These are my thoughts; though they may be public domain, please have enough respect and understand that they are mine and are not for the use of your own deviant agenda.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
It's been (and will be) a full week. The holidays always make for a chaotic schedule. But it's full of fun! Right now I'm struggling to focus because the pain from my cramps is a bit overwhelming. bleh... (One reason I dislike being a woman)
So Monday I had to make a quick detour to Redlands for a Christmas present for Heidi which sadly my mom let the cat out of the bag when I called for advice. So Heidi now knows what she's getting from me for Christmas, oh well. As I was driving there my friend Tracy called. He was heading up to Victorville to pick up a check from a client so we decided to meet up at Starbucks. He and I usually meet down in Ontario so it felt odd meeting him locally. I rarely get to hang out with any of my Rancho friends up in Victorville. Who would want to? ;) hehe
Last night I met up with Jerry at his place. He's been really busy with his project (I'm going to check with him to confirm I can share it) and I have been helping out as much as I can. I was pleasantly surprised I was able to spend any time hangin’ out with him before the holidays! It wasn't a late night. I was heading home by 8:30. At dinner I asked him about the direction I should take my photography. He has a lot of great ideas, almost to a fault; (being the nice friend that I am hehe) I decided to pick his brain, even if he is fully submersed in his current project which seems to be taking off like wildfire! In the last week so much has moved forward, it's exciting to watch it come together for him. He's got a great head for business and money. I know I can learn a lot from him.
As I was driving home he called me with an idea for a direction I can take my photography! What can I say? He's that good. ;) hehe I took some time last night and thought it through. I have to find out if I'm serious enough to do what it takes to get it done. I'm young enough. I don't want to waste any more time. I just don't know if I want to give up my life outside of a full time job to devote to an additional business. I know Jerry has that kind of passion and drive; I'm just not sure if I do. This was my one concern about taking the first step forward. I've talked to a couple people about it and I may just do it.
I guess there is a fear that's causing me to hesitate. I'm unsure if my photography has that special edge. I love taking pictures! But are my pictures that special or unique? And some people suggest wedding photography, or pet photography and stuff along those lines, but just like every profession there are different fields/genres and they are definitely not what I like or even what I'm good at! Either way I'm still contemplating it. I'd appreciate anyone's input. Jerry says that if I haven't taken steps toward this concept by the time he returns after the holidays he'll be extremely disappointed. hehe I guess it's the perfect time for this reflection being that it's the time of year for New Years Resolutions, a fresh start, a whole new year to dream up a new direction for my life.
Candlelight Service - So I just got back from the candlelight service at The Place. It was nice. I love my family tradition of the Christmas story with the candle in the darkness. I will definitely pass that one onto my kids. Sadly we didn’t have a children’s performance because the lack of kids that were going to be able to make it tonight. But it was a nice service none-the-less.
Alliance Dinner - Tomorrow night some of us from Alliance are going out to dinner. Joshua isn’t going and no matter how much of a guilt trip I try to give him he doesn’t seem fazed. hehe But Mike is going so I’ll finally get to meet his wife! I’m looking forward to that. Here's a group shot of our Christmas Potluck at the Office.
Meeting with James - So my good friend James is coming down from northern Cali this week and we're meeting up for lunch Friday. Some of you may remember him, he’s the one I've known for years online and we met in person for the first time earlier this year!
He's a cutie and such a rockstar! Check him out! He's the bald one on the right playing the guitar.
The Place's Christmas Party - Friday night I’ve got to rush up the hill for the Christmas party at my parents place for the church. It should be fun. I haven’t decided if I’m dressing up or going casual. It’s an ornament exchange so I bought the cute little snow globe ornament from Starbucks that way if I end up with it I’ll be happy!
Victorville Motors Christmas Party - I went to Andie's company Christmas Party last Saturday and had an absolute blast! I haven't let loose like that in a LONG time! They had a great atmosphere, awesome DJ and Andie's coworkers are a lot of fun!
Beginning of the evening
Being silly
Getting Crazy
No Comment
They had a young lion and tiger there as well as the monkey from Pirates of the Caribbean, Night at the Museum and Ross’s pet on Friends. I got my picture taken with him and he was such a sweet little thing! I was standing there and he was doing what monkeys do, climb all over. They made me take off my glasses because he’d most likely grab them. When the handler called him back he looked at me, then the handler and then gave me a hug! I swear the entire line “awh’d”! It was precious. Then he looked at me and started talking and singing. The picture I kept was the one where he’s talking to me. It was one of the most memorable moments of the evening.
And I’m changing my rule; I’m going to post a picture or two on my blogs at least. Then I’ll upload them all to my album, hopefully in a reasonable amount of time. I know I never even shared pics of Montana! If you’re on myspace you’re lucky cause then you’ve at least seen those pictures.
Random/Misc. Stuff - My friend Kristen filled one of these out so I’m sharing my results.
Hello All! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Today's been a very relaxing day! I was able to sleep in, clean my desk and organize paperwork (which has been bothering me for weeks now) and now I'm on my way to go make cookies for the rest of the evening! Can't wait for tomorrow! I love Christmas! And Christmas Eve has always been the big day for my family. :)
So Thursday night my sister came over and we went to Longs and picked out decorations for our gingerbread house... I .... LOVE.... it!!!!
With the help of coconut, sour rips (the roof which I think turned out the best!), nerd rope (great as Christmas lights and a wreath), nerds, dots, candy canes, jolly rancher suckers and rocks, sour punch straws, classic mints, lifesavers, and jujubes... I give you my very first ever decorated gingerbread house.
Thank you, thank you... Isn't it just awesome!? I couldn't have done it without the help of my sister! She was with me the whole time, our creative minds working together! Oh and I also couldn't have done it without Mike helping me find the electric mixer for the frosting! ;) HAHAHA
Either way, it was a blast! I was up WAY too late... I got to bed at 1am and then got up for work at 5:30 the next morning. I was tired. I got to work early because they were letting us leave early. I didn't take a lunch so I didn't really get any free time. The day was full of voice authorization calls. I guess everyone paying their bills at the last minute. But I was able to leave work at 3:30 and finish up my last minute shopping. I got home and wrapped all my presents...
Well I'm gonna go make cookies... I hope to start getting pictures ready to upload tonight and tomorrow.
Another fun filled weekend past… I love Christmas! It means so many wonderful parties, events and hustle and bustle. I thrive on this kind of holiday chaos! Although Sunday and Monday I was still recovering from my drive up to Bishop and back on Saturday. I woke up at 3am and my friend Brandie and I were on the road by 4:30am! I had gone to bed at 11pm the night before because I went out to dinner with some friends from linkLINE.
This morning has been full of great surprises. I went to bed at about 11:30pm because I was on the phone with a friend. I was able to get up and go for my walk. I am starting to realize that I don't need as much sleep as I thought. I used to think I had to be in bed by 10 to get enough sleep to wake up and walk and survive the day. But I seem to do well with just 6 hours. I woke up this morning and it was a bit more chilly then the other mornings I've walked. The sky was beautiful and the sun hadn't made its official appearance yet. I have a new route that I take. You have to spice it up a bit to keep it interesting, don't you? I said my gratitude list which seemed to come easier then other mornings. I was smiling even though my cheeks were so cold it hurt to smile. I weighed because I had forgotten to on Monday and I wanted to see what damage had happened from the weekend food consumption. And to my surprise I had lost a pound from Fridays weigh-in! How cool is that?! As I got ready I was reminded of all the small blessings I've received over the last few days, even when I was in a funk and dead tired, I was still blessed. I love that I am a changing person. I am aware that I still have a lot to work on but it's been amazing to see the transformation in myself internally and externally!
Well the above was written yesterday and today I’m unable to spend a lot of time so here’s the skinny… ;)
Dinner Friday Night – I went to dinner with some old friends from linkLINE. None of us work for linkLINE anymore but we all became good friends while working together there a few years back. My friend Tim came to pick me up from work and we got to Red Robin and to my surprise Carlos, Nancy, Erin and David were already there waiting! We had a good time. Chatting, catching up, and hearing interesting stories about where we work now. Annette was unable to make it which was a bummer but all-in-all a good time. I took lots of pictures so those will be posted along with this.
Bishop – My friend Brandie and I had this crazy idea of waking up WAY before the buttcrack of dawn to drive up to Bishop and take pictures! I had gotten to bed at 11pm the night before and woke up at 3am to be ready by the time Brandie got there. I ran a little slow and we were on the road by 4:30am. We enjoyed talking and catching up and realizing we were in the middle of an adventure and how glad we were that we decided to be insane and do this excursion.
The point of this trip was to take pictures so we stopped along the way at different sites we saw that looked interesting. One in particular was a field of horses. These horses were amazing! They were very friendly and came running up for attention, pushing their way by each other to get closer to us. I took a lot of pictures of them. They were awesome! We stopped by on the way back home as well.
Once in Bishop we stopped at Erick Schat’s Bakery and had breakfast and went over to a nearby park to take some pictures. It was a nice little park. It was about 20 degrees, possibly colder, but I enjoyed taking pictures. We drove up to the mountains and got as high as they would let us, apparently they close certain roads in the winter. On our way back down, stopped off at the bakery again and had lunch and went over to Mountain of Light Gallery and I was impressed with what I saw but it also inspired me to get out there more, to get my photography site up, I’ll explain more later.
We decided to make a drive up Mount Whitney through Lone Pine and were met with snow! We didn’t get that far when we realized Brandie’s little car couldn’t drive too much further. It was great to experience the snow. It’s been so long and there were huge flakes and it was sticking and before I knew it the ground was white. I loved it!
We drove home and made our stops along the way. Over the course of the day I took just above 500 pictures! I know… Crazy. But most were testing settings and will not be usable. It was a great experience and I will definitely go back when it’s warmer!
Christmas Shopping – This year has been a downer as far as Christmas shopping is concerned. I think I’m used to picking the perfect gift and sadly I didn’t put enough thought into it and ran out of time. I still have yet to find my mom something and everything I’ve thought just doesn’t grab me and say “I’m the perfect gift, pick me.” Usually I’m the one that goes all out for Christmas. So I’m a little disappointed. *Update* - well on my lunch break I went to go pick up something small that I knew my mom would like, on the way an idea popped into my head, a great idea! And I’m happy with it! So my mom is covered… woohoo!
Candlelight Service – Tonight is the Candlelight service at The Place. We have a little kid’s performance and then we do our family tradition with the story of Christmas with the use of candles. I love the tradition and love that the church has adopted it. It’s a great visualization of what Christmas is all about.
Gingerbread House – Tomorrow night I am going to decorate my first ever Gingerbread house! I bought a kit up at Schat’s bakery in Bishop and have asked my sister to join me since she has never done one either. It should be fun. I’ll make sure to take pictures. I have a lot of fun, creative ideas. Heidi is going to come over and we’re going to take a look at the size and then go to the store to pick up little candy add-ons to make the house more fun. Though the kit comes with some, I’m sure it isn’t what I have in my imagination.
I have determined I've been on a natural high for probably a month or so now! I have my moments, but that's just it, they are moments, not days, weeks or even months! Life is simply amazing!
I've been hoping to update every day this week and have not gotten the opportunity to. Work has kept me busy and after work I'm working on the Assemble project for my brother. Last weekend was pretty incredible! Lots of parties and good times!
The Place Christmas Party (Friday, December 8, 2006) - The church Christmas party was a lot of fun! I left work early on Friday to get up the hill by 4pm to take pictures of Rachel and her family at the local park. Once that was done, I rushed home, got my hair curled, grabbed my outfit and rushed out the door with enough time to grab a gift certificate from Starbucks for the gift exchange before the party.
I looked good. I felt good. So when I got there I was glad to get pictures with Rachel and Heidi. It turns out velvet was the common fabric of the evening! Three of us girls were wearing it and I made sure to get pictures of us together. They will of course be posted shortly. I may edit this post and add a couple to it.
The Chinese gift exchange turned out to be a good time! I always like it when people are running around stealing gifts from other people. Haha I ended up getting exactly what I was hoping for.
Alliance Christmas Party (Saturday, December 9, 2006) - Saturday I was able to sleep in and then I worked on the Assemble project for my brother until it was time to get ready for the Alliance Christmas party. I drove down to Rancho, before making my way over to Yucaipa, to pick up a gift for my secret santa person, though I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be at the party, I decided it wouldn’t be good to come empty handed if he happened to show up.
I got there and was impressed with how nicely Keith’s house was decorated for the party. It turns out it was all Jessica’s doing. I know the people I work with, and most I knew through linkLINE. But this was the first time I was hanging out with my coworkers outside of the office since starting to work for Alliance. I felt a bit awkward and out of place. I found myself getting in trouble texting my friend too much and Jessica took my phone away! I thought that was funny. Keith was sweet and asked me to join his table. I enjoyed hanging out with Keith and playing the games. I got a $50.00 AMEX gift card! And my secret santa got me a Partylite jar candle! I thought it was great!
The only downer was that something was said at one point in the night that caused me to be extremely insecure. I thought it might be a joke, but it was something I couldn’t shake. I tried really hard to just enjoy my time. I figured the party wasn’t the time to sit down with the person and find out what they meant by it.
After the party, since I was just blocks away, I stopped by Sam’s parent’s house to say hi. It had been a while since I had seen them and had talked to Robin beforehand to see if it would be ok. It was great to see them. I love that family! Doug was there with a newly bought race car so I got to check that out. I stayed for about an hour and then decided to make my way home.
The drive home was a bit intense. The rain was pouring and the roads were a bit slick. I was still unable to shake the insecurities of that one comment. I called my dad who prayed for me, yet I still wasn’t doing well. Everyone I wanted to talk to wasn’t available since it was so late. So I just got home and went to sleep hoping that the next morning I would be able to wake up with a new day and new perspective.
Free Hugs (Sunday, December 10, 2006) - Sunday I got to church and found that I was feeling some residual insecurity from the night before. Crazy how one comment can affect your core fear to that level. I had to take a bunch of pictures for the church roster. So I grabbed as many people as I could and tried to take the pictures in different locations so it didn’t look like it was all the same place.
After church our Post High School to 30-Something group planned to meet at the Best Buy / Toys R Us parking lot in Victorville to give out Free Hugs. At first I was completely nervous and unsure of what kind of response we would get standing outside a store holding signs that said “Free Hugs”. But I soon found out that people were very receptive to it! It was a complete and utter blast. Within minutes the guys that were skeptical of even doing it were having the time of their lives! It was cool to see people’s reactions to us offering free hugs without any strings attached! People would look at our signs with utter confusion on their face! It was great! Originally we thought we would only be there for an hour, but we were having so much fun and had so much positive feedback that we stayed for 2 hours! It was a perfect location. I was even thanked a couple of times because the person really just needed that hug! It was such an awesome experience! People stopped and got out of their cars to get a hug! We hugged through windows, though I tried my best not to stop traffic because it was a busy location!
We only had maybe 10% of the people have a negative view of what we were doing. But for the most part people were amazed that we were just out there to spread hugs! I gave out sooo many hugs! I would say about 40-50% of the people that I offered hugs to, took me up on the offer! I had no idea that it would be so well received. I was smiling ear-to-ear and in the end felt that I had been apart of a pretty amazing thing! I was so high from the experience I couldn’t stop talking to everyone about it! One kid thought it was such a great idea he asked if he could take the idea to his church group at New Life!
After our two hours my arms were tired! I was physically exhausted giving out that many hugs! I noticed when offering hugs that kids were more excited to give and receive hugs then their parents. It was sad when parents wouldn’t let them stop to hug. Though I know hugging strangers is probably not the safest thing to teach kids.
But all-in-all it was one of the best experiences in my life!!! And our group plans to meet again to give out Free Hugs, hopefully before Christmas because it seemed to be so appropriate that we were handing out hugs during a season when people can be at their worst! I had someone tell me that they really needed my hug especially after coming out of Toys R Us. So I will keep you posted on any future events! Maybe you can stop by and get a free hug!
Marc & Jess’s Family and Friend BBQ (Sunday, December 10, 2006) - After the Free Hug event I drove back down to Keith’s house in Yucaipa for a BBQ for Marc and Jess since they were flying back to Wisconsin this week. I wanted to make sure to get in one last hug before they left. I walked in and realized that I knew even less people there then I knew at the Christmas party for Alliance the night before. I wasn’t sure how comfortable I would be and how long I would stay.
But before I knew it I saw Rob, Marc’s brother, who used to work at linkLINE and we had fun talking about our views of linkLINE. I was introduced to Marc’s dad and sister who both said, “Oh *you’re* Charity!” haha I just joined into conversations and had a lot of fun. Robin, Doug and Sasha happened to show up while I was there so I got a chance to catch up with Sasha which was nice. I don’t believe I’ve seen her since her birthday dinner in early October. I stayed for a couple of hours and then made my way home.
Christmas - I got home early enough to get Christmas decorations up. I love Christmas! Every morning on my gratitude walk I can’t help but be grateful for this holiday! For what it means, what it stands for, and what it does for me. When I think of Christmas I think of warmth and comfort, family and friends, beautiful decorations, cinnamon scents, snowflakes (even if I live in California!) and hot chocolate! I love Christmas!
