Halloween Bash

Last night I went to a very extravagent party with Angie Lee, her boyfriend, Kyle and two girls, Wendy and Julia. Angie knows the hosts, the Iannitti's, from the school she works at.

Angie, Wendy and Julia

This party was crazy! There was a huge line to get in and you had to be on the list.
A couple of these guys were waiting to greet us (they were on stilts):

Here is the entrance to the party (including one of the bodyguards)

The theme was "Killer Clowns from Outerspace" and the clown/circus theme was throughout.

Once you were given a write band, you had to go through a haunted house (filled with killer clowns, of course) you were led to the party. There were carnival games when you got there, along with circus-themed food such as funnel cakes, popcorn and peanuts.

Once you enter, there was a walkway that were filled with circus freaks.

Here's the contortionist (she was completely in this box before I snapped the picture):

The Fat Lady:

Conjoined twins:
This guy was putting nails in his nose, putting swords down his throat--you name it!

Here is the view of the rest of the party from the upstairs:
There were two ways to get down to the rest of the party: taking the stairs or sliding down! Here's Angie sliding down and having fun!
There was a professional photographer set up to take our picture when we got downstairs, as well as a snowcone machine. In tent there was acrobatic entertainers as well as other circus acts.

An oxygen bar was set up, so Wendy and I tried it. Here's Wendy with the tubes in her nose!

We all danced for about 45 minutes or so. There were acrobats performing above us:

The one thing that none of us could get used to were the women who were walking around naked (painted with body paint). They were hired to dance in various areas. Bleck.

Here is Angie and Kyle:

Oh, I forgot to mention: I went as Snow White and surprisingly no one else was dressed the same. Considering there were about 1,000 people there, that was amazing.

Haiti Hunger Dinner

Last night I went to Kings Harbor Church's Haiti Hunger Dinner. The dinner was $10 for dinner-but the catch is that you don't know what type of dinner you will be getting.

Angie met me there and we both ended up getting a yellow card, which meant that we were Third Worlders--those that live in the third world. Chris Cannon, the pastor, ended up getting a yellow card too and made quite a stink about it. We had to wait to be "seated" and served, so Chris began the chant "Hungry! Hungry!" and everyone waiting in the foyer joined in.


We were finally let in (last!) and seated in the Third World section. The First World represented America and everyone in that section were served a 3-course meal and champagne to drink. The Second World was also seated, but they were served a buffet dinner, so they had to "work" for their meal a bit.

The Third World was seated on a VERY hard floor. There I am in pink! Can you tell I'm repositioning myself to get comfortable?

We were served from huge stock pots filled with rice and beans and we weren't given any utensils. Some people got creative and either ate with a cup or tore off a piece of the paper plates the food was served on to use as a shovel.
As people were eating, we saw a video and then Peter Knutson sang a song ge write. His family just adopted a little girl from Haiti, Eveyline. The process took them 2 years (and she has brain tumors so it was a very stressful two years). His song was about trying to understand why things are the way they are in Haiti (poverty stricken) and why the process took so long.
It was a great way to show people in a tangible way how different life is in poor areas. I got the picture after sitting on the floor about two minutes! My back was killing me. But I had a good experience.

By the way, the pictures were taken by Lucas Simmons, one of the short term missionaries to Haiti. His website is www.lucastheexperience.com if you want to learn more.

Counting the Days

The other day I got to talk to my nieces and nephews on the phone. When I was talking to Rebecca, she said, "I'm happy you will be coming for Thanksgiving." I said, "Me too. I am excited. I am counting down the days." In typical, detail-oriented Rebecca fashion, Rebecca asked "How many days?" I was totally caught off guard since "counting down the days" is a general expression! But, you know kids, they take things literally, so I had to scramble to try and figure out the number of days left. It was quite funny!

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving--I'm taking a whole week off!!!

Today I went to start my estate planning...I feel better already about getting things settled. It's been a concern of mine since my mom passed away. Since I am single, I have to think about that kind of thing in advance so I don't have to think about it after it's all set.

Fulfillment Fund Stars Gala

Yesterday I left work early to volunteer at the Fulfillment Fund Stars Gala. I am what they call an "Alumni" since I was a recipient of a college scholarship from their organization. As an alumni, my job was to sell $60 raffle tickets to the attendees prior to the dinner starting.

When I got there, I thought that it would be a snap to sell tickets to rich people. The event cost $2,000 per seat, so I figured $60 was chump change. Well, I was only able to sell 8 tickets! Of course, a lot of the attendees were at corporate tables, so they weren't necessarily uber rich.

Other than my failure to sell more tickets, the event was a lot of fun! I sat at table 231 where I met a man who actually survived breast cancer. He was quite young. I was impressed he was talking about it so openly (it came up because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month).

Ryan Seacrest opened the night with his story...he really worked hard (and at menial jobs only semi-related to radio) and he related his plan of taking it step by step to reach his dream to what the Fulfillment Fund is all about--helping kids become equipt to make their dreams come true.

Fulfillment Fund has a very strong mentoring program, so a woman came out to introduce the winner of the Gary Gitnick Inspiration Award (Gary Gitnick is the founder of the Fund and a really nice man...I had the opportunity to get to know him when I went to the Sun Valley Writer's Conference back in 2002). The Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villiagrossa, was to help with the introduction. I'm not a huge fan of his, but he's a man of note.

John Fogerty, former lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival, was the musical performer. He was introduced on stage by Christian Bale (star of The Dark Knight as Batman), who has a really interesting accent. Very cute in person. Fogerty was very entertaining. Many people got up and danced.
The main honoree was Thomas Tull, CEO of Legendary Pictures. He was the executive producer of The Dark Knight and other popular movies. He seems like a very down to earth guy. He mentioned that Brandon Routh (who played Superman in Superman Returns) was at the event also, so if someone was looking for a super hero, Superman and Batman were on hand. When he said Brandon Routh was there I flipped my head about saying to myself, "Where? Where?" I'm not a huge star-gazer, but I'd LOVE to meet him!

This event also included a very short auction. There were only about 4 items. I was helping with that as well, but it was so small, I didn't do anything but stand there.

The evening was closed out by Kate Beckinsale, who complimented the speakers by calling them "Kick A--". Didn't expect that from her!

After the festivities, all of the Fulfillment Fund staff and alumni picked up the auction paddles and kleenex boxes. Here's Tatiana, a FF staffer, putting some kleenex boxes away. If you would like to know more about the Fulfillment Fund, go to http://www.fulfillmentfund.org/. Here are more pictures (the first ones are of Brandon!!! sniff sniff). http://www.dailyceleb.com/production/?view=event&eid=5953&PHPSESSID=b727b00927b1883e3ea874e436a8d751

Alan Shlemon and Stand to Reason ministries

Greetings, my friends!

I just got back home from a very full Sunday. I started my day by getting up and driving to Manhattan Beach to go for a 3 mile walk. I hadn't been to the beach in quite some time so I thought I would do it this morning. Well, it was a nice day for walking and I enjoyed it very much. There was a triathlon going on, so there were lots of people to watch.

After my walk I went home and got ready for church. I went to the 11am service at King's Harbor. I saw a girl, Alex, was sitting alone, so I sat with her and caught up a bit about what's been going on. I hadn't seen her in over a month. I was also glad to run into Sherry, a girl I know who had just gotten back from Mexico and was wishing she could go back.

From church I went straight to Jazz Thompson's house, where he was hosting a luncheon to introduce the ministries of Alan Shlemon and his work with Stand to Reason. Stand to Reason is an organization that trains believers to persuasively, yet graciously share their Christian convictions with anyone.

I've known Alan over 10 years, meeting him through my sister, Erika. Erika is good friends with Alan's wife, Jenn, and Erika's husband is good friends with Alan. Due to this connection, I knew a little bit more about Alan's work with apologetics. He is a generalist, so he talks about a lot of very meaty subjects like homosexuality, abortion, evolution, etc. If you are interested in learning more about it, go to http://www.str.org/.

After almost everyone left, Jazz, Beth, Alan and I had a very interesting conversation about almost everything. Here's Jazz and Beth:

Horizontal

As I sat and reviewed the happenings of my Saturday, it occured to me that I spent a good majority of it horizontal. First, I slept in, if you can call an extra hour sleeping in.

Second was my 9am appointment at my chiropractor's office for my deep tissue massage. Boy, those massages are a killer. Apparently, but not surprisingly, I have serious knots in my lower back muscles! Julie, the masseuse, worked on those knots, as well as the ones in my shoulders (due primarily to me typing at a key board all day at work), for an hour before I was passed off to Dr. Perry for my usual stretches and reallignments.

The stretching I am referring to is also horizontal in position. I have to lay on my stomach while he pushes on my lower back as he pulls the bottom half of the table up and down. It's the best stretch of the lower back I've experienced. Then it was time for my adjustment. I think the massage helped because he usually can't crack both sides.

From the Pro-Active Wellness center I rushed over to my other horizontal appointment at Alegria Medspa for laser hair removal. Smooth legs are my goal in life. Sad, but true. What else do I have to strive for in life? Once this goal is complete, I will have no other desires to triumph over future challenges as they will pale in comparison. ;-)

At 2:15pm I met my friends, Liz and Colleen, at Regal Cinemas in Palos Verdes. We went to see "The Dutchess" staring Keira Knightley. I thought it was an okay movie, but I could have done without the pseudo-lesbian scene that is in it. I don't believe either Liz or Colleen liked that either.

Since we were in PV already, we planned to hike the fire trails after the movie. We finally have some fall-esque weather here in California, so I wore a jacket to protect against the cold wind. I basked in this requirement, as I sorely miss the fall weather back in Boston.

Our hike was relatively short since Colleen had never done the hike before and Liz remembered that the trip back was far more strenuous than the trip there (which is quite true!). It was a nice stretch of the legs and we had a nice chat with an elderly gentleman along the way.

Unfortunately, I had to end my fun for the day. I desperately needed to vacuum my apartment of all things...as well as do some work that I had brought home.

And so, I appropriately am ending my day as it started...horizontally....as I write this last word: Goodnight.

Survived the Quarter End Weekend

The first week of any month for me, an accountant, is always the busiest, but out of all the months, the week following the quarter end (January, April, July, and October) is horrendously hectic! My group is responsible for debt and fixed asset reporting (which are huge areas of our real estate business!) so we stayed late Wednesday-Friday and also came in on Saturday (9-8pm) and we unfortunately had to come in on Sunday as well. Thankfully, I only worked 6 hours.

Sunday was a difficult day for me. I went to church at 9am, but ended up leaving at 9:30 because my continuing feelings of disconnectedness at the church was punctuated then. I knew I had to go to work, so instead of getting emotional I did the sensible thing and left so that I could arrive at work composed. :-D

After I got back from work, I called my friend, Angie. She came by and I vented my frustrations. We ended up going to a sushi place next to my apartment complex for dinner before she had to meet her boyfriend. I was very grateful for her! I just needed someone to bounce some things off of.

This afternoon I was doing my daily walk at lunch and the Ginny Owens song "If You Want Me To" played on my iPod. It really spoke to me. Of course, I am really very blessed with so much in my life...and I know that those frustrations and struggles are nothing compared to what other people go through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtNzOpKvPfw&feature=related