All in a day’s work

Well, Raggedy Anne made her 5th appearance. I tell you what, I have made sure I got the most out of my $50 investment (thanks, again, Sarah Hennes for the invaluable input so many years ago!). Here’s a little peak of what she was up to today:

At work with the co-workers

Chillin’ in the Learning Center

Stretching before the bike ride

At the bike ride with batwoman

Having fun at Balboa Park

At the USD soccer game with roommates and…yes, Waldo.

Walkin’ the newly trained pups

Enjoying Yogurtland

Playing Bananagrams and drinking wine with the leprachun (spelling??)

Getting ahead on some laundry

Getting filled up on the Word!

Always stop to smell the roses

And now off to write an IEP (yes, this is what I’m really doing on a Friday night)

*No dolls, leprachans (sp?), or other characters were harmed in the filming/photographing (word?) of these events.

Yesterday…

All my troubles did not seem so far away. Quite the contrary, my dear readers. Yesterday, all my troubles seemed to be compounded, magnified, and insurmountable. Of course, I’m over that for this moment…but really, yesterday was pretty daunting.

For those of you who do know me, you know how vital lists are to my existence. However, I literally have not written a true list in weeks. WEEKS. Do you hear me? The life of a working woman is highly over-rated; as is becoming fully aware of my ‘adultness’. I know that’s not a word….however, with this overwhelming sensation, my vocabulary seems to have gone outside the window as well. Thankfully, I can still describe things well enough that people can usually help me out…but the retrieval of vocabulary, not so much. A few things that have reminded me of my aforementioned ‘adultness’ – comments from friends from middle school and high school who have both, on separate occassions, told me how I am looking older these days. Yep. True story – but also just as true is the fact that I am. I have crows’ feet around my eyes (I laugh too much, so I’m okay with that) and I can see the early onset development of wrinkles. And I’m not even 30. I also found my first frontal gray hair in the mirror at work today. I’ve had some grays in the back of my head…but not in front. Until today.

I don’t know why yesterday brought such an overwhelming sense of being overwhelmed, but it did. And I couldn’t even fully explain it. And I wasn’t in a place that I even wanted to have people help me brainstorm any solutions. I was pretty happy settling into my state of overwhelmedness (which includes making up lots of words).

As I left Target (where I had been attempting to find calculators and 3-hole punchers for the Learning Center), I was on my way home. That’s when it happened. I ran out of gas. This was the first time I’d run out of gas in RegEnDev. And seeing as he’s been mine for a year and a half, I don’t consider it all that bad of a track record. Really, it was about time. The danger with living three miles from work is that when my gas light goes on, I feel I can make it another week without filling up. Which I probably could. However, this week happened to be customer appreciation week at Chick-fil-a which warranted free food and therefore, extra trips. Unaccounted for in my initial calculation of when I needed to fill up. So there I was. Thankfully, I was in a place where I was able to get over three lanes of traffic and pull into a vacant parking lot. I was also less than a half mile from a gas station. So I took it as a God-given opportunity to slow down and catch up on some phone calls – I talked to my dad, my cousin, left some messages, and talked to my friend Lauren’s friend, Elizabeth whose interview for Teach for America is on Friday and she wanted some ‘advice’.

I was able to make it home safely and my dear friend Mistie came down afterwards for dinner, some much needed conversation, and hang out time. I was quickly reminded of how sovereign the Lord is. Thanks to a book she has been committed to reading and God speaking through it, He reminded me of how in control He is. How it’s easy for me to believe this intelectually (can I even spell that right anymore? I don’t think so, but I’m leaving it as such)…but when anything happens that seem to thwart MY plans (which, by the way, I seem to think are pretty great most of the time), I tend to question it and quickly wonder what I can do to make things better. But, that’s not my place. I’m glad that’s not my place. Because I’m overwhelmed. And there’s no need to be. He is in charge. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He promises that. Now I just need to walk in that. So much easier said then done when I’m constantly tempted to take it all on myself. Who do i think I am?! So, I’m glad for yesterday…and grateful for today. Glad He is the same regardless of how I feel. That He is unchanging. Despite my ever-changing circumstances.

My Life…in Photos

Sunset Cliffs

Hence the reason it’s called Sunset Cliffs

Lovely company to enjoy Sunset Cliffs with…also a great help in organizing my life and classroom 🙂

My little barista at this cute little coffee place by work…Latte Mi Corazon

Miss Clarice Spicker was in town!! So we got to reconnect after some eight odd years…which also prompted an elevated stalker search for Allyson Stewart which ended in SUCCESS!

Lunch in Newport Beach with two of my favorite women!

Camping with the FCA Crew – a GREAT time!!

Good times at Pizza Port with Des, mom, and Tori

Friends for going on 15 years!

Discarding our futon from Casa Schneple ended up in a relocation behind the ever so classy Sports Bar aka Mira Mesa Inn!

Fun times in El Paso with a surprise guest appearance, dad! (Getting his blood pressure measured by grandpa while smoking a cigar…Classy)

My grandparents are going to hate that I posted this…but they are absolutely PRECIOUS!!!

Really, I wasn’t even a part of this night. But, I had to steal this off Facebook just so I could document that I got to spend time with the Huff family! Pictures were taken, but not by me. So this will have to suffice for now.

Isn’t there a song or something about three little somethings in a tub? Rub a dub dub…

REALLY?!? There was a person dressed up as a chicken at the pool today.

Enjoying the first cup of coffee I have EVER made by myself!!!

Living it Up!

So, here I am. Eating my dark chocolate with goji berry, pecans & maca (anybody know what maca is?). Trying to get myself motivated for my workout I promised myself would be beginning at 4:15 (it’s already 4:12). I’ll just push it back til 4:30.
I wanted to give everyone a few pics of our new pad! We’re loving it down here in Little Italy- Rachel and I frequent the Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings which is DIRECTLY outside of our side door (often making facetious comments about our long walks home), I have a five minute drive to work, and I find myself continually trying to justify frequent trips to yogurtland. I have noticed my purchases there get cheaper and cheaper. I just know what I want. And maybe there is such a thing as satiating on something. Even something as delicious as Yogurtland.
On Wednesday the 16th, Desi and three of her friends from her doctoral program at the University of Georgia came out for a week! We’ve been talking about this upcoming visit for MONTHS!! They had a conference with a national convention of Primatologists or something (I know, Des, I’m sorry – I messed it up) and we had a lovely time during the breaks! I just absolutely loved having Desi here; man, I miss that girl! Sweet to have had friends for over half my life 🙂 And it was great to meet her lab partner, Tori, and classmates Jessi and Freeya (sorry about butchering the spelling) in addition to make it down to the conference to check it out. They flew out the 23rd after a week of San Diego fun :-).
The following Saturday, we hosted a dinner party for some of our friends at Urban – Jen, Jamie, and Rachel’s church family who were an amazing part of our moving experience! It was great to share dinner with the Pastor, his wife, their kids, his mom, and a few others – Rachel cooked up a storm in the kitchen and we enjoyed a great game of Fish Bowl/Sakagawea/Suhcatash followed by a couple hours of Tetris and Dr. Mario. So far, I have been blessed with a great deal of self-control and haven’t become too swept in by the captivating little games. Time will tell….
Work continues to get more and more overwhelming by the day. I’m able to look back and be grateful for last year and the opportunity to invest in relationships and have down time…it’s remembering those moments that get me through! Well, that and the kiddos – they are so stinking cute! Okay, most of the time…it just breaks my heart because at least with middle schoolers you can chalk some of their behavior up to their own choices. However, with these little ones, all the baggage they’re stuck carrying is a result of stuff going on at home. Sad, sad, sad.
Anyways, I’m off to the gym. Enjoy the pictures!

The outside of our building

The inside entrance of our building…aren’t we spoiled?!

Our pool and jacuzzi…it just keeps getting better!

Our dining area/family room view

The view from our famiy room french doors…not too shabby!

My and Jamie’s bathroom…gotta love green and brown 🙂

Looking into my bedroom

My walk-in closet now even more organized and color-coded

View from my french doors…I literally sit on my bed and am amazed daily!

View from one street…looking over the infamous train tracks to the court house

True San Diego City Living…who would have thought?!

This is how close we are to the Farmer’s Market!!

So…if these don’t entice you to come visit along with the fact that I live with four amazing girls, I just don’t know what else it would take!!!