2 Years Down, 1 To Go...

Travis is finished!!! Hooray! One more year down!

It's a Beautiful Day....

Sunday afternoon I drove up the coast a couple miles to pick up a friend for a baby shower. It was the most beautiful day. I only had my camera phone, so the pictures do not do justice to how pretty it was.

There were no clouds in the sky, and I could see for miles across the ocean. I saw Catalina Island. So pretty. Days like that make me pinch myself just to be sure I really live here!

After picking up my friend, we drove to the location of the baby shower. It was on the beach in a little resteraunt. I wish I had thought to take pictures there. I did meet a couple people there, though.

Anyone ever listen to that group in the early 90's? Well, I met the Wilson portion (the 2 dark haired girls). Crazy. I used to listen to their songs every day...I even went so far as to record mysef singing their songs at those little cheesy places at Six Flags and such. So, I met them. And you know, they are normal people. As I have discovered where I work, celebrities are pretty normal, all things considered. (ok, the celebrities I have contact with anyway). I teach some of their kids, their kids are surprisingly normal, too.

So fun!!

I have to give a shout out to my high school friend Bradley and his band Sounds Under Radio!!!
LAst night after seeing Spiderman 3, I was looking over the soundtrack. I was scrolling down to view the bands, and came across SUR!! Hooray for Bradley and the band! Very cool getting on the soundtrack!! (if you click on the name of the band above you can hear their tunes)

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.