Dear little brother, on your 22nd birthday:

So, we don't really hang out or anything anymore.

But I remember when we used to be best friends. Rollerblading up and down the sidewalk, biking around the block to see if we could get away with it. Panning for gold in the driveway. (Boy was that stupid.) Watching Dad build us a two story playhouse, and then spending all day every day playing house in it. I would make you go fetch berries and leaves for our dinner while I swept the floor and "washed" the dishes. Playing countless games of Marco Polo in the pool, or throwing the sinking sticks closer and closer to the 9 foot mark to see who was gutsy enough to dive down that far. Throwing things over the fence into the neighbor's yard and then hiding when their stupid dog started barking. Going over to Melissa and Eric's every night they were visiting their grandmother across the street, and playing our made-up hide and seek version... complete with Eric's stupid poking stick that he'd jab into suspicious hiding spots until we yelled.

Anyway, you're 22 now and that's pretty old. And I kind of feel bad that I really don't have many memories of you from the last ten years or so. I kind of remember you were starting to get annoying around age 12. And I remember telling you that I wasn't speaking to you ever again until you apologized for whatever you'd done to me. We went a whole two weeks like that, until you finally begged me to talk to you again. Sorry about that- I was kind of a brat back then. And I'm sure you were, too, but I should have been a better big sister about it.

Anyway, that's really the last thing I remember about you being young. Because then you opted to go to public school, and for the first time we weren't all together in one place every day. I kind of remember dropping you off at Granite Hills on my way to college classes, but they were pretty quiet four minute trips.

So it kind of sucks that we don't have much of a relationship anymore. Hopefully we can change that in the years to come. I feel pretty optimistic after our little conversation texts today, since you usually ignore my texts or calls. Must have been a sucky birthday for you to keep texting with me for half an hour. But I'm kind of glad you had the time.

Now can you please just tell me what you would like as a present?

Love, your big sis.

(Oh, yeah. Rockin' the highlighter colors in the late 80's.)

This is it. For realsies.

I skipped small group.

I skipped running errands.

I've got no roommates at home.

I've got no TV or Netflixed DVD to distract.

I've got a full bag of pretzels.

I've got unlimited caffeine free coke, ice cream, and cookie dough.

I've given myself an hour to get psyched.

In that hour, I will watch the newest episode of NCIS and consume this wonderful treat I just pulled out of the oven and freezer:

(Oh, yeah. That's a freakin' homemade pizookie.)

And then I will write. At the kitchen table. For as long as it takes.

Until 5,000 words are written. Or until this scene is finished.

And then I will go to sleep, wake up early (for me), and try it again.

Peace out.

Wild Saturday night parties

(Disclaimer: Pictures to come.)

Okay. Saturday.

Saturday was the day Jenna had planned for the return of a friend from college. She'd made plans for a bunch of us to go to Family Fun Center for miniature golf, then out to dinner, then back to another friend's house for hanging out in the jacuzzi. I was totally down for it.

But then Jen and Justin invited Jesse and me over for dinner and video game night at the Aubrey's house, where they were housesitting over the weekend. How could I pass up two nights in a row hanging out with some of my best and oldest friends, in the very place where most of our younger antics took place?

So I came up with a plan.

I would hang out with the college crowd for half hour to an hour. Enough time to say hi to Jon Hawk, take some fun pictures, watch a couple holes of mini golf. Then I'd go to the Aubrey's for a scrumptious dinner and night of kicking Justin and Jesse's butts at Halo! And then, when the college crowd finished dinner, they'd call me up with directions to Russ' house for the jacuzzi part of this shindig.

My plan first began falling apart when the three guys came back from the mini golf window with four putters. So then I felt like I had to play, since I wasn't paying for it. Clearly fate wanted me in this game of mini golf. But it ended up being way fun, especially when Jenna suggested a guys vs. girls contest, losers paying for the winners' desserts. Oh, Jenn-ay. I never did ask her and Jen what they had to buy the guys after dinner.

I showed up an hour and a half late to the Aubrey's, but they were just starting to dig in for dinner anyway. Jen had made the best spaghetti I've had in my life; her secret was using spicy pork from the 700 pound boar Kayla shot last year. (Just one of many reasons I miss hanging out with the Deyling family.) That spaghetti, paired with Justin's Famous Salad, some amazing garlic bread, and a case of Smirnoff Ice, was just the perfect meal after two hours in the sun playing mini golf.

After dinner, Jesse and Justin proceeded to kick my behind in Halo, despite the fact that they haven't played for a couple years and I've been practicing regularly on Ryan, Andy, and Chris. I think I'm officially giving up ever beating them at that game. It's just time.

Kayla stopped by and we broke out the Rock Band, while Jen took my camera around snapping band pictures and photos of the dogs running around (Jen and Justin's three, and the Aubrey's two). For once I can actually say I enjoyed playing Rock Band for an hour straight.

By then it was eleven thirty; I was beginning to think the other group had forgotten to send me instructions on the next meeting place. But then Adam called with directions and I said adios to the high school gang and headed up to College Ave for some jacuzzi time.

Oh, boy, did we jacuzzi it up.

We got in at around midnight. At one a.m., we did a quick contest on who had the wrinkliest feet. At two a.m. we discussed our least favorite professors from college. At three a.m. we confessed our best getting-pulled-over stories. (I think Jon wins that one for the cop who told him he'd pulled over Jon's mother just half an hour before him.) At four a.m. Adam finally decided he had to get up in three hours for church, and the rest of us followed suit.

So that was my Saturday night. Slash Sunday morning. I was close to convincing Jenna to stay up for the sunset, since she's been wanting to wake up early and climb a hill near our house to watch it. She was all willing for awhile, but sleep took her right after we got home. Oh well. By the time I fell asleep, the sun had already started pushing light through my window.

I consider that staying up for the sunrise.

Has anybody seen my clothes?

I did some laundry over the weekend. I meant to actually take my stuff out of the dryer sometime Sunday night, but instead I went to bed early. And then it was Monday, and nothing ever gets done on Monday if you're me. So today, Tuesday, as soon as I got home from work, I rushed to get some things done before meeting Ryan for Coffee Shop Tuesday.

I made a quick dinner.

I washed the cookie sheet I'd used the night before.

I washed everyone else's dishes in the sink. (I am such an awesome roommate.)

I went out to get my laundry.

...

No laundry.

Not even another roommate's laundry in the dryer and my laundry on top. Absolutely nothing.

Okay. So maybe someone threw it in their basket to drop off in my room.

Went up to my room. Nothing on my bed. Nothing on the floor.

Went to the other room. Laundry baskets galore! Chalk full of clothes! Surely my laundry must be here.

Nope. I searched everyone's laundry baskets. Then I searched the floor. Then I went back downstairs and looked in the dryer again, just in case my laundry was playing some dirty trick on me.

Did I mention that this particular batch of laundry had my sheets and pillowcases? My bed is so lonely looking.

Grumpy Bear is not happy about this current situation:

Dear readers, particularly of the roommate persuasion: If you have any knowledge of the whereabouts of a pile of laundry and bedsheets, please let me know. Or at least tell Grumpy Bear. He lives upstairs in the southside room, on the bed currently devoid of color.

thesmallblondeone's tips for post-grad living #1

You know the day's been a success when you get home from it at 5 a.m. the next day.

Details to follow....

Beautiful Friends

And, yes, I realize that three out of four of our guests tonight were male, but I stick to my description of beautiful for them.

Tonight we had the old gang over. Well, part of it. But definitely some of my favorites. ; )

Jen and Justin and I came up with tonight as an impromptu hangout night after home group Wednesday evening (which went very well, thank you for wondering). We invited Jesse yesterday. And Ryan (who technically would be considered in the new group of friends) is always over here anyway. Or we're over there.

Okay, we're usually over there.

It's because he has all the fun stuff at his apartment.

At our little shindig tonight, there was much talking, much laughing, much playing Mafia Wars on Facebook, and much laughing at How I Met Your Mother.

Jesse had not yet seen How I Met Your Mother. We felt it was a good night to drag him into a new addiction.
Guess what? He loved it. Of course.

There was also some intense calligraphy/handwriting of names onto plain sheets of paper, and then modeling against our awful green wall for a special project I'm working on. I can't disclose the details just yet, but it's definitely fun, and so far everyone's been a good sport about it.

We thought of taping a smaller piece of paper with 'Zoey' written on it to Jen's belly, but we ended up forgetting. Darn. That would have been cute.

I love these friends sooooooo much. Whenever we get together, there's just so much conversation going on, and people trying to talk over each other, and great memories being remembered, and little fun (yet passionate) arguments that break out here and there... it's just like old times.

I love the old times. Hanging out with this guy practically every day from age sixteen to twenty-one:

He's such a nerd. Oh, sorry- geek. I was told tonight that there is a difference. A nerd is, according to Justin, a derogatory term meant for Save by the Bell dorks with tape on the their glasses. Geek is reserved for those who are technologically-minded and enjoy sci fi movies and video games to an exceedingly ridiculous amount.

Eh. He's still a nerd.

Wednesday

Umm... I haven't written anything in a few days.

Sorry.

And a lot's been going on. Like unfreezing my spending freeze (oh, geez). And five consecutive nights of really weird dreams. And a picture trip to Balboa Park. And Earth Day. And finding my first cache.

I just haven't had time to write about it. Or upload the pictures from it, as the case may be.

But instead of recapping all these things, I thought I'd post a playlist of some favorite songs instead:

Being around Ryan and the OSF so much lately has inspired me to be more intentional with the music I listen to. Usually I just happen to stumble upon music and think, "Hey. I like that." And then maybe I add it to my online playlist, or see if Brittany has it on her laptop. Or I forget about it the next day. Or more likely, I realize it's a song from one of my favorite artists and I just didn't know it, because I'm terrible at associating songs with their singers. (Dizzy up the Girl, anyone? Didn't know that almost all my favorite songs were on that CD. Or that they were sung my the Goo Goo Dolls.)

So I'm going to try to come up with a playlist each month, made up of a collection of songs, some old, some new, but just some that I've heard over the month and I liked, and maybe want to research the artist a little bit more.

So that's that. Now I need to finish up some stuff before heading over to the Labahn's house. I'm trying out a new home group tonight. Well, it's technically not new, since I was part of that group a few years ago when it was made up of different people. But a lot of my friends from church go to this Wednesday night one, so I'm looking forward to hanging out with the old gang again, and hopefully feeling all homey at this home group. :)

Geocaching

The OSF and I embarked on a geocache adventure Tuesday night after Coffee Shop Tuesday. We made two stops, both of which Chris and Ryan had found before. One was hidden in a fake sprinkler in an island in the middle of the street, and the other was an Altoid box stuck to the bottom of the Cutter's Point mailboxes.

I've decided geocaching is muy fun.

And Sonia was telling me she and Paul wanted to start going on adventures too, so we decided we should go out and explore around camp some weekend over the summer, since no one will be out there to see a group of us searching around anyway. Definitely looking forward to spending some summery days treasure hunting out in the hot dust of Jamul. :)

It's...

Summer time!

Finally!

I LOVE SUMMER TIME SO MUCH THAT THIS DECLARATION GETS OBNOXIOUS CAPITAL LETTERS!

Today was GREAT. I slept in/lounged in bed as late as I wanted to without feeling guilty. Then I went out to the pool to read my newest Karen Kingsbury book in the perfect sunshine, while also starting on this summer's tan. (My goal this summer is to be as brown as Sonia and I were when we lifeguarded summer 2004. That was the best tan EVER.) I talked with some of the apartment kids who came out to swim, including one little girl dressed all in pink who thought it was the coolest thing that I also had a pink cell phone and pink keychain. I just love little kids. :)

While I was reading, I came up with new ideas for my story, specifically a great plotline to tie two characters together later on. I love it when things like that click. I also discovered how to physically characterize all my blue-eyed characters. Because in a story where most of my characters are either blondes or redheads, a good portion of them come out with blue eyes. So as I was daydreaming out in the sun, I realized that Character J has fierce blue eyes (cuz she's got a fiery personality), while Character A has warm blue eyes that sometimes show a little green (because she's got a lot of compassion, but is also very passionate about certain things), and Character T has piercing blue eyes (because he's pretty intuitive. And he's hot.)

Sorry if that makes no sense to anyone else. It was a great revelation to me. :)

Then I really, really wanted to go running. Even though I thought I hated running. But it was so beautiful, and just starting to cool down a bit, with a nice breeze blowing, so I went back inside, yelled hi to Jenna studying at the kitchen table, laced up the sneaks, and took off.

It was glorious.

And apparently my only problem with running is that I don't like doing it when it's cold. Go figure. It's just so much more interesting when it's all warm outside and you can run in your bathing suit, tank top, and soccer shorts. And then when you have to pause and walk off a cramp or something, it's still just a beautiful stroll on a gorgeous day.

Oh, and I've also discovered I love running in the middle of the street. I think it's a throwback to the days when my mom wouldn't let us cross our own street until we were like eleven. (Ha. Take that, Mom.)

I had mapped out a 1 mile route from our apartment, one that didn't involve going down the specific scary street that always makes me feel like I'm going to get thrown in the back of a van or get my ipod stolen by a fourteen-year-old with a knife. (You scoff, Brian Reames, but it's freaky being a girl and seeing their eyes follow you as you go by. Or hearing cars slow down and glide along the curb next to you. Ew. It's giving me the creeps right now.)

Anyway, as I was running in the street outside the cute little junior high, I decided since I was practically there, I'd add an extra half mile and go up to the spot where we went geocaching after Jenna's birthday party. We didn't find anything that night, but it was dark, and we were depending on flashlights. So I figured maybe I'd go by and see if I could find the cache.

And I totally found it. All by myself.

No, not really. I looked in the bushes for a couple minutes for that camo bag, but nothing stood out from all the leaves and dirt. That camo is good. Oh, but I did see a baby bat hiding in the brush.

No, not really. But I just realized my day probably wasn't really all that exciting to anyone else, so I've got to spice it up somehow. Just trying to keep you guys on your toes.

I came home and Jenna demonstrated some yoga moves she learned at a class she took at the gym. I'm intrigued with yoga now. We decided to get our hands on a yoga DVD for the roommates to exercise in the living room. Sonia, Mandy, and I used to do that back at the old Cobblestone Apt. #11. It was one of our first roommate bonding moments. And then we'd have anorexic popsicles afterward.

Anyway, Jenna decided she wanted to go study at Starbucks, and lucky for me, it was one of those times when she wanted a buddy. (Jenna distracts herself too easily when she studies, so sometimes she has to go alone.) Starbucks was closing in an hour, so we went to Cosmos instead (yay!) and snagged the couch facing the street ouside, which was all lit up in pretty La Mesa Blvd. fashion. A guy was performing that night, but otherwise there were very few people there, so we got a lot done.

We took a trip to Wal-Mart to get me a new cooler for the start of soccer season. While we were there, Jenna lamented how sometimes she just wants to buy things for the sake of buying things, because she hasn't bought anything for a long time. And then she commented on how practical I was with my money and how I never let the temptation to buy unnecessary things overcome me.

Worst. Jinx. Ever.

Because then we walked through the clothes section. And I saw they'd replenished the rack where I'd bought this really cute and great fitting shirt a few weeks ago. And now there were MORE!

And I ended up breaking my no-spend pledge.

Curse you, Jenn-ay, and your terrible jinx.

After that, we came home, made cookies, and got back to work at the kitchen table. And then on Facebook I got an offer from one of my aviation buddies to go flying sometime. He suggested tomorrow morning, but I'm going to need a little more time to get used to the idea. I've never flown before, after all. And I don't like heights. Or small, cramped spaces. All of which pose a problem for flying.

But this is the year for fun and risk-taking, right?

(Now that I'm done with it, I realize this is the longest. post. ever. And it's pretty irrelevant to anything. I blame the endorphins from running and being out in the sun. Exercise makes me talk really, really fast about random things. Hmmm... maybe I should save that for my next confession.)

Not A Movie Night

I had no plans Friday night.

And as usual, when this happens, I came up with a list of productive things to do on a night alone, which included (but was not limited to) doing laundry, cleaning up my room cleaning up the house in general, and possibly dabbling in some paper scrapbooking, which I haven't gotten around to for a long time.

And of course as soon I settled into this idea, Brian texted, wanting to do something that night.

So I said sure. Because it's Friday night and all, and really, my plans were pathetic for a Friday night.

But no one else responded to Brian's text, so it was up to me to round up the usual suspects. In the end, we decided on a late movie night with the roommates, Aaron/Metro, Brian, Ryan, and Mandy. And possibly the OSF.

When Mandy got there, she and I huddled in the kitchen for girl talk (engagement story talk) and cookie baking, while Brian and Aaron chatted up computers and guitars. Then Jen and Jenna came home, and the night turned junior high style- guys in one room, girls in the other. Which was fine, because we're mostly all camp people, and camp people know how to talk. (Because there's nothing else to do during free time at camp other than sleep.) Then the OSF showed up instead of Ryan, and Mandy grilled him for about forty-five minutes (not an exaggeration), since he was the only person she didn't know yet. (Mandy quote: I just want to know people!) Luckily, Chris took it better than most people, answering all of Mandy's questions (which included (but were not limited to) age, career, schooling, parental background, living situation, hobbies, and nationality), and I'm pretty sure the OSF wasn't completely scared away from ever coming to our apartment again.

Around 11:30, with three different conversations going on around the living room, and an empty cookie plate, we came to the conclusion that our Late Night Movie Night had in fact turned into Not A Movie Night.

But you know what? I kind of liked it better this way.

Happy Friendiversary!

Happy friendiversary to Ryan!

Today marks the beginning of our third year of friendship. It's crazy to think I've only known him for two years, because most of my closest friends have been around for at least ten years. That Ryan. He's just able to sneak in like that and make you forget you haven't even known him that long.

To commemorate the second friendiversary, we took pictures of ourselves looking at pictures of ourselves.

Sounds confusing, doesn't it?

And, I guess technically we didn't take the pictures; that shady-looking guy in yesterday's picture of the day did.

He looks very pleased with the pictures he's taken, doesn't he?

Here are some pictures of our momentous first meeting, which just so happened to take place at (where else) Disneyland:

(This is the picture in the frame we were looking at it.)

Not only is Ryan the most awesome host of TV Thursdays, he is always a willing subject for pictures, has great taste in musical theater, is always up for a last minute movie night, and gets really funny when he's had a couple drinks.

Happy friendiversary, Ryan Prades!

The Day Before Easter

We have an Easter tradition, my friends and I. We go to Mike and Jess' every year to dye eggs, hide eggs, find eggs, and then eat egg salad sandwiches.

It's very fun.

Probably more fun for this kid:

Because she's the one who gets to have all the finding fun. 

Jessica, why is your kid getting so big? I was looking through the Easter albums of the past, when my favorite eight-year-old was my favorite four-year-old, and sheesh. She's so tiny!

I've been telling her for years that she's not allowed to grow anymore, and every time she claims it's not up to her because her mom makes her eat vegetables. 

Whatever.

So here we are, Saturday morning...er, afternoon, because some of us may have gotten there a couple hours later than we were told. The dying crew consisted of Jess, Mike, Brittany, Justin G., Liz, Brad, me, and of course Gwen.

I find this egg hilarious for some reason. It reminds me of a bad character from Veggie Tales or something. You know, like the bad king from Rack, Shack, and Benny?

I think Gwen made it, which makes it even funnier.

And some egg-cellent egg sayings:

And the hunt begins!

Now, in years past, we've been careful to hide eggs where she'll be able to find them, reach them, see them, perhaps step on them. Because Easter's no fun when the five-year-old starts crying that she only found four of eighteen eggs. 

But the kid's eight now. So we decided it was time to start challenging her in this egg-finding process.

She looked high.

She looked low.

While the rest of us looked on.

And Mike, in egg hunt tradition, brought out the funky guitar,

And followed her around, strumming a ballad.

It kind of looks like they're gathering to pray here, doesn't it? Actually, they're all huddled around the hardest to find egg, which was pretty much buried right there, in an attempt to give Gwen a hint. Because the egg hunt had been going on for quite awhile at this point.

This is Gwen when she realized Justin had been stealing eggs from her basket and re-hiding them where she'd found them.

Like this one, up in a tree. This was her second time retrieving it.

Mike and Jess, in a picture Jess will surely be stealing for her own blog.

(But don't do it, Jess. I've got a better version saved for you.)

Then the game went from stealing and hiding the eggs, to stealing and hiding the whole basket.

Ah, Easter.