Rock Gym

Last Saturday, BASIC went to a Rock Gym. Heather took some pictures of the event.
Here's Deanne climbing away:
Alice seemed to have a great time too.

Here I am on the challenging rock face. Man, it was difficult!

Here's Deanne again. She even had the appropriate shoes

Here's Gretchen--man she is like a monkey! She would get to the top so fast!

The faintest ink

Last night as I was attempting to drift off into slumber, a little verse came to me. It isn't much, but it was enough to compel me to get out of bed and scrounge around for a pen and paper. An old Chinese proverb: The faintest ink is better than the strongest memory.



Hot-tempered, when once calm
Insecure, when once strong
What's the trigger that sets me off?
What happened to make me soft?


Unknown meaning makes me think
What am I missing, what lacks in me?
The pattern was set, a long time ago...
Can I change it? I hardly know.

Hangin' with Alice

After breakfast with Heather, we said our goodbyes. She started her drive back to Portland, and I drove to King's Harbor church for services. I was a bit late to the 9am service, but I didn't miss the sermon, which was pretty good.

After services, I went to Coffee Bean to study for a little bit and then I went to Alice's. We decided to walk to the beach (she lives right next to Redondo Beach) and ended up walking the pier and eating at Kincaid's for lunch. The wedge salad I had was yummy!
After lunch, Alice and I walked to the beach and laid out for about an hour. Here is Alice learning to be a beach bum (this is the first time she's been on the beach since she moved to California 7 months ago).

We walked back to Alice's place where we got sucked into the last 45 minutes of a really cheesy Hallmark movie before we headed out to La Salsa for tacos and then to Jamba Juice for a smoothie. What a fun day! The weather was perfect and it was nice to catch up with my friend!
Look at how beautiful it was!

Heather's Visit

This Thursday, my sister, Heather, and her three boys stayed with me for a few days. We just hung out that day, as they were recuperating from their Disneyland trip. The following day we headed for Manhattan Beach.

Brodie and Asher played in the sand with a few other kids...they seemed to have fun.
Brodie is buried in the sand here...he's wearing the green pail on his head.
Here's Heather:
Saturday we went to the Rock Gym event from BASIC. Heather thought she might try it, but chickened out. Unfortunately, her oldest son thought he could do it--without a harness. He fell and hurt his foot. I drove them to Little Company of Mary Hospital and he was fitted with a temporary cast for his broken foot. He'll have to go to an orthopaedic specialist to get his foot reset when they get back to Oregon. We ordered pizza so it would be easier for Nate.

This morning (Sunday) we went to eat at Hot 'n' Tot, per Heather's request. We used to go to this restaurant for Christmas breakfast and she was nostalgic. Poor Nate had a hard time dealing with his crutches...thankfully he didn't have to go too far.

Bootcamp

In order to get motivated to wake up at 5:30 am (to get used to waking up early for my new job), I called my friend Angie. Her boyfriend is a personal trainer and he runs a bootcamp at a nearby ju-jitsu club on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I committed to Angie that I would meet her there and I had enough motivation to wake up!

Well, just barely! But I rallied and I had a great time! It was challenging--there was a combination of strength training and self-defense moves, as well as some kick boxing. I felt really energized when I left! Angie and I agreed to go walking the next day, which was also fun (especially when I had Angie's company). I realize now that I really need to shake up my workout routine so that I maintain interest. Unfortunately, I can't go to the bootcamp once I start working because I have to go in to work early on Mondays and Wednesdays. I'll have to see if I can come on Fridays. I would like to because I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Fundraising and Filling Eggs

Last weekend was a busy one! Saturday afternoon I went to Mama D's--wow, it's been awhile! I then had to rush home to get ready for a fundraising event called "Affair of the Heart" which benefits the Lincoln Training Center, which provides training to physically disabled individuals so that they can hold jobs and get satisfaction out of making a contribution by working. My friend, Jenn, invited me to the event and we had a great time! It was also a treat to get dressed up (sorry I don't have any pictures!).

Sunday I went over to my dad's house for a few hours before going home briefly and then driving to Nicole and Lisa's to help fill easter eggs that will be used for King's Harbor's Annual Easter Egg Hunt. They use 10,000 eggs and we were able to fill about 2,000 with our group.

Here's Gretchen filling some eggs:
My day ended with picking up my friend, Alice from the airport. I had to take the freeway, which I haven't done in years since I live so close to the airport, and I ended up taking the wrong exit and it took me a half hour to get back to the airport area--poor Alice had to wait! I felt so bad. :(

Old Pictures

Last night, for no particular reason, I looked through the pictures I have saved on my laptop. For those of you that really know me, that's hundreds if not thousands of pictures! Before I knew it, it was almost 1am!

Here are a few that I got a kick out of:

Here are Jamie and Anthony at Halloween circa 2001:

The only time I ever wore purple that I can remember:
This was in college. That's Michael Boyd being initiated as a resident advisor. He fought me the whole time!

This is one of my favorite pictures...this is of Ginny and me at the baby shower for her daughter, Grace.

This was in Solvang about 5 or 6 years ago. It was just a day trip, but a fun one:
This was taken right before the picture that is on the bottom of my blog (my favorite laughing picture). It shows just what a nut I can be (maybe crazy enough to stay up reminiscing about the old days into all hours of the night):

Andrea's Last Night

Last night was Andrea's last night at my place. She is moving to South Redondo to live with Corinne who's husband just got shipped off to Iraq for 6 months. Andrea will be staying with her during that time.

Andrea and I went to Daphne's Greek Cafe for dinner. I love the food there and Andrea had never had it. We had a good time chatting about her move and how she'll be a blessing to Corinne (she hopes she will be, I know she will be!).

This morning I woke up and noticed that Andrea's room already looks different. No doubt she took some of her things to her car this morning. She still has some things left so I am hoping to see her before Saturday (her official move in day at Corinne's, although she is spending the night starting tonight).

Thankfully, I see Andrea at church services but I like having the company and it's been fun getting to know her a little better. Living with someone really shortens the getting-to-know-you process. :)

I'm very thankful to God for having Andrea stay with me--it was a joy and I enjoyed! ;)

Contract Job

This morning I had a phone interview with a manager that was looking to hire a contract worker. The interview was almost an hour long and I felt really good about it when I got off the phone. This is the first position I have been excited about since September.

I got to studying to try to finish my homework (I only had one class this week so I have focused on finishing my last course's work and doing the class work for the new class...another words, I was behind a bit and I was a little lazy this week). I studied until about 2, waiting for Andrea so we can go for a bike ride.

Andrea's old roommate has two beach cruisers that we borrowed. Okay, I hadn't ridden a bike in 10 years. The last time I rode one was when I borrowed a mountain bike for the sprint triathlon that Jamie and I did while I lived in MA. I'm pretty sure I was 25...just barely.

I was very shaky starting off. I made sure to test it out in the alley behind the apartment to make sure I was safe to ride in public! It is just like riding a bike-ha-but it wasn't like I am going to join Lance Armstrong anytime soon!

We started in Hermosa and rode the bikes all the way past Dockweiler Beach in El Segundo (about 8 miles one way) and back. We came back, dropped off the bikes and I was able to meet Andrea's old roommate, Nicole, and her brother, Steve. We had a pleasant little chat and I relayed my inability to ride a bike with a steady flair...I did almost end up in an ice plant--but alas, disaster was averted!

Andrea and I stopped in at Jamba Juice for a refreshing drink before heading home. I had received a message from Lindy, my recruiter, so I called her back and I found out that I got the contract job! I start March 29th and the contract job will last until December, so that is 9 months of working! Yay!

Although it will be more difficult to study, I will just adjust my schedule and study at night or on the weekends...it is manageable. Besides, working also gives opportunity to receive my certification (while making an income) and by December, I will have my CPA and be more marketable for a permanent job. I will also not lose any of my accounting/system/spreadsheet skills while I am studying. :)

After I heard the news, I went and celebrated with my friend, Alice. We went to Fusion Sushi, then to Skinny Minny Frozen Yogurt, and then we rented a movie from Red Box (my first time doing that). I'm very blessed to have such good friends in my life.

Miscellaneous Wash. Pics

This was a typical scene while I was visiting. Sebastian had to eat several bites of applesauce just before taking his "yucky" medicine. He still got 2 spoonfuls of chocolate sauce after taking the medicine, but he still dreaded it.

While I was there, I let Rebecca text her grandma and grandpa. I also inadvertently introduced my sister's kids to computer games. Whoops! Don't even know how it happened since I don't usually play them myself!
There are cherry blossom trees planted all over Erika and Brian's neighborhood. They were in full bloom:
I brought a bag of my leftover change with me to give the kids. Lauren and Rebecca had the job of splitting the moula between the four of them. They had fun doing it and each of them ended up with $2.79.
I just love this picture of Kaylen and Peppi. Isn't it adorable?

One of the nights, the girls decided to dress up and put on a show. Here was Kaylen's first outfit:

Lauren and Rebecca performed several songs:

The best part of my trip was all the love I felt from my family. :)

Bubbles

While I was in Washington, Erika and I went out with the kids to blow bubbles. Both Rebecca and Sebastian had gotten bubbles as prizes so we tried them out. Oh how I wish I had the same excitement about bubbles!

Here's Sebastian giving a go at it!

Monkey's Operations

This morning Rebecca got under the covers with me to keep warm. While we were getting warm, Rebecca had Monkey and she pointed out all the operations Monkey has had due to their dog, Peppi.

Monkey has had the following operations (in order of severity):
Crotchotomy
Armpitotomy
Earotomy
Legotomy

Rebecca said that Monkey is falling apart. :)

Childhood Home on Wikipedia

I just found out that my childhood home (that my dad still lives in) is pictured on Wikipedia! Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BP2.jpg


If you can't see it, here is the picture:

Peppi McPepperton

Erika and Brian have a Min Pin (miniature pincher) named Peppi. Erika jokingly calls her "Peppi McPepperton." Peppi is a cute, cuddly dog that seems to have realized I am not opposed to having her on my lap. In fact, this afternoon she slept on top of me while I napped! Her only real vice is that she will eat almost anything--this morning Erika put on her jeans and found out they were made crotchless by Peppi. No jean material has been found. Goodness, Peppi, goodness.

First Night for my visit

I arrived in Washington state to visit some of my family on Thursday, Feb. 25th. My brother, Kent, and his wife, Lori, picked me up to drive me to Erika's house.

I am staying with Erika to help out while she goes to doctor's appointments, etc. I also like the fact that my nieces and nephew love me! A great example is what happened the first night. Sebastian was having throat surgery the next morning so the family is camping out in the downstairs family room. I didn't want to be left out, so I slept between Lauren and Rebecca on the floor.


Rebecca wanted me to have Monkey her favorite "lovey" toy. I was so touched. Not only that, at 3am she woke up noticing that Monkey wasn't in my arms so she put him in my arms to cuddle with. Isn't that sweet?

Here is Rebecca with Monkey: