Memorial Day Getaway: Catalina

Every Memorial Day weekend, 2 girlfriends and I head to Catalina for a girls weekend. No husband. No kids. A time to get away, lay on the beach, play cards, and relax. It isn't very often these days that the three of us have a chance to get together.

This was my view yesterday afternoon. This is what I woke up to.
Blessed with amazing friends, gorgeous weather, and a free place to stay. While I'm off playing, hubs is at home working away.

What are you doing this Memorial Day Weekend?

Good Friends

My friend Meredith is one of those friends who I use to be really close with, but due to life, we have drifted apart, both in relation to our communication and distance. When I do get to talk or see her, it as if we have not been apart.

She was one of my best friends in high school. We had a lot of fun and didn't get in trouble nearly as often as we should have. Although she lives in Roseville, is married, and has a kid, whenever we get to see each other, we pick up right where we left off and it is as if we were back in high school (we act like we are in high school sometimes still too...just ask my mom).

Meredith came over for dinner tonight, with her 9 1/2 month year old son. We had a great time. She got to meet Blake. We hung out on the almost finished deck. Laughed about old times, talked about the future, and watched my mom chase baby Ryan all over the deck so he wouldn't fall off.

It was a great night with a great friend. We have stayed good friends for 8 years now, and I know that Meredith will be one of those friends as we get older we can reminisce about old times and talk about what is to come.

The Past Month...

I have been semi-absent from blogging this month. My life has been really good and really crazy all at the same time. For those of you that read this and don't read any of my friends blogs, I am dating Blake German, and he has taken quite a bit of my time...but I'm not complaining

So to recap this last month....
-I continue to struggle with the injustice and poverty in the world. The Lord has been showing me a lot of scripture concerning his heart for such things. It hasn't been easy to deal with.

-Work has had its ups and downs. This week has been really good. I am finally getting some stuff done that I have wanted to accomplish for months. I have had a peace inside of me concerning work this week. Wondering if it has anything to do with the extra amount of time that I have been spending with Jesus...I'm gonna go with yes. Usually when work isn't stressful, it is just the calm before the storm, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that the Lord has definitely gone before me this week and paved the way.

-I think I have the most amazing boyfriend. He tried to make me cookies last week after we had a discussion via email where I told him I didn't want flowers anymore, I wanted chocolate chip cookies. It didn't turn out exactly as he planned, but it was extremely sweet. You can see how that turned out by clicking here. Last Friday morning, Blake knew that I was at Uncle Harry's reading. When I went out to my car, there were flowers on my windshield with a note. :)
We went to Santa Cruz a couple weekends ago and had a great time. I made him lay out on the beach (something he has never done before) and we both decided next time we would bring Luke and Sarah Mundy with us so the boys could play and Sarah and I could lay out.
Although Blake normally lets me get my way, and he always tells me we can do what I want, last night I let him have a night. We went to the driving range and hit golf balls (and I didn't suck, which was a plus since I am kinda competitive), he chose the restaurant (Cheese Cake), he even chose the dessert (Adams Peanut Butter Fudge Ripple cheesecake), and then I even let him pick out the movie that we watched (except he picked a chick flick for me, What Women Want). He has done numerous other sweet things, but I don't want to make anyone sick because of how sweet he is. :)

-I have seen more carpet samples than I have ever wanted to in my entire life. My parents are going to be getting new carpet, and my mom insists on getting my opinion. Which is funny because she doesn't really want my opinion, she just wants to find somebody who agrees with what she likes...she is even making Blake look at carpet, but so far he has been a champ.

-Last Friday night Sarah, Luke, Blake, and I tried to go to the Monster Truck Rally at the Fresno Fairgrounds. It was sold out!!!! I never knew that there were so many rednecks living in Fresno.

-The Office is back on, which makes me extremely happy. What has been disappointing is the length of the show (only 30 minutes) and to be honest, two of the three episodes haven't been that funny.

-Lots of good conversations with good friends over good meals...I really do have some amazing friends!

Famous Dave's

I went to Famous Dave's tonight with my friend John Wiens. I have not eaten so much food in a long time! I am a sucker for good ribs...and let's just say these were some of the best restaurant ribs I have ever had. We split a rack of ribs, with beans, french fries, corn on the cob, and corn bread. There was nothing left on the plate when we were done.

And I am pretty sure that I ate almost as much as he did....ok, he did eat a little more than me, but I held my own.

John is one of those friends that I have great discussions with, especially about church, the Bible, God, etc. I had a great time talking to him about these issues.

I had no problem, and neither did he, stuffing his face and making a mess.

It is always nice when you have a friend that you can stuff your face with, make a big mess, and have a great discussion all at the same time. :)

Oh, and then he insisted that we get ice cream. And we all know that I am a sucker for ice cream!

snow day pictures

For those of you who have not made it up to the snow, I am going to suggest you do. Ashley, Amada and I went last Monday and had a blast! I thought I would share some pictures with you so you can see how much fun you can have if you go to play in the snow....

Two Words....

Pooper Pasher

haha :)

My Saturday

Since I didn't go to the snow, I had to fill my day with something, right?

Run down of my saturday...
-Laundry
-Costco
-Target
-Subway
-Out to Mike and Sue's to play cards with the girls...took a look at the spa, I'll be out sittin in that this week...
-Target, a second time
-Dinner with the parentals and Ashley
-Fresno Falcon's hockey game with friends
-Chevy's (for about 10 minutes)
-Red Robin
-Bed

All in all, I had a really nice Saturday. My weekend in general was full of a lot of fun (besides missions month madness today) I slept for 3 1/2 hours this afternoon and had a nice time hanging out with friends tonight. Looking forward to one more day of not thinking...then back to the craziness that is my life!

SNOW!!!!

I might be going to the snow tomorrow, and that makes me happy. I haven't gone to the snow to play in 4 years, which was the last time I went snowboarding...wow, that was a long time ago.

I had to dig through my drawers to find my snow pants...for those of you that may have been worried that I couldn't find them, don't worry, I did. :) I have them laid out and ready to go!

Christmas Tree Lane!

Last night, Ashley, Sarah, Amada and I walked down Christmas Tree Lane! It was cold, but so much fun. Since my friends are always late, I told them to meet at my house at 6:30, since I knoew they wouldn't show up until 7. Amada showed up first, at 6:40. Sarah at 6:58, and Ashley at 7:04. Now, we would have left right then, but they all critiqued my beanie, so they made me put on a hat and then made me switch my scarf. In the end, they were right :)



We were going to go to Fig Garden, park there, go to starbucks, and then walk to Christmas Tree Lane...it seems everyone in Fresno had that idea. The line at Starbucks was outrageous. We ended up driving to Shaw and 41, where there was no line, and then drove back to Fig Garden. We decided to avoid all people, and parked at The Cross Church at Palm and Gettysburg. We parked, walked 2 blocks, and joined the rest of Fresno walking down Christmas Tree Lane.



Although it was cold, it was so much fun! I love Christmas lights, hot chocolate, and hanging out with friends. When we get together, something always crazy/funny happens. This time, it had to do with a bathroom and a couple of fire fighters...

Heads Up!

Saturday night, I went to the Grizzlies baseball game with Ashley, Steph Tort, Amada, Gia, and Sarah Brady. We all went in the same car (minus Amada). Sarah sat next to the window, which was a mistake. Sarah likes to yell out the window at people. Saturday was no different. She began asking people, in a spanish accent "Do you know where is the West Side Jungle Club?" One guy actually stopped to answer the question, but he couldn't understand her.

After harrasing numerous people, we finally made it to the parking garage. We paid the attendant in a whole bunch of change, since none of us actually wanted to pay to park...which made the attendant laugh. After we parked, we finally got to the stadium. We purchased the cheapes tickets possible and then found some great seats on the third base line.

Before I go to any Grizzlies game, my mother reminds me and whoever I am with to watch out for fly balls. About 3 years ago, my parents were at a game with my aunt and uncle, and a foul ball came crashing down on my mom's butt as she tried to move out of the way. I always shrug her off, telling her that I always pay attention to the game, at least somewhat, and know when foul balls are hit.

I am not even sure what inning this happened in, all I remember is that it was raining. Steph Tort had my blanket and her and Ash were under an umbrella, I had my hood on, Sarah had her trench coat on, and Gia and Amada were under my other blanket (how did I not even have one of my two blankets?). Anyways, as we were all talking, laughing, making fun of the players and other people, a fly ball was hit. We all looked up, and I realized that the ball was coming right for me. We all stood up, and the ball missed me. Whew! or so I thought. The ball bounced off of the cement and back onto my head, then off my head and some guy caught it. I thought it was really funny, at first. The guy ended up giving me the ball.

As we continued to watch the game, I realized that my head was beginning to hurt. Sarah was harassing the cotton candy guy to give us some cotton candy for free, or at least at a discounted price. I ended up asking for some ice from one of the employees who had already asked me if I wanted some, but had declined. Well, instead of just bringing me a bag of ice, these two "paramedics" in leather jackets came. They were there to make sure I was ok, all the while Sarah was concerned about getting some free cotton candy. I don't think the guys took me that seriously, due to the fact that Sarah would not shut up about the cotton candy. One of the guys placed the ice on my head. I almost didn't put my hand on the ice to see if he would hold it there for me...but decided not to chance making this guy any more made or annoyed than he already was.

Well, Sarah ended up getting her cotton candy. She told Gia, who told Amada to ask this little girl that was sitting next to us if she would give me her cotton candy since I got hit in the head. I tried to give it back to the little girl, but couldn't get it to her before Sarah inhaled the cotton candy.

We left in the 8th inning since it was raining and we were cold. So, off to Coldstone we went. And yes, I did have ice cream even though i am on the South Beach Diet...I got hit in the head...I deserved it. :)

My best friend...

is going to be home in 4 days! I am so excited to pick her up at the airport. She has been gone for 3 1/2 months. I have missed her so much. It just isn't the same when the only communication you have with your best friend is email and a phone call every few weeks. I appreciate her so much more now than I did before (and trust me, I appreciated her and our friendship so much before she left).

Concert Tonight!!!

I am going to a concert tonight in Ventura...and I am really excited. I am going to see Eric Church. If you like country music, you will like him. He has a song that is out on country radio called How 'bout You. He is kind of like Dierks Bentley, similar style. I suggest that you go to his website and listen to his music if you like country. :)