peacock friends

They make horrible screeching noises in the middle of the night, but like to make up for it by leaving us their beautiful feathers. I don't know if I'll forgive them that easily.

meet bubba

Bubba has been in the family longer than I have. He lived in SoCal with my grandparents, then moved to NorCal with them, and now he lives at my parents' house. He likes dandelions, fruit, bright red toenails, and freedom- which he doesn't have.

garage sale

I want to stop being a packrat. I have been realizing lately that life is so much simpler with less things. My mom and I went through our houses and storage spaces over the last couple of weeks and put all of our junk out at a garage sale. We met a bunch of neighbors, got some sun, made a little money and now only have 3/4 of the stuff we put out at the sale. It just goes to show how much we started with. And now the Salvation Army gets the rest. Can you believe we had all this stuff stored away?

A fraction of the treasures.

And I had these beautiful dolls stored away... for years. These are 3 of the many that were sold and are being donated. But I have to confess- I don't even remember having the doll on the right and after I saw her, I decided to keep her. That is how I end up with so much junk.

mr. & mrs. dye

Our friends and youth ministry partners, Natalie and Justin, got married 2 weeks ago tomorrow. They've been on their honeymoon in Europe since then and get back tomorrow. I am so excited to see them and hear about the trip and have them back with us!

And yeah- they're pretty much super cute.

crooked shmooked

We are going to start working on the house soon- as soon as we can finish pricing out a few things. I decided it would be a good idea to start a blog dedicated entirely to our house project and have finally put it up. Not much to see thus far, but it will keep you updated on our crooked little place. Check it out.

you've got a cool hand, luke

We watched Cool Hand Luke on Sunday night. I had never seen Paul Newman in a movie before, but I've always liked his olive oil & vinegar salad dressing. I remember when my mom explained to me that Paul Newman is an actor and I was confused that an actor would make salad dressing. I still am. Watching this movie gave me a greater understanding of the salad dressing I love so, as well as the actor who made it. It is complex, smooth and tangy, and oh yes, cool. Mr. Newman just couldn't help but make a salad dressing that reflects himself. Now that's cool.

My Cool Hand Luke education was only enhanced by watching the deleted scenes from The Office: Season 4 DVD: Fun Run. 

Michael Scott: "What do I look like to you? Paul Newman? That's actually not a good example because I have been compared to a young Paul Newman. My eyes and my face. And I make my own salad dressing. I mix Newman's Ranch with Newman's Italian. Sell it at flea markets for a slight loss. I could make a profit if I changed one of the ingredients to Wishbone. But I won't do it."

Gotta love Michael Scott... and Paul Newman... and Newman's Own.

happy 2nd

We learned how to use the timer on our camera so we can stop doing arm's-length shots of us when no one else is around. This is a pretty exciting time for us.

the worldmark dock

I like this photo of my hubby.

clear lake: the mini-vaca

novato farmer's market

There were actually fruits and vegetables and soaps and pork and bounce houses and a variety of other things, but I put my camera away after the pony rides booth. We petted ponies, a miniature donkey, and ate raspberries. It was quite the Farmer's Market experience.

goodbye gremlins, hello computer

I know, I know. I dropped off the face of the earth. Here's the story: My laptop died. The screen went black. David and I were both stuck using his MacBook Pro and then a few weeks ago HIS screen went black. So we were computer-less for a few weeks. David got his laptop back this past weekend, so I have returned. And hopefully the laptop gremlins won't attack us again. In the time that I was MIA, here's what happened (if you can't handle all the reading, I have bolded key words for you to get a sense of what has been going on):

My interview went well- they interviewed me again- that went well. Then after all the interviews they put me through, they ended up just going with someone inside the company. I know it's a lot easier for them, and I know that the Lord has something else for me- but they sure made me jump through a bunch of hoops for pretty much nothing. Oh well. After my on-location interview, David and I were wanting to have a cheap date (after all, I'm unemployed), and we ended up finding the Novato Farmer's Market in cute downtown Novato. Then we tried out a new pizza place in Novato since we had a buy one/get one Entertainment coupon, and it was delicious. So I guess the interview wasn't all in vain. : )

We've been getting more detailed with our house plans, and are hopefully going to start working on it very soon. I'm excited. I might start a blog just about the process. Could be fun. We'll see. Would you read it?

We took a mini-vacation for a couple of days in Clear Lake. It was fabulous clear weather, the condo was amazing, and Lake County is weird. I can't remember the last time I was in Lake County, but this was the first time I was aware of the weirdness. There were some pretty great antique stores though. In one of them, there was a group of three men guffawing (yes, guffawing. that's what they do in Lake County) about something and they asked if David and I wanted to adopt a grandpa (the old man in the group). We didn't end up buying anything or adopting anyone. But we were entertained. The vacation could have been longer, but it was a blessing nonetheless.

August 26th was our 2nd anniversary. We had a low-key day of hanging out at the park across from East West Cafe in Santa Rosa that is connected to Annadel State Park. I can never remember the name of it. We fed the geese and ducks and managed to get away without them eating our toes. We took some pictures, walked around, and left when I couldn't handle the blazing heat anymore. I'm a heat wimp. Then we went to Lowe's to look at flooring for the kitchen. After that we picked up some raspberries, dark chocolate, and champagne for dessert and then got take-out sushi from Sushi Tozai, the place we got engaged. We went home and had sushi at the table (we NEVER eat at the table), played Rummikub (I like to play that game because I am good at it), watched Scrubs and ate our delicious dessert. It was a nice day. And now we are on to our 3rd year of marriage. 3rd time's a charm, right? Not that the other two years haven't been charmed, I just expect this year to be EXTRA charmed.

That catches you up for now. If you stuck through all the reading in this post, I will award you with some photos of the aforementioned activities. If you did not read, avert your eyes from the next few posts.