The Pits

Also in August: an opportunity arose for us to go to the tar pits with Paul's parents church. We had a good time walking around, hanging out with friends, and grabbing a delicious burger for lunch.

O'Baby!

My dear friend KJ is about to give birth to a little boy.... but back in August we had a baby shower for her. It was a wonderful time of prayer for this soon to be family of 3, fellowship, food, presents and cake. 

art in the streets @ moca

You may not have heard....

WE MOVED!

In July we packed up and headed North.

Packing up the apartment... exhausting!

1st meal in the new place

G and Roxie are totally best buddies, well maybe not yet, but someday. 

Much of the first 2 months looked like this.

once just isnt enough

The Mr. had to work on the 2nd night of U2, and I really wanted to go! I scoured the internet all afternoon trying to hook up a deal like we did the day before but it just wasn't happening. I decided since I had no other plans that I would just go park at The Block and walk over to the stadium, because after all hearing U2 live is better than not at all. I got to the stadium about 10 min before the band took the stage. I found a bench and sat down, settled in with my soda. As the 1st song starts to play a dude comes up and sits next to me. 

::Isn't he sitting a little close, there are dozens of other benches!:: 

I start returning a few texts from earlier in the day. 

Then dude starts talking to me - Am I going inside? Why not? You a big fan? 

::What is up with this guy, I have  5 bucks so hope he isn't wasting his time thinking he can scalp me a ticket:: 

He gets on his phone talking to someone, then tells me to wait where I am and he would be right back. 

::Back to what shank me?::

I think I can get you a ticket he tells me. Dude leaves and I enjoy the live music and the stars. It was a lovely June night. Never thinking I would see this guy again he resurfaces and starts walking into the security check to go inside. 

::Liar::

Then he waves at me and says wait there, I'm going in, but wait there. 

::Weirdo!::

3rd song starts to play. Suddenly security guy comes over and asks me repeatedly if I am alright and why don't I come with him. Looks around, then palms me a TICKET! Says put it away and walks me over to security. He tells me to have a nice evening and enjoy the concert. I walk up to the gate, hand my ticket to the lady to scan. She asks "do you have a wrist band?" 

::Crap::

Well, go over to the next gate and they will get me one, have a nice night she says. It is then that I look at my FREE TICKET, I am in GA. Wow! Thanks random guy who some how hooked me up with a ticket to see a band I love. You rock, whoever you are. 

The concert was wonderful! I did realize that there is a reason we always get seats though, I'm short. With everyone walking around so much, I worked my way almost to the stage. Twas AWESOME. 

1. 
   

   Comments from U2 tours "Bono dedicates I Still Haven't Found to Quincy Jones, who's at the show. Other celebrities in attendance include Rick Rubin, Tom Morello, and Cindy Crawford. Before Moment of Surrender, Bono pays tribute to E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who died earlier today: 'Think about one man's saxophone. Think about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Think of Clarence Clemons. This man just carried music, and music carried him until this day.' He then sings/recites some of Jungleland at the end of the concert."

   Set List

   Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World,One, Amazing Grace - Where the Streets Have No Name - All You Need Is Love, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots - She Loves You, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stuck In a Moment, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights,Vertigo - It's Only Rock and Roll, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Please, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - Never Walk

   Encore(s): Ultraviolet, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender - Jungleland

   
   

We heart U2

Flashback (way back) to 6.17.11

A last minute thought and some very cheap tickets off the internet landed us at U2 playing Angels Stadium. Our seats were awesomely close to the stage and we had a great view. 

Set List

1. Even Better Then The Real Thing

2. I Will Follow

3. Get On Your Boots

4. Magnificent (Bishop Tutu mix)

5. Mysterious Ways

6. Elevation

7. Until The End Of The World

8. Happy Birthday (to band manager Paul McGuinness)

9. All I Want Is You

10. Stay (Faraway, So Close)

11. Beautiful Day (Cmdr. Mark Kelly intro and dedication to U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords)

12. Pride (In The Name Of Love)

13. Miss Sarajevo

14. Zooropa

15. City Of Blinding Lights

16. Vertigo

17. Crazy Tonight Remix

18. Sunday Bloody Sunday

19. Scarlet

20. Walk On

21. One

22. Where The Streets Have No Name

Encore

23. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

24. With Or Without You

25. Moment Of Surrender

Interruptus

I promise I will continue to update everyone on what we did over July and August but for now I am interrupting for some big news. I am most certain everyone has heard but if not.... I AM EMPLOYED AT BIOLA! I love Biola to begin with, but then there are the people (Jeri, Ruth, Amy and now the rest of the gang I am getting to know) and the job which makes it a win-win-win in my book. I started my new position this past Monday, and while there is LOTS to learn everyone has been so wonderful with explaining how they do things and it has been fun being introduced to everyone.

If you click on the photo you can see it bigger. :)

Fancy

While up in SB for APs graduation we happened across a cupcake store and decided to give some of their creations a try.

They were all cut in 3rds and shared. All of them were quite delicious.

Cuz, I'm Graduating!

My little cousin, Amanda graduated from UCSB this past June. I am so proud of her. She is smart, capable, and kind. My mom and I drove up for the graduation celebration. Of course there were noise makers, clappers, and megaphones (you know so she knew we were there). 

Way to go Panda!
You will go far in life as long as you try hard and never give up.
Love you!

Diminishing

My family is evaporating before my eyes. I feel young to have had so much loss, but nothing is promised in this life. I am deeply saddened that I did not get more time on this earth with my loved ones. Less than 1 year after my Grandpa passed and just over 2 years since my Dad, my Grandma went to be with them in the presence of our Lord. I was able to travel back to Minessota to be with family and celebrate the life of my Grandma.

I will always love her and miss her dearly.

House Guest

Once upon a time a dear friend named Charlie came to visit, this was during the 2011 year in the 6th month. We talked, laughed, movie watched, played, ate and slept. Not necessarily in that order. Some photographic proof!

Ruby's and the cheap theatre.

Moe stopped by to pat the baby.

Sleepover with The Hangover and making s'mores the ghetto way.

John's Incredible Pizza and games.

 Love You!



I am certain that we did much more than what is evidenced here but my brain is currently mush and I cannot remember.

Nice Try!

Just when I thought I was going to get you all caught up on our lives, things get crazier. We moved about 3 weeks ago and have been cleaning and unpacking like crazy, along with doing all the added things of living in a house such as watering the lawns, walking the puppy, fixing things around the house. Tonight we leave for the East Coast (in just a couple hours actually). We will be gone for 9 days and by the time we get back I will be so much farther behind in the catching you up on what has been going on. Oh well, we will get there, someday. See ya'll on the flip.

30 years of friendship

Friendship is a wonderful thing and I have been blessed beyond measure with an amazing friend in Erin.

To celebrate our 30th year of being friends I decided to make a small scrapbook chronicling the journey we have taken together which was given on her 31st birthday in June. From pre-school, birthday parties, youth group, marriage, skiing and Vegas trips it has been quite the ride!

Thank you for loving me, lifting me up and always sharing a laugh. I love you and I can't wait to see what the next 30 has in store for us!

[A sample of some pages from the book]

Thats Zabtastic!

[the month is now May in the year 2011]

My dear friend Beth has some adorable children, who are made even more adorable by the fact that they are learning Irish Dance! Love. It. Through some twist of fate she ended up with 2 extra tickets for their year end performance and my mom and I just happened to be free. The kids did fantastic! Another friend is one of the owners of this dance studio Aurora Ritchie of the
 Rose-Ritchie Academy of Irish Dancing.
You can click on the link to see their awesome website.

We loved all of the performances and some of the older kids were amazing!

I only managed to get a couple photos, here they are.

Creepy Flyers

[In case you are keeping track, we are still back in April playing catch-up]

While down in SD I was cleaning my moms place and noticed what I thought was some kitty barf on the wall next to a table. It looked old and dried up, however I still thought it was odd that it was on the wall. Being the girl I am I found the longest broom we had and touched the area with it from as far away as possible. What happened shocked me, dozens of little flying things (bout half the size of a fly) started falling on the floor from where I was poking around. I continued to get all the "dirt" off the wall. and there was a crater. I didn't know what those little bugs were but if they were damaging the wall like that it was not good news. Once mom got home from work I pointed out the spot and explained the little bugs. She called an exterminator who came over bout a week or so later.

The diagnosis? TERMITES! The FLYING kind.

On the left is the hole found under all that "dirt". The photos on the right are what the Orkin man did, drilled lots of holes in the floors, under the sinks, around the perimeter of the house and large ones in a wall all to make sure those flyie guys were gone and wouldn't come back. We now have a protection against the crawlers and the flyers of the bug variety.

The Theatre

A good friend of ours, Mr. Ryan Agadoni was gracing the stage with his presence this past Spring (April to be exact) and so we decided to get "dressed up" and head over to Biola to catch a performance of The Odd Couple. We enjoyed the production, muchly. Ryan did a swell job and so did the rest of the cast. I enjoyed the intimate atmosphere of Theatre 21 as I have never been inside before.

Here are the very few photos we have from the night.

Bloggity Blog Blog

So, only 9 (nine) or so more posts till you will be all caught up with our lives! Things may get kinda crazy this next week with all the packing/cleaning/moving that will be going on but if I dont have a chance to blog just know --- MORE will be coming SOON!

Everyone have a SAFE and wonderful 4th of July!

Faster Horsey!

Also in April 2011

Leslie, Bradley (+Christie?), Amy, Paul and I all went went out to Santa Anita for an afternoon of horse racing, cheap food and beer. It was Amy's first time at the track, she picked a winning horse every time she DIDN'T bet. Overall we decided we should have bet on purple all day long!



Book Signing

April 2011

I drove out to The Grove in LA to buy Jill's new book and hopefully have her sign it. I was surprised at how many people were there. She was adamant about making sure every book got signed. She even spoke for about 45 min. answering audience questions. She truly is a sweetheart and took the time to talk with each person as she signed their book. Thanks for a good experience for my first ever book signing.

Our Furry Bundle of Joy

Gizmo turned 3! It is hard to believe that he has been with us for so long, and at the same time I can't remember what it was like before we had him.

Baby Gizmo 2008

Teenage Gizmo 2009

2yr old Gizmo

2011 - 3yr old Gizmo

Time Warp

March 29, 2011

E and I went skiing up at Mountain High, SO MUCH FUN!

Here are some shots of E skiing

Skiing with Me

(just kidding, well sort of)

For real this time.

Always gotta take some self-portraits!

I demand a repeat next year.... of course open to anyone else who wants to come along as well!

Boxy

--Gmo loves boxes --

 It does not matter what size, shape or style. When he sees a box he has an urge that he just needs to get in it.

Shoe boxes

Cutlery boxes

Packing boxes

Milk boxes (from Price Club), Blender boxes, Mailing boxes

Boxes for soda -- Which worked much better when he was a teenage kitten (top photo) than a grown monster cat (bottom photo)

He currently has a Baileys box he enjoys sitting in while staring out the front screen door to watch all the neighborhood kids, cats and dogs. And did I mention MOVING BOXES?

And now back to more Askew programming

Sorry we have been off the grid with our blog...

The last day of Askew invasion had us hanging out at the Discovery Science Center and the out for Mexican food.

HollyWeird Day

And on the 3rd day of Askew Invasion we hit up Hollywood. Walked around, saw the Hollywood sign, looked at some stars on the ground, visited El Capitain, did the wax museum and ate some grub.

Balboa Beach

On day 2 of Askew everyone headed to the beach for some swimming, kite flying, footballing, soccer kicking wave riding fun! After conquering the beach we all piled into the vans/cars and picked up MORE people and headed to dinner at Chick-Fil-A. It was great to see almost all of the Sousa's and share a meal with them!