*Updated with pics 12/21/2006 12:30am*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.
Labels: Bishop, Christmas, Pictures
posted by Charity at 12/20/2006 05:18:00 PM 
