Hello! Finals are over, the semester is complete, and I finished really well, so I'm stoked! My Aunt Karen and Uncle Sean brought their four kids out here from Arizona on Friday, and we've been having a blast with them as a Christmas festivity until they leave tomorrow to head home! For their first day here, we decided it would be a grand idea and opportune timing to also put in wood flooring in our downstairs, so we put the family to work!

As you can see, even the little ones participated in the fun, and we got everything moved successfully! The wood floors look really good, too! The only letdown is that our beloved dog, Da Wuff, doesn't care for the clickety-clackety sound that her paws make on the wood. She has become very fearful, so in order to get her to go outside, we made a little road of carpets for her. :-) Hopefully poor Da Wuff will get over her wood-phobia!

But we are all having a blast - we've been playing games like "Imaginiff..." which is loads of fun, especially for us family people who just enjoy teasing and making fun of each other. Such family love! :-) They also brought the movie "Three," which is based on Ted Dekker's book, and I thought it was amazing! Not your typical low-budget Christian feel-good film. haha!

I also just wanted to include this madness - Billy and I had breakfast at Jeff and Jenna's, where this sign is happily parked outside their little park area. I found it entertaining.

And finally, we celebrated Denae's birthday at Downtown Disney's Rainforest Cafe last Thursday and we took some fun pictures, but I currently have misplaced my camera and cannot upload any to report our adventures....I'll work on that. :-)

We're headed to Utah on Friday for our winter retreat...both my brothers are coming too! Should be a blast!

Finals Shminals

Yes, it is the dreaded finals week.

No, I should not be taking the time to blog.

BUT I just wanted to make a brief social comment regarding the amount of paper towels used unnecessarily on a daily basis. I believe nearly every single person uses 1-3 paper towels for every bathroom visit. Shouldn't there be a way to stop such wasteful usage?

Truckers, Impressionists, and Tomlin

okay so for all you who have yet to experience and behold the glory of the mall hunt, the picture above basically sums it up. :-) we were only found once thanks to our double date partners josh and bailey! yay! and yes, billy's beard is in fact made of real hair, thus the authentic appearance. :-D

in this picture you can see batstone's intent focus on her impressionistic masterpiece during art class...how admirable is her dedication!

i figured i should also give a view of both of our pieces....hers is of the palm trees in the background, mine of one of the benches including a fountain that is unseen in this picture. for our art class, we did our best to imitate the impressionist painters, and we had a blast!!

lastly, chris tomlin's cd "hello love" is awesome. definitely not as upbeat as some of his other stuff, but i absolutely love the lyrics and the orchestration! i just love it!

also...CHRISTMAS is coming. i love it!

My Vote

***REVISED. Billy informed me that this post makes me sound like a Democrat and an Obama-voter. I am not. This is merely a response to Obama's victory.***


Obama. How does that sound? President Obama. I bet he's doing that right now.
I listened to John McCain's speech...that must be ridiculously hard to get up in front of everyone who had your back, knowing that it was basically all for nothing. That's definitely not a place that I ever want to be in.

I must say, though, I voted for the first time today, and it felt great! I was enamored by the electronic stations and astonished that everything is so easy.
Another event that impacted me today was that my cell phone battery ceased all life forms after only a few hours' use. Why? Because it's technology and it's not fail-proof.

Both those events - voting electronically and my phone battery dying made me think about what life must have been like before technology took over the world and captured mankind's full attention.
I felt so stressed just because my phone was not on. Why? I would think I should feel happiness and freedom because no one can reach me...I don't have to worry about responding to any texts, picking up any calls, returning any calls...sounds pretty stress-free. But then again, the major downside of it was....I couldn't call or text others...and what about the people who I needed to talk to? Such a predicament!
Does technology really rule our lives? Sometimes it feels like it...or at least it has way too high of a priority on my list in some cases.



President Obama. Hm.

Starbucks Makes Amends

Yes, today after a long voice lesson, I felt an urge to indulge in a sweet iced Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks. I ordered it, a few minutes later my order was called, and alas! On the counter was a Caramel Frappuchino. I thought to myself..."I could actually go for one of those right now...but I also really wanted an iced caramel macchiato...which is what I ordered...." So I very nicely said, "Excuse me, I have a slight problem..." And all work ceased. It was like I had three Starbucks workers there to make sure my order was corrected. My order was successfully corrected and just minutes later I had a blissful collection of caramel, both macchiato and frapp.

Another Trendy Turbo-Blog

So I seem to have this trend now to where I only blog once every couple weeks or so...but man, these blogs are just loaded with goodness!

So first things first!

Billy and I have been together six months as of Saturday - yay! It seems crazy that it's gone so fast! But it just keeps getting better and better....I love you Billy!

We celebrated on Friday and spent the day together just chilling - getting shave ice, working on our AWESOME Snoopy puzzle, exploring the candy store, etc. For the record, Powell's candy shoppe is pretty phenomenal.

On Saturday, we took a trip to Mexico with some peeps (ha) from church, and did some construction work for a guy who is building a house for his family down there!

This is before:

This is after:

And it may not look like much, but let me tell you we leveled that dirt pretty well...and it wasn't just dirt, it was 60% rock; 40%dirt that flew through the wind and directly into our lungs.

Also this is the concrete that was poured to finish part of the foundation:

NEXT on the list to talk about is my first Sushi experience! It was crazy! Way better than I expected it to be, and I wouldn't mind having it more often! Billy took me to this sweet Japanese cuisine in Dana Point called Maki Yaki, and I have to admit that it was delish!

And lastly...I was in Batstone's room today and was shocked to see the amount of jewelry that one person can own and absolutely NEED to have...that person being her roommate. Check out this insanity - tons of jewelry all organized into these little compartments, hanging on the back of her closet door. Hm.

That is all.

Madness

Yesterday morning at Starbucks, Batstone, Kaitlin, and I observed this woman's skill for selecting shoes. It's sort of like a shock system that you would see on a bike, and yet it has sort of a high-heel effect....I'm just gonna call them "spring shoes" for now. Again, I apologize for blurry cell phone pictures, but on each heel of these classy sandals is a giant spring. Wonder if the comfort is as good as it looks.

Also, Billy and I witnessed this sign on the side of the Subway building by his apartment..."Acrobatic or hazardous skateboarding is prohibited".....???!!! What qualifies as acrobatic, I wonder?

As you can see, Billy was blown away and confused by aforesaid sign and was caught off guard. Here he is pictured carefully pondering what delicious sub he should partake of. Don't worry, he made an excellent choice: Meatball Sub on Honey Oat Bread. MMmm. I've never had it, but I hear it's quite a hit. Also he's sporting a hat! Woot! :-)