Celebrating Angela

Today is my best friend Angela's 30th birthday. I was sitting here thinking about our friendship over the years and wanted to share some memories of the past 16 years. I think I will do 16 memories - one for each year that we've been friends, though not necessarily specific to each year. Enjoy!

1. Angela and I met in our freshman year of high school in 1993. We immediately disliked each other for one reason - a boy. I had dated him the year before and she was dating him then. I kept trying to get him to talk to me and get back together, so of course she had no reason to like this girl who wanted to steal her man. Eventually they broke up and we became friends...though exactly how and when it happened has never been quite clear. I'm grateful that in his own way, Brett was able to bring Angela & I together as friends.
2. One year for Angela's birthday, she had a slumber party and several girl's from school came over. We had a fun evening talking, giggling, eating, doing makeovers, etc. But one strange thing I remember is that we tried to make it look like a homeless man was asleep on the couch. We used pillows, a hat, a huge dog bone for the leg, tennis shoes and a blanket and I remember it looking pretty convincing. Why we would do this, who can remember?
3. Yes, we were a bit boy crazy in high school. But we got creative and came up with nicknames for the boys we liked so we could talk about them around them without them knowing who we were discussing. I particularly remember often discussing them in Geometry class for some reason...probably because Jordan and Scurvy were nearby. :)
4. My first trip to Las Vegas was a memorable last-minute trip with Angela, her mom and her younger sister. We stayed at the Golden Nugget, went to the amusement park at Circus Circus, walked around the Strip and memorably walked one very long evening walk from the Golden Nugget to the Stratosphere late at night and thankfully safely. It was a wonderful first visit and great time spent with my best friend.
5. Once we got to college, we had originally intended to be roommates, but Angela wasn't able to live on campus. But we had a lot of fun getting to know fellow new students at retreat, in class, and in the dorms. There was one memorable time that Angela moved into my dorm room for a few weeks, hush hush, but we eventually got caught and she had to leave. But it was fun to have her around more often.
6. One thing I've always loved about Angela is her joyful, silly and happy personality. She can never fail to make me laugh with either something silly she'll say or do and just laughing so hard and happily that you can't help but join in. You never know what will set her off, but you can be sure that life is more joyful with Angela.
7. We have both always loved the movie Beaches and have nicknamed ourselves CeeCee (Angela) and Hill (me). Though our lives have not completely mimicked the movie, our friendship is in many ways very similar. We are remarkably different from one another and these differences both draw us together and also cause conflicts...but we love each other and do our best to be there for each other.
8. The beginning of our friendship we were in many ways very much like big sister (Angela) and little sister (me). She was more experienced and more protective of me. This fit who we were at that time and worked for us for a long time. But as life is always changing and we with it, this began to have an effect on our relationship. I was experiencing more things and grew unappreciative of the protectiveness that I had once enjoyed. It caused little ruptures in our friendship. We weren't sure how to interact with each other in many ways and decisions we both made caused us eventually to have a falling out.
9. Though a dark part in our friendship, it is still an important memory to me to remember what it was like to not be friends for a time. I think it gave us both time to evaluate who we were now and not just who we were in the past...and so about a year after my wedding I sent an email to Angela asking for reconciliation. Being able to forgive and move on from the past allowed us to come together as stronger and closer friends who had gone through more similar experiences and now had a more equal friendship. I am grateful that we had the time apart to realize how important our friendship was and that we were able to work out our differences to be there for each other now.
10. A happier memory is of Angela's wedding. I remember planning her bridal shower - making tiny tea sandwiches, rose cupcakes that didn't rise and had shriveled sugared rose petals, and buying a gorgeous dark red rose corsage for her. Shopping for bridesmaid clothes with Angela and her sister Jeannie - I have often reworn the beautiful black velvet pants and shimmery black top. Angela & Jerry's beautiful outdoor wedding in Las Vegas - it was windy, chilly, and she was an absolutely beautiful bride! I was so happy to be able to be there to love and support her & Jerry on their special day.
11. Another thing that I love about Angela is her honesty and openness. She is pretty much an open book - openly sharing her thoughts, feelings, emotions, up and downs with people through conversation and her blogs. She isn't afraid to share her opinion and will listen to yours even if you might end up disagreeing. We don't always think the same way, or agree on the same issues, but she doesn't let things like that stand in the way of friendship. It is refreshing to see her honesty and it makes it easier for me, and others I'd think, to be just as open and honest with her. I'm grateful that she brings this out in me as without her I'd be more likely to keep things to myself. In this way, one of our many differences is what brings us closer together.
12. Another special memory I have is from when her son Michael was born. He was born two days before Christmas and I remember going with Josh to see him for the first time on Christmas Eve. He was such a cute little tiny guy and I loved holding him and spending time with them that day. Michael has grown into a super sweet little boy who is such a mixture of his parents - quiet and contemplative, yet also silly. I loved all the moments I've been able to spend with them - lunches with Angela & Michael at the CBU cafeteria, birthday parties, Halloween, and just evenings spent at their home or ours. He is a precious blessing to his parents and to all those who get to meet him.
13. A couple year's ago, Angela began a monthly Girl's Night event. It was a time to come together with other girl friends and watch a movie, eat some yummy snacks and talk. We've alternated whose house we meet at (though most often at Angela's), what kinds of foods we eat (Mandy always makes us a feast with multiple desserts! :), and have watched many great and not-so-great movies over all these months. Some favorite evenings have been 80's night for Angela's birthday, princess tea at Mandy's, Christmas baking day, and many others. I think we have all benefited from the opportunity to spend one evening a month just girls. We've been able to love and support one another and just plain have fun together.
14. One of my most recent memories with Angela happened last October when we got to go back to Vegas together and see Bette Midler in concert. We enjoyed yummy dinners, shopping, trying Coca Cola's many varieties, flirtatious merchants, and of course, the Divine Miss M! :) It was the first opportunity we'd had to take a vacation just the two of us and we had a lot of time to talk, laugh, cry and enjoy time together as best friends. I hope that in the future we'll have the opportunity to take another best friend vacation.
15. Something else that I admire about Angela is how she will always follow through on what she decides to do. If she says she'll do something then you can be assured that it will happen. She decided to start exercising and training to do the Mud Run and worked so hard to accomplish it. She decided to walk in the Breast Cancer 3-Day and not only raised more than the necessary fundraising, but she also pushed herself to walk all three days. She has continued to set goals for herself to do another Mud Run and who knows what else. I am also so proud of her for her dedication to completing her college degree. Though it is challenging to combine being a wife, mother, full-time employee, and have any kind of social life - she adds in being a student and working hard toward obtaining her degree within the next year or two. I love that she works so hard to achieve those things that are important to her and it inspires me.
16. Though Angela and I are very different, I love that we support and love each other in spite of, and sometimes because of those differences. She helps me to see things from another perspective, she allows me to be more open and honest, she makes me be silly and have more fun, and she encourages and listens to me. I am so grateful for her friendship in my life and I hope that this special birthday post helps to remind her why she is so important in my life and how much I love her.

Happy 30th Birthday Angela Rose!

7th Anniversary Vacation

This February 25 was the seven year anniversary of when Josh & I met online through Match.com and we decided that we wanted to celebrate by taking a vacation to the central coast. We've been wanting to take a vacation to this area for several years now, but it finally was a possibility this year. We each took 3 days off work and decided to visit Atascadero/Paso Robles, San Simeon, Cayucos/Morro Bay, and Solvang. The beginning of our trip was spent staying at my good friend Jeff's apartment in Atascadero. We've known each other for almost 13 years after having met on a mission trip in 1996. He generously offered his extra bedroom for two nights and from there we were able to visit San Simeon - specifically Hearst Castle where we took two of the five tours offered. We also had the opportunity to go to church with him and he took spent an afternoon taking us on a driving tour of some picturesque country roads with lovely green valleys, beautiful old trees which sometimes created tunnels over the road, a pretty creek and gorgeous ocean vistas. Then we spent an evening in Cayucos at a quaint little hotel right on the ocean. It was a wonderful place to stay and we both wished we could have stayed longer enjoying the ocean views and the constant sound of waves crashing. After we Cayucos, we had lunch at a yummy BBQ restaurant in San Luis Obispo recommended by my boss Erica called Mo's Smokehouse. It was delicious and definitely someplace we'd like to visit again. We spent the night in Lompoc before spending several hours touring quaint Solvang. It was full of beautiful architecture, amazing bakeries with delicious pastries, and cute little shops including one called the Sock Loft which was full of adorable socks and foot-related items. We had a wonderful vacation that was very relaxing, very peaceful and very beautiful. We would love to go again so that we can take the additional 3 tours offered at Hearst Castle and spend a few more nights in Cayucos.

Waiting on the bus to take Tour 2 - Upper Floors of Casa Grande including Hearst's bedroom & study and the kitchen.

The Enchanted Hill - Hearst Castle as viewed from the Visitor Center (with our super zoom camera)








Casa Grande - the main house. Hearst Castle was built over a 28 year period and is uncompleted but full of amazing architecture and art and is a neat glimpse into life in Hearst's time.

The meeting room - guests were expected here each evening for cocktails before dinner and a movie.

Hearst's personal study

The dining room - dinner was served between 8:30 and 9pm and all guests were required to be there. Food was served on fine china, but paper napkins were always used.

The kitchen - it had some neat displays of the china, liquor cabinet, medicine cabinet and ovens/stoves.

One tiny corner of the huge library - thousands of beautifully preserved books.

One of the bedrooms in the Cloisters - every bedroom in the main house and 3 little houses had its own bathroom with flushing toilet and shower or tub. This is amazing since at the time most homes across America still had outhouses and one communal stand alone bathtub.

One of the ceilings in one of the main house bedrooms.

Another ceiling - this one is in Casa del Sol.

Pretty pink tree in the gardens.

Casa del Sol - one of the little houses. Each little house had several bedrooms and bathrooms, but all meals were served only in Casa Grande. No room service here!

Neptune Pool

The indoor pool - everything that looks like gold is 24 karat gold!

Ocean view coming down from Hearst Castle - at one time Hearst owned over 50 miles of coastline among many other properties.

Beautiful view

Shoreline Inn...on the Beach in Cayucos, CA.

Ocean view from our room - so beautiful!

Gorgeous ocean vista!

Elephant seals sleeping on the beach near San Simeon.

This one was flirting with the camera!

Pretty creek

Friends for almost 13 years - Jeff & Keri

Montana de Oro park - beautiful views!

Friends at the ocean - Josh, Keri & Jeff

Happy 7 years!

View of Morro Rock (means rock rock :) from our dinner at Embacadero Grill.

Kissing on the beach in Cayucos :)

Solvang, CA

New Hair

Late last year, my best friend Angela mentioned that she thought I might like to try dying my hair black. While looking at pictures of us from our October trip to Vegas to see Bette Midler, she thought her black hair looked good against my skin. Since I am almost always up for a change to my hair and had never dyed it black before, I said it sounded like a good idea. So about a month or so ago, I went over to her house and she dyed it for me.

Wow...black hair was quite a change, but I found very quickly that I LOVED it! I felt prettier and sexier and just all around happy. Since my hair was also in desperate need of a haircut (tons of split ends that kept taunting me!) I made an appointment with my favorite hairdresser Kerry. This past Saturday we finally got together and talked about what to do. I wanted to keep as much length as possible since I really don't like how I look with short hair. I also wanted some long layers to frame it around my face...but nothing that would require a lot of daily maintenance since I am so not that girl! :)

The cut we ended up with is super cute, super easy to care for, and so much healthier. See the pictures below and let me know what you think! :)

First Five

First Five
I got this from my cousin Jennie and love the idea!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. But I promise that I will take time to think of something that seems right for me to send you! :)
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!}

How goes it...

Well, we are in a new month now and I thought I'd take a look back and see if I was able to follow through on my resolutions. A friend of mine read about my goals for 2009 and came up with a cute acronym to help remind me about it daily. RENEW

R - relate
E - eat
N - Nehemiah 1:11 "Grant your servant success today."
E - enjoy
W - walk

I like the acronym a lot, especially with the included Bible verse which is also a reminder to me to pray daily for God's help in achieving daily success. I have this posted on my computer at work and find that it reminds me daily to make better choices.

I have had many opportunities in the last month to spend time with friends and family and I'm preparing to go out to Hallmark this week to purchase Valentine cards to send out as well. I've made an effort to make healthier food choices, to not eat everything on my plate or to take a smaller portion. I've done pretty well with eating breakfast every day and have cut back on the amount of soda and have been drinking more water lately.

As for prayer, I've tried to make a conscious effort to pray for those who I have offered to pray for - whether it be while driving in my car, before going to bed at night, or as I think about them throughout the day. Josh & I still need to order our new Bibles which were supposed to be Christmas presents. Mine will be the Bible on CD and I intend to start listening to it in the car on the way to or from (or both) work.

I think that I've tried to do things that make me smile...reading some good books, spending time with friends, going to Disneyland with my family, and watching things that make me laugh. I think that I would like to add to this idea by trying to not argue so often with Josh and try to let little things slide more often. To try to enjoy our time together and not let little issues steal our joy. We also have a vacation coming up at the end of this month that should be full of opportunities to smile. We are headed to the central coast to visit Paso Robles, Hearst Castle, Cayucos and Solvang over a 5 day vacation. This is in part to celebrate the seven year anniversary of when we met online through Match.com (2/25/02) and also because we've been wanting to take a vacation to those places for the last 5 years.

As for walking more, I've done several things to make this true almost every day. I walked one evening with my best friend and look forward to doing it again once she is recovered from her recent surgery. I've been parking my car further away from the places I need to go so that I can add a little walking here and there. I've been trying to get up from my desk throughout the day to walk around upstairs or around the library. We went to Disneyland two weeks ago with my family and as usual spent lots of time walking around. :) I find that I think about it more often and thus make more of an effort to add a few steps or more here and there. I've also recently ordered the original Sweatin' to the Oldies DVD set and Josh & I intend to start doing that once a week to start...and hopefully working up to a couple times a week.

I know that it will only be with God's help that I am able to continue working to achieve these goals...but it is my sincere intent to keep depending on him and not give up even if I stumble or fail. I appreciate any prayers or encouragement.

Goals

With the new year often comes the desire to make changes, or resolutions, as we like to call them. They are often very specific and in general they can be overwhelming and all to easily forgotten or given up on. I am no exception. But I do want to make some attempt for change, and so have come up with four things I would like to do in this new year.

They are purposely not extremely specific for I do not want to become overwhelmed and give up on them. They are not something I can fail once and say oh well, better luck next year. They are decidedly vague and hopefully able to continue throughout the year. I want to do my best to keep at them, and perhaps you who read my blog can help keep me accountable and ask me if I am doing what I've decided to do. Please pray for me and encourage me if you'd like...I would appreciate and enjoy that.

#1 - Walk more
We all have to walk and we all could stand to walk more. I purposely did not choose to say exercise more, or lose weight. Though I would like to do those things they are so specific that I would set myself up for failure. But I can always walk more...whether it be taking a few laps around the library at work, parking my car further from wherever I need to be, or purposely deciding to walk as exercise. My best friend Angela did suggest that we get together a couple times a week to walk and talk...and we will begin that this week. Whether or not we meet every week is not my goal...but choosing to start each day with a desire to walk more somehow...and realize that even if I don't do it once, twice or for 3 weeks or more I can start up again the next day and it will still be a success. :)

#2 - Eat better
Once again this can mean a variety of things and in general I want it to mean that I make more purposeful choices about what I am eating. I don't want to forbid myself from eating anything and I don't want to limit myself to a strict diet that I will surely cheat or give up on. I want to make an effort to eat breakfast every day and try to make sure that it is something filling and somewhat healthy. I want to try to eat out less often and cook at home more often. But I will still make time for semi-monthly Taco Tuesdays, or dinners out with friends, or wanting pizza at Shakey's. I can do those things on occasion and still make good food choices. I am also in the process of readingEat This, Not That: the no-diet weight loss solution by David Zinczenko. I love the idea of not limiting myself, but still making healthier food choices. I am also hoping to limit the amount of soda that I drink and making the choice to drink water or tea instead...and milk and juices on occasion.

#3 - Make time for the people who matter to me
I think that Josh & I already try really hard to do this the majority of the time. We often think about which of our friends we've seen recently and try to get together with people at least every other month or more. Josh has a monthly guy's game night, and I have a monthly girl's movie night. I try to keep in contact with friends and family through email, Facebook, MySpace or phone calls....or in person or through cards sent in the mail. But I know I can always do more to let people know that they matter to me and that I care about them. I know there are some people that I haven't kept in touch with as well as I should...and it is my intention to try harder this year. Making time for the people who matter to me is of vital importance to me and I believe that every little bit helps.

#4 - Do things that make me smile
This is a little vague...even for me and I came up with the idea! :) Basically I want to make sure that I make time for the things that make me smile, happy, joyful, or at peace. Maybe it's to read more books, or play with my niece and nephew. Perhaps it means visiting Disneyland more often, or buying fresh flowers. It could be taking time to draw or paint or scrapbook, cooking meals that I always want to but never make time for, or just sitting on the couch vegging out with my hubby for an entire weekend! What kinds of things make YOU smile?

I'd love to hear from those of you who read my blog...either post a comment or send me an email. Tell me what you think of my goals...what are your goals this year? Let me know if I need to make time for you. Thanks for reading! *hugs*

My favorite books of 2008

The Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer
~ Great series of 4 books which many of my friends also devoured and they are definitely on my re-read list.

The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver
~ I found this book amazing and absolutely needed to share it with someone so I asked my friend Amanda to read it and we still need to talk about it.

Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of its Own by Doreen Orion
~ Great book, great stories, great recipes...but even greater is how amazing the queenly author is. She really connects with her fans and I've enjoyed that quite a lot.

The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison
~ Though this series of nine books is for young adults I hysterically laughed out loud multiple times (ask Josh :)) while reading each book and would love to own them so I can re-read them again and again. The titles alone made me laugh outloud and inspired me to read them.

Peculiar Treasures and On a Whim by Robin Jones Gunn
~ As always, I love anything and everything written by this author and I particularly love that she has continued on my favorite characters through this Katie Weldon series. Looking forward to more over the next few years.

My Life in France by Julia Child
~ This was an amazing book which told me so much more about Julia Child's life than I had ever realized. She had a very full life with so many adventures and neat experiences. I loved it and would highly recommend it to anyone who likes autobiographies or books about food culture.

All the President's Pastries by Roland Mesnier
~ This was a really fascinating book about the former pastry chef at the White House for over 20 years. Great pictures, neat stories and several recipes are included.

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
~ Though this was fiction, it really read like a non-fiction story. I found it fascinating and very enjoyable to read. Beautiful descriptions and a neat love story too.

Around the World in 80 Dinners by Bill Jamison
~ Intriguing idea for an anniversary trip by the author and his wife. Though sometimes slow, I liked how descriptive they were about the foods and travel and quite enjoyed the book.

Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account by Miklos Nyiszli
~ Not a fun book to read, but important and a different perspective from many books written about the Holocaust as the author was a prisoner whose medical skills saved him from death, though at what cost?

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
~ This was a very large book, but it never felt tiresome to read. Intriguing story and interesting characters made for a great novel which I enjoyed reading and discussing with Aunt Annette.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
~ Interesting non-fiction about a family's decision to eat locally and organically for one year growing most of the food themselves or obtaining it from a short distance from their farm. It really made the idea of growing vegetables sound good and I specifically enjoyed the short essays written by their teenage daughter which included recipes.