May 31, 2007

Not Quite Italy


I've been meaning to write about this far a few weeks now. I was waiting to get some pictures off of my phone to post along with the blog, but I am thinking that may never actually happen...so here we are without the visuals.

On a Saturday two weeks ago I took Lizzie (my little sister by 14 years) out for the day. When I picked her up I figured we would just run some errands and end up at the beach. But as it turned out our day took on a life of it's own.

We did run an errand, but then because it wasn't quite warm yet we decided to go downtown. When we got there the streets had been transformed into a rainbow of tents. Surrounded by balloons and filled with people. It was Children's Day in Santa Cruz. So we wandered through the various canopy's and in and out of stores truly enjoying Santa Cruz. As we were strolling along we were instructed to clear the street, because the parade was coming. I love a parade, even the lamest parades offer ample opportunity to people watch with out being rude. And this parade did not disappoint in that regard. This was a bike parade to celebrate the end of Bike to Work Week. At first it was just a bunch of kids with steamers on their bikes, but soon came some of Santa Cruz's best. Bikes fully decked out in propaganda, people dressed to match their bikes. There were those with huge butterfly wings, a guy who had transformed himself and his bike into a giant bug. There was a whole squad of unicycle riders of all ages and heights. A guy on stilts who missed the memo about the bikes. Someone who had deconstructed their bike so that there was nothing connecting the front to the back allowing for some interesting stunts. Others had also altered bikes to hold up to 6 people on two levels, I am not sure why those on top had pedals but they were doing their best to be a part of the team. It was a truly Santa Cruz parade.

When it was over and we were allowed to cross the street, we wandered into Urban outfitters and each picked out 7 outfits for the other to try on. Creating a mini fashion show if you will. To both of our surprise everything fit and we did not buy anything.

Then we made our way back to the car but stopped along the way to make a chalk drawing together. Then covered in chalk we washed off in a near by water fountain, and proceeded to the car. But on the way a sign caught my eye advertising a Saturday Market in the park. So instead of turning left we continued on and crossed the bridge to the park. The Saturday market left much to be desired, but we stumbled upon a Broadway review that was just about to take place on the Duck Pond Stage. So we plunked down on the grassy hill to watch the show. It was by this time sunny and getting quite warm. We sat there together soaking it all in.

We left a bit early, to get back to the car in time, jumped in and headed to lunch. We ended up deciding to eat at the Crows Nest overlooking the beach, harbor, light house and Ocean. We sat outside upstairs to take full advantage of the beauty. By the time lunch was over we decided that it would be okay to save the beach for another day. Ran another errand and headed home. We finished off our day with the rest of the family enjoying BBQ Hamburgers on the patio.

It wasn't quite Italy, but it was a beautiful day filled with vacation like moments. And plenty of memories.

May 30, 2007

Teal Leather

I'll admit that I have a thing for shoes, as do I am told many women. But until recent my love of shoes was limited mostly to red shoes, and the occasional pair of Steve Madden's. That was until maybe a month or so ago when I fell in love with shoes. Not all shoes, but amazing shoes. Shoes that I have always been able to walk by before without much more than a glance now seem to call out my name.

Usually my bank account keeps me in line though. Knowing that the choice is between rent and shoes, or grocery's and shoes, helps me to say yes they are amazing, but I will have to wait.

That is until this week, this week when the shoes I had been ogling over went on sale. Still I told myself, "self, they will not fit." So I tried them on to prove to myself I was right. As is often the case, (but not with shoes) I was wrong. They fit. They not only fit, they felt amazing. And they looked amazing. But sale or no sale I knew I could not just plunk down the cash (card) and get the shoes. At least not till Wednesday when I got paid. So I had them put on hold...thinking, "that will give me time to come to my senses."

I even called my friend to discuss the shoes, sure that she would talk me out of buying them, after all how practical are teal shoes? Instead she pointed out how logical it was and broke down the cost with an equation about how often I would wear said shoes vs the price. We ended up deciding that they were not much worse than buying coffee. How we got to that conclusion I am still wondering about.

All this to say, that today I gave in and bought myself an early birthday present. See, aren't they amazing...



Totally worth the splurge, after all what's the fun in being a girl if you can't have the shoes to go with it.

May 3, 2007

I'm a Christ Follower (Mac vs. PC Parody) Part 02

I found this video along with a collection of others after visiting Markos' blog. Which if you have not been to and are into youth work I would encourage you to check out. I posted this because I think it opens the door to some much needed dialog about what it means to be a Christian vs. A Follower of Christ. But before I post my opinions I want to know yours...

quotes i love

  • "they will never care how much you know until they know how much you care."
  • "never be afraid to trust a well known God with an unknown future." - Corrie Ten Boom
  • "God doesn't need you, He loves you, that is much better."
  • "the world has yet to see what God can do through a man/woman who is totally commited to him." - D.L. Moody
  • "be who you is, cause if is ain't who you is, you is who you ain't."-
  • "some people say movies should be more like real life. I say real life should be more like the movies."