Interesting Gifts

We are watching the American Idol Gives back show. Makes you sad, you know? We are blessed. More than we deserve to be. Looking on the website at what certain amounts of money donated will provide, for some reason it made me think of a gift I recieved. At Christmas I recieved lots of gifts from my kids at school. More than I needed, or deserved for sure. But at the time, I was excited to recieve them. Honestly, I was a little selfish about it. One gift was small. It was just a card. And when I opened it, I was a bit- to my disgust (at myself) as I look back on it - annoyed. It simply said, "Two sheep have been donated in your name..." I thought, "where is my starbucks card???" Man. How selfish. I can't believe that thought crossed my mind, and I am ashamed. Tonight, I think that gift is the coolest gift I have ever recieved. Because it was not a gift to me, but to someone else. I don't need anything. I have all I need, and much more. I have a great family(s), the best and most awesome husband in the world, and great friends. I am healthy. Yes, asthma aside, I am healthy. I have an education. I live in paradise. I have a car. I have food. I have a place to live. I have a super cool job. I can't complain. About anything. At all. But lots of people can complain, because they have PLENTY to complain about and be sad about. The amazing thing? They DON'T complain. They consider themselves blessed. And I consider myself humbled, and extremely blessed.

In other news...

Random thoughts:

• Sanjaya is OUT!!!!!!! WOOOOO! Maybe I'll get back into American Idol, but this season just hasn't been as great as others.
• So, Travis had his last day of 2nd year Law classes today! He has four finals to take, so let's all pray for those to go well! And also, let's all pray for him to get a PAYING law related job for the summer! Only one year of Law School left. Time has flown by!
• Today, a kid peed on my foot. Yeah. It was interesting. He wasn't even standing still, he was walking by me, and there you have it!! Pee. Eww.
• How I Met Your Mother is one of the GREATEST shows on Television. Robin Sparkles. That is all I have to say. Hilarious.

Dodgers are on. Gotta run.

Grand Slam

Russell Martin hit a Grand Slam Walk-Off Home Run tonight (first of his career) in the 10th inning against the Pirates. I think I picked the best player to be a fan of. And...I have a signed (by him) bat and a ball (soon to be signed - i hope). Too bad we sold our tickets for tonight's game. That's ok. It was fun to watch on TV. Awesome game. Awesome. Anyway...thought I would share my pride.

For Love of The Game...

Long time no post. If you are familiar with the title phrase, then you knwo what this post is all about. BASEBALL!!!

Let's start with Opening Day at Dodger Stadium - April 9. The game was fun, though the Dodgers did let the Rockies win that one. Aren't they nice? :-) The festivities before the game were really cool. There was a military fly over, some navy seals parachuted into the stadium - one holding an American flag, and some folks spread a ginormous American flag across the field. Oh, and they set free about a billion white doves. Here are a couple pics from that game.

Now, let's get to tonight's home game against the Pirates. Awesome. Not only did we win, 10 - 2, but we also had great seats on the field level. Before the game we were sitting right on the edge watching Randy Wolf and Russell Martin (my personal fave) throw the ball. Randy threw the ball back to Russ, it tipped his glove and came straight for my face. I ducked over and it hit my foot, though not really hard, so I think it must have knicked the chair on the way down. Guess what?? THAT BALL IS MINE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! SWEET CANDY!! Here are some pics of tonight's game.

Russell Martin on the field

This pic of Russ is cool cuz Trav got him in the air.

My Ball!!!

For my sister...

Kay...according to the comments on my last post, Mom would like you to update your blog. In fact, I would like you to as well. You live far away, I like to look at my nephews. So, do it. Update your blog. Do it for Mom. :-)

A Pear a Day...

I have always just assumed that bananas or strawberries were my favorite fruit. Why? Who knows. They taste good, so, the whole of my decision was based on that. Then came the pear. I LOVE pears. I just ate one, and I am contemplating eating another. What is it about this yummy fruit? It is more like a treat, or dessert maybe.

The outside of a pear looks less than perfect, not too aesthetically pleasing. But, when you cut it open it is pretty much the picture of perfect.

The outside can have all sorts of marks and scars, but the inside is quite nice. So, the pear. My new favorite fruit. Or was it my favorite all along?

Anyone have a good pear recipe?

Take me out to the Ball Game...

(sing it with me)

...Take me out to the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and crackers jacks, I don't care if I never get back. So it's root, root, root for the DODGERS. If they don't win it's a shame. Cuz it's ONE, TWO, THREE strikes your out at the OLD BALL GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dodger Stadium

Today is an AWESOME day!!!!!!! BASEBALL is upon us! Aren't you excited?!?

Man, it is like Christmas!! I have the next two weeks off of work for Easter Break, and it is definitely the BEST two weeks I could have off of work. Lots of baseball to be watched, and even three games to go to at Dodger Stadium!! (opening day on the 9th, the 11th, and the 14th). In fact, I am already watching baseball on TV (although ESPN is making it a little dramatic, since it is Opening Day...so I'm turning it to Dodgers Live on Fox Sports.). It is a good day, for sure!

I am PUMPED!! Is anyone else excited??

babies, babies everywhere (NO, we are not having one)

Are we behind? ha ha I have to use MORE THAN 2 HANDS to count the number of people we know that are pregnant right now!!! I just learned of 2 more friends today. I would say there is something in the water...but it isn't just here. How many more of you are there?? My bank acount can only handle so many baby showers!! :-)

(side note: the "Are we behind?" was said in jest. I don't want our families leaving messages listing the 10 million reasons we should not have a baby right now. We are well aware. ha ha)

seriously

Sanjaya is ruining american idol for me. More specifically votefortheworst.com is ruining american idol.

I am so mad right now. Chris did not deserve to go home.

I am pretty much done with American Idol this season.

Interesting Info

So, for those of you interested in Pepperdine Law or the Supreme Court, this makes for some interesting reading.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1174912592026&pos=ataglance

(click on that link to see which 2 Supreme Court Justices will be teaching at Pep. Law this summer.)

On a side note: one little girl at my school CRACKS ME UP on a daily basis. She is barely 5. She came to school the other day with a nasty wound on her chin. I proceeded to ask her what happened to her, and this is how she responded, "Well, you should see the other guy."

And Also: SANJAYA?!?!?! What??? Why in the world has he not been kicked off yet???

Trav's Birthday Dinner

Saturday night we went to dinner at BJ's with some of our friends for Travis' 26th. It was TONS of fun. We had good food, drinks, and dessert. Here are a few pictures from the fun party.

Not much else to add to this post. Just thought our families would like to see some of the pictures.

Happy Birthday!!!

Well...26 years ago this guy was born:

You may recognize him better here:

He's still cute.

BSG

So for 3 seasons now "people" have been raving about the new Battlestar Gallactica (or BSG as it's known) and how it's the best show on television.. I originally watched the miniseries and a few episodes but just gave up as I had other things I like to watch. Well recently I acquired (read bought) the first season and as this is my spring break I've been watching it.
And I have to say "people" were right, it is a Frakkin' good show. But it it the best show on television? I'm still not convinced it's better than Veronica Mars, but it is a great drama that just happens to be set in space, and one of the best things out there (at least if the first 6ish hours are an indication)
Speaking of Veronica Mars, I am super excited that this Saturday I will be attending Wizard World LA, and who will be there? Why Veronica Mars herself, Kristen Bell! I'm planning on having a picture taken with her, so look for it soon!

Texas - through the eyes of some of my five year old students

I was serving snack to a group of kids at school today. We somehow got onto the topic of traveling, or something, I'm not sure. Anyhow, here is the conversation:

Me: "I get on an airplane to go to Texas!"

All 10 kids, almost in unison: "TEXAS!!!!!"

One boy: "That's where the cowboys are."

Another boy: "Yeah, all the cowboys are in Texas."

The rest of them: "YEAH!!!"

Me: "Who told you that cowboys were in Texas?"

One girl: "Well, my TV!"

And there you have it!

Prayers

Some of our Friends need your prayers.
Our friends from back in Amarillo, Brad & Jordan, really need your prayers. Several years ago Jordan had stomach cancer and her stomach had to be removed. Today they found out that Jordan has a spot on her liver and a spot on her lung and some internal bleeding.
She is currently in the hospital having tests run to see if there are anymore spots. And tonight she's being flown to Dallas to get treatment.
To make matters worse last Wednesday Jordan gave birth to a little girl, Phoebe.
Their family needs your prayers as they have a son and a brand new little girl. Please ask God to heal Jordan and be with the rest of the family through this tough time.
Thanks,
Travis and Jeri

Holy Rising Gas Prices, Batman!!!!!

Please note: this post requires audience participation!!

So, we are on our way home tonight and we stop to get gas. I look at the prices and see that it is $2.99 a gallon. WHAT?!?!?! That wasn't even in Malibu. I shudder to think of how much gas is here in this expensive town we live in. We got a half tank of gas and it was $21.00 - in the Grand Am. I have not been down to where the gas stations here in Malibu are in a while, and I am scared to go down there because gas will be well over $3.00 there. Here is where your participation is needed: how much is gas where you live?? Seriously, I want to know. Please post a comment with where you live and how much gas is per gallon there.

We stopped in to Albertson's on our way home tonight as well (this was pre-gas). I let Travis get the few things we needed while I ventured to the restrooms. I am not a fan of public restrooms, mostly because they are disgusting. But, what bothers me the most is when there are log sheets on the door that a person initials and puts the time on every time they come to clean the restroom. This bothers me because more often than not someone has initialed and logged the time they cleaned 10 minutes before I enter the restroom, and lo and behold the restroom is NOT clean. Usually it is FAR from clean. I don't like that one bit, and I complain about it. A person should not initial the log if they have not cleaned the restroom. Well, when I went to the restroom at Albertson's the door said, "We are proud to offer clean restrooms." LIARS!!!!!!! The restroom was FILTHY!!!!! So, what did I do? I complained. Really though, is it so much to ask for a reasonably clean restroom? So, I went up to the guy and said, "Excuse me, I just wanted to let you know that the restroom is disgusting." The guy looked at me sincerely and said, "Oh really? The girls?" Huh?? I wanted to laugh in his face. I sat there and stared at him thinking, "well, I normally use the men's restroom." Seriously.

In Dodger news: We are going to opening day!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!! We actually ended up getting a mini season ticket plan. I did some baby sitting and Travis did some law research for a family friend, so we went for the season tickets. We got tickets to 15 games!!! It worked out to be a great deal for each game. We go to SO many games anyway, in the long run this will save us some dough. Needless to say, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!! April 9 we will be watching from the stands!!

Ok folks...participation time. Gas prices??

All Things Chocolate

Ok so...I LOVE chocolate. So when I was searching our "On Demand" shows for the FoodNetwork channel and saw "Good Eats: Chocolate 1", "Good Eats: Chocolate 2", and "Good Eats: Chocolate 3" I knew I just had to watch. Alton Brown is the guy that does the show "Good Eats" and he is very entertaining. He makes the show scientific, and not just about him cooking. So, back to the chocolate. He gives a brownie recipe that looks great, but I can't get my act together to actually make those brownies from scratch. I know they are much better than the box brownies, but the box is so convenient, not to mention EASY. So when he gave a recipe for hot chocolate I had to write it down because all it takes is mixing dry ingredients in a container. So this morning before work I decided to mix it all up. One of the ingredients is cayenne pepper. Yeah, it may seem strange, but it sort of made sense to me. You know, to give it a little bite. So, I was ok with that as an ingredient. However, there was no exact measurement given for the cayenne pepper. Alton simply said to add some cayenne pepper, and then proceeded to take the shaker and shake it directly on top pf all of the other ingredients and then mix them all together. How hard is that? ha. I put all of the ingredients, sans cayenne pepper, into a large bowl. Then I grabbed the cayenne pepper and shook some on the top of what was already in the bowl. Honestly, there was alot of other stuff in the bowl, so the red powder on top looked like nothing compared everything else. I put the lid on the bowl and shook that sucker up. I was proud of myself. Feeling like I had achieved something before even going to work, I proceeded to make myself a cup of hot chocolate. I then took a sip. Something was not right. I went and woke Travis up and told him he needed to taste it. Upon arriving back into the kitchen, I looked into my mug of tasty goodness and saw many red specks skimming the top of my beverage. Travis took a drink. He winced, uttered an "ughhh", and held the mug far away from his face. A moment later he says, "it tastes good, until it burns the back of your throat." So apparently, I made lethal hot chocolate. When it comes to cayenne pepper, there needs to be an exact measurement, because I guess I cannot eye ball it.

Nothing else is really going on around here. We started playing tennis a couple weeks ago. We look like a couple of freaks flailing about. Every day we looks a little less like a flailing freak though, and it is fun. In other words, we are not good. At all. But who can complain when the ocean is in site as your playing tennis? Not I.

March is a good month for whale watching around here, according to my sources. So we may try to watch some whales this weekend. If we get any good pictures I'll post some.

so good it's....WICKED!!!!

Excuse the poor attempt at a witty title for this blog post. Honestly, it made me giggle when i thought of it...so...most of you will probably think it's corny. :-) But that's ok with me. Saturday night we ventured to Hollywood to see Wicked at the Pantages Theater. It is my new favorite musical. It was so entertaining and the music is AWESOME. I reccomend this musical to everyone.

At 4:00 am Sunday morning (after only being in bed for 2 1/2 hours) I woke up terribly sick. The nasty stomach thing that attacked all my kids at school finally caught me. At least, I assume it was that rather than food poisoning since everything i ate the last week Travis ate too. Either way...at the urging of my sweet husband the sickness resulted in a trip to the Urgent Care center here in Malibu (because there is no way I would have made it to Santa Monica to the ER). One bout of dehydration, an IV, 3 bags of saline, 2 syringes of demoral, and 2 syringes of phenergen later (all in 4 1/2 hours) I was feeling much better. Loopy, but better. Blah. If I never get that again it will be too soon.

In other news, Monday we were walking into CVS here in Malibu and ran into David Arquette. Well, not so much ran into as walked past in the parking lot.

Also, it looks like Travis has a great shot at an entertainment law internship. He has a meeting Friday. If you think about it you might shoot up a prayer on his behalf. Thanks!! Have a good one.

Celeb Sightings - UPDATED!!!

So This week has been a big one in the Celebrity Sightings Arena for Jeri and I, and it's only half way through the week. So far we've seen 6 celebrities, which is about 6 more than we've seen in the past month.
Monday night we went to Burbank to see a screening of Super Bad. After the movie Jeri ran to the restroom and I as I was coming out of the theater I made eye contact with some guy, who I quickly realized was Hank Azaria (The Simpsons, Huff) so I gave him the head nod and walked away very quickly, because I didn't want to seem like I was starring.
Then as I stood waiting for Jeri in the lobby I noticed Seth Rogen (Writer and Star of Super Bad and Judd Apatow (Writer and Director of The 40 Year Old Virgin & Knocked Up) standing around talking to various people. I'm a big fan of both of these guys work. Both worked on one of my favorite TV Shows ever, Freaks & Geeks (Seth was an Actor, Judd was the co-creator) and although both The 40 Year old Virgin & Knocked Up (Seth also acted in these) have a lot of bad language and some questionable content they have really good messages, and an underlying sweetness that I just really loved. So since Jeri wasn't around to discourage me I walked up to Seth Rogen and told him I was a big fan and that they had done a terrific job on Super Bad and that I'd seen a sneak preview of Knocked Up and that he was really good in it. He shook my hand, said thanks, and I went on my way. Then I decided to walk over to Judd Apatow and do the same. So I walked over, said I was sorry to interrupt but that I was a big fan, gave him my name, and shook his hand and said I had seen Knocked Up, which he seemed surprised by, and that I'd loved it, and he said thanks. I told him that Freaks & Geeks was one of my favorite shows and he said "And Undeclared?" and I said "of Course Undeclared I have them both on DVD." He laughed, shook my hand again and said thanks, and I walked away.
Then as I continued to wait for Jeri I kept looking around to see who else was standing around, and that's when I saw one of the coolest celebrities I've seen in the year and a half we've been out here. Edward Norton. Yes Edward Norton was there for the screening of Super Bad and was standing around in the lobby.
Jeri came back to the Lobby, having just missed Hank Azaria, but I pointed out Edward Norton to her so she could look as we passed him, and I told her I had said something to Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow.

Last Night for Valentine's day we went to The Arclight Theater in Hollywood. As we entered the courtyard area in front of the Arclight I noticed a guy wearing a leather motorcycle jacket and holding a helmet and very quickly Jeri and I both realized it was Giovanni Ribisi. So that was pretty cool as he's another actor that I really like.

Then after the movie, on our way home Jeri & I had to stop at the Albertson's Grocery Store in Calabasas. On our way out at about 10:00pm on Valentine's Day we saw Howie Mandel walking into the store. It was pretty random, as we've never seen anyone at that grocery store, but there was another guy coming out right behind us, and his reaction was pretty funny. When he saw him he said "Hi, Howie" and I think Howie responded in turn (I couldn't hear him) and the guy just got the biggest smile on his face and it was plan to see that Howie Mandel had made his entire night.

Updated: One new one from today (Friday), we went to the Topanga Canyon Mall in Woodland Hills this afternoon and while we were walking around Jeri recognized this guy, she just wasn't sure from where at first. But then she realized, it was Keith from One Tree Hill, or Craig Sheffer (Into the West) to the rest of the world. He was at the Hair Extension/Wig kiosk with a woman. So that's it for this week.

Calling Out, Around the World....

Just a cool observation. Our blog gets readers from all over the place. South America, Asia, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. But I wonder...Why don't y'all make comments? It's cool that you read, but you should say something every once in a while. Hopefully, we will get something remotely worth reading up here soon.