this week's assignment: look at a bug, talk to an emo kid, and sing a cowboy song (karaoke optional).

At the weekly pre-Bible study dinner at the Pikes, Caid and Reid wore uncannily similar shirts!! So of course i had to document it.
Caid was feeling camera shy/resentful and kind of refused to cooperate for a picture. this was the best one i was able to take...which i actually really like just the way it is so it's all okay :)

there were four little blue-grey caterpillars crawling around the wall where the ivy grows...much to Caid's intense fascination...here is a video i took of him...i love how when i ask him what he has, he begins to say "a caterpillar..." but corrects himself and decides he needs to be more specific: "A grey caterpillar".

some awesome emo guys at Chipotle.

i wish you could see their faces...lip and eyebrow piercings scattered evenly between them, the guy on the far right had a cloud of hot pink eyeshadow around each eye (and eyeliner on top of that, of course). i would also like to draw attention to the teal american apparel breifs. Sarah and i were talking about how they were basically just all slightly varying versions of each other. kind of like if you were asked to design a character with the description of "young, emo punk", you would draw these 3 dudes.

Saturday evening found my family celebrating the 25th anniversary of Anna's birth. As the evening winded down we all gathered in Wren's living room and watched a DVD Sarah and i made for her for her 20th birthday. When it was over and we were all sitting there tired from laughing, Caid and Joey began to sing songs together...
(sorry for some of the weird noises on the first one, it's my hand brushing against the input mic. i need to be careful about that...)

Sunday night Jeff and i went to Pataya on Loz Feliz for Thai food. The karaoke there was some of the worst i ever heard (not the singing...the music itself) which just made it amazing.
here is Jeff singing.

and here is jeff showing the guy how to use his karaoke program...the little man who ran the music and played along on the keyboard with every song deserves a mention... after Jeff and i bumbled our way through a few songs and he did a few himself, he came and sat down and we realized that 1-the little man didn't know any of the songs he was playing to and 2-the keyboard wasn't even on. he sat up there and faked accompaniment to every single song, sometimes playing completely off-beat and occassionally stopping and waving to people walking in...right in the middle of a track.
it made me so happy.

oh, here is a video of Cam and Reid from last week (see below)...

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Jasmine is blooming everywhere...
and flowering trees...magnolias, lemons, plums, crepe myrtles, oranges, tababoulias...everything smells good.

last week was rough...but God showed me a LOT about Himself throughout it. i learned about how much fear i harbor (i didn't think i could possibly have needed to know more about that), how fragile i am (again...i thought i had that covered), and how much i need my brothers and sisters in Christ to keep me straight and accountable.

yesterday, Sunday, was one of the most beautiful days ( i think) that we've had this year. it rained early in the morning, leaving the skies clear, clean and full of magnificent deep, thick clouds in brilliant contrasts of light and dark. the sun shone most of the day, but a chill breeze blew as well, making scarves and jackets a necessity.
though, for a few hours in the afternoon i refused my sweater... content to let my arms soak in all the different warms, cools and breezes in the air.

after church the whole clan went to lunch at pei wei, including anna, the meyers, even dave came and met us, fresh from SLO.
gwen discovered she loved a tube of lip gloss i had in my purse.

afterward mom wanted to see jeff's house and the work he was doing on it, so while the two of them talked home improvement, i sat on wren's front lawn (as they are next door to each other) and enjoyed the previously lauded weather. i was joined on and off by sarah and alec, and at one point, reid and cam--who enjoyed a bit of tag and wrestling.















i hung out around there most of the afternoon...eventually getting coffee with wren, anna, robin and my mom. then we went and bugged jeff, who had just laid down on his couch for a nap.

in the evening i stuck around with jeff and mom took my car home. we decided to go to Whole Foods to get dinner supplies, deciding we wanted to create a vast array of delectable delights to graze from. we were there for the better part of an hour choosing cheeses, fruit (apples and cantaloupe), prosciutto, salame, olives, bread, crackers, chocolate, tea...and a nice bottle of something that, once empty, could hold a bunch of jasmine. after a long, store-wide search, we were left with 2 obvious choices: a really pretty blue sake bottle, and a rad beer bottle with an owl on it...we decided to go with the sake.
we also went by bed bath & beyond because jeff needed wine glasses. he also bought a new trashcan. he was super excited about it.

once back at his place, we prepared the food and listened to the Sweet Hurt whilst doing so. i spent most of the time wrapping the prosciutto around the melon. wren and cam came by and sampled a few things. cam also spent a good amount of time perfecting his form sliding across jeff's still empty new hardwood floors.

once jeff finished the sake i went outside and shivered as i clipped a bunch of jasmine from his vine. around 9:30 jordan came over with a few more things, we did pushups, and then sat down to enjoy our spectacular array of food while watching james bond.
how do i know it was an awesome evening?

because i forgot to take even ONE single picture.

~~~

Lord i feel inadequate awkward weak and unable to stand up

i can't wrap my head around what You are presenting
i don't know what You want me to do right now

please strengthen me

~

You know, some things in life may not be ideal to me. But blessings abound.

i like that i work in a situation where i can take a lunch break and go sit in a beautiful yard on a beautiful day.

and where Pip can do handstands in the driveway.

and sometimes...

stupid stupid knee

i stopped running a year ago because i messed up my knee. on & off over  the last few months i've gone out for a light run and come back disappointed. recently, feeling like trying again i went out and bought new running shoes. they're super awesome. so today, feeling restless, and needing some alone time, not to mention it was a gorgeous day, i decided i would take the first run i've had in a long while. so i put on my new shoes (which are black, and light as a feather) secured my knee brace, and went out the door.

a few minutes into it, i thought to myself "oh man, this isn't bad at all, i may have to take a couple of walk breaks, but this is great! i'm gonna be fine!"
i was in store for a very humbling experience.

after about 15 minutes my knee was hurting so badly i had to walk the rest of the 3 miles. i got angry every time i tried to quicken my steps and my whole leg protested. my pride bubbled as people jogged past me. and despite my fast walking pace, i began to get cold as evening fell around me.
all in all...i was a very discontent figure making my way around the rose bowl.

i got home and put ice on my knee, and it's still there as i type this.
i'm very sincerely praying that this isn't going to be something that will always keep me from running...because i think i would be kind of heartbroken. i miss it so.
oh sigh.

but WOW it was a beautiful afternoon.

~~~

number 600

welcome to post 600! not much else to say about that...just the acknowledgement of a nice, round number.
I am currently putting off working on an orthographic of an express train. these days life for me revolves around being so so grateful to have a job, to be working doing something even REMOTELY creative...but also wishing i had some time to paint, draw, and sing and go running and see people...but that's just where things are. i know the Lord probably has all kinds of things getting ready to drop into my relatively stable existence, so for now i'll enjoy being able to pay off my student loans :)
Really, though, life outside of the studio has been pretty rad.
There has been an influx of awesome people i know moving to (or back to) the Pasadena area...i'm really enjoying even the small amount of time i get to work on my own art endeavors...and it's been raining this week so the weather outside is AMAZING. all very good things.

Jordan teaching Jeff "cribbage"...

Jordan, Evan, and Alec have a nightly push-up bonding time at 9:36. they call each other pretty much wherever they are and stop and do 2 sets of 25 pushups. last week Jordan pulled over and stopped in a gas station to do his. after Bible study last week the 3 of them and my dad ran into the Meyers' backyard and went for it...

oh yeah, and they take their shirts off.

karaoke at the Miyako hotel last Friday night...Amy is singing her every popular rendition of "My Heart Will Go On". Jeff and i make her do it almost every time we go.

i took this picture of cam, reid, mikey and ethan after church on sunday. i remember when each of these guys was a little boy. now all teenagers, it's a total trip seeing them acting more and more like young men...(some of the time)... it's amazing and scary. will i ever get used to how fast life is flying by??
do i want to?



well, i just found out that a project i spent a good half a day on last week was lost somehow...so i need to get on that. X(

Psalm 103 is amazing. i'm trying to memorize it...and it helps me fall asleep at night...running it through my mind instead of thinking about my insecurities or what i didn't get finished during the day.

~~~