goodbye redding

hello patrick's point. we leave in an hour and 12 minutes. sweet. i'm exhausted. pretty much been cooking and baking up a storm since 5pm yesterday. my feet are killing me. i needed one of those chef's mats to stand on...... but the fun begins shortly. i can't wait. team coverdale. team rosten. team markle. and team p.b. lance. sweet. great food. great drinks. great hikes. great friends... good times...
made avocado salsa. turkey and beer chili. yummy pasta salad. brownies. and cinnamon rolls. *whew* cut up fruit. ground coffee. got it all packed. sweet sweet. time to load up the car. clean up the kitchen...and wait for my honey to come home.
I just checked the weather in Trinidad. it's 52 degrees over there. bEAUtiful.
...............peace.

some things about this week

happy 5th of July people. kind of a weird 4th, eh? oh well-just think how amazing it will be in October or whenever the reschedule the fireworks for, to kick back in cooler weather and watch the lovely display...
it's been a good week. had tyler over for dinner one night. our dear friend kelly another night. went over to the blacks house Wednesday night. spent Thursday night at home with my honey. last night, bbq with team rosten. *wow* no wonder i've been tired this week. i love hanging with people though... totally worth it.
went to the gym Wednesday... for the first time since March. i've been walking around like an old person all week, just ask jeremy. i think i may have overdone it for the first time back. but there was this little old guy on the elliptical next to me that was just jamming away..80 years old (my guess), completely sculpted calves, level 4 (yea, I peaked)... and after my 20 minutes he was STILL going.. shoot. one of the main reasons i haven't gone (besides being lazy:) is that i was nervous about scanning my card.... then my info pops up..... and whoever is sitting there at the desk can see how long it's been since i scanned my card last. shoot. i walked in, smiled at the guy sitting at the front desk (a smile like, c'mon you know me, i'm here every day) scanned my card and walked off. Either he didn't actually look at the screen... or maybe he had some sympathy on me.... or maybe he really just didn't care...... i think it was more of the 3rd. anyway..i feel good. much better today. think I'll drag jeremy down there with me today....nothing like working out with my honey.
we both got haircuts this week. God bless Amy Endicott. i love getting my hair cut by her. the conversation is always incredible...i normally leave feeling like I just was saved all over again :) great woman of God she is.
i'm taking a college algebra class right now.. *bleh* it actually hasn't been that hard..just a ton of work to do. i laugh at myself b/c many times i say, screw algebra, i'm figuring this one out my own way! :) And amazingly enough, I figure it out..without all the x's and y's. i like to call it amebra.
last night was a great night. went over to jesse and lyn rosten's for a lovely bbq. beer brats, yoshida's chicken, bell peppers and onions..*yum* I made some killer salsa that I think is going to be my favorite thing to take to partys... lyn made some yummy black bean and corn salsa.. and we finished off the night with homemade milkshakes... full bellies... so we went for a walk through the downtown houses.... i love it over here..so many cute houses, quiet streets, dark alleys :)... really it was great night. how amazing is it to be able to see the stars again. got home a little after midnight. we're going camping in 2 weekends with them at Patrick's Point. sounds like it is going to be a camping trip to remember:) *so excited*
if any of you have been over.. you've probably met our neighbor alyn. he's kind of a strange man; but I've definitely grown to like him. he takes care of a lot of stuff around the place and is always on the look out for any people coming around that shouldn't be. he's kind of like my undercover security guard. anyway, the other day, he washed our our trashcan. not like a small one that you wheel out to the street on Trash day.. no the big-ass white ones that the garbage truck uses that forklift thing on the front to pick up. crazy. awesome. now our trash smells more like pine-sol than trash:) Love it.
ugh.. it's 9:30 and i can't get my butt in gear. . . want to go down to market but i hate going this late....... hhmm.. maybe i'll go. there's always the one tomorrow... hhmm.. ok fine, I'll go. loves you all..have a wonderful weekend.

7.02.08

i'm still on this money and material things kick. seriously. it's all i think about these days. God's been laying this on heavy in my life. it's just weird b/c I know that God does bless some people with lots of money, huge houses, and an endless supply of whatever they need. There are those people that don't have to check their bank account before they go shopping. There are those people that fall asleep in a 4 bedroom house at night..using only one room most of the year. There are those people that don't care that it costs 100 bones to fill up their gas tank. I don't know..it's just weird. I think that God can bless us in incredible ways--- ways that we could never imagine...but the only way we're going to get there is if we're completely and totally relying on him. And how are we relying on Him when the extra money we have, we go spend on new clothes.. instead of helping someone out. we're comfortable Christians. we totally are. I don't care if you say you aren't b/c i know I'm not..... i really am striving towards not being so comfortable. it's retarded. i think about our spare bedroom that we don't even use...that's just piled with boxes of stuff from when we moved... boxes that I haven't needed for the last 2 months. it's stupid.
anyways. just some thoughts. thanks to the blacks for the invite tonight. good people.

tahoe loven..

hello friends. just got back from lovely Tahoe. lovely Tahoe. It was BEAUTIFUL over there... a little smoky; but gorgeous still. we had fun. road trip with the girls. devil's juice with friends, old and new. a wonderful wedding. fun sunburns. great breakfast. amazing families. Jeremy did an incredible job on the pictures... but I think it really helped that Jamie is so naturally beautiful, and Pete, well he IS a Metz... all combined with the sparkling blue water of Tahoe.... and well- it was wonderful. I'm sure Jeremy will post some pictures this week.. Keep an eye out.
the trip left me with a lot of time to think...... was thinking about this whole money issue I blogged about a few days ago.... I think some people took me the wrong way and I wanted to explain myself a little more. I think that as a community we do not live below our means so we can help others. seriously. we have to have SO much. we have to drive a nice car so people will think we have money. we have to wear name brand clothes so people won't think we shop at Wal-Mart. we pay more rent than we can afford, just so people will talk about how nice our place is. we go on expensive vacations so we can brag to all of our friends. now tell me... why the hell do we have to have all this crap? None of this means ANYTHING. and I'm speaking about all of us, myself included-our lives in general-not just related to the Stirring. Everyone needs to re-evaluate what's really at the top of our priorities. Think about it...if for some reason you got 100 bucks in the mail from whoever..would you think-sweet, I can go buy that new shirt i want (to hang in my closet full of shirts) or do you think, awesome, How can I bless someone with this gift? Seriously. Think about it. We can get by on SO much less than we think we can. And when you realize that.... you've got all this extra cash flow to bless people with. or maybe it's not even cash, maybe its extra food-invite someone over for dinner.. if you've got some extra gas money, fill up someone's tank. I don't care what you do... just learn to live on less. As a community if we did that-we'd be able to do SO much.
anyway.... just some of my thoughts... that's what this blog is for. take them or leave them. I don't care. loves you all.

amazing

sigur ros. simply amazing. this is blog #2 in a row about them. Yes. go buy their new album- it is simply amazing. they blow me away. Go buy it. I can't spell it...and tried to figure out how to say it...but I don't speak Icelandic. sheesh. I should learn. . .

watching the news right now... seriously. all of FarNorCal is going up in flames. 157 burning just in Shasta Co. alone. crazy. I look like a stoner..my eyes are so red from the smoke. . . can't sleep at night.... gross. i can't turn on the swamp cooler b/c then my entire place smells like smoke. gross. God bless Redding.

heading over to Tahoe tomorrow with Meg & Kristena. Should be a fun little road trip... we're going over for Pete Metz and Jamie White's wedding. it's about damn time those two got married! Hopefully it'll be nice over there.. Jeremy said it was a little smoky over there..but not bad. either way, it'll be nice to get away.

it's crazy that the 4th of July is next weekend. i'm beginning to wonder if they're going to still have the fireworks... probably not the best idea to shoot off FIREworks when there's hundreds of fires burning all around us. . bummer. I love fireworks. maybe we'll go up to Mt. Shasta and watch theirs..of course I'm sure it's pretty smoky up there too. Maybe we'll drive over to the ocean. *ah* I miss the ocean. I was actually just thinking about it the other day b/c some of our friends are heading over camping at Gold Bluffs this weekend. something about the ocean, i feel relaxed just thinking about it... the sand...the waves...the quiet.... the fog....the smell... dang.. i need to go over there. it's good for my soul. God speaks to me so much in the outdoors...well, I should rephrase that-I hear Him so much more in the outdoors.... that's a good reason I want to live a simpler life...get rid of all the noise. all the crap that we fill our days with.... ya know?

anyway...... keep it real friends. i'm going to go buy a baby panther I think... or maybe i'll just start feeding the neighborhood cat.... loves you all.

is it october yet?

sweet. sigur ros. berkely. greek theater. october 3rd. ooooohhhhh snap, i'm excited. it's on a friday.. So i'm thinking that it's going to be a great chance to make a memorable weekend in the city. their new album comes out tuesday. go buy it. believe it or not Target has it for 7.98. Go Target-beat out Best Buy...but don't buy all of them-I need to get a copy too!! :)
went to church tonight. I feel weird about church sometimes. sometimes I just get sick of how nice our church is. I'm lounging back on a comfy, overstuffed couch listening to Nathan talk about how crappy the Stirring finances are....and all I'm thinking is.... well why do we have such a nice place then.. If our rent is too much....then lets just meet outside. we can sit on the ground if we have to. . . not run the a/c if we have to... you know what I mean? it just kills me how much we are comfortable Christians. it's stupid. I think the inner-hippy in me comes out sometimes (did i really just say inner-hippy? yes. i did.) and wants to rid myself of all of our modern comforts and live life the simple way. . . I want to live in a community that is like what Shane Clairborne talks about in Irresistible Revolution. I want my house to be where anyone can come over and eat...but I want other people to want that to-and be able to sacrifice enough to accommodate that. it's not easy...but if its something that you feel God has called you to do-why the hell aren't you doing it!?!?!? (i'm talking mainly to myself here....but maybe some of you feel me on this...) We read these amazing books on what the Christian community should like and books that bash on the Church...and we get all pumped up reading them..but as soon as we close the book...it's back to our normal day-to-day life... why do we forget all the stuff that pumped us up? sheesh...
.....went to WinCo tonight. just walked in and was squeezing the peaches. yes. i squeeze the peaches before i buy them. they were hard. i didn't buy them. I turn around and in walks Chad and Jordan. 2 of my old friends from back in the day. it blew me away that I saw them. we talked for a little while but it kept getting silent and we just looked at each other-tripping out. I haven't seen Jordan (who lives in Eugene, OR now) for.... shoot 4 years or so?....and Chad (who lives in North Carolina now) for atleast 4. It was really good to see them. Old friends that just make you smile.
Dinner tomorrow night should be fun...Peter and Christian are coming over..I invited Jordan and his family to come over too-but he wasn't sure if they were heading back to Oregon tomorrow or Tuesday...and of course we'll be bbq'n :) That's how we roll. and it's so smoky outside..we might as well add some more :)
. . . ok kids. I need to do some homework.... love you all.

Death and all of his friends.

so i just listened to the new Coldplay album, twice. INtense. maybe it has to do with the incredible thunder rocking and lightning flashing outside my window. I feel like i live in the Midwest right now. anyway. props to Coldplay for actually making album that sounds different than the last 3. I think the live show for this album I'd actually want to go to. Seems like it have some crazy energy. I've seen on t.v. some of their other shows... kind of boring to me. But seems like they've tapped into something good with this album. yea. this is a feel good album. . . . next comes the new Sigur Ros. *whew* from what I've heard so far.... sounds amazing and incredibly different from anything I've heard of theirs before. bummer that the presale tickets sold out in a matter of hours. hopefully we'll get our hands on some tickets. Portland or Berkeley..either one..we'll be their, even if we have to buy them from those damn scalpers that make a killing..... every time I see Sigur Ros play...it's like the first time. I've got a pretty good track record with them... in the last 7 years I've seen them 5 times. let's make it six people.
didn't make it to farmer's market today. was afraid I'd get struck by lightning.... seriously, I'm almost too scared to walk to the mail box! oh how i love summer storms. God has somehow made this day incredibly relaxing for me...almost feels like I've had my normal two days off instead of just one.... beautiful.
we had a couple good coverdale family dinners this week. been grilling almost every night. we love our new bbq. think I'll do some fish tacos next week! RR has this recipe that I've been dying to try....
everyone has been asking about our vacation. i promise I'll blog more about it later... just know that team coverdale has put Portland in their 1-5 year plan.