Summer 2010 recap

Well it's that time of year, friends. People are retiring their bathing suits and schools are starting all over the country. I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on Summer 2010 and see what happened. Good and bad.

* WORLD CUP! From June 11-July 11, I was riveted. Such fun to see countries from all over the world bond over this one event. I could have done without the vuvuzelas ("Is there a beehive nearby??") Congratulations to Spain for their victory. Oh and my marriage proposal to Gonzalo Higuaín is still standing.

* THE GULF OIL SPILL. On July 15, the leak was finally capped off. But not after spilling millions of oil into the ocean. I had a hard time seeing pictures of those pelicans and turtles covered in oil on the news. BP, you SUCK.

* COLORADO TRIP. My friend Amy and I had a wonderful time visiting our friend Jody in Boulder. I want to go back!!

* SUMMER READING. I started the summer with Eat, Pray, Love (haven't seen the movie yet) and then read Water For Elephants. I fully intended to read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo after that, but then I was recommended "The Hunger Games" by a co-worker. That trilogy has consumed my summer reading ever since.

Here's the gist according to wikipedia: "Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen lives in a post-apocalyptic world where a powerful government called the Capitol has risen up after several devastating disasters. The Hunger Games are an annual televised event where the Capitol chooses one boy and one girl from each district to a fight. The purpose of the Hunger Games is to show how no one, including children, is above the Capitol's power. The last person standing wins the game."

So North America was hit with tons of disasters and many died. The part of America left was renamed Panem and the Capitol (located in the Rockies) is the city that run the 12 Districts. The Capitol is super evil and corrupt and could care less that everyone in the districts is starving. Finally the rest of the nation decided to rebel. There was an uprising. The Capitol won. And to show the people who is in charge (and to also issue a warning to never rebel again), they throw the Hunger Games every year. From each district one girl and one boy (between the ages of 12-18) are chosen by lottery to play in the Games. They are flown to the Capitol and put in an arena. The last one standing wins. So basically these kids have to kill each other! Ahh! There will be 23 dead and only 1 winner. Whoever wins gets to live in luxury back in their district with their family and never go hungry again.

It's a crazy premise and I was super skeptical at first. I don't read much post-apocalyptic stuff. But my friend reassured me it was amazing and to not read before bed because I won't be able to stop. "Pssh, I can totally stop reading when I want," I thought. But oh dang, he was right! I was staying up till 2 a.m. to find out what happened! So so good. The third and last book of the trilogy came out this past Tuesday. I went to the midnight release party at Borders. I am currently halfway through book 3. I'm going to be so sad when it's over.

* FLASH MOB AT WEDDING. This was such a highlight of my summer. I loved seeing my roomate's face as we danced.

* 2 CROWNS. Not fun. Many tears. But luckily the pain is gone.

* SUMMER MOVIES. I was kind of disappointed in this summer's choices. Usually I see a ton o' movies in the summer. I think I only saw 5. And the only ones I really liked were Toy Story 3 and Inception. What did you think about this summer's movies?

* JOB. I love summer at my job - lots of relational time. One of my highlights was talking with a girl who was home for the summer and started coming to the college group because she made some friends. She was a full-on atheist and didn't want to hear about God. By the end of the summer, she was asking so many questions and seeking God! It was so cool! I am praying that when she goes back to college, she will find a bible study or college group to get plugged into.

* TRIP TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. So fun to see friends, go to D-land, sleep, and relax. Vacation is soooo needed for the soul.

* WEATHER. Weird weather this summer. It was pretty much cloudy and foggy every day, all day for the first 2 months of summer. Dreary. And then recently it's been sunny and beautiful. Just as summer is ending. What am I doing indoors typing? I need to go outside and soak up the sun! *cue the Sheryl Crow song*

How are you guys feeling about your summers? Were they good? Bad? Ok?

last one for the summer

This past weekend, I went to my fifth and final wedding for the summer. This time it was my dear friend and old roomie, Cara who got hitched. She and her (now) husband James had a beautiful outdoor wedding up in Nevada City. Two highlights were Cara singing to James right before she came down the aisle and watching James' face as he listened. And secondly, James is from Mississippi so we had a full-on southern bbq at the reception! Fried catfish, anyone? Mmmmm...


Love you guys!!

mascot fail

My sister sent me this video and I was crying, I was laughing so hard. The video itself is funny, but what made it even better was the commentary a blogger put underneath (I'm copying and pasting his comments). After reading what he wrote, the video became funnier and funnier each time I watched it. I hope you love it as much as I do!




A few highlights:

-- The apathy on the part of the players in the Aces dugout is probably my favorite part of this. By their reaction, you'd think a guy in a giant wolf costume drops from the sky into their dugout every other inning. None of the players rush to aid him, and two men in baseball uniforms just continue their bored stroll across the dugout. I think the on-deck hitter might actually be walking over the wolf's prone carcass.

-- The moment you choose to moonwalk backwards in a mascot costume with zero peripheral vision, you're just asking to fall off a ledge.

-- It's fantastic that the second mascot, whatever the hell that thing is, doesn't break character for even a second. It makes me think there's maybe a 20 percent chance that this was planned. Wolf mascot could be lying on the dugout floor with compound fractures in both of his femurs, but the red morbidly obese blob thing is still going to do his freaking job and get the crowd fired up. I love minor league baseball ...

-- My second favorite moment is when the wolf falls, and then instictively sticks his oversized fake mascot hand out to grab the ledge of the dugout. Like his giant wolf mitten is going to magically grab the concrete, clamp on, and avert this disaster.

-- Look closely. I'm pretty sure the wolf's pupils actually dilate before he falls off the ledge.

birthday weekend

It was a weekend of birthdays! My dad turned 65 recently so my mom threw him a luau-themed party on Saturday. They had food, drinks, a band, dancing, the works! It was so great!



Then on Sunday I took a bunch o' college students to a SF Giants game at AT&T Park. For a few of them, it was their first professional baseball game. We had a fun time, even though the Giants LOST against the San Diego Padres (booooooo....)



After the game, I went to my parents' house to celebrate my birthday with a delicious dinner, cake, and lots of laughter.

Is anyone else weirded out that summer is almost over?!?!

yeah for birthdays!

Today is the big 3-3.

Dude, when did I get so old.

I don't look that old.

I don't act that old.

I don't feel that old.

And yet, 33 sounds so old.

Oh well, who cares! Bring on the cake!! Yeah for birthdays!!

Really, Generation Y? Really?!

I don't know if we're supposed to call them "Generation Y" or "Millennials" or whatever. All I know is...something is wrong.

We've been playing volleyball on the beach a lot this summer. We have a fun slide to post on facebook to announce it:


Classic scene from Top Gun, yes? I love this picture. It makes me chuckle every time I look at it.

Well, we posted it and one of our 19-year-old male college students responds, and I quote:

"Who is that? Is that the son from that Tim Allen show?"

As in Jonathan Taylor Thomas. The middle child (Randy) from Home Improvement.


I weep for the future.

black widow excitement

The other day my friend Amy (travel buddy) and I were outside my house and we came across a black widow spider. Instead of leaving it alone to possibly crawl in the house windows, I decided to be pro-active. I grabbed a mason jar and a piece of cardboard to capture it. Here's how it went down:

(Sorry you can't hear us talk most of the time. The camera microphone is in the worst place ever - right where you hold the camera. So our voices are usually muffled. Oh well, enjoy anyway!)

fun time with college buds

There is a fun new tradition in life. Every summer my BFF from college Elissa, roomate from college Melanie, and I are going to have a mini-reunion. Last summer they came up and visited me in Nor Cal. This year we went down to So Cal. (And next summer we'll be going to Texas). We had a great time! Some highlights:

* DISNEYLAND!! Love this place.

* eating at all our favorite places

* shopping at the outlets (dangerous!)

* a college friend Leslie was in the musical "Trails" in Hollywood. We went to see her and she was amazing!! So so talented.

* seeing Inception! Good lord, if you have not seen this movie yet, GO! Your brain might hurt a bit from trying to figure it out but it's totally worth it.

* hot tubbin'!!

* spending the day at a park (BBQ'ing, hanging out with another college friend, Jessica, reading, falling asleep in the sun, bliss)


* having Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles for the first time! Who knew such random foods went SO WELL together. Yum!

* visiting college (the ol' stomping grounds) - so many great memories!! (Mel and I are pointing to our old dorm room)

blog coming

Hello fun readers, I've been gone visiting college friends down in southern California. New blog with pictures comin' tomorrow!