I got a fish!!

I really would of liked to get myself a cat but for now that is out of the question...sooo I got myself a crowned tail beta fish instead. his name is Aslan (go figure, ha).

A trip in pictures

For now I will say that the trip was amazing! (will write more later).

I've been working on getting photos up on my Flickr site. When you have a chance stop by and check them out...there are plenty more to come so keep checking back.

Update

Click here for an update on the accident we saw the other day. I forgot to mention that we were the second car on the scene and did the best we could to help out. After the first rescue/fire truck showed we turned around and left. Jay has been checking online for any news and this is the first we have heard...2 days later. The past two nights have been a bit hard for sleeping for me, but I guess that is to be expected after what we saw.

On a much happier note time with the family is awesome! I can't even begin to explain the fun and joy of being around Jed. I'm sure it will just get better as my time here goes on, and its going to be so hard to leave.

We aren't doing much today, just packing and finishing up some planning for Italy. Stonehenge was closed today so no luck on that. Oh well, maybe next time? Its a very different approach to Christmas Eve than we are used to, with the huge family parties and what not, but its nice and relaxing. Tonight we get to play Santa's for Jed. Can't wait to see him open presents tomorrow morning. In the afternoon Sara and Jay's friends Bobby and Nicole will be coming over for dinner. Hopefully an early night and then off to the airport!

This will probably be the last post for now. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

The first few days

The First Few Days in ENGLAND!!

Day One:
Flew out on Wednesday night from San Fran and didn't sleep at all for the 10.5 hours. I'm the person who never has a hard time sleeping on a plane (or any where). Lucky me had an 11 year old kicking my seat the whole time, who never slept either!

On Thursday I arrived in London around 7 a.m. stood for a good 45 minutes in the customs line and almost didn't get my passport stamped. Why you ask?? Oh because the nice man that I had gave me the hardest time about not having a street address for Sara and Jay (they have an APO so thats what I use). Then I didn't have their UK number only the US number. Soooo that was a nice 15 minutes trying to convince the guy that I was actually here to visit my sister.

By the time I get down to get my luggage it was just sitting on the ground...now you wouldn't see that in the US anymore, luggage just laying around. I tried to call Sara a few times to let her know I was here and the hard time I was having, but no answer. So I made my way to the central bus station and found out that my ticket was for the wrong place, or so they said. I asked a woman there where I get this bus to Cheltenham and she oh so kindly informed me that my ticket is for Victoria, not London...thats nice and dandy but where is Victoria??? So after several times of asking I was told to buy another ticket which I did. After getting in this nice long line, buying my ticket I found some more phones to call Sara and go figure they were out of order, so off to find some more phones. I found some, Sara answered and bottom line didn't have to buy another ticket but I did. I waited another two hours in the cold, got on my bus and slept for two hours!!

Arrived in Cheltenham around 1:00 in the afternoon, was picked up by Sara and Jed. We hung out for a bit till Jay got home, had an awesome dinner and then went out for a bit that night to meet some of their friends from Church.

Day Two:

Sara and I hung out with Jed. We went for a walk down town and I got to go to one of their farmer's markets. Let me just say that it puts ours to shame. Amazing...lots of fresh veggies and cheese and meat and good stuff. Ohh yes the locally brewed beer :) Checked out a few more places downtown and then headed back to bake some cookies. Well, Sara baked and I wrapped the suitcase of presents :)

In the afternoon Sara's friend Nicole came over to train us (she's a personal trainer) for an hour or so. Then Sara, Jay Jed and I went out to ZiZi's...a wicked cool restaurant that is in an old church. Bobby and Nicole came over after that to watch National Lampoons Christmas!

Day Three:

We all got in the car and headed to Bourton-On-The-Water and Stow to do a little walking around and sight seeing. Both are really beautiful little villages. Had some fish and chips for lunch and walked around some more. Checked out some cool little shops too.

On the way home there was a van behind us with a young guy and girl and Sara was commenting on how he was driving like a jerk. He was driving really close behind us so she slowed down a bit so he could pass, which he didn't. He continued this for a little bit so she slowed again and eventually he passed. He also passed the person in front of us and sped up the hill.

As we came over the hill Sara slammed on her brakes and all we saw was two cars one on each side of the road and a mans arm on the ground (still attached to the body, but it was very visible). Sara rushes out of the car, as do Jay and I but we begged Sara to get back in. That was the last thing she needed to see, especially seeing as she was the one who noticed them acting like jerks on the road not even 5 minutes before hand. So she stayed back with Jed and Jay and I went to see what we could do.

The white van was on its side, windows smashed and the other car was small and black and seriously had NO front end left. Jay and I kicked pieces of the cars and glass to the side of the road. Sara and two blankets in the car and we brought them over to the people in the white van. Let me just say that seeing the accident was bad, and as many bloody movies that I watch and am completely fine with, its a whole other thing when you see it in real life right in front of you. I don't know if I will ever forget what I saw. The blood, glass and just everything was unbelievable. The man in the black car was fine for the most part, minus no front end left on his car, gas leaking everywhere. He had some lower back pain but could still feel and move his feet. He had a few cuts on his fingers and I gave him some hand wipes to take care of the blood. But honestly thank God for a seatbelt and airbags.

The guy in the black car said that he was just driving along and all of a sudden this van was coming at him and spinning, he didn't have enough time to pull off the road. I'll be honest, its hard to have compassion for people who are just flat out stupid when driving!! Sara just called the hospital because we couldn't find anything on the news or paper to see if everyone was ok, and it turns out that they are. The girl is in intensive care and they both made it threw the night. The other man was fine too.

Needless to say its been an adventure so far!

Today is Jay's 26th Birthday! We went out for breakfast (some nice scones, with butter jam and tea) Then back here to make his birthday dinner (well start it anyway...Sara's award winning chili) and cake (well chocolate nut pie, yumm). We are off in a little bit to see a Christmas Concert at their church then back here for dinner, gifts, pie and fun with Bobby and Nicole.

Tomorrow we are off to Stonehenge!!! Then its Christmas, time for some packing and on Wednesday we leave for Italy!

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I'll write more later (or when I get back) and will post pictures when I get home.

The Big 26

So today at 9:41 am (est) I turned the big 26...nothing really big or amazing about turning 26, but hey.

Above are two pics of my birthday celebration from this past Saturday. I'm not much in to frilly things (as you all know) and obviously not very typical...so this year I got Stars and Skulls (can't really go wrong!!) My roomie printed a bunch of skulls out and put them all over our apartment with some pretty sweet blue and black stars. My cupcakes rocked...gray funfetti frosting with skulls stuck in them with start candles!

Heather, Victoria, Lisa, Luke, Jenell, Alicia, Eli, Devin, Dustin, Scott and I went out to eat then Topher met us back at my place for some cupcakes. It was a great birthday I must say.

However about a week before today it started to hit me really hard that my grandfather isn't around. This is the first of many years that I will no longer hear the story of when he came to visit me when I was born. I guess at the time he was living in NH and the day I was born there was a blizzard going on he always told me how he drove down to see me in the hospital that day and no matter how much snow there was it wouldn't of stopped him from coming to see me. So even as I write this I have tears in my eyes, it sucks. He is my first grandparent I have lost and its been almost a year which is hard to believe. There is so much that he will miss, its hard. I miss you gramp.

Point Lobos Adventures

Yesterday a few of us went for a hike around Point Lobos and had a little bit of fun playing with the sea creatures in the tide pools at Weston Beach.

Thanksgiving, Relaxing

(I heart these two! ~ Lisa, me and Victoria on Thanksgiving)

A Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone.

We all have a lot to be thankful for, I could go on for quite a while but for now I'll limit it:
Family, Friends, A job, Trials, People who challenge me to grow and step outside my little world, Love, Honesty (even when it hurts) and so much more.

This year I got to spend Thanksgiving with some awesome friends. I have spent Thanksgiving with friends for the past two years and so far each year has been different friends...its been good. I remember growing up and everyone going to my grandmothers house (as we did for many holidays). As we all got older we did it mostly with our families at home or with boyfriends families. Its very weird not having any family around to celebrate holidays with. But this year it was like being with my family. Lisa's mom came up can cooked this amazing huge meal for all of us. It was at Luke and Lisa's, her mom and Bart came up along with her sister and brother, of course Victoria was there and then Jason, Anneke and the kids all came so it was awesome. Lisa had the great idea of it being "Pretty Dress Day". Shes so fun. So all us girls got dressed up, which by the way brilliant idea when stuffing your face with turkey and good food...nice loose dress!! ahhh no having to unbutton any pants :) Way to go Lisa!

Its so nice to have a few days off and relax for a bit. I've needed some down time for a long time now. I got to sleep in the past two days and its been amazing! All my photos are done, nothing major coming up before I leave (photo wise that is, work is whole other story). Today was mostly relaxing, Victoria and I got up and went and had coffee and breakfast at the beach, then for some crazy reason decided to go to the mall to grab something. Ahhhhh way to many people, thats all I'll say. Then off to the butterfly farm! Lots of them, just not any pictures of them, ha.

Tomorrow some more sleeping in is on the to-do-list. Then some hiking at Point Lobos with Victoria and Topher (and aslan of course). Hopefully get some good shots from there, we'll see.

Only 26 (almost 25) more days!

Beautiful Disaster

She loves her mama's lemonade,
Hates the sound that goodbyes make.
She prays one day she'll find someone to need her.
She swears that there's no difference,
Between the lies and compliments.
It's all the same if everybody leaves her.

And every magazine tells her she's not good enough,
The pictures that she sees make her cry.

And she would change everything, everything just ask her.
Caught in the in between, a beautiful disaster,
And she just needs someone to take her home.

She's giving boys what they want, tries to act so nonchalant,
Afraid they'll see that she's lost her direction.
She never stays the same for long,
Assuming that she'll get it wrong.
Perfect only in her imperfection.

She's not a drama queen,
She doesn't want to feel this way, only seventeen but tired

She would change everything for happy ever after.
Caught in the in between, a beautiful disaster,
But she just needs someone to take her home.

Cuz she's just the way she is, but no ones told her that's ok.

And she would change everything, everything just ask her.
Caught in the in between of beautiful disaster,

And she would change everything for happy ever after.
Caught in the in between of beautiful disaster,

But she just needs someone to take her home
And she just needs someone to take her home.

(Lyrics by Jon McLaughlin)

The Run Down

Let me try to catch you all up of whats been happening in my world over the last month and whats coming up.

I got my new camera!! I LOVE it. I got the Nikon D80, and have named it! (oh yes, I figure if I name this and love it, it will be very good to me and not die). So its name is Alsan. He arrived just in time for lots of work...

I was asked to take family portraits by my friends mom. It had been a good ten years since they had family pictures taken. So of course I said. It was my first photos with my new camera! To check them out click here

For the third year in a row I was asked to photograph the Thomas Kinkade Master's Event for the Monterey and Carmel galleries. Three days of photography and about 1,000 shots! Now its editing them down, putting them in order, creating a dvd, adding music and finalizing everything before November 12th. Wish me luck!!!

Next up, a fund raising event for the Monterey Institute of International Studies. The event is tonight at the La Mirada Museum. I was asked to come and take photos from some c0-workers who fell in love with my photographs from the Philippines. At first I was kind of hesitant to respond to their request, because normally is family and close friends that are very excited about my work, not so much people I don't know that well. It was however very flattering to hear their very kind words and excitement about working with me. So that event is tonight, I'm excited and a bit nervous. I think I get like that before anything I do, because I don't want to let anyone down, especially if I'm hired by them.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off!!!! A bit excited about that. I hope to sleep in a little, get some more time to work on the photos from the Kinkade event. However, I guess its not a full day off, well it is from the office, but I was asked again by my co-workers to come and photograph a Translation and Interpretation forum that will be happening on campus tomorrow afternoon in hopes to get some new photos for the website. So we'll see how those turn out also.

It is about five and a half weeks until I take off to see my sister! Seriously I wish I could explain my excitement of this trip in better ways, but I just don't know how. I finally get to see my sister, brother-in-law and nephew for two and a half weeks!!! The last time I spent even a week with them (actually it wasn't just with them) was last Christmas. Most of our time however was spent with family especially towards the end of my time back home, when my grandfather passed away. I don't think I have spent even a week with just them since they moved from Monterey to Maryland two years ago and I haven't spend this much time with Jed ever! Talk about a really sweet trip this is going to be. Not only to I get to see them, but I get to go to England and we all are obviously going to Italy together.

I've been missing having family around for a while, but in the past few months it has been really bad. I keep thinking of how awesome it would be to live closer to Sara, Jay and Jed someday (hopefully soon). And I pray that it happens. Who knows where they will end up next, but I'm hoping its where I will end up also. It's been harding just seeing my nephew grow up in pictures and video clips online. He's the only one I got (right now), and I wish I was able to see him more. Be able to watch him so they could go and have a date night. I would love to be able to help my sister out when she's sick or Jed's sick and she needs to get stuff done. So we'll see, but again, hopefully soon.

So my friend Topher sent me a message the other day asking what I was doing on December 2nd and if I wasn't doing anything, would I be interested in going on a 8 hour boat ride to take pictures of whales and creatures while being taught by professional photographers! Ummm, heck yes I would!! Boat, Pictures, Sea Creatures, Pictures, need I say any more?? We leave before the sun rises so we can catch that while we are out too!

My birthday is coming up. I crack myself up because every years I get sooooo excited about it for like three months in advance. When it starts to get closer, my excitement goes away. Mind you this lack of excitement has nothing to do with getting older, I could care less. I have no idea but I just am not very excited about it. I don't want anything huge or crazy, just dinner and something really low key and laid back. I'll be the big 26 this year.

I'm doing a bible study online with my sister and a bunch of girls (we are all spread across the U.S. so its pretty cool). We are doing the Beth Moore study on the Fruit of the Spirit. With everything else going on, I've been really behind on it, but trying to catch up. I'm enjoying it and getting kicked in the butt by a lot of it.

Lately I've just been having a hard time, if you see me regularly, you would notice. Hiding my emotions is not my strong suit. Its written all over my face. So Sara suggested I skip to the third video, she says I would relate a lot with it. And oh boy did I ever. Its all about Rejection. One thing that Beth touched on was with all relationships there is the risk of rejection. I can say with everything in me that is why I don't keep many friends. I don't have lasting relationships, and I can barely keep one with God some days. We've all experienced rejection and I'm not saying that I have more than anyone else, but I know for myself that my rejection is extremely deep rooted. It sucks. I have a hard time loving myself, loving others and letting anyone love me. They can say they do but I tend to doubt people. Stubbornness doesn't help much either. I got about halfway threw the video (in tears) and still need to finish the rest (probably need to watch it another 5 times to let it all sink in). I'm a work in progress.

When things go wrong, I try my hardest to run (China, California...where next?). I hate confrontation. I would much rather close my blinds, shut my door, curl up in a ball, sleep it off or look for the next place to go then to ask for help, a huge or open my bible. Knowing very well that its not going to work. When will I learn? I know what to do, but I feel stuck. Its within my grasp yet I don't even try, I just stare. Why? Again...I'm a work in progress

I'm sick of crying.

Untitled

Dress down your pretty faith. Give me something real.
Leave out the thee and thou and speak to me now.
Speak to my pain and confusion.
Speak through my fears and my pride.
Speak to the part of me that knows I'm something deep down inside.

I know that I am not perfect, but compare me to most,
In a world of hurt and a world of anger I think I'm holding my own.
And I know that you said there is more to life.
And I know I am not satisfied.
But there are mornings I wake up and I'm just thankful to be alive.

I've known now, for quite a while, that I am not whole.
I've remembered the body and the mind,
But disected my soul.
Now something inside is awakening,
Like a dream I once had and forgot.
And it's something I'm scared of
And something I don't want to stop.

And I woke up this morning and realized that Jesus is not a portait.
Where stained glass windows or hymns or the tradition that surrounds us.
And I thought it would be hard to believe in
But it's not hard at all.
To believe I've sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.

And He's not asking me to change in my joy for martyrdom
He's asking to take my place.
To stand in the gap that I have formed
With His real, and His sweet, and His real amazing grace.
And it's not just a sign or a sacrament.
It's not just a metaphor for love.
The blood is real and it's not just a sybol of your faith.

So leave out the thee and thou and speak now.
(Awakening, Lyrics by Sara Groves)

This song pretty much sums it up way better than I ever could.

I know I need to write an update, I promise to do that soon. I've been busy with lots of photo stuff, some of which is really exciting. I've been stressed and overwhelmed. In need of a day off or vacation. I need some rest and some sleep. I have a lot to get finished over the next week! Then just maybe I will get some rest.