Wednesday, January 26

I have to apologize to my few loyal online friends who have faithfully been checking my site without reward, who have held hope and not considered me left for dead, who went as far as to leave me nasty notes pondering what crack in the depths of the earth I had fallen into. What justifies such a long absence. Puter broke? no. Connection down? no. Out of town? no. Deathly Ill and hospitalized? not quite. Caught up in some new hot steamy romance? I wish. Just that dang Lazy? Yep!! You start off saying "oh, I got to write about that", but then don't find time to. In the meanwhile 50 more things happen or come to mind that you also have to write about. Soon the list of things to write about is so dang long you don't even recall what you wanted to write about and it is such a huge enormous task that you get overwhelmed by the thought of blogging and procrastinate. But I'm going to take baby steps and write this post slowly in small increments as to not freak myself out. (written 1/26-2/1) And I've been quite busy too. Those of you who think that I am avoiding you or that I have forgotten about you and your ill misconcepts regarding my blog, rest assured that I will deal with you (as soon as I have the due time for a proper confrontation). Ok, Lots and lots to catch up on so let's not waste no more time...

*I was fairly disappointed to discover that my baby Allison was put into a daycare facility 3 days a week behind my back. Their new nanny only works 2 days a week. Why didn't they tell me they were doing this. I left because I needed to work part time for the business. I wish they had told me this daycare/nanny split was an option. Maybe we could have saved Allison the adjustments and I would probably be getting more done. I'd rather work 2 or 3 full days than 5 or 6 part days. And I'd rather be with Princess Allison who is the most wonderfully well behaved child who is full of hugs and loves and never hits me or rants about how she hates me.

*Writing this in Seattle while visiting Carrie. I have decided that Seattle is a great place to head to if you have some junk in the trunk, because it is simply the norm here. Probably due to the amount of time spent indoors because of sucky weather. It is not however the place to launch a new makeup line from because the women hear simply just don't wear any. Admiring once again the transportation infastructure that is far superior to SJ sucky system. Also love their downtown appeal. I was at a moral dilemma today when in my shopping I came to a fork in the road... banana republic on the left, urban outfitters on the right. I slipped into Anthropologie (world's best smelling store) to escape the chaos in my head, when Carrie saved me from the dilemma with a call to say time was up and to head back. It was probably for the best.

*On Monday I am going back to school. I hate school with a passion. But I've decided that it may be somewhat beneficial in an overrated kind of way. Not aiming to get a degree or graduate or even pass. Just thought I'd learn a little bit. Food & Labor Cost Controls, Facilities Planning, and Restaurant Management Theory. I think I'll audit them all and escape the pressures of homework, attendance, and studying.

*Matt got me (and probably half the church) all freaked out. He calls me and says "what are you doing today? can you come over? there is something em and I need to talk to you about?". not a good phrase to hear come from your pastors mouth... immediate thought process is that they are telling me I'm way over my sin quota and that I'm doomed to eternal damnation... then reality kicks in and I come up with 50 legitimate still scary things that might be the topic. Ends up our church is merging with the city vineyard church (who is pastored by Dave Jacobs, a man who I simply adore and pastored me from the time I was 8 until I was about 23) and they just wanted to check in with me and see how I felt about that and make sure I was on board to make the merge with them... something he absolutely could have just done over the phone and was not as urgent as he led on. After we talked about it, I gave him some coaching on how to go about requesting a meeting with a congregant without freaking them out. Excited about the merge though. This may bring our church's single christian guy count up.

*Last Saturday was a Miyake's night. It had been a month since the whole gang had gotten together to go out and I had been looking forward to reuniting the good times. But the hype was low and I think we may be in a mourning period after the discovery that Shawn and Tara are moving to Newport Beach and Jeff may be moving down there too. Those are the key initiators for our group. Without them, it all falls apart. It's kind of an end to an era. KAK house will live on, but only for Wednesday poker nights. :( Highlight of the evening though would have to be hanging out with Kazaam (KAK house neighbor). Dancing the night away with him was such a treat. His mama was a ball room dance teacher so the boy has some moves. And watching him work the room convinces me that his skills go beyond the dance floor. The boy is a total player.

*So last weekend my clients were having a garage sale which I figure I'll stop by because they are probably getting rid of some pretty nice stuff (plus Diane wears the same size as me). Sitting there for sale is my brand new ice cream maker and my mini food processor. I had it in their garage because the kids and I had been making ice cream almost everyday and apparently Sheldon thought it was garage sale. He tried to sell it to me saying they couldn't find the inside part that your suppose to freeze. "Because it's in the garage freezer!!" So I rescued my beloved appliances and picked up a brand new really nice karoake machine too. Does anybody know how to burn CD+G's? Marcus and I tried the other night to burn his karoake CD collection but can't get the words to transfer over. There must be a way though.

*So this weekend I got legitimately drunk (like room spinning but no hangover or puking, still count as drunk?) and the worst part of it was that I was pouring my own drinks and that I didn't make it out to the clubs. Thank you Jackson for stocking up on the Malibu for my visit.

*So here's a little project I am thinking of doing in my lack of spare time. And maybe they have something like this, but I don't know. 2005 Bay Area Best Date Guide- a publication put out every year perhaps in the newspaper listing great places to go and and things to do on dates with all necessary details regarding the activity. Categories to include group dates, on a budget dates, seasonal specific dates, sophisticated or special occasion dates, etc... Got any ideas? Email them to me.

Wednesday, January 19

Ha! I just finished my taxes some 3 months early. Go me!

Tuesday, January 18

Ice cream flavors of the day- tropical fruit cheesecake and mexican chocolate rocky road.
I am loving hanging out with Tom and Kelly. Last night's Karoake Night at their house was a blast. The funniest part that just kept on getting me was this. Yesterday morning Tom read my entire blog... like the last year and a half of my life. And he has some kind of photographic memory so all throughout the night he references things from my life. I mention my best friend and he says "You mean Carrie". I mention Kelvyn... "the one who looks like George Clinton". I mention avoiding having parties at my house because of new carpet... "that's why you have them at Rich's". I mention my childhood... he mentions my pony. His wife stopped thinking this was amusing as she was not getting these inside jokes of his regarding jelloshots. I thought it was hilarious though. I think he could give Carrie a run for her money in a Liz trivia competition.

Speaking of such things.... Long Distance Friendship Games.
Carrie starts in on me tonight with this game of Guess What I had for Dinner. Me versus her dog Butters to determine who is really her best friend.
Carrie- What was my first appetizer?
Me- Cheese
Carrie- What kind?
Me- Jack?
Carrie- EEEHHhhh! Wrong! Let's ask Butters. Butters? *pause* That's right. Cream cheese. Good Dog! Ok, what was my second appetizer?
And basically the rest of the game went on like this. Me guessing wrong and losing 4-0 Butters. Correct answers were shredded mozzerella, chocolate milk, and noodles. Damn smart dog. Don't fret though. I was given back my title of best friend fifteen minutes later when Carrie discovered that Butters peed on her couch. So haha! In your face, Butters!

So then I turn the tables on Carrie with an equally impossible game. "If you are really my best friend you will guess what I am wearing today. Carrie versus Mom (who is with me during this time)."
Carrie- thong panties.
Me- EEEHHhh! Nope. Mom, what underwear?
Mom- Barely Theres.
Ding Ding Ding. Point for Mom. bonus for knowing the brand.
Carrie- some type of zip up jacket with a hoodie. Color- earthy maybe brown.
Me- nope. red puffy jacket with no hood.
Then Carrie comes in for the win guessing that I am wearing a cross necklace, blue jeans, a tan bra, and black slides with a strap thing which was all completely right on. Amazing. So she is cleary my best friend. But Tom's a good runner up.


Monday, January 17

What's exciting me today...
*this massage chair that I bought yesterday. My mom thinks it will be my demise and I will never leave the chair and that it will only worsen my issues with productivity. She suggests I get a timer for how long I can sit here. Hmmm. No!
*the $50 cuisinart ice cream maker that I've wanted forever and couldn't justify buying. First in the mixer will be mexican chocolate ice cream with chunks of mango. Then some variation of Gorum cookies (spicy chocolate w/ nuts and berries) but in ice cream form perhaps with marshmallow creme added in as well. And then we move on to invite some non dairy delectables for my treat deprived roommate.
*Nate and his follow through.
*karoake revolution gathering tonight over at Tom and Kelly's. After I introduced them to the game, the went in with me on getting KR3 for Matt & Emilie for christmas. And then they went out and bought 1,2, and 3. Now I feel like everybody has it but me. Maybe I do need a PS2. I don't play games except this one. Tonight will be fun. I'm bringing dessert, homemade ice cream and crepes.

Friday, January 14

My theory is What's the use. Today, my day off, and although there were many thing that could have been done today, instead I worked 6 hours. so then it's like what's the use of trying. Even though I was off at two, I could see that any shot of productivity was useless so i went to REI instead and then came home and played guitar and read blogs. And even though there is just enough time to take down the christmas lights before it gets dark, i think my best use of my lack of energy is to cuddle in my sleeping bag and read. We'll save the lights for tomorrow.

Thursday, January 13

I noticed last night that it's been 6 weeks since I took a nap and my life did not crash down around me. Good for me!! Lately I have been loving itunes (except for when they won't let me buy just one song and are trying to make me buy the whole album... then they suck and I have to go be illegal and get it from kazaa). I've been updating my address book (so send me your info). And I've been working on my days off. So the answer to everybody's question (How's the crepe thing going?).... it's not going anywhere yet because first I need to organize every aspect of my life before tackling that and I need a day off to work on it. OK. Off to work now. It really only takes me 3 minutes to get there.

Monday, January 10

This weekend I got to hang out with Allison. She does seem a bit bigger although it's only been about 3 weeks since I last saw her. She got all kinds of new toys that she was eager to show off. We had some good cuddle time. Love that little girl. I think she missed me. Then I was off to SF to celebrate Kelly's birthday. That wild child is finally 21 and she was in town. We went to sushi at a place called Tsunami. It was a good place, but I was slightly disappointed that we didn't go through with our original plan to go to Mas Sake. I was craving Mas Sake and their absolutely wonderful crunchy rolls. Ok, I was really really disappointed, but o-well. A good time was still had. Then we continued on to a club called Pink. We never figured Zac to be the dancing type so I was pretty surprised to see him groove on the dance floor. And I was told that they were all shocked by my moves too. This is what comes of going out to bars with your church friends. Amazingly enough of all of us who went out only one of us didn't make it to church the next morning. Shame on Ben! Props to the rest of us. I had a splurging afternoon at Costco and Bed Bath and Beyond (where I found a new guy to be shy with). Sunstar is back in town which makes me ever so happy. I love when he's around. So he came over so we can do some song writing but then we ditched that to go to the gym. Good times catching up.

Friday, January 7

I'm nursing a black eye from being clocked by a 3 year old. This week I went to the sneak preview for the 05-06 season at the American Musical Theatre. I wish I did theatre in high school. I want to be in a musical. Aren't there any amatuer adult theatre groups out there? Something to look into. Anyways, I think I'm going to start buying theatre tickets more often. I also had a mini family reunion dinner the other night. My uncle Rayfield (from Reno) and his son RJ came into town and stayed at my house. Also my uncle Troy was in town so we all went to dinner (my dad included). Family gatherings are very rare for us, so it's more special than it sounds. I have the kids overnight tonight. They are being so wild they even have the dog tripping out. Maybe when they all go to bed I can get a decent amount of time in with KR3.

Monday, January 3

b a c k i n t o w n
Although I lugged my laptop with me on my trip, no matter where I was there was no connection to be had. They wanted me to stay in Reno longer but not being able to check email or compulsively check my bank account every hour was driving me crazy and keeping me from making an educated decision on whether to stay or not. Do I need to go home and make money or not? Well, what bills are scheduled to be paid this week? I don't know because I can't access my online banking in any of these places. So I came home out a better safe than sorry theory. Plus I'm dying to go to Franklin Covey and get my agenda refill (another compulsion). I'm sure they have one in Reno but I didn't feel like looking it up and getting lost 5 times trying to find it.

Ok... Work Trip to Northstar- mostly snowed in (with 3 kids going stir crazy). We got 5' of snow over night. We sled down the snowed over driveway and made snowmen and had snowball fights and threw snowballs to try to knock down the icles hanging off the house. It was a good thing the house they rented was huge and absolutely beautiful because we spent alot of time in it.
Where Once There Was a BalconyWinter WonderlandShowing Off Snowball Treasures

In Reno I met up with my uncle Rayfield and his wife and kids (all except our own grown up RaeRae). Nice to be around that side of the family and I see so many tendencies that just are so familiar with that side of the family (like placing bets on absolutely everything). It helps me understand my own father. Watching Rayfield's lax way of raising his kids makes me think Ya, that's probably how it would have been if my dad raised me. He takes the kids to the bowling alley in their pajamas where he feeds them candy and puts soda in sippy cups and the women in his league pick up the little one for some nurturing when it's his turn to bowl. Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that whole scene but I cringe hearing horror stories of his kids drugged up on sugar. As he puts the little one to bed in her clothes I remind him that I think we need to change her diaper before bed. The forever bachelor attitude of all the Gorum men resignates clear in him even after his 3 marriages and 5 kids ages 2 to 29. Although I must admit that what he lacks in parental instincts he makes up with words of immense fatherly love.
Gorum Tribe of Reno

Prison visit was an interesting experience and quite an awkward setting. However, I am really glad I went because it meant the world to my bro that I came. He kept saying that if felt like Christmas. He was so excited and it was a complete surprise for him because the whole trip was kinda last minute and there was no way to get word to him in short notice. It really brought his spirits up and I'm glad I could do that for him. Plus it gave me ideas of how I can help him out while he's in there so that he is never in this situation again. It was a beautiful drive with all the snow. Along the road in Susanville I saw this scene and it kinda reminded me of those cheese commercials about how california cows are happy cows... I think these cows should write in a formal complaint.
California CowsBlue Snow
Ok... now let's talk New Year's Resolutions....
I have to say that I am quite proud of myself for accomplishing most of my 2004 Goals.
Got Done...
*quit Marriott and return to childcare
*paint the house
*get new windows for house
*get new garage door
*fumigate house
*workout 3x a week
*lose 10 lbs
*pay bank & credit card debts
*open a bank account
Didn't do...
*more placement collage art
*publish book/calendar of the art
*didn't go back to school
*didn't pay my dad rent

Here's 2005 Resolutions...
Spiritual- read the whole bible, do marketing for my church, read 3 spiritual betterment books, pray for absolutely everything, consult God first, and no hiding sin.
Career- open creperie part time, do the placement collage art and try to publish
Finances- pay my debt to Kim, pay my dad the rent money (no more pricy home improvements/ more do it myself stuff), no late payments, give 2.5% of income to missionaries (annonymous in middle east & Karen Hosernot in St. Petersburg), create a savings & emergency fund, refinance my car payment, no overdrawn accounts
Relationships- date everybody casually just as friends (no more over the top wasting my time crushes), no more being shy/ make first moves, go on one date a week, know how they measure up to what I'm looking for in a man
Health- workout 3x a week, start triathlons again, lose 10 more pounds, eat more fresh food, go low carb/low sugar
Home Improvement- install sprinkler system, plant vegatable garden, lay cement walkway and widen driveway, landscape, spruce up the gazebo into little quaint hideout
Back to Schoool- business & restaurant management courses, finish the accounting series, dabble with a little web design, do some general ed and transfer. Really I hate school though.

And finally as promised.... pics of christmas quaintness and beauty...
O Christmas TreeChristmas TreeChristmas LightsHappy Holidays