Hammer Time

So I added 4 Hawaii photos to The Wall. The Wall is my black and white photo collage I am creating with b&w pics from all the places I travel to...



Unfortunately, I couldn't seem to find one of the gazillion hammers I own (well, okay, I own two), so I nailed the little hook things in with a can opener (after trying the screwdriver and the case of CD-RWs...I don't recommend trying the latter).

So, the three people I am appreciating most today: 1) Grady, my pastor, for continually striving to fulfill his role biblically as a pastor and also for opening his heart so that God can speak through him. This past year we have been in the book of Exodus. Grady is preaching through it verse by verse and what I have learned would fill books. Thanks Grady! 2) TimaSue- for her wisdom and goofiness...like when we were in the Polynesian Cultural Center and she tried to say "Fijians" but the dancers from Tahiti were still quite on her mind and it came out "Fahitis" which she then tried to cover by saying "Fajitas". Maybe not funny to y'all, but coming from the perspective of someone who is constantly channeling Yoda, I did appreciate her attempt :). 3) Desiree and David- for being so hospitable and opening up your home for fellowship, fun, and good food. Thanks guys!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Thanks to Josh, who told me about Picasa, you can click the picture below and it will take you to my Hawaii 2007 album. *WARNING*- there are 57 bagillion pictures, and a lot of them are of my friends and me, which most of you probably aren't interested in but I promise there are a lot of scenery pics too, so take a deep breath, get comfy, and enjoy the show...

Oh wait, before you do...if you are interested in a trip to Hawaii, my friend, Anne, owns two condos on the the island of Molokai (between Oahu and Maui). Tima has stayed there before and said it was awesome. You can check it out for yourself here. Okay, now you can enjoy the show!

Just another day in paradise...

Aloha! I am back from my Hawaiian vacation extravaganza. TimaSue, Katrina, and I had so much fun together. I went through 1500 photos and picked out 40...but then realized that was still probably too many for a blog, so I will only post a few and then create an album this weekend, so consider this just a taste of the beauty of Oahu.

TimaSue, me, and Katrina outside of the luau (I ate poi and kaluha pig!) at the Polynesian Cultural CenterWe woke up at 4:30am to drive to Diamondhead Crater in attempt to hike up it to watch the sunrise. Well, we got to the entrance and it didn't open until 6am and sunrise was at 5:54 am. So we hiked it after the sunrise, but the view was still incredible. That's Honolulu and Waikiki Beach at the top.

We went to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. I don't think that requires any more description. This is Hanauma Bay. Yes, we went snorkeling in it and we did take underwater photos. They aren't developed yet.

We hiked Manoa Falls. This is one case where even Katrina's ubericiously cool camera (Canon SD800 IS) couldn't capture the awesomeness of this place. Only He could create such intricate beauty.

Once again up at 4:30am to drive up the east side of the island to capture a sunrise over water on our last day.

And we ended our last day with a spectacular sunset. That's Waikiki Beach and Waikiki Marina, respectively.

Remember folks, I have a lot more where this came from, including me climbing a palm tree, the mountains where Jurassic Park was filmed, a Whalfin (half false Orca, half bottlenose dolphin...scientists are mind-boggled), jellyfish, etc. I'll post a link this weekend. Mahalo and Enjoy!

Jana is ENGAGED!!!!

My traveling buddy and super good friend, Jana, is engaged. Yay!!! Scott proposed this afternoon (and she said yes, of course). Jana, I am so very happy for you. :)

Crawfish Alive!!!!

Well, actually they were alive before I got there. Thank goodness they were already boiled when I arrived otherwise, I would have had some issues. I was already a little squeamish...at first. I eventually managed to twist the body of a boiled crawfish in half and then pull the meat out of the back half of the body with my teeth. How's that for a nasty visual? Tasty, but it works better if you don't look at the crawfish throughout the process. I'm afraid it will blink at me, or wave it's claws.

My friends Paul and Christina hosted this in their backyard...in celebration of birthdays (Christina and Kristin's 25th, and Ed's) and Kristin's graduation with her Masters in Civil Engineering. Celebrate'n Texas style (well, with some Lousiana influence :) ).

Mmm...crawfish...

69 pounds of crawfish...this is the first half

Ahhh, don't eat me!

Get in my belly! Oh wait, you don't eat it like this?

Kristin and Debbie, shelling the leftovers for etouffee.

Singing happy birthday to the birthday people

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down. Kristin, Ed, Paul, and Christina.

Baby Shower

So there must be something in the water at church (or abundant blessings, whatever you want to call it :) ), but we have had a run of new babies lately. Today was Melissa L.'s shower, she's due at the end of the month. Heather put together a really special shower and Arzella graciously donated her house for all of us to invade.

Mama to be, Melissa, and new mama (last month) Daina

Third time mama (this past March), Collette, and second time mama (in July), Heather, chatting away. Look at the spread the ladies put together. The cake was awesome! Like, quadruple chocolate chocolate.

Invitations I made for the shower

Baby Kai (born March) and Baby Fiona (born April)

The two girls on the left, Corrine and Allyson, are in my Girls Group. Desiree is so awesome (her blog is linked- see Van Essen).

Amy and her daughters Emma and Ellenie. They are moving back to Midland in three weeks :(. We will miss them so much. Hmmm, can you say road trip?

Heather and Mikaela chowing down

This is my buddy, Katherine. I took her and her big sister Sarah to Build a Bear awhile ago and they helped me build a bear (Morris Alexander). They also got to pick out an outfit for their bears, since it was near their birthdays. I take Morris over there to play with Lily the Flamingo (Katherine is a die-hard flamingo fan...she can even do a flamingo walk!)

Becky, Brenda, Mrs. Mudd, and Irma, trading stories

I just love this group of ladies (and the rest that couldn't make it too, of course!). I am so blessed to attend a church where I can honestly call these people my family.

The Importance of Being...

Freedom!!!! In the words of Mel Gibson (representing my namesake of course), I am no longer confined to my cubby hole of a kitchen, wedged between my miniscule pantry and my refridgerator, dishonestly "borrowing" internet service from some kind soul know only to me as "linksys". I am now a bonefied patron of Time Warner Cable (just the internet...I still refuse to buy cable).

So this evening I had the pleasure of attending a production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" featuring two of my friends' siblings, Scott and Shelley.

I had read the play back in high school but forgot how completely hilarious it is! So clever, so insulting. The witty reparte is Gilmore-esqe...strangely so...anyways, I enjoyed it enormously and am always constantly amazed at the stellar job God did at creating our brains. Storing huge amounts of data (scripts to a play, attitude determination info, etc), it never ceases to astound me what it can store (although I think mine would be much better off without the lyrics to "Ice Ice Baby" and the oodles of Greek letters that one learns when math DOESN'T use numbers anymore). I am still diligently working on my scripture memory to replace (or at least rewire) some of my wasted brain space. 2 Cor 5:21 " For our sake, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that through him we might become t he righteousness of God". My next one is 1 Cor 15:3-4...I'm not going to type it...go look it up....that's all folks!