What a Weekend it was

I’ll try and keep this short-ish.

Friday I stayed home from work with a killer headache and some lovely nausea. I stayed in my PJs, watched TV and had a friend bring be lunch. Wonderfully lazy day. Although the cause for such a day remained an annoyance until saturday morning. And it’s tough to drive 2 hours with a horrid headache, but I spent this weekend in LA with the family, so it had to be done!

Saturday I chatted with mom over some coffee, and then we babysat for my cousin, a.k.a. the cutest human ever! She’s walking now, and she’s such a little smart beautiful funny pleasant little toddler now! She makes me excited to one day be a mommy to, hopefully, a great child like her!
Then it was off to meet another, newer edition. One of our family friends, who I’ve known since I was 8, just had her first baby 5 weeks ago. Little Theodore! He looks like a little greek god! I got to hold him, and catch up with his mom (who I haven’t seen in months). And I brought her beautiful flowers from this little place I’ve always wanted to check out..but now I can’t remember the name of it…

Anyways. Sunday was the interesting day…
First, I slept in until 11…gave mom a haircut and did her brows for her (which is always funny because she suddenly turns into a whiny 4 year old about it). Then we both got ready for the Mother’s Day dessert my aunts put on. That was lovely. Got to hang out with the kids and the grown ups (I’m in the middle of them all… the only one without a kid, but not a kid myself)…

So, we’re all having a lovely time, chatting, snacking, relaxing…when their neighbor informs us that there are 2 guys waiting at the gate because they hit one of the cars parked on the street. Which car, you ask? Mine. Great. Actually, my first thought was “oh well. one more thing…” but I figured I should take care of it, since, you know, it’s MY CAR!

The back bumper is dented and cracked and is now falling off. Not sure how it’s all gunna play out and how long my car is going to look uber-ghetto for, but I’ll let you know. Since you care so much and all!

The story is actually way more interesting than that… but it would take forever to type it all out… so, long story short:

These people hit my car. The guy gave me an ID number, no DL…but the neighbor saw it happen and a girl was driving…So, the gay couple from next door joins the motley crew (made up of me, my mom, and the “suspects”-3 mexican guys in fancy clothes, one of their wives, and a European girl) to back me up and make sure the “suspects” are giving me the true story and the right info. Which they weren’t. They all got offended. I stood there dumbfounded. We got some more info…and dispersed.

Wow. I wish we could have had it all on video…It was a classic moment in my life.

They seem like nice enough people though…should be interesting.

How was your weekend? Any major events? Dents? Cracks?

 

LA bound

I think it’s kind of funny that my spot of choice when I need a break is LA.
But for me, it isn’t about the clubs, the lights, the fancy restaurants, or the aweful traffic. For me, it’s about my family. I’m the only one who lives outside of LA (other than my little brother who is now off at MIT), so when I need to re-charge it means checking in with the family.

I’m pretty lucky that my aunt has a beautiful house with a newly landscaped yard to relax in. No one expects anything of me, I don’t have to be social, I can just be there and enjoy their company.

Needless to say, this weekend I’m heading up and checking out for the weekend, and I need it, bad! With everything that has been going on around me, I just need to get away for a bit. Sure, it’ll only be 2 days, and it isn’t a private tropical island, but for me it’s a vacation!

I leave at night, so I don’t have to deal with the heat in my black, non AC-ed car, or the traffic. And I burn a CD of songs I can sing my heart out to. That’s always a nice start. I’ve found that when I start feeling overwhelmed it helps to just sing like crazy. It’s kind of like when you’re upset and you wish you could have a good cry. Well, for me it’s wishing I could have a good singingsoloudI’dbeembarassedifanyoneheardme session! Try it, it’s amazing!

I hope the rest of this work day goes by quickly….I keep getting distracted and picking at my nails. My plans for tonight involve a whole lot of nothing!

Hope you’re finding time to check out for a moment and re-charge.

 

Links…the web kind, not the breakfast kind

None of my “real” friends have blogs, with the exception of one…but she hardly writes very often at all.
So, I’m working on building that thing WordPress likes to call the “blogroll”…and if you should find yourself listed, it’s cause I like your blog. I suppose that makes us “blogfriends” perhaps!?
At some point I’d love to get my real friends into this crazy fun, but who knows when/if that will happen….so for now, you’re it!
If you’re becoming a regular stopper-byer (yep, I like to make up words), let me know and we can link it up!
Soon it’ll look like a lovely chain link fence! Calming huh? Kidding about the fence.
But I’m serious about the links….go for it. Tell me, ask me, link me. It’s all good!

Hope you’re all having a lovely day. It’s gloomy here, but I like that so it’s okay with me!

Maybe I’ll have something worthwhile to write about later. Sorry if this one was a tad bit on the lame side of the “Intereseting Meter”.

 

Today is heavy.

Today has been one of those days.

A day when there is so much going on in other people’s lives that I get overwhelmed. They are all people I love, and I am honored to be there to pray for them and go through it with them…but it gets tiring nonetheless. I’ve always been a peacemaker, with both family and friends. I don’t mean that in a people pleasing sense, I just tend to help clarify situations and support them while they’re going through it. But along with all of that comes on the impact of taking on someone else’s burdens.

I believe that’s what community and love is all about, helping to lessen the load of someone elses burdens. I think today I’m just feeling the weight of it all more than other days. And the situations going on are also making me think about those areas of my own life. Areas that I’ve already been through, or areas that I feel like there is something missing.

I’m so thankful that I am loved by a God who is bigger than all of it. Through Him I will live abundantly, I will come through the other side as a stronger person, and while I am tired from it all He will give me rest.

 

Let yourself just be with Him-brought to us by Evan Wickham

We (my roomate, D, and I) have a new roomate, we’ll call her C. And C is wonderful, a total answer to prayer on so many levels!

So last night the three of us went to C’s church because Evan Wickham was leading worship and giving a short message. We figured it was a great time to see what her church is like and I’d heard that Evan was amazing. It must be genetic with that bunch, because he was wonderful.
It was so refreshing to be a part of a smaller, and totally spirit-filled worship time. Evan is definately a gifted worship leader and apparently a gifted speaker as well.

He spoke about being open to being distracted by Jesus. While being distracted generally has a negative connotation, in this case it is something to go with. We tend to get so caught up in our routines of day to day life that sometimes we forget to “stop and smell the flowers”, so to speak. I know this is true for me. I get so busy and have so many things I need to do, that I forget to just sit at His feet and enjoy His presence.

Evan gave 3 scriptures to back it up:
Luke 17-
The Leper who was on his way to fulfill a task asked of him by Jesus, but who stopped to be with Jesus and was then healed because of his faith.
John 4:23-30-
The woman at the well.
She is sent to fetch water for the men in her town…Jesus offers her a water that will leave her fulfilled and asks her to return and tell of this water. She gets distracted by Jesus and abandons her task to be with him, and to do as he asks.
She does this *in spite of the fear of man* (that statement probably strikes a chord with many of us!).
Romans 11:33-
Paul is in the middle of theological lessons and gets distracted by the power and glory and wisdom of God and switches speaking styles and focus…then He begs of his brothers to live as sacrifice to God.

They all get distracted FROM their task BY the reason why we live and have freedom, JESUS!

wow.
When was the last time I let myself just stop and get caught up in Jesus’ love for me. Just sit at His feet and be.

Evan made a good point, even if you are reading your bible and you are so into it and feeling His presence but you might be late to your job/appointment/whatever you are “supposed” to do, to just let yourself be with Jesus in that time. The example he gave hit me too… He was talking about reading the bible with his son, and saying to him, “you know what, you might be a little bit late to school…but I feel like we should read this next chapter too.” The picture of a father, putting the Lord first, and showing his son what that looks like…that’s how it should be!
So what if your routine has to shift a little, or a lot, this is GOD we’re talking about. The God that speaks things into being, the God that raises people from the dead, the God that sent His only Son to die so that we may live abundantly. Yet we think our TV show is more important than reading His word!?

What holds the most importance in your daily life?

Of course, this isn’t reason to become irresponsible in life, because we are also called to be good stewards of what we have been given. But let yourself be with Him.That’s what matters to Him most. That’s what should matter to us most.

It rocked my mental/spritual world. Hope you’re rocking too!

Oh, and the music…that was amazing! But that’s another story…but check him out and buy his CD….you can get it from his site or on Itunes, and there’s another one in the making so..get ready!

 

A Trip to “Violet Hill” for free!

I just got a song for free. It’s by a little band, you may have heard of them before. They’re called “Coldplay”….

Yep. That’s right. You too can get Coldplay’s new song “Violet Hill” for $0.00 (free). Their newest bunch o’ goodness is set to be released June 17th and this is only an appetizer. But free food is good. And free music just might be better than free food.

Super easy…super good. I really like the beat and the melodies. Go for it. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain!

 

Shark attack in Solana Beach

Early this morning a man lost his life in the first shark attack here in San Diego in 50 years.
It was supposedly a great white, and last I heard, it’s still roaming the waters. They think it bit him, and then swam away. A case of “mistaken identity”, the shark confusing the man in a wetsuit for a seal.

Please pray for his family if you think about it. And for everyone else affected by this. I can’t imagine how frightening and devastating something like that must be.

 

Ten buck challenge!

Ten bucks.

I spent that much on lunch yesterday. And then I spent that much on a shirt.

So, do I have another ten bucks to spare?

Yes. I do.

You probably do too. Especially when your lunch, shirt, 2gallons of gas…could help protect a child from Malaria. And it was super easy to do. I really encourage you to contribute to this…they deserve it! And, Anne is trying to get 50 nets in 50 hours. Easy right!? For you, it means 10 (or 30 if you can do 3 nets…and so on..) bucks…but for the world it ends up being 50 children protected. Just because one lady, who was changed by her experiences in Africa (which I totally relate to!) decided to step out and encourage her online pals to step out. She also has the code available for the banner…

So? Do you have 10bucks and 3 minutes?

 

Mental Multi-tasking

So, all of these thoughts are floating around in my brain, occassionally colliding and melding and then going their seperate ways again…

This saturday night is the Freedom Dance: A dance to end slavery…and if you’re in the San Diego area…think about it, realize how cool that is, and then head over and shake what your mamma (or daddy) gave you! Seriously though, they’re raising money to build a Safehouse for previous victims of Human Trafficking and that is something that is beyond important. It’s a huge issue here in San Diego, and worldwide; so why not dance, have a good time, laugh at your “moves” that you may have not used since highschool, AND help change the world!?

I’m still having trouble waking up in the mornings…it’s really irritating me. It took me 2 hours to freakin get up and out of bed! EW. I already dislike the process…and now it’s taking too long. granted, today was the worst it’s been…and I was just being lazy. I bought speakers for my ipod to try and use the alarm on that and wake up to some beautiful music…the system didn’t communicate with my Ipod. I’ll exchange it today and try again.

My mom gets to go see my brother this summer…He goes to MIT and he’s not coming home this summer, so my grandpa is sending her to Boston to visit! Also, my mom’s 50th birthday is in July and I’m becomming a Party-planning-mad-woman! It’s gunna be AMAZING!

I have a freckel on my right pinky finger and I love it. that’s all.

God is beautiful. If you haven’t noticed that lately open your eyes and look around, and listen to some great music (God gave them the talent…and especially when someone sings back to Him…wow.) There are a few links over there >>>>>> and they lead you to music that will make you glad your ears work! Check ‘em out!

I was thinking today about my early childhood, how free I was when I was little. Always singing to myself or others, surrounded by talented people, spending time in the studio or at rehersals…I miss that a lot sometimes. I was still a shy person, but music was just a natural thing…I think I got more shy with being expresive in that way when we moved and I wasn’t around it as much anymore. I’m still sad I was never encouraged to learn an instrument or trained vocally. Not that I think I have this underlying amazing talent that needs to be harvested…but it’s in my blood, and I wish I had something to show for it other than appreciation.

Alright, enough of my mental mumbo jumbo for today.

Step outside if you can and breathe in the fresh air. Just the fact that our lungs work without struggle is a blessing. Thank God for that!

 

MySpace pet obituary!?

Can I just say that technology is a weird, weird thing?

Yesterday I logged into my MySpace account to find a message from my mom. (who ever thought that would be a sentence said by many!?) This isn’t weird for me because my mom is fairly tech-savvy and cool like that.

I go on to read the message and it tells me that one of my Aunt’s dogs (they recently found out he had tumors all over…poor guy had a rough ending to a sweet life) had to be put down the day before. It’s sad because he really was a big, sweet, shy, protective dog. It’s weird because I found out through MySpace.

Not that this is such a huge thing on its own, but it did get my mind going.

When did MySpace become the normal way of communicating? I’m totally guilty of it…leaving a comment or sending a message instead of calling someone. But what’s next, sending birth notices and wedding invitations? I’m only kind of kidding about that.

But I think it’s a good example of how technology connects us to people in some ways and disconnect us in others. Sure, we “know” more people because of it. But does it change how we relate to those who we really do know?