welcome to the family...

added two new tattoos to the family yesterday and i'm proud to introduce you to acorn & anchor. both of these symbols have significant meaning to my life...allow me to share.

the acorn represents my mom and her life-saving love. my mom is my best friend, my nurturer, my comforter. she's the oak tree from which i came and has taught me how to live in confidence, faith, integrity and grace. the acorn has been a symbol i've worn on a necklace for many years because of it's significant in the book, "peter pan". in it, peter gives wendy an acorn (in lieu of a kiss) to thank her for sewing his shadow back on. she threads it on a necklace and wears it close to her heart. once in neverland, wendy is shot down by the lost boys (per tink's instructions) and wendy lays lifeless on the ground in front of them. though thought dead, peter discovers that the little acorn around her neck has been pierced by the arrow and the "wendy bird" lives. hence, the "kiss" of another is a powerful thing. it's a life-saving force to be loved by someone else - that love is my mom, renay.

the anchor represents my dad and the safety, protection and security he provides. in the times of early Christianity, Christ followers would wear the symbol of the anchor to represent the cross and their protection under Christ to avoid persecution. the anchor represents stability, safety and protection which is the most accurate portrait of who my dad is for me. he is my human reality check. he encourages me to grow, to have dreams, to follow God's lead. he's a man of action and deep joy and is the rock of our family. the anchor is also a reminder of Christ's blessings in my life. hebrews 6:19 talks about our confidence being a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. the confidence here is that which we have in God, The One who has promised to richly bless us, remember us, love us and set us apart. the hope i have in my Creator is my anchor. He is good.

together, these two symbols live on my right wrist. my parents are my greatest supporters and will always be @ my right hand.

hello seattle

on a whim i decided to crash spencer and kurt's bro trip up to seattle and am BACK IN THE EMERALD CITY. en route we picked up a gig harbor transient named erin cole and headed to take the city by storm and show kurt (a seattle first-timer) how and why we love the 206. we arrived saturday evening ready to go. headed downtown to UMI for dinner. texas does NOT have fresh seafood or sushi and anyplace that does serve it should be considered highly suspect. so a cali crunch roll was heaven to my tastebuds. from there we headed to fremont and tucked in at the red door. surprise guests included kramer and david hori who joined us for drinks until we shut the place down. erin and i hopped in our whip (grandma matie's BUICK, what!) and picked up harry and lloyd at the ballroom. then off to dreamland...

sunday morning brought blue skies and sun as we headed down to pike place market. first stop was at percy the illustrious almond seller, who has turned the big 5-0 since i last saw him. fifty looks good on perce and it was great to catch up and get his grade A, bone crushing bear hugs. from there we split with the boys who were off to the pier to flex their photography skills. erin and i engaged in our favorite hobby of shopping at nordy's rack, anthro and urban. we stopped by westlake for lunch and memorable conversations. from there we made one last stop at pike's and snagged the boys for a trip to kerry park. it's been so much fun getting to see the city through kurt's eyes. he's definitely got a raging case of wanderlust and is completely enamored with seattle. this is a city that completely changed who i am and how i see the world around me. i get fuzzy watching kurt fall in love with this place and talk about someday making it his home too. kurt then got the scenic tour of queen anne and magnolia before we had to zip spence off to work at ray's. the rest of us headed to value village on the hunt for screamin deals. after searching high and low, i laid hands on a vintage fitted black velour blazer and it's now all mine for $5.99. we then headed to fremont for jai thai! yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. we came home to relax and erin and i liked it so much we stayed tucked in with endless episodes of LA ink and JERSEY SHORE!!! kurt and spence headed to the ballroom once again and we...were lame and fell asleep.

today has visits with colin (old buddy i used to tutor in college) and dinner with THE ROOTS who, since i last saw them, have increased their brood by one, titan alexander. we'll have to see what else the day holds. we'll take off for home tomorrow and join rem and ashly for the barnes family FINALLY all reuniting for the first time in over a year. yay! let the fun continue...

so long...

oooh it's been so long. allow me to explain...

work has been CRAZY. i'm sure lots of people say that so people think they do important things, but i could never have imagined a ten hour day going by in a blink. i really enjoy my job and the day-to-day variety. it isn't always the most challenging but i'm sure one day, i'll look back and wish my current job was LESS challenging. so i've decided to relish where i'm at, work hard (eph. 6:7 - "Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people") and enjoy this stage of life. i love living in texas, i love seeing my big brother EVERY day, i love dating this fun little genius pilot named matt and i love being almost 23 and a little worker bee.

SO...much to report then. i'll be heading home for TEN DAYS OF CHRISTMAS in exactly one week. hopefully i'll have more time to catch up on blogging and the like. news for you:

1. i am getting a sister. whoohoo. hallelujah. my single-most requested christmas wish has finally arrived, and not a christmas too late. ashly therese marshman is becoming a barnes. they got engaged in florida the day before thanksgiving and are getting married february 13 and november 26th. TWO WEDDINGS. yes. here is a pic of my sis-to-be.



2. um I GO HOME!!! i have never been away from homeslashparentsslashspencer for this long. it's been exactly 160 days since i've seen robb & renay, 169 since i've seen mater bates (grandma matie) and 99 since i've seen the great dr. spencer barnes (this is what i write on his packages hoping the postman will take most excellent care of it). i land in portland at 12:09 a.m. on xmas eve and get to have breakfast with my BEST FRIENDS FROM HIGH SCHOOL that morning and a hair cut by julia the wizard of envy. hoping to creep up to seattle for a few days in there.

3. on the verge of 23! i start counting down to my birthday on september 3rd every year. 4 months before my bday. i have ALWAYS wanted to be 23. it sounds mature, savvy, hip and just fly in general. i worship odd numbers and 23 is my second favorite. my favorite song of all time is 23 by jimmy eat world and i just have this deliciously creepy feeling that my 23rd year will be my best yet. january 3rd here i come.

hmmm...i'm sure there's more but those are the biggies.

to wrap this up...here are 5 things i'm absolutely in love with right now:

1. GLEE Volume II - i wake up to glee, it's my first thought in the morning. it's the only thing playing in my car and on my mac. i am spreading the glee love near and far. every night i fall asleep praying i'll have a dream that i'm in glee. season 1 comes out december 29th. praise jeebs for 24 hour wal-marts.

2. sadie and shadow - i love rem's dogs. they are so sweet and brilliant. shadow has learned to shake and is un-learning all the bad habits i taught him (dancing to be exact). they are the best dogs in the world.

3. the weather in del rio - i wear a coat on occasion but it's still 55-60 out and sunday and monday saw us hit 70/71. omg i love texas weather.

4. christmas - i get so excited to give gifts that i almost spoil the surprise. i suck at keeping surprises. i can't wait to give my xmas presents! i pride myself on being the best gift giver in my family and i aim to keep that self-given title this year.

5. sugar free red bull - the only way i get through my day.

HEB adventures

here are some of the latest sights around the classy town of del rio...


People in Del Rio think it's socially acceptable to throw away poopy diapers in the parking lot. Not a garbage receptacle, but the actual ground where you park your car. If you're lucky enough, you may back over one when leaving the parking lot and pop it, resulting in feces on your tires. Classy



Paul Blart Mall Cop DOES indeed exist. Sighting was made at the HEB when grocery shopping this evening. Clearly I have little to no shame and laughed openly in his face.



Finally folks, here in Texas, there is no such thing as a Christmas Tree Farm. They ship beautiful Douglas Firs from OREGON (the greatest state on Earth) and sell them for TWENTY-EIGHT DOLLARS at the HEB. Ridiculous.

meditations on thanks

my annual e-mail of thanks to my parents. they are the best.

"Happy Thanksgiving from Texas!

On a scale of one to ten, my wish to be home is hovering around an eleven. As with the ONE other Thanksgiving I didn’t come home (only to learn my lesson as I rotted in misery on Bainbridge Island), I am writing to share with you, the best parents to ever orbit the sun, my meditations on thanks for the past year.

More than anything, I am thankful for you. I know I still take you for granted. I do. I don’t realize how fortunate I am to have parents willing to walk with me through an engagement gone awry, college graduation, a tough decision to move thousands of miles away, homesickness, bad dreams of potentially catastrophic in-laws, occupational woes, dreaming aloud and all the minutiae in between. I am thankful for parents willing to support my every decision, even if it takes me far, far away from them. Parents willing to turn the other cheek and be beyond cordial to the Franklands at graduation. To send me flowers when I call at 5:30 am over bad dreams. To parade me across the country with four seasons of The Office, a bat named Jansen and a broken heart. To listen to me cry over college loans, grad school, a boring job and more. Even more so, I am thankful for parents that celebrate my victories with me as well. Four years of SPU well done. A job offer across the country. An engagement on the beach (just because it didn’t end as planned, doesn’t mean it wasn’t WONDERFUL in the moment, right?). Finding THE DRESS for the right price (it will get used one day, I promise). For you, I am thankful.

This year I am thankful for Christ’s provision. I have learned layered lessons on trust this year. To trust that He knows what is right for me. Always. To trust that He will take care of me. Always. To trust that He has my best interests in mind. Always. God has been good this year. It may have been harder to see at some times, but He has been so good. I was blessed with the perfect job opportunity when I needed it in University Ministries. I got to work 8 hours a day with my mentors and BEST friends! Persistence paid off with a job in Del Rio with insurance, benefits and enough time off to come home for TEN DAYS at Christmas! I have maintained rich friendships from Seattle and have begun to puts down roots in Del Rio. Living here has stretched me, tested me, healed me and encouraged me that I am a work in progress. Del Rio isn’t the end-all. It’s not my destination but it’s been a necessary part of my journey. It was my escape and a huge step of obedience. If I don’t learn anything else at all from being here, I can leave here knowing that I had to come here simply because it was what God wanted me to do.

I am excited for our future as a family. This year we will increase by one, I will finally have my sister! The first Barnes wedding of our generation! Spencer will graduate and take the world by storm. Rem and Ashly will move forward and be REAL pilots! Who knows where I will be...as Mary Lou King always tells me, “The world is your oyster.” Maybe this year I’ll figure out exactly where He wants me and what I’ll be doing. Maybe this will be the year! This year, fingers crossed, mom will wrap up an incredible teaching career – only to launch on to bigger and better things. Who knows where God will take our family next.

I love you guys so much. My heart is with you every day, but especially this one. Even though your ragamuffins are far from the nest, we are always with you.

Happy Thanksgiving to the loves of my life...."

and a Happy Thanksgiving to YOU

life in a border town...

a photographic tour of a wee bit of my wee town.

gives me hope

God is not a man, that he should lie. He is not a human, that he should change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

...numbers 23:19...

oktoberfest & spooktacular

amidst your clouded sense of purpose, He is the God of uncertainty.

in all those broken little places, He is the God of the whole.

within each doubt and every fear, He is the spark of hope.

JAM-balaya

since my schweetie was working late tonight, it was my turn to whip up dinner. something matt said about shrimp got me curious about how i could muster up a jambalaya quick and dirty-like. i found a killer recipe on real simple and fiddled around with it a lot to fit my tastes. all four of my taste testers seemed to like it so me thinks it was 2 thumbs up.

Ingredients
1 T. olive oil
20 oz. turkey italian sausage (WAAAAY healthier than beef))
1, 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1/2 c. water
1 box red beans and rice
1-1.5 lbs of shrimp, shelled & deveined
cayenne pepper
cholula/tobasco sauce
pepper

1. cut sausage into 1/2" slices and cook in olive oil (medium heat) until browned
2. add water & tomatoes, cover and bring to a boil
3. add red beans and rice, decrease heat to simmer & cover. cook for ~25 minutes
4. add cayenne pepper, cholula and black ground pepper to taste
5. toss in shrimp (i cut mine in half to make smaller pieces) and cook until pink (~5-6 minutes on medium heat)

there you have it. don't count on many more posts of this nature. i'm no at-home maven, but this was actually fun to cook and super easy.

wouldn't it be nice if we all did this?

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

...kahlil gibran, the prophet...

The Prophet

courtesy of my near and dear nathanael henry berends. very rilke-esque.

sick nasty

this dude drew an 18 foot panorama of NYC from MEMORY after a 20 minute helicopter ride over the cityyyyyy. insane in da membrane.

fall in love with...

la roux's "in for the kill"

fabric of our lives

remember watching those segments on mr. rogers neighborhood called "how it's made"? you'd travel with fred through "picture, picture" and see how crayons, buttons, sweaters and more were fashioned right here in the US of A. CNN posted an article this morning on the mt. vernon cotton mill in trion, GA with a photographic tour of how denim is made. for some odd reason, this article had me hooked. maybe it's because i want to be buried in denim, who can really say? this mill is the nation's #1 producer of denim and churns out enough denim each week to make 800,000 pairs of jeans. eeeeesh. what is love is that this mill is ran by good old American muscle and has provided jobs for generations of hard-working families.


check it out here.

ghost of halloween past

del rio sucks in terms of finding outlets and mediums for my creativity. i'm trying to pull off a non-slutty halloween costume but it's hard when the only resources i've got are wal-mart and spirit halloween (siiiiiiick). i usually go for the funny or odd little costume idea but this year i'm sticking to an old classic, my favorite.

i hand made my little cap. bought a top at wal-mart and am trying to muster up some adorability to pull this off. you'll have to wait until halloweeny to find out!

here's a little ghost or two of halloween past (:



the fat ass was a GINORMOUS SUCCESS



amish school teacher was a hit

victory

Big day yesterday in Washington D.C.

Senate passed legistlation making it a federal crime to assault an individual based on their sexual orientation or gender ID. Obama has already pledged to sign this measure which Bush claimed he would not support during his tenure as President. This law will only be used to prosecute violence - free speech is still free speech.

This is big news people! This measure is our nation's first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and will start bringing justice to those our society has oppressed for too long. No matter how you feel about the issue of homosexuality itself, you have to support legislation protecting our citizens from sensless, cruel and xenophobic violence. this bill give me hope. Hope that we can do something to help fix the brokenness (see post here).

Celebrate with me!

weekend round-up

Crazy weekend.

Saturday morning I slept in and headed for a day in San Antonio (2.5 hours away) BY MYSELF. Since all of the boys are restricted (as in can't leave del rio for an indefinite period of time) I decided to take on the big city alone and get my errands run, visit Ryan in the hospital and see Brad Root who's in town on business. Matt lent me his GPS to toodle around SA and it definitely is possessed by the Devil himself. That piece of JUNK took me to two non-existent lots masquerading at Targets before I got to a REAL Tar-jhay...in the sketchiest neighborhood ever. As I walked in, I was just praying my car would be in one piece and the same place as I left it when I came back out. It was so nice to just dink around the store without any pesky boys around. I picked up some necessary odds and ends, was struck by Halloween inspiration for what to dress up as this year (how CAN you beat the amish teacher and biggest loser competitor that i was last year?!) and bolted out of that beat store before I got shanked by a checker or something. Satan GPS then took me the longest way possible to Brooke Army Medical Center to see Ryan. He is looking awesome for just having his leg amputated. We had a decent sized group there to visit and play games. I couldn't stay long until I was off to downtown to see new daddy of 3, Brad Root! B. Root has been my Seattle dad/protector for the past two years and it was so, so great to see him. We did the RiverWalk (one of SA's claims to fame) and had an incredible dinner right on the SA River @ Hard Rock Cafe. From there I jetted to Nordstrom & Anthro for a blazing quick run through and ended up getting a sweet dress @ Anthro (see pictcha) and shirt for the boy at Nordy's. As I exited Nordstrom, I searched high and low for my 4Runner with no luck. It was completely gone. I had taken a mental picture when I parked of which cars I was parked by and where. As I wandered the lot, I saw the light pole and car I'd parked near but mine was no where to be found. Instant panic set in as I realized I was:

a) Completely alone in SA
b) Wandering a parking lot in the pitch black
c) Had no wheels

My brilliant first move was to call my dad and cry. Then I sat in the lot and cried some more. Then I pulled myself together and took one last walk around before I called the po-po. Then I realized....I walked into Nordy's by the Mac counter and walked out by the Rail department. Hmmm...turning 90 degrees there was my car in the identical parking lots just 400 meters away (: I didn't start feeling like an idiot until I got back to Del Rio, it was too scary to laugh about just then. I called dad back to let him know and he'd already practically called in the National Guard to get me. Eeesh, that guy can mobilize people from across the country. Made in back on the road and Devil GPS took me, once again, through the SA GHETTTTTTO to get back on 90 to go home. This back road had NO street lights, a hellofalot of rampant deer and road raging Mexicans like you wouldn't believe. Finally made it back on the highway at 9.15 pm to start my 2.5 hour drive back to the Dirty D. En route, one of my headlights burned out so I got to be that doucher that drives with their brights on (: Deer were trotting around like the highway was their personal playground but I made it back to Del Rio by 11.45. 2 blocks from home, I got the pleasure of getting pulled over. Lovely.

Officer: "Ma'am do you know you have a headlight out?"
Me: (Do I say yes or no?) "Yeah, it went out on my drive home from SA"
Officer: "Well, I'm going to have to give you a warning."
Me: "Okay thanks, bye!"
Officer: "No ma'am it's going to be written and filed"

Ugh. Seriously, what am I supposed to do about a burned out light COMING HOME FROM SAN ANTONIO. What a dummy. Finally made it home, fell into bed and tried to forget all about Death Day in San Antonio. Sunday was just spent being lazy, cleaning my room and laying at the pool with Ciacci and Devin for 2.5 hours. Yesssss. It's hit winter temperatures of mid-80s now (ha, ha) and it's going to stay that way until February. Hallelujah. So pool time was awesome. Made it to the grocery store, played with the dogs, watched The Office and dinked around until bed time.

What a weekend ): On a high note, Matt's flying partner Paul got engaged to Erin, another pilot (who shall not be named until he actually does the deed) is proposing THIS COMING WEEKEND! and there are a few more coming down the pike. Wedding bells are ringing!
Hope y'all had a crazy weekend in the best possible way (: Anybody make it to Where the Wild Things Are?

bob marley

"Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life."

go see it

medellin

If you have some spare time today for a little light reading, head to CNN.com and check out their 3 part series on life inside the drug gangs of Medellin, Colombia. It's been fascinating to read about the lives these people are living - amidst one of the fiercest drug wars in the world. I'm just about to read article 3 but so far, my favorite part was when the author, Karl Penhaul, interviewed two hitmen. He asked two questions that blew my mind, "Didn't you have any big dreams when you were kids?" and "Do you think you've made your mothers proud by killing people?" I especially love the Big Dreams question. If you really think about it, all that separates these guys and me/you could have been as simple as one bad decision or lack of one solid person to mentor them. Read them if you have time, and let me know what you think.

Part 1 - http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/13/colombia.drug.war/index.html
Part 2 - http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/14/colombia.hitmen/index.html
Part 3 - http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/15/colombia.girlfriends/index.html

note to self

can i complain?

just for a moment...i swear.

i have generally loved the past three months going from the emerald city of hipsters, free thinkers, recyclers and open minds to teeny-tiny, somewhat charming del rio. 94 days deep and i have not loved the following:

1. complete lack of city recycling system

2. amount of litter in this dirty little town

3. closed minded people

4. stifling of creativity here

5. little room for growth or change

6. there are no stores/restaurants

7. i effing HATE wal-mart now

8. being so homesick

9. how routine life has become. M-F are carbon copies.

10. what a little dump this town is that no one will ever come visit me...except spencer, and he's blood so that doesn't count

thank you i am done.

i think my next move will be back to the city. i likey the looks of philly (home of anthropologie), chicago and NUMBER ONE...portland (city of roses). weeeeeeee shall see where the road takes me next. regardless of how i feel about the dirty D, it has been quite the adventure.

i'm on a...ranch

The Llano River

since all of my nearest and del rio dearest had a three day weekend courtesy of columbus, i decided to play along and pretend like i had one too. usually i start stressing about how quickly my weekend is coming to an end on...saturday afternoon. my new trick is feigning long weekends EVERY WEEK! i'm really, really falling in love with traveling texas. weekends are our chance to steal away from the dirty D and see this one-of-a-kind state. as of friday, our plans included getting off work early to go camping near sonora at tyler voss' uncle's ranch with many friends. we DID get off work early but...the camping part didn't happen. the friday night enticements del rio had to offer were too strong for us to leave. rem, matt, deb and i headed to an early showing of couple's retreat (1.78 thumbs up), enjoyed fine dining at rudy's BBQ and hit up the del rio rams homecoming football game. oh.my.goshhhhhhhhhh. you couldn't pay me a milli to go back to high school. we got hot seats in the 2nd row of the high school section and were privvy to teenage baby mama's, a mexican fist fight and so much more. we left at 3rd quarter and headed to diamond lil's for pool and brews.

saturday we changed our minds and decided to head to the voss ranch with kyle babbit. 2.5 hours later we landed in junction, texas and on a 1300 acre ranch full of donkeys, white-tailed deer, goats, sheep, cows, turkeys, roadrunners & moooooooooore. i thought i'd been sitr crazy for the city but the great outdoors was just what i needed after a killer week at work. we stayed in a bunkhouse right on the llano river and had a blast. we all hopped in the bronco with our cooler and took off across the river, up the banks and everywhere else a souped up SUV is not supposed to go (: we then went on a 2 day scavenger hunt for the 15 deer feeders hidden around the ranch. voss' uncle wanted us to fill them for him and it ended up taking nearly 9 hours, two truckloads of corn, 5 guys, 1 girl and the MOST beat up farm truck you've ever seen. the country out there was rugged, scrubby and absolutely gorgeous. we had the river on one side, the blue mountains on the other and rolling hills & cactus all around. i'm was in love. highlights included waking up to four donkeys outside my cabin and trying to feed them from my hand and watching desperate bulls make sexual advances on each other. definite thumbs down was have NO TOILET. i got the pleasure of doing my business in the great outdoors just as i do when hunting with the old man. delightful.

sunday we left the ranch around 2.45 and made it back to del rio at 5 on the DOT. i wrapped up a glorious weekend with a colts game (rousing win again the titans! whoohoo!), rockies game and group monopoly which i chose to forgo since rem and i cannot possibly play a game without killing each other. since i was still on my "pretend you have a 3 day weekend too" jag, i let myself stay up 12 minutes past my bedtime and sleep in 4 minutes late. i actually had a great day at work, no migraine and no boredom. i even had my 90 day eval (i've been here three months!) and killed it. my boss wants me to turn HR into a career pursuit (: we'll see about that.

how was your weekend?

you've got to be kidding me...

before the november elections, i was not a fan of obama. as his presidency has progressed, i have grown to dislike him even more. all his pre-presidency hype has fallen short and his $829 billion dollar healthcare plan is quickly becoming the laughing stock of the country. so you can imagine my shock and disappointment when i read this morning that he won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." the funny thing is, nominations for the NPP had to be postmarked 12 days after obama took office. puh-leeeeeez.

if you feel the need to read the depressing article (even CNN is blown away) check it out here:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html

another late night trip...

to the illustrious wal*mart resulted in the following impulse buys:
1. a big DVD (tom hanks anyone?)
2. map of texas - i broke down and am going to learn my TX geography since only God knows how long i'll be here
3. halloween cards - i am HOOKED on halloween cards because they're so DARN cute. four for the kids i used to sit/nanny, one for my mother - hater of all that's halloween, one to spence, one to grammy...perhaps one coming to a mailbox near YOU

wal*mart is a clinch institution for my impulse purchases. not just because it's the only store in town but i can never spend that much money there. i mean...impulse buys at nordstrom run me triple digits so wally world can't be all that bad riiiiight?

das boot

this weekend took my crazy troupe of comrades to san antonio & fredericksburg, texas for OKTOBERFEST! matt & i set off from del rio a little after 3 on friday (hooray for leaving work early!) en route to brooke army medical center in san antonio to visit our friend ryan. ryan's been in the burn unit here for about 5 weeks after a boating accident broke his pelvis and did major damage to his leg. ryan got GREAT news this week in that the burn unit team only had to amputate his five right toes. his ortho team told him he'd likely lose his right leg below the knee but everything's looking good and he's already in rehab getting his muscle back. hopefully, he'll be able to go home around the holidays. seeing him in such a good mood was such an improvement over our last visit. we hung out in the ryan's room and the waiting room for almost 3 hours with everyone. sarah brought us homemade lasagna and salad too! from there we headed to our hotel in the stone oak neighborhood and skipped over to the lion & rose pub for drinks and live music.

saturday we woke up nice and late and took full advantage of the hotel's breakfast spread. we set off around 11 for fredericksburg and got there just in time for lunch. the san antonio area is SUCH a change from where i'm living. del rio is in the chihuahuan desert...hence it's dry, dirty and not much green. san antonio has rolling hills, green trees everywhere and awesome outcroppings of natural rock. fredericksburg is basically the twin brother of leavenworth, washington. it's the cutest little bavarian/german town and is known as the polka capital of texas! (: matt and i spent a couple hours dinking around the vendors, trying some german beers and, of course, eating sausage and sauerkraut. we then headed to the cottage where the rest of the del rio family was staying for spirits, long talks, catch phrase, and dinner - courtesy of sarah yet again. after a quick run to the hotel to freshen up, we met up with the gang and partook of all that oktoberfest had to offer (aka beer and wine-aritas, polka dancing, turkey legs, and MORE). this was probably the most fun i've had in a looooong time. literally everyone there acted like your best buddy. there were a ton of older people and veterans that had no qualms about grabbing your hand and whipping you around the dance floor. i learned how to polka and waltz! i cheered on my little old friend lee roy in the dance competition and matt & i decided to call it a night around 10.30. we scored a cab ride for six bucks and fell into la la land until the morning.

sunday we got a ride to the car from sarah and joined our sleepy little group at the argentine restaurant for lunch. i wish i had a great group picture, maybe i'll steal one off of facebook, but we had SO much fun. we had mark, chris, jake, big joe, chris' little sis and her college buds, erol, the hutch, sarah, myself and matt. from lunch we headed home the back way and i even drove the stick shift for part of the drive! big step for me (: last night we made dinner, watched the broncos and COLTS WIN (whoohoo, 4-0 babayyyy) and i headed home to catch up on glee (best show eva) and the office. i'm ready to start fresh tonight with a clean room, stocked fridge and new episodes of house and lie to me. last night i also spent about an hour and a half pondering a gap commericial that i will share more on later...

kudos this week go to....
1. the soon-to-be jeff and quinn bartsch. this dream couple (think kelly kapowski and zack morris a la saved by the bell) got ENGAGED on friday down on the pier in rainy seattle. wedding's slated for next summer and i couldn't be more EXCITED!

2. andria - my little globe trotter has spent the past month all over sweden, paris and london and returns this week to our side of the pond.

3. props to other friends who may or may not have made relationships official this weekend...you know who YOU ARE (:

thoughts brought to you by nick & norah's infinite playlist

"I mean, I don’t know how the world broke. And I don’t know if there’s a God who can help us fix it. But the fact that the world is broken - I absolutely believe that. Just look around us. Every minute - every single second - there are a million things you could be thinking about. A million things you could be worrying about. Our world - don’t you just feel we’re becoming more fragmented? I used to think that when I got older, the world would make so much more sense. But you know what? The older I get, the more confusing it is to me. The more complicated it is. Harder. You’d think we’d be getting better at it. But there’s just more and more chaos. The pieces - they’re everywhere. And nobody knows what to do about it. I find myself grasping, Nick. You know that feeling? That feeling when you just want the right thing to fall into the right place, not only because it’s right, but because it would mean that such a thing is still possible? I want to believe that."

i want to believe that too. to believe that one day the chaos will start reversing and all those countless "right things" that i've been watching for will start coming together. and so i wait. not for the right answers, because i don't think they always exist...right and wrong don't always live in each circumstance. no, i wait to see that there is a purpose for each and every episode of brokenness. i wait for those days when He shows me just how He's going about fixing the brokenness. He's doing it, i just don't see it all the time. if i did, i would have little use for this thing called faith. so here's to a new week of hoping more fragments fall into place, of waiting for the "ordo ab chao," because i know who can fix it and i know such a thing is possible.

amen

i want...

this. but it is illogical for multiple reasons:
1. it costs $200
2. i live in del rio. we don't wear sweatshirts EVER.

big week

so much excitement in del rio this week.
1. i cut off 1/2" of hair. very emotional.
2. i chased a skunk from in front of my apartment. twice.
3. i hunted for a cricket in my bedroom last night. the cricket won.
4. paid a visit to the stallion (formerly known as the white horse) twice...
5. that is all

more substantial tra la la this weekend.

hot finds

two trips to wal*mart today (can you tell i'm bored?)

purchased: the pagemaster DVD, munich DVD, catwalk root boost, and halloween cards.

if you have a good book, i beg of you to send it to me. wal*mart in del rio has more spanish books than english.

weekend misadventures

last night i was SO proud of myself for staying healthy all weekend...i spent the last three days around sickies #1, #2 and #3 (read: jake, matt and jessie) in the dallas/forth worth area and i was the lonely only healthy one of the gang. i chugged emergen-c like it was my job, didn't share drinks, etc. we got home safe and sound last night around 7.30 and around 10 i started feeling poopy. after tossing and turning all night, having nightmares about grandma dying and multiple water trips, i woke up this morning with a fire throat and feeling icky.

okay...now that i'm done complaining, here's this weekend's misadventures as told by yours truly. friday. i snuck out of work at 3.30 and picked up the boys at their place. we were leaving the dirty D at 4 o'clock sharp, headed north to fort worth. we took the back roads, stopping at church's chicken for dinner (blechhhhh) in some dinky town along the way. it pretty much poured rain the entire drive and got a little scary on the rural roads that were getting flooded. just as we were passing over the colorado river, poor 4runner experienced his first flat tire, pardon me, tire BLOW OUT at sundown. luckily, i had some handy air force pilots there who were ready and willing to change it out. surprisingly, no one freaked out, all were laughing/dirty and we were back on the road in 20 minutes. en route to jessie's we passed through brady, TX - literally known as the heart of texas. it's right spanking in the middle of the lone star state. we also cruised through dublin, texas - home of dr. pepper! made me think of some special lovelies in seattle who love the bubbly drink. we arrived in fort worth after ten and headed out for sushi with jessie's med school buddies. the party continued at her apartment but alas, tired kt turned in early at 2.15 ):

saturday we all slept the morning away and went tire shopping for poor 4runner. an unsuccessful trip to sears led us to follow our bellies to the historic district of fort worth for YUMMY gloria's mexican food, starbucks and a target drug run for the sickies. en route to lunch we saw jessie's med school (UNT)! after lunch we searched in earnest for a tire place and i survived my first heart attack as i paid eighthundredfiftyone dollars on new tires. my puppy fund is now empty ): and my car has tires that are TOO BIG. dummies put tires on my runner that HIT THE WHEEL WELL WHEN I TURN!!! terrific. anywhooo...we seriously did nothing after that besides catnap, watch football and get ready for the BIG CONCERT!!! the rain didn't stop us as we set out for the superpages center in dallas. it took forever to get there but we walked in the gates right as dierks took the stage. even though it was raining, we had our trusty ponchos to keep us dry...for five minutes. we got lawn tickets and wouldn't have had it any other way. people are INSANE back on the lawn, including us. we danced and sang the night away as the rain got progressively worse. but nothing, not even $12 beers, could dampen our spirits. by the time brad paisley was doing his encore, we were completely soaked to the bone, laughing our heads off and squishing around in our cowboy boots. we got out of the concert super quick and headed home for the after party with benz, jessie's chihuahua, and pizza rolls!

sunday morning we woke up laaaaaate and headed to qdoba for lunch. matt and i then split off in search of a bookstore (success) and starbucks. since del rio doesn't have starby's i have to get some every chance i get! i picked up a fresh issue of people magazine, some moleskin's and a children's book at border's and matt got some puppy books. can you tell we're both on the market for a dog??? we then headed home, packed up our remains and kissed rainy fort worth goodbye. i swear to you, we didn't see the sun all weekend long. my new tires carried us the 6.5 hours home, with me behind the wheel the entire way. jakes pondered life and slept in the backseat while matt study-bugged it in shotgun most of the trip. i definitely discovered that i need to rotate my musical selections this week because i'm sick of what i've got on repeat now. i've worn out michael jackson, gloriana, sugarland live, jimmy eat world and more. time for fresh tunage. these would include, new imogene heap, phish, a fine frenzy, mates of state and more.

now i'm trying to occupy 3.25 hours until i get off work and can go nap away this nasty cold/whateveritis. oh, by the by, i just finished "the time traveler's wife" and am despereate for a new read. i'm going online to purchase "the art and flair of mary blair" and "i wish someone were waiting for me somewhere" this week but could use other recommendations. have any? i'm also taking the big step and getting my hair cut this week. just the babiest of trims but i desperately need it. i've balked at letting anyone besides julia in dallas, or cut my hair but it's come to a point of reckoning (: each time i ask someone here who's the best person to cut my hair, everyone says a different name...hmmmmm. problem.

oh, how was your weekend friend?

happy weekending

a few links and winks to entertain you for your weekend pleasure:

* i'm a wee bit hooked on the updated nike blazer. released in 1972, the blazer's back and looking waaaack. check it out here.

* check out the design blog "high heeled foot in the door" here. i love the ikea curtain makeover. all it takes is some paint and tape! if only i had the time...

* i'm becoming more obsessed with the hovey sisters. i found their blogs through a friend of a friend of a friend (and so on) and get a little creeped out by how awesome their style is. sisters are hollister and porter (great names no?) and they are genius. hollister's blog and porter's.

* i went to tar-jhay this week and bought all kinds of random eclectica for my now bare living room. i think this would make a lovely edition to my anthropologie inspired wall.

happy weekending, wherever it may take you (cruise to mexico???)

to dallas we go

sadly, i'm not referring to dallas, OR. in 4 short hours i'm off to dallas/fort worth with matt and jake to meet up with our jessie girl! saturday night you can find us at the BRAD PAISLEY AND DIERKS BENTLEY CONCERT.

no big deal.

mmmm space

fresh images were released yesterday from the hubble telescope's spanking new camera. eeesh, space is insaaaaaane.

weekend round-up

as fate would have it, spencer was in del rio for a glorious 5+ days. since i was slave to the 9-5 on thursday and friday, i didn't get to really spend time with him until the weekend. friday night we got our buffet on at mr. gatti's. this is the trashiest, foulest pizza buffet on the planet. if you're from the NW, you're surely associated with the trash hole "izzy's". visualize izzy's with worse food, a worse salad bar, and no dessert. it's truly disgusting and a waste of $8. what really gets me are the wet buffet plates. blah. anywho, from there we (stef, ash, rem, spence and i) headed to rem's track party at the friendship pool on base. foregoing the margarita machine and pizza, we hit the diving board and water slides for a few hours. from there we reconvened at diamond lil's for drinks and dancing. spence got a couple phone numbers, rem knocked over a table full of beer, i did the cupid shuffle with my roomies and we called it a night at closing time.

saturday i went furniture shopping with matt. we were on the hunt for a recliner and nightstand. success in the night stand department but no chair. we all kind of laid low during the day and decided to pass on the country concert at gorzuggi's in favor of a little housewarming/birthday party for matt's 24th. we thought it would be fun to do up a big birthday dinner and some fresh maine lobster caught our eye at the HEB. since none of us had ever cooked lobster before, we got pointers from relatives, an enormous pot and did our thing. lobsters lounged in the bathtub until we were ready to cook them. it was pretty hysterical pulling them out and trying to cut them up. we finally gave up trying to gut them and just slapped a whole lobster on each person's plate (: i made a bang-a-rang cupcake cake in freedom colors and the birthday boy nearly got all 24 candles in one shot. due to the plethora of social events going on around del rio that night, we had 4 guests to our humble abode who quickly left after they got spanked in BP. that left the 6 of us to party like it was '99 with ourselves which turned out to be pretty damn awesome.

sunday found us rolling out to church and then skillets for lunchy. matt and i went to home depot and bought a grill and then proceeded to assemble it under the porch during a torrential downpour. del rio can flash flood in the blink of an eye, it's pretty creepy. sunday night we settled on dinner at home and game night. it was stef & spence, matt & i and rem & ashly in a heated game of trivial pursuit which lasted WAY too long, involved WAY too much arguing and ended up making everyone HATE trivial pursuit. we watched dumb and dumber afterward and prepared to wake early, early to take spence to the airport on monday morning.

not wanting to mother spence too much, i reminded him sunday night to check his itinerary to which he replied, "it's in my e-mail." satisfied, i left him alone about it. according to spencer's version, he called expedia the night before and was informed by a heavily accented assistant that his flight left del rio at 6:50 am. as we pulled into the airport at 6:09 on monday morning, he finally checked his itinerary to find the plane was taking off in 6 minutes. obviously the flight was closed, his seat given away and we got to spend one more PRICELESS day with spencer for the low, low re-ticketing fee of $175 (: since we were up anyway, we decided to head to san antonio for the day to pick up some items from target, kohl's, macy's and GET A NEW DOG!!! sandy the blue heeler/australian shepherd mutt joined our rowdy clan at a gas station in floresville and has completed our del rio family of 7. she has since been renamed sadie and is shadow's new best friend. they are a cute little couple (: pictures to come later.

tuesday morning we got spence off to the airport and began another short week of the grind.

{quotes for the day}

"There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire,which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but whichkindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity."

-Washington Irving


"You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She’s not perfect - you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break - her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there."

-Bob Marley

if...

perchance you get bored this weekend, sneak over to the vagabond bond for 11 artist's take on the world from a vagabond's perspective.

my favorite pictures are from feather (featherlove photography) and wreckless (lots of oregon pics, whoohoo).

read the artist's bios while you're at it and mosey around their websites and respective blogs.

hooked

my musical cosmic twin and partner in crime, jansen, and i called each other on monday night with revelations of new tunage to share. as ear snack karma would have it, our wondering ears shared the same band with each other. i'd heard of owl city before from the sasquatch playbill and other festivals but didn't really give them a fair shake. now i am mercilessly hooked. "fireflies" has consumed me. give a listen and check out the vid if you can spare 1/12 of an hour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwVeC7VeJYE

adam young = owl city

he.is.here.

we piled in the 4runner and were off to the airport.
he called.
he had arrived.
i drove faster. faster. faster.
i turned right and there he was.
this tall, lanky, bearded thing that fell from the northwest.
he was beautiful.
a sight for this heart that has missed him.
his hug and his smell were JUST like i remembered.
and i told myself not to cry.

spencer is here.

and all is right with the world.

the art and flair of mary blair

no artist brings back my childhood quicker than mary blair. she was a trailblazer for Disney back in the day and is responsible for iconic works like alice in wonderland, peter pan (my fav), the little house, and on the list goes. enjoy some eye candy courtesy of mary blair today.

peter pan

peter & wendy

the little house

chocolate milk ad (: