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Sonic Burger

I have no idea who reads my blog...so I thought this video was hilarious. Enjoy!

Casino Royale

I have never seen any Bond movie. Yeah I saw commercials of the Pierce Brosnan ones and I know about the whole Bond franchise. But I have never actually gone and seen one (or rented one). So when the option came up to see the new Bond Movie, Casino Royale, I was pretty hesitant. Eh. Ok, why not. I went in with little to no expectations.

What a pleasant surprise! I really liked it. I thought Daniel Craig did a great job as the new Bond (I don't have anything to compare him to, though). The woman who played his romantic interest, Eva Green, was great too. The action sequences were fun and entertaining. The movie was two and a half hours, but it didn't seem that long because it was just so fun to watch. I enjoyed going into a movie that I didn't think I would like and coming out of it stoked.

Pics from Mom's par-tay

Ok, so I am finally posting pictures from last weekend's 60th birthday celebration for mi madre. The first two are my older sister (Amy) and I at dinner the night before the party. Our family went out to PF Changs and celebrated over lettuce wraps and crispy honey chicken (MMmmmmm). During dinner, another sister (Liz) read a poem for my mom that our aunt had written. Amy and I thought we'd be funny and pretend to cry at how beautiful the poem is. I love my sisters.

The last two pics are myself and Liz the day of the party. We wanted to dress up in the 40's (Liz as "Rosie the Riveter") and 50's (me) to represent the decade my mom was born in and the decade she grew up in. We had a bunch of questions about my mom and we went around in our outfits and asked people. (ie. what was her favorite TV show growing up? What year did she get married? etc) It was a fun way to liven up the festivities. Along with the DJ playing 50's and 60's songs and the yummy food and cake, it was a blast! Love you, Mom!

gobble gobble

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Mom's 60th birthday

This past weekend was my Mom's 60th birthday par-tay. It was a lot of fun. As part of her gift, my dad found some old photo albums of my grandmother's and I got to spend most of Saturday going through them and finding pictures to make a collage. It was such a special time for me. Rummaging through old pictures of my mom as a baby, growing up, going to school, marrying my dad, having kids, etc. I've never thought I looked like my mom (or that any of my sisters looked like my mom). But it was amazing...I would flip a page and a picture would just jump out at me - oh my gosh! She looks just like me! Or, "whoa, in that picture she looks just like Liz!" (or another sister) Depending on the age and facial expression of my mom, I could see myself and my three sisters in my mom's face at different times. It was like I could see where we got certain characteristics in our faces from. It was very very cool.

I'll post some pixs of the party soon.

Two small complaints

Do you guys mind if I vent for just a sec? Thanks. I just have two small complaints.

1) Daylight Savings - hmmm...not sure if I'm a big fan. I am inside most of the day working, and when I leave, it is already dark. Sad! Or sometimes I'll be at home and think it's like 10:00 pm because it's pitch black outside, the crickets are chirping, the stars are out...and it's only 6:30. What!? These early evenings are not super fun. Oh winter...go by fast, please.

2) Hey, did you guys realize Thanksgiving has already passed?? Apparently it has, according to the advertising world. My eyes have been assaulted by Christmas commercials since before Halloween! I am so over Christmas commercials and it's only the middle of November. Not ok. Everyone's in such a hurry to get to Christmas time, it's like Thanksgiving just gets pushed aside. Buy buy buy! Spend spend spend! Not only am I tired of Christmas before it even gets here, but I lose focus on what Christmas is really about. Anyone else feel this way?

Ok. Deep breath. Thanks for letting me get those things off my chest. I feel better now. It's 4:00. I'm gonna go drive home in the dark and then turn on the TV to watch Christmas commericals. Ha ha.

Ministry is better than teaching

I am going to start a list of reasons why college ministry is better than elementary school teaching (at least for me):

* At school, kids park their bikes. At college group, they park their skateboards. Love it.

* I don't have to deal with parents.

* No grading.

* I get paid to hang out with students and talk about life.

* I can wear what I want to work.

* I don't have to discipline students. (although I DO have to have hard talks with college students if they are being lame)

* My office is a fun hang-out place.

* I get to talk to students about GOD and challenge them in their lives.

* I can make my own hours (nothing before 9 am, please) and take vacation when I want.

* I can actually have long, serious conversations with college students and they don't have to fiddle or go to the bathroom every five minutes. Ha ha

That's what I have so far. Any more you guys can think of?

Stranger Than Fiction

I just saw Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson. I liked it. It was really cool to see Will F. play against sterotype (Mr. Funny Guy). He was a lot more serious in this movie. There's a great supporting cast with Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhal (how the heck do you spell her last name??), and Queen Latifah. If you're looking for a good movie, go check it out.

Fire in the ladies' restroom!

Yesterday I got to church and was just settling down to do some work, when R-R-R-R-I-N-G!!! The fire alarm goes off. Thinking it was another drill, I closed my door and planned on just waiting till it stopped (I'm so bad!) I didn't feel like trooping off onto the field or anything. But then, a co-worker came in and told me there really was a fire! HUH!!?!?

So we rush outside where everyone else was milling and I see black smoke coming out of one of our buildings! Fire trucks started pouring into our church driveways and firemen were running everywhere. I thought I heard someone say arson....WHAT?!

The firefighters got it under control and we were allowed to go back to work. Still wondering what happened, we all received this email from a pastor a little bit later:

"Hi All,

You might have heard (or seen) that we had smoke pouring out of Monschke Hall this afternoon at about 3pm. A couple fire trucks later it was discovered that a fan had burned out in the women's bathroom. In the process, the fan dripped hot metal or plastic onto the top of the toilet seat directly below, setting the plastic seat on fire. You'd be amazed how much smoke one burning toilet seat can create! The attic was so completely full of smoke that the fire crews looked there first. As far as we can tell, the damage was limited to the women's bathroom. The only things that actually burned were the fan and the toilet, which now looks like it was made out of wax."

Praise the Lord no one got injured. But seriously...a fire in the women's restroom? Because a fan melted on top of a toilet seat?? Classic.

I Voted

Before work today, I went and voted. I feel like a very responsible citizen. I feel quite proud and I don't know why. It feels good to have an opinion in how things go. Even if I'm just one vote.

I will tell ya what I DON'T like about elction time, though. All the lame commerical ads. Argg! If I saw one more, I was going to roundhouse kick my TV in the FACE. I had to start muting commercials because I couldn't take it anymore.

Oh, AND I got the pleasure of many phone calls to our house. I got calls from congresswoman Anna Eshoo, senator Dianne Feinstein, governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and even actor Clint Eastwood! Wow! These people really cared about my vote! (saracasm dripping...)

Free Hugs video

Free Hugs!!!

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Tired, but good

Hi everyone,

Sorry it's taken me so long to write about D-land. I have been SO tired this week! I never realized how exhausting and draining it is to plan and lead a weekend adventure for 23 people. Now I know. Apart from being one of the drivers there and back, not sleeping much, organizing the group, and walking around all day at the Magic Kingdom...my body is still adjusting to Daylight Savings time (wait...my clock says 11:00 pm but my body feels like it's midnight). So this week I've been catching up on my sleep.

But enough of that! Let me tell you about the trip. First off, it was fun. It was a great time bonding with students, especially ones I don't normally get to hang out with or talk to. The park was super crowded becaue it was the Saturday before Hallowen, but it was all decorated, which was cool. We "Fast-Passed" everything (where you can scan your ticket in a box, come back to the ride awhile later, and not have to wait in line) so I don't think we ever waited in a line for more than 15 minutes.

For some students, they hadn't been to Disneyland since they were kids (or EVER) so it was neat to watch them experience everything for the first time. We went on all the fun rides, ate lots of yummy food, watched Fantasmic at night, and even saw Captain Jack Sparrow! (no, sadly not Johnny Depp...but a guy they dressed up that looked just like him)

It might sound funny, but I really enjoyed the car rides. Yeah, traffic is lame and with 6 cars, we lost each other a lot...but it was an awesome time for intentional conversations, being silly, playing MASH, blasting music, using walkie-talkies to chat with other cars, using window paint to write/draw fun stuff on our back and side windows, stopping at In N' Out, guys drawing tattoos on themselves, doing Chinese fire-drills, making a rest stop by a herd of cows, and all sorts of car fun like that.

Enjoy the pixs!