Today I had a date with Barnes & Noble. Allison and I missed our normal story time yesterday because there was no way we were going to compete with the thousands of people lined up for Bill Clinton's book signing. And tonight Steph and Carrie and I had a great run around Stanford and then had salads from whole foods. I got super motivated with my new business project once I realized that I don't need much start up money. That's it really. Fairly uneventful few days, but whatever. The weekend will be better... any weekend that has switchfoot is bound to get me excited. I'm staying at Carrie's tonight and hogging her laptop, so anyways...

Highlight of the night... finding Jackaro. This is by far my favorite band EVER. But when I knew them they went by Bird in the Hand. I just loved their music when I first heard them play in 1997 and have been kinda looking for them ever since. I use to work at Hidden Villa with Annie who is the founding member of this band. But then she moved to Minnesota for school and I couldn't find her since. And I lost my cassette tape of their album and have gone through yearly inventories of all my boxes and tapes ever since thinking that it must be around here somewhere. I hum the songs all the time in my head but can only remember parts of them. I've googled it a gazillion times and came up empty handed, but this time I took a guess on what annie's last name is and struck gold. She's moved to Seattle so I guess I won't be attending any of her gigs anytime soon, but I sent her and email and hopefully she'll be able to mail me a copy of my missing tape plus all the cd's she's made in the meanwhile. Go to the website and order them through her. It's a purchase you won't regret.

The Goods
Today came with a taste of the good and the bad... and the bad was very bad. Shannan and I were both late to teach sunday school this morning and we both just assumed the other one would be on time so it would be no problem. Oops! The kids were very forgiving as we brought them candy bribes. I'm normally the teacher, but today I was scheduled as the assistant which means I don't do a whole lot. So I found time to give myself french braids and when I took them out this evening I was left with awesomely sexy waves. Note to self for my next date. Anyways, after church I went to togo's for lunch with Ben, Shannan, Kelly, Dallas, and John. As I'm heading home to change to go running, Carrie calls me and convinces me to wait until she's done at the mall so we can have a repeat session up at Quicksilver.
The Bad News
After dinner we get a phone call with the worst news ever. John Fernandez (our high school spanish teacher who we had tried to visit the day before) called up to let us know that he has been in the hospital all month long. He was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphomic cancer infecting just about all his vital organs and there is a possibility that he may not make it. We drop everything to rush to his bedside holding back the tears and doing all we can to cheer him up. He's lost 40 pounds this month and can barely walk. He's so weak and sad. He tells us how this is not the summer that he planned on and recounts his plans that he had made to go home to Spain to visit his family and detour through Europe a bit. Carrie and I went to Spain with him after graduation and met his family while we were there. He enters his second round of chemo tomorrow. We made promises to come back on Tuesday and headed to the store to create a little goodie basket for him. Please keep him in your prayers, that he'd be able to beat this into remission and keep his spirits up throughout this painful process.

Espana 1996

Yesterday's adventures with Carrie- hike/run at Quicksilver, manicures & pedicures, attempt to visit our high school spanish teacher who wasn't home, eat healthy at sweet tomatoes, shop oakridge and drop $50 at old navy. I got lots of cute little t-shirts. I realize I don't have enough t-shirts and these should be my uniform seeing that I'm just a nanny and everyday should be a jeans and t-shirt day. I have the jeans, but not the shirts. Yesterday was all about South San Jose... bringing back fond memories for Carrie and I... trick or treatin, los paseos summer swim team, dmv driving tests, neighborhood slumber parties. Youth was good. And Carrie and I spent all day basically just talking about how we are the best "best friends" and how everyone is jealous of our friendship and how we are so lucky to have each other, and how bad things that happen in peoples lives really result from not having a true best friend. Like Lacy Peterson. IF she had a true best friend, then this case against Scotty would be much stronger because no doubt she would have told her best friend everything regarding what was going on in the marriage big or small. The true best friend would have spyed for Lacy and known about the affair Scott was having and would have seen this all coming and made Lacy move out or moved in with them to protect her but been discreet and said it was to help with the last month of pregnancy. Anyways, I have to get in the shower and get to church.
Sherry is pretty funny today. check her out.

Today is just a beautiful day... a loving life day, a day not to be wasted. Carrie and I are going to go on an adventure in a little bit. But in the meanwhile, let me tell you about last night. It was wonderful. I got my A game on. Lizapalooza 70's Skatefest was a hit. There was a small group of about 25 of us. I got to show off a little and do a few tricks. It is such a good workout. I may start sneaking in a session more often. Carrie was prepared as always with the perfect prop... a package of glow lights, enough for everyone there. Later I went to the Brit because Nate was playing bass in the band there and I met up with Andy. Also present was Haylee, Scott, and Barry. I forced myself to drink a little and we all had a blast. It was a great night. Best skater: Me, of course, but 2nd runner up is Zac, Melanie or this guy Jubilee brought.
Worst skater: Sheila, but she was rolling alright by the end of the night
Daredevil skater: definately CJ for this one, but he also fell the most too.

I'm really getting excited about this skate party. I love that everybody is all psyched up about it and getting into theme and everything. And I think Sunstar will possibly be in town for it all, which would be great because I haven't seen him in months. And I have loads of mail stocked up waiting for him as he still pretends to live with me for legal reasons. I'm watching Mitch Hedberg right now. He's sorta funny but not really. I'm not much for comedians anyways. I think this guy is high. He kinda looks like Kid Rock and in my opinion that is not a good thing. I'm over this. I'm putting in School of Rock. Jack Black... now that's a comedian. Well my clients are home so goodnight!

OOOoohhh My Gaaahhh! Sunstar cut his hair!
Doesn't he look so hot!?! I use to beg this boy to cut off his long curly locks and get back to that good boy image he pulls off so well. I think this will do wonders for his music and acting gig. He's so adorable! I love it! Check out his new band!

happy daddy day

A little about the week... big highlight was my long lost uncle Troy popping into town. I rallied the fam for dinner and caught this act while the show lasts. We used the opportunity of family together time to do some father's day stuff. Jubilee moved in. I'm glad we'll have a little time to hang out before she jets off to Costa Rica. All is reconciled (or at least forgotten about) with Monica. We hung out all weekend long. Friday night she met up with Carrie, Patty, Ryan and I at F&A in Palo Alto... which was a BLAST! And Scott and his friends were there. And then we headed over to Q's and then to Rudy's. It was absolutely the most drunk I had ever seen Carrie. She was getting aggressive and stuff. She could hardly walk. Patty is a bad influence on her. Saturday night Monica came out to Los Gatos with us to hit up Mountain Charley's. Again it was a blast and Monica was pulling mad game. Scott and Barry met up and let me tell you that these two are just the so much fun to talk with. You know I've hung out with Scott a few times and thought he was just alright, but there's something about putting him in a bar and he just turns into a complete funny man. It made for 2 nights of very little sleep so today I compensated by sleeping all afternoon. Danny and I went and saw Dodgeball tonight. It was fantastic and that's huge coming from me because I'm not much for over-the-top comedies. My weekend was really busy though. I can't say I had much relaxation. And with Friday's party creeping I don't think things will slow down for me for another few weeks.

San Jose is no place for wildlife. Why did the duckie cross the road? I'll tell you why. Today I saved a duck. It was trapped on the center divide of highway 87. I tried to lure her to me with peanut butter crackers, but she was too freaked. After 20 minutes or so there was a break in traffic for me to escort her to the other side where there was a field for her to hang out. I went to talk to the owner's of the pizza place and roller rink to finalize details for the party. Then I snuck in a little practice on the skates. I'm not too bad. It all kind of just came back to me... a bit like riding a bike.

So I had a quite obvious epiphany this morning. Mr. Right is not going to magically appear at my house (although it happened once before). But the point is that I have to leave the house more. It helped that I went out 2 nights in a row. And Haylee is helping me get my A game on again. Tonight I worked for my new clients and then headed to a party at Melanie's. I'm trying to convince her to move back in with me... into the small purple room. She was a great roommate and part of me is just a little bit smug about the fact that her new roommates suck and that she hates it and wants to come back. Her party was great though. I won Scrabble and was awesome at Tron. And I saw tons of people I know including Toan who is going to save me with my screwed up computer. This morning I downloaded a free anti-virus software and it detected over 75,000 infected files but it would crash before it could fix them. Toan is going to fix my computer tommorrow. This will make him my ultimate hero for the year. Funny story about Toan: He was missing for hours at one of my parties when he passed out in the bushes at the park across the street. I think maybe he is a bit of a lightweight.

Just my luck... Earlier in the week my ex had asked me to hang out and go see a movie Friday night. But then last night strolls along and I just don't feel like kicking it with him. So I just dont' call him and he didn't call me so by 9 I figure I'm off the hook and head to the grocery store with every intention of staying in. But then I talk to Danny and he's going to Glo. And I want to go to Glo because Melissa will be working the door and Yergo will be bartending and my friend Matt is spinning in the VIP room and I need to see Hugo who owns the place because I have his ring that I need to give him. So I get ready and go out with Danny and his friends. But naturally this results in me running into my ex boyfriend who I flaked on at the bar. I don't believe in karma, but this was just my luck. I had a good time though. I hadn't been out in San Jose for a while, so it was nice. This morning I'm feeling like I could be very productive today... not productive enough to paint the kitchen, but maybe enough to pay some bills and tackle the garage. And I still have to finish the flyer for the party (keep the 25th open). Well, productivity will start the second I walk away from this computer. So... so long.

My computers are both retarded. I have been in desparate need of powerpoint for weeks now. So last night one of my clients burns me a copy to install and it won't work. Interestingly enough though I emailed myself the beginnings of the powerpoint document I had started at their house, and low and behold... it opens up in powerpoint as if this program has been hiding somewhere inside my computer all along. It's the '97 version so it changed a bunch of stuff, but I may be able to finish this flyer and get it out tonight. We'll see.

Last weekend was nice. I finally got my fix of Nola's (my new favorite restaurant). Carrie and I took Stephanie for her first visit Friday night. Then I crashed over at Carrie's. Saturday morning we ran to Stanford's track field and who should I see run into on the street, but Monica... my very fun but hot tempered explosive old roommate from last summer. I guess she moved back to the Bay Area after graduation. I feel bad that I did not stop to say hello to her. The last time we spoke I ended up hanging up on her midst one of her random rages. I really do like that girl though. She always down to do anything. We went to Vancouver, Seattle, San Diego, OC, SF, SC... all over the place having fun until she'd blow-up. But we always got over those. Maybe it's time to get over it again. Anyways, ran the track a bit and headed back to the house. We did a quick Ikea run, but bought nothing. Odd, huh? The rest of the night was movies and laundry. Sunday I taught Sunday school and then went and picked up 4 tix for Day on the Meadow... All I know about this concert is that Switchfoot will be there and that is all I need to know. I love me some Switchfoot. Last night I met with some new clients. They are a great family, plus they want to take me on trips with them. I just missed out on a 3 week trip to Nantucket. I couldn't have left Allison for that long anyways. But I think this family will be lots of fun to work with. And the frogs have croaked.