what's been going on lately

* I've been running. Have I mentioned that? I can't remember. I don't even like running. But I bought some new running shoes and socks and they are amazing. I feel like I'm running on marshmallows. Not really, but it's a fun visual. I've put together a fun running mix on my ipod, too.

"Set Fire To The Rain" by Adele
"What Doesn't Kill You (Makes You Stronger)" by the Glee cast
"Turn Me On" by David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj
"Higher" by Taio Cruz
"Hold It Against Me" by Britney Spears (not a huge Brit fan, but this song is good for running)
"We Found Love" by Rihanna
"Good Feeling" by Flo Rida
"Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen
"You Make Me Feel" by Cobra Starship
"Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson
"What I Know" by Parachute
"In The End" by Linkin Park
"Call Me" by Katherine McPhee (from the new show "Smash")
"La La La" by Auburn featuring Iyaz

* As a reward for running so much, I treated myself to a pedicure. Purple with sparkles because why not.


* Enjoying: this weather. 75 degrees in February? Yes, please!

* Not enjoying: gas prices. Where's my bike?


* Bought my ticket for the midnight showing of the Hunger Games movie. May the odds be ever in your favor.

* Date Night! We did a fun event with the college group where everyone had to get a date and we all went out together. It was a blast. We went to a popular burger place in town and then mini-golfing. I got 3 holes-in-one! That's never happened before. (This picture is of my second one)


* Oscar party. Did you guys watch the Academy Awards? We have ballots and people pay $5 to play. You vote for who you think will win and whoever gets the most guesses correct, wins the pot. I came in second place and won my $5 back. Were you glad with who won the awards?

fun news!

If you've read my blog for awhile, you've seen many of the adventures I've gone on with my best friend Elissa and her husband Mike (aka: Mikey). Elissa and I met freshmen year in college (we lived across the hall from each other) and have been best friends ever since. E and Mikey started dating our senior year and got married a few years after that (I was honored to be the maid of honor - aptly named). And even though I live in northern Cal and they live in So Cal, we still see each other multiple times a year.

Wellllllll, I got a phone call from my BFF a couple weeks ago. I was on speaker phone so I could talk to both her and Mikey. I kept hearing them say, "We're..." and then there would be all this static.

Me: "What?!"

Them: "We're...."

Me: "WHAT!?"

Them: "Can you really not hear us? WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!!"

*pause*

Me: "OH MY GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" (*commence freak out*)

E and I had talked about this last summer when I went to visit them. They've been married 8 years and she and Mikey both seemed totally okay with not having kids.

But apparently God had other plans! Love it!!

So, baby is due in September. And here's more fun news: they asked me to be the godmother!! Wooooo!! I love being an aunt so I am going to rock this godmother thing. This kid is going to be very loved and prayed for.

And more fun news! Elissa, Mikey, and I are going to New York City in May! Yes, yes, I'm going back. I can't help it - I'm addicted to that city. We made plans to go before E found out she was preggo. So now Baby gets to join us on our adventures in the Big Apple (inside the womb, of course).

So much fun news!

Congratulations to Mike and Elissa! I'm so happy for you both.

Happy President's Day

The Hunger Games movie comes out in 32 days...

the dentist

I have decided to blog about the dentist.

I went this week and realized there's just too many observations about a dentist visit to not write something.

First step, sit in the long chair and get slowly tilted back. Like heyyyyy, just relaxxxxxx....

The bright light gets switched on.

You and the dentist makes small talk.

You're awaiting the pain to come. (or is this just me?)

What's that? Oh, I'm due for new x-rays.

Your mouth has to hold in these hard discs while the dentist scurries into the other room to click the picture. Wait, why do YOU get to leave the room? Am I getting radiation poured into me?? Then the dentist comes in and takes out the disc, gagging you in the process. Before you can swallow down the vomit and saliva threatening to spew forth, they are already shoving the disc into another part of your mouth. *more gagging*

With x-rays done, now comes the scraping and prodding. Let's briefly talk about the tongue during this time. Hopefully we all try to make it stay still at the bottom of our mouths. But I would not be at ALL surprised if our dentist talks with their co-workers at lunchtime about us. "You should have SEEN the patient I had earlier today! Her tongue could not sit still for a moment! It was all over the place." (Sorry! It doesn't know what to do!)

Now when you're laying in the lounge chair and your dentist is going to town on your pearly whites, eye contact becomes tricky. You can not, under any circumstance, make eye contact with your dentist. Awkward. So your eyes end up darting all over the room. Look up at the ceiling. Boy, this florescent lighting is really bad. Look to my left. Ew, that's quite a graphic picture of what your teeth look like if you don't floss. Look away. Ack! I accidentally made eye contact with the dentist! Quick, look away. Ack! I accidentally looked at her boobs. Quick, look down. Why, in God's green earth, did I wear these awful shoes today?

And if you're lucky enough to have a cavity that needs to be filled, the real fun begins! All the big metals tools start coming out.

Bill Cosby shares what happens much better than I ever could:



P.S. Why do dentists floss after every cleaning? I have never understood that.

Galentine's Day

Do you watch the show Parks and Recreation (aka: Parks and Rec)? If not, I completely recommend it. It's on Thursday nights on NBC.

The main character, Leslie Knope (played by the hilarious Amy Poehler), has a tradition with her girlfriends. They go out together before V-day and call it "Galentine's Day".

Brilliant.

I invited single college girls to my house on Tuesday night. We made dinner, brought gifts and candy for each other, and watched the movie "Bridesmaids".




This was a fun video we took toward the beginning of the night. One of the girls had brought these little packages with mini-balloons inside them. You were supposed to punch the bag which would shoot the balloon out and then it would self-inflate. Good times.



Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

the EvangeCube

I got to spend Friday with my nephews and it was wonderful. Much needed aunt-nephew time. Please "Ooh" and "Ahh" over baby Samuel who is almost 8 months.


Seriously. I want to kiss those cheeks till Jesus returns.

Speaking of Jesus, Judah (3 years old) and I played with my Dad's EvangeCubes toward the end of our day together. Have you seen or heard of these EvangeCubes? There are no words, just pictures. And you flip it around like a puzzle, each new flip shows another part of the gospel.


My dad takes these when he and my mom go on mission trips so they can share about Jesus. He has a bunch of little ones and one big one. Judah and I were playing with the big one and he was looking at all the pictures and asking questions. "What's that stone for?" (the stone that covers Jesus' tomb), etc.

He turned to the crucifixion. It is not a pleasant image. Jesus is nailed to the cross, wearing the crown of thorns, and bleeding. The artist even made the clouds dark and red behind Jesus.


Judah: "Who is this?"

Me: "That's Jesus."

Judah: "What's he doing?"

Me: (frantically thinking how to explain this to a 3 year old. I guess just go for it.) "He is dying on a cross."

Judah: "Why?"

Me: "Because he loves us. He died for our sins."

Sister Amy, in the other room: "Judah, remember we talked about this. You know how you get a time-out when you make bad choices? When Jesus died on the cross, it was like he went on the time-out for you so you didn't have to."

Judah: "Why?"

Me: "Because he loves you. And he loves me. He loves all of us."

Judah studied the picture on the EvangeCube for about 10 more seconds. Then he looked up, smiled, and said, "I want to die on a cross."

I had been looking down and my head flipped up to look at him. I had a panicky face but tried to cover it up with a nonchalant look, so my expression was probably quite interesting.

Me: "Um, you want to die on a cross?"

Judah: (smiling and looking at the crucifixion). "Yep. And I want mommy to die on a cross. And daddy to die on a cross. And baby brother to die on a cross."

I had no idea how to react. So I ended up just laughing uncomfortably.

Oh EvangeCubes.

God-day

I took today off work and spent the whole day with God. It was one of the best personal retreats I've ever done. I feel so refreshed! Imma do this once a month.

Sorry I haven't blogged much. Work is going well. Superbowl commercials were boring this year. I get to see my nephews on Friday!

More blogging to come...

Uncle Bob

Last summer when my friends Amy, Jenn, and I went to New York, one of our highlights was Uncle Bob. Our last morning in the city, we went to our favorite breakfast place: Norma's at Le Parker Meridien. Norma's makes chocolate waffles filled with peanut butter. (Yes, they exist.)

Our waiter's name was Bob. He was probably around 65 and one of the sweetest, kindest, funniest people we had ever met. We stayed for two hours enjoying out meal and talking with Bob. He would shuffle over to our table to chat with us any chance he could. We found he used to be a pastry chef and has worked in high-scale restaurants all over the city. He snuck a Norma's cookbook to our table so we could write down some of their famous recipes. We talked, laughed, and took pictures.


When we left, the lady at the front desk told us, "Oh my goodness, Bob enjoyed you three so much. He kept coming into the kitchen with a huge smile saying, 'I love the ladies at Table 17.'" We told her he made our day. And how we were so glad we met him and what a perfect end to our trip.

Ever since we've been back, we've affectionately referred to him as "Uncle Bob" whenever he came up in conversation. In December, the three of us got together to write him a card and send him the pictures from that morning.

Three weeks ago, Jenn received a package from Uncle Bob in the mail! She called Amy and I and asked if she should open it or wait till the 3 of us were together. We thought it'd be fun to wait so we could all see it at the same time. My first thought was that he bought us our very own Norma's cookbook, but Jenn said the package was bigger than that. "Do you guys think it's perishable?" she wondered. Nah, they always ask at the post office and then mark it on the box.

Tonight was when the 3 of us could finally get together and hang out. Jenn brought the package. Inside was a Christmas card and a huge silver tin.


We opened it and screamed. And then died laughing.


That's not frosting on the banana bread.

I guess we should have opened it when Jenn first got it.

Sorry Uncle Bob!!