Happenings and Other Things

NEW BLOG :-)

2010-10-22T02:43:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone I know I haven't posted in a very long time. I've been pretty busy. I've had a baby, quit my marketing job, and started a photography business. Yep lots of change for me, but I'm feeling good about the direction I'm going in. Since I've started the photography business I created a new blog that I will be using from now on. I will no longer be posting updates to this blog. To keep up to date on what's happing in my life and to see my latest photos please follow my new blog/website. Here it is: www.daniellekanka.com. Enjoy and thanks for following me on my blog!

MI & VA Family Visit 2010

2010-07-15T00:12:00.003-04:00

This summer James, Elijah, and I traveled home to Michigan & Virginia to see family and friends and introduce everyone Elijah. It was so much fun! Below are a couple of videos James made from the trip. I'll post pics soon too :-)

Busy Growing

2010-06-30T06:56:00.002-04:00

Elijah has been busy growing and melting our hearts in the process :-)

Yesterday he took his first flight and did awesome. Over the next two weeks he'll get meet many of our friends and family from home. I can't wait! I'm just praying he keeps up his good health with all the travel and people he'll be meeting. What can I say? I love my little man and all of the new viruses floating around scare me. I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left with him before I go back to work. :-( I'm going to savor these weeks and enjoy these last stress free days. Hopefully we'll post some more pictures soon, I know we'll have a ton after our visit home. Happy summer everyone and enjoy your 4th of July!

I'm a mommy!

2010-06-08T20:28:00.005-04:00

Since it's been so long since I last posted, I wanted to take a minute and let everyone know that I am still alive. On April 28th I was admitted into the hospital where I was induced for labor. It was a slow process. Halfway through the doctor told me that I shouldn't still be smiling. That was when they cranked up the labor drugs. Soon after, I decided to ask for drugs myself :-)

At first they gave me some really strange drug through the IV. I was so upset I let them talk me into that one. It made me feel drunk and tired and didn't help me at all with the back labor I was experiencing. Finally the epidural doctor came and did an amazing epidural. He was really nice. He was convinced I was part Russian, since he was Russian too. Getting the epidural was a little scary. James had to leave the room, and I had to hold really still for them to get it into my spine. That sounds easy but it was quite challenging. I was having pretty big contractions, my blood pressure arm band kept going off, and the nurse kept telling me to do things counter to what the doctor was saying. In the end all went well and I ended up having a fantastic epidural, it was so effective that they had to take me off of it when it came time to push to help me feel the contractions a little more. The nurses also had a shift change and I ended up getting a wonderful and kind nurse to help me through the final stages.

James kept everyone updated with by the minute texts via twitter & facebook. It's crazy to think how social networking allowed us to share our special day with so many friends and family simultaneously while we were miles away in the hospital. The delivery itself wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I guess in my mind I had run through all the worse case scenarios. Eli was a little larger than we had thought he would be for having him 2 weeks early. I pushed for about 1 and 1/2 hours and finally we had our little boy! He was 7.4 lbs and 20 1/4 inches long. Elijah James was born at 10:10 pm.

We stayed in the hospital till Friday morning. I hated being there, the whole time I wanted to go home. I didn't enjoy everyone coming in and out of the room. I felt weird trying to feed the baby with so many staff popping in and out. I think I counted 20 different people that Thursday. Some of the staff and nurses were great, and a couple of them definitely lacked social skills but they still took good care of me so I can't complain...too much. The day we were released the doctor came to check on me while I was in the restroom. But that didn't stop him. I ended up having a full conversation with him about leaving the hospital while I was on the can!!! That was definitely a first!

Finally we were able to take our little precious one home. It was such a great feeling. The next day our friends Joel and Amy brought over food so we wouldn't have to cook or shop for awhile. It was so sweet, we so appreciated it! Especially since moving around was a little tough for me.

About a week after Eli was born my family came to visit and then James' came the week after that. It was so great to have our families here to meet little Eli. He is the first grandchild on both sides. It was also so nice to have the extra help while I was still recovering. One day my folks even cleaned while we were at a doctor appointment. I was definitely feeling the love!

Eli has had a few doctor appointments since his birth. He didn't take to breast feeding right away and I had some learning to do myself so he had lost a little of his birth weight. He also had moderate jaundice so we ended up going into the doctor twice the week after he was born and then 2 more times in May to check up on him. It was hard to get him in, I have a new appreciation for all the families out there who go anywhere and get there on time. The good news is that Eli is now gaining lots of weight and the jaundice is completely gone.

It's hard to believe that Eli is now 6 weeks old. He is changing so much already. He's starting to share a few smiles and I can't wait to see his full personality bud. He's sleeping longer stretches at night too. I can't wait until he goes 6-8 hours I'm hoping this may happen by the end of the month? One thing that has been challenging besides getting sleep has been doing all other things. Since Eli is on a 2 hour feeding schedule during the day, and feeding him takes 40-60 minutes I don't have very much time to get anything done. I feel like I've had an accomplished day when I can get the laundry and dishes done. It's an even better day when I can actually get a shower in :-) We're getting the hang of things though and I'm getting really good at doing things with one hand :-)

Overall it's been a joy being a mother, I'm so happy to have him in our lives. James and I love him so much! My life has completely changed...but in a wonderful way. Here are some pictures of the cutest little guy ever! I'll try and post again soon :-)

Labor Day

2010-04-27T00:10:00.004-04:00

Today I had another doctor appointment and my blood pressure was still high. So the doctor has advised that I be induced. Wednesday morning James and I will go to the hospital and start the labor process. I was a little shocked at first I had always thought I would go into labor naturally but I'm trusting that my doctor knows what's best for me and baby. On Wednesday I'll be 38 weeks pregnant. I'm just praying that my body takes well to being induced and that baby Eli is healthy and strong throughout the process. I have no guess as to how big he will be, we'll have to wait and see :-) I'm super excited knowing that we'll be able to hold our little boy in just a few days! I'm also nervous about the delivery process and would love any prayers people would like to send our way. I know we're all in the Lord's hands and that gives me great comfort. Anyway guess I'll be catching up on cleaning, laundry and sleep tomorrow since James and I may not be getting a lot of it after Wednesday. Here's to another exciting week!

Pregnant Pictures & Anniversary

2010-04-23T12:57:00.006-04:00

Since I'm at home with nothing to do I thought I would post a few pics for you all. The first two are of my huge belly and the others are from our anniversary celebration last night.

Interesting Week

2010-04-20T12:51:00.006-04:00

Last week I was feeling quite stressed about work pojects, getting things ready for the baby, and other random things. I found myself constantly busy the entire week & weekend. I ended up doing some deep cleaning projects as well as regular cleaning on Saturday and it really tuckered me out! This weekend James was able to finish painting the crib and the rocking chair. I think he did a great job. Too bad we had to re-do the finishing twice. James had to spend so many hours on this project. He is such a sweetheart though and it's finally done! Together we set them up in our room and made little Eli's bed. It's surreal to look at the crib all set up and know that little Eli will be sleeping in there soon. Below are some pics of the finished product. I think I want to put a pic above the crib of little Eli eventually. Yes...we are living in tight quarters so you may see pieces of my closet and our bed sticking out in the background. Sorry I didn't feel like photoshop-ing the the pictures so you can just enjoy them in their raw form :-)

The last couple of days have been rather strange though....On Sunday after more working around the house, cooking, and cleaning I spent some hours getting a head start on work. I went to bed feeling overwhelmed and a little stressed. That night I spent dreaming about completing all my projects. I didn't sleep well at all. I woke up around 6am and shortly after got busy on the work projects I was dreaming about. I wanted to make sure I got some things done before my doctor appointment at 10. Then I went into the dr. and everything started out the same as it usually does. I peed in a cup, got weighed, and then they took my blood pressure. This time though my blood pressure was high. When the doctor came in he told me they would check my blood pressure again at the end of the exam. So the doctor poceeded to check me out. The baby's heart sounded good and the doctor measured my belly which seemed to be fine too. Then he did an internal exam and let me know that he could feel the baby's head about 1 inch away. (That excited and freaked me out a little) I wasn't really sure what that meant but it was interesting none the less. I have been feeling the baby sitting lower in my pelvis so I wasn't too surprised.

After the exam I had my blood pressure taken again. And again it was high so the doctor told me that he wanted to run some tests because high blood pressure later in pregnancy can be a sign of preeclampsia, and he explained the complications that can result. For the tests I had my blood drawn and now I get to pee in a jug for 24 hours :-) He also looked at me sternly and told me that today was to be my last day of work and that he needed me to rest. Whoa! I was planning to go at least a week and 1/2 more so this was a shocker. I had to quickly get all my forms filled out and re-signed. I had to call my HR department at work as well as our insurance company. Then I had to chat with my director, organize all my projects for hand off and send out many emails to various internal stakeholders and vendors about my leave. It was a crazy day! I was working until 9:30pm just trying to get things organized. Today I have a few last meetings to help with the hand off on my projects and other than staying home and peeing in my jug, I'm hoping it will be uneventful. Tomorrow I'll take my jug back in for testing. I'm praying they don't find any cause for concern and that if they do find anything concerning, that they will be able to step in and help both baby and myself.

On the good side, I enjoyed waking up and not having to go into work. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week. I'm also looking forward to spending a relaxing anniversary with James. On Thursday we'll be celebrating 4 yrs. of wonderful love :-) I really did marry an amazing man and I'm so happy to share life with him! Not sure yet what we're going to do to celebrate but something tells me we'll be taking it easy. ;-)

Getting Closer

2010-04-02T18:26:00.004-04:00

It's hard to believe the baby is due in less than 6 weeks! Being pregnant and functioning like a normal person is definitely a challenge. My belly gets in the way of everything I try to reach, I have frequent trips to the bathroom making all my work meetings interesting, and I'm just tired. It's fun though too. People are so incredibly nice to you when you're pregnant. They let you cut in line, they buy you presents, and everyone wants to talk to you. I know this won't last long so I'm going to soak it up while I can! :-) Recently the girls at work surprised me with a baby shower. It was really sweet I felt very loved!

Though my work is still keeping me busy at record speed, I'm really looking forward to taking maternity leave soon. I finally took the forms to have my Dr. fill out the necessary items. Once my work reviews, and hopefully approves, I'll be able to leave work on the 28th for maternity leave. I'm asking for 2 weeks off before the due date. I'm praying all goes through all right so I don't have to work right up until the due date.

Lately I've been shopping for baby gear and items to have on hand while James is finishing up the baby crib and other things. So far I've been lucky to be able to purchase so much online but soon I think I will actually have to trek out to Babies R Us for a few needed items. I know I've been avoiding it...sigh. I've also been cleaning and organizing everything I can think of. James and I don't want to get too baby crazy so we've been trying to do some non-baby things with our weekends as well. Last weekend we hiked up Griffith Park, and though it took me double the time to get the top it was a wonderful time to relax and chat with my best friend. I'm hoping we can go on another hike this weekend :-) Below is a pic of my baby bump from a hike we did 3 weeks ago.

Last weekend along with the hike, I had a fun opportunity to take some photos of a friend and her lovely baby. See below for some of my favorites. I'll probably post the rest on facebook sometime soon. Have a great week everyone!

Updates

2010-03-10T22:55:00.002-05:00

Well it's been a few weeks since I last posted. Things have been moving along pretty quickly. I find it hard to believe I only have 9 weeks left until my due date. My belly has grown quite large and baby Eli is getting very strong with his kicks. I love coming home and being able to watch him move around my belly. So far I've gained about 25 lbs. and I can no longer see my toes. Along with the other changes that my body is going through, I am definitely not getting much sleep. I think my body is training me for when baby Eli comes.

Over the last few weekends James and I have been hard at work refinishing baby furniture. I think we'll probably finish it up within the next couple of weekends :-) I'm excited to get the crib done and ready for baby Eli. I've also started stocking up on baby items. I guess I'm starting my "nesting" phase.

I'm thrilled to know that baby Eli's birth is right around the corner! To be honest though, I find myself going back and forth between emotions of being super happy & eager for him to arrive, and then being scared about the birth process & and how we'll adjust after he's born. I just keep praying and lifting all of these wonderful feelings up to the Lord.

Of course we've been terrible about taking pics of my pregnancy. But it is definitely on our list to do either this weekend or next. I'll also be having another ultrasound soon so we can post those as well :-)

Kanka Photo Shoot with Joel & Amy

2010-02-16T23:46:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago James and I did a photo shoot for Joel & Amy. The sun was beautiful as it set in the mountains, and our models were pretty awesome too! Amy and Joel are wonderful friends of ours. Joel is a youth pastor at his church and Amy is a teacher and also volunteers with youth ministry with Joel at their church. They are constantly giving themselves to others, so we were thrilled when they asked if we might want to take some photos for them! It was a really fun day, the kind of day that makes me want to take more pictures :-) Enjoy!

Really? Has it been over 2 months?

2010-02-01T23:27:00.007-05:00

I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I've posted. Wow, time flew away from me. Things have been quite busy here on the home front. I'm now about 6 months pregnant. We found out in December that we were having a little baby boy and we're so extremely excited! We've already named him Elijah but we're calling him Eli for short. We've always loved that name, not to mention I always thought Elijah was a pretty cool prophet in the Bible. December we spent a lot of time cleaning out our apartment and getting rid of everything we didn't need. We're planning to stay in our one bedroom for awhile and with the baby's things it will be a tight squeeze. We managed to donate most everything to goodwill and I think we even sold a few things. It was a great purge for the new year. In early Dec. I enjoyed doing a few family photo shoots and even was given baby furniture as payment for a shoot I did. It was such a blessing! Also in Dec. I got a new position within the company I work for. So things have been really busy getting up to speed on the new role and transitioning over the old stuff. I've also been doing a fair amount of traveling for work over the past month, which has been more difficult than I thought it would be with being pregnant. I think I took my last trip this past week though so I'm excited to stay home for more than a week at a time for the duration of this pregnancy.Last week my work sent me to DC for meetings so we took the opportunity to hang out with friends and family while we were there. It was so much fun!

We've also had some friends visit us this Jan. between my travels and I think we may have more visiting in March/April. It's fun living in such a neat city where friends actually want to come visit. Below are some pictures from our friend's Kevin & Drew when they visited this January. Unfortunately while they were visiting I got incredibly sick and ended up in the ER for being dehydrated and not able to keep anything down. The baby and I were fine though and made it out okay. Kevin & Drew were so forgiving and easy guests, I'm glad we were able to do most of the fun stuff before I got sick :-) All is well now and we're so grateful!

Recently I've been enjoying my big belly and little Eli growing inside. I believe I've gained 18 lbs so far. I'm constantly feeling him move around, kicking, and flipping around. The movements have become much stronger and sometimes I can even see my belly move! James has enjoyed feeling the baby move and kick too! Today it hit me that the baby will be here in just a few short months. I have so much yet to do!!! I pray I have the strength and time to get everything done and still have time to relax. We'll see how it goes. My goals for this month are re-arranging our bedroom to make room for the baby crib, staining or painting the baby furniture to match ours, re-upholstering the baby bedding (maybe), registering for baby items, and maybe even sewing some baby items of my own. We'll see how many of these I actually get finished. I'm also hoping to get photography website started in the very near future. Well, whatever I don't finish I guess I'll just carry it over to the next month.

Okay enough rambling...I'm not even sure if this post makes sense. But at least I've updated my blog. Enjoy the pics below of Kevin & Drew's visit. I'll probably be posting more photos soon. I have a bunch of shoots I did that I'd love to share. Stay tuned :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T23:28:00.005-05:00

We had a great thanksgiving and a lot to be thankful for! Below are some of the pics we took, all it all a wonderful day!

November Update

2009-11-24T00:08:00.003-05:00

I keep meaning to update my blog and then I get distracted. Things have been beyond busy here :-) James finished up the itallian movie he was working on. You can see the trailer by clicking on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLywcPRizAo. You might also want to check out this clip someone posted on youTube, you might recognize someone at the end :-)

We went to his wrap party it was fun! So many of the crew had such wonderful things to say about working with James. I was pretty proud of him!

As for me I've been plugging away at work, and boy there is so much of it :-) I often wonder if I've ever been this busy before??? Some good news too, I've been offered a new job within the company. I think it sounds exciting, but I'll have to share more details later. Also my current director submitted me for an award that my company gives out to select employees that go above and beyond their scope of work....I just found out I won! :-) I was so honored and happy to be thought of. Now I get to spend my $50 on something fun....hmm...wonder what it will be?

As for the baby it continues to grow and grow. I've gained a few pounds and suddenly my belly is resembling a more buddah shape. So far things are going great, no major issues and I feel pretty good. I'm finally over the extreme tiredness hump and my headaches are fewer and farther in between. The only thing I have to really deal with now is the back/side pains and my hip joints hurting in the morning. Its so interesting to see how change even gradual can affect the body, not to mention that every persons body reacts differently...who knew? I think its amazing! I'll have to post some more prego pics soon.

This past weekend James and I spent most of it cleaning up and cleaning out our apartment. We had so much junk that we're just hanging onto for no apparent reason (or at least not a good enough reason). I figured I would only be getting bigger so what better time than now to do our deep clean out. We've still got some drawers and things to go through but we definitely have less stuff than what we moved in with. We're planning to drop most of it off at goodwill this weekend. It feels good to get rid of things that we never use or never wear. I'm proud of James he's even selling stuff on the internet. Now we'll just have to make sure we don't try to fill up our newly made space. :-)

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving, and I am so looking forward to a break from work and an extended weekend. Yes! I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner again this year, and James invited a few friends over so we'll see who turns up. Should be a fun night!

Our Wee Little One

2009-10-26T23:41:00.006-04:00

Exciting news....we're pregnant! And we're so happy about it :-) Today I went in for my first ultrasound. The Dr. wanted to confirm my due date and the baby's gestational age. It was such a lovely experience to be able to see my baby moving around and flexing its arms and legs. The technician was even able to capture a pic of the baby waving at me :-) I found out that my due date is now May 12 and I am a little over 11 weeks pregnant. Yay! Here are the pics from the ultrasound and some pregnant pics of me.

Fall Is Here

2009-10-08T23:41:00.007-04:00

In celebration of Fall last weekend I baked an apple pie! It was fun and tasty...here are some pics :-)

relaxin

2009-09-20T19:42:00.002-04:00

This weekend James and I relaxed a little. We had both had a hard work week. On Saturday we decided to buy tennis rackets :-) Then we went over to the Joel & Amy's to hang out. We ate dinner, listened to jazz, played tennis, and of course we ended the evening with a nice game of settlers. It was a bunch of fun! On our way to dinner I even ran into my friend Kristen whom I hadn't seen in 4 years...it was so great to see her!

Now its Sunday night, and I'm bummed that the weekend isn't just a little bit longer. I keep trying to motivate myself to do some housework....but for some reason I keep procrastinating :-) I feel like I need to buy a new book to read....any suggestions?

Summer Photo Shoots :-)

2009-09-13T21:40:00.005-04:00

As many of you know I'm slowly making my way into wedding and lifestyle photography. These past few months I've had some wonderful photo shoot opportunities. This is a collection of my favorites from the shoot. And I'm still looking for more opportunities....so if anyone out there wants some great photos, let me know :-) Enjoy!

The Mundens Came to Visit

2009-09-12T00:42:00.005-04:00

Also a few weeks ago the Mundens came to visit us in sunny CA. It was so much fun! I would say they had quite the adventure. Due to work I missed out on a few of the fun beach excursions but I think James showed them a good time. Here are the pics we took from their visit....

Hike

2009-09-06T00:47:00.004-04:00

Yes it's been too long...instead of typing a whole big story on why I haven't been blogging lately, I decided I would just begin to post little tid-bits at a time to fill you all in. And of course lots of pics....So a few weekends back James and I decided to hike up on of the mountains at Griffith park to see the famous solo tree at the top. It was very hot. And James told me it would be fun. He lead me along a very narrow pathway with lots of rocks. He assured me this was in fact the best way to go. At first there were some 4 foot tall rock walls to climb up. No biggie but lots of fun. Then we came to 1 of 2 15-20 foot walls. Might I remind you we are not trained rock climbers. James said he did the climb a week ago and convinced me that going up would be easier than going back. I agreed and found myself climbing up this wall with no ropes or helmets. I was so scared I was going to fall. But I didn't and we eventually made it to the top of the mountain for a spectacular view. At the top I noticed the smoother trail to the right and we took that pathway back down. It was a lot easier going down. When we finished I told James I had so much fun....but I was never doing that again! Ha! And b/c every story is better with a picture here is one from that trek. Please excuse the dirty and sweaty look I had going on...it was a really hard hike :-)

These are two pics from the hike. The first on is me in the middle of my climb up the rock wall. The other one is me at the tree on top of the mountain. It was hazy that day so you can't really see the city but it is behind me.

Family Tour 09

2009-08-02T16:41:00.007-04:00

Recently James and I had the pleasure of visiting our families in both Virginia and Michigan. We took a whole week off of work and spent 3 days in VA and 3 days in MI. Our first stop was in VA, James' parents picked us up, and we had fun chatting and visiting with each other. The next day our friend Rob drove up from PA to see us. Shortly after Rob arrived our friend Paul came over too. James, Rob, Paul and James' dad Terry began to play cornhole. Of course regular cornhole was not enough of a challenge and soon they all were attempting to play with moving targets. It was quite a scene, and very fun to watch! Then it was off to lunch and more games at the park. Our friends Kevin and Drew joined us. Paul took us to a special park for kids that he helped engineer, it was like nothing I'd ever seen. (Check out the pics) It was really neat I wish they had parks like that when I was growing up :-) Afterward we headed to another park where the guys were able to run around and play more games. I had fun visiting with Drew and catching up on all that was new in their lives. When we returned home James' mom Doni arranged for the whole family to come over and have dinner with us. It was a beautiful night on the patio and we had so much fun seeing everyone! The next day we decided to go tubing with Terry, Doni, Kevin, and Drew. It was so much fun! We decided to go on the rapid one which took us over some rocks and had some faster moving parts. At some points we would bump each other over the rapids and pummel down the river. Other parts were lazy and relaxing. It was a really fun day and the weather was gorgeous! We came home exhausted but no too tired for friends. We had dinner that night with Kevin, Drew, Paul, David and Arielle. Later on Nancy and Michael came over too, and we were able to meet baby Noah who is still growing in Nancy's tummy. It was a blast to see so many of our friends! We have really great friends, if only they could all live in California....The next day we hung out at the Kanka's house. It was nice and relaxing. We were still tired from the day before. Later that afternoon Matt drove up to see us. He's been playing up a storm with his new band and we got to listen to one of his CDs. They were really good, and it was fun to hear about all that was new for him. Rose joined us all for dinner and we relaxed and enjoyed the wonderful company. Later we went to see Harry Potter with Matt, it was good but not as great at the other Potter movies. The next morning we packed up and headed to the airport to begin our trip to Michigan.

The flight was short and easy. Once we landed my parents picked us up and took us to see my brother, Brad, and sister-in law, Nicole. We went to eat at a great pizza place on their upstairs patio. It was nice and cool in Michigan, and I had so much fun seeing Brad and Nicole. After pizza we slowly made the drive back to my mom's house. Of course my mom's dog Mac was more than happy to see us! The next day we slep in and got caught up on our sleep. That afternoon we headed out to MSU campus with Mom and walked Mac around. We walked to the MSU dairy and all got ice creams, even Mac! Its funny how the campus has changed and yet it really hadn't. Afterwards we went to visit my Nanna and Boppa. I couldn't wait to see them it had really been too long :-) We watched a movie that night, Despero, it really wasn't very good though I was so excited about the story. The next day we went shopping with Mom and she bought a Wii! Once we were home we helped her set it up and immediately began to make our Mii characters. My Dad joined us for steak dinners and then it was time to play. We had fun boxing, playing tennis, and setting up the Wii Fit. Mom was pretty good she and Dad both beat me in boxing. The next day James and I went out to lunch with our friends Devon and Justin. I got to see where baby Violet in Devon's tummy. I had fun catching up with them, I miss having Devon around, but I'm so excited for this next chapter in their lives. My mom planned a big family dinner that night. Brad and Nicole came over early and we enjoyed playing Wii over some brews. Later the rest of my family joined, even my uncle Doug and aunt Jane from Indiana came up for a visit. We all had fun laughing, eating, playing games and catching up. Everyone took turns playing the games on the Wii and it was hilarious! My aunt Terry and uncle Bruce were able to join us and uncle Bruce even made me a necklace out of a collectors coin from 1882. It was beautiful! Cathryn and Matt updated us on married life it was fun to see them. For desert my Dad bought some pies from Traverse City at the Traverse City pie company. They were cherry and so delicious it was amazing. (And I normally don't like cherry pies!) It was a very fun night. The next day James and I headed to the airport for LA. We volunteered to be bumped from our flight and each recieved $300 flight vouchers, and $15 food vouchers. So we hung out at the airport for another 3 hours. We eventually made it to LA after a long day of waiting around. But it was so worth it! We had so much fun seeing everyone on our family tour, thanks to all who helped make it so great! Check out the snapshots from the trip, videos to come soon!

4th of July weekend

2009-07-05T23:12:00.002-04:00

This weekend was filled with cleaning and relaxation. James was out of town for most of the weekend working on a film. Luckily he got home Sat. afternoon. We decided to have an early meal and grilled a nice steak dinner with artichokes and corn on the cob. James could barely keep his eyes open during the meal. He was of course exhausted from long days/nights of shooting but after an afternoon nap he was ready to go see fireworks.

We decided to do a short hike at Griffith park to a lookout peak we had not been to. This peak took us higher than the Observatory where we had seen the fireworks last year. And this year we had an amazing parking spot too so we were happy. It was an easy trail, although I did have to take a few breaks since it was all uphill and of course I was wearing flip-flops. (I really don't know what I was thinking!) But it was a gorgeous and sunny day. When we got to the top we found a small group of other people who decided to do the same thing. People even brought their horses. We had an excellent spot overlooking all of LA and this time we could see most of the valley too. It is an amazing perspective to see all these fireworks, going off all over the town. Some of the shows were quite impressive.

As it grew later it became cold and we had to hike back down in the dark. We weren't planning ahead and so we had no flashlight. Although we did have a nice almost full moon. I was a little nervous about seeing coyotes since people had spotted one following them on the way up to the lookout peak. But much to James' dismay we didn't see any coyotes. It was a nice to spend another holiday together enjoying our city. Here are some pics from our 4th of July hike.

Pics

2009-06-28T00:01:00.004-04:00

Its been awhile since I've posted pics...enjoy!

27

2009-06-20T22:53:00.004-04:00

This past week I turned 27, and to celebrate I took a fun trip to Disneyland! It really was magical. There is something about the magic kingdom that makes everyone feel like a kid again. The day was sunny and warm (a vast change from the cloudy and cool weather we've been having) and I couldn't complain. Our friends Joel and Amy came with us and we all had a blast! We were even lucky enough to see Kobe Bryant (I think that's how you spell his name?) in a parade with Mickey Mouse. I think my favorite ride was the Indiana Jones ride where we were in a Jeep plowing through the unknown. It was a little scary when the giant ball rolled towards us, luckily Joel was an excellent driver and we narrowly made our escape. It was a fun day and we were all tuckered out by the end of it.

Later that night once home, I was overwhelmed at the number of birthday wishes I received on Facebook and email. I felt so loved and really appreciated the fact that I was able to share part of my 27 years with these special people. I don't know if I feel older, but I definitely feel loved. Thanks everyone!

Has it really?

2009-06-08T22:51:00.005-04:00

Has it really been that long since I've posted??? I hate how I shut things out when I'm busy. I feel like I do that a lot. Sorry to all of you who I've unintentionally shut out, I'm trying to get better I promise! So in other news....work has kept me busy and on my toes lately. I've signed up for a web design class that meets on Saturday morning. So long to my sleep in Saturdays. I am learning some new things in class and maybe I'll have a new website in my near future. Although I'm not really fond of my teacher or the pace of the class lessons. I feel so impatient to learn the next step. I'm hanging in there, and my iPhone keeps me occupied while I wait for the next instructions :-)

Speaking of iPhones...sometimes I ponder the state of our culture in such a media and technology driven society. Are we really taking the time to listen, to learn, to grow, to experience life around us? Or are we just successful multi-taskers driven by the need to be connected through technology? Most of my day is spent connected to the computer or technology of some sort. Don't get me wrong I LOVE technology, but when does it become an unhealthy habit? I've decided that I'm going to strive to connect more in ways other than surfing the web, watching online videos, and reading blogs. My life isn't virtual though I do enjoy the wonderful outlets technology supplies. This was one of my thoughts today... Who knows what deep topic I'll be thinking of tomorrow :-)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2009-05-22T23:01:00.004-04:00

This past week I decided to make one of my favorite soups. It was delish! It was a recipe I took from Sandra Lee and slightly modified it. So good and easy in fact, I thought I would share the recipe. If any of you are like me and like simple, easy, and quick recipes this is one for you.

In a lightly oiled saute pan cook 2-3 chicken breasts until no longer pink. Once cooked let the meat cool slightly and then begin pulling chicken apart into thin strips/chunks that are skinny and about .5 inch long.
In a separate pan saute about a half cup of diced onion and 3-4 cloves of garlic until lightly browned.
Combine pulled chicken, onions, and garlic into large pot.
Add 1 box/container of chicken broth to the pot
Add 1 box/container of Cambpbells V8 Southwetern Corn Soup
Add 1 can of Green Giant Mexicorn
Add 1 can of Diced Mexican Tomatoes (or something with diced tomatoes and chiles)
Add a 1/2 cup of crumbled tortilla chips
Add one dash of crushed red pepper
Bring the pot of ingredients to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer for 20 minutes
When serving add sliced avacado, sour cream, shredded cheese, crunched tortilla chips, and tabasco sauce as desired.

Voila! You have a tasty meal in just 30 minutes :-) Enjoy!

The rest of the Sequoia pics...

2009-05-17T16:17:00.003-04:00

So my week was insanely busy...but here are the rest of the well awaited Sequoia pics. What a fun trip....where shall we go next? hmmmm.....

Preview & Edited pics from Sequoia

2009-05-10T14:17:00.003-04:00

This weekend I finished up converting the pics from our trip to Sequoia National Park from RAW into JPEG format . Here is a sneak peak of some of my favorites. I took a stab at editing them in photoshop...I like the vintage effect it gave, but I have a lot more to learn. I'll post the other pics (non-photoshoped) later, for those of you who want to see the full trip and a ton of pictures! But for now enjoy this condensed preview version...

Amazing!

2009-05-01T00:11:00.004-04:00

Last week James and I celebrated our 3yr. anniversary by camping in the Sequoia National Park and I'm so glad we did. We had planned to camp near the top of the mountain but it was still snow covered. James like the idea of camping in the snow, but....I convinced him that staying at the bottom of the mountain where flowers and warmer weather would make the trip much more pleasant and me much more enjoyable :-) So we camped at a lovely campsite called Buckeye Flat, site 18 which was the best site on the whole lot. It was a small campground for tent campers only. Our lot was more secluded and bigger than the others. There was a rushing river that was behind our site and the sound of it put me to sleep at night. There were spacious bear boxes at each site, The first evening at the site we were able to take a short trail from our campground to the beautiful waterfalls. The temperatures were in the high 60s and surprisingly not many bugs, which is always a great sign to me!

The second day we drove back up to the top of the mountain. We hiked up to see General Sherman one of the largest giant sequoias in the park. And from there we took a short hike in and around the grove. There were snowy patches all around. It was beautiful but that area was a little too manicured with its paved hiking path. We continued to the museum, and then headed out to a lookout called Beetle Rock. It was a massive rock overlook. We found a great little resting spot and admired God's beautiful work. Afterwards we headed out to Morrow Rock on a whim. It was a fabulous decision! We hiked up stone steps and slowly made our way to the top of this giant rock. At the top we had a full panoramic view of all the snow-capped mountains and the valley below. It was windy but it was definitely a wow moment. Strangely enough a bunch of monks were visiting Morrow Rock that day as well.

After that we decided to take a desolate trail to see Crescent Meadow. I thought there might be flowers there. The meadow was only about 2.6 miles from Morrow Rock, so I thought it would be easy. Boy it was tough. There we were hiking through giant sequoia trees and snow getting glimpses through the trees of the snow capped mountains in the distance. We didn't see a sole the whole time! I felt like a mouse in a strange fantasy land. At times James and I would have to check the snow or ground for footprints to ensure we were on the right track. It was beautiful and difficult, but it was worth it. When we arrived at Crescent Meadow there were no flowers, not even grass yet. But there was a lot of water covering the meadow. Instantly James and I heard the frogs. They were so loud it was deafening, really it was crazy! Since there weren't any flowers we continued on and hiked back to the car. We took a different route to ensure we saw the tunnel log where cars drive through the giant fallen sequoia.

We had wine and foil pockets, filled with meat and veggies, for dinner. And the entertainment for the night was the new neighbor camper who sounded like a bear every time he blew his nose. It was quite frightening, and funny!!! The next morning we checked out Hospital Rock with the ascent paintings. Then it was off on another hike where I could see the pretty flowers. It was beautiful! I was a little worried about seeing a bear, as there were some signs of a bigger animal using the trail we were on, but no bear this time. (James was a little disappointed...) We headed home shortly after our hike. It was a wonderful camping trip! Now I'm set on going to Yosemite....I just need to figure out when.

I'm still editing my pictures, this week has been super busy and we have a ton of them. (Of course!) But I promise they are coming soon...stay tuned :-)

April 22 is Almost here!

2009-04-21T01:10:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is my last day of work for the week. I am getting excited just thinking about it :-) Since the weather has been unbelievably hot, we decided to take advantage of it, and pushed our camping trip forward a day. On Wednesday, James and I will be driving north and into the mountains. We're going to camp in Sequoia National Park for our 3 year anniversary! (It will also be earth day, how fitting!) Tomorrow after work it will be a mad dash to pack up the gear and supplies for our wonderful trip. I'm looking forward the beautiful variety of scenery, the long hikes, photo opportunities, and of course the quality time with James. Today I bought some wine to take, and James bought a new mat for us to use. (We learned our lesson about sleeping on the ground at the grand canyon it was rough, literally.) James also picked out our camping site preferences, we're hoping to get a spot by the river we'll see what we end up with. Since they don't take reservations it will be on a first come first serve basis. We'll be sure to post pics and happenings when we get back!

Also on a side note, we've been receiving lovely anniversary cards from friends and family, thank you so much!!! I can't believe anyone even remembers, but I'm so glad they do. It really makes James and I feel loved. Thank you and we love you too!!!

Time is Flying By!

2009-04-12T23:09:00.008-04:00

Its hard to believe that James and I are approaching our 3 year anniversary! Its even weirder to think that we've been in a relationship for 6 years. I feel pretty lucky to have such a wonderful husband. We haven't made definite plans about what we're going to do for our anniversary but we have a few ideas. The week after this I have taken a half week off of work. Our anniversary is on Wednesday April 22, so we figured we'd sleep in, relax, and have a nice meal out on the town. Then on Thursday we're planning on taking a short camping trip. The only trouble is we can't make up our minds. I am in awe of how much California has to offer and James and I have only experience a little slice of it. We want to travel somewhere new. We both really like the idea of saving money on a hotel and camping is always such a fun experience. So...here are our mini trip options:

Sequoia National Park - I've always wanted to see the giant trees, but do I want to share my experience with the bears? Not to mention, the temperatures can get down to the 30s at night. If we did travel this way we could also see Yosemite as it is not too far. Are the giant trees and beautiful wildlife worth it...or should we wait until summer?

Big Sur- Camping on a beach cliff...what more can I say? We could also stop by the Hearst Castle on way if we ventured out that way. James and I have seen many of the California beaches and we love them! Waking up hearing the waves would be so luxurious, even for camping, but....by going with the beach would we be passing up an opportunity to see something different?

So does anyone have any ideas? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.... I just can't decide. Since we're on the topic on anniversary, this coming May also marks the anniversary of James and I moving out west. Hard to believe we've been here a year. I'm so thankful for what the Lord has given us thus far. Can't wait to see what the years to come bring!

As for updates....not to much is new. Last weekend I worked at a conference for School Board members. It was really interesting and I'm glad I have the opportunity to go. It was in San Diego so James came too which always makes the trips better. Our hotel was in the gas lamp district and we were able to walk around at night a bit. On Sunday we went to a place called Hash House a Go-Go, a great recommendation from a co-worker, it was insane in a good way. The plates were huge...platter size. I ordered a breakfast quesadilla and it was about the size of half a beach ball...I didn't even know they sold tortilla shells that big! It was really wonderful. After we stuffed our faces we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was so crowded but so cool! We saw all the exhibits, and if it wasn't for the lines we might have paid to feed the Giraffes too :-) It was so fun but boy did we get sunburned. James and I also finished our Battlestar Galatica marathon last week. For those of you who don't know what that is, than you haven't seen good Sci-Fi until you see the Battlestar series. (Just to clarify its the new one not the Battlestar from the 70s.)

This weekend we got to hang out with friends, grill and of course play games. It was a lot of fun! Its always refreshing to be around friends. Today for Easter Sunday James and I broke out the white linen. He in his pants and I in my coat. It was fun to dress up! We went to church, they had free breakfast, and a great message as always. The very first thing our pastor said was, "He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed", and then he had the congregation join in, in two parts. I instantly thought of home and our Lutheran church how often I would hear that phrase. Together my family and I would answer, "He is Risen Indeed!". It made me smile just thinking about it.

After church I tried to go to the mall...and realized too late that it was closed. But I did however get to knock over a parking sign :-) Ooops! No damage except to my ego of course! On that note I'll leave you with a few pics from our Easter weekend.

Praise the Lord, for He is risen that we might have life!

Lazy Weekend

2009-03-29T18:12:00.005-04:00

Last weekend James and I finally went to the Getty with our friends Joel and Amy. It was bigger than I was expecting. The the architecture was simply beautiful! It all had a futuristic tone to it, right down to the white tram car that took us up the hill. Inside the Getty there were artistic period pieces. All kinds of art too, not just paintings. My favorites were a Degas piece featuring of course a ballerina, and a blue and white canopy bed with feathers on the posts from the 1600s. After a day at the Getty with our friends I did mini event photo shoot for my co-workers' band. I had a fun time meeting everyone. It was a large band with very talented members. James and I also met a nice young couple who had just packed up and moved from New Hampshire. Hopefully we can connect with them again soon. The band played for a very short 20 minutes so I had to work fast. Not to mention there was not a whole lot of down time before the band went on. It was pretty crazy, and I felt the pressure of trying to get quick shots. I had some good photos, but more importantly I learned a lot. Not only about what kinds of things I could have done to improve my shots, but I also learned a lot about what kinds of services I want to pursue with photography. I really think I leaning more toward the weddings and photo outings. But we'll see! On Sunday last week James and I found ourselves in a sea of marathon runners on our way to church. The marathon route was not planned very well. All roads leading out of Pasadena were blocked off. We spent an hour and a half driving around trying to get out of Pasadena, and we missed church :-( All we could do is laugh at being stuck because of a marathon. The runners on the other hand were very impressive, especially the outfits!

The past week flew by again. James' friend Friel came to visit us. It was nice to see him, and its always fun to share beautiful southern CA with others. We had sushi and talked about life and the pursuit of happiness. He was only here for a couple of days but it was fun and James loved getting to hang out with Friel. While I was plugging away at my job, James had the opportunity to work on a professional commerical set. Which for him was amazing! He's probably writing about it in his blog....This weekend we decided to have a lazy weekend. It was nice to have a weekend to lounge around for once. Friday night after work I made homade pizza and we feel asleep by 10pm. On Saturday we vegged out and caught up on our Battlestar Galactica series and cleaned up the apartment. Then it was off to the mall for a shopping and ice cream. We also bought a paddle ball set Saturday night and had fun running around today in the library lawn looking ridiculous! It was fun though and the weather is beautiful. It's nice to open the window and smell the flowers in the air. I wish ever day was the weekend!

Thursday Night

2009-03-12T23:43:00.002-04:00

It's Thursday night and the week flew by. There has been so many things on my mind lately, I haven't been sleeping. James came home on Wednesday from his shoot in Atlanta, I couldn't be happier I miss him too much when he's away. As I type this James is fast asleep on the couch.....I doubt I will be able pull him to bed, he seems pretty comfy :-)

Blah Day

2009-03-08T01:22:00.005-05:00

Today was one of those blah days. I slept in, I cleaned, watched a couple of movies, and I did some research on the web. I'm beginning to seriously research starting a photography business. At least on the side for now. I love photos, and capturing life's moments in a visual way. I still have a lot of research to do, I don't know anything about starting even a side business. So much to learn. This fall I think I'm going to enlist in a photography class, which I think will be very fun!

Last weekend James and I went to the train museum by our place. It was really amazing....tons of old trains, many from the early 1900s. I enjoyed climbing on them and of course taking pictures! Here are a couple of the photos from our excursion, I'm sure I'll post more later :)

25 things I hate about facebook by julian smith

2009-03-05T01:22:00.001-05:00

For those of you who use Facebook...you'll LOVE this video!

San Diego with Friends!

2009-03-01T00:27:00.003-05:00

Our friends Chase & Elizabeth were vacationing in Mexico and were able to get a flight out of San Deigo, so James and I and our friends Joel & Amy took a day trip. It was so much fun to hang out with our friends and the food was ridiculously good! :) Here are some pics from our trip, enjoy!

Feb. Photo Safari & McKenzie Shoot

2009-02-24T10:11:00.005-05:00

Since James was gone on valentines day weekend my friend Jen came to visit me. During our fun time together we did a photo shoot for friends of mine from work. Afterwards we continued the photo safari fun. The pics are from Venice and Santa Monica Beach. Enjoy!

I've been slacking...

2009-02-15T23:30:00.002-05:00

I've definitely been slacking in posting anything. I've been pretty busy with work and everything else. This week I went to my first pilates class. It was good, I think I want to go regularly now but we'll see how my schedule turns out. This weekend my friend Jen came and visited with me. She was a friend from my summer project and she's an incredible artist in so many ways. We basically took photos and talked the whole time. It was FABULOUS!!!! My friend from work needed some photos taken for his band. So we did a photo shoot at Venice beach with him and his family. I enjoyed the chance to get better acquainted with my new camera. I love it! I think the pics turned out pretty good. But now I have to convert them to jpegs and do some minor edits. It'll keep me busy throughout the week nights I'm sure. I'll post some later. Today after church, Jen and I headed out to Santa Monica where we took more photos and had some yummy lunch. When I drove Jen to the train station we noticed a really cool cultural village by union station. I really want to take James there sometime, he would love the vibe it had. Now I'm so tucked out, I just want to sleep...that's my definition of a good weekend!

Once upon a time...

2009-02-04T01:00:00.003-05:00

James shared this video with me tonight. This adorable little girl Capucine and her mom are raising money for mongolian children. Check out their vimeo page. I also especially love the photos she drew...if you can translate a little french you will laugh too! Imagination is a beautiful thing....

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Last Night

2009-02-01T14:43:00.003-05:00

Last night James and I went to the Derby to help celebrate Matt Iseman's birthday. It was really fun! They had a Journey tribute cover band playing, and the band was great. Matt is one of the host's on Clean House and he also does sports coverage on the Style Network's show the Dish. All of the Clean House crew were there to represent, not to mention many others from the Style Network. Danielle Fishel was also there celebrating. You may remember her from the show Boy Meets World, she played Topanga. All in all a very fun birthday celebartion, we were glad to be invited :)

James is Home!

2009-01-31T19:04:00.003-05:00

James came home from Hawaii this week. His show has him on the traveling crew. For the next couple of months he will be traveling around the country. The good news is that he gets little breaks in between. They began this year with a trip to Hawaii and of course James loved it! Who wouldn't right? He got some great photos of his trip and he really enjoys his new role of assistant camera. Though I was glad for him to have the opportunity to go to Hawaii I must admit I was a little jealous....I wanted to go too!!! :)

I'm so happy he's home now, I missed him a ton! This weekend we haven't really made any big plans. Just hanging out together. Tonight we're going to a party at a place called The Derby. I have no idea what to expect. (The name does remind me of the fun trips to Churchill Downs with my uncle.) I'll keep you posted on our festivities tonight!

Today James and I finally took the plunge to buy a new computer...our desktop was getting old and running slow. We were having issues downloading our HD footage from our cameras and having trouble editing as well as viewing in real time. We have been needing something faster to handle our large files. It had been on our long term purchasing plan for 2 years now. January was a great month for James and I work wise , and James is selling his older video camera since we now have the Canon 5D. We decided what better time than now...we knew if we waited we wouldn't do it. So we bought a new MacPro today! We excited to be a Mac family now. We didn't completely sell out, we still have our own dell monitors, speakers, etc. but the Mac is a big change. Stay tuned for updates. Currently James is busy switching everything over from one computer to the other...it's a big process. I have a feeling he'll be working on this all weekend. I'm so glad he understands all this computer stuff! :)

Number Three

2009-01-23T00:08:00.004-05:00

Today I experienced my 3rd earthquake since moving to California. Around lunch time there was another small earthquake. At first I thought it was going to be a bigger one because I could really feel it, but it was very short. The computers didn't even flicker. For more information click here. Apparently my office wasn't too far from the epicenter

home today

2009-01-20T23:51:00.003-05:00

Today I stayed home from work...I'm beginning to feel better though I admit I am using more tissues than yesterday. They day looked beautiful outside. I caught a bit of the inauguration. It was really amazing...I wish I was still in DC to see it. To think that just 2 years ago James had a chance to meet and catch him on camera....and now he is president. Very cool!

icky

2009-01-19T23:03:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I could feel it coming...this morning I woke up and knew...I'm sick! I hate being sick...I look and feel aweful. And it's supposssed to be a holiday today. James left for Hawaii today for work. I'm praying I didn't give him any symptoms.

Last time I was really sick James was so kind as to take my picture...I'm posting it because its funny and I have no shame....Imagine feeling like this...

Pics from Dad's Christmas Visit

2009-01-18T19:54:00.008-05:00

I know it's taken me awhile to actually get these up but here are some pics from my Dad's Christmas surprise visit. The pictures were taken with our old camera, and I think there are a few really good ones. When Dad was here we went to Santa Monica Beach and Pier, Venice Beach, Griffith Park & Observatory, the Hollywood Hills Park, and San Diego to visit my Uncle Don and Aunt Young Chung. The weather was un-seasonably cold when Dad was here but we still enjoyed some outdoor activities. You might even notice that when we were in San Diego a giant cloud front rolled in over the hills and surrounded us. It was a whole new way to see the beach. (Just double click the image to go to our Picassa page if you would like to see the pictures bigger)

New Camera & Lipdub

2009-01-11T11:49:00.003-05:00

This weekend James I tested out our new Camera. We had a lot of fun taking photos and learning all of the new buttons. As well as photos the new camera also lets us take video footage. So last night James convinced me to participate in our first lipdub. (Lipsinging to music on camera and dubbing music over it.) While we were very happy with the cameras performance, my performance lacks a bit of expertise. Maybe next time I will actually know all of the words...? All that to say it was fun and now we have something to post. :)

Danielle's First Lipdub - "Be Ok" from James Kanka on Vimeo.

little updates....

2009-01-08T01:01:00.002-05:00

Next week I go to Orlando, FL for a sales conference with work. 1 day after I get home James leaves for Hawaii for the show he's working on. He'll be gone for 10 days, and then home for 10 days. It will be like that for at least 3 months. It will definitely be an adjustment for us to be in and out so much. Good thing my mom got us some new luggage! (By the way Mom, it was just delivered and we love them!)

This past weekend James and I got our library cards, we're so excited! The library is across the street and it's really nice.

Oh, and we're getting our new camera this week!!! You thought we were photo fanatics before....just you wait and see!!! Not only will we be taking photos but it has a really great video feature as well!!!

This year like every January I've decided to get in shape...so far I've gone to the gym twice. What can I say I am easing my way in...at least that is what I keep telling myself.

I'll upload the pics from my dad's visit this weekend, hopefully. We have some fun shots. (Thinking of uploading pics...I still have to upload the pics from my cousin's wedding from October!) Well that's it for now...time for bed. Night!

New Year...New Do

2009-01-02T19:00:00.004-05:00

A Merry Christmas in LA

2008-12-27T13:06:00.005-05:00

This year James and I decided to stay in LA due to the price of plane tickets, recently moving and having no time to settle our things, and well... just being all stressed out. My mom offered to buy us plane tickets home, and it almost worked out but in the end we decided to stay here, though I was so sad about not being able to see everyone. James and I had also decided to buy our families webcams for christmas. Well...my dad had the same idea! So we're still doing some christmas shopping for my mom, brother, and sister in-law. But the good news is that we were able to hook the webcams up and spend part of Christmas together! I've been able to chat and laugh with my mom, and see the animals as we talked to them from the computer. On Christams my mom had my aunt, uncle, and grandparents over and I was able to see everyone and have a little bit of Christmas with them in Michigan. It was great to see and chat with everyone, it felt like I was right there! I miss them all a bunch! Another great thing was that we were able to open our presents with our family online so they got to see us open them. It was so neat! We also chatted with James' family on Christmas so we were able to see everyone one the east coase too! It was a very merry Christmas indeed!

Another fun thing that happened this Christmas was that James and the rest of my family kept a great secret and surprised me on Christmas..... strangely enough at chruch the week before Christmas there was a skit forshadowing the whole event...

On the 23rd James picked me up from work. He was really excited about his new hand held video recorder present from Brad and Nicole. He was taping me as I walked to the car. He kept holding it up in my face, while I'm somewhat used to this it was still quite distracting! I got in the car and he was still taping. I reminded him that could "turn the camera off now" as I thought there was nothing very exciting about filming two people sitting in a car. As I'm saying this I'm reaching for my seat belt, which I was having a hard time finding....all the sudden I feel a hand on my shoulder. I'm still trying to get my seat belt on...so I began to tell James to get his hand off of me, when I realized it wasn't his hand. He had both up front... one on the steering wheel and one on his camera. I began to ask just who was behind me, not exactly knowing what to expect. That's when my dad popped his head from the back seat! It was a great surprise!!!! Thanks to all of you who helped to keep it :)

Here is the video James captured of the surprise....

Christmas Surprise from James Kanka on Vimeo.

What you get for your money in LA

2008-12-17T02:03:00.003-05:00

These past two weeks James and I have been moving into our new apartment. I like to think of our place as our little cottage, because that's exactly how it feels. Apartments in LA just aren't the same as they are on the east coast, or probably anywhere else. We're happy with our find. To to have a refridgerator and a washer and dryer in the unit is big deal out here! James and I are also excited to put more of our money in savings as our cottage apt. will assist us in doing just that. Luckily our friends have been a huge help in getting us situated. While we still have piles of boxes to get through and two more rooms to paint...without the help from our friends we wouldn't have been able to move and get things as far along as they are.

Work has been incredibly busy for both James and I so we've only had the weekend to really get things settled. We've made many trips to Lowes, and are about 60% done with getting everything unpacked. Ughhh....so much left to do....Well anyway here are the first batch of pics of moving in.

Also this past week we went to the E! holiday party. It was wild! It was held at LA Live an outdoor club in the middle of downtown. The sceen inside was a wide range of activity: pool tables, rock band video game, patio area, 2 open bars, dancing, platforms, etc. It was fun to meet more of James' co-workers. But the whole thing reminded me of a more tasteful version of spring break :) James and I had fun dancing! This week is my office holiday party and it will be pretty great if I do say so myself!

New Place

2008-12-03T00:03:00.003-05:00

Good news! We signed on our new apartment and already have the key. We'll begin painting and moving in this weekend! Yay and praise the Lord!!!! Though I'm not looking forward to the actual move...I am looking forward to a new place! I try and post pics as soon as we can. Thanks everyone for your advice and prayers :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-11-30T18:00:00.007-05:00

It was great to have Thursday and Friday off this week. Since our lease is up mid December, this weekend we spent a great deal of time looking for and at apartments. Today we found one that we would love to move into. We're filling out the applications now and Lord willing we will have a new place to live! It's a cute little unit, on a lot with only 2 other residences. I was happy it has a refrigerator and laundry!!! (Believe it or not, these features are not always the norm is southern CA.) It's actually only a few streets down from where our current place is, and we really like the area.

On Saturday I continued our thanksgiving tradition by making my grandma's Turkey Soup!!! (It's my favorite soup!) In addition to apartment hunting, we went to the movies. We saw "Bolt" in 3D. It was a great movie and we got to wear nifty glasses!

Feeling Thankful

2008-11-28T22:21:00.007-05:00

Thanksgiving was very different this year, as James and I celebrated in CA. We celebrated in our own little way by giving thanks to the Lord for all he has blessed us with this past year. We have so much to be thankful for! James invited some friends from work over to celebrate with us. It was a fun night filled with food, drinks, guitar & harmonica jamming, and of course our favorite...games!

It was also a first for me to cook the whole meal from start to finish by myself. In the past I've often had a lot of help from my mom, she really is a good cook! I also had a lot of great family recipes to assist me. I began the preparations the night before by getting the mashed potato bake ready, and baking the sweet potato pie. The next morning I woke up bright and early to begin the cook off. I began the morning with homemade pie dough, and ended the day with gravy. It was a full day of cooking... but well worth it. Everything turned out great and the best part... no smoke alarm this year! :)

(For those who are actually interested) Here was the Kanka Thanksgiving Menu:
- Turkey
- Nicole's Mashed Potatoes w/ a pinch of Garlic
- Carrots
- Green Beans
- Stuffing
- Candied Yams
- Gravy
- Biscuits
- Sweet Potato Pie
- Whipped Cream
- Apple Pie
- Vanilla Ice Cream

We hope all our friends and family who are far away had a great thanksgiving, you were in our hearts and thoughts. Love you all! Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving :)

Lake House Visit October 08

2008-11-19T11:17:00.006-05:00

Better late than never.... In October James and I went to MI for my cousin's wedding and then headed up north to Gaylord, MI to spend time with my family at my brother and sister-in-laws lake house. It was beautiful as the trees were all in color. I can't wait to go back. Here are just a few of my favorites....

From Oct. 08 Lake House Visit

This Weekend

2008-11-16T18:40:00.002-05:00

This weekend James and I spent apartment hunting. To be honest it was not very fun. Most of the rentals in southern CA are small privately owned complexes. So we were driving around looking for signs, calling the numbers, and using our GPS the whole time I felt car sick. It was the same feeling you get when you read too long in the car or if you are riding down really curvy roads. We have a lot more looking to do. I must admit I am getting a little nervous, given our lack of time for looking and the price range we are looking for. I really want to be happy with whatever we decide upon. If anyone has any suggestions of where to check out please let us know.

Also this weekend there were major fires in the surrounding LA area. The sky was hazy and the smell of smoke was evident in many areas. Luckily in Burbank there was no danger or smokey smells. Last night we had plans to visit our friends Joel and Amy to hang out in Fullerton. The fires were in a nearby city. Though logic would say not to drive towards the fires, of course we did the opposite. There was no danger by Joel and Amy's place or in their city but the smell of smoke was everywhere. Looking out their windows you could barely see some of the fire on top of the mountains 8 or so miles away. So we went to see the new James Bond movie and had yogurt at yogurt land. By the end of the night ash white ash was falling like a very light snowy mist. It's sad when you think about the ash being some one's memories or home. I wish we would have brought our camera to capture some pictures. But Amy and Joel have posted some of theirs here from earlier in the day. I am so thankful for all of the firefighters in CA who yearly fight these major fires. It makes you think......

Tuning Out & Turning Off

2008-11-07T23:54:00.004-05:00

Have you ever been so incredibly busy that you just want to turn off? When you don't have much time sometimes even the smallest thing can seem like a huge time zapper... and you decide to tune out. Well unfortunately that was me recently. October came and went in a rush. Everything went so quickly. There were things that I didn't have time to do, and things I should have done....maybe, if I had had the time to do them. As you can image updating my blog was very low on the ladder...along with updating my pictures.

Well, since my last post my cousin got married. My family and I spent the rest of the week at my brother's beautiful lake house in Gaylord, MI. It was gorgeous with the trees all turning colors and fun to hang out in each other's company. Then it was back to the mad rush of things to do here in LA. Halloween was of course nothing less than I would expect in Hollywood. The election came and went and the buzz was so neat!

Now that I feel like I'm back in the game I'm debating... do I want to edit my pictures......nah! Too much to finish in one night. Maybe it will be my weekend project? We'll see how it goes. On a side note the other day as I was turning onto our road I passed the Dunder Mifflin, Inc. truck from the office! They must have been driving back from a shoot. Kind of cool!

Home Again

2008-10-09T21:35:00.002-04:00

Currently I'm sitting in my Mom's living room in Michigan and we're watching the SNL presidential special. It's pretty funny! We got back from DC to spend 2 days in our apartment in LA before getting on a plane to head home for my cousin's wedding in MI. It's been incredibly busy! Our trip to DC was really crazy. The first part I spent in meetings, and the second half was spent visiting family and friends in the area. We came home to a clogged sink that wouldn't drain. We had to call our maintenance and they were there for hours before we were able to unpack and relax. The past two days at work flew by as they were spent catching up on what I had missed during the DC trip and preparing everything for my MI trip. It was a strange but busy few days.

James and I took the shuttle to the airport. By the time we got to the airport I was sure we were going to miss our flight. I was so anxious....we cut it VERY close. But thank the Lord all went well and we just barely made it on our flight. With just enough time to use the bathroom before boarding. We got into MI around 10pm. The weather was cool and very fall feeling. It was fun waking up this morning and looking at all of the trees beginning to turn colors. I miss getting to see the seasons change, in CA everything kind of looks the same. Although the weather has cooled a bit, no longer hovering in the high 90s, so perhaps that is CA's way of changing seasons?

Tomorrow is the rehearsal for my cousin's wedding. It's crazy to think the day is finally here. She is so excited and so are we. I love weddings! James and I were driving around MSU and I couldn't help thinking how just 2.6 years ago James and I were married at the MSU chapel. I feel so blessed to be married to him, God knew exactly what He was doing when He paired us together. I pray that my cousin will be just as happy! We're having her bachelorette party tomorrow, it will be fun to hang out with her close friends...I think I'll send James to go hang out with my Dad.

We haven't had a chance to edit any of the pics from the DC/VA visit but we'll post them later once we get home and have some time. Later this week we're going up north to my brother's lake house, I'm hoping the trees will be in full color. We'll take lots of pictures, and hopefully we can get all the pictures up by the end of next week. But we'll see...the way things are going who knows when we'll have time!

Now it's time for bed!

Everyday Life

2008-10-08T00:55:00.001-04:00

Check out my husband's blog....gives you a glimpse of where we live :) Click here!

DC

2008-10-02T21:15:00.002-04:00

You may have been wondering why I haven't been bloggin lately. This past week my work sent me to DC for our all hands marketing meeting. Which is great!!! We've had a chance to see and hang out with James' family. In the next few days we'll get to see some friends too! Just a few months ago we were moving to LA ...time flies! The workshop was great but really busy. We'll post pictures of the trip later, that's it for now....more to come!

Sunday Nights

2008-09-28T17:07:00.001-04:00

A typical Sunday night. Click here.

September is a month of celebrations

2008-09-24T00:39:00.004-04:00

The past week it was my Mom's birthday. Tomorrow it is my brother's birthday and my grandparent's anniversary. Then this weekend is Nana's birthday. Wow! What a fun month, I wish I was in MI to celebrate with everyone! But since I'm not...happy birthdays and anniversary!!! In light of the celebrations I thought it would be fun to post some older pictures that I found from our old wedding slide show, enjoy!

Hollywood Style

2008-09-22T00:34:00.004-04:00

This past Thursday, James and I attended the 100th episode party for Clean House, the show he is working on. I've avoided blogging about it because I knew I would have so much to write, but alas it's time to get it all down! It's weird to think that James was on set for the filming of awards that will be featured on their 100th episode. Some of the houses were well deserving of the awards, or so I'm told :)

At first I was a little nervous about going to the party. James had informed me that it would be dressy casual, and that it would be held in a house in the hills. Of course I always hate the phrase dressy casual, also known in the sorority world as "snappy casual". I find it so much easier to dress for events when the attire is labeled as dressy or casual. Not both. But either way, I chose to wear a beautiful black sleeveless top my mother-in law gave to me a couple of Christmas' ago, with my skinny fit jeans, and strappy black heals. For a purse I carried my coach clutch that my mom had given me as a Christmas present as well.

James and I parked in the recommended parking structure where we were driven to the hilltop party in town cars. I was able to meet a fair amount of James' co-workers while awaiting our transportation. They were all so nice! Everyone was fun and looking quite fabulous. Luckily I think I made the right choice in attire, I felt I fit in well into the scene and not out of place. The town car came and up the hill we went. We were dropped off at the top where a beautiful home sat with a red carpet, awaiting our arrival . We had to check our names at the door. Once inside there were delicious deserts, appetizers, and drinks awaiting us. The appetizers were amazing....shrimp, steak, mushroom puffs, chicken, and a cheese and cracker dish. The desserts were pretty good too...rice krispie treats, chocolate fondue with strawberries, pretzels, marsh mellows, and of course they had really cute cupcakes. The waiters were all extremely fun and lively. I was even able to sample the new "it" energy drink called Her.

There was a DJ playing great music and the whole house was pretty empty to allow for more room to mingle. The outside patio was gorgeous. The pool was light up a purple pink color. There were candles everywhere too! They had an open fire pit that was very modern in the style. I also enjoyed the extra touch of Modern Home and O magazines on all of the tables. The best part and most beautiful though was the view of the city. You could see all the lights of the city and the hills. It was the kind of view you would think of seeing in the movies. I wish had brought our camera....it was amazing!!!

So many interesting people were there, and I was able to meet most of them which was amazing!!! The heads of Style network, the hosts of the show, the designer of the show, those coordinating the show, those who edit the show, other productions assistants, sound people, and more. It was so great to see and meet the people James works with and for. I was even told that Paris Hilton was at the party before we arrived!!! Only in Hollywood right?!

It was a great and fun night! On our way out we received gift bags with chocolate, anti-oxidant water, magazines, and 100th episode CDs. I was so glad that James and I got to experience this together. I hope they have another party soon!!!!

News on All Levels

2008-09-16T23:01:00.004-04:00

These past few weeks have been incredibly interesting ones for our country. The hurricanes have had devastating effects from devouring winds to flooding waters. Many have been without water for days. There is much damage to clean up from the storms and many people in need of assistance.

This past Friday there was a metro link crash here in the LA area. 25 lives were taken as the metro link collided with a freight train. It was a very bad accident...Click here for more information.

Also as many of you have heard there are businesses that are not doing so well in the stock exchange. Some of you may know that I almost accepted a job with one of these companies. I praise God for giving me guidance when I was making my job decision. Who knows where I would be right now otherwise...probably looking for another job.

Well enough of my reflections...onto news....

Today James had his follow up Dr. apt. He has been feeling better, and though its taken him awhile to sound better today his voice actually sounds normal. The Dr. says things still look like they are in the clear but James is to come for another check up in a week.

James was invited to a cocktail party with his work celebrating the 100th episode of Clean House. So I'm invited too! It will be later this week. I have no idea what to expect, but it should be exciting!

We're both getting excited and prepared for our trip to DC which will then be followed by our trip to MI for my cousin's wedding. We can't wait!!!!

Hangin In

2008-09-10T23:51:00.004-04:00

The Kankas are hanging in there....This week began with James feeling sick. He was at work last week on one of the messiest houses yet. They even gave the crew masks to wear! Over the weekend James' voice disappeared and he felt horrible. I of course made him chicken noodle soup and nagged him into making a doctor's appointment. It turned out that 2 other guys from his crew were just as sick with the same thing. So today they all went into the doctor together. They took x-rays and everything of his lungs but they didn't find anything. Though they want to monitor him and check him out next week. The dust and things in the messy house cause are what have brought on this bad spell. He seems a lot better today and I'm hopeful that they won't find anything next week at the check up.

On another note....as I was leaving work today I noticed a film crew working outside and around the building next to mine. Since it was along my walk to the parking structure I got a good look. I think it was the show called "CHUCK". That's what all the director chairs said. They had huge lights, people with radios, microphones, and actors dress in really nice suits. It looked like fun...the location of the offices that I work in is actually very nice and contemporary looking. Can't wait to see if I can pick it out on the show! Also on my drive home, around the corner from our place is Vons, our local grocery store. Well there was a tour bus of somebody parked there. There were a bunch of peple and body gaurds out in the front of the bus. It looked like a really nice tour bus... I wonder whose it was????

Labor Day Weekend Pictures!!!!

2008-09-06T03:26:00.004-04:00

Thanks friends for all of the fun! To see the pictures on a larger scale or for any friends who would like prints just double click on the image and it will take you to our Picassa web album where you can view, download, and print the pictures. Enjoy!!!

Creative Husband

2008-09-03T11:08:00.003-04:00

If you haven't had a chance to check out my husband's blog today you really need to. During our friends' visit James decided to take our digital still camera and take photos at high speeds to make into a mini video. At first I thought he was crazy...then I thought he was wasting the camera battery. Good thing I was wrong, the video is amazing!!! I am constantly surprised by my husband's talent and creativity. It's really fun to see how he pieces his creative works together. Again it was a fun weekend, to check out the video click HERE.

Mini Reunion and Labor Day Weekend Fun

2008-09-01T23:28:00.003-04:00

This past weekend our friends came to visit for a mini reunion vacation. Chase and Elizabeth flew in from Texas. David and Arielle flew in from Northern Virginia. Since Amy and Joel live nearby in Fullerton, CA we were all able to meet up for a mini GMU reunion. It was crazy fun!!!!

As many of you know James graduated from George Mason University, where he became close friends with Chase, David and Joel. Campus life was always interesting with these guys, they are truly more like brothers. Now a little older, and married, their brotherly bond is still evident and distance can't keep them apart! Through my relationship with James and the GMU guys I was also able develop great friendships with their ladies. Elizabeth and I became friends on the summer project where James and I met in 2003. She actually met her husband Chase on that same summer project. I became friends with Arielle shortly after moving to VA, she was one of the first to reach out to me in the new town. I can still remember seeing her relationship with David bloom. Then there is Amy who is my newest friend. I can remember hearing about Joel being sweet on a girl from PA. When James and I moved to CA she was here open armed and ready to help us move and transition to the So Cal. life.

So this weekend was filled with so much fun and laughter. It was great to see our guys giddy to hang out with each other. I can still remember the reaction I got when the girls suggested that the boys could eat at their own table....they were so excited!!! haha! That is how the whole weekend pretty much went.

But for those of you are are interested here's the run down of events....On Friday night we had everyone came for a sleep over ...don't worry everyone had separate beds! In the morning we visited Hollywood and saw the stars. Then we went to Rodeo Drive and walked through Beverly Hills. Of course we had to get lunch at In-n-Out Burger! After lunch we went to Malibu where the boys played games on the beach, while the girls went walking and sun bathing. After the beach, it was a night out in Santa Monica for dinner. It was an action filled day...everyone was completely exhausted by the time we made it home.

On Sunday we all met back up and played put-put golf. James and I came in with a combined score for second place....I think.... :-) Then the guys went off to an NFL draft thing... and the girls went shopping! We spent the night at Amy and Joel's place that night, but not without going to Yogurt Land first!

Today, Monday, we spent just hanging out and enjoying eachother's company before our out of towners had to head back to the airport. Whew! I'm so tired! But this was such a fun and exciting weekend!!!! We felt blessed to have friends who would travel so far to just hang out with us. Thanks everyone!

As far a pictures...we took a LOT!!! I have to edit them still and James has already been working on a short movie clip of our weekend, surprise! We'll post them soon so keep your eyes peeled!!!

Visiting the Park

2008-08-24T20:36:00.004-04:00

On Saturday evening James and I decided to go check out a park in Beverly Hills. The sunlight was beautiful as it set in the mountains. Here are some pictures from our excursion, enjoy!

In-n-Out

2008-08-22T00:26:00.003-04:00

Tonight after work James and I went to the famous In-n-Out Burger. This hamburger chain has a huge following on the west coast. It is like the Five Guys of California. Like all great hamburger joints In-n-Out has a simple menu, but many out of towners don't know that In-n-Out has a secret menu. Click here to get the diggs...Another interesting fact is that this company prints bible verses on some of their products. If you look closely you will see the verse John 3:16 on their cups. Cool huh? You can read more about this here. All that said, James and I enjoyed our dinner, it's a great place to get a delicious burger!

Busy Busy

2008-08-20T22:50:00.003-04:00

Things have been incredibly busy since returning from MI. There has been a lot going on at work as we are approaching are very busy season. James and I have also managed to spend some time hanging out with friends both new and old. It's been an interesting month to say the least!

I wish I had some facinating news to share with you all but things have been pretty quiet. I just finished the books "The Secret Life of Bees" and "Shoot the Moon". Both were pretty good, but of course nothing can compare to my Jane Austin collection. Does anyone out there have any good suggestions for my next read? Currently James and I do not have a TV. I'm really not missing it. We still watch movies and tv shows but we watch them on the web. I've been spending some of my time reading books too, it's been fun! Recently I also tried painting ... I'm a little rusty....but it felt good to paint again.

Pictures from Michigan!

2008-08-16T00:19:00.001-04:00

Short Trip Home

2008-08-12T22:01:00.004-04:00

As some of you may know I took a trip to Michigan for a long weekend. I flew home to celebrate my cousin's wedding shower and my Grandparents' 80th birthdays. I was so excited to go home. My plane was to leave on Thursday at 11pm CA time.

There were a billion things to get done before I got out the of work. As I was heading out of the building I decided to go down a stairwell I hadn't gone down before. Well I got down to the bottom lobby floor and pushed...but the door would not open. I kept pushing and pounding but still it wouldn't budge! I hiked back up to the third floor where my office is and that door was locked too! I had a key so I tried it, but the key was not for this particular door.

It was hot and all I could think was "ugghhhh....I really don't want to miss my flight!" Luckily I decided to call everyone I could think of in the office and pounded on the door as loudly as I could. A co-worker heard my banging and came to the rescue, though slightly confused as to why I was needing rescuing. There was really no time to explain. But I made it home and to the airport fine, despite being stuck in the stairwell at work. My flight was delayed an hour but I still managed to land in Lansing, MI by 10am on Friday.

After working all day and taking the red-eye to MI, I was pooped by the time we landed. But the sunshine did wonders and my Mom, Nanna, and I began to shop for the last minute wedding shower needs. Once home Mom had us help with assembling the decorations and preparing the food. My Boppa even came over and assisted us with putting little boxes together. It was fun to chat with everyone as we assembled the items. Shortly after Boppa arrived my Uncle Doug and Aunt Jane stopped in. It was so much fun! My brother and his wife Nicole arrived with their dog Bailey around dinner time, and my Dad came in from work. We were done with the preparations and enjoyed a relaxing night eating pizza, one of our favorites!

I awoke early the next morning for our double party. The shower first and the B-day dinner later. We packed up the cars and headed to the church. My family is amazing, they all came to the church early to help set up. Everyone pitched in and I believe the wedding shower was truly wonderful and beautiful thanks to everyone's help! My cousin Cathy and Matt had a great time and it was so nice to see everyone there to support them. Shortly after the shower was over, we had dinner at my Grandparents' favorite restaurant called Hersheys. It was wonderful to have the whole group there, minus James. We took pictures, had great food, and spent time chatting and catching up.

The next day I was able to see my friend Devon whom I don't get to see very much. It was such a joy, to see her again and pick up right where we left off the last time. Devon joked that our visits are are like an eclipse, rare and far between. We had fun talking about all the updates and where the Lord is leading us in our lives.Hopefully we'll get some more time again when I come home in October for my cousin's wedding. After visiting with Devon, my cousin Cathy and I had some one on one time too. How fun it was to catch up on her life and to hear all the wedding plans and preparations. It wasn't too long ago when James and I were in the same boat :)

Later on Sunday my Mom, Dad, and I went to the East Lansing Folk Festival. It was great! There were many really good bands playing. My favorite was an Arcadian band from Canada. They sang some songs in English and some in French. They danced and played at least two instruments each. So fun!!! The weather wasn't holding up though and it rained, so we went to see the movie "Swing Vote". A very cute movie with a great message.

Monday during the day my Grandparents and my Dad came over to each lunch with me and chat before I went to the airport. It was nice and relaxing! Before I knew it I was on a plan ride back to CA again. On the flight home someone had an allergic reaction and the plane took an emergency landing in New Mexico. So I didn't get to bed until late. When I came home James had fresh flowers for me!

It was weird to come back to CA where everything is dry, brown, and warm. MI had beautiful green grass and trees. The weather was even slightly cold and rainy. It's strange how when you're here in CA you start to miss the rain...even if it does make you want to stay inside. So that was my whirlwind trip to MI. I miss my family already!

James is working on a music video today! He met some great people over the weekend on the short film project. He went in really early this morning and I'm still waiting for him to get home. I so happy for him to have this opportunity. I can't wait to hear all about it. You'll have to check out his blog for more info on what it's about. I can't wait for this weekend. I'm hoping to finally get some quality hang out time with him.

The next two weeks are a little crazy at work. There are a lot of people coming into the office for meetings. It should be fun but busy! Some other fun news is that I recently found out that I will be going to DC for a work trip the week before my cousin's wedding. James will be able to join me and we'll most likely be able to see our family and friends in the DC/VA area! How cool huh?

Well that's it for now soon I'll post the pictures from my short trip home!

Fun Day in SD

2008-08-03T19:25:00.002-04:00

James' dad had a conference in CA this week. Saturday he flew into LAX, where James and I picked him up and then drove to San Diego (SD). We spent the day touring the SD area and taking pictures. We had a lot of fun! We drove back last night to avoid the terrible traffic. The drive home was a breeze, so I'm thinking we made the right decision. James and I definitely would like to go back to SD someday. My uncle lives there and I'd love to plan some time to hang out with him as well. Today I've been spending my time doing laundry, organizing, and getting things ready for my trip to Michigan!!! I'm so excited I leave on Thursday night after work. I can't wait to see everyone!!!!

Anyway...here are the pictures from our short day trip to SD, enjoy!!!

Shaky Ground

2008-07-31T00:40:00.004-04:00

Well the earthquake hit while I was at work. There was a noise and a sudden movement feeling like a bus or truck hit the building. But the building didn't stop moving, it began to sway more. I looked out the window and the trees were moving. Everyone stood up and kind of looked at each other torn between the decision to bolt out the door or wait around and see what kind of an earthquake it was. What a strange feeling....it didn't last long and it wasn't very violent. Nothing crashed or fell down. Afterwards I felt a little weird, kinda sick. Other people in the office felt sick too. I'm told this is due to gravity and your equilibrium (or whatever that thing is), apparently it makes you feel like you have motion sickness after an earthquake. I guess our bodies aren't used to the counter movement of the earth. I found out a few people in our building ran outside once the ground started moving. These are the same people who were around in 1994 when an earthquake devastated the LA area, including the flattening of the mall and office buildings in which our building is located. Since then our building has been re-built with state of the art earthquake stuff, hence the swaying feeling of the building in the earthquake. I can't help but wonder what being in the world trade center must have felt like on 911. To feel the building move underneath you with you inside, knowing it could collapse at any minute. It must have been strange and scary. I now know that when an earthquake hits you are supposed to hide under a door frame or a desk, though I think I would probably want to run outside too. James thought the earthquake was really neat, he was at work too when it happened.

Along with earthquakes, I feel like in life right now I've been on shaky ground too. Being new at work I'm constantly trying to figure out my role, and what that means. I hate being new and having to sift through everything. I love it when I can get down to business and cross things off my list. I know this comes with time so I'm just praying that as I continue to plow ahead, that I'm able to meet the expectations laid out before me by others and myself. I also pray that I would continue to adapt well in my new surroundings. James and I are also still getting used to the LA area and learning our way around. We don't have the friend base here that we had in VA to turn to for help, or our families to assist us in close proximity. There is something to be said for knowing your local area and where to go to for what. I hate googling everything, but I love that technology has made getting to know a new area easier. All in all we're making our way through doing the best that we can with adapting to life in southern CA. So far there have been some shaky times, but we're diggin in and learning a lot in the process. I can't wait for everything to feel like an old hat!

Today James fixed our car, so its currently running again yay!!!

All of the earthquake news reminds me of how important foundations are:
Matthew 7:24-25
24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

"Someone's got a case of the Mondays"

2008-07-28T23:17:00.005-04:00

Today was a fine example of why Mondays get a bad reputation. James and I began our morning with a small disagreement...not the end of the world but not quite your ideal morning routine. I left the apartment 4 times before I could get to the street. Each time I had to go back for something I had forgotten, and each time I locked the door sure that I had everything I needed. I finally made it to my car with everything I could possibly imagine that I would need for the day...only to find that my car would not start. Not even a little...:(. James was already at work himself so I headed back to the apartment...this being the 5th time through the door before 9am. I called a taxi to take me to work and reluctantly paid the $30 fare for my fine highway cruise. All in all a great start to my day :) I'd love to say the day got better but it depends on your view better. It didn't get any worse! My director offered to give me a ride home and a ride to work in the morning so I feel really blessed and am so thankful!

I'm thinking Tuesday will be better... although I am scared for Wednesday when we take the car in to be looked at. Yikes!

Days like to today remind me of Matthew 6: 25-34

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

And similarity Luke 12:22-34

"22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I'm glad that in the end our earthly possessions will have no value... I wouldn't have much to show if they did. It's so funny how some things can seem so important and life shattering, but when put them into perspective, those things mean nothing. Though I'm not thrilled about dealing with our car now, I know that it's no use to worry about it. God will see us though the process and 6 months from now it will be the last thing on our mind.

On that note I'll end with a fun link. If you've never seen Hoops & YoYo you need to. They have some really funny e-cards on Hallmark.com. There is a Monday one...click here to view.

HAPPY MONDAY!

Lots of Pictures!!!

2008-07-25T21:56:00.005-04:00

As you can imagine, with everything that's been going on, James and I have accumulated a lot of pictures. He unfortunately beat me in creating a Picasa photo album. I did not want to create a duplicate so here is the sideshow, sorry for such a modge-podge of events and the length it will take to view all of them. Be warned many photos are unedited, so you have some good with some not so good... at least it keeps it interesting and humorous! All in all though we had a fun July, and hopefully that shows in our pictures!!! Enjoy!!!

Vegas

2008-07-18T19:27:00.005-04:00

It's been over a week since my last post. As I had mentioned in my previous post my work had sent me on a trip to Vegas for a company conference. We arrived in Vegas on Sunday, and stayed at the Palazzo, the newest casino on the strip. This casino and hotel was brimming with elegance. Marble floors everywhere, swanky lights, large fountains, and of course only the best in service. At the Palazzo every room is a suite. My room included a large king sized bed, a drop down living room with couch and ottoman, 2 large flat screen television sets, a wet bar, a desk with a fax/printer, a breakfast table and chairs, remote controlled shades and drapery, large glass shower, a deep soaking tub, 2 bath robes, a television in the bathroom, two sinks, a vanity area, and a separate room for the toilet. I was in awe! The square footage of this suite was larger than our apartment and nicely decorated. Every night I found chocolates on my bed from the hotel staff and fresh ice in our cooler. I was so happy that James was able to join me on this trip for the first few days!

The conference was filled with many meetings, seminars, introductions, conversations, and dinners. The days for the most part were quite busy. James was able to come for the first two days and then was called into work. I was sad that he did not get to enjoy Vegas longer. Especially with the extravagant accommodations. On his stay he did however get to walk the strip with me at night and during the day he enjoyed the immaculate pools with chairs that allowed you to soak in the pool. I was sad to see him go but happy that called him to work.

The planned dinners were amazing and delicious! I had salmon, crab cakes, lobster bisque, and cheesecake shaped like lollipops and served on a lollipop tree. It was wonderful. Not to mention the different wines I was able to try at dinner.

It was also wonderful to get to know the staff. The people from my office and the corporate people from around the country. It is truly amazing what they do and the wealth of knowledge and experience they hold. It was also fun to talk to those from the DC offices and discuss the DC area that I miss so much.

On our trip my co-worker Lindsay and I had the opportunity to get invited to go to a few of the night clubs for after parties with the some of the company. It was fun and interesting. I hadn't been to a club in years. We received some VIP passes for these parties with the company allowing us to meet and get to know some of the key members of the corporation. It was fun to pass everyone else waiting outside of the club to get in :) The first club we went to was called Pure it was in Caesars palace. It was very trendy and white. It had wonderful service and some people on the dance floor. On a different night we went to Studio 54 at MGM. It was a fun party with all kinds of people dancing, go-go dancers on podiums (clothed), and trapeze artists swinging from the sky (also clothed). That was the first time I had seen male go-go dancers as well.

Every night there was something to do, or someplace to go. Our morning sessions began pretty early as well. I found myself quite tired most of the week. There were wonderful and accomplished speakers who presented at the main sessions. They had great insight and perspective so it was a treat to hear them speak.

Today I feel like crashing and resting. Tomorrow I will spend the day cleaning, doing laundry, and getting errands done. On Sunday James' family is coming for a short visit! Yay! We're excited to see them and have them experience so-Cal with us. I fear that Monday will come too quickly.

All in all it was a great and eventful week!!! I had never been to Vegas before, or received such nice accommodations for work. I now feel that I have truly experienced Vegas and gained valuable insight/knowledge for the company I am working for. But I'm definitely happy to be home, back online, and back in touch with the rest of life.

thursday...almost friday

2008-07-11T00:36:00.003-04:00

If you haven't had a chance to check out James' blog today you should....it's funny, especially if you know my history...

Yesterday there was a production company filming on our street for a high end commercial. They blocked off the whole area. I had to park a few blocks away. In the morning they teased us, eating their gormet breakfasts, as we walked the extra block on the way to my car. It was a pretty big crew with talent trucks, police officers directing traffic, and equipment. I thought we had a fairly quiet residential street, it probably was exactly what they were looking for. James watched part of the commercial shoot. They gave him a free toothbrush......I have no idea if this is normal :)

Today was a pretty good day. Work is moving right along, and I'm slowly getting more adjusted. There is still quite a lot to learn, and I keep reminding myself the need to soak everything in. I quite frequently jump in and start running. Which has it's benefits and negatives. I've learned over the years that taking the extra time to absorb the info is a big benefit. Once things get rolling, there is never enough time to go back for that time to absorb. So I'm trying and digging in piece by piece. I know it won't be long before I'm running full speed. Today I also found out the hotel arrangements for the trip to Vegas, and I'm so excited! I feel so honored for the opportunity to join the team in Vegas. We're staying at the Palazzo! It's connected to the Venetian and apparently the only rooms they have are suites. I looked at the rooms online last night and the room that is booked for me is larger in square feet than our current apartment! :) Not to mention the remote controlled blinds and the t.v. in the tub!!!! I'm flying out on Sunday and returnign home on Friday. James will be driving and joining me on Sunday. We are sure yet of his work schedule but he'll probably leave on Tuesday, so he can be ready for work on Wednesday. I'm excited that he is coming, who knows when we would have another time to visit Vegas? Sure it's not that far away but usually Vegas trips are a little more burden-some on the pockets.

After Vegas, James and I will get to spend some time with the Kanka family. His mom, dad, and sister will be coming in for a few days. We are so excited to see them and show them around the LA area!!! I know it's been hard on both of us not to have our families close by, so this visit will be a treat! Of course we will take plenty of pictures to post on our blogs!!!

Other than that there isn't too much new to report... Keep praying for me as I adjust to my new job and schedule. Pray for my work trip to Vegas and that I stay healthy, as I sometimes tend to get run down and sick when I travel. Also please pray for James and his job that he would have many opportunties to work and that he would make connections in the film industry. One more... please pray for us to get to know others in CA and to develop friendships. Thanks everyone for your prayers we definitely apprecaite them!!!

Anticipation

2008-07-08T00:24:00.003-04:00

Well the past week has been filled with anticipation. As you know I had had two verbal job offers of employment from two different companies for two totally different jobs. The first verbal offer was with a financial/insurance company, to be an executive assistant to the Marketing CEO. The second verbal offer was with a specialized technology company that serves schools, government, and cities. The position that they had called me in to interview for was a marketing project specialist, to assist the Marketing Team with managing various marketing materials and projects. Since they were both verbal offers I was waiting upon the completion of background checks to be cleared and for the formal written offers to come through. I had decided beforehand the company #2 was the job that I had really wanted. The business casual environment, friendly staff, upward movement possibilities, and highly motivated/skilled staff made this job more appealing. Not to mention the job description/duties were more in line with what I was looking for. The formal offer came in on Tuesday, July 2nd and I quickly accepted!

This made the 4th of July a great celebration weekend for James and I :) On the 4th of July James and I headed over to Griffith Park to watch the city lit up with fireworks. The view was amazing I've never experienced July 4th fireworks like that before. It was dark and we could see all the lights of the city from the mountain view of Griffith Park. There were at least 20 different firework shows that we could see happening all around the city instantaneously. It was so neat the fireworks would pop up all over the place. It was truly beautiful!!!

Then on Sunday after church James and I decided to go the LA Farmers Market. We walked around the very cute and posh area. We heard some live jazz, ate at one of the quaint eateries in the Farmers Market, and people watched in the beautiful and trendy shopping area/outdoor mall next door. It was nice to see. It is located right next to CBS studios and seems to be a pretty popular spot to hangout/eat/shop.

Today, Monday, was my first official day on the new job. I was nervous about going in. I hadn't heard back from the HR department about the materials that I had signed and sent back...But the papers I signed explained that I would begin on Monday at 9am. I was excited to find that when I arrived, I was not the only new kid on the block. There were two other employees whose first days were today as well. One of which was working within the same department as I, and sharing the same office area. She was really nice and I have a feeling we will be good friends. I received the tour, some trainings, a lot of learning and intake of information. Best of all, the whole team took me out for lunch. I felt welcomed and appreciated :) So my fears of having a horrible first day experience are relieved and now I'm just trying not to worry too much about the next few weeks. I hate new stages and feeling like I'm missing information. I have a lot of new lingo, policies, practices, documents, and information to learn. Please pray for me as I do my best to soak it all in as quickly as possible and that I adapt well. Today I also found out that I most likely will be traveling to Las Vegas for a week for a work conference. Most of the office is attending the conference. I've been told that James may come along as well, so I'm really excited. I was also excited to find out that I should be receiving a laptop for work purposes. Yay!!! For those of you who remember my work at MBC you'll know that I love being able to stay connected/updated with a laptop.

So all in all it was a great day. Tiring...yes, but all first days are. I really enjoy my director and the team I will be working on. I'm excited to get past the new stage and jump in but I also realize the importance of the new stage and soaking it all in. James' schedule and my own is soon to become quite busy, in a good way. Pray that as things pick up that I would also be able to get used to my new job, and new schedule.

Our Place Last Night

2008-07-02T01:17:00.004-04:00

Last night James and I had some friends over for dinner. It was a fun night! Our friend Josh (whom we had met on our Summer Project trip to Wildwood, NJ in 2003) came over and brought his two friends who were married. It was wonderful to meet them, hang out, and chat together. Josh stayed to play the game Settlers with James and I. For the first time in a long while, I won which probably selfishly added to my enjoyment of the game :) haha! But really I think I was rather sneaky, and James didn't realize what I was planning until it was too late :)

It was nice to have people over and host again. It has been a long time since we've had groups of people over. It's quite strange when you think about it.... at our place in VA we would have people over all the time. We love hanging out with others and developing friendships...not to mention we love to play games! Last night reminded me of all of our friends from the DC area and all the dinners, desserts, games, adventures, and explorations we've had with them. I miss them all dearly and hopefully can see them all at some point when we return to visit northern VA. But for now the memories will have to do.

Eventful Day

2008-06-27T18:00:00.003-04:00

This past Wednesday was a very full and eventful day. The day began with James taking the cars to get oil changes while I got ready for the day. Once he was back, James and I were going to go to the Style House to watch E! Entertainments "Clean House Comes Clean" shoot. James works on "Clean House" so he does not work on this show, however the hosts for this show are the same hosts that James works with so they invited him and I to come check it out. It was my first time on a real set and it was really neat. Style House is Marilyn Monroe's old home, and it was neat to see all of the crew there and the way the house has been modified for filming purposes. The set was quite small, smaller than I was expecting but on the viewing monitors the set looks amazing and quite spacious. It's funny how t.v. can give that effect. I was able to meet the hosts, some of James friends who work with him on "Clean House", and some of the crew. Everyone was very nice and had the wonderful California charm that you would expect (real laid back and go with the flow). They even invited us to have some of the free food that was coming for lunch which was sushi. Yum!

After lunch we headed to my interview that was scheduled with that company that had called me back. We didn't have much time in between so James came with me and hung out at Starbucks while I interviewed. The interview went fabulous! I really enjoyed the company that the description of the job they were looking to fill. How cool right?

After the interview James and I went to a music store on Sunset Blvd. to hear a free small concert of one of our favorite artists Amos Lee. It was great! The store had so much character and more CDs, records, posters, etc. than I knew existed. James and I thought it would be neat to come back sometime, since they also sold a wide assortment of used CDs for reasonable prices. Well Amos Lee was fabulous and wonderful to hear live. It was a simple acoustic set and he is such a talented musician that the set needed nothing more than a drummer. It was fun. We walked around Sunset Blvd. for a little while before coming home.

Once home we rented two movies, and made it through one before we were too sleepy.

Yesterday, Thursday, James and I vegged out and did some small errands. I found some cute shower invites for my cousin's bridal shower coming up. I'm definitely excited to go home in August for the shower and celebrations. I can't wait to see everyone!

Today James and I went to the movie theater to get the early weekend price. We saw the movie WALL E . It was really good, and included a funny twist I was not expecting. Though James and I still enjoyed Prince Caspian more, WALL E was a well done movie worth seeing. Tonight we're making steaks and chilling out. I might try and work on a painting that I started last night. It's been years since I've painted....it's fun and hard having to re-learn some of the techniques I used to do. Thanks Mom for the paint set it is wonderful!!!!! I love it!!!

I'm not sure what we have planned for the weekend yet! I'm sure we'll find something fun and interesting to discover for ourselves in LA. There are so many things to do here it's great!

Long Time Coming....

2008-06-24T22:00:00.002-04:00

I know its been a while since I've last posted... I think I've been purposely avoiding it. It's interesting to me how people choose what to share and what not to share with each other. Being transparent leaves you feeling quite vulnerable, yet at the same time being transparent can leave you feeling quite free. So here is what's been going on lately.....

Last week I had a call to go on an interview for a personal assistant job with a very affluent Beverly Hills family. The interview went great and the perks for the job sounded amazing! I've never been someone's personal assistant before but it sounded fun. The family asked me to come in for a trail period, for a couple of weeks to see how it goes. I said "sure!", not really thinking things through. Well I went on Monday so excited, and scared...when I came home Monday evening I was very positive that being a personal assistant was not quite right for me professionally. I felt like a fish out of water. I didn't know what to do, who to ask, where to go, and how to find things. And trust me I do like asking questions and taking initiative to get the job done. But I learned that I like the corporate environment where you get to interact with others quite frequently, and where you have others to give insight/orientation. And I like feeling like part of a team and structure. So I thought and prayed about it. I decided to give it another day, and I still felt like I was trying to wear someone else's shoes. It wasn't terrible but in the end the shoes just didn't fit. I felt strongly that I would have a better fit, employment wise, elsewhere. I don't mind the competition but I wasn't sure if this was a challenge I desired to compete for. So I broke the news today and told them that I just didn't feel this position was right for me. They were very gracious and understanding, and I felt good knowing I was doing what was right for me.

Also at the same time I heard back from the job that I had previously posted about. Out of the final two candidates for an executive assistant position, they informed me that I was the first choice! And it seems like a really great company and staff. They are doing some final background/resume checks and should have a formal offer to me soon. At least that is what I've been told. So yay for good news!

Today I've also been contacted by a different company that I interviewed for 2 weeks ago. There is a very new opening in their company and the team thought I would be a great fit. So I'm going on another interview tomorrow. I'm excited to hear about it and talk with them, there is the potential for it to be really interesting. This company and staff were also really great.

So all this said... please pray for me in my decisions and that God would guide me into the right job here. Also that this process would happen quickly as our funds are getting tight.

This past week I turned 26! Yay! Thank you everyone for the cards, gifts, messages, songs you all truly made me feel loved. In my opinion Facebook is awesome. My profile wall was flooded with b-day wishes. Thanks everyone for remembering you really know how to make a girl feel special. James and I both received some nice money presents from our families, thank you all!!! You'll be pleased to know that we have a Disneyland Trip in the works. What better way to celebrate your birthday than Disneyland!? We'll post pictures when we go! As for the day of celebrations we went to see the movie "Prince Caspian" and it was so good! We both left wishing that all movies impacted their viewers like this one.

Well that is it for now... I'm sure there is more that I'm missing but at least you have the diggs on me and my job situation. Thanks everyone for the prayers I know they help! :)

Kanka Report

2008-06-17T21:55:00.005-04:00

Not too much new to report from the Kankas this week. I'm still on the job hunt and applying for jobs daily. I haven't had much feedback from that final interview that I had posted about earlier except that I am still in the running and no decisions have been made yet. They told me that there is one other candidate they are considering. It makes me feel good to know that I'm in the final two even if the job doesn't work out. I went on a different interview yesterday, and it went really well. (At least I felt that the interview went well.) It was for a position that would assist with events and planning for a marketing team. The company was in a beautiful building and the people seemed really friendly, which is always a good sign. I have another interview scheduled for Thursday with a company in Burbank. So praise God for these few interviews, though I'm still praying for more. Thanks everyone for the prayers, please continue to pray for me in the job hunt and for God's complete guidance in the process.

James had been kept busy working hard. He really enjoys being on set and getting to know the people who work behind the scenes at "Clean House." He has been pulling some really long days, but seems to always have a smile when he comes home. That's always a good sign. He has also managed to get a really great farmers tan, and he sports it well. He's now wearing SPF 50 to work every day!

Last week Friday, James and I decided to check out Griffith Park. It is an amazingly huge park! It is located on the mountains where the Hollywood sign is. This park has a lot to offer including the LA Zoo, a train museum, a carousel, pony stables, a golf course, a greek outdoor amphitheater, a baseball field, tennis courts, picnic areas, hiking trails, and even an observatory! I'm sure there is more that is offered at Griffith Park but we could only see so much on our exploratory trip. We decided to see the views of the city and check out the observatory. It ws incredible! The view on top of the mountain looking at the city was wonderful. You could see the smog here though which is strange, and interferes with the pictures making them look hazy. At night the observatory allows you to stargaze through their telescopes. We are definitely planning to go back and take advantage of this opportunity. After walking around the observatory we decided to take a hike by the Hollywood sign. It was beautiful but the haze made it difficult to get a great shot of the sign. All in all it was a fun day to go explore Griffith Park and see all that it offers. We're already planning a trip back, and the best part is it's only a couple of miles away!

Lately on Sundays we've been exploring the CA beaches. So on Sunday we decided to make a trip out to Malibu and check out Zuma Beach and Point Dume State Beach. It was a lovely trip. The mountains around Malibu are so different than the ones by us in LA. These mountians were a little more lush and a little more rocky. The homes in this area we also massive and extravagant. It was fun to drive by and look! When we got to the beach it was a little overcast but soon it cleared and was a beautiful sunny day. Zuma Beach has big cliffs around it and James and I decided to crawl around/through a cliff to get to Point Dume which gave the feel of a private little beach/lagoon. It was fun. In the pictures you will see one of the cliffs is white from bird poop...aside from this it is still quite beautiful. While we were there I managed to get something very strange stuck on my foot. It looked like tar and I'm scared to research what it really was.... It wouldn't come off despite my vigorous attempts to scrape and scrub. Finally I was able to get the last remnants of it off in the shower. So gross! Luckily it didn't ruin our fun trip and we had a lovely time at the beach. Here are the pictures from the last few days, enjoy!

Double Wrappers

2008-06-11T19:55:00.003-04:00

This morning I was making toast, and I began to wonder... why is it that some companies double wrap their bread. Have you noticed that?

Moving Along...

2008-06-11T01:44:00.003-04:00

We're glad to report that we have received the new internet modem and so far so good. Yay for un-interrupted internet service!!! Things here have been moving right along....I'm still spending most of my time applying for jobs...it's very time consuming! I find myself coming up with little things to do each day to get me up, away from the computer, and into the real world. :)

This past Sunday after church, James and I went to see some beaches in the area with Joel and Amy. It was a wonderful day! We always love hanging out with Joel and Amy and it was great having someone show you where some of the hot spots are. We ventured to Newport Beach, a place called "The Wedge", and Laguna Beach. The sun was out and the temperature was in the 70s. What could be better? We had a fun and pleasant afternoon hanging with the Elwoods, chatting about life, and looking at one of God's majestic masterpieces. I've posted our pictures from the weekend excursion below.

Last week I was called and invited to come interview on Monday for a job. Though I've only begun applying for jobs I've found that I've been anxious, feeling as though the process isn't moving fast enough. It was encouraging to have this company call. So Monday bright and early I headed out to my interview. The company is about 15 miles from Burbank. From my experiences in DC I was prepared to enter a busy highway and sit in traffic as I slowly crept to my destination. I was a little scared too! It was my first time on the highways here driving solo.

I gave myself an hour and was pleasantly surprised to find traffic heading opposite the direction I was traveling. I arrived at my destination within 30 minutes, without getting lost. The interview went great and I met some really nice people. I've been asked to come back on Thursday for another, and final interview. I'm a little nervous but I'm sure that's normal. It's always hard for me to go into interviews, I feel like I'm trying to sell myself. It's so unnatural to me but I give it my best and learn to embrace the akwardness.

We praise God for all the blessings He's give us these past few days! Thanks everyone for your prayers! Please continue to pray for us, for our jobs, and for God's guidance as we move along.

Part 1 of James' Video Project

2008-06-07T13:59:00.006-04:00

Well as some of you know James has captured our whole trip of moving to CA on our video camera. He has now completed editing the first video, he calls it "LA or Bust I". This incorporates the last few days we spent in VA before leaving. He won't let me post it on my blog, so you'll have to check it out by clicking HERE. James did an amazing job! It makes me miss everyone back in VA and remember the adventures of such a big move. Enjoy the video!

One ticket for.....?

2008-06-05T01:10:00.004-04:00

Tonight James and I went to see "Iron Man". We were both excited to go to a movie, but naturally James had to research each prospective option on the list of movies currently playing showing. He loves doing this...so naturally he picked the one with the best reviews. Not to mention it was the whole super hero action movie, which always wins extra points with us. Now mind you James is the movie fanatic in our family. I on the other hand, am a little in the fog when it comes to the finer details of movies. I couldn't tell you what the actors names are, when the movies come out, or even their titles. Though we had discussed what movie we were going to go see, when I approched the ticket counter I told the man that we wanted to go see "Rocket Man". He smiled politely and gave us tickets for "Iron Man". He was too kind.

Well the movie was great and as far as I know lived up to all the reviews. (You'll have to read James' blog for his thoughts.) Although we were a little disappointed that no one told us to stay after the credits. Oh well! We figured out what happened by researching the internet when we came home to see what we had missed. :) Definitely go see theres lots of action, lots of explosives, and a few shockers.

This week I've been applying to hundreds of jobs in the SoCal area. It's tough! I hate the time it takes out of the day and how you have to personalize each cover letter that you send out to make it appropriate for the job you're applying for. Another pain is all of the websites that use their own web programs for the hiring process. Each one has you fill out everything that is already on your resume...only in separate boxes! They also usually make you create accounts with their job board site. It's a little annoying, to say the least.

James and i finally received internet service today! But now we have to send back the modem thingy (I don't remember what its called). It kicks us off every 30 minutes. Everything is such a process when you move...you forget when everything was easy.

On a deeper note, I think it's like that with God sometimes too. We need to rejoice with Him in both our struggles and our blessings. Sometimes I think we take for granted the wars that are going on around and within ourselves. It helps me to remember that God's purpose for me is always perfect. Not solely in the end result, but in His timing and process as well. He knows the temptations we'll face, where we'll break,and where He'll mend us and make us stronger. Seems like a lot of us are learning this right now. Maybe we're always learning this....

Morning News

2008-06-01T18:41:00.003-04:00

This morning James and I heard some helicopters very early in the morning. We didn't think anything of it, except that it was rather loud and had woken us up. We got up that morning and continued to get ready for church. Once we were outside our apartment I thought it quite oddly overcast, as I noticed some large dark clouds. There was no rain in the forecast so it struck me as strange. Once in the car as we were approaching the highway it all made sense. There was a really big fire at Universal Studios, on the other side of town. It was huge and unfortunate here is a link to watch the video for more info, check it out by clicking here!

Fun Stuff

2008-05-30T23:27:00.006-04:00

We officially have two cars again, yay! This past week James and I have been on the hunt for a car. It may seem like an easy task in such a large city, but being a large city is exactly our problem. Money, or lack of, also made this hunt quite challenging. But we finally found exactly what James was looking for in the price range we were planning for. We were given a bag of 40 oranges from the backyard of the previous car owner as a parting gift. He picked them off of his orange tree for us. Only in California would you close a car deal with fresh oranges! I made fresh squeezed orange juice that night... and it was quite a delicious gift!

We are now the proud owners of a 77 Datsun 280z. For those of you who are like myself you have absolutely no idea what this means, so I've posted some pictures below to aid you. I will have to post some more pictures with the full car view. I was unable to get the front of the car in the photo due to lack of time...we went to the beach today and couldn't spare much time with traffic! I've also posted some pictures from our day trip to Santa Monica beach and pier. It was a fun day. I am now a little burned but it was worth it to go to the beach. On our way home we drove through Beverly Hills with all the palm trees and cute shops. We were even able to get a glimpse of the Hollywood sign as we sat in traffic on our way home. All in all a great day and the weekend is just beginning.

Our friends Arielle and David are getting married today! We were so bummed to miss their big day. This is one of the big downfalls about moving so far away from home. We miss out as well as miss everyone. We'll definitely have to visit them when we go back to VA to visit James' parents. I'm excited I'm planning a trip home in August for my cousin's bridal shower and to celebrate my Boppa and Nana's birthdays! How fun it will be to see everyone... I'm counting the days!!!

Now begins the real work for me....job searching! Pray for me in the endeavor... it will be very challenging. I have high hopes and a great God....anything is possible with Him! Please pray that I will have discernment in my job search. That the Lord would open the doors to a wonderful opportunity that He has planned for me and that I would be able to use my talents and gifts to their fullest. We so appreciate your prayers!!!

Grocery Baggers

2008-05-23T14:00:00.002-04:00

There is something strange going on here with the grocery baggers in Burbank....they seem like normal people, that is until you get close. Once you have reached the counter at the front of the line they turn into actors, comedians, or theologians. At first James and I thought that perhaps it was just in one location of grocery stores. Now we have in fact confirmed that this is a city-wide pandemic.

Westward Bound Pictures!!!!

2008-05-21T20:53:00.002-04:00

Home Sweet Home?

2008-05-20T01:29:00.003-04:00

It's been a whirl wind of craziness....after staying with our friends Joel and Amy in Fullerton, CA for a couple of nights we were off apartment hunting in Burbank, CA. I thought that I had prepared myself for the move, and perhaps I had in my own way, but this was very different indeed. We must have looked or drove to over 40 apartments. Most of the apartments were either too run down or too expensive. We finally settled on a cute 1 bedroom apartment in a safe and nice neighborhood. The only problem is that we think we could find something cheaper, so we signed a 7 month lease. This means I can't paint the apartment like we did the last one, but at least we found an apartment. We also had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the apartment.... Nothing seemed to be easy. We also had to change our insurances on both the car and the renters insurance. The costs of both doubled at least... ouch!

The same day we were finalizing our lease, James got a call for work as a production assistant for a show with E!. It was also his birthday so we were really excited for him. The only downfall was that he was going have to be at work the next day and we had to move everything in that same day. Alsop the moving truck we paid to haul our stuff to CA was too big to park outside of our apartment. So around 5pm James an I drove out to the truck hub and unpack all of our things and re-packed them into a u-haul. Then we drove the u-haul back to our apartment community. By the time we had completed this task it was really late and we were exhausted so we went to bed. The next day I was stranded at our empty apartment because James' job needed him to have the car during the day. I also had to find a way to unpack the u-haul and return the vehicle within the next day. So I passed the day by unpacking what I could of the items in the u-haul. It was really difficult and the progress was slow. Also, most apartments in CA do not come with refrigerators so I had nothing cold to drink and the temperature was in the 80s-90s. Luckily there is a nice grocery store down the block so I made frequent trips to get cold water and feel the air conditioning. Around 7pm Joel and Amy drove 45minutes to come assist me with unpacking. We are so blessed to have such amazing friends!!!! They helped me unload almost everything from the truck while James was still at work. James got home around 9pm and was able to assist with the bigger items. By 10:30 we finally had all of our boxes and furniture in the apartment. Praise God!!!! But wow it was a crazy day!

The next day we spent briefly unpacking some things and then since we had the U-haul truck we decided to craigslist a refrigerator. We found a pretty good deal and went to go pick it up. Yes, James and I then loaded and unloaded a big fridge. It was a lot of work too, but now we can keep food cold and we didn't have to rent a U-haul again. The fridge has seen some better days but hey it works and it's another item off the check list. By the time we got it home the day was done and we were whooped. That evening I continued to trip, drop, and run into boxes... it was like a maze. I think boxes can make any place look ugly and dangerous. That night I looked at my legs and couldn't believe what I saw. My legs are covered in all kinds of bruises and scratches. It was kind of painful, and very un-attractive. The next day James had work, and I made my way unpacking...box by box. Our apartment turned into a sea of flattened boxes and trash bags with packing paper. It was really hot too! But I made progress with most of it....

Sunday James had off of work and we visited one of the Mosaic churches and we met up with our friend Josh who interns with Mosaic. It was great to see him and I really enjoyed the service. It reminded me of Frontline Arlington back in Virginia. The whole multi-site church thing and the look/feel of it. Though both are still quite different, it was nice. When we got home James wanted to go check out a car for sale so we did. It was a pretty cheap car, but in the end we didn't want to make a quick decision so we decided to wait. When we came home we assembled things and put more things away... the unpacking just doesn't seem to end....

Today, James had the day off again so we awoke, and decided to go get our license and registration taken care of. Joel and Amy gave us a little insight into the CA license procedure and informed us that we would have to take a written exam. (Which was news to us we thought they would just transfer our license over.) So this morning we read up on some of the practice tests and got all of the paper work that we needed for the DMV. I was so nervous about taking the written exam... I hate tests. I also knew that you aren't allowed to miss very many or you won't pass. If I didn't pass than I would have to re-take the exam and I had no idea when I would be able to drive to the DMV again while James and I are sharing cars. James is a great test taker so I knew he would pass with flying colors. I decided to take my time with the questions and carefully read each one. As I was still taking my test, James had already completed his and I heard them telling him congratulations on passing the exam. So the pressure was on... I finally turned in my test.... and I passed!!! Yay! I only missed one more question than James did too! James and I are now registered drivers with a registered car in the state of CA. So this too was a huge blessing! It would have been incredibly difficult to coordinate another day and time to take care of our DMV responsibilities. Praise God for making this one easy.

Tonight James and I have been going through the remaining boxes... I think we have 4 or 5 left. The temperatures have been extremely hot and the ac in the apartment isn't the best it only cools one room and the windows aren't much help. We're still trying to figure out the best way to get our apartment cooler. James likes to walk around with a wet towel on... it makes me laugh :) We have a few things still left to buy... our apartment doesn't come with a microwave, we need to get a new file cabinet ours broke in the move, and we need to fix the coffee table... another moving causality. But all in all we're making progress one step at a time. James is also keeping his eye out for a car so I can begin my job hunt and go on interviews. Busy times for James and I, we're pushing hard to get the "have to's" done so we can maybe get a day off to play at the beach. James tells me the road trip isn't over until we make it to the beach, I think I agree. I'll be happy when we can join the real world and forget all the getting settled stuff... that will be nice... I think.

Road Trip Out West - We're Here!

2008-05-11T00:48:00.003-04:00

Well.... we didn't have any internet access for the rest of the trip so we're here! We made it to California!!! After visiting with our friends in Nashville, TN we made our way to Dallas, TX. The drive there was very pleasant and fairly easy. We were in Dallas, TX by around 5pm and stayed with our friends Chase and Elizabeth. It was a great time to catch up with them and to hang out since it had been 2 years since I had last seen Elizabeth. We played a game of settlers, sampled Elizabeth's wonderful cake, and then went off to bed. We got an early start the next morning for our long trip to Tuscon, AZ. We left Dallas, TX around 6:30am. It was a long drive and I learned a very interesting fact too.... everyone in Texas drives a white truck. I also pulled over for the first time.... it was terrible... luckily I only got a warning. We passed many desolate looking areas as well as driving extremely close to the Mexico border which was pretty interesting too! We finally made it to Tuscon, AZ at James' Aunt and Uncles house where there was cactus plants, mountains, and warm weather. It was lovely. We had a great time hanging out with James' family. We went hiking up bear mountain the next day, and saw Tuscon wild west style at a themed dinner area. It was so much fun and James' family is amazing! Lots of fun!

On Friday we took off from Tucson, AZ at 6:30 to visit the Sadona and the Grand Canyon and camp there for a night. The drive was very pretty with many cactus plants, mountains, and sun. Seeing the scenery change as the land elevation changed was amazing. Sadona was a beautiful red rock area. We hiked in Sadona and then went into they're shopping area. It was absolutely wonderful and beautiful. We stopped at a cafe for lunch to split a sandwich and homemade slice of apple pie. It was great! Then it was off to the Grand Canyon. We made it there by 4pm and we were able to get one of the last camp sites at the national park. So we set up our tent and sleeping bags and then headed to the lookout point to get a view of the Grand Canyon at sunset. It was breath taking! I couldn't believe how amazing the canyon was!!! I loved it and how the mountains themselves looked painted. It is truly a lovely sight well worth the drive. The only part that I didn't enjoy was James pretended to jump off the cliff.

That night we cooked hot dogs on an open fire and went to bed in our tent. The Grand Canyon is really rocky and cold. So next time I would bring a mattress pad and warmer clothes. It was a beautiful night to sit by the fire and look at the stars. We awoke the next morning and make breakfast on the campfire. Then we hit the showers and took to the trails. We hiked down a beautiful trail that if we had more time to continue on the trail it would have taken us down to the bottom of the canyon. But the part we did was a great workout and was quite amazing. After the hike we drove on to California. The drive was really boring and there was literally nothing in between flagstaff and the Bristol, CA. It was so strange. But then the city life began to pick up as we drove closer to the LA area. It was a tough drive but we're here and staying with our friends Amy and Joel. We'll go to church with them tomorrow and then it is off to apartment hunt. I'm so excited to get out,look around, and to find a place to call home. Well that was a brief summary of our road trip.... it could be awhile before we get our apartment and are able to upload the photos but maybe we'll post our video soon once James finishes editing it. It was a great trip and our friends and family made the trip a wonderful memory! Praise God for getting us here safely... now to just find an apartment and jobs :)

Road Trip Out West - Day One

2008-05-05T17:42:00.003-04:00

This morning we said a heart felt goodbye to the Kanka family as we began our trip out west. It was bitter sweet for all of us. We got on the road at 6:30am and arrived in Nashville, TN at 3:30pm (Tennessee time). Along the way James and I listened to Brett Dennen, and decided that he was our new favorite artist. We also had our first experience with McDonald's iced coffee the vanilla flavor. It was worth the couple of dollars and hit the caffeine spot we were looking for. I drove the first part through the scenic VA hills and James drove the second. While James was driving I perfected my skills at his ipod game bejeweled and beat the computer at Othello twice! Then as the drive progressed, my boredom did as well. That is when I suddenly decided to draw fake tattoos on my feet. I think they turned out pretty well. Perhaps I'll post some pics. Also along the way James has frequently been video tapping our journey to document our travels. He has also been getting some extreme close-ups... of course... not too thrilled but whatever! Now its off to dinner with friends in Nashville!!! Fun! Fun!!!

On Our Way

2008-05-04T10:13:00.003-04:00

I'll admit I'm naive.... I figured that 4 days would be plenty of time to pack up our apartment, load up the truck, and head out west. I was incredibly wrong in my estimations. James and I have spent the last 4-5 days packing up our apartment and loading it on the truck. (Not to mention also cleaning the apartment to get our deposit back.) We are blessed to have suck wonderful friends to help but WOW this was a lot of work. Every day we would get up early expecting to get the rest of the packing done, only to stay up late exhausted determined to get "one more box" packed. It was a learning experience for both of us. Had I known all that was involved I probably would have quit my job at least one week earlier. Our friends were such a BIG help and assisted us with some of the most difficult parts of loading and packing. Now we are at James' parents house feeling good, knowing that we are fully packed! We are fully exhausted and decided next time to just sell everything.

Things have been quite strange as we have busy in our own little world of packing. We've said a bunch of good-byes, and every time I am reminded of just how great God is. He's given us so many wonderful friendships here in VA. It's been a joy! And now we are off to build new friendships. Off to that scary beginning of moving, acquainting ourselves with California, and being the new kid once again. Please pray for us as we begin our trek and our adjustment to life out west. We are excited but there is a lot to figure out as well.

We've decided our route today and due to the laborous and tedious task of packing up our apartment we've decided to leave early Monday morning. Our first stop will be in Nashville, TN where we are hoping to see our friend Sarin. Then onto Dallas, TX where we will see our friends Chase and Elizabeth. After visisting in Dallas we'll drive to Tuscon, AZ where James' uncle Steve and family live. We'll spend a day there and then head to the Grand Canyon where we'll camp for a night. From the Grand Canyon we have two options to go to Californina or to make a stop in Las Vegas before we hit California. I'm hoping we skip Las Vegas. I think by the time Saturday gets here I'm going to be tired of the car..... not to mention I'll probably be ansy to find an apartment. So that is the plan. Today we are staying at my in-laws and enjoying the last day in VA and then we're headed off bright and early in the morning. I'll post when I can but internet will be spotty. Here's to a great adventure!!!

End of April Pics

2008-04-28T11:56:00.001-04:00

It's the end of April and here are pics from our Anniversary Day at the National Arboretum, Anniversary Dinner, and Goodbye Dinner with my Uptown Team :)

Exhausted....

2008-04-26T19:55:00.002-04:00

This weekend I worked the men's conference that I assisted in coordinating. There were just under 1000 men who attended!!! I was at work from 9am until 11:30pm on Friday. After the conference let out for Friday night, James and I headed over to our friends Scooter and Laura's house. They were having a going away party and we really wanted to be there. It was really fun but we got home around 2:30am only to wake up at 5:30 am to go back to work for the morning session of the Men's Conference! Today I came home at 1pm totally exhausted but it was definitely worth it! It was a fun way to end my work at MBC. Today Saturday was my very last time working at MBC it was sad but good, and filled with lots of hugs! Next Friday we leave for California so we have a whole lot of packing to do.... Tomorrow James and I are hanging out and saying more goodbyes to those we hold dear. On Monday we're getting down to business with this packing! I'm looking forward to sleeping in a little tomorrow :)

A couple weeks left....

2008-04-23T18:55:00.003-04:00

Well...it's been a couple of weeks since the cruise and life has been quite eventful! James and I have been going through our closets trying to get rid of anything and everything that we don't want to pack. We have yet to fully pack one box...but at least we have some started! We had our last Bible study group last week. It was so sweet, they cooked dinner for us, played games, and then prayed for us as they sent us on our way. It was a very special and heartfelt night!

This past weekend was a really full one! Saturday morning I attended a bridal shower for my friend Arielle. It was a lot of fun not to mention I love anything that has to do with weddings! Arielle looked lovely as ever, and it was fun to take everyone's pictures! I was able to get some really great photos! After the shower it was onto other festivities! James' family hosted a going away party for us in their beautiful back yard. It was really fun!!! 90 of our closest friends, family, and co-workers showed up to help us celebrate! It was a great time and wonderful to know that so many people care! There was food, great conversation, beautiful weather, a live band, and of course James brought out his video camera! It was a fabulous night! Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures since I was running around saying hello or goodbye to everyone that came. But James was able to take some nice footage of people sporadically throughout the night!

Yesterday, Tuesday April 22 was James' and my anniversary!!! We've officially been married for 2 years now! Time really flies! It's amazing to see how God is at work within our marriage and just how perfectly He has fit us together. James is my complete opposite in almost every way. Though I must admit sometimes this is frustrating..... it's really amazing too! God uses James to build me up where I am weak and to teach me things I would not have learned otherwise. We consistently pray that as we grow together and learn from each other, that we would also grow towards Christ. That we would be Christ-centered. I praise God for James and the marriage He has given us...2 years down...many more to come! To celebrate our anniversary I was able to take Tuesday off of work. So Monday night we went out to a movie. Tuesday morning we slept in and then went to the National Arboretum with our cameras in hand. I had he still camera and James had his video camera. All of the flowers and trees were in bloom and the park was fairly large and had many pathways. It was really fun to walk around, chat, and have a photo safari with nature. Afterwards we came home, put on some fine fashion, and went out to eat at Maggianos a wonderful italian restaurant. It was very sweet! Our waitress was a little weird and could not believe that James and I had been married for two years. So at the end of the meal she brought us a giant piece of chocolate cake with two candles on it. We were stuffed by the end of the night but it was a really nice night with lots of good food and conversation! Not to mention we looked good! :)

Today, Wednesday when I got to work I had flowers waiting for me at my desk from a MBC staff friend. My last day of work is on Friday :( So sad! I really love MBC, and all the people there. I have so many great memories and friends to thank for the experience. This afternoon they had an appreciation gathering for me! There was a red carpet and it was decked out in a Hollywood theme. It was wonderful and so thoughtful! James joined in on the celebration. I shed a few tears and shared many hugs! How nice and lovely it was to have everyone come to show their support and say good-bye!

Tonight we were able to have some boxes donated to us from our friend Jen. She even drove them to us!!!! Thanks Jen! Now we are ready to really get packing.... yikes!!!! Its sad to think about putting your life in a box....I'm sure it will get easier but with all of these goodbyes it's pretty hard. I'm really not so good at goodbyes. We've said so many in the last month. We still have a few major ones to go. I don't know how people do this all the time!

This weekend I'm finishing up my work at MBC with the Men's conference. It will be BIG.... right now we have 800 men signed up. It could easily be 1000 by Friday! It should be a great and busy way to end! There is still a lot of work to do with the conference approaching but it keeps my days moving. The moving truck comes on Wednesday so we have a lot to do between today and Wednesday!!!

I'll try and post pics soon of the anniversary photo safari! It was fun! But for now I'll leave you with the pics I took from Arielle's bridal shower.... it was so much fun!!!!

Cruisin with the Clugstons - Pictures!

2008-04-10T23:09:00.001-04:00

Post Cruise Goodies!

2008-04-06T17:54:00.004-04:00

We're back from the cruise and we all had a fabulous time! We took lots of pictures and had many laughs. Most of all it was wonderful to spend time with my family. I'll post pictures another day, (trust me there are a lot!) but today I wanted to take some time to write about our first ever cruising experience! Be warned this could be long!

The trip began with James and I meeting my parents in the Atlanta airport to then take another flight to the Miami airport. It was so fun to meet at the airport! We had a quick bite to eat and then got on the plane to Miami. The ride there was filled with sudoko puzzles for me and ipod for James. Once we got our luggage and headed for the taxis we noticed it was pouring rain outside. I was so worried but the storm passed quickly along with my fears of a rainy cruise :)

The taxi took us to our hotel which was located in the art deco district of Miami beach. It was a cute and quaint hotel just a few blocks from the main strip. After we checked in we decided to walk along the strip. What a strip it was!!!! The whole walkway was filled with shops, rave music, restaurants with patios, and people who didn't wear very much clothing. I don't really know what I was expecting... but this was definitely not what I had in mind. Though many posh restaurants and eateries were located along the strip, there was trash everywhere and crowds of people in bathing suits and party wear. We were able to find a cute little French restaurant that wasn't too loud and grabbed a table that was a little out of the main traffic area. The restaurant was called Paul's and I loved it! Especially the menu everything was so French and many of the itmes on the menu were French. By the time we had finished eating we were all pretty tired from traveling so we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

The next morning we met up with Brad and Nicole! They had a late night flight which didn't get into Miami until 1am. So we all decided to meet for breakfast! And surprise, surprise, we went back to Paul's because we enjoyed it so much for dinner. The main strip was much more friendly during the morning and didn't have all of the loud rave music pumping from the shops, restaurants, and bars. After breakfast we all took a walk to the the beach to look around. It was typical Miami beach, the sand was really white, body builders were our tanning themselves, and men were walking around with tiny European bathing suits. After the beach we parted ways with Brad and Nicole and headed back to the hotel to pack up and go to the marina to board the cruise ship. The lines went quickly and efficiently and before you knew it we were on the boat walking around exploring all of the many decks. One thing I learned quickly, and within the first few hours, the people on the boat always want to take your picture.... I feel bad for the workers, everyone is always trying to avoid them!

It was a little windy that day but that didn't seem to stop people from putting on their bathing suits and going swimming. The boat was beautiful! There were at least 4 different lounges/bars, 2 floors of sun decks, a running track, a workout room, 2 formal dining rooms, a cafe, a theater, a climbing wall, and so much more! After we checked the boat our and got our rooms we ate at the cafe and there were so many food options it was ridiculous! Our room on the boat was wonderful! It was bigger than I had expected and we had a big window. There were neat little drawers and cubbies to store all of your things in. It was very well laid out. The best part was the wine and cheese that Mom had arranged to be waiting for us in our room!!! Very nice! As far as bathrooms go I was also expecting the toilet to be really loud when it flushed, though it was a little strange it really wasn't very loud at all! How fun!

Later we had our emergency drill where everyone put on their life jackets and met out on the running deck. James and I were in a different group than Mom, Dad, Brad, and Nicole. We were lucky, my parents had to be video tapped by the cruise staff. The videos were shown on the TV station throughout the cruise! Ha ha! After the emergency drill the boat took off and we watched Miami fade in the distance. About an hour later we were siting down for dinner as our waiter Ricardo took our orders. The wait staff were excellent! They learned our names and catered to our every need. Ricardo was nice though sometimes a little more wordy than needed (I think he was translating to English in his head thus the very long and detailed description of what was for dinner!) Sometimes we just nodded and smiled because we really didn't know what he was saying. Dinner was wonderful and very filling.

That night the wind was very strong! The ship was swaying from side to side. We knew it had to be somewhat rough because at every staircase there were barf bags conveniently ready to use. It didn't really seem to bother any of us, it was kind of soothing to sway back and forth. The deck was so windy we went up to the top and it really blew us around! James had to go to the top deck at the front of the ship and play in the wind, while my mom was frantically hanging onto a tower afraid she would be swept off into the sea. I think I was somewhere in between the two extremes. That night I awoke to really rough seas the room was going side to side and then there was a constant squeaking noise from something above due to the swaying ship. So I didn't sleep much that night. The next morning I got up early and went to the workout room... it was packed. I managed to snag a treadmill for my morning run. I got upset though when I realized that most of the other people on the treadmill's were just walking the whole time. They could have walked on the deck! The running on the deck was prohibited until after 10am. Oh well! It was a beautiful workout. I got to see the lovely island of Nassau as I was running.

Due to the strong winds our excursion for the day was canceled. We were going to go on a world cup racing sail boat :( I guess it will have to wait! Instead we walked around the island of Nassau. It was a strange island. Many of the islanders looked oppressed yet all the shops and stores were name brands like Coach, Channel, Starbucks, Cartier, etc. Everyone was trying to sell you something there. Especially when we entered the straw market. There was a huge tent and inside there were tons vendors. The retail stretched from floor to ceiling. Everyone seemed to be selling the exact same things handbags, tee shirts, and jewelry. All of the handbags were knock offs of Coach, Gucci, Channel, Juicy, etc. I felt bad that these people had to make their living this way. There was barely enough room to walk around and they sat in the tent everyday trying to sell their goods to tourists. After the straw market we walked to a church that was beautiful I believe it was built int he 1600's? From there we went and visited this historic staircase area. Though getting there was an excursion of its own! We walked all over and I was beginning to think we were not heading in a safe direction but all was well. We found it alas! Apparently the slaves on the island were forced to cut out a stair case/walkway through solid rock. The staircase extended for hundreds of feet, it was truly remarkable and I was sad for the many lives spent carving the staircase. At the top was an old fort. It was built on a highpoint overlooking the island. It was beautiful and had a few old cannons left in the fort. After the excursion of finding the stairway and fort we decided to head over to the Senior Frog's restaurant to get a drink before getting back on the boat. It was quite lively!

That night back on the boat it was windy but not as much as the first night. Dinner was fabulous again! It was formal night and we all looked lovely in our formal attire! We went to the show in the theater that night, and then it was off to bed a little early. I was wiped out from all of the walking around that day, plus I knew I would want to be ready quickly for the next day on Cocoa Cay island. That night the boat swayed from side to side again but not quite as violently and I slept very soundly.

The next morning I decided to skip the workout and go straight to breakfast. After breakfast in the cafe we put on our suits and headed to the beach!!! We had to take a ferry from the cruise ship to the island. The island was quite calm and beautiful. The water was very blue and there were lounge chairs and hammocks everywhere!!! James and I looked for some prime hammocks but the only ones left were in the shade and were very low to the ground. So the whole family took some chairs right in front of this building called the Wacky Seagull.

Dad rented some snorkel gear for us and we all took turns going out to sea. It was a lot of work swimming out to see the fish but it was worth it. There were old boat and plane ruins which had lots of fish nearby. We saw fish that looked like Nora from Finding Nemo and we also saw some other bright colored fish. We saw some big fish too but they weren't quite as colorful. I didn't realize it was James' first time snorkeling so I was often wondering why we had to go check out "everything". But it was fun. Eventually I had to come back in and we let everyone else have a turn snorkeling.

When we got back to the beach we noticed that there were a lot more seagulls on the island. My mom informed me that someone behind us had already been pooped on. James and I decided to go get some food. As I was walking with my plate of food in hand a seagull laid a BIG one on my arm!!!! I was pooped on and horrified!!! (I HATE birds!!!) After I washed off int he bathroom and ate our lunch we headed back the the beach where the Waky Seagull lived up to its full name. The birds were dive bombing all around and it was aweful. I couldn't take it anymore so James and I found a quite and secluded area away from the seagulls. It was beautiful by the rocks overlooking the sea. So calm and NO SEAGULLS!!! There was even an open hammock for James to sleep in. When he woke up his back was covered in rope marks! Later we took a walk with my dad further down the island and it was very beautiful and peaceful. We saw a large bag of big crabs that someone had caught and put in a potatoe sack in the trees, as well as a very large lizzard thing. It was neat looking! We headed back to the boat on the 2nd to last ferry and enjoyed the slow ride listening to Caribbean music as the ferry circled the ship until it was our turn to board. The dance crew from the show we saw the night before were also on our ship, I was glad to see that they got a little time off :)

After our day at the beach it was off to dinner and again it was lovely. This time our waiters sang for us. Our waiter decided to make a bunny with his napkin it was cute but you could tell they had to do this a lot. We cheered our waitstaff team on as we knew this was probably a tad embarassing but fun! After dinner there was another show this time a comedian who sang songs and put different words to them. He was quite funny and good. After that there was a party by the pool with yes, more food! They even had an ice sculpture carving demonstration. How fun! On my way to the food line I crossed paths with another girl and her drink went all over me and I believe some on her too. I felt so bad afterwards, oh well :( After we stuffed ourselves yet again and had a drink we decided to go to bed. The next morning we would be at Key West and there was an excursion to go kayaking!

The next morning we awoke to the phone ringing. It was my parents calling. James and I had overslept and so did they. I was so disoriented. My whole body felt achy and my throat hurt. We hurried off to breakfast and then quickly jumped into our bathing suits. Then we had to wait in line to go through customs to get off of the boat. That part was not so fun but at least it all went very quickly. By this time my legs, back, and head were really throbbing. We then got off of the boat and walking up and down Duaval a little before our kayak excursion was to meet. I was feeling worse by the hour. Luckily I brought water with me so I just kept drinking the water. We were soon on a pontoon like boat heading to our kayak excursion. All the water that I drank was beginning to sink in. Suddenly we saw two island type things as well as another boat suspended int he water with kayaks attached. I was hoping we each would get our own kayaks but we had to share. This meant that James and I had to work as a team and I was NOT feeling very good or very cooperative. But I think we managed okay :)

Once we were out, James was the first to stand up in the kayak and the first to fall in. Unfortunately he landed on me first before hitting the water. His second time up was much more successful. Apparently I was a little loud though as my brother pointed out. Finally we were getting the hang of kayaking together. We saw many fish, a few sharks, and some really BIG sponges. It was cool! The water was only like 4 feet deep and very clear. James kept wanting to go check out all of the darker spots in the water. One spot turned out to have a 4 foot shark in it, and James proceeded to have the kayak go right over the top of the shark which scared me a little. But luckily the shark just swam away while we were intently watching him. After we turned the final corner around the island to head back to the pontoon boat the winds had picked up. It was a really tough paddle and took a lot of strength. Brad and Nicole were the first to make it back to the boat and proceeded to assist everyone else with getting onto the boat. Once I arrived on the boat all I could think about was getting to the nearing toilet and quickly. On the ride back to the port James and Bradley jumped and leaned in the wind on the boat as it sped through the waves. It was quite entertaining! I of course couldn't think of much more than the pain of feeling really sick and needing to relieve myself of all the water that I had drank. The ride was not quick enough. One the boat was docked I had to run all the way back to our room on the ship. Luckily I made it just in time!!!

After the excursion we all rinsed off and put on some shorts to go explore Key West. We went to Kelly's which is a very well known eatery/bar. It was owned by an actor lady who was in Top Gun. It was also the first birthplace of pan am airlines. Mom ordered Conch shell soup and it was good! We also walked around Key West and saw the Little White House which is a very historical place where many important politicians stayed and meetings took place. We also walked around the lovely grounds where my Uncle, Aunt, and Grandparents all stay when they visit Key West. It was beautiful! We walked to Ernest Hemingway's House, Robert Frosts old cottage, and and old light house. These places charged to get in so we decided just to stand and look in the doorway. We also found my Nana's favorite church in the area and looked around. It was very pretty. Key West is a very friendly and cute area I would love to go back and visit sometime especially when I am feeling better. There were chickens and roosters everywhere it was quite interesting. We were told that cats are everywhere too and we did see one hanging around the lighthouse. After the long walk we headed back on board for the last dinner on the cruise!

Dinner again was great! Again the wait staff sung for us, always a treat! I was able to take some cold medicine which made me feel a lot better! Shortly after dinner we all packed up our luggage and had to put it outside of our door for them to move off the boat in the morning. That night there was a final performance in the theater. It was all Earth Wind and Fire, and Abba music. Very strange but entertaining! It was fun going with Mom and Dad. Although I can't remember if it was the last night or not, we went with my mom to the bingo game where they were giving away another cruise. She didn't win but it was fun watching the girl that did win! After the show we went up to the cafe for some late night pizza it was good! The last night we met Brad and Nicole in the salsa lounge and listened to the band play as Brad and Nicole sipped on their Mohitos, while Mom enjoyed her glass of wine. I might have joined them with a drink but I was still not feeling well. But the music was great and there were some talented salsa dancers on the boat. I was not brave enough to go dance because they were all so good! Shortly afterwards we all called it a night and headed off to bed. I was exhausted.

The next morning the cafe was a buzz! I was sneezing like crazy and before we knew it our color was called to exit the boat. Everything was so well organized. Once off of the boat we received our luggage quickly and conveniently found a large van taxi to take us to the airport. We were at the airport in Miami by 9am and our flight didn't take off until 1pm. Unfortunately Atlanta was having bad weather and it was delayed an hour. I was sneezing and blowing my nose a lot! We passed the time by playing games on James' ipod and thinking of ideas for Cathy's wedding shower which will be coming up soon! On the plane James and I made some new friends. A little sweedish girl took a liking to me and passed me notes, hung onto my hand, and talked to me in german. It was very sweet! Her brother gave us some german lessons which I think he found very humorous. It was fun to meet such a nice family from so different a place!

Once we landed in Atlanta the fun trip really began! Everything was delayed, including all of our connecting flights! James and I made our connecting flight. The plane didn't leave the airport until 6 or7pm. My parents made theirs but the airline gave up their tickets for some odd reason. It was a big mistake. My parents had to deal with many terrible people and barely made it on another flight as standbys. They didn't get home the next day until 3am. I felt awful. Meanwhile James and I finally made it back to DC around 9pm and my cold was at it's worst. We were looking for our luggage. We had two of our bags one of which was covered in saran wrap. Apparently the airline broke our luggage to the point where they couldn't close it. Sweet.... We also were missing one of our bags, along with 30 other people. By the time we got through the baggage claim line another flight had come in from Atlanta so we decided to check their baggage. We found our missing bag. The busted bag they are paying to have sent to Delta to fix or replace. We'll see but I was very disappointed and upset. I've now decided that nothing good ever happens when I fly Delta. This was just the icing on the cake for my experiences with them. Oh well maybe I will give them another try....but definitely not for awhile.

Once home James and I crashed and I took more medicine. We felt a bit dizzy like we were still moving on the boat. The next couple of days I spent recovering from my awful cold and walking around dizzily from being off the boat. I felt so glad that I didn't feel sick until the very last day on the boat, I was truly able to enjoy the whole experience!!! It was great!

All in all it was a very fun and eventful trip! I loved having this first experience with my family and to see everyone again was great! I would love to do it again!!!

I'll close with this list of James' First Time:
- on a cruise
- snorkeling
- seeing sharks in the wild
- standing on a kayak
- falling in the water on a kayak
- in the Florida keys
- on a private island
- being in a salt water pool
- eating lobster bisk
- eating lamb shank
- sleeping on a boat

My list is similar with one exception,

- being pooped on by a seagull :(

Spring Pictures!

2008-03-29T16:53:00.001-04:00

Here are the pictures from Easter, hanging out with Arielle and David, and the bridesmaid dress that I hemmed for the formal night on the cruise!