gently cascading

what a week it has been.  busy as ever.  happy as ever. :)  i’ll try to be brief (though i often fail at that).

work’s been very busy, but it’s also been going well.  some days i don’t accomplish enough; other days, i accomplish more than i thought possible.  the days have been flying by with all the work, and i think that’s a good thing.  anyway, i’m enjoying it, despite it being a lot.  also, i think it has really helped me that lately i’ve had lots of other things going on in my life, which forces me to stay on task during the workday because i cannot stay late to continue working.  i think my life is balancing out nicely.

the new taylor swift album came out on tuesday.  marke’s hooked.  yes, music snob marke.  i love it! :)  oh, and the album is really good if you like taylor.  and i do. :)

wednesday night, i went from work to zoe for their wednesday night service.  i ended up hanging out with some friends afterwards.  i love it when that happens.  anyway, after a bit of discussion, chris, tyler, roderick, lauren, chad, and i ended up picking up dinner at a’s burger and then coming over to my place.  we ate and then watched the cma’s.  i always love the cma’s because they’re pretty much one big concert with lots and lots of performers i like. :)  chris and i are really the only country lovers, so there was lots of us telling everyone else who’s who.  still, it was really fun to sit and watch with some friends.  we stayed up too late.  it was lovely.

on thursday, i took off from work early and made the long trek up to malibu to pepperdine.  an old professor, ginger, asked me to be on a panel of judges in one of her advertising classes.  four groups of students pitched campaigns for toms shoes.  they were quite impressive, and i had a wonderful time asking questions and providing feedback for the students.  plus, it’s always fun to be back in malibu because it’s one of the most gorgeous places around.  i love it.  and it was also so great to see ginger and catch up with her for a few minutes.  we’re going to try to meet up again soon and catch up more thoroughly.  after the class let out, i went over to westwood to meet up with adam.  we had a late dinner at bj’s and even made it across the street for an ice cream sandwich from diddy riese.  all around, it was delicious! :)  and then i headed back home pretty late.  it was a really good trip up there.

friday after work, i headed to the dana point yacht club to have drinks (or diet coke) with john and some other people from work.  kind of have to make an appearance at these things.  and then i headed up to the spectrum to a huge birthday dinner for allison, a friend from emmaus.  there were tons of people gathered at the cheesecake factory to celebrate with her, and it was so much fun!  and then most of us headed over to dave and buster’s afterwards for pool and video games and such.  it’s not a place i normally hang out, but i ended up having a really good time with my friends there.  skeeball is my favorite, but it was also fun to try out some other games, mostly ones where i shot stuff.  again, i was up too late. :)

on saturday, marke, amy, chris, chris’s friend kate, and i drove up to la to go to amoeba music.  i didn’t need anything, but i always find wonderful things to buy there.  the drive up was strange because the skies were full of smoke almost the whole way.  crazy fires.  crazy socal.  anyway, we made it to la, and i found way more than i planned to.  mostly country and bluegrass.  i’m slowly working my way through everything, trying to spend some time with each album before moving on to the next.  once we were back in orange county, amy, chris, and i had delicious thai food for dinner and then drove around a bit before making our way to saddleback church (home of rick warren of purpose driven life fame).  it’s a sight to see.  i know that sounds silly.  it’s not like the vatican at all.  but anyway, we played tourists and wandered around there on a gorgeous night.  mostly though, i’m just thankful for the quality time with friends.

yesterday (sunday) was my chore day.  about time.  i’d been putting stuff off for ages.  but i think my life is fully back in order now. :)

and today was a good day, as well.  it was really busy, but in a good way.  i like that i just went and went and went.  work.  errands.  bible study.  gym.  talked to the family.  caught a little college basktball.  worked on planning a trip a bit.

so i i think i need to crash.  i need some sleep before another busy day and another busy week.  more soon.

say, “yes.”

well, look who finds herself back at the computer to write only a couple days after her last post! ;)  haha!  i’m doing my best.

highlights from the weekend…

on saturday night, i went to a birthday party for two friends from emmaus, jr and jake.  some people cooked a pretty traditional turkey dinner, and then everyone else helped with sides, drinks, and dessert.  anyway, it turned out to be a huge party, but i had a wonderful time talking to lots of different friends and hanging out all night.  i’m not even sure what in particular made it awesome, but it was. :)

sunday afternoon, marke, marke’s dad john, amy, nikki, jen, roderick, lindsay, and i all went to see the ducks play the florida panthers at the pond.  it was a good deal and fun to get to a hockey game after a couple years, though it turned out not to be a very good game.  the ducks scored their only goal a minute into the game, and there weren’t any fights until there were 30(ish) seconds left in the game.  the rest of the game was pretty quiet.  anyway, it was still good fun, and we’ll be back at more hockey games. :)

and now i’m back into another busy week, but while i’m working away, you should check out my flickr for new photos, including the ones from the big birthday party! :)

eating space stations

jimminy crickets.  i’ve failed miserably at updating more frequently.  if it’s any consolation, it’s not because i’ve been getting in any extra sleep.  if you want the cliffs notes version: life’s awesome and i’m having way too much fun.  but here we go.  a big update on life lately.

halloween.  okay, so halloween isn’t really my holiday, but there was enough going on that i participated in celebrating it.  i found myself some fun ladybug wings at a costume shop and fashioned a headband with antennae.  it was cute enough and wearable enough.  :)  anyway, i dressed up at work because we usually do that there.  and after a pizza lunch during which we watched “monster house” on the projector, we got to go home early!  awesome!  and in the evening, i went to a huge costume party at some friends’ house, with all the emmaus people.  it was pretty fun, despite me being allergic to their house.  i spent lots of time hanging out outside with friends, anyway, so it was fine.  i even played a bit of “soccer” (you can hardly call what we played soccer) in the park with chris, janet, and travis.  anyway, it was a good time.  i’m still working on tracking down a few of the photos.

i spent last saturday with friends but not doing a ton.  i finished reading “tribes” while lauren studied in a coffeeshop, and then we went for a long walk at the beach in dana point, where i used to go for walks all the time.  and then we met up with chris for a quick dinner before going to his dad’s house to watch “3:10 to yuma,” which i’d never seen before.  awesome movie!  and dana ended up joining us halfway through the movie, too.  it’s always good to see her.  and we hung around a while trying to decide what else we might do.  chris put on a hat.  and we went to get frozen yogurt at cherry on top just before they closed.  it was rainy and fun and a good saturday night.

on sunday, meg and noah came to visit.  they’d been in la for a few days visiting various people, and i was their last stop before they headed back home to palo alto.  we had lunch on del mar and walked down to the beach and the pier and everything, so they got a proper tour of san clemente.  it was good to just wander around town like that, because i don’t do that so much on my own.  and after relaxing for a bit at my place, we went over to beachfire in ladera to see travis and his brother nathan play music.  meg and noah got to meet some of my emmaus friends, and all of us had a good time hanging out, listening to music, and eating a bit.  i’d say it was a pretty chill way to spend a sunday night.  oh!  and at 8:30, they brought around warm cookies for everyone!  that’s awesome.  bar.  music.  friends.  cookies. :)

monday night, i went to zoe (that’s the church where emmaus is held) to hear marke’s dad/pastor john talk about reading the bible, which was an interesting session, if not particularly new material for me.  i guess that’s to be expected after 17 years of christian schooling.  anyway, i was still glad i went.  and afterwards, a few of us went for frozen yogurt. :)

tuesday night, while much of the country was glued to tv sets for election results, i went out.  (by 8, i knew the presidential race was over already anyway.)  chris and i had been looking forward to the new brad paisley album, “play,” for a while now, and it finally came out!  so we decided we’d have a little listening event.  chris, travis, lauren, roderick, dana, and i all met up at in-n-out.  we had a little bit to eat and chatted a while, and then dana, chris, and i went out to my car and blasted the album and enjoyed.  it was wonderful!  it’s almost all guitar-driven instrumental, though it does also feature a great duet with keith urban, “start a band.”  anyway, the whole evening was really fun and a good distraction from the seemingly-endless politics discussions that day.

i was exhausted on wednesday.  just spent.  that’s how it goes sometimes.  so i went to work and went to church and got to bed early.

last night (thursday), i went to emmaus, like usual, though i did pick up nikki on my way.  anyway, it was good.  and busy!  and afterwards, i ended up at alberts tacos having a dance party in the parking lot with dana, roderick, and travis.  yes, me, dancing in an empty parking lot in the middle of the night.  it was awesome.  and later we were joined by chris, too.  and we hung out there until like 1am just enjoying being with each other, and i love nights like that.

today also turned out excellently.  after a busy enough day at work, i was ready for some fun.  i met up with chris for a bit of shopping.  he found jeans.  i found no shoes (though i may continue searching tomorrow).  we both tried on more than enough ridiculous sunglasses.  and then we met up with roderick, lauren, and tyler to go watch travis play some music.  and dinner at cheesecake factory followed.  we hung out all evening and had a nice time.  i’m a happy girl. :)

one more thing.  we’ve been doing crossword puzzles at work.  and we’re getting better.  it’s way too much nerdy fun.  :)

and so i guess i should wrap this up.  more soon.  keep checking for new updates and photos and such.