Beautiful Friends

And, yes, I realize that three out of four of our guests tonight were male, but I stick to my description of beautiful for them.

Tonight we had the old gang over. Well, part of it. But definitely some of my favorites. ; )

Jen and Justin and I came up with tonight as an impromptu hangout night after home group Wednesday evening (which went very well, thank you for wondering). We invited Jesse yesterday. And Ryan (who technically would be considered in the new group of friends) is always over here anyway. Or we're over there.

Okay, we're usually over there.

It's because he has all the fun stuff at his apartment.

At our little shindig tonight, there was much talking, much laughing, much playing Mafia Wars on Facebook, and much laughing at How I Met Your Mother.

Jesse had not yet seen How I Met Your Mother. We felt it was a good night to drag him into a new addiction.
Guess what? He loved it. Of course.

There was also some intense calligraphy/handwriting of names onto plain sheets of paper, and then modeling against our awful green wall for a special project I'm working on. I can't disclose the details just yet, but it's definitely fun, and so far everyone's been a good sport about it.

We thought of taping a smaller piece of paper with 'Zoey' written on it to Jen's belly, but we ended up forgetting. Darn. That would have been cute.

I love these friends sooooooo much. Whenever we get together, there's just so much conversation going on, and people trying to talk over each other, and great memories being remembered, and little fun (yet passionate) arguments that break out here and there... it's just like old times.

I love the old times. Hanging out with this guy practically every day from age sixteen to twenty-one:

He's such a nerd. Oh, sorry- geek. I was told tonight that there is a difference. A nerd is, according to Justin, a derogatory term meant for Save by the Bell dorks with tape on the their glasses. Geek is reserved for those who are technologically-minded and enjoy sci fi movies and video games to an exceedingly ridiculous amount.

Eh. He's still a nerd.

Wednesday

Umm... I haven't written anything in a few days.

Sorry.

And a lot's been going on. Like unfreezing my spending freeze (oh, geez). And five consecutive nights of really weird dreams. And a picture trip to Balboa Park. And Earth Day. And finding my first cache.

I just haven't had time to write about it. Or upload the pictures from it, as the case may be.

But instead of recapping all these things, I thought I'd post a playlist of some favorite songs instead:

Being around Ryan and the OSF so much lately has inspired me to be more intentional with the music I listen to. Usually I just happen to stumble upon music and think, "Hey. I like that." And then maybe I add it to my online playlist, or see if Brittany has it on her laptop. Or I forget about it the next day. Or more likely, I realize it's a song from one of my favorite artists and I just didn't know it, because I'm terrible at associating songs with their singers. (Dizzy up the Girl, anyone? Didn't know that almost all my favorite songs were on that CD. Or that they were sung my the Goo Goo Dolls.)

So I'm going to try to come up with a playlist each month, made up of a collection of songs, some old, some new, but just some that I've heard over the month and I liked, and maybe want to research the artist a little bit more.

So that's that. Now I need to finish up some stuff before heading over to the Labahn's house. I'm trying out a new home group tonight. Well, it's technically not new, since I was part of that group a few years ago when it was made up of different people. But a lot of my friends from church go to this Wednesday night one, so I'm looking forward to hanging out with the old gang again, and hopefully feeling all homey at this home group. :)

Geocaching

The OSF and I embarked on a geocache adventure Tuesday night after Coffee Shop Tuesday. We made two stops, both of which Chris and Ryan had found before. One was hidden in a fake sprinkler in an island in the middle of the street, and the other was an Altoid box stuck to the bottom of the Cutter's Point mailboxes.

I've decided geocaching is muy fun.

And Sonia was telling me she and Paul wanted to start going on adventures too, so we decided we should go out and explore around camp some weekend over the summer, since no one will be out there to see a group of us searching around anyway. Definitely looking forward to spending some summery days treasure hunting out in the hot dust of Jamul. :)

It's...

Summer time!

Finally!

I LOVE SUMMER TIME SO MUCH THAT THIS DECLARATION GETS OBNOXIOUS CAPITAL LETTERS!

Today was GREAT. I slept in/lounged in bed as late as I wanted to without feeling guilty. Then I went out to the pool to read my newest Karen Kingsbury book in the perfect sunshine, while also starting on this summer's tan. (My goal this summer is to be as brown as Sonia and I were when we lifeguarded summer 2004. That was the best tan EVER.) I talked with some of the apartment kids who came out to swim, including one little girl dressed all in pink who thought it was the coolest thing that I also had a pink cell phone and pink keychain. I just love little kids. :)

While I was reading, I came up with new ideas for my story, specifically a great plotline to tie two characters together later on. I love it when things like that click. I also discovered how to physically characterize all my blue-eyed characters. Because in a story where most of my characters are either blondes or redheads, a good portion of them come out with blue eyes. So as I was daydreaming out in the sun, I realized that Character J has fierce blue eyes (cuz she's got a fiery personality), while Character A has warm blue eyes that sometimes show a little green (because she's got a lot of compassion, but is also very passionate about certain things), and Character T has piercing blue eyes (because he's pretty intuitive. And he's hot.)

Sorry if that makes no sense to anyone else. It was a great revelation to me. :)

Then I really, really wanted to go running. Even though I thought I hated running. But it was so beautiful, and just starting to cool down a bit, with a nice breeze blowing, so I went back inside, yelled hi to Jenna studying at the kitchen table, laced up the sneaks, and took off.

It was glorious.

And apparently my only problem with running is that I don't like doing it when it's cold. Go figure. It's just so much more interesting when it's all warm outside and you can run in your bathing suit, tank top, and soccer shorts. And then when you have to pause and walk off a cramp or something, it's still just a beautiful stroll on a gorgeous day.

Oh, and I've also discovered I love running in the middle of the street. I think it's a throwback to the days when my mom wouldn't let us cross our own street until we were like eleven. (Ha. Take that, Mom.)

I had mapped out a 1 mile route from our apartment, one that didn't involve going down the specific scary street that always makes me feel like I'm going to get thrown in the back of a van or get my ipod stolen by a fourteen-year-old with a knife. (You scoff, Brian Reames, but it's freaky being a girl and seeing their eyes follow you as you go by. Or hearing cars slow down and glide along the curb next to you. Ew. It's giving me the creeps right now.)

Anyway, as I was running in the street outside the cute little junior high, I decided since I was practically there, I'd add an extra half mile and go up to the spot where we went geocaching after Jenna's birthday party. We didn't find anything that night, but it was dark, and we were depending on flashlights. So I figured maybe I'd go by and see if I could find the cache.

And I totally found it. All by myself.

No, not really. I looked in the bushes for a couple minutes for that camo bag, but nothing stood out from all the leaves and dirt. That camo is good. Oh, but I did see a baby bat hiding in the brush.

No, not really. But I just realized my day probably wasn't really all that exciting to anyone else, so I've got to spice it up somehow. Just trying to keep you guys on your toes.

I came home and Jenna demonstrated some yoga moves she learned at a class she took at the gym. I'm intrigued with yoga now. We decided to get our hands on a yoga DVD for the roommates to exercise in the living room. Sonia, Mandy, and I used to do that back at the old Cobblestone Apt. #11. It was one of our first roommate bonding moments. And then we'd have anorexic popsicles afterward.

Anyway, Jenna decided she wanted to go study at Starbucks, and lucky for me, it was one of those times when she wanted a buddy. (Jenna distracts herself too easily when she studies, so sometimes she has to go alone.) Starbucks was closing in an hour, so we went to Cosmos instead (yay!) and snagged the couch facing the street ouside, which was all lit up in pretty La Mesa Blvd. fashion. A guy was performing that night, but otherwise there were very few people there, so we got a lot done.

We took a trip to Wal-Mart to get me a new cooler for the start of soccer season. While we were there, Jenna lamented how sometimes she just wants to buy things for the sake of buying things, because she hasn't bought anything for a long time. And then she commented on how practical I was with my money and how I never let the temptation to buy unnecessary things overcome me.

Worst. Jinx. Ever.

Because then we walked through the clothes section. And I saw they'd replenished the rack where I'd bought this really cute and great fitting shirt a few weeks ago. And now there were MORE!

And I ended up breaking my no-spend pledge.

Curse you, Jenn-ay, and your terrible jinx.

After that, we came home, made cookies, and got back to work at the kitchen table. And then on Facebook I got an offer from one of my aviation buddies to go flying sometime. He suggested tomorrow morning, but I'm going to need a little more time to get used to the idea. I've never flown before, after all. And I don't like heights. Or small, cramped spaces. All of which pose a problem for flying.

But this is the year for fun and risk-taking, right?

(Now that I'm done with it, I realize this is the longest. post. ever. And it's pretty irrelevant to anything. I blame the endorphins from running and being out in the sun. Exercise makes me talk really, really fast about random things. Hmmm... maybe I should save that for my next confession.)

Not A Movie Night

I had no plans Friday night.

And as usual, when this happens, I came up with a list of productive things to do on a night alone, which included (but was not limited to) doing laundry, cleaning up my room cleaning up the house in general, and possibly dabbling in some paper scrapbooking, which I haven't gotten around to for a long time.

And of course as soon I settled into this idea, Brian texted, wanting to do something that night.

So I said sure. Because it's Friday night and all, and really, my plans were pathetic for a Friday night.

But no one else responded to Brian's text, so it was up to me to round up the usual suspects. In the end, we decided on a late movie night with the roommates, Aaron/Metro, Brian, Ryan, and Mandy. And possibly the OSF.

When Mandy got there, she and I huddled in the kitchen for girl talk (engagement story talk) and cookie baking, while Brian and Aaron chatted up computers and guitars. Then Jen and Jenna came home, and the night turned junior high style- guys in one room, girls in the other. Which was fine, because we're mostly all camp people, and camp people know how to talk. (Because there's nothing else to do during free time at camp other than sleep.) Then the OSF showed up instead of Ryan, and Mandy grilled him for about forty-five minutes (not an exaggeration), since he was the only person she didn't know yet. (Mandy quote: I just want to know people!) Luckily, Chris took it better than most people, answering all of Mandy's questions (which included (but were not limited to) age, career, schooling, parental background, living situation, hobbies, and nationality), and I'm pretty sure the OSF wasn't completely scared away from ever coming to our apartment again.

Around 11:30, with three different conversations going on around the living room, and an empty cookie plate, we came to the conclusion that our Late Night Movie Night had in fact turned into Not A Movie Night.

But you know what? I kind of liked it better this way.

Happy Friendiversary!

Happy friendiversary to Ryan!

Today marks the beginning of our third year of friendship. It's crazy to think I've only known him for two years, because most of my closest friends have been around for at least ten years. That Ryan. He's just able to sneak in like that and make you forget you haven't even known him that long.

To commemorate the second friendiversary, we took pictures of ourselves looking at pictures of ourselves.

Sounds confusing, doesn't it?

And, I guess technically we didn't take the pictures; that shady-looking guy in yesterday's picture of the day did.

He looks very pleased with the pictures he's taken, doesn't he?

Here are some pictures of our momentous first meeting, which just so happened to take place at (where else) Disneyland:

(This is the picture in the frame we were looking at it.)

Not only is Ryan the most awesome host of TV Thursdays, he is always a willing subject for pictures, has great taste in musical theater, is always up for a last minute movie night, and gets really funny when he's had a couple drinks.

Happy friendiversary, Ryan Prades!

The Day Before Easter

We have an Easter tradition, my friends and I. We go to Mike and Jess' every year to dye eggs, hide eggs, find eggs, and then eat egg salad sandwiches.

It's very fun.

Probably more fun for this kid:

Because she's the one who gets to have all the finding fun. 

Jessica, why is your kid getting so big? I was looking through the Easter albums of the past, when my favorite eight-year-old was my favorite four-year-old, and sheesh. She's so tiny!

I've been telling her for years that she's not allowed to grow anymore, and every time she claims it's not up to her because her mom makes her eat vegetables. 

Whatever.

So here we are, Saturday morning...er, afternoon, because some of us may have gotten there a couple hours later than we were told. The dying crew consisted of Jess, Mike, Brittany, Justin G., Liz, Brad, me, and of course Gwen.

I find this egg hilarious for some reason. It reminds me of a bad character from Veggie Tales or something. You know, like the bad king from Rack, Shack, and Benny?

I think Gwen made it, which makes it even funnier.

And some egg-cellent egg sayings:

And the hunt begins!

Now, in years past, we've been careful to hide eggs where she'll be able to find them, reach them, see them, perhaps step on them. Because Easter's no fun when the five-year-old starts crying that she only found four of eighteen eggs. 

But the kid's eight now. So we decided it was time to start challenging her in this egg-finding process.

She looked high.

She looked low.

While the rest of us looked on.

And Mike, in egg hunt tradition, brought out the funky guitar,

And followed her around, strumming a ballad.

It kind of looks like they're gathering to pray here, doesn't it? Actually, they're all huddled around the hardest to find egg, which was pretty much buried right there, in an attempt to give Gwen a hint. Because the egg hunt had been going on for quite awhile at this point.

This is Gwen when she realized Justin had been stealing eggs from her basket and re-hiding them where she'd found them.

Like this one, up in a tree. This was her second time retrieving it.

Mike and Jess, in a picture Jess will surely be stealing for her own blog.

(But don't do it, Jess. I've got a better version saved for you.)

Then the game went from stealing and hiding the eggs, to stealing and hiding the whole basket.

Ah, Easter.