CHRISTMAS

Christmas has come and gone. Lots of driving, lots of family, and lots of stuff.
Yes stuff. Stuff took over our car while we made the 7 hour drive back to our apartment.
And now the stuff is taking over our living room. I was laying on my couch tonight (enjoying season 1 of "Weeds" on dvd...thanks Ben!) and i exhaustedly i scanned the stuff with my eyes.
"Ive got some nice stuff," i thought to myself. Two minutes later...."Im such a bitch, did i seriously just pat myself on the back for this stuff?"For a brief second i contemplated taking it all out the the dumpster. Liberating and wonderful, but im currently too vain. I tuned my mind back into "Weeds" and allowed myself to be overwhelmed by the stuff. So it still remains in the living room. What a mess. I love this stuff. I hate this stuff.
How come i can live without this really pretty stuff, but im choosing to keep it? I dont know.
In two months i will move. And half of this stuff will be put into storage.

Christmas was wonderful and weird. Every year, wonderful and weird. I love it.
However, my stomach is not loving the fact that i majorly strayed from my usually natural and plant based eating habits. Thank God i only receive internet access while im in the bathroom....so convenient right now!

I cant leave out a major highlight....receiving the largest starbucks card i have ever received in my entire life. This truly is the gift that will keep on giving.

Is anyone else wondering what Lauren Conrad did for Christmas?

The Bathroom Connection

Some of you are probably not aware of the fact that I can only access the
internet from in our bathroom. Yes, its true.convenient in some ways, annoying in others. This makes my internet connectionvery unstable and unreliable. Because of this, i am not very dependable with my blogs.

There is so much to catch up about. And tons of great pictures to post...non of which will be posted
tonight due to my lame internet connection.

Im sitting in my bathroom huddled on the floor, wrapped in a big blanket, exhausted, extremely sore, and bloated from pms. How attractive. But this is all for a good reason. This weekend i spend two days doing an intense "Yoga Teacher Training". Which means i went through 18 hours this weekend of yoga and teaching, and now i am a certified yoga instructor! And even though my body feels like its dying, i am so glad that i decided to
go through with this!

I have lots to say about Thanks Giving and pics! But dont worry, sooner or later i will have to use the
bathroom again!

MY DRUG

I will gladly say yes to coffee at any point during my day.
If i dont have my travel mug in my hand each morning, i feel greatly thrown off the entire
rest of my day. I almost never allow this to be the case. No one in our apartment complex has ever seen me walk out my door in the morning without a travel mug in my hand...this i can assure you. On certain days there is nothing better then sitting outside a coffee shop in a sloppy outfit(preferably in a Mary-Kate Olsen kind of sloppy) while drinking a latte and writing in my journal. By the way, why is she so cool? And why cant i seem to get over her? This deserves a picture.

With this said, today i am feeling a little disturbed. Actually, very much so. Therefore, i will turn to my drug of choice for comfort and at the end of the day i will be shaking like a moron. Im ok with this. And im ok with liking coffee this much. And im ok that Robert tells me im "addicted".
So im off to find a small amount of comfort in a cup of coffee (or maybe a latte) and my journal.

This is a little dramatic, but who ever said that i wasnt dramatic?
I should be writing about more important things, but not today.

I was looking up on google a picture of a latte, to put on a new blog post.
And much to my enjoyment, these two little friends showed up!
Meet "Latte" and "Mocha". My blog post will have to wait because I think these
two deserve a post of their own!

my birthday and almost catching on fire

First of all, thank you to President George Bush, for gracing us with your presence during our Southern Ca fires. Because we really needed him to come here for no beneficial reason what-so-ever. Im really sure that having him stand here and make a speech really helped to put our the fires. Did he come over and pick up a hose and start squirting down the flames? Then what was the point of him being here at all? To Bush; if you are reading this, please just stop being the president and a noob, as soon as possible and just go be a humanitarian to Iraq.


Enough of my tangent.

This past weekend was my 24th birthday. Pure magic.
I would have to say the best part was Elise and I bought matching valor jump suits. O yes.
We went in the morning to buy them, took them out to the van, and changed into them.
And the second best part would have to be the fact that we actually
went into a tattoo shop while wearing the matching valor jump suits.
Talk about self inflicted humiliation. We should have known our doom.
No, i dont have my new tattoo yet because according to the artists i have"tiny ass wrists" and what i want doesnt fit. But it will be on me very soon.
Robert made me a delicious ice cream cake. (Im about to have some left-overs right now!)
He also jump-started my birthday with a HUGE pumpkin latte in the morning.
Just what i need....lots of sugar and caffeine. (as if im not already a spaz) He also gave me an amazing book.
"crazy, sexy, cancer". I am in love with the woman who wrote it, and who also made
an incredible documentary this past year. Im a freak. Whoever knows me, already knows this.
So just go with it.

Since im now 24, i have exactly one year until im 25. And 25 is the age that i have always put as my goal age. Meaning, i need to be really doing what im in love with and serious about by the time a turn 25. It will happen.

Did i mention all of Southern CA was on fire last week? Arnold said we were in a "state of emergency". O, and also, Bush declared the same thing the very next day. Thank God, because we might have forgotten from the day before when Arnold said it. I could hardly be outside. The sun couldnt even break through all the smoke on some days. At night i could look out and see multiple fires burning off in the near distance and surrounding our valley.
Im trying to sound cool , but i cant lie....i felt extremely trapped and panicky.
There were two personal plus sides to the fire disaster.
1. We had amazing sun sets and bright orange moon
2. Every day i was reminded of Africa because of the smell in the air


The end

Our Anniversary and beginning of Fall

Robert and I just spent the past three days with no work and no schedules.
We first started out our long weekend by spending Sunday night carving pumpkins and making hot cider with Cory and Victoria. In the morning we went to the "pumpkin patch" and each picked the best pumpkins we could find! By the way, why are pumpkins so expensive?

We, of course, had to do our Fall photo shoot with Moses. (above) Please note, we did not color coordinate on purpose....we are just that good. (ew).
I love Fall. Its my favorite time of the year. The weather finally gets cold. We can use our fire place. Pumpkin Spice Lattes are in season at Starbucks. The word "pumpkin" is used a lot...which i think is a wonderful/funny word. Everything outside changes color, all of which happen to be my favorite colors. I can start wearing sweaters again. And its the start of the holiday season! This time of year screams use more scented candles then normal and run your gas fire place until you get the outrageous bill in the mail and go into shock! I love it.
Robert and Cory's are so much better!

Last night and today, we celebrated our 2 year anniversary!
We started if off with reservations at a cute Italian restaurant last night.
And today we woke up and went for a drive to San Diego to the "Wild Animal Park".
(we have year passes). We had so much fun spending time together and watching the animals.
I even made a little friend....as you will see in the picture.
The weather was cloudy and cold, but we loved it and our huge lattes helped a lot!
It was actually cold enough to enjoy a fire when we got home while we made dinner together and watched the video of our wedding. It was a great day.



Our three days off have been so good for us. Celebrating our anniversary, officially realizing that its Fall, and eating more food in three days then i have the past three weeks.
But its back to the real world starting from the moment my alarm goes off at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

Hope each of you get a chance to take a break from "life", welcome the new season and weather, eat good food and enjoy each other!

City Impact San Francisco

1. The Tenderloin covers 35 inner-city blocks
2. The Tenderloin is 300 times more crowded than the rest of San Francisco .

   

3. According to the 2000 census, 24,169 people live in the Tenderloin. But this is probably a conservative figure, based on a margin of error in the census for S.F. of at least 5%. Most likely, the number of people in the Tenderloin is about 30,000.
4. The Tenderloin has:
   44%- White
   33%- Asian or Pacific Islanders
   11%- African Americans
   11%- Hispanic
   1%- Native American
5. There are 586 apartment buildings in the Tenderloin (and only 1 small house).
6. The children in the Tenderloin consist of:
   67%- Asian or Southeast Asian
   12%- White
   11%- African American
   5%- Hispanic
   5%- Native American/Mixed/Other
7. There are approximately 4,000 children in the Tenderloin:
   41%- are infants to 4 yrs. old (1,640)
   28%- are 5-9 yrs. old (1,120)
   22%- are 9-12 yrs. old (880)
   9%- are 13-17 yrs. old (360)
8. There is only one Private Christian School in the Tenderloin. ( S.F. Christian Academy )
9. There are about 10,000 homeless that pass through or stay in the Tenderloin each day.
10. There are only 450 shelter beds within the Tenderloin.
11. 90% of the Tenderloin Residents live on fixed income.
12. The Tenderloin has the highest crime rate of any area of San Francisco .
    The yearly crime rate has an average 2 crimes per resident, and 3 major crimes per hour.

    Business in the Tenderloin consist of:
    1) 130 vacant
    2) 111 restaurants
    3) 76 cafes
    4) 66 liquor store
    5) 38 non-profit organizations
    6) 33 bars
    7) 14 porno shops
    8) 11 Performing Arts Theaters
    9) 2 Check Cashing Places
    10) 1 pool hall

A wonderful ministry in San Francisco is in need of some major items in order to keep running efficiently. God is doing amazing things in the lives of people in the Tenderloin through the staff of "City Impact". Please visit their site and take a moment to look over their "top needs" list.
A ministry takes two kinds of people; Those that can physically be there and those that can financially be involved.

Here is their link

http://sf911.com/

If you have any questions please contact me!

highs and lows of delicious treats

Tonight is my first blog ever!
Im hoping this will turn into a way for people to take a peak
into my life while i (hopefully) pull away from "myspace".

This evening i am in the midst of learning a valuable lesson.

Two things i love = dried apricots and black licorice (sugar free)

Both are very tasty treats to have once in a while. Completely wonderful and completely different....until i realized that they both have one thing in common; EXTREME GAS
Good thing Robert is not home til late tonight, because i feel as though im being smothered
in the stench of my own farts! Not too mention i have visited the bathroom so many times that Moses (the rabbit) may have passed out in his little house by now! I think i have lost 10 pounds! This is something that i cant afford to lose. However, there has been a slight bit of magic to this night. The wonderful move "Rent" is on tv! I have hooked up the tv volume to our two large speakers allowing the music from Rent to take over my entire apartment! Farting and singing the night away. Pure magic

This is so gross....i promise not all of my blogs will be like this one.