meme=FIVE

Call me a meme stealer or a tag-a-long memer. Call me what you will, but I love memes. And because I love memes I jump on the band wagon whenever I see one. And most often I see them over at hulaseventy. Sometimes Im tagged, and other times Im not. Sometimes she leaves it open ended and I see it as my opportunity to join in the fun. So here you go. My meme "five". (my answers are in no particular order)

five movies you wish you could see for the first time, again

1. E.T.
2. Life Is Beautiful
3. The Color Purple
4. The Breakfast Club
5. Places In the Heart

five novels you wish you could read for the first time, again

1. The Age of Innocence~Edith Wharton
2. Pride and Prejudice~Jane Austen
3. My Name Is Asher Lev~Chaim Potok
4. The Great Divorce~CS Lewis
5. Til We Have Faces~CS Lewis

five places you wish you could visit for the first time, again

1. Carraway Lane (Nate's parents old house)
2. Hawaii
3. Newport Beach/Balboa, California
4. The Price Is Right!
5. college, I would have done things so differently!

five foods you wish you could taste for the first time, again

1. white wedding cake
2. Mary Garcia's homemade tortillas (childhood neighbor)
3. star cookies with sprinkles from Fleenor's foodmart
4. salt water taffy
5. Abby's Pizza (it's now called Lorenzo's, but it is the best pizza I have ever tasted, and every time I go home it is like tasting it for the first time again. delicious!)


five common experiences you wish you could have for the first time, again

1. making eyes at my future husband while sitting at a basketball game-- before we truly met.
2. that first amazingly wonderful, long awaited kiss. He was so patient with me!
3. seeing my girls look up at me for the first time with that look that they know I love them.
4. first day of school - there was so much anticipation, planning of clothes, notebook, where to meet your friends, what to take for lunch, checking out the cute boys, etc.
5. doing a roundoff, backhandspring, back tuck. what an accomplishement, and I wont be doing that again any time soon!

Things I LOVE Thursday: Mars ILL

"It's M-A-R-S-I-double L..."



Joy, over at scrapalici.us has started "things I love Thursdays" and I have once again hopped on the band wagon. Between "Things I love Thursdays", "Self Portrait Tuesdays" and "Photobooth Fridays" I am keeping myself pretty busy! Im thinking of starting my own day of the week themed blog.....how about "Something Sweet Saturday" where we all talk about our favorite treats....or "So Sad Sundays" where we bemoan the coming Monday and all the work we have to do. Oh, now, just kidding. But I do the love the idea of a "things I love" theme, and this week I begin with Mars ILL.

What can I say? Of course I am totally biased, but I also really love their music. I have watched the group become what it is today, evolving over the last 10-12 years from an idea into a full-fledged respectable hip-hop group with a fan base and record contract. I have heard the music evolve too, from mediocre to a really, really quality sound. May 2nd the long awaited "ProPain" will be released, finally, barring some ridiculous hold up, and I am excited to see what the world thinks of it. Check them out at marsill.com (see link to the right of the page) and take a listen. Oh yeah, the hot DJ is my husband : )

Music by Mars ILL
(available at marsill.com or various places online. Some releases also available at your local music stores)

(albums/12"/EP's)

Raw Material (Sphere of Hip Hop/Uprock)
12" Mona Lisa
The Night We Called It A Day~Deepspace 5 (Uprock)
Blue Collar Sessions EP (Ill Boogie Records)
Blue Collar Sessions EP on vinyl
12" Redefine
Sound Methods (Mars ILL)
Backbreakanomics (Gotee Records)
12" Breathe Slow
Sound Methods v.2.0 (Mars ILL)
Unique, Just Like Everyone Else~Deepspace 5 (Gotee Records)
Pirate Radio (Mars ILL)
Pirate Radio Plus+ (Mars ILL~instrumental)
Backwaterprophets (Mars ILL)
The Backbreaks (Mars ILL~instrumental)
Backbreakanomics 2LP
ProPain maxi single
Deepspace 5 Unique maxi single
Just In Time for Christmas (Dust & Listener)
ProPain (due out 5/2/06 Gotee Records)

Self Portrait Tuesday 2.21

YIKES!! Yes, that is me.

This week I decided to post what I consider one of the more light hearted yet "dreadful" photos Ive saved of myself. Ok, I know it doesnt necessarily fall completely under the guidelines for the "All Of Me" self portrait month, but I figured it qualified due to the phrase "use old photos of yourself that you hate but could never throw away - that dreadful high school photo..." etc.

OK, obviously I look terrible with a full beard! Let's face it! I mean, thank the Lord women arent meant to have facial hair! As you can see I was trying to copy the image of Abe Lincoln for a class called "Stage Makeup" that I took as a part of my BA in Theatre. Lots of people enjoy dressing up in costume and putting on stage makeup. I, however, do not. I hate putting stuff on my face, especially after I have already put "stuff" like makeup on my face as a part of my daily routine, and then I am asked to wash that stuff off publicly, asked to put on horrid makeup/mask type things...again, publicly..., then photographed in that horrid makup/mask stuff publicly. Then required to wash my face in a big line of sinks with boys and girls I dont know (boys being the bigger concern) and having to put my makeup back on all in 1 hours time before my next class. Im not a girly girl in 95% of my life, but going out in public without my "public face" (aka makeup and hair in reasonable form) is horrific to me. I dont wear a lot of makeup, or even spend much time on my hair, but enduring a class like this twice a week for a semester was gut wrenching for me, and quite humbling. I guess Im a bit vain.

So here you have it, another piece of me. And this time you are allowed to laugh!

Comin out of the dark!

Oh my goodness! It is 7:30am and the baby is still sleeping!!! Unfortunately her older sister woke up at 6:30 for some freakish reason unknown to man...but the baby is still SLEEPING! I think I might explode (and not just from excitement....if you catch my drift...) But could it be? Could it possibly be? Am I going to begin to get a full night of sleep???? Praise GOD! Hallelujah! The nights are mine again!!!!!! Everybody over to my place! We are going to CELEBRATE! It's 7:40 and she's still SLEEPING!!!

meme=FIVE

coming soon...

"Wow...she looks like a real bruiser!"

Today's quote of the week comes from a guy sitting in the waiting room with me at Zaine's 2 month appointment. And it turns out he was right, she weighed in at a hefty 12 lbs, 3 oz, three pounds heavier than her sister was at this age. The appointment went well, she got her shots (so sad!!) and then the doctor informed me she would need physical therapy. Whhaaaaiiittt a minute. Physical thereapy? Yes, baby Zaine is receiving treatment for her neck muscle on the left side of her body. It turns out that her constant position in my belly during pregnancy (I can count on one hand the number of times I felt movement on the left side of my belly. The right side, however was beaten and battered the entire time) had her head kinked to the left. This is actually something I had noticed, but thought she just wasnt strong enough yet to hold her head up completely. Hopefully this will be corrected in the next two months with the exercises they have shown me. So, when you see her head tilting sweetly to the side in every photo I post, it isnt a cute little pose, it is a tight little neck muscle holding her down!

Her are a few new shots of my favorite girls! Zaine is now 9 weeks. Enjoy!

Self Portrait Tuesday 2.14

How dreadful to do this on Valentine's Day. Self Portrait Tuesday for the month of February is titled "All of Me" and we are challenged to face our true selves, not the person we reveal to the rest of the world, but the person we have hidden, or dont like to admit we are. We can use old photos, new photos of ourselves in a real setting--no masks, no perfect poses, etc.

I admit that I was at first planning to participate. I have some great photos that can bring a gasp from anyone, including my own mother. So I dug thru my photo box as best as I could (remember I have a soon to be three year old and a newborn! Time is of the essence!) and found some doosies. Then as the first Tuesday of the month approached, fear set in. How in the world could I put these horrible, revealing, personal shots up for the world to observe. Undoubtedly some would laugh, others would post "encouraging" comments, some weirdos I dont even know would post hurtful comments, and a number of people would think to themselves, "wow, that is bad!" So I balked. I was "too busy" and decided I'd wait til posting was safe again. But then I viewed the portraits of my friends in the blog world. The honesty and fearlessness they demontrated when approaching this subject was flat out inspirational. And I made a deal with myself that I was going to participate. So here we go.

Me, 5th grade



This picture represents not only a real tough time looks-wise for me, but a tough time emotionally. But let's deal with the looks first. I can honestly say to whomever was responsible for the haircut, "what were you thinking?" Just the year before I had shoulder length hair that was a little wild, but certainly better than this do! And for some reason I went to the eye doctor and he prescribed glasses for me. Never before and never since have I had to wear glasses! Was the problem somehow corrected in a years time? I was also still growing into the huge permanent teeth with the wide gap that was thankfully corrected with braces. Then there are some crazy things going on on my arm. Are they sores? scabs? or chocolate from the sundae I am eating with a straw? The whole things comes together to form one bad picture.

But behind all the ugly stuff on the outside was a lot of hurt on the inside. I had just the year before moved from a school with lots of friends to a school where I was the one made fun of, teased, threatened, names were made up for me, and I couldnt figure it out for the life of me. At the same time my mom and stepdad were having problems at home, and my adopted little brother had just joined the family, which should have been wonderful, but he had had a really hard life before coming to us and those problems were adding to the tension our family was already experiencing.

When I look at this photo I see a smile but I also see sadness and pain. I dont like how I look, but I hate how I felt. So here you have a piece of me.

This One Goes Out To The One I Love

Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetheart, Love of my life, and all the other lovey-dovey names Ive called you over the years!

Today marks 13 years since our first date (I think I recently posted that it was 14, but it's 13) and I can honestly say it seems like about 5. Just recently we have begun putting all of our video tapes on TiVo and transfering them to DVD. WE invited the rest of the familyto send their tapes and we are going to put the corresponding tapes together on to each DVD so everyting about the certain event is in one place on one disc. It has been AMAZING to say the least, to basically relive the last 13 years with Nate and his family. We have tapes from the first year when his family left on vacation and I house-sat for them. (If only those frames could be converted to photos for SPT you all would get a kick out of them!) And we also came across the long lost tape of our engagement. Well, the actual engagement isnt on tape but the rest of the night is. I cant tell you how watching these tapes has brought back memories--lost memories--of all the time we have spent together.

The years have gone by quickly, and boy have we changed. Physically I dont think you would recognize either of us from the beginning. But we have changed in many other ways too...I know I sure have. I now understand what it means to love someone regardless, to trust someone completely, to live my life with hope and meaning, to never give up, to forgive and forgive again, to be patient, and to simply be happy. Of course it is Christ who has changed me, but loving and being loved by a man like mine has been the living proof of that change.

So forget the little tiff we had this morning, forget that the baby just got her shots and will probably be feverish all day, and forget that I have now had so many conversation hearts that I will surely pass out before dinner in a fit of grouchiness.

I love you.

more tv

OK, fans of The Office, apparently there is a "Michael Scott's Valentine's Day mix" on iTunes! Someone who goes to iTunes please check it out and let me know how funny it must be (I have no speakers on my computer!)

Also, zabs and other fans of Love Monkey, the show has been put on hiatus and may not return. Eight episodes were ordered and only five aired, with no new episodes being ordered. I just read that there is no scheduled time for its return, although the recently merged WB and UPN? network CW is considering it. CW will launch in the fall.

LOST and Grey

Ok, just a little tv talk here. I was probably the only one of millions of people completely disappointed with the Grey's Anatomy superbowl 2 part episode. I really like the show and usually find it to be a refreshing drama--realistic, not overdone like ER with the massive explosions, helicopter crashes and gunman in the ER each week. But the Superbowl episodes really disappointed me.

First of all, it was crazy enough having a guy with an explosive inside of him that had not yet detonated. I actually thought they found something pretty creative there, and having Christina Ricci guest star was cool too. Then Bailey went into labor and that was definitely exciting, especially with them trying to figure out what to do with the bomb guy. But from there it just kept getting more and more unrealistic. I know with the Superbowl they wanted to pull out all the stops, but my goodness! First Bailey's husband gets in a terrible accident on the way to the hospital, then suddenly it is Meredith with her hand in the guy. then Bailey is refusing to push, then as if that isnt enough, the older fella has the heart attack. And if that werent enough, we have the ridiculous "McDream" with McDreamy helping her thru the life threatening surgery. Too much cheese for me. I felt as though I was watching ER give birth to the next generation, and to me that was a tragedy. Please, Grey writers! Go back to the old formula! Dont look at the big numbers this past week and think you need to resort to bloated storylines to have a great show! It is already a great show, leave it alone!


Another great show that I love to watch is LOST. I have been reading some message boards lately about where things are heading and I am pretty impressed with some of the theories and speculations. One theory I loved was formed this past episode, with Sawyer gaining control of the guns. A number of people think AnaLucia was working with Sawyer in the con, and although it never occured to me while watching it, it totally makes sense now. How did Sawyer know about the plan for training an army? It doesnt appear anyone else knows about the plan, and surely Kate would have been included. Also, the menacing look AL gave when she turned to look towards Kate after Sun's attack. At first it seems to be out of anger about Kate's accusations of AL being Sun's attacker. But what if it was actually a "dont mess with me" because she was about to get the guns and she knew it? I like this idea and Im going with it until it is proven wrong. But they are definitely putting two sides against eachother, and it will be interesting to see who ends up where.

well, have to work on my SPT post...but let me know what you guys think about these two great shows!

FOUR

Andrea at hulaseventy has a great meme up right now that she left open to anyone wanting to be tagged. Being the meme lover that I am, I hopped right over to my blog and started my lists.

four jobs I’ve had:

*cashier at Abby's Pizza, Walla Walla, WA~I believe the protocol for being a cashier at Abby's was big hair. Only rocker chics were hired to work the register/stock the salad bar in the late 80's. I find this quite funny now because the uniforms were these pink aprons with a big skirt that had a puffy white collar shirt under them. It also came with a nurse style cap we would delicately attach behind our claw bangs.

*day care worker, Walla Walla and Cincinnati, OH~It amazes me I've held this job twice in my life, because I am not one of those people who love children. I love my own...but then even they irritate me on occasion. I should say, however, that both times I lasted at this job only a couple of months.

*booking agent/sound tech for Mars ILL, Indianapolis, IN~such an interesting placement for me because I had no experience whatsoever in booking or sound. But with Campus Crusade you are given a full time job where they need you if you dont have kids. And since my husband was in the group, it made sense for me to travel with him rather than with some other group. I didnt like this job, too much pressure getting the sound right (just memorizing which little tab to set the levels at doesnt quite work :) but I did enjoy traveling around the country and overseas with my husband. Little did I know I would later treasure those memories.

*assistant actor's agent at one of the top talent agencies in Atlanta, GA~ wow! what can i say about this one! (eyes shift back and forth wondering who might read this...) if my only job at the agency had been pulling headshots and booking actors I would have loved this. Actors and models are such interesting people, and the whole process of auditions, call backs and bookings is fascinating. I have always wanted to work in the entertainment industry and this helped to fulfill that desire. We booked actors on numerous films (Remember the Titans, The Gift, Cold Mountain, the Patriot) and for tv (Dawson's Creek, The Shield) as well as for independent films, commercials, voice over, and print. I loved it and I hated it (very high pressure) but it was probably the only job I like to admit I held!


four movies I can watch over and over:

*Say Anything (what can I say? One of the best of all time.)
*Bottlerocket (or any Wes Anderson film. Definitely my favorite writer/director)
*The Breakfast Club (classic)
*What About Bob (guilty pleasure on a Saturday afternoon)
**** and for my sappy love story epic....Legends of the Fall. Brad was beautiful, the story was heart wrenching, Im a sucker for lost loves. .. Just what they were hoping for in their audience.

four places I’ve lived:

*Walla Walla, WA~ "the town so nice they named it twice!" Yes, this is where I was born and raised, sowed my VERY wild oats, and the place I left never to return. (Except once a year to visit my mom and dad.)

*La Crescenta, CA~just north of LA near Pasadena and Glendale, I spent 11th grade ripped out of my natural habitat and plunked down in a culture I never knew existed. If the circumstances had been different it would have been an amazing experience. Unfortunately it was not. I did, however, make a wonderful friend whom I am still in touch with to this day, and I got to date a couple of surfer dudes.

*Rimrock, WA~ I spent six months (July-December 1992) living in the mountains at a retreat center called Ghormley Meadow. I had attended church camp there during high school, and when I decided my life was heading in the wrong direction I applied for a camp counselor position for a week of elementary kids camp. I then stayed on the following week, and the following week, and then joined the kitchen staff. At the end of the summer I asked if I could stay on longer and I ran the kitchen thru the fall and winter. No tv, no radio (except cd's or tapes) and only two phones. There were two married couples and 6 singles that worked after summer, and it was an amazing experience. I came to know Christ for real at that camp, and spent lots of time working out who I had been and who I would be when I left.

*Cincinnati, OH~beautiful city where I met my love...the Gap Outlet. No! Just kidding, although there is no Gap Outlet like the one in Cincinnati. But it is the city where I met and fell in love with Nate and it holds so many precious memories. The Wall, Eden Park, summer basketball camps, our first apartment, life on Carraway Lane, the sweet years of love.

four tv shows I love:

*LOST
*The Office
*Seinfeld
*????("love" is a strong word!)


four places I’ve vacationed:

*Molokai, Hawaii~my grandparents owned a condo and lived on Molokai during my younger years so I went over twice with my family. At the time it was one of the least populated islands (have no idea what it is like now.) I remember it being beautiful and very different than anything I had experienced before. I learned to hula (I still remember part of one dance to this day) and I bought a book on learning to speak Pigeon (the natives speak in their own dialect and as a Haole I wanted to learn it.) Many great memories.

*South Africa~vacation/missions trip in 1999. It was a beautiful country, very similar in climate to Southern California. Apartheid had just ended, and let me tell you it was like revisiting the US at the end of the Civil Rights movement. Very educational, very shocking, and very humbling. There were some amazing moments and some very disappointing ones, but I will cherish the opportunity forever.

*Western Caribbean (cruise)~ we cruised for our honeymoon and then once more the week i found out i was pregnant with Lux. If you ever have the opportunity to cruise I highly recommend it. You can get some great deals, and it is like living in luxury!

*Florida~fun times in Miami, Orlando, Key West, and Tampa/Clearwater


four of my favorite foods:

*nachos, piled high
*macaroni and cheese (right now my favorite brand is the Walmart red box)
*vanilla ice cream with caramel topping and sprinkles
*steak, medium well, with fries

four albums I can't live without:

*"ProPain" Mars ILL (May 2nd release date)
*"Unique, Just Like Everyone Else" Deepspace 5
*"The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" Lauryn Hill
*U2's Greatest Hits


four sites I visit almost daily:

*marsill.com (if you like hip hop you should check out Mars ILL)
*tvguide.com (entertainment news)
*spoilerfix.com ( i have a "need to know" problem that encompasses many areas of my life)
*friend's blogs (cant pick or choose because there are many!)


four places I would rather be now:

*the thrift store shopping
*in bed sleeping
*at a spa getting the full treatment including a deep tissue massage
*back in time appreciating quality time with my husband


four items in my purse (bonus round courtesy ofmadness , via marigoldie and hulaseventy

*Rosebud Salve lip gloss
*hand sanitizer
*a cd of pictures I plan to develop someday
*some puff balls my daughter uses for crafts

Zaine at 8 weeks

Ok, well, she isnt quite 8 weeks yet. She will be on Wednesday. But here are a few new photos taken today of "the girls" as they've now been dubbed!

Photo booth Friday

Well I only have a couple of shots in photo booths, although I love them. But I thought I would participate this week because this is a favorite photo of mine. Nate and I circa 1994 or 95, in the early years of love. The picture has been thru a lot, as you can tell by the line down the middle, the odd markings on Nate's face, and the edges (although Nate helped me clean them up.)

TiVo

This has got to be one of the greatest things mankind has ever invented. We got TiVo as a gift to ourselves this Christmas, and I LOVE it. If you dont have TiVo or dont know much about it, you are truly missing out on something grand. Something so amazing that Im not sure you can truly grasp the grandness unless you experience it firsthand. Kind of like being a mother. You can babysit, nanny, and even keep your friend's kids for the weekend, but until you embark on that right of passage for yourself you never truly get the full and complete experience. We had heard of TiVo, and even read about it. Our friends had expounded on the amazing features. But let me tell you, we never realized just what we were missing...until now.

For those of you who know very little about it, TiVo completely enhances your television viewing experience. You can program it to record your favorite television shows every time they come on, weekly, daily, twice a day, what have you. But that;s not all. You can pause, rewind, fast forward and slow motion those shows as you watch them at a later date....AND you can pause, rewind, and slow motion REGULAR TV!!! So if you are in the middle of a program and you decide you need to leave the room to get the baby settled, YOU CAN PAUSE THE PROGRAM! And that's NOT ALL! You can program in the names of your favorite actors, directors, and topics and it will give you alist of the upcoming programs that particular person/topic will be showing on and you can decide which programs you would like to record. AND if it is getting ready to record something for you and you have forgotten...you have forgotten that special show is coming up in just a few moments. You reach for the remote to turn the channel but TiVo REMINDS YOU that you want that program recorded and asks you if you are sticking with that plan or watching something new!

And there are so many other great features, like networking to your computer so you can play all of the music in your iTunes or look at all of your iPhotos on the television, and it allows you to record all of your homevideos onto TiVo and then view them on the tv. All of the videos and all of the recorded programs can then be recorded onto DVD's. IT IS AMAZING! Can I get a witness?!!!

"There's something stinky in Sunny Patch..." ~Lux/Squirt

This was uttered by "Squirt" as she gave her little stster a kiss goodnight and smelled her breath. Now we all know babies hardly have bad breath, I mean all they drink is milk. But from day one Luxie has considered her sister quite "stinky." She thinks her diapers are stinky (and, well, she's right there...) and that her attitude is stinky (she IS crying quite a bit of the time) and well, now her breath is stinky. (I have to say that is part of the reason I found it so funny when Zaine gave her a taste of just how "stinky" she could be when she sneezed!)

To be fair, Squirt (the animated character from the show) did say this first, when he met Stinky the Stink Bug in a recent episode. But I found it so funny that Luxie used it in this instance.