so we stopped in santa clarita to buy swimming goggles and swim caps. we started training for a sprint triathlon on sunday. man oh man.

(general sherman's footprint)

what a weekend. we saw two bears! one on the way into the park and one on the way out. we also saw tons of deers, including an 8 point buck, which was cool. i got seven mosquito bites which was not as cool. ever since taking accutane when i get a mosquito bite it turn into this huge bruise as it fades. it is sick. so one of my bites is conveniently located on my neck. cant wait for the big bruise on my neck to appear. classy.

Fool me twice... You can't fool me again

Cricket knows now that when we pack our bags we are leaving for some amount of time. She climbed in my bag after I unpacked it - apparently we are not allowed to leave again without her.
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just park it already...

i found this info in an old readers' digest...

the average time you spend looking for a parking space is 8 minutes.

100,000 hours and 47,000 gallon of gas are wasted annually by parking space hunters in ONE urban shopping district (and there are hundreds? thousands? across america)

if you just parked your car and walked for 8 minutes to the entrance of the store you would burn 40 calories.

the moral of the story is stop being so wasteful. just park in a spot and walk. you will save time, gas and money (cancel the gym membership! never have to buy "fat" clothes!)

the end.

fiction, nonfiction, and ????

so we all know what fiction (romance, sci fi, fantasy, "literature") and non fiction (history, biographies, boring books) books are. that is taught in elementary school and even though i used to get confused (NONfiction seems like it should be NOT true) im good now.

last night in the car jeremy and i were talking about books in general. we both just read i am america (and so can you) by stephen colbert. we agreed that it was hilarious... but was it fiction or nonfiction?

are religious books or inspirational or self help books nonfiction? if a person did not subscribe to the belief system that the person was espousing (good word huh?) then that person would think the book is fictional but typically people agree these books are nonfiction (i think). what category would humorous books go into then? authors like dave barry, erma bombeck and stephen colbert have some basis in truth when they write but they exaggerate and make things up for comic effect. is it fiction then?

we couldnt fall asleep last night worrying about this. ok thats a lie - i was asleep as soon as i turned off my light as usual. but i am worried. is there a semi-fiction category mrs. veenstra forgot to teach me about? how in the hell did i graduate with a 4.0 GPA from a private school and receive a college degree if i dont know these simple things?

Laundry Time

Cricket is such a good helper. This morning as I was sitting at our bar drinking my coffee she asked if I could help her with the laundry (she has a hard time carrying the basket AND the soap AND the quarters downstairs). I told her that I have to go to work to bring home kitty chow and kitty litter and kitty treats. She said that's ok mom I'll just do it myself.
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