(Tobi, Shar and me)

Okay, try to keep up as I explain how this fun day came to be:

Shar and I have been friends since we were teenagers in Texas. Shar and Sam have been friends since they were pre-teens in Germany. Sam and I got to know each other at BYU through Shar. Tobi married Sam's cousin. We all started blogging. Shar and I got to know Tobi and vice versa through our blogs. Shar brought her kids to Texas for a visit, and since Tobi lives about 2.5 hours away from me, Tobi decided to drive down to meet Shar and me in person and spend the day with us.

Here's where we ate lunch in the quaint little town of Boerne:
(pronounced "BURN-nee" and not "born" as Tobi discovered)

We had sandwiches and yummy desserts. Then we went shopping in the cute antique shops along main street. It was fun! However, we may have scared Tobi because then she met our families. She met Shar's parents and Shar's kids and my mom, brother, sister and brother-in-law. That's a lot to take in on a first visit!

Here we are along the Guadalupe River at my sister's in-laws' house:

Tobi was fun and nice and we had a really good day hanging out with her. I'm glad we can be friends in real life now and not just in the blogosphere!

And it was so great to see Shar and her kiddos. They are quite a funny bunch!!

Nicki's Hickeys

Is a hickey from Nicki really like a Hallmark card?

This is my brother-in-law.
I've cropped the pictures to protect his identity and his dignity. (But I only have one brother-in-law.)

At a family gathering this weekend, we all noticed this weird bruising on my brother-in-law's face. The bruises weren't as red as these pictures show -- they looked more brownish/blue in real life. At first I thought it was dirt. Then I could tell they were bruises and I wondered how he could get them under both eyes?? When I inquired, he told us that my sister gave him hickeys on his face and neck a couple days ago. He had to go to work the next day - when the bruises were at their worst- and so he told his coworkers that he got involved in a fight. I can't blame him for the fib -- was he really supposed to admit that my sister is a weirdo and that he didn't stop her at least after the first cheek? My sister (who usually gets away with just about anything by acting innocent and cute) just giggled and said she thought it would give him rosy cheeks not deep bruises. I am so embarrassed for them.

As Def Leppard says, "Watch out! Love Bites."

Songs of Summer

Even though we've had summer-like temperatures for months here in Texas, SUMMER officially starts tonight. In an ideal world I would spend my summer boating at the lake, reading by the pool, going to the movies and having barbecues. Unfortunately, it's not an ideal world, and I have to work all summer. But I still love to get in that "summer" mood, and of course for me, that means music. So here are my submissions for the Soundtrack of Summer:

• Viva La Vida Coldplay
• Underneath Alanis Morissette
• In Love With a Girl Gavin DeGraw
• Lucky Jason Mraz (featuring Colbie Caillat)
• Love Remains the Same Gavin Rossdale
• I Will Possess Your Heart Death Cab for Cutie
• No One's Gonna Love You Band of Horses
• Pork and Beans Weezer
• Feels Like Tonight Daughtry
• Resurrect Me Jon Foreman
• Mercy Duffy
• Whose Authority Nada Surf
• Tessellate Tokyo Police Club
• A-Punk Vampire Weekend

I could go through each of these songs individually and tell you what I like about each of them, but I'll spare you that analysis. I will, however, offer the following disclaimers: Yes, a couple of these songs have been out for months but I just can't get enough of them right now (i.e. Band of Horses- LOVING them). And while I am not normally an Alanis fan, I do like her new song for some reason.

As for overall Best Summer Albums, I think that designation will go to Coldplay and Death Cab. I am loving both right now! I reserve the right to add to this list as the summer progresses. For one thing, I can't believe there isn't a good hip-hop song that I am diggin' on -- but there just isn't.

Now tell me what your favorite songs are right now!

Blind Date Haiku

I know you mean well
Just because two are single
Does not a match make

Happy Birthday Shar!

With just minutes to spare on this Friday the 13th, I am wishing my friend, Sharlene a very Happy Birthday! And in retribution for the birthday blog that she posted for me, I will now post some slightly embarrassing photos of the birthday girl.

One of the greatest things about Sharlene is her great attitude and sense of humor. She is so fun to tease, and therefore, her friends pull pranks on her a lot. (Or at least we used to.) When were were teenagers, the boys at church often toilet papered her house because it was fun to see her get all riled up about how the "homeowner's association was going to put a lien" on her house! I am cracking up just thinking about how she said it. Back then, we called her "Chuck". I think she hated it at first, but eventually embraced it because she is just good-natured that way.

Shar is one of the strongest people I know and I have always admired her fearlessness. She is so brave when it comes to trying new things. If there is a task ahead of her, she just goes for it. It's an amazing thing to behold. She has been able to accomplish so much in her life because not-only is she brilliant but she also has the guts to go for what she wants. And she'll try just about anything. Her talents are so broad and varied. I mean what other intellectual properties attorney can cook and sew? Do you know anyone else who has spent years doing social work, including managing a battered women's shelter, and ALSO trained beauty pageant contestants? I think not. Oh, and she plays the violin and was on the fencing team in college! ( I thought for SURE I had a picture of that, but I can't find it anywhere.)
Shar is a very persuasive person. She has talked me into a lot of smart things in life including going to BYU and being her roommate.

Shar is the best cheerleader and a very supportive friend. For example, she drove from Utah to Texas with me when I moved back home. And when my dad died, she caught the next flight to be with my family.

Sharlene is probably the most generous person I've ever known. Without hesitation, she is always giving and sharing whatever she has. In high school, I would go to her house and borrow stacks of clothing. She wore a uniform to private school, but she had the best clothes and so she always let me borrow them! She even let me borrow this prom dress:

Sharlene's generosity paired with her impulsiveness, sometimes makes for funny gifts. Like this one: That is Jackson. The dog that Sharlene gave me for my 22nd (?) birthday. I had often said that I couldn't wait until I had a house and a dog, so Sharlene showed up at my work with this dog that she adopted from the animal shelter for me. Unfortunately, the dog was psychotic. It would sneeze nonstop and was obsessed with eating paper. Seriously, you couldn't leave paper around or he'd gobble it up. And you had to keep the bathroom door closed or he'd eat a roll of toilet paper. Many times when he would poop, it would just be this white recycled paper poop. I had to give him away when I moved back to Texas and the family that took him in reported that Jackson liked to eat the crotch out of the kids' underwear and once ate an entire birthday cake.
Shar is the kind of friend that you can completely be yourself with. We've been friends for more than 18 years now. (How crazy is that??) Back then we used to drive around in her big brown truck, rent movies, play Tetris, sing duets of country songs, talk about our crushes and just be silly. Now she is an accomplished attorney, a military wife, and a fantastic mother-of-three. Lots of things have changed over the last 2 decades, but Shar is still the fun, generous, kind-hearted friend that I can talk to about anything and everything.
Happy Birthday, Shar!!

South Padre Island

From Southern California, to South Padre ... the vacation continues. The morning after I returned from San Diego, I headed south to the Texas coast where I spent the better part of a week at the beach with several families from my ward. We had a great time playing in the surf and sand.

Check out this awesome sand turtle the kids built:

We all love to boogie board:

Each night, we all went out to eat together (all 22 of us!!) and then we went crab hunting:My brother, Ryan is the master crab hunter because he's not afraid to pick them up. When the other kids found a crab, they all yelled for Ryan to come pick it up. He wasn't afraid of the pinchers, even after the biggest crab we found actually broke the skin with its pinchers.
Here are some of the small ones we found. Of course, the girls in the group named each one. The kids carried them around in their buckets for awhile and then set them free during a crab race.

Now, we are all tanned (burned) and tired. But it was a great week with lots of fun memories!

California Dreamin' Part 2

The Sight-Seeing:

After the wedding, I stayed several days to take in San Diego's offerings. I must say that I am completely bewitched!! It is the most amazing place. The first night I experienced Mission Beach and Pacific Beach with Todd, Kim, Cary and Michelle (friends that I met several years ago through Karen). We had a great time walking on the beach at sunset and talking over gelato.

But as the Go-Go's say: "Vacation, all I ever wanted. Vacation, had to get away. Vacation, meant to be spent alone."

And so, I spent the next three days exploring the city alone. I stayed in this funky European-style hotel in the Little Italy section of San Diego. It was a great location and it met my needs perfectly.

It wouldn't be the ideal hotel for everyone. The rooms are teeny tiny! The double bed pretty much took up all the space. The hotel does not have air conditioning -- but that was fine in early June because it stayed pretty cool. And as a solo traveler, I thought the hotel added to the overall adventurous vibe I was going for.

Day One:

I started early and hit the road heading North along the coast. My first stop was La Jolla Cove. WOW. The views were amazing.

I wasn't the only one enjoying the amazing scenery. I had a Zoolander-experience as I stumbled upon a male-model photo shoot. Hilariously fantastic:
I drove up the coast through Del Mar, Solana Beach, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, and finally on to Encinitas. It was completely serendipitous that one of my very favorite bands, Switchfoot, happened to be having their Bro-Am charity event the weekend I was in San Diego! The Switchfoot Bro-Am is an annual surfing competition and concert on Moonlight Beach. It was awesome! I sat on the beach for hours and watched the band and other surfers compete.

I saw a few of the other bands at the free concert, but I really only cared about Switchfoot. As usual, they were awesome. (This makes my 4th Switchfoot concert in the last 15 months.)

It was a pretty amazing concert venue. Check out the view:

After the day at the beach I drove down to Coronado for some quick sight-seeing. It was very, very pretty and worth the terrifying drive over the extremely high bridge you have to take to get there.

I ended the day back in Little Italy, with a delicious dinner outside a restaurant close to my hotel.

It was pretty much an ideal day.

The only bad thing was my atrocious sunburn. It is with humility and self-deprecation that I post the following photos. I took a picture without makeup on so you would be able to most fully appreciate the distinct demarcations of where my sunglasses sat on my face.

And look at the exact line caused by my Capri pants:

Day Two:
Not to be dissuaded by sunburn or exhaustion, I set out on day two to conquer the San Diego Zoo.
With the theme from Three's Company running through my head the entire time, I walked every path of the mammoth park. It is a great zoo. My favorite exhibits included the panda bears, gorillas, monkeys, and the grizzly bears who were very active and splashing around in their pond. I also had several sightings of the baffling high-heeled female:
My feet were KILLING me after hours of walking through the zoo. I cannot imagine wearing these wooden high heels. Insane!
After the zoo, I drove around Balboa Park and then drove up the coast again. My first stop was Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach. Another amazing spot.
I took the scenic route and drove back up to La Jolla to drive around some neighborhoods. I couldn't get enough of the beautiful beaches and felt compelled to see as many of them as possible despite the fact that gas ranged from $4.55-$4.79 in So Cal. My fill-up was quite pricey.



I ended the day back in San Diego in Seaport Village where I had dinner outside overlooking the ocean.


Day Three:
On my final day in San Diego, I drove to the Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma. It was incredibly beautiful and I was sad that I only had about an hour and a half to spend there. I really liked seeing all of the sea life in the tidal pools on the rocky beaches. It was fascinating and I could have spent a much longer time exploring that area. The Cabrillo monument and museum was also interesting. And I love lighthouses, so I enjoyed the Old Point Loma Lighthouse.Okay, this post is quite long, but I had to give a semi-detailed description of my amazing San Diego adventure. If you were bored by these vacation pictures, then you definitely don't want to click here to see even more pictures from my trip.

California Dreamin' Part 1

Ahhhhhh ... vacation. I had just had a week of it and it was fantastic! So now I will regale you with pictures and stories from my travels.

THE WEDDING:

My great friend, Karen, got married on June 6th in San Diego.

The night before the wedding, Karen and Chuy had a family dinner at Buccaneer Park in Oceanside. It was beautiful and a good time was had by all .... especially Karen's nieces and nephews from Utah who couldn't wait to jump in the ocean despite the fact that it was in the low 60's and the water was quite chilly. I stayed as dry as possible. (My South Texas blood can't handle that kind of frigidity.)
Karen and Chuy were married in the San Diego Temple. The temple was absolutely gorgeous, as was Karen on her wedding day:
Karen put me in charge of the wedding picture process. She made a list of 41 pictures that she wanted taken after the ceremony and I had to make sure the photographer got them all. Basically, this meant was that I had to round up Karen and Chuy's relatives for each of the poses. (They are probably still wondering who the bossy girl was who was ordering them around after the wedding. I apologize, but I had to make sure the bride was happy! She was counting on me!!)
The reception was held at a yummy Mexican food restaurant in La Jolla. It was delicious! Karen stayed exceptionally calm and cool during the entire process. As a general rule, she almost never gets stressed out and she is the most organized person I know. She makes a plan and sticks to it, and therefore, everything was carried out with exactness. The morning of her wedding was completely calm and on schedule. It was in stark contrast to how we do things in my family, so it was an amazing thing to witness. Just look how relaxed Karen is as she enjoyed her wedding cake:
I am so happy for Karen and Chuy!! They make a great couple and I am blessed to know them and to have been invited to their wedding.
Click here to see more wedding photos.