Vote for Taylor

A college freshmen who goes to my church is auditioning for Survivor! (one of my favorite shows) Here is her 3 minute video she sent into CBS along with her application. I hope she gets picked!!

Taylor's Audition Tape from Rae Rae Productions on Vimeo.

Finally!

Yeah for updates and pictures! Here are some things I've been up to this last week of life (besides work):

* going to the monthly potluck and barn dance at the farm up the coast



* buying some fun socks



* having a New York reunion with Amy! We wore all our NY stuff (t-shirts, pj's, jewelry), brought out our souvenirs and lawn chairs, looked at all our pictures, listened to In The Heights, drank frrrozen hot chocolates from Serendipity's, etc.



* dinner nights or just hang-out time in the kitchen with the roomates (yes, Jen is wearing goggles while she chops onions)



* watching GLEE and falling more and more in love with Lea Michele's voice.

* hearing Donald Miller speak at a church about his new book: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years



* spending a day with this little munchkin.



Other than that, I'm waiting for autumn to feel like autumn. Today I went swimming and it was 100 degrees. I can't wait for the cooler weather, leaves changing colors, pumpkin patches, and all the other fun things that come with fall. Hope you are doing well, friends!

blog coming...

It's been one of those weeks. Super good but super busy. Blog and pictures coming soon...

cuatro anos

Every year I celebrate my anniversary at work by bringing in donuts. I go around the office and tell everyone how much I love them and how fun it has been working in ministry alongside of them. This month marks my 4th anniversary. Dang! I've been at the same job for 4 years. In some ways it feels like I've been doing this job forever and in other ways I feel like I just started last year. The good news? I still LOVE it!

Bring on year 5.

Pass the poi, mahalo

I'm going to Hawaii!!

My whole fam (2 parents, 4 sisters, 1 brother-in-law, and 1 baby) plus 1 aunt are going to Maui in February. WOOT!!!!!!

We just got our plane reservations, so it is official.

I can almost feel the warm water. I can almost smell the plumeria flowers. I can almost see all the fish swimming around as we snorkel. I can almost taste the sweet pineapple. I can almost hear the roar of waterfalls plunging down into lakes below.

I wish I could be there now...

movie reviews

I should have posted this blog a couple weeks ago. It's my annual review of summer movies. So even though it's Sept. 14, let's do this!

Before I start, I just have to say how bummed I was at this summer's movie selection. Usually I see at least 10 summer movies. But there were not many that looked appealing to me. I mean, another Ice Age movie? Really?

However, I did see 5 and so here are the reviews for them:

5) X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I don't think I would have seen this movie if I hadn't taken the college group. We went the Wednesday night after it came out. Yeah there's some cool fight scenes and Ryan Reynolds is in it. But the movie itself was just ok.

4) Up! Oh Pixar, you've done it again. This is your 10th consecutive hit. I don't know if you're ever going to make a bad movie. But even though the visuals were absolutely amazing, I left the theater kind of sad. I thought I'd laugh a lot, but actually teared up a few times. If you've seen it, you'll know what I mean.

3) Star Trek. This was an unexpected surprise. First off, I am not a trekkie (should I capitalize the "t"?). I never watched the original show or any of the 17,000 spin-offs. I do vaguely remember watching the 4th movie with my parents where they all come to earth and communicate with whales. However, I am a huge JJ Abrams fan. In my opinion, the man can do no wrong. Felicity, Alias, my absolute favorite TV show "LOST", Cloverfield, heck, I even thought he redeemed the third Mission Impossible movie.

So when I found out he was going to direct a Star Trek movie that would show how it all started, I decided to give it a try. I actually really liked it! The casting was perfect. I could follow the plot even though I didn't have a lot of previous knowledge. The effects were great. I felt like JJ made it for people like me - introducing this franchise to people who would have never given it a second glance. I wonder what the hard-core t(T?)rekkies thought of it.

2) 500 Days of Summer. A love story that is not a love story. Rather it's a story about love. That was the tagline, at least. I had heard from many friends how good this was, so I went. Loved it. It was romantic and comedic, but not a cheesy romantic comedy. There was no contrived games or set-ups. The relationship between the two main characters was so real and raw. It was like it really could have happened. Best part hands down: the Hall and Oates song "You Make My Dreams". I was grinning like an idiot during that whole scene. By the way, can I have 500 days of Summer's wardrobe? Zooey Deschanel was beyond cute.

And last but not least

1) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Dang, I just love that little wizard. Well, I guess he's not "little" anymore. This is the 6th movie, based on the 6th book, he is 16 and he and his friends are flirting and falling in love all over the place. I have enjoyed watching Daniel Radcliff and his co-stars grow up in these movies. I feel like they are becoming better and better actors, especially for their age. Hermione actually made me cry in one scene. What?! Wow. Anyway, book 6 was one of my favorites and I thought the movie did it justice. Yes, they had to cut some things out, but I understand why they did. I love J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter, and Hogwarts. Twilight can suck it.

So there we are, friends. 5 movies I saw this summer. Feel free to add your own opinions in the comments section. Also, if I missed any you liked this summer, let me know and I'll add them to my Netflix queue.

Movies I'm looking forward to this fall:

* Where The Wild Things Are (my childhood!)
* Nine (Daniel Day-Lewis in a musical? Yes please)
* The Princess and the Frog (yeah for Disney going back to hand-drawn animation!)
* Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr. AND Jude Law? Double yes please)

09-09-09

It's another Fun Friday with my nephew Judah (aka: cutest baby in the world) and since he's down for a nap, I can tell you guys about Wednesday night and our Fall Kick-Off.

So I think I had put in previous posts that I was feeling overwhelmed, stressed, my to-do list was a mile long, etc. I get that way every year though, so it was nothing new. It was cool because anytime I would share that, people would stop and pray with me. Yeah! It was such a good reminder that this is the Lord's ministry. He's in charge. He'll bring the students he wants there. The Spirit will be working in their lives. The most important thing I can do for my students is to be connected to Him.

We started the Fall Kick-Off with some sweet 4 square. I don't know why, but they have totally gotten into 4 square recently. It started this summer and has been growing in popularity ever since.



While they were all playing outside, my amazing friend Jody was preparing dinner inside. I had no idea how many students would show up. I think we planned dinner for about 30-40. I think there were 50! So we were a little short on food, but who cares. We all got to eat and it was delicious.

We herded them into the garage and played telephone pictionary. PLEASE tell me you have played that before...it is so fun.



After that we introduced all our student leaders, adult mentors, and our new intern Dan. Then I shared with the group our mission statement, core values, what this semester is going to look like, etc. And then to celebrate 09-09-09 we counted backwards and dropped a tennis ball from the ceiling at 9:09:09 p.m. like New Years Eve.

Hooray for a great fall kick-off!

sleep zzzzzzzz

Tonight was the Fall Kick-Off for the college group. My life has been crazy busy getting ready for it. I am so tired, I am about to fall asleep at the computer. It was so good, though. More details after I've rested....Zzzzz....

Is your refrigerator running?

This past weekend was our leadership retreat with our student leaders for the college group. We were playing a get-to-know-you game and if you answered a question wrong, you had to do a dare of some sort. Travis' dare was to make a prank call to Jill, a girl in the college group. This video is him leaving it on her voicemail, while the rest of us try not to crack up in the background.



This second video is what happened when Jill called back and wanted to know who it was that called her.



Whoops.

Flipper to the rescue!

This week has been pretty stressful for me. It always happens this time of year, when we're about to kick-off for the fall.

1) My new intern Dan arrived from Pennsylvania. He and two friends drove for 4 days across our beautiful country and got here Tuesday. I have spent the last couple days doing introductions, training, going over stuff. I am mentally exhausted.

2) I am taking Dan and our student leaders on a retreat this weekend. That way we can spend time together and go over things before the school year starts. However I have been planning and preparing like crazy to get everything ready.

3) Meeting with potential adult leaders for the ministry.

4) The college group kicks off next Wednesday! And all the details that go along with that.

So I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed this week. I mean, these are all good things. Great things, actually. But it's all at once and I feel I have so much to do.

However.

Dan and I went to the beach for a meeting, just to get out of the office and put our toes in the sand. Dan from Pennsylvania has only experienced lakes so I think he is in love with the Pacific Ocean already.

We were sitting there talking about work stuff when all of a sudden, he pointed out to the ocean with a smile. I turned and looked. Flipper! Yup, Flipper and a few of his dolphin buddies were swimming by. The were gorgeous. The sun shone off their water-covered back and fins.

Flip and his buds swam lazily back and forth out in the water. We probably saw 15 all together. I laughed at the scene - was I really here? Was this really happening?

I really needed that.

Thanks God.