flesh and blood

whoa.  i didn’t mean to go yet another week before udpating again.  but it’s sunday night, which is a perfectly good time to sit down for a few minutes and write, right? :)

i’ve been a tiny bit under the weather the past few days, but i think i’m on my way to recovery.  i’m pretty sure it’s the same bug that’s been going around with my friends.  it hasn’t been terrible, so don’t worry, i’m fine.

wednesday night, i met up with amy, roderick, lauren, and tyler for frozen yogurt and lots of hanging around and talking.  it was a last-second plan that came together nicely.  the yogurt was delicious, but the most fun part was just hanging out for a bit with everyone.  i like random chances to hang out like this. :)

thursday night’s emmaus session was good.  rejuvenating.  and i went to in-n-out afterwards with a whole bunch of people, and we stayed out way too late.  it was really fun. :)  and i’m coming to quite enjoy french fries dipped in a chocolate milkshake as a late night snack.

on friday, my parents drove down here to spend the weekend with me.  they stopped by the office when they got into town and met some of the people i work with.  also, john gave them the full tour of the office (despite it being pretty empty).  it was a strange collision of two of my worlds, but i think it ultimately went really well.

i snuck out of the office an hour early on friday afternoon, and dad i went for a walk around this area.  it was fun to show him some of the area, and it was a beautiful day out.  i think we both really enjoyed it. :)

friday night was kind of big.  i’d been looking forward to it for several days.  my parents told me they wanted to take some of my friends and me out to dinner, so i invited a bunch a friends.  it ended up being marke, chris, lauren, roderick, amy, and jennifer with me, mom, and dad at selma’s.  it was a really good time!  i love these sorts of world collisions.  my parents enjoyed meeting everyone, and i think my friends thought it was kind of cool to meet my parents.  anyway, i had a really, really wonderful time bringing so many people i like out to dinner.

and after dinner, amy, roderick, chris, and i hung out.  we thought about going to the beach or going to a movie, but we ended up sitting in a coco’s parking lot listening to music and talking for a couple hours.  i realize that that doesn’t sound interesting at all, but it actually really was.  and i just enjoyed the company; i didn’t care so much what we were up to.  or not up to, as it were.

saturday morning, mom, dad, and i headed up to westwood to meet up with adam, and also my cousin theresa and her boyfriend chris.  (this is the second chris in this entry.)  we had a big family lunch at bj’s, which was cool.  i don’t see theresa that often, even though she’s just in la.

anyway, next adam, dad, mom, and i all went to the getty center.  i sort of dragged them there, but i knew they’d enjoy it.  and they did.  we looked at a little art (but not that much), and we walked all around the gardens and the grounds there and everything.  it was a lovely day outside and perfect for being at the getty.  even if it was a bit crowded.

then we did a little shopping at south coast plaza (yay for new scarves!) before having a quick dinner at chipotle and then heading back to my apartment for the night.  we watched some tv and hung out and then crashed relatively early.

this morning, we got up too early (at least earlier than i cared to be up) and had breakfast as a family at rj’s cafe in dana point.  and then the family headed off.  they brought adam back to ucla and then made it all the way back home to san carlos.

i spent a good portion of today asleep on the couch.  stupid cold.  but then i got up and went to the gym for some exercise (much needed) before cleaning up and going to church.  i’m so glad i went.  i’m thinking about how God’s love for me is unconditional, and how i therefore love other people with a heart full of gratitude and humility.  the homily was just explained in a way that made me think about things differently.  i didn’t see that coming.

then i tried to go out and spend money but failed miserably.  i went up to the nordstrom rack looking for shoes.  or boots, most specifically.  nothing there.  and then i went to target looking for shoes and also for a halloween costume.  nothing there either.  sad!

and tonight i’m just relaxing in a quiet apartment before another busy week.  keep an eye on my flickr, as i’ve been posting new photos lately.

the photos are up

because i am still up, even though i probably should have gone to bed already.

the emmaus baptism photos are here for you to enjoy. :)

no turning back

well, i continue to be a slacker about writing here.  things have been going really well around here, and i’ve seemed to continue to be quite busy.  or at least busy enough.  i’ll just cover some highlights…

on wednesday, chris and i went to see chris cagle at the house of blues in anaheim.  it’s fun to know someone who enjoys the same music as i do and can do stuff like go to a random concert on a wednesday night.  :)  the show was really good.  chris cagle has loads of energy on stage, and i always got the impression he was completely happy to be up on that stage performing for the crowd.  and speaking of the crowd, it was a solid one with lots of energy (and beer), but not so rowdy as to be really distracting.  so anyway, we had a good time.  :)

thursday night’s time at emmaus was really good.  dave spoke on baptism, which brings me back to my own baptism and confirmation.  it was all in preparation for saturday night, but more on that later.  anyway, after emmaus, i went with a bunch of others to in-n-out for a late night snack.  mmm… french fries dipped in a chocolate shake were just what i wanted! :)  plus, spending time with those characters is fun.

after work on friday, i met up with fellow sharks fan chris at bj’s.  we sat in the bar and found a tv to watch the sharks take on the ducks, since the tickets to actually go to the pond were a bit pricey.  and somehow amidst confusing planning, a bunch of other people met up with us just about the time the second period was getting under way.  so a whole bunch of us hung out and watched the game (or at least a few of us did) and whatever.  it was a good time, except for the part where the sharks got shut out and we got texts from ducks fan marke, who was actually at the game.  ;)  anyway, after we left there, roderick, lauren, jr, tyler, and i headed back here to my apartment to hang out a bit.  and then a bit later, dressed in… well… things like helmets and long coats and paintball gear, chris, dana, and jennifer stormed in!  haha!  and then all of us ran out to the park that’s sort of behind the apartment complex for a game of hide and seek in the dark.  it was lots of fun, even when the sprinklers came on as we were leaving.  it was silly and random and great. :)  and then we hung out a while longer around the apartment just enjoying each other’s company, listening to some music, and watching youtube videos.  anyway, it was a really wonderful friday night, i’d say. :)

after sleeping in nice and late, i spent a good portion of saturday baking an apple pie.  mmm!  and then i brought that with me to an emmaus event that’s going to be hard for me to describe, quite honestly.  it was a baptism of several people from emmaus, and it was incredible.  no, i was not baptized on saturday.  (for some reason, i keep getting that question.)  i was baptized as a baby and confirmed as a teenager.  anyway, several people were baptized in a swimming pool in someone’s yard and the whole thing was really amazing.  and it was quite a celebration, with a huge potluck and party afterwards.  i’m just grateful to have been witness to it all.  i’m going through a ton of photos from amy’s camera (mostly taken by roderick), and i’ll post them on my flickr soon.  i’m really planning on posting only a small number (20ish) of them, though, and they’ll likely be very unrepresentative of the event as a whole.  they will, however, be photos of my friends and me.  i’ll post again when they’re up.  anyway, it was a really cool event.  afterwards, a bunch of us went to see “burn after reading,” which i enjoyed just as much the second time around.

there are other things going on, but that covers the major stuff.  work’s good.  church is good.  i had a nice sunday that included some work and some relaxing.  i went to a women’s bible study tonight.

anyway, i think that’s enough out of me for the moment, but i’ll be back again soon.

alive, finally

i’ve been busy!  it’s been wonderful.

work has been keeping me busy, as usual.  it’s fun to have marke back in the office, and he even moved out of his office and into the main art department room to the desk that faces mine.  there’s lots of chatter all day in that room, and it’s really fun.  adam, who is a part-time guy doing something with the marketing people, moved into marke’s office (we’re running out of offices) and all the american decorations remain.  it’s pretty funny.  it’s good he’s pretty chill and seems to be able to endure all the nonsense of the art department.  anyway, life there is good.  oh!  and we’re now getting the wall street journal (the actual paper!  so retro! ;)) and doing nyt crossword puzzles, so basically we’re pretending we’re proper grownups.  haha!  it’s awesome.

last tuesday, i met up with lauren after work for another evening of hiking followed by dinner.  it was as fun as ever. :)  i think it’s nice to get outside and enjoy this area we live in, and i love that lauren wants italian food for dinner as often as i do.  we always seem to have a good time hanging out together.

on wednesday, i met up with nikki for dinner.  we tried to go to mimi’s but they were strangely closed for remodeling so we went over to the corner bakery.  mmm… i like that place.  i should go there more often.  we had a good dinner and got to talk a lot, and then we went back to her apartment and watched that night’s episode of “project runway,” which was awesome.  i love that they did bridal pieces! :)  anyway, nikki’s pretty rad, so i’m glad we got to hang out a bit.

thursday night at emmaus was good.  i don’t think i can explain it and do dave’s message any justice.  suffice it to say that i, too, love church, and i feel like i have my head and hands pressed against the divide between earth and heaven.

and then there was my weekend, which turned out to be really fun.  i had pretty much no plans as of friday afternoon, but everything came together nicely.  it’s so great when that happens!

friday night, i went out for dinner and a movie with amy, roderick, hanssel, chris, and some of chris’s friends from school.  well, that’s sort of a huge simplification of how it actually went, but i don’t think the details will really change how you read about it.  anyway, dinner was good, and i ended up seeing “appaloosa” instead of “quarantine.”  it was a good night out, if stranger than i might have expected.

saturday morning i was up early to get my hair cut with bobby!!!  i love getting my hair cut, and as far as bobby and i can remember, i hadn’t done it since last december.  that is a long time!  anyway, he cut off probably 7 inches, but i’m the only person who can tell.  it looks much healthier, though.  anyway, i love it!  i’m excited about it!  i don’t care that no one else really notices. :)  also, it was nice to catch up with bobby a bit.  it’d been a long time.

as i was leaving the salon, lauren called and said she was going to a cafe to study for a few hours and wanted to know if i wanted to join her, so i ran home, picked up a book, and met her and marke there.  she studied, marke watched a movie, and i read “tribes,” which is good.  i’m not sure how much studying lauren actually got done, but it was cool to hang out.

after that, i ran a couple errands and hit the gym for a run.  and then i rushed home, cleaned up the apartment, cleaned up myself, and was drying my hair when friends started arriving.  roderick, tyler, hanssel, lauren, marke, one of lauren’s friends ashley, and maybe others that i’m forgetting at this moment, all came over for what was meant to be movie night.  we ended up doing lots and lots of hanging out before we ever got to watching “rushmore,” but the entire night was just relaxed and easy and fun.  :)

sunday started with another trip to the gym and then 12:30 mass.  then i picked up some groceries and headed home.  i took a little nap, and then there were people knocking on my door again!  i hosted a viewing of patriots-chargers game in the afternoon.  :)  a lot of people came over, probably more than have even been in my apartment all at one time.  it was pretty awesome.  lots of people watched the game and lots of people didn’t.  we all just hung out and enjoyed being with each other.  this is how i like my apartment, full of people just relaxed and enjoying each other’s company.  marke said he was glad to see my apartment alive.  i agree.

and now i’m working on another busy week.  :)  more from me soon.

everything is fine

well, things around here have been pretty good! :)

tonight, i am thinking i have a touch of a cold or something, but i’m taking it easy and i hope it’ll be gone quickly.  i have some time to write because i’m just hanging out around the apartment.

last tuesday, it was a gorgeous day out here.  so hot, in fact, that it was hot out by the coast.  i decided i couldn’t resist the temptation to just take a drive right up pch, so i got in the car, turned the music way up, rolled the windows down, and drove.  it was awesome and beautiful. :)  i love it here.

on thursday, james, chris, and i finally made the lunchtime trek up to irvine to have chick-fil-a.  we’ve been talking about doing that about every other day for months now.  it was awesome!  sometimes it’s cool to just have lunch in a ridiculous place. :)

thursday night’s emmaus session was a good one.  mellow and good.  and i really enjoyed talking to some people and hanging around in-n-out until the middle of the night.  the highlights were talking with dana in her car and nate pretending to stab tyler in the stomach with tyler’s wooden sword he’d been carrying around all night. :)  silly boys!

lots of my friday at work was spent doing things that are hard to consider “work.”  we had a long company lunch at romano’s to celebrate stacy’s impending wedding.  in the afternoon, the boys and i blew up lots of balloons, but more on that later.  it was a good friday at work, i’d say. :)

friday night, i met up with lauren, roderick, chris, jennifer, dana, travis, jared, and amy up in aliso to see a late showing of “eagle eye.”  i wasn’t involved in choosing this movie, and didn’t even know much about it before seeing it.  it turned out to be really fun but not really good, and it was full of really blatant product placement that made me laugh.  anyway, it was definitely entertaining.  there are photos of us at the movies here (because who doesn’t take photos at the movies?): http://www.flickr.com/photos/missywyatt/sets/72157607717148794/

saturday, after taking care of a couple quick errands, i drove out into the mountains to where annajoy lives.  it’s quite the trek, but it’s also a really beautiful drive.  she had a party because her son, justin, turned three years old!  he’s very adorable. :)  anyway, the party was fun, and i enjoyed hanging around with lots of friends and lots of kids running around.  even if the day was kind of gray.  there are some photos of the party here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/missywyatt/sets/72157607810363947/

saturday evening, i headed to emmaus’s oral history night at the carlucci home.  we had a fun potluck dinner, and then allison shared her life story.  it was really interesting, and i enjoyed hearing about someone’s life that was just so different from mine.

and i was up bright and early sunday morning so i could make it to 9am mass.  and then i came home long enough to sit still for a few minutes and get changed before heading up to la.  i met up with sarah and russell at the grove.  i love the grove. :)  we had lunch at maggiano’s and then wandered around a little bit.  and then we decided to go over to the sprinkles cupcakes shop in beverly hills, which was fun except that they have no tables where we could sit and enjoy our cupcakes.

after leaving sarah and russell, i headed over to ucla to pick up adam.  i dragged him to the hammer musuem to see their exhibition on john lautner, a famous american architect.  it was free this weekend, which made it easy to go just for a little bit to check it out.  really cool. :)  next up, we drove out to hollywood to amoeba music, where i browsed for a long time.  i’m working on learning more about country music and listening to the older legends, so i ended up picking up lots of really old stuff.  should be awesome to sort through over the next few weeks.  also, i’m getting into modern bluegrass a lot more, so i picked up some of that, too.  i really spent more than i had intended there, but it was all on stuff i know i’ll enjoy.  anyway, adam and i were hungry after leaving there, so we did dinner at chipotle, because we love eating there and i never get to.  it was delicious! :)  and then i brought him back to his house and i headed home.  it was a long day up in la, but i really enjoyed all of it!

marke returned from his 23-day trip to europe yesterday, and he was back in the office this morning.  while he was out, we decorated his office in lots of american-themed ways.  there were flags and stars and a giant poster of a bald eagle kissing sarah palin that read “welcome back to america, marke!”  and then we filled the office with 450+ red, white, and blue balloons.  they filled the office about 6 feet high.  and when he arrived at work this morning, he agreed that it was a pretty awesome prank! :)  the photos from us putting the whole office together and marke discovering it are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/missywyatt/sets/72157607650837874/

and tonight has been interesting.  it’s the night my old friends have all decided they should get in touch, which is pretty amazing.  it’s like they knew i was just hanging out on the couch trying to give my body a break and get healthy.  first of all, i got a package in the mail from katie!  i talk to her voicemail all the time, but i hadn’t actually heard from her in like a year!  it was so wonderful to hear about how she’s doing.  now i just need her to call! ;)  and then bobby called, and we hadn’t caught up in about 6 months.  i need a haircut, and he wants to do some design work, so we’ll be back in touch with one another again very soon.  sounds like his life has been a bit nuts but is settling down now.  and then katherine called, and i’d desperately been trying to talk to her for like 2 weeks now, so we got all caught up.

and i think that’s about it!  more fun is scheduled for the coming days, so that’s cool.  i’ll write again soon.