Lisa's ruminations...

Days off...too much time to think

2012-01-16T16:15:00.000-08:00

One perk about working for the federal government is the federal holidays that come with it. Today is one of those days. After spending the morning outside, it was time to come home and enjoy the 55 degree, drizzly day by turning on the fire and ruminating.

The last week has been somewhat of a puzzle. I have hit another one of those moments where you have to make a future career choice. There's just too many scenarios that play out in my mind. This choice could lead here, this one could lead there. Sometimes these options are too political for me. I don't like the politics involved. If I decide to stick with the current direction, others that could make decisions about my future career might not like that. But if I take a job that has opened up, I may be putting myself in a position I don't know how to move out of in the future. Then, it wouldn't look so good if I took a job to then try to move to another in just a little while.

So, what to do? I know life doesn't turn out the way anyone expects. I never really thought I'd have to take every 3-5 years figuring out what to do in a career which has always stayed out of the Goal-#1-slot. The gap between where hopes and expectations and reality stand and stare at eachother is sometimes a hard chasm to fill. Somehow it has to be filled in order to feel things are ok with the world.

So, here we go again. attempting to cross that gap and accept that there are some things I can control and that there are some things I can't. And all will be ok.

Christmas Time is Here

2011-12-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

How quickly the year has come to a close! My intentions to send out cards, while well and good, just didn't happen. So this is my attempt to make up for that and hopefully spread some Christmas cheer through this e-note.

The past few years when
Christmas has come around, I've reflected and thought to myself, "I've learned a lot. This is the most productive and enlightening year to date." And then the next year comes to a close and come to find, nope this one beat out the previous year. So again, I will let you in on the secret that I don't know much of anything, as evidence by the continuous revolving door of lifelong learning that I seem to be in. Seriously, I can truly say that his past year has been the most eventful, most fun, most physically and emotionally demanding but also the most rewarding year so far. And all this gets to happen in beautiful sunny San Diego! Highlights: Journey concert(yup, I saw them:); summer evening picnics on Coronado; Cabrillo National Monument; walking La Jolla cove and La Jolla shores; running through my own neighborhood near the temple; working in the temple; the fair where you can eat fried Kool Aid and snickers to your hearts content and see the Beach Boys live; murder mystery parties; Girls Conference weekend in Palm Springs; there was just a lot going on.

Like Rabbits

This year, I looked forward to 4 new nieces or nephews. Brigitte and Tyler started it off when their daughter Erica Allison Brown was born in February. I was able to go to Utah along with other family for her blessing and to hang out with the family there. I forgot how cold Utah is but have to say, I do miss the seasons. While I appreciate the season of winter, the snow can stay in the mountains for me to go play in when I want to.
Next up was Melissa and Kiel, who added number two to their little clan in August. Rhyan Patrice Christensen was born and offered another chance for all the family to get together this time in Southern California. All of us, all 5 of my siblings and their families were able to be there, spend a day at the beach and spend Sunday celebrating September birthdays and enjoy eachother's company.
November, when the seasons change and fall sometimes visits Southern California, brought about another addition. Jace McKay Jordan was born on early Thanksgiving morning to Shelley and Steve. Good Morning! It was pretty much planned by Shelley that Thanksgiving would be in the hospital, so they stayed out in Yucaipa, while their kids with my parents and I met up at Kiel and Melissa's house for dinner and family fun. This little guy will be blessed in January.
And we are awaiting a Christmas addition. Brittany and Gabe are expecting Sophie Keogan any day now, wrapped in a bow I'm sure. That will add 3 nieces and 1 nephew, for a total of 9!

Running Against the Wind

Around the beginning of the year, some of my girlfriends concocted the brilliant idea of all of us single gals running in the Ragnar Relay* series race. Pretty much, this sounded like the craziest thing I could do, considering I don't love running and never was very good at it. But, 11 other single ladies and I spent 2 days and 1 night running our teams distance of 200 miles, through Southern California, ending back across the San Diego bay on Coronado island. Yup, one of the most physically demanding things I've ever done. From there, we were unstoppable. The Single Ladies signed up for another one, in September, this time in the Bay Area, running from San Francisco through the Napa wine country. 190 miles total. And just in case my body didn't have enough, I did the Camp Pendleton Mud Run in June, 6 miles of military style obstacles on the Marine base and then in October, the Crafton Hills 5k, that my brother in law Steve organized to benefit the local fire and emergency responders. Why not?!

(*Don't worry, the Single Ladies will be back on the track again this April, this time under the pseudonym Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Check your local SoCal listings for when they may be running in your vicinity.)

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again....
I'm not sure it's that I didn't succeed the first time, but for the 2nd time in as many years, I was called to be the Relief Society President, but this time in my new family ward! I left the world of Young Single Adult wards in October of 2010, having served as RS pres since April of 2009. I left and a more carefree feeling replaced it, as I was able to enjoy being calling-less for a few months. I got a calling as the Relief Society Activities coordinator in January and that was just fine for me: planning uplifting girl time was fabulous. We were hitting the summer months and I was feeling fine. "When all of sudden..there arose such a clatter"...in my heart. I felt like things were going to change up. So when my Bishop called me in, I wondered what it was going to be for, having a tiny inkling, but no idea what direction. I was pretty shocked when he threw this one out there. I had only been in the ward for 7 months. I went home, took a little time to just sit on my bed, go for a walk, come back, stare at the floor with a dumbstruck expression I'm sure. But here we are, 6 months later, round 2. And it's been a sometimes overwhelming, yet amazing experience so far.

On the Road Again...

I pulled my traveling bags out again and took the girls with me to visit Grandma in Nashville. We got there as the tornados were going through, but fortunately for us they were not as bad through Nashville as they were through other areas in the south. We tried our hands at honkey tonking, southern bbq, Franklin street fair, southern plantation viewing Andrew Jackson style, and civil war battlefield viewing. We had a week long biscuit eating competition (we might have consumed more biscuits than should be humanly possible, no big deal). We tried to temper that with early morning runs down the parkway near grandma's house. Pretty much, Nashville in the springtime is fabulous!

Utah was another destination and while it might seem a pretty common experience to go there, I hit the beehive state 3 out of the 4 seasons. It was fun to see family and to go with all the girls to see our fabulous Rosey get married in October! I also was able to come up to Concord a couple times and enjoy being back on my home turf (running through the bay area was a new experience though, one that I can wait awhile for again:)

It's been an amazing year, experiencing life with family and having new experiences that tested, taught and refined me. I can honestly say, that while the tests weren't fun, I've learned a lot from them. I'm very blessed and am grateful for all of it. Life has it's ups and downs, but there can be so much good if we look for it. The most wonderful aspect is that we have a Heavenly Father and Savior who love us through everything.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

A new blog to follow!

2011-12-07T12:42:00.000-08:00

I've been somewhat addicted to Pinterest lately. I found a blog on one of the pins that I'm super excited to follow:

http://thenshemade.blogspot.com/

Check it out and enjoy! Totally going to do some things she does:)

Unspoken lessons

2011-11-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

Many lessons in life don't have to be spoken. Many times, the words a teacher speaks don't go deep enough, but the actions and feelings I see expressed and feel, are what end up teaching me:

An arm extended to draw you in when you're nervous or anxious about something.

A piano arrangement that expresses your testimony maybe even more than saying it.

Watching a single sister be attentive and engaged with children that aren't her own.

Friends who go above and beyond to help a family move and clean their old house.

Watching a father cradle his newborn daughter and be totally enthralled with her, and seeing the pride of his wife as she watches.

The feelings a hug communicates when words just won't do.

A plate of "I was thinking of you" cookies.

Playing with a niece and nephew, meaning they can be crazy kids;)

Having a best friend just sit with you and watch the ocean.

Sitting alone on the beach, watching the ocean and thinking of how times of our lives flow in and out.

Feeling loved ones around when they're not physically there.

Watching a woman always be in the kitchen at an event to make sure everyone is taken care of, so others don't have to pull themselves away from the fun.

Before the RS president even knows of a need, everything was taken care of by other ward members.

Theses were just some things on my mind lately. Last week, my institute teacher asked a question of the class. We are studying the Pearl of Great Price and he asked how different would your life be if we lived like the City of Enoch? My first response was, I'd get released from my calling:) (what? no judging) Actually, I judged myself. The above list are the means lessons have been taught to me as I've served and truthfully, I really like this part of the calling. I don't think I would be as attune to see these things if I wasn't somewhat "forced" into it. And maybe that's the lesson for me about being a Zion people. Just doing the things you should do, because that's the type of person you are and have become. The people who have taught me the lessons above, are people who just ARE that way.

Challenge myself

2011-09-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

I have been reading this blog lately. It's been intriguing and while I'm not up to par with Gabe and Brittany, I have been toying with the idea of trying to go the less processed food route. So this blog has a 10 day challenge, adapted from this families 100 day challenge of eating no processed foods. I think I'm going to to try the 10 day challenge. Here are the rules to eat by:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/real-food-defined-a-k-a-the-rules/

What brings this on you ask? Well, I've been ridiculously busy this week and last week. So much so, that I get home late, can't get up the energy to make a good meal for myself at 9:30 at night and so resort to the wonderful brownies that my roommate made along with ice cream that the other bought, topped of with whipped cream and chocolate syrup....twice. Yes, I have devolved into bad eating habits. So, I needed a wake up call and a challenge to myself to do better. This requires me to have good foods stocked up and ready to go, and not resort to late night sugar binges to satisfy my hunger and laziness. So...I have a weekend away starting Friday night. I'm going to start my 10 day challenge next week, on Tuesday. I need to go shopping Monday night for my 10 days worth of food. I'm going to take a look at the menu offered on the website and choose some things I want to make and do and hopefully see some good results, at least being able to get back on the wagon of making regular meals again!

Racing to Catch Up...

2011-09-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on my blog. I apologize for all of that. I feel like I've been racing to catch up to an ever faster moving life. I'm single, really how crazy busy can it get!! Don't worry, for all of you out there who legitimately have busy family lives, I'm not taking anything away from that, but a single girl can have a busy life as well....

Since my last posting, I've been able to continue to train for another race, fly to Utah for Celia's graduation, drive up to Kiel and Melissa's for their daughter Rhyan's blessing, fly up to the Bay Area for the race and time with family, and then back. And somewhere in all that, try to be a Relief Society President to 130 women and the families of the ward, find time to fit in the many friends that I love to be around, date someone-then stop dating someone, start watching BYU football again as the season opens up, try to get back into a social scene to hopefully date another, take time to go to an All Girls Weekend before a best friend gets married, and we have now made it to the end of September. (Sorry for the laundry list, but sometimes it helps me to do that so I can see that I'm actually accomplishing some things. Looking at the blur of days tends to make one feel like you never actually get things done). And through all that, working 40 hours a week kind of gets in the way (what?).

So yes, Celia graduated from BYU!!! She has now entered that wonderful part of life called indecision and make-it-up-as-you-go. I was able to go up, see my parents who came out for it, Brigitte and Tyler and their kids and my friend Allison, her husband Kyle and their baby and right before flying out, I met up with another friend in Salt Lake and we toured the Conference Center, since I'd never been inside.

The next weekend, a couple from my former singles ward got married, so Saturday was wedding day!

The beginning of September brought about my 32nd birthday (actually, I am starting to just invert the numbers, so 23 folks!). The birthday weekend I went to Extraordinary Desserts here in San Diego with some girl friends. Love that place, everything is so prettily decorated that you almost don't want to eat it, but you know the inside is going to taste every bit as wonderful as the outside looks, so you have to! That next Sunday, I went up to my brothers house where I met, for the 2nd time, my newest niece Rhyan Patrice Christensen. She was blessed that Sunday and I got to see all my family who came into town for it. What was also great was that labor was the next day so I got to stay over night with my family all up there. We hung out, celebrated the September birthdays (there were about 9 of them), played with the nieces and nephews, went to the hotel, talked till late, got up early, breakfast-ed, talked and then headed back to San Diego. Fun times were had.

That next weekend, my friends threw me a birthday party. I wanted a crepe party, so my wonderful friends learned how to make savory and sweet crepes and any topping you could think of was there. Chicken, veggies, treats, whipped goodness and other wonderful things were there. My friends know how to do things so great!! Couldn't be happier with them!

The following weekend, September 16th and 17th, 8 girl friends and I went up to the Bay Area to run the Napa Valley Ragnar Relay. Just like my race in April that I posted about, this was a 12 team run, starting on the San Francisco Marina, over the Golden Gate Bridge, through Marin, Sausalito, San Anselmo, all those small towns and then up into the Napa wine country. We wound through vineyards, farms and beautiful valleys. It was an awesome run. We picked up 4 girls that we didn't know from up there (one was a friend of one of my friends) and we ran from there! I got to visit my parents, Brittany, Gabe and Sydney, Grandma K, Clayton Valley 1st ward and my roommate got to come with me for all of this as one of our drivers. Fun times, more bling to add to my race collection (only 3 medals now:), hurt hips, heel and possible bone spur, but super great times!

Last weekend, I hosted a BYU football party at my house. It was fun, we did home made pizza. I finally caught up with my entire presidency on Saturday for a presidency meeting and planning. This coming weekend is the girls weekend out in Indio. My friend who is getting married in October in Utah, is marrying a guy who has a timeshare out there and he is being really wonderful by letting his fiance and all her friends crash the place. So fun times. On Sunday, I will head back towards the coast to meet up with my Aunt Kathy, Uncle Tim, their kids Rushell and Kris, their families, my cousin Amy and her family, Shelly and her family, Kiel and his family...oh, that's the end of the list:)

Somewhere in there, we had the great So Cal Blackout, Relief Society activities, ward temple nights, friends birthdays, bachelorette party, missionary discussions, meetings, work, emotional roller coasters, visiting teaching, emergency preparedness, etc....It's been a busy little while lately! You'd think there would be a calm time soon...but quickly we are moving into my favorite time of year, fall, then holiday's then the new year. And then we'll sit back and wonder where all the time went, but at least I can look back and measure that yes, I did get some things accomplished.

The Ultimate.

2011-07-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

After a week that was, in my book, pretty rough and long, I was ready for some fun and relax time. Luckily, to celebrate the end of a long and rough day, I got to play ultimate frisbee with a bunch of friends who play every week. I haven't been able to play until last night. And now I remember why-I hurt!! I can run for some distance, but I forgot how much starting, stopping, zigging, zagging, sprinting, slowing can hurt. My muscles are sore! But it was great to play for a couple hours and work off some energy that had been pent up.

I've had a lot to do over the last couple weeks for my church assignment and I have a lot of thoughts running through my head. When I get them sorted out, I might be able to post a few and share what was the lesson learned. But one thing that was so great was I saw super nice things done for me, when it wasn't me that was going through the rough time. I was stressed yes, emotional yes, but it wasn't my trial. But my family was nice to call and ask how I was, I even got a call from a member of the High Council who knew it was a rough week for a newly called Relief Society President and he just called to say I was doing a good job with a hard task. My friends let me know that I was doing good and that they were there when I needed to let it out. Amazing how there really are so many good people.

Summertime snapshot...

2011-07-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

1. Sunburns, the good kind that blister and peel for a couple weeks, super great :)

2. BBQ's-love the bbq smell and taste of grilled everything!

3. warm summer nights when you can just walk out your door and go for a walk.

4. late sunset-allows you time to go watch the sun set and do everything else you need to before hand.

5. fireworks over the ocean

6. so many birthdays!!

7. service by others to others-so great to watch this happen.

8. temple so close and gorgeous as the sunsets

9. family parties and nieces and nephews

10. fantastic and fabulous friends

11. so much to do and see in San Diego, my favorite right now, free concerts in the parks and at Balboa Park, one of my favorite places.

Cleansing of the Pores....Mud Run style

2011-07-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

In June, I got roped into running the Camp Pendleton Mud Run. A member of my former bishopric corralled me at a ward activity and said his team needed another runner...in 2 weeks!! Could I be ready to run 6.2 miles, marine style, through a muddy obstacle course?! Yeah...no big deal. So away I went, trained for 2 weeks! And we got there and ran our little hearts through the mud! It was up hill, down hill, through a chest deep river, obstacle walls with mud on each side, another hill with a river running down it and then finally, a mud crawl under wire like the Marines. Good times folks! I was nervous beforehand how it would go, since I hadn't really trained for it. But I had such a fun time with these ladies, who were running for the American Diabetes Association. They were great and just wanted to go out and have fun and finish. So that's what we did.

I did it again....

2011-07-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

I signed up with my friends for ANOTHER Ragnar Relay. Yup, we might be crazy for doing it again, but there you have it! This time, we're running in the Bay Area. We signed up for the Napa one, which starts in San Francisco and ends up in Calistoga, in wine country. You run through all those small wine towns. It is September 16th and 17th, so time to get more training in again! I need to get at least 2 months of training in. I think I would have done better had I trained for more than a month for the last one. But now I have 2, so I need to get on the ball!!
We have most of the same team running again, with a couple exceptions. One is getting married in August, so I guess that means she can legitimately leave the team of "All the Single Ladies" but kind of a bummer to lose her. And the other great deal is since we're coming from further than 100 miles away, we don't have to provide any volunteers for the race course. Yay for us! And wonderful for all of our friends who would have been in the running for best volunteers:)

Check out this blog!

2011-07-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

I found this blog on another friends blog. Looks fabulous! And she was in my ward at one point. Unfortunately I only remember the name, not the I'm sure wonderful person behind it:)

http://thisweekfordinner.com/

Seems like some good stuff if you're looking for help in the dinner column.

I'll catch up, but first....Second Time around!

2011-06-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

I will for sure post the rest of Nashville here soon...and the mud run experience... but just a few things have come up that have made life just a little more busy.

I love Relief Society, and apparently, I'm supposed to really love it I because I got that RS pres calling...again...in my new family ward this last Sunday. Really?! Again?! I've had a week to digest, contemplate, realize I don't know any sisters names in the ward (remember, I've only been there 9 months!), and that the first big challenge is that there are 6 women pregnant and they are all expected have their babies this summer..ok so meal sign up sheet will be going around! 2 other ladies just had their babies this last week as I was hearing about needs of the sisters. So, welcome to the calling:)

It should be good and as I was told, a time for me to grow and learn (no kidding:). Luckily, my choices for counselors and secretary said yes, and they are solid ladies who I know will help wherever they can, and who were told by the outgoing president, to make sure to help me out so that I can have a social life too:) So thoughtful of her (but a concern that was weighing on my mind!) So forward we go, hopefully upward and not downward...;)

Music City!! Day 1 & 2

2011-05-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Nashville on Wednesday, ready to hit the town with Grandma!! I went out a day early, before my friends all got there, to prepare the music city for all the awesome girls that were going to descend on it! And to spend time with Grandma. Lucky for me, I arrived on a pretty active day. As many remember, this particular Wednesday was very difficult for a lot of people in the South. This was the most active day for tornados in a long time. When I was flying into Nashville, it was pretty turbulent, actually more like a roller coaster. So I can only imagine what the really bad winds were like and after seeing the destruction on TV of what went on just 60 miles south of Grandma's, I am grateful that we were looked after where we were. The afternoon was spent with Grandma, watching the weather news and getting caught up on family news. Because the next day, 5 more girls were headed into town!!!

On Thursday, the rest of the girls made it to Nashville! They flew in about 1pm. Emerald and I met up with them at the airport (side note: Emerald served her mission in Nashville. She flew out on Wednesday as well to do some mission visiting). Our first stop of course needed to be some southern BBQ! We hit up downtown and Jacks BBQ.

We decided to wander downtown and check out Broadway, where all the music venues and honky tonks were located and Printers Alley. While we were there, we were introduced to boiled peanuts, sorry just couldn't get behind this southern snack. We walked the riverfront and had a great time getting ourself acquainted with area. The Country Music Hall of Fame was on the agenda as well as we strolled throughout town.

While others were in the Hall of Fame, Emerald and I, the parentals, laid out plans for our Nashville excursions. Emerald and I, being those who had been there before, were kind of the unspoken navigators. But when it came down to it, we were daily changing it up and checking out our "GPS."

After we got worked our way through downtown, we headed out southwest to the famous Loveless Cafe for dinner. On the way, we drove through Vanderbilt and through some beautiful neighborhoods. But we had a goal...FOOD. Yup, folks, this trip was almost all about the food. We ate our way through Nashville.

And as said before, we ate...so here's to the end of the day!

I know, Nashville will come! So here's some fun tidbits in the meantime

2011-05-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

My nephew Bruce is having his 1st Birthday party this Saturday, so I wanted to do a little post about all my nieces and nephews. I'm the proud aunt of 6-3 nieces and 3 nephews. With three more on the way this year! wow!
Here they are:
Mariah and Jack Jordan. Mariah and her red hair, Jack and his little mischievous smiles. You think he's innocent, but then not..Pretty much they're cute. They like talking on the phone with me so that's really fun! One day they wanted to drive away with me in my trunk-while eating cake in there:)

Logan and Erica Brown. They live in Utah. Erica was just born earlier this year. Logan is 3 and is the most amazing puzzle and letter organizer. He's got that down. Pretty much I've become the jumping bag for all the kiddos and Logan likes to jump on me too.

Sydney Keogan-She lives in Concord, closer to my parents. Sydney has this little gleam in her eye that tells you she's thinking and choosing exactly what she wants to do. She loves apples and will say hi and wave at me when I talk on the phone with her. She's just started walking. Watch out!

Bruce Christensen-He lives in Redondo Beach, CA. He just turned 1 and it's his birthday party on Saturday. He likes food. He learned how to crawl up and down stairs and is pulling himself up into things. He likes to be outside with his parents, having taken some trips to the zoo and beach recently. Happy Birthday Bruce!

There they are. Soon 3 more will come along this year and it will be a longer post. Super fun kids and super great that I get to be their aunt (play with them, buy them stuff, that sort of job is great!)

Honky Tonk-ing...it's a verb! And more goodies...

2011-05-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

I will have to write all about Nashville when I have pictures to go with it. Just to give you a comparison, when I went to Europe, my friends and I took almost 2,000 photos. We were in Nashville for 5 days, with one more additional camera than in Europe, and we still managed almost 1,000 photos. A little FYI so you know why the pictures are taking a little while to get organized:)

I just needed to thank my Grandma for hosting so many girls in her house. She allowed 6 girls to take over, use her space, come home late, stay up talking probably too late and still got up early to make us breakfast. Waffles, French toast, bacon, fruit, she had the spread and it was so nice of her. We would come home at night, talk about what we'd done and seen and she listened. It was great to spend time with Grandma at her house and in the temple. It was a great trip! So more to come!

Just a few thoughts I've been having lately. As you know, I did the Ragnar Relay down here with 11 other ladies and it was so fun and uplifting. The ladies I ran with were all so positive and had a great spirit about them. Most were members, 2 were not. But it was a wonderful spirit of friendship and support. Going back to work after that event was hard, because it's a totally opposite spirit at work. I need my job and like my work, but I felt a complete downward pressure when I walked into work the Monday after, it wasn't uplifting. Unfortunately, the depressing feeling started when I met up with my carpooler, who I like as a person, but I'm realizing more that it's not that fun to be around him. It requires a lot of work to be have the spirit and be a positive person around him and many of my coworkers. I had the same experience after Nashville. I loved being with 7 (Grandma included!) wonderful ladies, who were happy, lived the gospel, we could talk about that and were overall positive and uplifiting for me. Going back to work was a struggle (not just because my car had been towed while I was gone and I had to go find it and pay to break it out of jail) but because I knew exactly what I was going to walk into, another spirit draining environment. And that's not to say that I can really help the work environment, except to be my own little island of positiveness, it's the way work environments are I think. But it really struck me how much I need friends who have the same standards and beliefs as me and be around them as much as possible. Work can be so draining with it's cattiness, politicking, back-stabbing and micromanaging. The gospel and spirit of friendliness, positiveness, happiness and concern for others is so much better. Last night, my relay team went to the Mormon Battalion Historical Site with one of the non members on my team. She is investigating the church now because of the spirit she felt with the team. She said she wanted to have the same spirit that the other girls had. It was a great experience to be with her as she felt the spirit again and is totally happy and excited about finding true happiness. It's great stuff, the gospel.

All the Single Ladies.....RUN RAGNAR 2011!

2011-04-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

The Run has come and gone, All the Single Ladies ran the 200 mile course from Huntington Beach all the way to Silver Strand State Beach on Coronado. Yes, we ran and danced our way down. The best/worst event of my life started with a sleepover at the Hannon Court girls house. Thursday night we painted our fingernails black and gold, got our stuff ready to pack into our 2 vehicles and then turned in for the precious 4 hours of sleep that would last us through the next 2 days. 3:30am came, and we awoke. It's amazing what adrenaline and excitement will push you through. 3:30am is ridiculously early! We got ready, packed our vans and were headed out to the starting point, Huntington Beach, about a 1.5 hour drive north of us. We parked our vehicles, of course had to draw our names all over them, get out the cameras to take our pre-race "pretty" photos, get the race CD mixes passed out and our them song Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" blasting to get us ready. We had our safety training, signed our lives away, picked up some free stuff and then headed to the starting line to cheer our first runner, Rosey, on. Somewhere in the process, our faithful promoter and van driver Emerald, somehow got us a spot on the 7am news. ABC 7 news in LA was doing a piece about the race, and we were one of four teams who were interviewed!! And come to find out, Elex our cute reporter, is single:) One of the girls has jumped on that and become his facebook friend, no worries! Rosey took off and started us off on this epic journey through the OC and San Diego counties.

Van 1, which had the first six runners in it, took off to follow their runners and we were to meet them at checkpoint 6 to pass the baton off from runner 6 to runner 7. Runners seven through twelve were in Van 2, I was number 10 so we had a few hours before our van would start running. We hit up Mimi's for breakfast of eggs, juice and muffins, good protein boosting foods right! We chatted and felt good about this exciting adventure. About noon, our van was at checkpoint 6, with Van 1 waiting for Veda, runner #6 to come on in and get runners 7-12 started. This checkpoint was out near Corona and we were just realizing that this particular Friday was becoming the hottest day of the year so far. Brooke led our van off as runner #7 and away we went, running 34 miles through Corona and Lake Elsinore. Just to let you in on the conditions, it was about 92-95 degrees out that day. No Big Deal! (I'm still getting over the sun burn, next time buy waterproof/sweatproof sunscreen and REAPPLY). Even the most intense runners were struggling to get up their hills and stay hydrated through their run. My van would leapfrog our runners and meet up with them while they were running to get them water and ice and see that they were doing ok.

Van 2 made it, our last runner, Mollie, took us into checkpoint 12 to meet up with Van 1 and pass the baton back to them for the 2nd round of running. My van cooled down and then went to Costco for a pizza. While there, we were alerted to our now-famous status. We had people coming up to us in line, letting us know they'd seen us on TV that morning and to keep up the running! And pretty much, we had to blast our music wherever we went, so we kept up our Single Ladies theme throughout the run. One of the most fun parts of the race was driving by our runner and other runners cheering them on. We'd honk, play our music loud, drop off water to other runners and just be good sports about the whole thing. It was a ton of fun to cheer runners up hills and see them get through it. After eating, our van took off to Checkpoint 18 where we were to meet up with Van 1. We also tried to get a little sleep before our night runs, but you can only get so comfortable in a van. We could have gone to lay out in the alfalfa field they set aside for runners to sleep in, but something about the bugs, dampness and all around lack of tarps to put under us, kept us from that option. After about 1.5 hours of us trying to sleep, we headed out to meet up with Van 1 and get our van running again. Midnight came and soon after, we saw Veda coming in and Brooke getting ready to go. Incidentally, Brooke's dad was super great and came out to Fallbrook to meet us and bring us hot chocolate/apple cider. Super nice and so great for Brooke to have her dad cheering her on for her run. Brooke started us off on our night runs. We followed her from Fallbrook to Escondido, after which Becky started her run. (Brooke and Becky had some crazy hills, but we all loved the 40 degree cooldown from our earlier day run!) Mel picked Becky up at the edge of San Marcos, I picked up from Mel in San Marcos, Ashleigh took us through San Marcos and Mollie helped our van finish in Carlsbad. It took us about 5 hours to get our legs done and so around 4am, we met up with Van 1 in Carlsbad to get them going on the 3rd and final round of running!

At Carlsbad, we looked at where our next meeting with Van 1 would be and decided that we could take a couple hours to stop at the Bishop's house to sleep. So away we went to sleep for a couple hours from about 5-7am. (That is all the sleep we got and I'm going to admit, it wasn't super restful, but so great to lie down instead of fold into a van seat!) We got up, made some breakfast and then headed up to the La Jolla Gliderport launch to meet up with Van1 and transfer the baton to our van for the final leg of running! We transferred the baton at about 10:30am. Van 1 had some crazy hills to run up and over on their last legs, they were so great! And we were finally back to running along the coast after spending a lot of time inland! Our views to our right were of the ocean and made it a lot nicer view at least! We picked up at the gliderport, just west of UCSD campus and Brooke ran through La Jolla, past the cove, through Wind and Sea down into Pacific Beach and her next checkpoint, which happened to be the church building! We called folks from the ward to come watch and cheer us on! Van 1 followed this leg a little bit and we met up with a huge dance party in the parking lot. Van 2 had to continue on to get to the next checkpoint. Becky was heading down the coast, along the Mission Bay Beach boardwalk and we met up with her just south in Point Loma. Mel took it away from there, running across the bridge from Mission Beach toward downtown, past the aiport and to Seaport Village in downtown. I picked up the race there, running a beautiful 2 miles behind the San Diego Convention Center, Petco park and underneath Coronado Bridge. Our route took us down the bayfront and up the little strip of land that connects Coronado island to the mainland, not over the bridge. So the last 4.5 miles of my run were along the Navy docks, not the most beautiful of runs:) But I put my music on, almost cried once, said a prayer to get me to keep going and kept a lookout for my teammates and water. They never let me down, they were there when I needed them to be. And this is where cheering on other teams comes in. Other vans would stop and cheer their runner on, but would stay and cheer on me too. It really helped.

I ran into the National City Marina, trading off with Ashleigh who ran us down to Chula Vista, 5.5 miles past my end point. Again, the view was a little lacking and we cheered her on along with water as well. Mollie picked up from Ashleigh and ran 6.1 miles up the strip of land into Silver Strand State Beach. We drove ahead of her to meet up with Van 1 at the finish line, awaiting Mollie and our chance to run over the finish line with her. She came around the corner and we ran in with her, as the DJ blared Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" for us. Another dance party was totally appropriate at this point and pretty much we made it a party! Such a crazy run, so hard to get myself going on that lest leg, But one of the best experiences. I didn't know I could do that to myself. I found that I could push myself and accomplish something so crazy and be with some of the most amazing women. They were all so positive, so uplifting. It was so hard to go back to work on Monday where there was such a different spirit. There's something to be said for women who live such good lives and the feeling you have with them. These are truly some amazing women. Along the run, there were some spontaneous proposals, photo opps with other single guys and the funny part was, when folks found out most of us were LDS, the mormon single guys started coming out and finding us. Or at least their running friends would ask us to come over and take pictures with their teams one single guy:) Oh if only it was that easy! We ended the race after running for about 33 1/2 hours!

It was an event of a lifetime, one of the best moments in my life so far. Pictures will come, I just need to get them downloaded, as well as some video.

Funny family ward Sunday

2011-04-14T14:54:00.000-07:00

This past week, the youth from my stake went on a handcart pioneer trek for 4 days. It was apparently the experience of a lifetime, as many bore their testimonies about the trip. And I love that they were so excited after the trek, to have had the experience of hiking through the rain, hail, sleet and then snow. The testimonies started off with their experience with the forces of nature and all the wonderful mud and fun that comes with that. It was when the kids started bearing testimony of how the trek was true, that trekking was so awesome and that when things were hard they prayed. My favorite was "the trek was true." totally great. My other favorite was one young man who closed the meeting by letting us know that while all these other testimonies were good, no one had mentioned how irreverent and rude the boys were at night in their tents. Or how it was almost a stampede when they found out they were going to sleep in the A-frames for the last night. He thought he was going to trampled to death. And when he was done with that, he started to close his testimony, but then thought better of it and added that the experience strengthened his testimony, bearing a real one. That ended the slide on a little up tick :). Another girl who hadn't gone "trekking" (the new verb that is derived from the noun trek. I'm sure the pioneers would appreciate us taking there very difficult experience and turning it into a more fun sounding verb) All in all, a great sharing of spirit, entertainment and the development of new words.

2011-04-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

So here we are, 2 days to go till what is quickly becoming a bucket list item. I'm trying to master the anxiety that is building up. I'm just nervous about running that far, will my legs be able to recuperate quickly enough to run, 8 hours after the first run, running at night, knowing where I'm going, will my team finish at a decent time and not in the dark when no one is at the finish line anymore, will my body collapse the day after and lay me flat for days, will my hip that has been twinging a little bit lock up or be just fine...blah, blah. Just little things like that. I know, it will be fine and when it comes down to it, if I need to walk a little, I will walk. No shame in that, but just the nerves are getting to me a little bit. So with that said, if all keeps on pace, as of right now, I should be running my first leg around 5pm on Friday, my 2nd leg around 4-5am Saturday and then my last one around 3-4pm Saturday afternoon. and then done!!! I've felt good through all this training, have found some good running routes and plan to keep up that running. But will take a little break next week:)

Well, I'm invested.

2011-04-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

You'd think after my previous posts about running this *ridiculous* race that I had been invested in running for a while. Really, what normal, non invested person signs up to run this *hard, worst/best, killer* race without some emotional and financial investment? Well, I have crossed over. I went to the big deal running store here in town yesterday. This store measures your foot length and width, has you run on a treadmill to take a video of how your feet plant when you run, they take a scan of your arches and mold a pair of insoles to fit your feet perfectly. One of the questions they ask is do you have pain when you run? Duh, yes I do. Lower back, hips, knees, ankles and heels. I think that list shows something was wrong. Turns out, there was:

*I have a high arch, so I need to have stability support in my shoes so my feet land properly.
*I land too hard on my heels
*When I stand upright, like normal, my ankles/knees rotate inward, so my knees, shins and ankles are not aligned straight.
*When I run, my right foot turns out a little bit
*When I run, my arches sink down in instead of flexing to keep the arch up, my foot flattens-hence the knee, ankle and hip pain.

So, I came out with a pair of Asics that were for stability and high arches and a pair of insoles that are so sturdy, that when I run, my arch can sink down, but will be popped right back up. I wore them and it's like working out muscles I hadn't worked before. The outside areas of my feet hadn't felt that motion for a long time. I've always been a little knock kneed and this helps explain why and how to fix it. So when the guy who was doing all these scans asked me about my pain and injuries, I could roll out lower back pain/lock ups, ankle sprains and knee issues and pretty much, while he said this wouldn't be a cure all, having the right pair of shoes that align your body the correct way, can help with so many things.

So after having spent a little $$$, I have learned how to possibly fix these physical ailments that started before kindergarten (I had "magic" and "special" shoes in kindergarten to help move my feet from going in to going out, to keep my knees from sinking in and knocking). Good investment?...we'll see.

Mile Marker!!!

2011-03-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

So in training for this relay race of mine, I ran the farthest I've ever run this last weekend.....

7 miles!!!!

(I'm kind of proud of myself)

and this is what i ran, Mission Beach boardwalk, 4 miles of the boardwalk along the beach and then 3 miles from and back to my friends house. Didn't seem as hard when you've got a great view (pretty sure I'm going to be missing this view when I'm running through Corona and San Marcos, but then I run the SD downtown harbor and hello waterfront!! for 6 miles!)

I'm crazy, for those of you that know me, this is crazy of me.

2011-03-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

I am running in the So Cal Ragnar Relay. Don't as me why, I haven't yet figured it out. It's a team relay run from Huntington Beach over to the I-15 freeway, down through Temecula, into Escondido, back west to the ocean and then all the way down through San Diego, Imperial Beach and back up the small strand that becomes Coronado Island. I will be running in the #10 out of 12 runners slot. Every runner runs three times. We start Friday morning, April 15th and finish somewhere on Saturday afternoon. My relay team is made up of a bunch of single girl friends of mine. Some have run this before, others like me haven't. The longest distance I have to run is 6.4 miles on my last leg. My legs are first through Corona, second in San Marcos and then third, from the downtown San Diego Harbor all the way to Imperial Beach in National City, south of San Diego.

I am trying to train for this by running 4 times a week, at least 3 miles each time. Last Saturday I did almost 4 with my friend, Tuesday did a little over 3 on the trails below my house, today have plans to run almost 4 and then will run tomorrow morning before heading up to Orange County for the day.

As Jenna and Rosey said, "this will be the best/worst day of your life." Why?!?!?

Proud to be a BYU alum

2011-03-03T15:29:00.000-08:00

I went to BYU. Loved the school, loved the experience. I never thought of applying anywhere else. I applied only there and luckily, I got in. This season, I have LOVED the success BYU has had on the basketball court. They're looking good and it's been great to have conversations at work with people about the church, because they first asked about the BYU basketball team. I feel bad for Brandon Davies and all the negative attention he is currently receiving for violating the schools honor code. BYU bumped up in the rankings to be #3 in the country and so it was big news when Davies was kicked off the basketball team the very next day for violating the honor code. It's sad that this year had to end that way for him and a very inopportune time for the team, right before the conference tournament and NCAA tournament. BYU did lose the next day to New Mexico, never getting themselves going or finding a rotation that worked. I feel bad and have been impressed with the BYU athletes who said they would stick by him, no matter how the team does in their future games. His misdeeds are out there in the public, not because the school said specifically what he did, but other news outlets did. But I've now spent the last couple days defending the Honor Code to a lot of people at work and member friends of mine who didn't go to BYU and just have a problem with the church outlining rules for the students. I don't remember thinking specifically that I wanted to go to BYU because of the Honor Code. Looking back now, that's what it was. I wanted to be at a school where I was surrounded by members. My pre college school days weren't filled with LDS members all around me. I went to school with a lot of people who didn't believe the same as I did or do the same things I did or said no to the same things I did. I wanted to be somewhere that had a lot of people with the same values as me. BYU was it. And I found that. The Honor Code was not hard to live if you were living the principles of the gospel and following the For Strength of Youth Pamphlet. It was a great thing for me to be with girls that had the same standards, have good clean fun with so many friends that I made there and have my testimony strengthened by living a clean life surrounded by clean, honest and good people. No one is perfect, mistakes are made and can be repented over. But for the most part, people did the best they could to live the rules and they lived them gladly.

So, the rules were never restricting to one who wanted to live that way. And you only went there if you wanted to live that way. Thank you BYU for staying true to the honor code and not treating an athlete any differently. Thank you to BYU for teaching us, that even when there are mistakes, kindness and love are shown to help uplift the one who fell, that they can be lifted back up.

Career Development....for others

2011-02-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

Lately, my job has taken center stage....literally. On Saturday, February 5th, I participated in a San Diego Paralegal Association panel that featured 3 paralegals. Our courts community outreach coordinator, when asked for a participant from the court, suggested me. I got to give a 30 minute presentation on my journey to becoming a paralegal, my current responsibilities and employment and finally 5 tips for paralegals just entering the field or wanting to move to a different area within the paralegal field. I thought 30 minutes would be hard to do, but I ended up talking for 25 minutes (with a power point slideshow as well) and then a 5-10 minute Q&A period. I got good feedback, so hopefully it was helpful to the participating paralegals. From there though, I got requests to write for the SDPA newsletter and then this next week, I get to participate in a high school career fair. It's getting kind of ridiculous. But I've been thinking. I just got called to my stakes Public Affairs committee and right after, I get to participate in all these community events. And my assignment on the Public Affairs committee is to create and manage opt in email lists for the community things the stake presidency wants the stake to know about. So, I get to hear about all the city council initiatives that they'll be voting on and what's of concern to the stake leaders about our community. First on our list...stores selling marijuana illegally. There's 180 in San Diego that are selling illegally, with a good half of them in the neighborhood of Pacific Beach, in my stake. Kind of crazy. So that's the first list to create. At our last meeting, I had a little bit of a run in with an older sister on the committee who started harping at me like I was the sole representative of all Young Single Adults in the stake. Pretty much telling me that she could never get the singles out to help or do what she needed them to do. I spent the next 30 minutes educating her how to talk to the singles. FINALLY, there was a breakthrough and she recognized what she'd been doing wrong all these years of talking to the single adults like they were children! (I remember her emails to my ward, they were very much, You're going to do this, you must come to help cause you're young and strong and can clean up after all of us older folks do the event..blah, blah). And the stake presidency member pretty much sat back and nodded to everything I said, and then after the meeting was over and we walked out, he said "And you were wondering why you're in this calling? That was one of the reasons Sister Christensen." Great. Calling fulfilled...

Just feeling good!

2011-01-28T13:20:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have those days when you feel like you could walk down the street, whistling, that a cartoon bird would fly above you and whistle a tune as well? Maybe I just watched 500 days of Summer (edited) the other day, but I feel like that could happen this week. Family is good. Work has been good this week, busy but good, I'm moving forward with some projects I get to start after going to training for them. BYU beat SDSU in the Mountain West Conference showdown of the century (we're only 11 years into this century, so really, how momentous can it be, but up till now, it's was the most awesome!!), my niece was born on the same day as the blessed athletic event, making the day quadruple better. My 2 nephews celebrate their birthdays this week as well and I get to attend a birthday party for one of them Saturday. I get to speak in church (if anything could keep the cartoon bird out of the picture, this would be it), but give it 10 minutes and that will be done!! And I have some of the best friends ever. Some of us are headed to Nashville in April, so we had a planning party for it and we are so excited to stay at Grandma C.'s house. She's got to be out of her mind to let 7 girls stay there:) Pretty much, life can't get better. And I live in San Diego. I'm sorry to any east coasters out there, but it has been a beautiful, dry week with temps in the 70s. Yes, last week I got my first sunburn of the year. It's kind of ridiculous!

Beautiful new niece Erica

2011-01-27T21:58:00.000-08:00

I am aunt for the 6th time. Brigitte, Tyler and Logan (sister, brother in law and newphew) welcomed their second child, a baby girl, Wednesday. She was 7lbs, 14oz and 19 inches long. She's pretty:)

I'm super happy for Brigitte, Tyler and Logan. She looks like a cutie and I can't wait to meet her. She of course was born on what became a perfect day. She was born and BYU beat SDSU in basketball, the perfect day.

2010 holiday's

2011-01-25T22:22:00.000-08:00

I'm finally posting the long awaited photos from the 2010 year end festivities. You'd think I could get a handle on this part of my life, just post the pics Lisa!!! So here they are, and pretty much they're so cool cause they're of my family:) I one day will do a post dedicated solely to my family members, outlining each one. Maybe each week, one post should just be about a family member, and through that, I can get to know them better.

don't worry, jack's pants never fit:)

Thanksgiving this year was at my sister Shelley's house. She lives about 2 hours northeast of San Diego, so not a hard drive at all for me. I got up there early on Thanksgiving morning and hung out till Friday night. I had to be back to work in the temple on Saturday morning. All my family members, sadly except Tyler, Brigitte's husband who had to work, came down. All under one roof. Super fun!! And the nieces and nephews were super fun too! Mariah is a talker and lets us all know what to do, she's the little mom over all of them. Logan, just younger than Mariah, seemed to take her pretty well. He likes to play and had a good time with Jack. Jack is the little cheese for the camera. He would smile and not shy away from it when it was pulled out. He and Logan liked to laugh with eachother. Sydney was cute, rolling everywhere and being vocal about what she wanted:) Bruce took everyone in and seemed to watch to see what everyone was going to do. He and Sydney are cute together. Logan and Jack seemed to like him too. Baby Bruce and Baby Sydney were very patient in allowing the older kids to play with them and with their stuff.

The adults got all the food they wanted, needed and more. I got to put my hand inside the turkey this year and between the meet and skin, so not my favorite part but someone had to do it I guess. There were all the wonderful thanksgiving goodness and then more, including a delectable chocolate dessert that Melissa brought and rolls from Brittany. It was all so good.
And the family photo. We went up to Oak Glen, a town past Shelley and Steve's, to take a family photo with Britt's camera. Sometimes I sit back and can't believe my family that used to be just 2 parents and 6 kids now include 4 spouses and 5 (soon to be 6 tomorrow!!) grandkids. With the 7th coming this summer, yay Mel and Kiel! Crazy!

Relief Society Non Sunday Meeting:)

2011-01-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

One of my new callings in my new ward is the Relief Society Non Sunday Meeting Coordinator (mouthful isn't it, and I can't figure out a good acronym). We had our first one of the year last night. This year in Relief Society, the presidency decided on the theme "Following in His Footsteps." We are going to focus on becoming like and following the Savior. So our first activity focused on missionary work. We had the sister missionaries do a presentation on Preach My Gospel and how it can be used by every day member missionaries and their families. It was a good discussion. We then hooked up a computer to a projector and did a presentation on the new mormon.org and lds.org. We went through how to set up a profile, so others who are interested in the church and want to read testimonies by real members, can read what you have to say. It's a very less intimidating way of sharing your testimony then face to face. We then had refreshments of fruit with a whipped topping. All in all, a good start to the year, with hopefully more non sunday meetings being attended by more of the sisters in the ward.

It's different being back in a family ward. I've now been in this ward, out of the singles ward, for 3 months. I have to admit, it hasn't been the easiest transition for me. I loved my time in the La Jolla YSA ward. I'd been there 5 1/2 years and have a lot of great friends there. While we're still friends, your social life shrinks some when you don't see everyone each Sunday to hear what is going on. I think it's strange for ME to say this, because I did not enjoy my singles ward experience in Walnut Creek. I very reluctantly moved from the family ward I grew up in and was in after college, to a ward with all these young single adults who were younger than my 24 years (really, i had a complex about that. Kind of dumb in hindsight). But my ward in San Diego, was big, had a lot of other singles that were students or working professionals. The average age is probably 26, so it was perfect for me for the whole time I was there. And then you turn 31 and out you go. Back into a family ward where you have to make new Sunday friends and try to relate with folks with families. Home teaching is a totally different thing, the high priests home teach the singles! It's just a little different. My roommates are in the family ward with me too, so that's good and it's not like the ward is devoid of other singles. It's just not quite the same as a really great singles ward. Ok, enough pity party about that.

Check out the new mormon.org site. It's a great tool to use with friends who are investigating or for yourself to share the gospel.

2010 Christmas letter

2010-12-19T15:09:00.000-08:00

The close of 2010, a time to reflect and wonder where the year went. It’s been an amazing year, full of family, friends, trips, church,work and change. There were visits to many family members and friends, a consistent increasing workload at the federal court, and many opportunities to meet new people as time was spent in church callings. A highlight of the year was my first European trip. Three great friends and I traveled to the Italian city of canals, the singing hills of Austria, Germany, Hungary and Czech Republic, making stops in 8 cities in 16 days. So Great!! A stop in Klagenfurt, Austria allowed us time to visit Aunt Kelly and Uncle Martin, and a stop in Vienna meant time with Marie and an introduction to Egbert, Marie’s husband. After a year of planning, it was amazing to actually see such old historical buildings, sites and the richness of culture and food and experience being yelled at in German by the train conductor, everybody’s wish right?! It was the best trip with great friends and so many memories. More memories of mine can be found and browsed on lisasruminations.blogspot.com.

As the year brought a new niece and a new nephew, and the passing of family and friends, my thoughts turned often to our Savior and his atonement. The many changes and trials that occur in our lives, while hard, do bring times of growth and hopefully a turn of our hearts to the One who knows how to succor us. I am grateful for the lessons learned over the past year and wish all of you a Merry Christmas and wish you a wonderful 2011!

Wien

2010-12-11T15:50:00.000-08:00

I apparently can't blog fast enough! It's December and I'm still trying to get my trip written about. Sorry for those of you who read this and either wanted it or don't, but it's become a way for me to document my trip and not have to rejournal entry it.

We arrived in Vienna in the afternoon on September 10th(I remember this because we left the same day of my brother's birthday and Marie and I did a video for him, which I just remembered I haven't ever posted:) Marie and Egbert met us at the train station and helped us figure out where our hotel was. Once we dropped off our luggage, we went back out on the town. Marie and Egbert showed us around, where we saw Stephansdom (which was under construction, but according to Marie and Egbert, it always is).

The church has beautiful gargoyles and the tiles were colorful. I can't say it enough. I loved walking around the cities, where streets for walking were the norm in the center of the city.

We found a few shops near Stephansdom (which means some people found nativity sets!) and then we were on our way to the Vienna Opera, where we saw Mozart's the Magic Flute!! We got really cheap tickets, which get you standing room. Marie taught us that you take your scarf and wrap it around the banister to save your place and then you walk all around the operahouse and see the sights!

Tasha and I stayed for the whole opera, but across the house was the hotel where you can get the world famous Sacher tort.

They enjoyed that and were so kind to bring Tasha and I back a slice. It was pretty good! And helped us have wonderful dreams as we slept after our full day in Vienna.

Great Site

2010-12-03T16:42:00.000-08:00

I found this site on my cousins blog and after browsing decided I LOVE IT!! I've been trying my hand at baking delicious things so this was right up my alley. Check it out!

http://www.bakerella.com/

Pretty much I want to be her!!

Comings and Goings of September and October

2010-11-07T10:17:00.000-08:00

I may have traveled, but other things did happen over the last 2 months. I had a birthday, yes, I hit 31. Kind of crazy to think of being 31. But I turned 31 and left on my trip, so guess it started off grand! For the big day, we did a dinner and dessert night at my friends newly built house. Bry has a wonderful kitchen, big tables, sitting room and outdoors, so fun. It was super fun, we had pulled pork sandwiches, salads, fruits, veggies and cakes, I've got great friends!! They're terrific. If I had to turn 31, they did a great job of ringing in this year for me, such great people!
So here's a few pics of the great event:

Bry always does beautiful presentations

Wonderful food and people!

So great!

These ladies are wonderful, love them!

It was a good birthday!

In October, Halloween of course had to be celebrated. So what better way than at the Happiest Place on Earth!! Halloween, Disney style, super fun!!

The Hills are Alive...

2010-10-31T00:40:00.000-07:00

We reached Salzburg!! We looked around us and saw the mountains the Von Trapps roamed in and Julie Andrews sang in at the beginning of the movie we all know!

Another thing that made the city of Salzburg exciting to me was being in the same place as my dad and my brother. Both my dad and brother served their missions in Austria. Both of them served in Salzburg. Our first morning there, after we checked into our hotel, we were at the bus station trying to figure out which bus to take. We looked across the bus station and there were 2 missionaries. I felt a little like I was seeing my dad and brother and what they would have been doing and looked like. We asked them about the bus system, they gave us directions and we were on our way and they were on theirs. Both were from Utah. I really enjoyed meeting the missionaries.

We arrived in Salzburg and went straight to our hotel. It was awesome!! It was a big room with enough for us four and one of the best things about it, is there is a tub, not just a standing shower with thin walls keeping the water in.

Our first destination was Hellbrun, the estate outside Salzburg where the gazebo from the Sound of Music was moved. The grounds of the estate were turned into a public park, and so you can walk and kids can play on the playgrounds. But tucked away in the corner of the park, is the gazebo.

Of course we had to take pictures of us skipping around the gazebo. We took the bus back into Salzburg and walked around the city. We stopped at Salzburg cathedral, where Mozart started playing the organ, he played there for 2 years, where he was baptized.

The ceilings were intricately carved and the walls were painted with golds and bold colors. There is a huge pipe organ with 4 pipe groupings sitting right over the entrance.

As we walked we came to the wall and parts of Salzburg where in the Sound of Music, Maria sang her confidence song.

There was a square with a fountain where Maria sang this song and flicked the water. We walked through the square where in the movie, the Nazi's were marching into the city.

Our next stop was St. Peter's, which is the inspiration for the graveyard scene in the movie.

Nearby there is entrance to the concert hall where the family sang together before fleeing from Austria. We weren't able to get into the concert hall, it was under construction. So we continued walking and checking out the main shopping streets.

I finally bought a purse here. I needed something, the pouch I was wearing was giving me a little rope burn. Dinner in Germany and Austria consisted of a lot of sausage, which I didn't mind at all. Potatoes and sausage, yes please!!

As we were walking, we got to see the fortress on the hill, which is what constitute the Salzburg skyline. It's the most prominent feature in Salzburg.

That night, we went back to our hotel and come to find, there is a channel that just showed The Sound of Music over and over, we fell asleep, in the city where this movie was filmed. So cool!

Day 2 in Salzburg was us getting up, enjoying a fantastic breakfast and checking out of the hotel. We then went to Mirabell gardens.

You might recognize this place from the movie as one of the places the family went through and sang, "Doe a deer, a female deer..." There were fountains, flowers, the overgrown tunnel where Maria and the 2 boys ran and the little gnome statue the children tapped on the head as they sang. We also walked up the steps they all hopped up at the end of that song in the movie. Pretty much the best thing ever!! I really enjoyed Salzburg, I thought the city was beautiful, green and the river running right through the middle of it was picturesque. Salzburg was one of my favorite's.

Our Salzburg time ended as we caught the train for our ride to Vienna.

Munich...take 2

2010-10-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

Our second day in Munich was right out of a fairy tale! Kind of:) We had a plan to go out to the town of Fussen and the Neuschwenstein Castle, built by mad King Ludwig. It also is the template for Sleeping Beauty's castle. It was exciting to head out on the train about an hour outside Munich. We started the day, aware that the clouds above us threatened rain. So we headed out and sure enough, rain was what we got:) But that didn't stop us from enjoying the sights.

Our first stop, some of the little shops on the way up the hill to King Ludwig's parents "house." We stopped in a Christmas shop, everything was carved, created, stuffed or sewed there in Bavaria. Pretty cool. We of course all had to purchase something:) Next stop, Hohenschwangau, King Ludwig's childhood "house." Or castle if you want to call it that.

It was interesting to hear about the family that lived there. The 2 son, Ludwig and his brother grew up there. The brother of Ludwig, was declared insane. So it's not too hard to believe that Ludwig himself was crazy.

When he got older and took over the kingdom in the mid 1800s, he started in on a building frenzy, building multiple castles, spending the money, which is what led him to be deposed and declared crazy. But he created beautiful buildings and put them in beautiful settings!We toured the castle and then hiked up the 1 mile trail to the main attraction, Neuschwanstein.

It was at this point that it really started raining. We got to the top of the trail, to the entrance to the castle and it was full on raining. Because of this, the castle was shrouded with a mist that added that fairy tail quality. So while we were a little wet, it was a beautiful sight.

After the tour through the castle, we walked up the path behind the castle to the bridge that gives you the iconic view of the castle. (fyi-it was pouring by this point:) So we enjoyed the view and enjoyed the walk down the hill.

Tasha ran down the hill, the rest of us walked down. We met up with Tasha at the Christmas store and then headed to get dinner and dry off.

We finished dinner and headed back to the bus station to catch our bus that would take us to the train station to catch the train back into Munich. When we got the bus station, we weren't really sure when the next one would come, everything was in German!

There was a group of young adults from South America, Uruguay to be precise, who were asking us if we knew what we were doing and how to get back into Munich. They stuck with us the rest of the adventure back. We met another couple from Chicago trying to get back to Munich as well. So we formed a rag tag group of English speakers who were trying to get back to our hotel. Fun times! We did get the bus back to the train station, to meet up with another couple who were from San Diego actually, trying to get back to Munich too. And one local man. We found out that the next train to Munich was 1 hour and 20 minutes away. We couldn't wait that long, we wouldn't get back into Munich till about 12:30 at that rate. So the local told us about a bus that ran to Munich, he said he was going that way too. So we followed him to the supposed bus, got on, but there was no driver. So our little group of castaways talked and hoped that driver would come, and if it came down to it, we could go back to the train, but at least we were warm on the bus with no driver. Finally a driver came, asked in German, if we were all headed to Munchen, we said yes, confirmed again with our one local passenger that we were all headed the right way, and off we were. We did get back into Munich, but the bus dropped us off 2 stops away from the one we needed, so we had to RUN FAST for the train at that train stop to make our connection to the train station we wanted. It was funny to see about 20 foreigners running through the station to catch that train, but we did, we all got off at the Munich Hauptbahnhoff, and parted having shared this wonderful experience with eachother.

We walked down the now familiar landmarks, the casino, places of ill repute that lined our street towards our hotel, happy to have made it back to Munich by the time we would have just been catching the train from Fussen. But a little worn for the not quite so confident of making it back to Munich adventure we took to get there. One more night in Munich and then off to Salzburg!!

And the next stop is...

2010-10-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

We next went to Munich! This post might have to be divided into two. There were just too many pictures and too much explanation. We arrived in Munich and got oriented to go find our hotel. Hotel Munich was just down one of the streets from the Munich Hauptbahnhof.

It looked like a great part of town. We came to find out later, that we seemed to be on a street with some questionable businesses, which means we kept our eyes straight ahead at night. But, Munich was fun. It went by fast, but it was fun.
On our first day in Munich, we split up. Amy and I headed out to Dachau. Sobering, but something I wanted to see. When you leave the train station in the town Dachau was located in, you can walk the path the prisoners had to take when they got off the train. The station there is the one where the prisoners were pushed off, divided up and walked to the camp and barracks. We were only able to be at the concentration camp for a couple hours at most. I'm amazed that anyone can even suggest that the Holocaust didn't happen. The pictures, the buildings, the history of that place says completely otherwise. It was so sobering to think about what happened at that place, that it had gone on for a long time before the Americans liberated Dachau.

Afterwards, Amy and I took the train back into Munich and met back up with Bryonny and Tasha.

We went to the main pedestrian area of Munich to get dinner and do a little shopping. We were also looking for the Old Rathaus, the old town hall, where the glockenspiel was located.

We noticed, even later on in our travels, that the stores closed really early, most stores were closed around 6-7pm. It was odd to see that. Munich was preparing for Oktoberfest to start, so every storefront had the traditional dress for men and women. Leiderhosen anybody?

Over the mountains we go...to Klagenfurt Austria!

2010-10-05T21:57:00.000-07:00

We moved on from Venice to Klagenfurt Austria. My Aunt Kelly and Uncle Martin live there, teaching school. They were so kind to let us stay there a couple nights. We took a bus from Venice to Klagenfurt, being dropped off at the train station.

We were waiting for my aunt when she came up behind Tasha and I and surprised us. How fun it was to see her!! I was so excited to be in Austria with them. And she had wonderful news for us...our luggage had arrived before us that day at her house!!!! WE HAD LUGGAGE again! I had been praying for our luggage since Venice and while kind of disappointed when it didn't arrive in Venice, we received it later and didn't have to lug it around Venice, over the bridges and cobblestones.

After being picked up, we were fed by Kelly and Martin and wonderful dinner and shown our rooms at Hotel Krenn. Kelly was so nice and made up our beds, put a stamped postcard, chocolate bar and Haribo gummies on our beds.

It was so fantastic, my friends kept saying how great my aunt and uncle were so thank you Krenns for being so great and welcoming! We went to sleep enjoying being in a home. The next day, Kelly and Martin showed us around Klagenfurt and the surrounding countryside. First stop, Minimundus.

This place has small reproductions of well known sites around the world. When I say small reproductions, I mean smaller than the building itselt, but larger than people.

We went out to Hochosterwitz, a castle outside Klagenfurt. On the way, we stopped at some excavations of Roman ruins. As we were driving along, we saw the castle up on the hill. It was amazing, this is what I was hoping for in Europe. America doesn't have the old places like Europe. It was so cool to see these places.

We parked at the bottom of the hill and walked up the road through all 14(?) gates the castle had. It is said this castle was never conquered and after walking the road, I can see why. It would have been hard. We searched through the castle, the armory, the garden and admired the view from the top of the hill of the surrounding countryside. Amazing that just over the mountains from Venice, we were in this lush green mountainous countryside, with lakes and castles.

(just a fun little pic of my aunt and uncle:)

Kelly and Martin showed us the lake near their house and through the town of Klagenfurt, with the Lindewurm.

We went to a restaurant to eat real Carinthian food, cheese noodles. I really enjoyed Klagenfurt. We stayed one more night there with my aunt and uncle. We were well fed and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. Kelly and Martin took us to the train station the next morning after feeding us the best breakfast, and sent us off to Munich!

Oh the Places You'll Go...Stop 1, Venice!

2010-10-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

On September 3rd, my 3 friends and I took off for the trip of a lifetime. We began 16 days of whirlwind travel around Europe! Our first stop was Venice, Italy. We flew from San Diego, to Philadelphia, to Rome then changed airlines to Alitalia and flew up to Venice.

The longest flight of my life, sitting for so long and trying to walk after that was an experience and arriving in Venice to beautiful weather and no luggage was just fantastic. Yes, 3 out of the 4 of us arrived in Venice but our luggage did not. No big deal. Somewhere when we transferred to Alitalia, our luggage made it onto another flight other than ours. So, after 3 hours at baggage claim, giving them our entire itinerary for our trip, giving them our hotel numbers, calling my mom from Venice and waking her up at 4:30am for my aunts info, which I had put in my bag but couldn't find it (don't worry, I found it later during the trip:), we got into Venice with our backpacks and ready to just deal with our lack of clothes. My desire for Venice was to see the beautiful old buildings, take in the first stop on our trip, eat some good food and just revel in the fact that we were in ITALY!

We got to our apartment where we were to spend 1 night, dropped off our stuff and got ready to go out. Part of our prep was to go out and find an outfit for the next day, since we didn't have any clothes. Once that was done, we hit the streets to walk our way to San Marcos square and get some food! We found a pizza place, that served a huge, fantastic pizza. And we of course had to find some gelato!

Venice was beautiful, the canals, the colors, the churches, the gondola's, the bridges, it was all right out of the pictures. The weather was perfect.

On Sunday, we headed to the islands of Murano and Burano to see the glass and lace produced out there. Murano was nice, the glass was beautiful, but I loved Burano. The houses were so colorful and fun. I loved that there were flowers in every window. Burano had some beautiful lace vendors and was just a fun place to walk around.

We caught the water taxi back to Venice and sat ourselves down at a cafe to eat wonderful pasta dishes!

It was so fun to site in the cafe and just watch people and eat good food. Of course we had to have gelato again:) We walked around the city some more and browsed the shops.

We went back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and check out so we could head to catch our bus up to Austria. On our way to the station, we were able to see the regatta, where the gondola's and other canal boats were going up and down the Grand Canal that runs in front of the station. It was a great ending to our Venice experience. (sidenote, we still don't have our luggage at this point, we were leaving Venice thinking we wouldn't see our luggage again and planning on purchasing an entire travel wardrobe in Austria).

We caught the bus that was taking us up to Klagenfurt Austria and my Aunt Kelly and Uncle Martin's home...

Berry Picking in So Cal?!

2010-09-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

A couple weekend ago, two friends and I went up to Shelley's and went BERRY PICKING! Near Shelley's house in the town of Oak Glen, there are u-pick berry patches. We picked strawberries, raspberries and a few blackberries off of the side of the road:)

Jenny and I then made freezer jam with all our berries. We ate some before and made it on Tuesday and it's SOOOO good!

It was a great topping!

My first star sighting!!!

2010-08-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

And I didn't get a picture!! Last night, I was at Rubios eating my fantastic mango shrimp taco (SOO GOOD!!) and I am informed that there is a real life TV personality just at the other table outside...guess who? (Krystle you will appreciate this:)

It was ALI AND ROBERTO from ABC's "The Bachelorette"! Yes, they were sitting there in their jeans, button up shirt, hoodie, just hanging out in front of Rubios. Those of you who watched the show know that they moved to San Diego. From the fact they walked away, not drove, I'm assuming I can figure out the general neighborhood they live in. I think the magazines would be disappointed to see how happy and in love they looked, no trouble in paradise there! The ring was still on, so looks like this couple might make it at least a few weeks after the show.

Pearl showed her age this weekend:)

2010-08-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

Oh Pearl, such a great car. I bought Pearl in 2002, the year after I graduated from BYU. Pearl (OZ rally edition, yes I wanted a little more sporty) is a great little car, who drove me to roommates and friends weddings, up to Idaho to drop Brittany off at BYU-I, back and forth to Utah, down to San Diego in 2005, up and down the California coast, interior and even more times to Utah. She's closing in on 100,000 miles. Yup, she doesn't look her age. Except this week, when her engine decided to show it's age. Oh, so not fun to go into the mechanic and have them tell you, "your timing belt, water pump, idle valve and O2 sensor need to be replaced." I knew the timing belt and water pump were coming, I was bracing for that. But the other stuff, geez. Pearl had to be kept in the shop for 4 days, Saturday-Tuesday. I got to rely on others to drive me around, so fun! I forgot how much I don't like not having my own car to drive around town in.
So,instead of a possible new car in a year or two, Pearl will be mine till she dies. She's now got about another 80,000 miles on her, with a newly cleaned engine, new parts and soon, new brakes! It just keeps getting better:)

Just a little tired...

2010-07-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've ever been so tired, IN MY LIFE! What I wouldn't trade for those long nights of studying in college. For whatever reason, those seem more manageable than my life does right now. Sorry, this is a little bit of a venting post. I've struggled over the last year with how to balance and prioritize. It's a little hard. I'm amazed at my family, extended family, and friends that are able to have spouses, kids, and jobs and seem to do it all. I have me to take care of, and can't seem to do that. It makes me a little nervous to try to add one more person into my life. I think Heavenly Father knows that, cause nothings coming ;) In any case, I have a feeling this is a life long struggle, that it doesn't go away with a spouse and kids, probably just a different kind of prioritizing.

On September 3rd, I will be leaving this tired life for a couple weeks to go traveling with a few friends. We are headed to:

then here:

here:

a little castle:

and further east:

a little down:

and ending:

BRING IT ON LIFE, BRING IT ON!!!!

Passing of June

2010-07-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been two months already. It's been a crazy 2 months. It was filled with family, friends and a little bit of stress, not big deal though:)

In June, my Grandpa Christensen passed away. I was able to attend the graveside service with my dad and sisters up in Pocatello, along with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma and many other extended family members who I met for the first time. It was wonderful to be there and feel the love people had for my grandpa. It was a sweet experience to feel the spirit there and know that families are eternal and grandpa will be able to flick the back of my head still.

The week following, my mom's side had a family reunion down in Zions National Park. I drove down with my sisters and we had some adventures on the way. Mariah decided to present us with her new talent, getting sick in the car. Joyous times, but luckily, we made it through the demonstrations.

While in Zions, we hiked, played games, bbq'd, took pictures and stayed in a magnificent house. It was great, large guest rooms, large kitchen and dining area, large porches, ping pong in the garage and the adventures of might mouse. Yes a mouse got loose one night and decided to chomp away on some of our bags of food. Luckily Shelley was courageous enough to show it who was boss**

I drove back to San Diego after being gone the whole week, on Sunday. Back to work, back to Relief Society, back to all the joys June Gloom here in SD had to offer. Yes folks, today, was the first day the Sun came out and it stayed out for about 2 hours!!! It's not covered again. This marine layer is really a damper to my SoCal tan!

Mormon Helping Hands....Manual Labor La Jolla Style

2010-05-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was the State of CA Mormon Helping Hands day. Each ward was assigned a park to clear out. My ward, the La Jolla Singles ward went to town on our project, which was the removal of Arundo (bamboo like plant) from a creek bed. It had choked up the creek and there was trash and yucky stuff stuck in a forest of this stuff. Our mission: to remove the plants, leaving a 6-12 inch high stalk, which will be chemically killed later. Operation helping hands is a go!

and some pics of the event:

in the arundo forest

the size, this was just one end of the forest, we actually went down the path to the other end and worked from there to be closer to the dumpster.

the work crew

what will the mail deliver today?

2010-04-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

Today, I went to pick up the mail downstairs in the basement of our building, like I normally do everyday. Over the last few days, there have been different mail persons there to help me. Yesterday, was a new guy who wanted to see my ID so he'd be sure he was giving the mail to the clerks office. Not a bad idea but the other guys know who I am and we don't have to go through this procedure.

Today, the mailman was a very LARGE man. It was a sight. He was late first of all, but then his shirt was only buttoned halfway up, not what I wanted to see today. Next, I sign for the certified mail and he says, "L Christensen, you don't live over in North Park do you? I deliver mail in that area to an L Christensen." Luckily, I could truthfully say, nope I don't live in that area. And, sorry Mr. McCreepy, but why would I confirm where I live to a US postman who can't seem to fully dress himself?

The last fun event was going through the mail we received today. I found a letter that actually had been misdirected to the Clerks office, should have gone to IRS. But the sender put his address on the back of the envelope as, "I live under the bridge in La Jolla, near Genessee." It was sad to see that, but of course then I wondered how this mail would get back to the gentleman, if it had been misdirected. Maybe I should have asked the postman in the mail room what he would have done in that situation and had a good long conversation about where everyone in San Diego lives.

A whole lot of shaking goin' on!

2010-04-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

So yesterday about a 1/2 hour after general conference, I guess nature decided to pipe in with it's own power:) A pretty good sized earthquake struck about 120 miles away from San Diego in Mexico. Luckily, here in SD all we really experiences was about 30 seconds of shaking and rolling. It was actually more like rolling, like being on a boat going over waves. It was a weird sensation. In any case, we are fine here. I came into work this morning and our lights were out, apparently the earthquake had shaken connections loose in the whole federal building, our elevators were down and out for the count and our courthouse annex in El Centro, about 30 miles from the epicenter was damaged so court from out there moves here today. Good times.

I have to say, after watching conference this weekend, I did come away with a greater sense that I need to DO more. So if the feeling wasn't enough, the earthquake was a jolt to do. I am purchasing more food storage and water this week. I have my 72 hour kit in my car and will rotate that food out this week too. I am going to purchase water for my car. Maybe it's a little extreme, but after watching my bosses and others in the federal court go into emergency mode to make sure our El Centro folks are okay and that the normal processes can go on, I am impressed by their calm and quick manner to DO something. So I will follow, don't need to shake me twice!

The new niece!!

2010-03-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

I needed to post about my new niece!! I haven't seen her yet but plan to! Here she is. Her name is Sydney Olivia Keogan. Looks so cute!

The balancing act called "Life"

2010-03-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

>These last few weeks have been a growing experience and not always in the most comfortable way. Work, church, friends, family and personal time have all collided to become a votex of spinning choices and priorities. Where do I put the greatest priority, my most time, my most attention. I'm sometimes not so sure what to do and I know I've missed out on choosing "the better part" in some decisions. I'm not sure how to fix it and if I ever will be able to totally balance out everything that goes on in life.

I've also learned that communication is, really, the most important trait, in ANY relationship. Between friends, between coworkers, between family. What does communication mean? It includes expressing your own opinions as well as LISTENING to the others opinions. It included understanding where the other person is coming from and trying to find out what they really mean by listening. It included expressing your own opinion back by using what you have learned from listening to them. It's a pretty important trait. And most people don't have a talent for it. I'm not saying I'm one of those who do. I have certainly figured out that I don't always understand what others mean. It's a hard thing to develop and it's been stretching me. It's late and that's been my life lately. All I know is, I'm tired at the end of the day!

Sweet Dreams...one option

2010-03-10T23:05:00.000-08:00

There seems to be a craze going around the country... from Nashville to San Diego. A few friends and I want to jump on the cupcake craze wagon. Yes, we want to be one of those crazy bakers. So in order to get this idea going, we are testing cupcake recipes out on folks to find the best ones-best flavor, best texture, best frosting, etc. Tonight, I made the strawberry shortcake cupcakes. I think they look nice. I will be taking them to work tomorrow to be tested by multiple subjects(I love the built in system:). It's my first attempt and making a "pretty" cupcake, so they still require some work. But maybe in the next year, you won't be hearing about "GiGi's" anymore (though still really good), you'll hear about an as-yet-unnamed bakery here in San Diego. We hope to get some great recipes finalized, along with a name, and start hitting up the Farmer's Market circuit down here to see if we can sell anything.

So, if you can think of a greatly creative name, that is most appreciated:) We have a list of some we like, but we're looking for something that would just roll off the tongue or at least sound tasty enough that you HAVE to go there to partake of the tasty confections!

Frosted cupcakes

with added strawberry goodness

She's here!!

2010-03-10T23:04:00.000-08:00

My sister had her baby! Niece Number 2 arrived tonight, looks like she has a Christensen trait, lots of hair! Congrats to B & G!

little tid bit of happy news....:)

2010-02-16T13:22:00.000-08:00

....nope, still waiting for a guy...but maybe next best...

CAFE RIO OPENED IN CALIFORNIA!! It's up in Orange County, so still haven't gotten there yet. But, folks, this is SOOOO much closer than Las Vegas and St. George. Trip? 2 hour road trip? I think SO!

checked off my list...

2010-02-16T12:55:00.000-08:00

1. Get a new phone and plan!

I did it, I went to T-Mobile and talked to them about my plan and getting a new phone. Lucky for me I did it on Saturday, because that afternoon before I went to the mall, my phone died. I now am finally on a 1,000 text message plan (can you believe we need plans with that many texts, I had thought 400 would be good enough, but previous post explained that).

I am now the proud owner of this new baby...the Samsung Gravity 2.

My previous phone was a Motorolla, so this is a completely new device. It has a slide out keypad (just when I got used to using numbers to text, I'm now thrown for a loop and have to use letters). It has a 2.0 megapixel camera, so better pics, and internet capability, which I did get a 30 trial and need to remember to call and cancel that at the end of it.

I'm not an expert in tech toys by any means and all I really want a phone to do is receive calls and allow me to call people too. So far this phone does that. I've been relegated to the slowest texter alive position again, so if you do text me, thereby helping to use up one of my 1000 texts, it might take me a little longer to respond, I'm still in the elementary stages of using this phone.

A pet peeve only I can control

2010-02-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

The last few months I've received my phone bill, all I've seen are HUGE numbers. It's getting kind of ridiculous. I first started with T-Mobile and thought 400 text messages a month would be ok. And for a long time it was. But since May of 2009 (RS pres. start time correlates with this) my messages have been increasing, to the point where every month, I get billed for all those text messages I'm going over. I've exceeded my monthly plan by 300 messages each month for the last 4 months. I thought, I'll just try to bring it down, but that hasn't worked. So, after being mad at myself and the phone company for the last 4 months, I'm looking into different providers and better deals than T-Mobile. But I was reading today and saw something that didn't help my mood towards cell phone companies, what do you think about this?

"Text messages are short, quick and cheap to transmit. So why are they adding so much to your wireless bill?

The messages are such a tiny piece of data that they cost carriers only about one-third of a cent to deliver, according to computer scientist Srinivasan Keshav, who testified before U.S. senators on the issue last summer.

But on a pay-per-text plan, the 160-character messages typically cost 20 cents outgoing and 10 cents incoming. That's a markup of as much as 6,500%. OMG!

"It's pretty much pure profit," Keshav says. "Carriers would argue they put that money toward investing in new technology."

Even if customers sign up for an unlimited texting plan for, say, $10 a month, carriers are still cashing in considering that their overhead is basically $0. That's a lot to pay for a few LOLs."
By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com staff reporter

So, for all of those out there who hate looking at your phone bill because of this, don't be like me and just put up with it, make a change, I'm going to!

My new favorite!!! (and not so favorite...)

2010-02-01T12:57:00.000-08:00

I have found a favorite place to eat at lunch during the week. I shouldn't love to eat there so much but I can't help myself! Who knew that sandwiches, panini's, soups and salads could be SOOOO good! I really should figure out how to make my own!

It's funny, I work downtown, but don't go outside my office for lunch all that often, so I don't check out the nice, cool little places to eat. I miss that about working in San Francisco, there were some cool ethnic food places to eat and they weren't that hard to get to. With only a half hour lunch, it's kind of hard to get to anywhere diverse or interesting for lunch and sadly, San Diego doesn't offer much in ways of non-chain lunch stops in it's civic area. So I'm settling for the chain, but I LOVE it.

And my not so favorite....
I have been working on a project for the last 3 months at work that required a lot of reading, editing, revisions, brainstorming and meetings. It's our annual report that gets sent to the whole 9th Circuit and to Congress. So, we wanted it to look nice, be as correct and factual as possible but be aesthetically pleasing as well. Not some stuffy report full of figures. I worked along with 2 other people on this. We had many meetings for how the book should be arranged, collected all the agencies reports, wrote our own reports, met with the graphic designer and printer, all that good stuff. So, the reports were delivered today! Yipee, except the director of our procurement department, a man that had nothing to do with the report itself, picked up the reports and started distributing them himself. I'm sorry, that was my job!! And I worked on the darn thing, not him! It kind of bothered me that I put in a lot of hours looking at every word in this report, I kind of felt a little ownership of it. And I feel like that was just ripped away by him acting like he had done it, and now it's his to pass out. He came up to give me MY copy and a few others. I had to respond, I'm sorry, but I'm going to need more, which is why they usually come to me first. I have 105 to send out!! I think I should get the reports and not have to go through Mr. take-your-job-and-get-all-the-credit man.
Anyway...that's it. It's a good looking report. We did a good job. Guess that should be enough, but in the world of office politics and performance, getting credit for what I did is kind of on top of my list!

Transitioning...(not me personally)

2010-01-28T11:47:00.000-08:00

This is a request to all my Relief Society friends. I have been thinking about girls transitioning into the Relief Society phase of their life. This Sunday, me and some other sisters in my ward get to meet with the Stake RS Presidency to discuss this topic. Being in a singles ward, they felt that our ward might have some insight into why so many girls leave the church between the ages of 18 and 20, those hard years where we leave home and go out on our own. So I need some feedback.

What kept you going to church when you moved from Young Women's to Relief Society?
What made you hesitate participating in Relief Society?
Have you seen anything that you think helps make the transition better and lasting?

When I moved away, I was at BYU, and almost 100% went. There were some that didn't, but peer pressure can be a motivator for good when you aren't doing it on your own. Is it just something that happens, everyone needs to find their own way back to Relief Society, or is there something that can be done from the organizations side to help encourage church and participation in Relief Society?

Any ideas?

Christmas trimmings

2010-01-24T08:19:00.000-08:00

I'm so late in getting posts up. I took pictures of our house at Christmas time and some things I like to do. Every year, my mom makes tons of this bread. So I am trying to do this myself. This year, I bought a kitchen aid. I went to an outlet store and bought a refurbished kitchen aid for way cheaper than it would have been new. So I got to make about 20 loaves of this bread this year. I could do about 4 loaves a night after work.

And we put up the decorations

As much work as the bread was, it was fun to make. I turned on music or watched Christmas movies with my roommates and it was a nice feeling for the Christmas season.

How the Roomies celebrate

2010-01-18T22:38:00.001-08:00

Yes, we did have our own little Christmas here in SD before we all left. Martinelli's, fake trees and fun gifts. These girls are fun!

Is it seriously Christmas 2009 again?

2010-01-18T21:32:00.001-08:00

I can't believe another year has come and gone. I feel like this year was so full and busy. I felt like I was able to make a bigger difference at my work and take on more responsibility. I somehow got voted to run the social committee at work, did more filing on my own, more scheduling for court events, more quality control projects and helped do a little more streamlining of processes. It was a productive year for me at work.

I turned 30! crazy how fast time has gone by. Hopefully, I've gained a little wisdom. While I miss days gone by, I feel pretty good about where I've ended up. I still don't think I'm 30 and probably still try to act like I'm way younger, but one of these days, I'll figure out what 30 means:)

Church has kept me busy. It's been a great year and I've learned a lot. It's pushed me to find out things about myself I didn't know I could do and taught me, hopefully, how to be a better person. I've learned that things work out so much better if you rely on Heavenly Father through everything, and try to do all you know to be right. And I've learned how the gospel shows the Saviors compassion. I'm still working at the temple on Saturdays, which teaches me a lot and I've met some great people through being there.

I've loved the adventures I've been on this year with my friends and family. My brother got married to a great girl! My sister got married to a great guy. Both are expecting little bundles of joy this year 2010, so the family just keeps growing! Celia is off at school, Brigitte, Tyler and Logan are in a new house, Shelley and Steve added Jack to play with the extremely fun Mariah, all great stuff. Celia and I were able to travel to Nashville to visit the Grandparents. My friends and I were able attend other friends weddings in Utah, travel to Boston and have fun in San Diego. I went home for Christmas this year and it was great. I hadn't been home since June for Brittany's wedding, and my Nor Cal tank was on empty. Funny though, the pics I have from Christmas are of when my parents came down to LA the first week of December. Kiel and Melissa showed us The Grove outdoor mall, all trimmed for Christmas. I forgot to take photos up in Concord.

End of the Social Committee!!!

2010-01-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

So this last year at work I was on the social committee. It was a group that planned fundraisers, did quarterly birthday parties, provide condolence plants and cards for employees who have lost family members, help plan baby showers, wedding showers all that good stuff. So one of the purposes of this committee was to raise money for the Holiday Party that the three district court agencies have together. So six of us spent the year raising as much money as possible by doing appreciation grams, breakfast carts, opportunity drawings of Padres and Chargers ticket baskets. It turned out that we did alright, because here is the result...
moving all the chairs from the jury lounge...took us all afternoon the day before

the room after decorating..

our tree..

after setting up...

and the chef, my friend Jen, in action...

The party turned out really great. We had almost 200 people including clerks office, court staff, probation and pretrial staff come. We had a live band. A guy in my office is in a band and they played for cheap for us. And we had a DJ from another agency. The food turned out great and everything was good. We got everything set back up that same night and didn't have come back to clean up the room another day. And, even better, the new Social Committee for 2010 was announced!!! No more social committee planning. All in all, a good year for the social committee.

Gone With The Wind...Tennessee style

2009-11-29T06:11:00.000-08:00

When I was younger, I always wanted to be a southern belle. Not sure why, but I loved the movie Gone With The Wind and I love the Civil War era. So I guess it makes sense that I always wanted to be the belle of a huge southern plantation, that included a house with huge columns and lots of open fields for the front yard. I got to see them in Tennessee. Celia and I sought after our dreams by visiting the Rippavilla Plantation, Carter house and the Carnton plantation in Franklin Tennessee.
First Rippavilla Plantation:

One day my house?

At the Carter house, we found the headquarters for the Union soldiers who were going to be participating in the Battle of Franklin Re-enactment taking place later. Yes, we were there for a re-enactment. It was great!!

We were introduced to Gigi's.

2009-11-29T05:46:00.000-08:00

While in Nashville, the Gholson's and G&G Christensen introduced Celia and I to Gigi's bakery. Bry, you would love this place. This little bakery boutique carry's AMAZING cupcakes. It's pretty crazy what they can do with cake and frosting. So we got to enjoy these little cakes of delightfulness. Mine was yellow cake with strawberry frosting, a Miss Princess cupcake. Appropriate? ;)

Celia and I also made our first ever trips to Sonic. I have to say, getting tots instead of fries is pretty dang good! Their burgers were pretty good too:) It was a great culinary holiday weekend!

Yes, Celia and I love our history

2009-11-28T17:20:00.000-08:00

On Friday after Thanksgiving, we dived into some local history. What would a trip with two History majors be without that. How many of you knew that Tennessee had so much Civil War History? I knew from the last trip here about 10 years ago, but didn't get to see to as much as I would have liked. So on Friday, we ventured down to Murfreesboro, TN to see the battlefield down there. Tennessee had quite a bit of fighting during the Civil War. It was a Confederate border state and many cities went back and forth between Union and Confederacy. The battle outside Murfreesboro was called The Battle of Stones River. It was a big clash south of Nashville in 1862 into 1863 that saved a vital road and railroad line for the Union. While the South claimed victory, the south left the field first, leaving it to the North. Lincoln told Rosecrans that he gave the Union hope with his victory, after the war had been going badly for the North so far.

There was a place on the battlefield called the Slaughter Pen. The union forces retreated into this wooded area and tried to find cover behind the limestone natural to the area. But there wasn't much cover for the mass of soldiers who ran into there. And it was so rocky the cannon couldn't make it through so many broke down.

There is a cemetery across from the battlefield for the Union soldiers. It is pretty dramatic the amount of headstones there.

We also drove by the headquarters for the Union general.
v

So, we did get in some history. Wait for it...there is more on Saturday:)

I think I've been deprived, but Thankful I've found it now.

2009-11-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

My sister Celia and I joined my grandparents Christensen and Aunt Karen and Uncle Ronnie in Spring Hill, Tennessee. We have immersed ourself in the southern culture as much as possible. Firstly, the Thanksgiving feast. I was introduced to a new dish, but not new to the south. Corn Pudding. I have been deprived by not enjoying this dish before. My uncle supervised my first attempt at making it. It tasted good to me, and the experts said it tasted good to them, so I guess it turned out okay. I got the recipe from them so I can transport this dish west. My uncle cooked up the turkey perfectly, my aunt showed me how to make HER funeral potatoes recipe, Paula Deen's Old country dressing recipe was cooked up by my uncle and was fabulous and grandma showed us how to make gravy. Add rolls and fruit salad to the mix and this was a fantastic thanksgiving feast. And leftovers for days!

I was able to think about all the things I'm thankful for this year and I have many things. Mainly, I'm thankful for the gospel. I have had a few experiences lately that have taught me how the gospel makes you free. I've seen friends who aren't members of the church, have the consequences of choices they made in the past, come back to find them. I have seen how when we make an early choice to not do something and stick to that decision, we don't have to worry about the bad consequences that may come. The gospel keeps us free. When we have a testimony and choose to follow the commandments, we are more free. I have seen friends lose jobs because of past choices that were made in a moment but affected their lives further down the road. It's been wonderful to turn to my testimony and prayer to find comfort in the gospel. So I'm grateful for that.

I'm also grateful for my family. The more I'm with family, the more I wish I wasn't far away from them. I have loved being with my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle and my sisters this holiday. But even more is that during this holiday, I've felt more that Heavenly Father knows my family and is mindful of them and all that they are going through. While jobs and illness may be tough trials right now, we are watched over. So Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays!

We did take video

2009-11-28T16:26:00.001-08:00

So we took some video of our trip. The first one is of our apple picking adventure. The second is of our drive in Marblehead. Beautiful scenery. I'm sorry there isn't any sound, I have yet to figure out how to record sound, I think I need a microphone.:(

Meet me in....the Atlantic?

2009-11-28T15:36:00.000-08:00

Our Boston travels took us to the far reaches of our country...this is as far as I've ever been.
But even out there, we had help for us to find our way...light is never far off. It has always been one of my goals to visit Atlantic lighthouses. So I probably got pretty annoying by trying to get our group to head to all these lighthouses. We marched through brush and field to get there but we got some good shots!

We decided that we could be flexible in our sight seeing, so we headed up to New Hampshire to check out the "American Stonehenge." Scholars are not sure and argue about where these formations came from. It looked like stone tables, some chambers, possible sacrificial areas. We're not sure, but it was pretty cool to go up to another state, it was only 20 miles away! Everything seemed so much smaller there. This is a photo of Cassie standing next to some clay depressions that were used by whomever built American Stonehenge.

...and a shot of the drive.

We jumped into local activity by heading to the Topsfield Fair, one of the oldest fairs in the country, if not THE oldest. It's like many other fairs, except this one has the largest pumpkin contest! Check out the size of this one. We enjoyed the food and fun of the day and went back to our little home happy, full and content with how our trip had been going.

Should probably get more pictures of Boston up...

2009-11-26T13:21:00.001-08:00

Since it's taking me a while to get my blog updated, I figured I should put up pictures and maybe tell my memories through the pictures I'll post.

We made it to Essex and Ipswich. We tried clam cakes, no not crab cakes, but clam cakes. They were really good! I didn't think it would be that good, but we really liked them. From there we headed over to Gloucester and checked out the harbor, one of the oldest in the US.

We drove down the coast to Marblehead and saw the beautiful Atlantic seaboard...

One of my favorite parts of the trip was seeing the Massachusetts countryside. I liked the city and thought it was fun, but I love exploring the surrounding areas. It was just nice to drive and see what was out there. I don't do that in San Diego. One of my goals is to see more of America, the countryside and all that is here! So this was my start!
Here's the scenery...

Here is the Trinity Church. Our vacation rental was within walking distance of this church and other beautiful buildings. This church was built in 1733.
We stayed near Copley square and had a fun time seeing the sights.

Monday Monday...It was actually a great day!

2009-11-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

Day 3 in Boston was one fabulous day! Surprising for a Monday! We started out by traveling outside of Boston, exploring the less touristy surroundings. We picked up our rental car in a not so pleasant part of town. We thought we were purchasing our rental car from the cheapest enterprise rental car. That should have tipped us off. As we walked from the T to enterprise, we kept looking around thinking this looked kind of sketchy, but oh well.

So we hopped in our car...

We were so excited to be traveling outside of the city, to see what Massachusetts had to show us...

Our first stop...IPSWICH, MA! What would fall in New England be without checking out the local produce. Cassie's coworker grew up in the area and recommended we try a local apple farm. Having worked on a fruit farm in high school, it was really fun to be there. We picked apples and checked out the pumpkin patch. Did you know there were so many different varieties of apples? It was fantastic, if we could have made a pie, we would have!

Second stop...MARBLEHEAD, MA, but on the way we had to stop in ESSEX, MA to get some fantastic clamcakes. We stopped at Woodman's to try the local fare.

Let Freedom Ring!

2009-10-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

We began Day 2 refreshed after having finally slept! Can I tell you a little about our vaca rental? We stayed in the Back Bay area of Boston, in an old brownstone. We had the penthouse suite. It had 2 bedrooms, one bath, a TV area where another person could sleep on the couch and an aero bed, a living room, a dining room and a kitchen. I would suggest a vacation rental anytime. It was cheaper than a hotel and had the amenities of a home. Fabulous time in our Boston home!

We began the day with the Freedom Trail.

We started at Boston Common and walked the red line through the city, viewing all the historical points of interest. I was so excited to be standing and viewing the same buildings as the founding fathers of our country. I can't tell you the thrill I had of being in some of the oldest European settled cities our country has. My ancestors walked these streets, participated in the events of the day and helped found this great country and I was able to walk a little bit into their lives.

In any case, we walked the freedom trail, starting in Boston Common, the oldest public park in the country. Here colonists grazed their sheep and cattle and during the siege of Boston, the redcoats pitched their tents and participated in their training drills.

From there, we moved onto the Massachusetts state house, onto King Chapel, the oldest and original Church of England in the colonies, later to become an Episcopalian congregation. Here famous folks were buried at the Old Burying Ground, including Paul revere, the Winthrops, John Hancock and others.

We continued on to Old South Church, to the Old State House, Fanueil Hall where orators such as Samuel Adams made their opinions heard. Quincy Market was next and then onto the North End where Paul Revere's is. We toured his home and learned more about his livelihood. He worked with metals, forming bells, anything to do with copper. He was one of THE metalurgy workers in the area and many of the old churches have bells made by him.

We heard about this place in the North End called Mike's Pastries. So of course since we were right there, we HAD to stop by. We went back to that place another day, it was so good. They had amazing canolies, whoopie pies, cookies, and other fabulous desserts. We stocked up and walked back along the Freedom Trail to our house where we watched the last session of conference and made Bryonny's fabulous soup. Cozy way to end a fall day in Boston, wouldn't you say!

(Our friend Jake from San Diego was able to join us Day 1 and Day 2. He was out checking out the Boston colleges. Thanks to him for putting up with our plans and occasionally being our T-train bodyguard, he had 4 girls to look after!)

We Don't Do Weather-Beantown Day 1

2009-10-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

Day 1, We have arrived!
Flight 10:30 pm, Friday night, yes we took a red eye, yes we were crazy. I don't think any of us realized how long the night was going to be. I personally have never taken a red eye before and came to the conclusion that adrenaline can take you to places you've never been. We arrived "red and puffy eyed" in Boston at 7am, ready to start our adventure!

7am, Saturday, Logan International airport: We look outside, and our first day in Boston is rainy. But we'll go with the flow! We will be experiencing all of Boston's faces. We get our luggage and head for the shuttle buses, where we take off the for the T (Boston's subway system). We figure out the Blue line to the Orange line will drop us off a few blocks from where we are staying. I will say, Boston has a pretty good subway system. We're utilizing it quite often on this trip. But BART takes the cake for having the trains come to you and then go off on their different lines instead of Boston's process of the people moving to the different pick up points. In any case, not a bad system. The events that have happened so far include: the nod of approval from a guy in the subway ticket area. We got a nod that to us, signified that even in our tired, no make up, no contacts, yoga pants state, we were still worth a look and not bad. All that before 7:30am. (In case you didn't know, Boston is 3 hours ahead, so all this took place in the wee hours of a California morning).

We in Boston!: the subway ticket agent asking us if we needed help. If you were to look at 4 girls/women who had 4 bags of luggage and backpacks, dressed in comfortable clothes that did were more colorful than anything the native Bostonians were wearing, would you think they were from out of town? Yes, we stuck out and yes we needed help. We couldn't check into our vacation rental until 11am, so we have 4 hours to kill. And we were hungry! This woman directed us to a place up the street that served buffet breakfast!! Hello, can we say answer to unspoken prayers! We headed off that way and apparently still looked lost because she came running behind us telling us where to go and sending us jaywalking across the street, asking "where you all from, New York? We in Boston, cross the street!" So she stopped traffic and directed us across the street to our first glorious meal in Boston.

Homeless men swoop: As we were leaving the train station, we really felt like targets. A homeless man (we know he was homeless cause we are at the moment, homeless as well and we know our people), swept in to get the door for us. But, to our chagrin, another one of our peeps swept in behind us. We were in a homeless sandwich. Luckily, in about 20 minutes, we will not be homeless anymore. What do two homeless men want with our wallets? To our relief, we went one way away from our two friends as they searched out other potential victims of the homeless swoop.

RAIN!!! Yes, it is raining here on our first day. In our homeless state for 4 hours, we experience our own handcart trial. We were carting our luggage for blocks trying to get to the ticket counter for our duck tour, finding breakfast, and then finding our vaca rental. We decided, we don't do weather. Our pioneer ancestors might find us to be sad progeny and pathetic degenerates and disown us in the eternities, as Bryonny slept on a bench in The Pru shopping center, psychotic from lack of sleep. We're missing our "essentials " kit of "food, shelter and love" and mumbling to ourselves, "eleven o'clock, eleven o'clock."

And by the way, restrooms in Barnes and Noble have long lines and are hard to find....

Eleven o'clock came! We were able to finally check into our Apple of Boston B&B penthouse. We are staying in the top 2 stories of an 1870s home on Appleton St, in the Back Bay area of Boston. The place is pretty awesome, with it's brick architecture, 4 stories from the outside, gables on the top floor and narrow staircases within. The four of us are having a great time getting to know our home away from home. We were able to nap and shower after our travels and then hit the town. We first did...

A Duck Tour! These WWII transport marine and land vehicles were turned into tour boats/all terrain vehicles. It took us around the city, giving us brief glimpses of what Boston has to offer and of it's past. We got a bunch of ideas of things we want to do or places to go eat. Come to find out, Boston Creme Pie was invented here and we found the place it was, I think that requires a visit! The Omni hotel I think is where they said it was, We saw a bunch of places we're going to see on our Freedom Trail walk.Luckily, we can see a lot of it on our own.

On the recommendation of our landlady, we tried a restaurant called Brassierie Jo's, it's a french place. Nothing totally awesome about it, except to hungry travelers, it was just food! We plan on hitting up the Union Oyster House, America's claim of oldest restaurant is their novelty. We also want to hit up the North End for dinner, where all there is a community of Italians and there are over 100 italian restaurants. Sounds so good!!

The night ended with the Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park. We got to watch America's pastime at America's oldest sports venue. Fenway park was built in 1912 I believe and is a great place to go for a game. I noticed the Boston fans are more of a participating group than any other fan base I've seen. They were fun, loud and obnoxious on their way home but you could tell they loved their Sox.

It was a fun filled packed day, we're SOOO tired. It's beyond tired, so good night world, these 4 ladies are just starting their world of adventure in Boston!

Month of Birthdays

2009-09-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

September was a busy month. What's crazy is me saying WAS. I can't believe it's almost over. There were a number of birthdays! Gabe's, Kiel's Mariah's, Tyler and Steve's. SO MANY!! So let me recap what I can.

My coworkers were so great for my birthday. My post below shows what my family did. My coworkers decorated my desk and space and had an AMAZING cake made! Thanks to my boss! They are great folks.

Here's the cake:

And then we got to go celebrate Mariah's birthday. Mariah turned 2 years old. I can't believe my niece is 2. She is so cute. She loves to play and talk and take care of everyone else. She is so concerned when everyone else makes a mess. It's pretty darn cute. She's my favorite niece so far!

And then Kiel's birthday was celebrated last weekend! We went up to his and Melissa's apartment in Redondo Beach. I have found that Melissa is and AWESOME party planner. She is a fabulous host. Thank you Melissa for showing us a great time! It was a great day to celebrate my brother!

Now where do we go?

My goal

2009-09-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this is a self-motivating post, that hopefully I will read over and over and implement! Sometimes, I need to stop and think about what I say and do. I realized last night that I don't need to say everything that comes to my brilliant mind, no matter how funny I may think it will be. I know, I'm funny, so why shouldn't I say funny things:) (J/K, that was an example). Sometimes, I am in a situation where I want to impress someone or without realizing it, want to be the center of attention (really it is sub-conscience, I don't like a lot of attention thrown my way). And at those moments, my brain goes on "check me out and everything I say mode." And what happens is, I do come up with something brilliant to say, then something funny, and then take that extra step that didn't need to be taken. I need someone to give me the death look when I need to end. Really, I don't think I was that bad, but if the next day I feel like I didn't do a good job about lifting others up or being my best self, then I know I've gone and done it again. So, Self, step 1) start thinking a little before you speak, 2)Run through the outcomes before you open your mouth!, and 3)Make sure everyone around you leaves feeling better about themselves.

See, now I feel better and that I've taken a step in the right direction.

17 DAYS!!!!

2009-09-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

....till I am here.....

CAN'T WAIT!!

I hit the big 30!!

2009-09-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

So, apparently my sister and sister-in-law for weeks planned to throw me a big surprise party for my 30th birthday. And, they pulled it off to a tee! My sister and her family had planned for weeks to come down on the 5th of September to go to the San Diego zoo. What I didn't know, was that was a ploy to make sure I had the morning available. They got to my house a little later than I had planned on getting started. (I had a very strict time table that day, we were going to the zoo and then I had a BYU vs Oklahoma watching party to attend and COULD NOT miss a moment of. I know, I'm a fan of BYU football to a fault.) So I was freaking out that we would not be able to stay on schedule. After all the taking care of the kiddies occurred we finally got going. Except for me being blind folded. Excuse me, how can I tell you how to get to the zoo if you blindfold me?! All I was told was it was a little side birthday gift thing. So we drove around for a bit. I could tell we were headed towards the freeway, but lost track of where we were after we did not get on the freeway.

All the timed delay was to make sure the park was set up and ready to go. After they drove me around, we parked, got out of the car, blindfold still on and my niece held me hand through some grass. I had no idea where we had ended up. We kept walking and walking (Steve and Shelley attempted to get me to think they were taking me out in the woods to kill me:) We stopped, I heard some grass crunching, the blindfold came off and.....SURPRISE!!

My mom, dad, sister Brit, bro in law Gabe, brother Kiel, sis in law Mel, cousin Amy and a ton of my friends were there surrounding me. I can't tell you how much that meant. I had no expectation of anything of this sort happening. My parents and family DROVE DOWN FROM NORCAL to come to this. I wish I could express my surprise. Way beyond words. That whole day was the best gift ever!

Here's the bbq that we were treated to. I heard from everyone that these guys made the best burgers!

a picture of some of the group. I think some had come and gone by then! But such awesome friends and family, they're the best!

My brother made a mix of cool music from 1979. Yes I was born in the disco era. And to show that wonderful time, my sister had a cake made in the design of a disco ball. (check out my sister Shelley and Melissa's blogs for more pics.) There was a big "30" pinata and a bucket list with many great suggestions of what I should do in the future.

(And BYU won, they beat Oklahoma 14-13, the best day capped off with a FANtastic gift.)

The most awesome weekend....EVER!

2009-09-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

I will soon be posting a blog all about Labor Day Weekend, the best one ever in my now 30 YEARS OF LIFE. And if the weekend is any indication of what being 30 is, then I'm ready for it!

Life is great, my family is amazing, my friends are the best and BYU won, so everything is right in the world!

**More to come**

Fun FHE

2009-08-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

For Family Home Evening this last Monday, my ward went to Balboa Park. During the summer, Balboa Park has free events that are just fantastic. And this one was great. (Grandma K you'll love this!) Balboa Park is home to the Spreckles Organ, the largest outdoor pipe organ in the world, they claim.

During the summer on Monday nights, they have free concerts. This last Monday, the ward decided to add a little American culture to our lives. We attended this free event. It was a Silent film titled "The Cameraman" starring Buster Keaton.

I had never seen and silent film before. I LOVED it! It had all the classic comedy tricks, slipping on bananas, bathing suit coming off in pool of people, trying to get off the top of a double decker bus, and all the while, he was trying to become a cameraman and impress the cute stenographer at the news office. It was really cool. But the fun part about the event was that the music to silent film was being played live, right there on the organ. The gentleman playing was fantastic. The organ sounded great. I don't know how someone times the music to go along with the movie without modern editing equipment, but he did it and the whole thing was so fun. I'd do it again!

CLM...they continue even as you get closer to 30

2009-08-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

I forgot about this gem until I told a friend about it the other day. I was out with friends last Monday night. We went to Rockin' Baja Lobster, a fun little joint down in Old Town. So as we were concluding the evening's festivities, I was playing around with my straw and my glass of water...and oops, spilled the glass of water. Of course...but the good news is that I'm getting better, the water spilled to the middle of the table! Not on me! You'd think I would have learned my lesson, but oh wait, no. I was playing with same said glass later on and spilled it again. Luckily, the waitress was slow and had not refilled my glass in time for me to do more damage. The best part about that evening, was that all of my girl friends and I were on blind dates. Good times, folks, good times.

Social NoNo

2009-08-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

I have one gripe-and that is when technology invades all areas of my life. Today, it went to the extreme. I stopped in the restroom at work. Two-count them TWO- women were on the phones in the restroom. I'm sorry, a little too invasive. I would also not want to be the one on the other side of the phone call. Seriously, when did that start becoming acceptable!

CLM....another goodie

2009-06-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

I had a good CLM yesterday at work. I have a kind boss who likes to buy us assistants up here in the executive office flowers. Last week he came back from the farmers market with 2 wonderful bouquets of lilies and gerber daisies. So nice. Yesterday at work, the flowers had met the end of their existence, time to go! So I took my vase with my flowers into the breakroom to chuck them. On my way through the door, something brushed my face, but I didn't think anything of it. I'm talking with a coworker about his lack of office participation. Instead of buying one of the water bottles with a court logo that I'm trying to force everyone to buy, he went off and bought a more expensive one! How rude. Then our conversation was done. Well, another coworker, who never holds back what he's thinking, walks in and proceeds to make funny faces at me and then asks..."What's all over your face?" I wiped my hand across my chin and saw orange and yellow powder/dye on my hand!! Those stupid flowers had exploded pollen all over my face. I ran to the mirror in the break room and saw, to my horror, yellow splotches and one big one going from my cheek bone down to my jaw and chin. Thank you, coworker #2 for telling me, and shame on coworker #1 for not! I would have walked out of that room to work with yellow powder all over me! He has 2 strikes against him and can't afford another one. I never want lillies again...

Next one...

2009-06-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

So, in a couple days I will be flying home for Christensen wedding #2 this year. Brittany and Gabe get married on Saturday in Oakland. I finished making the jewelry for all the bridesmaids(thanks to Bryonny, this was not the scary, incompetency-with- small-objects-event I thought it would be). This wedding will take place in June, a possibly hot time of year in Concord, hopefully we won't melt. I haven't checked up on the forecast, but I just remember the end of the school year being so hot I thought my sneakers would melt! At age 9 when walking home, it was SOOOOO HOOOOTTTT! But hopefully, we'll have perfect weather.

The next dilemma is how to do my hair for Brittany and Gabe's big day...I know, such a big decision, it could make or break the day:)

Celia-how's the other bookend doing?

Reception fun...

2009-06-09T12:53:00.001-07:00

So at Kiel and Melissa's reception, they had a cool photo booth! Celia and I took some photos, here's a sampling...

I thought it was a fun idea to do this in lieu of a book to sign. And it was the favor as well, you came away with 4 photos of your own! Melissa, great idea!

Kiel and Melissa!

2009-06-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

So, I'm so late on blogging about this special day, but my brother was married on April 25th to Melissa (yay for new sister!). It was a wonderful day and great to be in the temple with these two along with family and friends. The day turned out to be gorgeous with the perfect backdrop of the temple and the beautiful grounds. The reception was fun as well. One down this year...another to come...

btw..

2009-05-14T16:43:00.001-07:00

...the new calling is RS pres. It's just opened my eyes to a whole new way of thinking of others and what we can do for eachother. What's been amazing to me is that even when I've never met a sister in the ward, and my assignment is to find her and get her reactivated, I feel kind of excited about that. I wasn't really thrilled about that before, but knocking on random doors trying to find sisters that used to be at that address is kind of exciting once you get over the fear factor.

Be careful what you ask for...

2009-05-14T11:04:00.001-07:00

A couple months ago, I was feeling a little anxious about the lack of direction in my life. I finished up my paralegal program last year, did that stuff to move my career forward in a different direction. But I felt a little like I needed something different. Maybe a move? I didn't know. So I decided I needed a little heavenly help on that front. This is what happens when you really want to know what Heavenly Father wants you to do, you ask and then BAM, something happens. I think someone is up there waiting for you to ask and then a button is pushed and "Whamo" you are given, maybe not exactly what you were hoping it would be, but certainly something that will move you forward. When I felt I needed a little bit of a change in my life, a button was pushed, and a new calling issued that would change up my life quickly and move it in a less selfish direction, amazing how that can happen so fast!

Last night I was feeling that I wasn't doing enough in said calling. I thought about it for a few minutes in my car before a meeting and got an immediate phone call, from my Bish giving me a specific assignment. Again, quick answer, even BEFORE I really asked. I'm coming to realize, that asking is getting, maybe not exactly how I wanted to get it, but certainly GETTING.

We're booked!

2009-05-11T11:50:00.001-07:00

My friends and I booked our tickets!! We are headed to Boston in October! Woohoo, I'm so excited. I'm going to make a really long chain until we go...

Third Hour..

2009-04-20T11:52:00.001-07:00

Love RS...(especially for the next year or so:)

How has RS helped you?

For me, it keeps me grounded. I have come to see some interesting things in my job and being surrounded by agencies that epitomize what some might call 'government incompetency' at it's finest. If my life was taken up by this drama, I think I'd go crazy, so Thank You RS for keeping me focused on what is truly important in life. Because, what I see everyday is not.

Science Pic

2009-04-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

I saw this picture on Yahoo. It's of volcanic lightening. When a volcano erupts, it creates it's own weather within the eruption cloud. This is what scientists have been able to photograph of the inside of an eruption cloud. It's the first ever time such lightening has been caught on film! I thought it was really cool...

Baby Awake? Baby Happy?

2009-04-07T22:36:00.000-07:00

Those are the questions my niece asks. She is adorable. I got to hang out with her and Shelley's fam a couple times this last month. So here are some shots of the outings:
The cuteness!!

Can't you just see the fun in her eyes?

Shell and fam

Jack-Jack

Everything's amazing, Nobody happy...

2009-03-22T16:19:00.001-07:00

My friend sent me this youtube clip and I thought it was so funny. Check it out if you haven't already...

comedian Louis CK and his take on our society today...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus

Math...

2009-03-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

3/3/09

....Happy Square Root Day!

I'm an Aunt...3rd time around!

2009-01-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

My sister Shelley just had her baby last night. Baby Jack Jordan(Jackman Scott Jordan is his full name) made his appearance. I'm still waiting on the stats. Yay for Shelley, Steve, Mariah and the newcomer, Jack!!(maybe he'll be a Jack Bauer type...I'll have to play subliminal recordings of 24 in his room:)

Lightening the load...

2009-01-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

Why does a haircut feel so rejuvenating? I got my hair cut this last weekend and felt so much more free! I'm not sure why the reason, maybe it has something to do with being able to "be" someone a little different. Or just the more alive feeling knowing the excess weight and dryness is gone. Whatever the case may be, I am starting to really like haircuts, especially if they keep giving head massages. I love them!

Christmas Spirit comes in a tupperware

2008-12-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

This year, Christmas was a little outside the norm. We gathered at my sister's housee (thanks Jordan's) and did Christmas on Wednesday. My brother had to work Christmas eve and Christmas day, so we bumped the holiday up. My dad still did the traditional reading of "The Gift of the Magi" and the one gift of PJ's were opened. All good times. I love my family, but sorry folks, the niece stole the show. She is 15 months old and a jabbering, fun, laughing, intuitive little girl. I love playing with her. So one day, while in one of her silly moods, she pulled out a square tupperware container. It fit over her head perfectly. And, we found out, it fit on top of my head just fine as well. This discovery though, gave Mariah an idea. This container is like a helmet, it will protect my face and head from anything. She then proceeded to test her helmet theory, by headbutting me. Ahh, the joys of childhood. I think 15 month olds have harder heads than us adults. After every hit, she would giggle and think it was the funniest thing ever. Next time, I'd like to find my own tupperware helmet.

Is it Possible?

2008-12-18T15:59:00.000-08:00

Apparently Malibu got a light dusting of snow last night. My sister's house in Yucaipa at the base of the San Bernardino mountains got a couple inches of snow as well. The mountains east of San Diego got snow too!! Is it possible a white christmas could be in my future? Another storm is supposed to come in next week...maybe!

Christmas Movies

2008-12-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

I have a few favorite Christmas movies that I pull out every year. Last night I finally got to watch the Jim Carrey version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" last night. Sunday night, while attempting to write my Christmas letter, I watched Scrooge, the really good Albert Finney musical version, that I think many have not seen. So at this time of year, when ABC family channel has a Christmas movie a night if you cared to spend the time watching, which one is your favorite?

What am I listening to right now?

2008-11-16T19:44:00.001-08:00

I downloaded Taylor Swift's new album...I think it's a keeper.

Simple pleasure

2008-11-16T19:39:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, I went up to visit my sister, brother in law and their baby, my cutest red-headed niece. I forgot to post a couple pics and the video will come up later...

And we did lunch at a place that is becoming a fast favorite...Apple Dumpling in Oak Glen, so cinnamony, apply good!

The Jewel

2008-11-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

A couple Sunday's ago I was a little tuckered out from the Prop 8 parties and work. (By the way, I love my work right now, I have just felt a little overwhelmed the last few weeks with so much going on and there was not down time at work either). My posts were probably few and far between, my days have just been flying by that I really can't remember what I have been doing!

Anyway...on to what I did to alleviate my stress. I went out one afternoon to get a glimpse of the sunset over the cove. I had planned on going to the cliffs that over look Black's beach, but there were no parking spaces. So I drove down below UCSD a little bit and found another lookout point (I think I actually created my own, there weren't any trails:) The clouds were beautifully spaced and the weather was just gorgeous. By the way, it's been about 85 degrees this weekend. There are fires up in LA, which is a bummer, but down here, we've had some nice weather though the fear of fires is still there with the Santa Ana's. But it has made for some nice pictures.

And to show what prop 8 calling looked like:

Just a few more days...

2008-10-30T20:40:00.001-07:00

The election season is coming to a close. Next Tuesday Californian's will vote either Yes or No on Proposition 8. And this week a friend of mine reminded me of what this is all really about. For some it's about the legalities of marriage. For those who are no on Prop 8 it may be that they feel rights are being taken away, or that we are discriminating against a group of people who happen to be different than many of us. I can see the arguments from both sides and agree wholeheartedly with Yes on Prop 8 for one reason. Marriage between a man and a woman is a sacred relationship that is at the heart of the Plan of Salvation that Heavenly Father has given us. Families are fundamental to this plan. And families started in a temple is the ultimate goal. If a marriage between ANY two people is allowed, churches could be sued and told by the government to perform marriages that may go against the belief of the church, under a governmental mandate that we can't discriminate who we marry. So for me, this is a vote to keep the family instituted by God the way he created it, between a man and a woman, with the possibility of being married in the temple and continuing for all time. That's what it's about.

CLM #3

2008-10-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

Haven't had a good one in a while, but here's one for the books. Luckily, I was alone with this happened. I was at work...picture it, me in the Executive office, my co worker was gone for the week. I was working in our side room when I felt my heel catch on my probably too-wide-leg dress pants (love them though). Can you picture me tripping and falling to the floor (so far, work has only gotten a glimpse of how accident prone I can be, thankfully). So I tripped, and ripped the hem undone from my pants. I luckily found a safety pin and temporarily hemmed my pants until I could do it at home. And I'm wearing the pants again today:)

Prop 8 calling gems!

2008-10-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

The CA YSA's have been given the challenge to call 1 million voters before election day. I've called last night and tonight and plan on tomorrow night and many more times before election day. But in my two nights of political telemarketing, I've come across some little gems.

1. This can be really boring. I remember doing telemarketing in college and now remember why I didn't stick with that job.

2. Voice is gone by 2nd hour of 2nd day...fabulous. Your boss thinks your sick though, maybe he'll send you home:)

3. Confidence in humanity has been somewhat restored...i was afraid there for a while.

4. "She don't tell me, I don't tell her, so we don't tell you." has been my favorite line so far. Thanks for your time sir!!

5. How late is too late to call someone? I went until 8:40pm tonight and after 5 people in a row told me I was calling too late, I believed them and decided I was done.(I really do want to know the answer to this one, so please, let me know your too late to call times, when do you not answer your phone?)

6. Apparently 1,000 cell phone minutes isn't as much as I thought it was. I will never telemarket over my cell phone again:)

7. I've gotten a few peeps tell me I should be ashamed of myself for voting yes. Oh well, again, 'Thanks sir for your time, have a good night." I can live with myself still in the morning.

But for the most part, it's been pretty positive, I hope this gives others some hope!

Life's a Dance...

2008-10-22T20:44:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine sent me this picture...if people got along like this, maybe the world in general would be a better place:)

I actually think this is the couple that voted off last night...hmmm.

Check out this blog, it's a great legal review of Prop 8...

2008-10-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

This blog is a really good LEGAL overview of why someone should consider voting yes on Prop. 8. There are the moral and social issues, but his blog gives a clear legal review regarding the constitutionality of this proposition and why voting no will be a detriment to all, even those who want it to fail.

http://gr8prop8deb8.blogspot.com/2008/10/why-im-voting-yes-on-prop-8-or-post-by.html

As a side note, the other night I was out with a few friends putting up Yes on Prop 8 signs. I find it amazing how intolerant some people can be. I'm getting bashed for being intolerant of other's lifestyles by voting yes on prop 8, but isn't someone else being intolerant when they yell swear words and other obscenities at me when I'm putting up signs? If this whole argument is about tolerance, than it needs to go both ways people!