Weekend/Sabbath

Disclaimer: This post is pretty long and has quite a few photos. You might want to grab a snack or some coffee to go along with this read. :]

Saturday morning, I went to work for two hours, then headed out to the Colesseum for the USC homecoming game against Oregon State. (Did you know that in ancient times, the original Colesseum was flooded and actual ships had mock naval battles inside the staduim? I digress...) My cousins Marissa & Kara (Kara's Trojan alumni,) they're awesome and we're so thankful they thought of us! The game was so much fun! USC won 24-3, with 9 sacks, Oregon only gained 117 yards the whole game and no one scored in the second half. It was a pretty interesting game and the Spirit of Troy (their marching band) was awesome! If you really know Scott and I, you know we're former high school band geeks and our band was modeled after USC's. We also performed with them several times, so they have a special place in our hearts!

Sunday morning, Scott and I were up pretty early thanks to the time change so we went to the 9am service at church. After that we went to Denny's to get our grub on. Scott got alphabet onion rings. He also tried to re-enact the Cholula Steal. (When we first started dating, Scott and our friend Joel snuck a bottle of Cholula into my purse and I, unknowingly, walked out of the restaurant with it. I got mad that they made me steal something, so I ran to my car and drove off without them...I went back for them after a couple minutes.)

After lunch we went to the UCR Botanical Gardens to take some pictures and visit. I've never been there. It's really neat! (We took more pictures than this, but for some reason the light meter on my camera was acting crazy so most of them came out over exposed. Stupid manual film camera and lens. My goal is to have my pretty DSLR by Christmas. I just have to figure out which on I want.) The tree that's in black and white gave me weird dreams last night. It had these fruit things on it that someone was picking up off the ground at the gardens. I had a dream last night that fairies were hatching from the pod things and flying around. It was kind of neat!


Later in the afternoon, we went to Corona to watch Mackenzie (my youngest brother, the blond boy in the sweater vest) portray Edmund in Christian Arts and Theater's production of "The Chronicals of Narnia." He was AMAZING! His voice sounded great, he didn't mess up any lines, he didn't fall off the stage, didn't crash into any props, he didn't come out half costumed and he did it all with a great British accent! I love watching him grow into this great performer! The entire cast did a great job, it's a fun play and of course a fantastic story for kids. (Just remind the kids that when Aslan dies, it isn't real.) If you have kids, I really recommend taking them! They have two more weekends of shows and great deals on TICKETS! Support your local theater and my little brother!

Trunk 'N' Treat 2007

Happy belated Halloween Bloggers! Hope everyone had a great time! Scott and I spent our first married Halloween at the Grove's Trunk 'N' Treat event. It was a lot of fun! Quick Before Sinking played minus Dave, plus Rodrigo, along with the Average White Haired Band. There was great music, food, treats, games, costumes and cute kids everywhere! Quite a few of the high school kids were running the game booths, I think it's awesome that they're involved! Scott and I went dressed as a '50's couple. I think we were pretty cute! I don't have any pictures of us together...sorry.

We also saw Keala and Ashley (no blogs?,) who looked adorable in her costume! And Holly (another non-blogger?) whose baby bump is so cute on her! And Jess and Gwyn looking beautiful as fairies! I love your black and pink glasses, by the way! Sorry, no pictures, I was slacking. I do have a picture of the guy that came as the Grove sticker!

Adam, Mark (no blog, but I met his sister last night, she has awesome hair) and Scott started their set with a couple acoustic songs and they were awesome! Mistake of My Life was fantastic! Then when Rodrigo joined up they rocked the stage with a few more, including two of my favorites, Heavy Metal Drummer and Come Together. These are my some of my favorites because I love watching Scott play on these! He has such a great time and it really shows! Their second set was even more fun! Sweet Child O' Mine (their swing version) and Hey Jude, my hands down favorite of the night! Any song with crowd participation's a winner in my book, plus it's Beatles!

Aggie chilled with me and sang the "na na na's" and the "get back JoJo" on Get Back. When the band was choosing their next song, she requested the Doors! There are people my age that don't even know the Doors, she's 4 and knows them! I'm always amazed at how smart she is! We also talked about Zeke and his family moving to "the top of America" and how much she's going to miss them. I reassured her that they'll be back to visit and they'll still be friends. We also talked about how her daddy's the greatest piano player, she said my husband's the greatest drummer and she thinks Jimi Hendrix is the grestest guitar player even though he's dead. Amazing! Then she just hung out with me while her dad and my hubby played a few more songs. (Adam and Jess, you guys have one of the greatest girls I know! Hanging out with her makes me excited to have kids of my own someday. Hope ours are as cool as yours!)

The Cross was another great one, especially when they got to the rockin' part! You could see the excitement on Scott's face when it got to "the fun part," he was fierce! Then Quick Before Sinking played together with the Average White Haired Band. It was like at the end of a charity show when all the artists get on stage together for the finale. Sweet Home Alabama and Freebird were awesome, even though I thought Scott's arms were going to fall off after the sixteenths toward the end. He nailed 'em, even without rehearsal. All in all, a great night filled with fun people and great music! Thanks guys!

And here's my pumpkins. I did fake ones this year as part of my autumn craft day. Wow...long blog! Only 22 more days til Thanksgiving!

Hubby Love

I had a really, really bad day at work today. So bad, I don't want to go back to the place I'm assigned. I came home, instantly starting complaining about my awful day. All I wanted to do was eat junk food and cry.
What does Scott do? Listen intently as I complain and fixes me a hot dog. Then when I demand more junk food, he offers me fruit instead. Although I was a little annoyed by it at the time, I appreciate the love behind it.
Sometimes I feel so dumb being married to him. Even if I have to deal with bathroom break-ins, snoring, or talking in his sleep (which he did just now as I wrote this blog,) I love him. For some reason, God put us together, and some how, God gives him the strength to put up with me and still love me when I'm mad and grumpy. Scott's amazing!

Completely unrelated...Thanks Kathy and Adam for filling me in on the google reader! It's going to make my blog reading much more efficient. That sounds a little oxymoronic.

All you need is love...and antibiotics

My cousin had open heart surgery last Thursday. I'm not very good at visiting family in the hospital. Usually they're sad and gloomy and I'm just awkward. I never really know what to say. My mom and I went to visit her yesterday. She's doing really well! She only had to have dressing over her sutures for a day or two, her breath is strong and she is already back to walking. Her spirits are high and her recovery's going to be easy for her. She gets to come home Wednesday. And she wasn't putting on the face that she was doing well either, she really is doing great. I was really scared for her. She helped my parents take care of me when I was a baby. And even as a kid, she was always there to drive me to school if my parents had to work, or to take me to Disneyland just because. She's the closest thing I have to a sister and I'm so glad she's alright!

I'm still sick. I went to the doctor on Friday, got some antibiotics and cough syrup with codine to help battle my new case of bronchitis. I took my last antibiotic pill this morning and really don't feel that much better. Not good. Do I go back to the doctor tomorrow on my day off or do I just let it go and hope it goes away?

I dyed my hair black yesterday. I know most people will say, "Why? You're hair was already black!" Correction, my hair is not naturally black, it's brown. And when I dye it black, there is quite a difference. I like it...for now.

Scott and I went to see "Across the Universe" yesterday for date night. It's still amazing! Can't wait for it to come out on dvd.

And why hasn't anyone updated lately? I know you've got stuff going on, write it down! And is there a way I can be emailed when someone updates their blog, so better yet, can I be emailed the blog entry? Anyone know?

Sick...

I've been sick for a week now and it just doesn't seem to be getting better. Last Friday I woke up with a sore throat, just like the other 3 I've had this year attributed to strep throat. On Tuesday, I developed a cough, which from my history, tells me my sore throat has spread into a bronchial infection. I'm not to the point where I'm so sick I can't do anything, I can still go to work. I took yesterday off in hopes that a day of rest would clear it up, but to such luck. I woke up this morning, still sounding like my lungs were going to pop out of my throat. And it's not just a cough, my chest and ribs hurt too. This stinks! I know I should probably go to the doctor, but I probably won't have a chance to til Monday, my next day off. Ugh, I guess it could be worse. I could have a haunted leg...anyone watch Grey's last night?

Sabbath / Autumn Craft Day

Yesterday Scott and I went to church, sat in the Chapel since his dad had told us that Saturday night overflowed, and we heard that the 9am service overflowed. I don't think they knew it was going to be a contemporary service because on of the old usher men said he'd never seen me in the chapel before. I explained that since we'd heard the other services overflowed, we'd just make it easier for others to find seats in the sanctuary. Then he talked about how they do traditional hymns thenplay a dvd of the pervious service. I guess everyone went to those ones, because the 10:45 service certainly didn't overflow. It's cool though. We got to sit with Dan & Alyssa and some napping old folks. the rest of the day, we cleaned the house and I rested (I felt rather sick) and Scott went to play for a service at Alesia's church.

Mondays are what I really consider my Sabbath though because I get most of the day to myself while Scott's at work. This morning, I planned on having a fun day of photographing, but wasn't really motivated given the smokey air outside, so I switched to Plan B, Autumn Craft Day! I went to Micheal's, picked up some fake flowers, a heart-shaped grapevine wreath and a fake pumpkin. I made a nice centerpiece for the "Friends Thanksgiving Dinner," a tradition my friends and I started in high school. I also made an autumn wreath to hang on our door once Halloween passes and our "Bats Motel" sign is no longer appropriate. I think both look pretty awesome and just as nice as the once they sell pre-made for $30-$50 at Micheal's. Great weekend!

As Scott and I were walking through the church parking lot I asked him, "If God had an iPOD, what do you think he'd have on it?" Any ideas folks? And if God had a blog, what would he write about? Just a thought...
Edit: An hour and a half later... I also forgot to unplug the hot glue gun that I left resting on the couch. The couch is ok, my fingers, not so much. I also finished my "LOVE" project for our wall. It's my favorite word, it's a noun and a verb and so powerful! Last week, I also finally put up some of my own photography around our place. It really feels like home now. I'll post photos of those later.

No plans tonight?

Then you should come down to Java Bliss and hang with me as Quick Before Sinking plays some sweet music! They're will be coffee, smoothies, pastries, sandwiches and Scott on the drums! I know what you're thinking, "Wow, could this night get any better?" My answer, "Yes it can!" There will also be Adam, Dave and Mark with vocals and their instruments of choice. And trust me, they are the greatest things to touch instruments since the Beatles!

So, let's recap, no plans tonight? Now you have some, Quick Before Sinking @ Java Bliss from 7pm-9pm. If you already have plans, dump 'em!

See you there!

I'm not an ambichewer!

Man, I've got wisdom teeth coming in on the right side of my mouth and it doesn't hurt that much. The top one came in first, I can actually feel it with my finger though. On the bottom, my gums feel like they're being peel apart, layer by layer. To make matters worse, I usually chew my food on that side of my mouth. It's weird having to chew on the other side, I'm just not an ambichewer. Guess I should make an appointment with a dentist. :[

I got married for this?

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being married and I love my husband more than words could ever say, but the past few days, some crazy, random things have happened in our apartment. Why didn't anyone tell me this stuff would happen?

Our apartment only has one bathroom and I usually lock the door when I'm in there. I was taking a shower before bed the other night when Scott knocks on the door, "Can I go to the bathroom?" I yell back, "If you can get in, I locked the door!" Next thing I know, I hear clanking and a pound on the door. I peek out around the curtain to see this...

HE BROKE INTO OUR BATHROOM! When I said, "If you can get in..." I was joking! Maybe I should have said, "I'll be done in two minutes."

On Friday, I was stuck in traffic coming home from work. A one hour drive took three hours, making me get home at 11:30pm. Normally, I come home have a snack and go to bed because I have to get up at 6am on Saturday for work, but that night, I stayed up with Scott watching tv. By the time I was ready for bed it was 1:30, only 5 hours away from when I needed to get up. Scott wasn't entirely ready for bed, so he turned on the tv in our bedroom. He asked what I wanted to watch. I said, "Whatever you want. I don't care, I'm going to sleep." Man, why on earth did I say that? Scott begins surfing through the channels only to land on BYU's tv station which was showing "PanJam: Brough Family Steel Band"

Of course, Scott being the amazing percussionist he is, he's completely intrigued. (I cannot express how annoying the sound of steel drums are when you're trying to go to sleep.) He watched for a couple minutes before I asked him to find something else. I roll back over, only to hear every 3 year olds favorite dinosaur singing, "I love you, you love me..." Never did I imagine that Barney would be the last straw. I went to sleep on the couch in peace and quiet. :]

This morning, my alarm went off at 7am, only to find Scott just waking up, and being flustered since he was supposed to be at work at 7. His alarm didn't go off. I got up to make sandwiches for his lunch, but little did I know the dangers I was going to encounter. As I spread mustard (my least favorite condiment) on the bread, my eye itched. So, I go to scratch it, not realizing that there was mustard on my finger.

I hope no one else has ever experienced mustard in their eye, but if you have, I am so sorry! It felt like acid burning through the layers of my left eyeball. For a minute there, I thought my eye might be removed and I'd have to wear an eye patch like Aunt Lily on "Pushing Daisies."

Cornbread, Candles and Burns

This weekend was awesome! I had the entire weekend off and didn't have anything I had to do. Saturday, Scott made pancakes, and we just hung out. Later Saturday night, one of my BFFs, Danny, came over to check out our place and watch the USC game. He's hilarious! He's such an amzing friend! We met our freshman year, we've been through a lot together since then! He's been to Iraq twice, goes to school full time, is a great friend to everyone he meets, escorted my mom down the aisle at our wedding and is an all-around great person. I don't know why we've been friends this long, but I'm so glad God's blessed me with his friendship.

While Danny, Scott and I were enjoying the game, I forgot about the candles I had burning in the bathroom. Oops. Don't worry, it wasn't hard to clean up, the entire pillar candle in the center came off in one piece, all the drippings still attached. Pretty cool, huh?

Scott and I are heading over to my parents' house for dinner and Monday Night Football tonight. I made cornbread to go along with the chicken my mom said we were having. I like making special treats for the people I love. My mom's been going through a rough time at work lately, and she LOVES cornbread. Hopefully, my cornbread will bring a little smile to her face!

My Own Pancake Maker

My husband, Scott, made some AMAZING pancakes for breakfast this morning! He made me some with chocolate chips, topped with peanut butter and maple syrup. They were 100% not healthy and 100% delicious! He also made some blueberry ones for himself, including one in the picture, it's the size of our plates! He has been declared the official pancake maker of our family! (Which is great because I can cook almost anything, except pancakes!) His next test...Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes.

The Hunt

I just checked the updated schedule for work next week and found out I'm off the entire week. Not good! I guess it'll give me time to hunt for a new job. I hate the instability of this schedule and pay. It's just not practical for anyone, especially a newlywed. :(
New job requirements (I don't want to settle for something because it pays, I want to enjoy the work I do and I want it to have a purpose)
-must involve art
-must be near home (I don't want to drive more than 20 minutes to get there)
-must be with fun, creative and friendly people
-maybe involving organizing events (art exhibits? get a head start on curating?)
-maybe just working as someone's assistant?
-maybe and office environment?
The hunt begins...let me know if you hear of anything!

Across The Universe

On Friday night, Scott and I went to see Across the Universe. It was AWESOME! I loved it, but then again, I knew I would. I'm afraid to recommend movies because I don't want them to be disappointed if they don't like it as much as I do. I agree with Scott's review. Especially, if you don't know what it's about, or you're not a Beatles fan, you probably won't really care for it.
Me, being the huge Beatles fan that I am, thought it was a beautiful film. It was so creative in the context some songs were used in, especially "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". My favorite songs in the film are "All You Need Is Love" (of course,) and "Dear Prudence." The imagery used during "Dear Prudence" was awesome! Magritte would've loved it! The actors and there voices were amazing! My only complaint is that Jude and Max's voices are a bit too similar. Their harmonies are great, but I wish you could really tell that it's two different people. I think at times it sounds like one person, recorded twice. All in all, it's a great film! Plus Bono's in it, how could you go wrong?

Long, much needed update!

I'M MARRIED! Scott and I got married on August 17th, most people that read this were probably there. My dad made me cry right before we got out the door to walk down the aisle, then he had me cracking up as we walked down the aisle. Scott looked so handsome! The guys looked great, especially Riley making faces at me during the ceremony. Our flowergirls and ring bearers behaved and did their jobs perfectly, or at least for four year olds it was perfect. My girls looked beautiful and somehow put up with the craziness that I was that day. Almost all of our family were able to be there too! Dan was an amazing officiating pastor! His message was funny and beautiful and everyone loved the part where he said, "The Ellises finally get a daughter!" (Scott's family has four boys.) The reception was so much fun! Adam, Rodrigo, Mark and my husband played "All You Need Is Love" and made my father-daughter dance the single greatest moment I've ever had with my daddy. And then when they played "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Hey Jude" I got to dance with my mom, aunt and my girls and some of my best friends. Citrus Swing Orchestra was amazing, and adding Scott's mom to sing with them made it even better! I still can't believe how many people were there. Like Scott said at the reception, we originally wanted about 100 people there, but the list kept growing, but they were all people we love and love us and should be there! It's amazing to see how many people love and support you, and feel their happiness for you. It was the perfect day and the greatest day of my life! I married my best friend!

The honeymoon was amazing! Disneyland was so much fun! The baseball game was fun, even though the Angels lost to the Yankees. Cirque du Soleil's LOVE was even more amazing the second time! (Their contract's been renewed for 10 more years, so hopefully Adam'll get to see it!) We had a blast!

Living together is a new experience! It's nice to know he'll be there when I get home from work and I get to see him everyday! There's little things that you have to get used to, like sharing the bed and splitting up the chores, but it's all a learning experience. It's like playing house, but you're not playing! :]

Going back to work sucked. It's been really slow, I haven't been working the full amount that I should be working because there just isn't enough work to go around. On top of all that, I really just don't enjoy my job. The people I work with are nice, but I feel like I don't fit in sometimes. I've been looking around for something else, but can't really find anything interesting. I wish I had a job with normal hours, where I'd go to the same place everyday and I could know what to expect. I'd love a job in an office with friendly people, just working as someone's assistant, helping them and organizing stuff and working with art somehow. I think I'd be great at that because I'm organized, self-motivated and it doesn't involve SALES.

Lately I've really missed school. I'm not going this semester because I don't have time because my work schedule's funky and I didn't want to be overly stressed. I feel behind because most of my friends are finished with college or they'll be finished this year. When you go through 4 majors before deciding on art history you're bound to be behind. I know it's ok because I've done other things that my friends haven't and I know I'll finish eventually. I just hope it's sooner rather than later. But for that to happen, I have to find a different job. :[

On a completely unrelated note, Across the Universe opens nationwide tomorrow! I AM SOOOOO EXCITED! Also, if you're free tonight, you should come check out Scott's band, Quick Before Sinking (Adam and Mark, two of the guys that played at the wedding, Scott and this other guy, Dave, who makes Les Paul look like an ameteur.) They'll be playing some great music from 7pm-9pm at Java Bliss in Riverside. I'm reall excited about this too! Hope to see you there!

Birthday

Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday dear Christina! Happy birthday to me!
On this date, 22 years ago, I escaped from my mother's womb. Hooray!

My dad and I have been tossing around ideas for what song we want to dance to for our father-daughter dance at the wedding (which, by the way, is only 41 days away.) A few weeks ago he tossed out a song that really surprised me, "All You Need Is Love" by the greatest band to ever walk this beautiful planet. Little did he know that from the first time I seriously thought of my wedding and the songs I'd dance to, that was the one I wanted for us. From as early as I could remember, my dad would play Beatles records (yes, those big black things) for me and I grew to love their music and the message that song conveyed. Minor problem though, as great as the Beatles were, they wrote the song in a very strange time signature that goes between 4/4, 3/4 and who knows what else, which makes it a tricky song to dance to. My dad is a very talented man in many areas, but dancing is not one of them.
I guess what I'm trying to get at is, are there any musicians or dancers out there that have any suggestions. I already asked Scott if it'd be hard to play the song in a straight 4 and he said it'd take a lot of rehearsal and probably wouldn't really be worth the effort. Any suggestions about how to make this song work? Or maybe suggestions for songs that wouldn't be so troublesome, but aren't your standard father-daughter songs that everyone uses? Any opinions would help! :]

Life update

I've been re-training for my job with lifetouch the past two days. It's going really well! The people I used to work for/with seem really excited to have me back, which I am sooo thankful for! I was afraid it was going to be weird, but it's not. The two girls I'm training with are awesome too! I can't wait to get back out there into the churches! (Oh, it'll be nice to have money again too.)
Scott and I finished our last pre-marital workshop class tonight. It was a good experience. I don't think we learned a lot of new things, maybe just further discussed things we've already talked about, or learned about from friends, parents, pastors, etc. We got a little certificate saying that we completed the class, only problem is that according to the certificate Scott's is getting married to someone named Kristina Beardsly, not Christina Beardsley. Ooops! So much for putting that in the scrapbook.
Cindy that taught our pre-marital class also teaches ballroom dancing at our church. I really wish we could take the class, but it's Thursday nights and I have to work. There's quite a few things I have to not do because of work now, which sucks, but it's just a sacrifice I have to make I guess. I'm still trying to work it out so I can at least get off early to go to lifegroup on Tuesday nights. It's only twice a month, but Tuesday are a strange day for us at work. :[ It's nice that I'm off Sundays and Mondays, but Mondays are kind of a weird day to have off. Tuesdays would be better.
School's going well, I guess. The semester's almost done, which is nice!
Wedding plans are coming along, I guess. We have our cake testing appointment Saturday morning. I'm VERY excited about that! I've received a lot of invitation samples, but I'm not really thrilled about any off them. I don't know if I'm being too picky or what. Oh well. We'll decide on some eventually because we need to order them by next week.

Beach, Burritos and Poker

Friday night Scott and I had a bonfire (I still don't know why we call it a bonfire, that's hardly what it is...) at Huntington Beach. Two Friday night bonfires in a row, it's fantastic! It was a lot of fun, we ate hot dogs and roasted marshmallows for s'mores. Huntington has a 10pm curfew on the beach, kinda dumb, so we left and headed to Keno's in Yorba Linda for more food and karaoke. Unfortunately, you have to be 21 to be in the bar part of the restaurant where the karaoke takes place, so we went to the regular part since 3 of our friends aren't 21 yet. I'm still a little bummed that we didn't get to karaoke.

Yesterday Scott and I went to pick out the tuxedos for our wedding, he got measured and it's all set! The guys in our wedding are going to look so awesome! I can't wait to see them! After tuxedo fitting, we met my parents at Red Chile, this little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant in Cerritos with the world's greatest wet chicken burritos, to celebrate my dad's birthday. My dad's been going there since he was 26 and now he's 52! It was soooo good! We came home and Danny and Johnny came over and played poker with my dad, Scott and me. Scott ended up winning, but I still think if I hadn't split some of my chips so Johnny could get in on the game I would have won. I've really needed some fun time with friends and this weekend has been exactly that!

I start my "re-" training tomorrow. I'm kind of excited, but kind of nervous. I don't know why. Well, it's time for church, have a great week!

Finales

I hate the last few weeks of May because it means my favorite shows will go on vacation for the summer or be cancelled forever.
Tuesday night, the last new episode of Gilmore Girls aired. I knew it was going to happen as soon the producers, Amy Sherman-Palladino & Daniel Palladino, left. When David S. Rosenthal took over for this season, you instantly knew it was a different show. I knew it was going to end, but to really see the end of the show made me really sad. It's been my favorite show for 7 years. Now I'm left with The Office & Grey's Anatomy.
[Enter smooth transistion here] The Office tonight, oh my! I knew Jim wasn't going to take the job in NY, and I wanted Karen to get it so she'd be out of the picture and Pam & Jim could finally be together. Ryan came completely out of left field! I can't wait till next season. Jim's going to have a lot going on!
Grey's Anatomy...There's just so many things that happened that I didn't want to see happen, the Burke-Yang wedding, George's test scores, Izzie's speech to George, Alex and Ava/Rebecca, Meridith...ugh. I just don't know if I can handle another season! I hope the summer break goes by quickly. I hate watching reruns!
Good night!

Christina, you're hired!

As you know, I've been having some trouble finding a job lately, even claiming that I'm un-hirable. I've been thinking lately, how much I missed my job with L!fet0uch and how great it would be to get it back, but I've heard a lot of advice saying that you shouldn't go back to a job you left. This morning I met with a friend and learned that she was in the process of returning to her old job and her feelings toward her situation sounded very familiar. As I was driving home from our afternoon out, I was talking to Scott about how great it would be to go back to working for L!fet0uch. So when I got home I check their website. I applied for, essentially, the same job I had before. After I hit submit, I prayed about it and asked God that if this was where he wanted me to make it happen. A few hours after I submitted my application I missed a call on my cell phone. By the time I checked my phone tonight, I saw that I had a missed call and a voicemail. The voicemail was a fellow photographer that I trained with, Rob who's been promoted, saying that they were very excited to get my application and know that I wanted to come back! It seems they're getting busy with summer coming up and having a lot booked! And since I've already been trained on the equipment and sales, all I need to do is shadow someone for a day or two to get back in the swing of things! These are such GREAT words to hear! I called him back and we talked for a little bit about the days I have school for now and the time I'll need off for the wedding and honeymoon. He said he'd talk to my old boss and get the ball rolling and get me scheduled. I'm so excited to be going back! This really is a great job! I can't wait to start photographing again! I'm so happy!!!

Sorry I had to spell L!fet0uch like this, but I got in trouble with a previous company.

Childhood Dreams

Tonight, Scott and I "interviewed" each other with some questions from our pre-marital workbook. It was a lot of fun to just talk and reminisce! A part of the questions about my childhood are sticking in my head.

What were your talents or special abilites? What part of your childhood would you relive? Why?

As a child, I was a really great singer, no maybe I should say performer. I loved singing and dancing and being the center of attention! I would put together little routines and perform the for my entire family at Christmas.

If I could go back, I'd take up my dad on his offer to get me voice lessons. I'd really train and develop my voice. I think if I had, I could have been a really great singer. I've always wanted to be a leading lady in a musical. I'd love to be one of those really fun, sexy characters that can really belt it out! For some reason, I think I'd make a really great Mayzie in Seussical!) I know that'd never happen because I'll never be good enough. Maybe one of these days though, I'll try out for the summer musical at church. I think it'd be a lot of fun to be a part of a show. :]

Reaffirmation

To be honest, I wasn't completely thrilled at the idea of pre-marital class. I was scared that we'd end up learning that we weren't meant to be together, despite how we feel. But so far, it's been great! It 's a reaffirmation to me that Scott really is the man I'm meant to be with. It's a relief!
Tonight during class we took time to pray for each other, together. I pray for Scott all the time on my own, and I'm sure he prays for me, but to actually hear the words from his mouth really meant so much more. It's really made me feel like he knows me and my needs. He really picks up on and knows what my worries are, without having to ask me what I need prayer for. I hope that I can do that for him too.
We also talked about "love languages." It's really interesting because I think if I would have taken the test four years ago, I would have gotten a completely different result. It shows how much I've grown as a person and I'm excited to express love in his language, now that I'm more sure of it.
Tonight was a really great night!

Where life takes you...

I've been thinking a lot lately about the direction my life is going. I'm definitely in a much different position now than I thought I would be five years ago. 5 years ago, I was a junior in high school. I thought I'd go to college (Syracuse) graduate after four years, meet a guy, get a job writing and editing for Rolling Stone, get married, have some kids, blah blah blah.

I wonder how different my life would be if certain events didn't transpire. If my dad didn't get sick, would I have gone to Syracuse, is that what really stopped me, or was I honestly not ready for a big move? I wonder what it's like for my friends that went on to a university, had the typical college experience (dorms, new friends, etc, graduating "on time") I guess sometimes I regret not going because I haven't had that typical college experience and I haven't done the greatest job focusing on school since I graduated high school. Although I wonder if I would have been just a confused about educational goals if I were there instead. Would I have been more motivated? What's holding me back?

Since I didn't go to Syracuse, I got to date Scott, definitely a positive side to not going. But there was a question on this test we had to take for our pre-marital class. "My partner is the only person with whom I could have a happy marriage." And you're supposed to rank it (Strongly disagree, disagree, undecided, agree, strongly agree) We've talked about this question and we both wonder if it is possible. What if Scott and I never got together, would we have met other people and had happy marriages? It's a strange thing to consider.

I wonder if I'm "not living up to my potential." When I do graduate with my BA, will I actually work in the field of art history? Will I actually go on to get my Masters? Will I ever be a curator of a major museum? Will I be happy doing that? I hope so.

It feels good to get this out. I don't normally write my thoughts so freely on here, but tonight's different. I guess I just feel I need to be completely honest and up front. I need to stop hiding from my fears and sabatoging myself.

I think I need to start writing again. I wrote something important today and shared it with Scott. I'd forgotten how vulnerable you can feel sharing something, but even better, how great it feels with the person likes what you wrote. It's not too different than taking a beautiful photograph and people complimenting it. Most photographs, everything lined up perfectly and you just captured it to film (or a digital storage.) I guess with writing, words line up in your mind, forming thoughts and ideas and you just have to get them out on paper (or the computer screen.)

Let's go fly a kite!

My backyard is great for flying kites. Yesterday afternoon, Scott and I went out to fly our kites. After about 15 minutes, I got a little chilly, so Scott held onto mine while I went to get a jacket. When I came back out, he was retrieving my kite from our neighbor's yard. We probably should have just given up after that crash, but we got my kite back in the air and Scott's came crashing down. We really should have given up after that, but we got his kite back up and after a few minutes thought, wouldn't it be cool if we flew one kite off the other? OF COURSE! So we put the handle of Scott's kite through mine and let my handle slide up the string all the way up to the actual kite. It looked awesome! As I went to hand the handle to Scott a big gust blew it out of my hand and the kites began to fly away. Of course Scott chases them and I just stand there laughing hysterically. We decided to get in a car and see if we can track them down. As we get into Scott car, we spot them. We drove around the neighborhood trying to figure out which house they were at and if we could get them back. NOPE! No way! So we returned to my home to watch Jeopardy, but not without taking a picture of the kites first. They were still flying, mine was keeping Scott's flying because it was so high. They stopped gaining altitude, so we figured they were caught on a house of something.

Quarantined

I woke up yesterday with a sore throat, similar to the one I got from Scott in January. Last time, I waited a week to go see the doctor and he said, "If you would've come in when this started, you could have been better by now." So I told myself yesterday, if it doesn't feel better tomorrow, I'll go to the doctor when I wake up. Of course, I woke up this morning, not feeling any better, so I went to urgent care (I don't have a primary physician because I don't get sick very often...except this year.) I didn't have to wait very long, only ten minutes, I went in, had a nice chat with the nurse that took my temp and blood pressure. A couple minutes later, the doctor came in, checked my lungs (I have a history of bronchitis and asthma,) then checked my throat. As soon as I opened my mouth he said, "Oh my, who gave this to you?" I said, "I don't know..." He said that I have symptoms of strep throat, for which he prescribed the same antibiotics I was on last time and recommended that I gargle with salt water. I'm supposed to stay home today and tomorrow because I'm contagious. Fantastic! Even better, he said that if this comes back within the next few months, I'll probably need to have my tonsils taken out. I'd rather have them taken out now rather than in a few months, but I guess that's not my choice. Keep my in your prayers please!
Love,
Christina

AI-Baseball-Wedding

Every season I try not to get too hooked, but it's kind of hard not to. I love music, so naturally, watching the performances is fun. Sometimes I hate listening to the judges rants, or even worse, the audience booing the judges. I understand that the audience may not agree with the Randy, Paula, and Simon's opinions, but I think they should have the decency to respect their opinion. You don't see Simon getting out of his chair and booing the audience as they clap the for performer. (In case you're wondering, this season I really like Gina, Melinda, Blake and Chris Sligh.)
I'm excited that baseball season is starting soon (18 days til Angels' opening day!) I wasn't a very big baseball fan a few years ago, putting it mildly, but I've really grown to love baseball. Scott and I have tickets to the Angels vs. Yankees game on August 22nd. It'll be the last part of our honeymoon before coming home. I think that'll be the only game where Scott would choose to root for the Angels over the Yankees. I want to go to the June 5th game against the Twins just to get a Jered Weaver bobblehead. :]
Wedding update: I just realized that on Saturday we'll be exactly five months away from the big day! WOW! Time's flyin'! We ordered out save-the-dates last week, they're en route to my house and should be here by the Friday, so hopefully we'll have them sent out by Saturday, although Monday's probably a bit more realistic. My mom and I ordered my dress last week too. It should be here in two weeks! I'm so excited! I tried it on again while I was there, it fits perfectly, no alterations needed, thank goodness! I just can't gain any weight, which shouldn't be a problem. We also chose our invitations, and we'll be ordering those next week. YAY! I can hardly wait!

Chef Christina and Overcast Photo Shoot

So lately I've been thinking about making a change in my educational/career goals. I want to go to culinary school. So far, I've never burnt down a kitchen, no one's ever been sick from my cooking, and it usually tastes pretty good. Plus I love cooking and baking!

I have three main options for culinary schools. To get a job as a chef, you just need an associate's degree in culinary arts. I could just get that from RCC in a year and a half. Or I could go to Art Institute in San Bernardino where it would cost about $43,000 for the same degree. Lastly, I could go to the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, which would cost about $40,000 for the same degree. Well, I guess I shouldn't say the same degree because CSCA is a Le Cordon Bleu program. The best chefs in the world are Le Cordon Bleu trained. I would really love to go there, but I don't know if it would really be worth the drive and money. I need to pray on it for a while and see if that's what God wants for me. If you remember, could you pray for me too.

Yesterday, Scott and I had some engagement photos taken by my great friend and bridesmaid, Melissa. It was overcast, freezing cold and really windy in Laguna. On top of that, I blinked in probably half of the pictures and Melissa was so cold she could barely tell if she pushed the shutter release or not. Despite all of that, she took some BEAUTIFUL pictures... and some not so cute ones. She's also designing our save the date cards! She's such a talented artist, I can't wait to see what she comes up with. Here's some bloopers from the day...

And here's a nice sentimental one...

Dress, School, and Work Updates

So before when I said "I found my dress" what I meant was "I found a dress that was really beautiful, and what you're expected to wear and my mom would be happy with." What I should say is, "While I liked the dress, it was not my style, not what I've always pictured myself getting married in. So the hunt continued."
I ended up finding "THE ONE" at a different shop. It's gorgeous, fits me almost perfectly, just needs a little hem. The style fits my ideas perfectly, it's very vintage, classic Hollywood. It's a very light ivory and I looooove it!
School started this week, YAY! I'm glad to be back. I took the winter off and I was so bored. I'm taking four classes this semester: English, French, Math and Art History. I like the teachers, my French class was kind of intense though. I took 4 years of French in middle school/high school, but I don't remember very much of it. My professor came in the room and immediately started the French lesson. It all came back to me really quickly. I could understand everything she was saying, but I couldn't remember how to respond to any of the questions. Apparently, it's normal when taking a foreign language to be able to comprehend what you hear, but have a harder time responding out loud because those actions are controlled by two different parts of the brain. My art history class is rather boring, partially because of the professor and partially because of the content being studied...the Renaissance. Personally, I don't really care for Byzantine and Renaissance art (it all kind of looks the same.) I'd rather study Roman art or earlier...or contemporary-modern art. The instructor has a weird high pitched voice and she's a very sweet old lady, but kind of annoying. My English teacher's really awesome! I'm lovin' that class so far! My math professor's very nice and a really good teacher. Thank goodness!
Work......I decided to leave my job at DB. (In case you don't know, I can't spell out the company's name because they have internet scanners that search for any time the company's name is used and if it's negative it gets sent to the managers.) I wasn't getting very many hours, and wasn't making enough. On top of that, I didn't really enjoy the work I was doing. I took my job back at PP. I really missed being a photographer. On top of that, I really missed the friends that I have there. I'm really glad to be back! I didn't realize how much I loved that job until I left and had worse jobs. It's good to be back in the saddle!

We're getting married!

It's official! Scott proposed to me last night at dinner!
I can't believe we're finally engaged!
Thanks to everyone for the ongoing love and support!

Break

The holidays are over, and they will be missed. Christmas was great, and new years was awesome too! I got to spend time with a lot of my friends, which was very much needed.
Work's getting better. I'm really starting to like it. I feel more comfortable with what I tell customers and just being there in general feels more natural.
I think I'm getting sick, I've been coughing a lot lately. It'd be nice to get through one winter without being sick though. :]
I'm not taking any classes over the winter session, which is a first for me. It's kind of nice having an eight week break between semesters. I'm going to be working my butt of in the spring though. I didn't pass my math class, the one class I really needed to pass. I could have taken it over the winter and the next math over the spring and I'd probably still transfer in time, but I just needed a break. So instead of transferring in the fall, I'll have to re-apply for spring 2008 admission. Bummer.
Good news! My cousin Shelia and her husband Sam and their son Isaiah welcomed a baby girl into their family on Thursday January 4th. They named her Alyssa Renee, she was 6 pounds 13 ounces (my guess of 6 pounds 15 ounces was closest.) She's so cute! She's going to be a very beautiful girl! Pictures to come!
Oh well, time for church!

Tradition

Wednesday night Scott and I went to the Mission Inn to see the lights, a yearly tradition. This year was different though, Scott took me on a carriage ride, something we've wanted to do every year, this year he made good on his promise. It was so much fun! After the carriage ride, we walked around downtown, took pictures, and sat in the Taft chair (another yearly tradition.) I also found my subject for the next Anthem art show, keeping in mind the theme: the Human Struggle. (Just kidding!)

Around the Mission Inn there's a lot of creepy elves, and we found one that was holding a baby doll in a plastic zippered bag. It was a little disturbing. Poor baby.

On a lighter note, I visited Scott yesterday after work. I noticed two pretty blue bags from Robbins Brothers next to his dresser. :] I think I proposal could be coming up, who knows...

Job, adult decisions and art

I got a wonderful phone call today from my new boss at David's Bridal! She offered me a position as the lead non-bridal consultant. This is AWESOME! I start on Monday. I'm so excited!
Today I had to go get tires for my car. I felt very adult. Every time one of our cars needs a new tire, I'm the one that has to go to Goodyear and take car of it, even though once I get there I have to call my dad and double check what he wants done. He always gets mad at me when I'm at Goodyear and call him to ask what to do with the car. So for once, I made the decision on my own. Instead of just fixing/changing the two tires, I got new ones for all four. Of course, I'm feeling great because I made the decision and bartered my way into a lower price per tire ($130 vs. $95), so I go to Starbucks for a delicious passion tea lemonade while I waited for my car. I return and the service rep. comes out to tell me that my car also needs rear shocks and brakes. I know how to change brakes, so with Scott's or my dad's help, that could easily be done, but I know nothing about shocks. I don't even know what they do. For all I know, they could be useless like your appendix. So I call my dad and ask, but not without telling him that I put 4 new tires on. He got mad, but oh well, it was my choice, and I was paying for half of it, even though my parents were going to pay for it. Dad said to go ahead and the the shocks and brakes, but not without sounding angry. When it was all done, my total services came out much higher than we originally intended on paying, but it was okay because my car really needed it, especially with our little road trip coming up this weekend.
School's almost over, I just have my art history final tomorrow, and a math final Wednesday. This semester's been pretty easy and really fun! I feel like I'm really going somewhere, really making progress toward a goal. It'll be nice to have a little break from school while I go through training at my new job too. Plus in between finals and new job training I'm going to Las Vegas with my parents and Scott to celebrate my parents' wedding anniversary. We're all going to see the Cirque Du Soleil show, "Love", and I can hardly wait! Scott and I are also going to the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at the Venetian and the Bellagio Fine Arts Gallery which is running an Ansel Adams exhibition. What better way to humble yourself after participating in an art show than to go see a master's works?

Sacred obligation

I have a friend named Gabe, who I think is a very insightful man and a great thinker of sorts. He posted a blog recently and I loved what he had to say and just wanted to "spread the love," I suppose. I'll just cut and paste my favorite parts.

"When a man becomes a writer, I think he takes on a sacred obligation to produce beauty and enlightenment and comfort at top speed." Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

"I'd like to add that V's statement not only applies to writers and men, but to all artists from both genders. If you have that itch to make something out of the thin air that is in your head, you are responsible for acting on scratching that itch. If you don't act on a creative impulse you are not only dishonoring yourself, but all the beauty that has been sculpted, painted, and written around you which you see on a daily basis.

Go make something!"

It's so true, I just have one but to add. I really do feel that if you don't act on your creative impulses, you're insulting the beauty of the world that inspires you, and also insult the Lord from which your creativity stems. I don't know where it says it, but I'm sure somewhere God tells us to use our talents or we should have them taken away. I'm so disgusted when I see super talented people squander that talent. I'm nowhere near what I'd consider "super talented," but I don't want to ever become one of those people.

So once again...go make something!

Maybe?

I had an interview at David's Bridal today. I had to interview with two managers, both of which really liked me, so it went really well. Let's hope I get a phone call within the next few days saying I got the job.