Public thanks to my fashion adviser

This is a sad story of a girl who thought fashion was forever lost to her. She thought any sense of personal style was something unattainable. Then, one grand and glorious day, her friend, Miss M., (perhaps at the request of Mr. M.), helped that girl go shopping. Over the course of time, something magical happened; she learned she could go shopping and enjoy it. She learned to enjoy buying clothes that fit her and were comfortable, and looked good. The inner fashionista began to emerge as the girl began to define her personal style. As they said in "The Devil Wears Prada", everyone who wears clothes is in one way or another affected by the fashion industry. I like to dress simply, with no accessories and no make up. Contrary to what guys may think of a girl, I own 4 pairs of shoes. I add style and the "wow" factor to my person by wearing shirts with interesting and fun patterns and prints. This way, I can get dressed and get out and about with very little preparation and primping, and still maintain that Hollywood glamour that is required of L.A. residents.
The purpose of this post is to give props to my prettiest peep, Miss M. I love you, amiga.

My man of steel

Mr. M. and I celebrate our 11th anniversary this weekend. The traditional 11th year gift is steel. I was considering giving him a box of steel wool pads (Brillo pads), but I had some better ideas. I bought some fancier steel gifts, and to top it off, I found a Superman action figure at the antique shop. The "man of steel" for my man of steel. I took the doll--I mean action figure--to Mr. M's work, and before placing it carefully (and very visibly) in his office, I talked to as many of his co-workers as I could and explained the significance of the action figure, so now they can all tease him about it. That's just the price of being a hero to your wife.

A funny college story that makes me glad to be a grown-up

My boyfriend and I were on the way to a church winter camp with the college group. His car, (a Nova, which means no-go in Spanish) broke down, and we were stuck in this small, scary, remote town in the middle of the desert. As we walked up the road, thinking about what we should do, a good friend drove by. We waved frantically and yelled. Like any good friend, she smiled and waved back. Having limited funds, we figured the smartest thing to do would be to get the car towed and repaired. My boyfriend, we'll call him Red, had triple A, so we got the car towed by a scary looking tow-truck guy. I sat by the window, and made Red sit by the driver. Then, we walked around a shopping mall, trying to figure out what to do next. The car wouldn't be fixed for a day or two; so, we had to stay in a motel. Once again, college kids, limited funds. We could only get one room. The car was at the repair shop, or Red would have slept in it and given me the room. So, we went to the cheap motel, me wearing my keychain on my finger so that it would look like a wedding ring, and we got a room. Then we went to Long John Silver's for dinner. We went back to the room, both called our parents, and we called our youth pastor up at camp. The situation was unacceptable to the youth pastor, so he sent some knuckleheads down the mountain to come pick me up (one knucklehead would stay with Red.) So Red and I sat up and waited for hours for these guys. One stayed there, and the other two took me to camp. These guys driving me up the dark and icy mountain road at 3am had been seeing how long they could go without sleep. So my life was in their hands. To my surprise, I got to camp alive, but in the dark. Not wanting to turn the lights on and wake everybody, I sat on several girls before I found an empty bunk . . . a top bunk with about 3 feet of headroom.

Makes you wonder . . .

This morning, I went for a long ride on my recumbent trike. I have a brightly colored flag on my low trike to help drivers see me. I was at a fairly busy intersection this morning, crossing after waiting for the "walk" sign. The big car turning right stopped for me. That was nice. The car behind the stopped car honked the horn for a solid 10 seconds. That was not nice. I'm going to assume the honking car didn't see me; otherwise that driver was mad at the stopped car for not running over me. Did the honking car's driver (the honking driver) really think the stopped driver had stopped for no reason?!!?! Do people really believe there couldn't be anything happening that they are unaware of? Why does everybody just assume that everybody else is stupid? Why are people always in such a hurry? I was mostly struck at the honking driver not thinking that maybe there was a good reason the stopped car was stopped.

By the way, if you drive a big car and stopped at an intersection to let a lady on a trike cross the street this morning, thank you for not running me over.
And if you honked at someone who stopped their car, or yelled at someone who did something that you didn't like, consider that they may have had a good reason for doing what they did.

Bath day for the dog.

G'day, Rufus the dog here. Well, my dear mistress has been neglecting her blog of late (she's been shuffling around the house muttering something about posting pictures, and credit cards, and wanting to organize pictures-she's a pretty sad sight right now.), so I will fill in the void to keep her readers from giving up on her. I don't know if today is a special day, or if my house-mates and other admirers were just getting tired of the alleged dandruff that may or may not have been on my head, but I got a bath today. I've learned that squirming around and trying to get Jen as wet as I can only fuels the fire and makes her mad and more determined than ever to get me clean. So, I stood ever so patiently in the sink while she hosed me down and lathered me up. She even remembered to put some Nexus leave-in conditioner on me so that I am irresistable, especially to the ladies. I am on a short break now, and I have to get back to running around like mad and shaking my wet body from one end to the other, and wiping my face on the carpet. (It's what I call, "the after-bath rump-to-front dance.")

A prolific poster of pikters

So, my free Flickr account has expired (but I think you can still see my old photos by clicking on the green badge). I'm trying to buy a Pro account, so I can keep putting up new pictures, but they won't take my money. I've been putting off upgrading, to see if it's really worth it. I've decided it is, because I have a few close friends and family looking at them, while they live too far to just look through my photo albums. Through my photos, I can share glimpses into my personal life. My photos are the best way to get to know me personally and intimately-even though the account is public . . . go figure. I realized that even people who know me personally can get to know me better by looking at my photos. Being able to share my photos is what makes an upgraded account a worthwhile thing for me to buy. I must admit, I do like to show off. God has given me a wonderful life, full of flowers and friends, family, colors, my dog, and a lot of other things I like to photograph and share. To quote a photographic friend of mine, "Fret not." I am working even now to share my most recent photos with you.
And please let me know if you are a sort of person who enjoys looking at my photos, so that I will feel confirmed in my decision to upgrade my photo account. Good day to you.

How's your Heart?

The Old Testament is full of commands to examine ourselves, search our hearts, and consider our ways. Charles Dickens echoes the same sentiment in Our Mutual Friend, wherein he writes that he who does what he does carelessly cannot know what he is doing. Also, I'm sure my readers are all familiar with the famous quote of Shakespeare to be true to thine own self-obviously, you must know thine own self first. So, now that we've established that some great minds have shared with us the value of knowing ourselves, let us all tend to that task.
A friend of mine recently asked my why I started my blog. What was my motive? This caused me to look back and reflect on the past. I started, as you may know, completely by accident. So the real question is, "Why did I continue?" Why do I post? Much thought goes into my answer, especially since the answer to that question is different for many of the posts. Sometimes I post to encourage people. Sometimes I post to make people laugh. Sometimes to make people think. Algunos veces publico sólo practicar mi español. (To practice my Spanish.) Sometimes I post because I'm too lazy to put my thoughts into Spanish and write them in my journal, so I just post them on my English-speaking blog. I guess most of my posts are posted because I like to write. Writing helps me organize my thoughts. Then again, sometimes I post because I feel an obligation to my readers. I want to keep in touch with family and friends. I am spurred on by seeing that I have readers in Bahrain and Latvia (and "unknown countries"- I did'nt know there were any unknown countries left!), and I want to write to people in other countries. It's a learning experience for me, and motivates me to want to learn something of the other countries where I have readers.
When my friend asked me the simple question of why I started my blog, little did she know what a profound question that was. So, why did you start your blog, and why do you continue to post on it?

Cornering the market on Christianity?

I am a member of a big church . . . a huge church. However, I have found that there are many, many genuine Christians throughout the world . . . in other states, countries, other churches, and in other denominations. This revelation is largely due to the wonderful people I have met through this here blog of mine and my Flickr picture pages. As wonderful as these people are, and as wonderful our fellowship and communion in Christ, I cannot commune only with people who I know from the cyber world. I must go out and spend time with my neighbors, and share the joy of knowing Christ with the people in my neighborhood. And that, my friends, is why I'm leaving my computer now to go for a little walk to enjoy the sunshine and perhaps a little culinary treat at the nearest Starbucks.