This weekend/Superbowl Sunday.

I am seriously enjoying my weekend. I just want to throw that out there. Last night, we went out with Doug and Tracie for dinner. It was so much fun! Tracie and I have been friends since we were toddlers and it has been such a blessing to reconnect with her and get to know her new husband, Doug. We went to a place called the Gogi House and it is such a cool restaurant! They bring you your marinated meat and its raw and you cook it on a BBQ at your table! It was SO GOOD! Then they came over to our apartment for beer and hookah. I can't wait to get together with them again!

Today, we have been relaxing. We took Gracie to the dog park and had lunch with my mom and dad and I am really excited to hang out at Nicole and Dan's new apartment tonight! They just moved in down the street from us and their apartment is so cute!

Now, let me move to the most depressing part of the weekend: THE SUPERBOWL.

I HATE the superbowl. HATE HATE HATE!!!!! I don't care about whose playing. I'm not sitting through 15 minutes of torture just so I can watch the commercials when they are all available online. And this year is going to be the worst because Bruce Springsteen is performing in the half time show (the only part of the bowl I even remotely liked). I can't stand "The Boss." Maybe that makes me lame or uncool or whatever, but he isn't that good. His songs are boring. So, good luck to both teams. I won't be watching!

Uneventful.

I haven't been blogging the past few weeks, and I just wanted to let everyone (all 5 people that read my blog!) know that I am still alive. The truth is, my life has been rather uneventful over the past week or so... I have had jury duty all this week and I really don't feel like writing about THAT experience!

I will be back and blogging next weekend after I get home from Nate and Allie's Tahoe wedding! :)


S

Blessings.

I have felt so blessed by the people in my life this past week. I just wanted to put that out there. I have been able to spend time with so many different people that all mean a lot to me! Last Monday, I hung out with Kelly to watch our show and talk! I always enjoy spending time with her! On Thursday, we got to have dinner with Bob and Annalisa. I don't get to see them much, but we laughed a lot and had a great time. On Friday, Nicole and Dan went with us to go beer tasting at Bevmo and then they came over for dinner. We laughed and talked for hours and I was reminded of how grateful I am to have them back in my life! On Saturday, Fish and Lizzy drove up from Anaheim and Lizzy, Kelly, Nicole, and I went to the movies to see "Bride Wars." It was pretty funny, but we all just had such a good time! I love all those girls! Then we went to dinner with Fish and Lizzy and hung out at our place with them and Lizzy and I talked for a really long time.

It has been a while since I have felt this blessed by my friends. Its not anything that they did in particular to bless me, but I completely enjoyed the company of all of them. It made me understand that verse in Proverbs that says, "... a sweet friendship refreshes the soul."

I can honestly say that my soul has been refreshed this past week!

7 Months!!

Gordon and I have been married 7 months today, and they have been the best of my life. We don't celebrate each passing month, but I always try to take minute to reflect on it. Being married is so amazing and it has really made me realize that I was an incomplete person before. Gordon is my other half and my best friend and the most hilarious person I have ever met!


S

Thanks, Disneyland.

A while back, Gordon received a form saying that someone was suing Disneyland for not giving their employees proper breaks. In order to get a cut of the settlement, he had to fill out a form with his name and address and stuff. We were unsure if anything would ever come of it, but he decided that he might as well fill it out anyway. Well, months passed by and we didn't receive anything, but the other day Gordon got a check in the mail for several hundred dollars! YAY! Thank you, Disneyland!

We decided that since we didn't end up going to Vegas, we would go away to the beach for a night. So on Friday I picked up some good champagne and bourbon (Knob Creek for Gordon. I personally do not like bourbon). We got a room right on the beach with a view of the Channel Islands Harbor. The balcony of our room was SO close to the water that we could literally toss a rock into the water! We at dinner at the Aloha Steakhouse in Ventura. It was delicious! It was so nice to get away for the night. We were supposed to go Whale Watching on Saturday morning, but because of the wind, our trip was canceled. It was a bummer, but we will definitely go another time! I think that being able to go on vacations alone together is my favorite part of being married! The novelty has not worn off! It was relaxing weekend!

The nighttime view from our room

happy to be there!

The hotel room was super classy

Throwing rocks into the harbor!

Champagne on the patio

The delicious Aloha Steakhouse!

The beach is in the background somewhere

How cute is he?

Nice view!

This is us being sad because whale watching was canceled.

Daytime view from our room

Right before we left!

We will definitely go back!


S

2009

I am not a believer in New Year's resolutions. As Ben Gibbard would say, "They're self-assigned penance for problems with easy solutions."
I do however, have a vision for what I would like God to do in my life over the next year. 2008 was a big year for me and I believe 2009 will be even bigger. Here are some things I desire for 2009:

-That God would give me a more tender heart towards people. This has always been my biggest struggle. I have a low tolerance for the annoying things people do. I do not show much grace to others and I would love to be a kinder person. I want to try and be more understanding of people. God has been working on me in this area for the past year, and I have grown tremendously, but I would love to grow even more.

-That Gordon and I would grow together as a couple. I want us to have a solid marriage that is Christ-centered and a good foundation for our future children.

-That we would get a handle on our finances. I think that we are actually pretty good about managing our money, but we are taking a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University course through our church and I think it is going to help us in huge ways.

-That I would find the right career. I would like to have a career before I have children. I feel like I have been having a hard time finding a job that I can make a career. I want God to direct me to the right company.

-That Gordon and I would know where to go this year. We are seriously considering moving to Orange County, but I just want to make sure that this is the right place for us.

-That I would find a good girl friend. This is one of my biggest desires. I have a lot of okay friends. There are very few people in my life that I would consider to be my good friends. Most of the friendships I have are on the somewhat shallow level. I would love to have a deeper friendship. I am just praying that God would bring that person into my life or show me someone I already know in a new light.


So those are my desires for 2009. I hope that at the end of this year that God will havegrown me into a more mature and Christ-like woman and wife.


S

A Picture recap of 2008!

Wow! This is my first post of 2009! Happy New Year (A little late)! I think that 2009 is going to be a really good year. I am going to post more about it in a while, but for now I would like to recap my 2008 year....

January wasn't too eventful. I spent time working and planning the wedding. In February, Gordon bought us tickets to go see Explosions in the Sky (one of my favorite bands) for Valentines day!


In March, the bridal showers began! March, April, and May were all characterized by lots of bridal showers! I had so much fun at all of my showers! I had three of them. They were thrown by Kelly, Jamie and Missy, and Lizzy and Gabi. I will always look back on them with really fond memories!

Oh, and there were SO many presents!!!!

Some of the girls at my lingere shower in May


May was a really great month! I got my Bachelor's Degree from Biola University! I majored in Communication and minored in Bible. I graduated a year early, so I was pretty proud of myself and my accomplishment!

To celebrate graduation, my parents took our family out to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It was delicious!!

Several days after graduation, my amazing friends threw me the best bachelorette party! It was so much fun!!!


June was probably the best month of 2008 because I committed myself to spending my life with my best friend! My wedding day truly was the best day of my entire life!
My dad was so cute. He was trying not to cry :)
I loved this picture. Look at Gordon's face. It makes me happy.

The ceremony
The Kiss

We did it!!
Our first dance as husband and wife

They tried to get everyone in the picture... which is hard when you have 225 people there.

Cutting the cake
Our cute getaway car!

This would normally be the spot where I talk about our honeymoon, but I forgot to bring my camera and didn't take any pictures.... but we had a great time!

When July rolled around, we spent the 4th BBQ-ing, playing games, and watching fireworks with friends!

Also in July, Gordon and I got Tattoos. I got his initials on my wrist....

And he got my name on his arm.
We also went hiking at Mt. Baldy
In August, we went up to Hume Lake with my family and rode around in the golf cart!

Hume was a great trip because for the first time in 31 years, my dad's team won the volleyball tournament!

I spent the summer evenings with my sister-in-law and we were addicted to SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Dance)! We even had a party for the finale!!

In September, we returned to the cabin for a weekend with our couple friends! It was a really fun trip!
Gracie came along, too!

Also in September was my cousin, Meg's Bachelorette party! We went to Tokyo Delve's in Hollywood!

Her wedding was a couple weeks later on the beach in Santa Barbara. She looked GORGEOUS!

In October, We made our annual trip to Knott's Scary Farm (where we had our first date!) and it was a blast!
All of our friends came with!

November kicked off with a trip to see Wicked with my mom! It was our birthday present to each other (Our birthdays are a few days apart, so we bought each other's tickets!)

Then we kicked off my 21st birthday with a Pub Crawl with all of my friends! It was a blast! Even Allie came up from San Diego!
We ended the night at TGI Fridays!
It was so great to have all my friends with me for my birthday!
December was our first Christmas as a married couple and a great way to end the year!

This year has been a great one! I can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for me and Gordon! There are some changes ahead in our life and I am excited to see where God takes us! I learned a whole lot about godliness, marriage, friendship, and love and I pray that I learn even more this year!

S