The Girls at Mel's Birthday Dinner

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I'm not the mommy. I don't know what I want. But I like the idea.

IMG_0122

IMG_0122
Originally uploaded by guysonbikes2004.

anniversary_02

anniversary_02
Originally uploaded by R.bean.

Via my cousin the artistical genius creating things out of dreams.

I've been so busy with party stuff and picking up extra work here and there. Last night was Mel's birthday party at Elephant Bar. So there is this one friend of hers named Grace that I always talk to and hang out with. I tell her about the party and get her email address to send her an invite. And when she hands me back the piece of paper I write Grace above the email address and she says to me "My name isn't Grace!" And I say... "Umm. It's not? Really? Then what is it?" Rolyn. I heard the name so many times but didn't know it was hers. I've known this girl for over a year. We've gone out to clubs. She's partied at my house. And all this time I've had her name wrong. Mel got a new digital camera for her birthday. I'm very happy for her. Today I played Karaoke Revolution 2 over at Jasper & Darica's. From now on I'm only allowed to compete in Expert level otherwise it's too easy and I always win and get gold and platinum in everything. This party is overwhelming now. I hope it's worth it.

Are you ready for the ultimate female bonding experience?
This will be a blast and you won't want to miss out!
As you RSVP I'll assign you something to bring to help out.
Feel free to invite your male counterparts
to join us for breakfast on Saturday morning.
I hope to see you all there!

YEAH BABY!!! The Perry's are taking me to Las Vegas next month! Not that I'll be partying all night like usual trips. I'll have the kids to concern myself with. But it has been a while since I went out there and it will be a nice escape. Looking forward to it.

Got new clothes but no where to go. So I call up Tara to see what everyone is doing, but her boyfriend Shawn who initiates all events is out of town. So we have a girl's date. Dinner and a movie in downtown los gatos. Vanity Fair- I could have done without seeing it. It reminds me of something you'd watch in english class. When the movie ends it is 10:45 and we are right next to the bar, so why not stop in for a drink. Tara and me had a blast. We danced so much and it didn't matter that it was just us. I normally would hate going to a bar with less than 3 people. I am a ditcher. I get bored and ditch my friends and walk around. Or they get asked to dance and then I'm by myself. But me and Tara were having so much fun. Then we decide to go to another bar in Willow Glen, but on the way to the car we run into Rich, Ryan, and John who are part of our normal group of about 15 guys we normally go out with. And they have this one girl with them whose name I forget, but she looks so much like Pamela Anderson. So they drag us back in and we dance some more with them and have a blast. We close the bar and then head back to Rich's new house that he bought around the block from me. Except he lives in "The Gates" which are these 3 streets with really nice houses on these huge lots. Man, his house was impressive. It is so perfect for him too. I'm declaring it our new meet up place for when we go out. I hate meeting over at Scott and Jeff's because they have dog hair all over and you spend all this time getting ready and then you get the dogs jumping up on you and getting you dirty before you go out. I think I feel like crepes for breakfast. Have a great day!

Where's the money at!?!
Today is friday and I don't feel like doing a whole lot. I know it's time for us to go out for a walk or something but I'll have more energy after nap. So I had been all impressed with myself for finally managing to be pretty darn financially responsible and undoing alot of the mess I had created in the past. I had a system and was paying all of my bills and usually on time. I finally opened a bank account again after going 3 years without one. And I even got a credit card (not that I use). But I think the whole financially sound thing kinda coincides with me not having stepped foot in a mall for months. But this week I went because I needed little magnets from organized living and a swimsuit from copelands. But I strayed and wandered into that store that is always my downfall... banana republic. And I only got a top and a skirt and both were on sale. So $40 spent unplanned. No big deal? Well, with me spending leads to more spending and more indulging and more comfort in it until I am dipping into money for bills. I went and bought 2 swim suits instead of one. And even though I got out of the mall, I followed it up with a trip to the grocery store where I spent way too much. You know whats cheap? carbs. You know whats expensive? low carb. But even though I avoid the over priced atkin friendly renditions of all our basics, still I get killed with the cost of all that meat and cheese. Anyways, I'm scaring myself with temptations to spend. So for the rest of the month... no mall, no target, no new clothes, no going out to eat, no hosting parties, and no grocery shopping over $20. Think I'll survive? This month of discipline gets harder and harder.

***update: just hours later (3:00) and Tara has convinced me to go out to eat tonight AND I'm making party lists and you know it's serious when it gets too paper. I have no discipline.

My clients are so good to me. In support of my low carb lifestyle that I am aiming for: client #1 orders me some Omaha Steaks. client #2 stocks up on string cheese and deli meats and orders me salads when she gets the kids pizza for dinner. With all this support its amazing I haven't lost more weight. I bought 2 new swim suits today and I got a pack of tiny very powerful magnets. I also got a new shirt. I got invited to a girls only party on sunday. I'm too tired to get up from this chair and change for bed.

Turtle breaking out of its shell
So I have managed to do master swim every morning without actually talking to anyone. But today brings a new face and she ends up being the most perfect new friend. Her name is Karen and she goes to a Vineyard church (like me) but hers is in Palo Alto. And she just got back from doing some time in Russia (like I did) where she taught at a university (like I did) through this obscure non profit missions organization called ESI (same one I went with 6 years ago). And we are both swimming master? Too many coincidences to not be friends. All very exciting.

written in the sand

written in the sand
Originally uploaded by sperte.

He's everywhere.
Blessing the beach.

When I say sake you say bomb! SAKE...
Man o man! Miyake's last night was the blast it promises to be and of course it doesn't matter where we are as long as I have the Hooty Hoo Crew with me. I love my friends. And even better, I made 2 new girlfriends which are always in a shortage here in the bay area. Ok, so my girl Kelly from church is always getting herself carried away and into trouble whenever she comes out with me and my friends. I feel a little guilty and a little paranoid that she's going to give me a bad rap around church as the one who parties it up and gets her drunk. The thing is I'm sober as heck the whole time and the girl is just a fish if there is alcohol in sight. And last night she refused to let me leave my friends and drive her home, so her mama came and got her and now this reflects real bad on me. I maybe have to have some sort of intervention talk with her. She's not even 21 yet. This has always been my role throughout life. The good girl who hangs with the party crowd and drags other good girls along who can't stand up to the peer pressure and end up going down hard core. I remember there was this girl Katie who had gone to Christian elementary school and jr high with me and who had been voted most likely to become a pastor. (I was most likely to own a hat store.) Anyways, in freshman year I started bringing her around the roller rink with me. And I know my friends were bad, but we were good kids and wouldn't get involved in their badness. And then BAM! Like a moth to a flame the next thing you know Katie messed around with all the boys, runs away from home, and gets pregnant! She fell fast and hard and I was completely shocked. I never succumbed to peer pressure and I just didn't realize that it really is that hard for everybody else to just say no. Well, it's a good thing I didn't take Kelly to the city. I don't know what I would do if she caught a drug addiction from my friends up there.

Ming is bleeding from the ear again or still and worse than ever. I could take her to the vet because I actually have time this weekend but my money is tied up in returning Haylee's deposit. Oh, and I just got an email from Jaime who has accepted our offer to move in. I have all really cute roommates and all my guy friends are always asking about them. They miss Haylee, but I think they will definately approve of Jaime. She's real cute. And she works with kids too which is kinda the commen household theme. Who can I set her up with. I guess Stephanie lost her window of opportunity. I'm sure she'll land a job close by next week and then want to move in when I have nothing available again. As all my roommates meet the guy I like I always worry that they will hit it off. I am all quiet and somewhat shy around him and I worry that my more outgoing roommates will lure his attention. Not that absolutely everybody doesn't know who I like and that they are completely off limits, but still. If chemistry happens to happen, who am I to stand in the way. I'm a bit tired and I have to attempt to get up for swim practice in the morning. Night.

My extra long weekend was extra good. I took Tuesday off of work to extend into a pretty fun and productive weekend. Saturday night I went to the city with Tara and Mandy. We were suppose to party all night and crash up there, but 2am rolled around and we packed ourselves into the car and headed back home. I met the most gorgeous Brazilian guy with the hottest accent and his name was Sergio. But that's that because I did not get his number. Sunday after church I basically recouped. Sunday night I went to a BBQ over at James' house and all my friends were there and there were new people too. Later we headed to Los Gatos and Shannan, Maria, and I sang karoake at Mountain Charley's. I'm warming up to the whole karoake thing and getting over my stage fright. Monday I went up to the city to pick up a electric crepe griddle from Williams-Sonoma which happens to be right next door to the Grand Hyatt. So I took the opportunity to pop in on Billy at work. He looked so cute all dressed up in a suit. We talked some smack about Carrie and what the heck she is doing quitting and moving and stuff. Then I got this great shirt over at Urban. It says- Don't give me any drugs. I think that is hilariously appropriate for me but it could easily be misinterpreted so I have to be careful who I wear it around. And while in the city, why not have dinner with Eliza. We talked God the whole time which is cool because it's normally a somewhat politically incorrect topic for me to discuss. But she brought it up so I was glad I was able to dispel some of the confusion she had on what the Bible does and does not say. She had a troubling weekend with some overly conservative judgmental type Christian relatives over the weekend and they kinda gave her a skewed perception of what it really is all about. Tuesday I ditched work to work on the business. I registered the name and met with the dept of enviro health and the police permits dept and sjsu and scu catering heads. This is going to be a bit more difficult that one would have thought. City ordinances prohibit peddling after 7 unless to some industrial employees or on private property with a use permit that costs alot of money. I'm taking a few days to devise a new strategy before pushing forward. I stopped by Marriott to say hi to Cindy. And I took my mom to lunch. And I bought a painting for the living room and went to the grocery store and to did a target run. Can I gripe for a second about having to spend $60 on printer cartridges for my color printer which only costs $120. It's absolutely insane. Today I'm back to baby land. This was the longest I had been away from her and I thought when I came back she might have grown and looked like a different child, but she's the same.

Name Consensus- Crepes a la Cart
Backup Name or for when I give this transient business roots- Cafe le Crepe
Today I had a garage sale and sorted through my boxes of junk and rearrange them so that one may walk gracefully from through. The big pay off was finding my favorite going out purse that has been missing for about 8 months and was irreplacable because I bought it in Vancouver. Seriously, my plan was to use this Monday holiday to go to Vancouver and pray that little shop still had it in stock. So I'm sure glad I can save myself that little trip. The other great garage find was old family photo albums. Check this stuff out...
My Mom as an Adorable Child


My Beautiful Grandmother Pearl
Originally uploaded by Lizapalooza.


Other news this last week...
Finally got over the procrastination with a little support from Jubilee and painted my kitchen. It looks wonderful beautiful. And my hero of the day was Zac who offered to come over and help and then later when we ran out of painters tape and all the stores were closed he came and brought us some so we could finish the job.

And then I got the hand me down couches I had been waiting for to finish my set so now my living room looks ultra pimp too.

Shawn's birthday- went to Palo Alto and then to downtown SJ and had a great time just because I am with some of my favorite people. Oh ya, I ditched them to go to VIP and hang with Papa Roach for a bit. I love being VIP.

I started my "Month of Discipline" and it looks a little something like this:
5am wake up for purpose driven life devotional and prayer and journaling
630 santa clara international master swim
830 work
1-3 business planning
6- go running if I don't have chores or 2nd job that day
9pm bedtime
Other disciplinary actions for the month-
no tv for me at work
Atkins diet in full effect
no drinking