i decided that november is my favorite month here.
the weather is perfect--warm during the day (tank top weather) and cool and crisp at night (sweater time!) so i get the best of both worlds.
additionally, the sun is always out every morning at 7 or so and stays out all day--none of this waiting-around-for-the-summer-marine-layer-to-burn-off business.

last night matt and i went to the field, our favorite irish restaurant--so good! then we went to see "elf", which was sweet and innocent and very funny. it, of course, got me even more in the mood for christmas! alright mare, for putting up those christmas lights!! this morning i went shopping and got a few more christmas decorations, myself. i may decorate a little bit but i'll save most of it for when you all come out here for thanksgiving. and yes on all the food!!! mom, what are you talking about with not eating as much??? it's the best day of the year to be a pig! :) i like mare's scenario in front of the fireplace, too--but you forgot to include the grasshoppers and mudslides!

justin, nice post on the emokid--yeah, they make me feel so OLD because i get so grumpy with them. glad to see it's not just me! and when i was that age (with a similar attitude and behavior, i might add) i remember looking at late twenty-something people and being like, "huh. how strange that they would like this kind of music. this is not their scene." and now i'm the old twenty-something person that doesn't fit but just wants to hear great live music in a smoke-free environment. and they have to scream and randomly dance (i was laughing at that because at the rooney show there was this weird emokid dancing randomly like a freak and running into his group of friends and us) and annoy me. so i feel your pain. and also appreciate their need for attention as a natural part of growing up. :)

matt and i are going to our friends house (marni and ed) for dinner. he has just informed me that we need to leave soon so i'm going to get ready. have a great night all of you!
tracey

my principal sent me home (with pay, and without having to take sick time!) because he saw that i looked horrible! ha! i love my job!
so i'm home early and i'm going to take a nap now.
goodnight!

friday morning before school.
i ran my 3.5 miles yesterday. with about a mile left to go i was doing my usual eye contact with the other runners i passed--some sort of bonding thing where you're friends with every runner you pass--because they've felt what you've felt at one point or another: the extreme exhaustion and runner's highs--mare and dad, can you relate? well anyways, i remember thinking, "hmm. why can i only see half of her face?" then i realized i was having an aura before a migraine. i made it home finally and was tricked because the aura disappeared for about 5 minutes before the pain kicked in. it was the worst one i've had in a long time. i ended up throwing up at one point. but thankfully, i have the best husband in the world who brought me ice, rubbed my head, scratched my back, and let me fall asleep in his arms! now i'm feeling better with just a regular headache and that fuzzy brain trauma feeling. i could go into work right now, but i'm going to take it easy for the next half hour and go in at my regularly scheduled time at 8:15.

we're going to see "elf" tonight and i'm pumped. mom and dad gave a good report and the previews have been hilarious! then on saturday we might go to our friends marni and eddie's for dinner. and i do my 5 mile run on sunday. mare, i might do this week over again, training-wise, just because last week i couldn't get out with the fires and all. i don't want to increase mileage too fast and risk injury. by the way, i hope that girl at your school is okay---what a strange day.

on monday we have a staff development day and tuesday is veteran's day so no school at all. yay! maybe matt can work from home:). it's november 7th already! yikes! how did that happen? we'll be seeing the edwards family soon. hey, do you guys want to help us decorate for christmas after thanksgiving? well, i guess mary and mom, do YOU want to help--i know the guys all just do it to humor us.

welp, i'm going to head off to work now.
have a great day everyone!
p.s. ryan and michelle--let's get some more pictures of hannah banana up online!!! :)

welp, we're back from a very fun weekend in ohio.
we arrived just in time for the rehearsal on thursday night and then went to the spaghetti warehouse for dinner-yum!
lots of fun chatting with my family--and i finally got to hold my niece, hannah!
SO CUTE!!! i can not even put into words how wonderful she is--matt and i are definately proud to be "aunt tracey and uncle matt". how is it that i could just stare at her and be totally facinated at an arm moving, a lip pursing, or even cute breathing???? plus the softest, smoothest little round head that i kissed a million times! we both miss her now that we're home! (oh yeah, and the rest of you people, too ;)

then friday we took our time getting ready for the 7:00 wedding. i went running on a perfect fall day--it was rather warm actually, about 75 degrees. the leaves were falling like rain and it was so fun to run through them. michelle and i drove up to dayton and checked in the hotel, where we met up with the burns family and grammy and granddad. we headed over to the church and got ready for the big event! the wedding was beautiful--the pastor had so many wonderful things to say about kevin and emily. emily looked like a beautiful princess walking down the aisle (absolutely breathtaking) and kevin looked like such a man (he touched me with his tears and deep love for emily). they made their grand exit under a pathway of giant sparklers, which the bridal party held up on either side of the church steps--it was like a fairy tale!
the reception was fun-- i didn't get to chat with nearly as many people as i would have liked to, and i wasn't even the bride or groom!!! we did get to see mom and dad edwards for a little while (oh yeah, dad, vic kapoor, who was president of UT, is the father of mark, the guy who gave the toast speech). after the reception, we had family and friends over to our hotel room for a fun party. we finally went to bed around 3:15 am and awoke the next morning to spend more time with family and friends at 8:30am.

ryan and matt decided to go to the BG/miami hockey game, where my cousin brian was playing that night--in BG (crazy guys! i think the main motivator was pollyeye's breadsticks and dairy queen blizzards). michelle, hannah, me, mom, and dad went home for long naps and a relaxing night of chatting. we ordered chinese in and just spent time talking and watching a video of hannah while i fed that peanut a bottle (can you tell we just can't get enough?). the guys finally arrived home around 1:15 am and i was still up, due to the nap i had taken. the next morning we spent some time with the burns family and headed up to columbus around noon. pretty uneventful flight, except our connection in chicago was delayed about an hour. so we got home at 8:15pm instead of 7:35pm--we survived!

going back to work today was sort of a rude awakening. it's hard to be off for more than a weekend! well, it's not hard to be OFF; it's hard to GO BACK and get into the swing of things again.

one last thought:
now that november is here
it's beginning to look a lot like christmas....
and i'm going to be out of control!!!!

-tracey

welp, the third day off school this week so i'm home watching tv, painting my toenails, packing for the trip back to ohio tomorrow.
yesterday i went to one of the red cross evacuation centers to drop off some pillows and blankets and stuff and i tried to volunteer but they actually turned me away! apparently, they've had tons of volunteers--so that's neat to see.
the sun is out because we're on the coast and we just got a wind from the west, so it makes it feel more normal (it's not orange out here anymore) but it's such a sick trick, because the fire is blazing east of us (now over 300,000 acres have been burned through). i don't know if they'll call off school tomorrow or not, but i won't be there either way!

mare (and anyone else), you wanted some christmas ideas:
-dension witmer cd "philedelphia"
--christopher guest dvd collection (about $46-48 online)
-2 wearever beach chairs ($18.44 each at walmart.com on my registry:)
-photo printer
-gift certificates to home depot for plants for our backyard
-gift certificate to express for new clothes
-silver necklaces or earrings

1 day until i see my hannah banana niece!!!
-tracey

hello everyone.
thanks for all the calls from our family and friends--we feel loved!
thankfully, the fires haven't moved closer to us (the closest one is still about 20 miles away) and the winds have died down, so it will be easier to actually fight the fires. some idiots here are complaining that action wasn't taken soon enough to get more reinforcements and are of course blaming the current governor (gray davis). the fire chief finally came on the news and said that even if we had a ton of back up, it still wouldn't have mattered--the conditions were such that the fires were totally unpredictable and quick spreading.

nothing is contained yet, over 150,000 acres have burned.
they're predicting another 5 days at least.
communities are still being evacuated.
and still no school, due mostly to poor air quality.
therefore, matt and i are still trapped at home in our smoke-scented house, bored out of our minds.
definately not as devastating as 9-11, but feeling some similar helplessness and weirdness.
check out the pictures matt posted of the strange scene at our house (go to his blog)--freakish orange sky and snowing ash is so disturbing.

obviously there is nothing else going on here.
matt's calling me to play nurtz, so i must go beat him for the 4th time!
-tracey

we had a fun time with mary and casey this weekend.
at our bar-lympics, mary and i were a team, "the pirates"--we had eye patches and pirate hats and kept yelling "aargh!". so much fun! we ended up going to 4 different bars and playing darts, foosball, pool, and shuffleboard. mary and i won darts, but it was downhill after that. either way, it was such a fun time.

however, we had a strange day today.
it began with me waking mary up to go for a run.
then i went out on our deck to see how cold/warm it was, and what i needed to wear.
there were ashes covering our deck and falling from the sky (which was yellow looking). it smelled like a campfire, too.
all the tv stations were covering the fires that were in our county and they were talking about closing interstate 15, so mary and casey hit the road. it has been such a surreal day, just seeing the fires consuming the land and vegetation and homes.

then my principal called (had to evacuate his home, along with several other teacher friends--everyone is okay) and said that san diego school district is closed tomorrow. it's not a satisfying day off, like a snow day is, because people are still in danger and without homes. the airport is on temporary shut down and was messed up already because of the fires in LA, so hopefully everything will be okay by thursday at 6:20 am so we can go home and be part of kevin and emily's wedding. but it is hard to say at this point. the closest fire is only 20 miles away and it is unpredictable, so who is to say what will happen...

we can just pray for everyone's safety and that the firefighters are able to contain the fires as quickly as possible.

welp, matt and i are going to try to distract ourselves with a movie or something.
-tracey

hello people.
i just finished hanging the curtains in our living room.
matt was drilling holes in the wall and i touched the drill bit,
which burned me.
apparently, that thing gets hot.
my finger still hurts.

anyhoo...
i went running with another teacher friend today.
it was 81 degrees today and so beautiful!
the water looked so blue and the breeze was so fresh
am i dreaming?
is this really my life?
nothing is better than knowing i haven't worn actual shoes since last winter/spring.
it's been flip flops and sandals this whole time--WOOOHOOOOO!!!! ahh, the little things in life...
why does this make me happy? i'm simple, apparently.

looking forward to mary and casey's visit this weekend.
our friend sue organizes this game day called "bar-lympics",
where teams play games that are typically located in bars.
this year's agenda includes: foosball, darts, shuffleboard, pool, and something else i can't remember--maybe air hockey?
this girl goes all out and has her little clipboard and keeps close score and the winners get a $50 gift certificate for somewhere.
anyways, mare and i are on a team and we're going to kick everyone's patooties!!!! anyone have a creative name for our team?
we're going to make team tshirts and be festive--but we can't think of anything good...

rydogg, such great news that hannah is gaining weight--that just means chubbier cheeks for me to kiss!
mom edwards-it sounds like you had a wonderful weekend--you should feel honored-you deserve the praise and you are an inspiration!
time for dad and matt to update, otherwise you're going to get harrassed for having the annoying opening lines:)
well, i'm going to straighten up the house.
have a great wednesday everyone!

-tracey

time to end the day with a fitting song lyric from ash...

yeah we've been walking barefoot all summer
why can't we just decide
to live like this all the time?
-ash

alright dad edwards!
running the 5k with me and mare on thanksgiving!
any other takers--boys, mom?
you get a long sleeved tshirt, which, by itself is motivation, i think.

matt and i have a homeowner's association meeting tonight, which i hope is not boring.
but i think it will be.
oh well, at least we'll be able to meet some of our neighbors.

i'm typing and matt is going through a box of miscellaneous items that we packed up when we moved but haven't gone through yet.
all sorts of fun things being found--it's like a toy box of fun!
razors, matt's usher pin from cornerstone, our old cell phone, which is huge and heavy, tiny little paints in plastic bottles, nurtz card game, and other random weird things--
currently matt is freaking me out by swinging a butterfly knife around.
i'm nervous but he assures me that he has control.


welp, we're supposed to be at our meeting right now so i'm cutting this deal short!
thank god monday is over. even though i love my job, mondays are still hard to get through sometimes, especially after a lazy weekend!
tracey

hello again.
i love the feeling of waking up on the weekend, being groggy and thinking, "what time is it? i have to get up for work."
and then realizing, "yay! it's saturday!"

last night we went to a dinner party put on a by a guy from matt's work. he and his wife have these two cutie kids (3 yrs and 4 months--matt looked so cute holding the 4 month old!) and they live in a condo smaller than ours--whoa!!! they have this great little backyard though, which is beautifully landscaped and gives the illusion that a creek is running through it, has a tiny little bridge, lots of plants, cool rock formations, etc. apparently, they're going to come over and give us some tips on what to do with our backyard deck area! our friends marni and eddie went as well and so did our realtor dan and his wife debbie. we all have bought homes from dan and ended up having sort of a neat friendship. anyhoo, we had fun just chatting and then john asked us to play cranium, which brought back hilarious memories of matt acting out the category "star performer" instead of the actual item on the card, and of justin/michael tossing the cranium clay back and forth to each other and it landing in the half-empty oreo pie plate! don't worry, we got some more good ones from last night--especially from matt.:)

matt is going to L.A. today so i'm going to get some more home stuff done :). just little things now, like painting our wine nook purple, getting a picture frame for our bathroom, finishing the spray paint job on our mirrored closet doors, etc. and i'll go for a bike ride as part of my cross training program. mare, you may be doing the same today if you're following that training schedule :).

welp, i must get on with the day.
i love you all!
tracey

yeah! mare and i are running a 5k on thanksgiving day at 8:00 am.
so those of you who wish to cheer us on, feel free, whether it be there, at seaport village, or from your cozy beds at home.
we figure then we can eat all day long after that!!!

funny quote from a kid:
it was picture day yesterday and one of my 4th grade girls was all dressed up
and excited about it-- i made some sort of comment like: "you look so nice today!"
and she went a thousand miles a minute trying to explain why: "thank you, last night my mom washed my hair and put grown up shampoo in it. and then she put grown up hair gel in it to make is soft--you wanna feel how soft it is? and then she put more grown up gel in it to make it smell good-you wanna smell it?" and of course, i had to touch and smell her hair (soft and good, respectively). then when we got back to her room she showed me the "grown up" hand lotion in her backpack and made me put some on. such excitement of picture day! remember getting those little black plastic combs that everyone would be using in line right before you went in the gym to get your picture taken. and then there was always that one kid who had their eyes closed in the class picture that you would laugh at for the rest of the year... ah, elementary school memories...

happy birthday to kevin (yesterday)!
only 15 more days until kev's wedding!
only 14 more days until i see my niece!

welp, i'm outta here.
tracey

yum yum yum
thanksgiving food, the best meal of the year.
a menu item that i will add to the potato frenzy (although we can pretend like sweet potatoes are a dessert!) are my mom's cheesy potatoes, as requested by matt. maybe we can snack on fruit and veggies and dip during the day and stuff since we're going to be so FAT that evening!!!!

mare, can you bring your christmas music down here (if you're able to make a cd or so...:)?
welp, it is picture day at school today, so apparently i must make some sort of effort with my appearance--therefore, i am off!
tracey

hello everyone.
another weekend gone. how did that happen so fast??

on friday night, matt and i went out to one of our favorite mexican places, ortega's.
OH MY SUCH FANTASTIC FOOD! you know how sometimes you're eating something and the first few bites are like, "yum this is so good" and then the rest of it is just normal? this place has food that EVERY SINGLE BITE makes you feel like yelling about how great it is!!!!
so we fatly went home and could barely move for 2 hours afterwards.
so embarrassing. just rolling around, all fat and full.
we managed to clean up our apartment for our visitors on saturday.
and we also managed to take some pictures of it for those of you who have been requesting!!!

one of matt's friends from work, marni, got laid off this past week. so to cheer her up, they decided to kidnap her and take her out for a fun night! we drove to her house, dressed in black and wearing pantyhose over our faces, hats on our heads, and matt had a creepy bandana covering his whole face. we busted in the front door (she knew it was us pretty immediately, thankfully), tied up her hands, put a bag over her head, and carried her out to the trunk of the car. her husband, who helped set it up, gave a funny weak protest of "stop! i will defend my wife's honor!" as he stood there watching. we were laughing the entire time--it was so much fun!

we drove back to our apartment and had some appetizers and drinks and then walked over to oktoberfest, which is the festival going on right across the street from us. we had some food and then found out an 80s band was playing. they ended up being so much fun and we danced the entire time!! it brought back such fun memories of being at junior high dances and just flinging around. plus, those guys played such a great mix of songs!!!! i haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

today matt went to watch the football games at sports city and i spray painted our mirrored closet door trim (which used to be ugly brass/bronze stuff) a silver/pewter color. it looks really sharp. unfortunately, i couldn't tell where all the paint was going and got some on the wall (which i can touch up with our extra paint) and carpet ( i have no idea what i'm going to do with that!).

hey just, would you be able to burn those other innocence albums for me?
and does anyone have christmas ideas yet?
i know it is early, but you know how i love christmas!

i'm out people, time for some chow!
and maybe a movie tonight: "mambo italiano"
-tracey

did i mention we had an earthquake the other day? matt did, i think. and we have casey to thank for it!!!
i didn't feel it because i was trying to control three rowdy boys at the time, but another teacher came into my room and said, "did you feel the earthquake?" and of course i said no, and she said, "oh. maybe it was just an airplane flying low." (because they really can make the place vibrate if they are really close). so now everyone's warnings have paid off--we've actually had an earthquake!!!! and darn, if only i could have felt it!
this triggers a funny memory of when cincinnati was supposed to get an earthquake.
everyone freaked out and bought earthquake insurance.
and we even had earthquake drills at our high school--ry and kevin, do you remember that? ha!
we all had to get under our desks and mr. hall, our principal, got on the loudspeaker and was trying to create a scene for us...
"...it may feel like a train is hitting the building, you may hear dogs barking..."
at that point i could no longer control my laughter and it burst right out.
i was in calculus. incidentally, i was not a favorite student of his, being a girl and all...
therefore, i was issued a detention for laughing!!
oh well! it was worth it--because, come on, DOGS BARKING!!!! who cares???
and after all that we didn't even have the earthquake... huge surprise.

mom--your ring is beautiful! good work, dad!

i've been running again. i got out of it when school started and i was too exhausted when i got home.
but i think it is just a strange cycle, because now that i'm exercising again, i have much more energy!
there is a cool running club for students at our school (some kids get there early and run 2-3 miles each morning!!!).
so another teacher and i are starting a running club for teachers! yay!

i'm pumped for mary and casey's visit!!!
i hope you guys are practicing your foosball, shuffleboard, and darts!
anything else you want to do while you're here?
maybe go downtown and get something to eat for a late dinner when you get in on friday night?
and of course bar-lympics on saturday.
did you want to go for a hike or anything? or whatever you wanto................
i guess we will give you your bday gift when you come (oops. it's all packaged up, it just hasn't made it to the post office!)

ry, nice blog--very sweet! you have a DAUGHTER!!! unbelievable.
grammy, mom, and aunt deedee-have fun visiting hannah this weekend!

i feel like there's more to say
but i'm drawing
a blank.
therefore, i'm signing off!
tracey

just over here, relaxing, totally into "innocence mission", thanks to justy.
yeah, definitely a new one to put on my frequently played albums.
no comment even necessary for that AMAZING VOICE and i love the hawaii-ish guitars, subtle but present tambourine, and--best of all, music that takes me to another place. thanks justin--perfect pick for moi!

it's been fun catching up on the bloggies. you know, i was thinking what perfect timing the blogs have been, with the family being spread out across the nation and all. i feel like i haven't really missed too much of life's events with all of you peeple.

mare and casey--first of all, congrats on being out of credit card debt--doesn't it feel SO GREAT!!!? such freedom!!! matt and i made some bad financial choices early in our marraige but have been debt free for almost 3 years now. everyone is different, so i'm not giving advice, just sharing a personal experience--what has kept us out of debt was the promise we made to God after we were finally credit card debt-free (obviously we still have car debt and a student loan). we promised that we would pay our credit card balance every month in full. and the FIRST time we would have month where we couldn't pay the full, we agreed to tear up the credit card and not get a new one until it was paid off. and so far we haven't had to! it is such a great incentive for not overspending because we always think, "wait, is this worth cutting up the card and/or breaking my promise to God?" and the answer is always no. just a fun story there for ya!
it was also fun to read mom and dad edwards accounts of their trip--sounds like such a fun trip. and i can't wait to see your ring mom!!!

i spent the whole weekend painting our living room.
matt helped me lay down the base coat (arizona tan, if you really must know), which he said looked pumpkinish.
then i colorwashed the whole deal by diluting a lighter shade (honey butter) and a darker shade (campground) with water. i used paintbrushes to blend the deal to our walls --- and that literally is the last time i will paint that room. it took 3 gallons of the base coat just to cover the walls if that tells you how large the room is. anyhoo, it was totally worth it! it looks cool and watercolored-almost, most definitely italian/venetian looking.

it's not really cold out, but i'm dying to wear my new striped skinny scarf from the gap
so i'm taking it out on a date to buy some household cleaning products at target!!!
is this really what my life has come to??? yes. i think emily would understand and even appreciate something like this...

my scarf and i must go.
farewell
tracey

it's me for you
and you for me
-innocence mission

hello people!
the end of another week that flew!
i enjoyed checking out all the blogs this morning as i ridiculously woke up at 6 am.
mare, i'm with you on playing santa at thanksgiving--at least to you and casey.
so where are your (and casey's!) christmas ideas?
here's another idea from me: denison witmer's cd "philedelphia"

i saw a picture of our new niece, hannah, on the hospital's website---SO CUTE AND PERFECT!!! and so looking like ryan!!!
much to my dismay, michelle's pic link isn't working (neither is mary's, so it's villagephotos or whatever), so i can't see all the other pictures of her. but go check out that cutie on michelle's link! just knowing about hannah made me love her instantly, but now that i've seen a picture of her, i feel even more love and complete excitement at getting to see her in 26 days!!!

let's see, what else...
well, i had jury duty on wednesday.
i was dreading it, but
it was actually fun, if you can believe that!
you know how anything run by the govt usually has really rude people working (example: the bmv rudeness and condescending tone) who make you feel stupid? well, totally different scene at the courthouse, we (and by we i mean 500 jurors who had been called that morning) had an hour long orientation, which was amusing because the guy was funny. and they were UNDERSTANDING about things, like "if you forgot your juror ticket that was mailed to you, don't worry." etc. i sat around and read until about 11:00,when i got called to a courtroom with 50 other people. they started the selection process and then we had a 90minute break for lunch. i met matt, who is only 3 blocks away from the courthouse, and we went to horton plaza to eat and browse around. it was so fun--it's the first time i've met him for lunch downtown! then i went back and the jury selection continued (one of the potential jurors reminded me of mike serratto, saying strange things and making me crack up--he got the boot, of course). i really wanted to be picked by the end! but alas, i wasn't even called up to be questioned, which is actually okay, since it was going to be a 5 day trial.

today we're going to attempt to paint our living room.
i think we'll have to rent a ladder at home depot in order to do that, though.
the color is difficult to describe, but i'll try: it's sort of a creamy tan/caramel/honey color. it's called arizona tan, but i'm going to do a little bit lighter color wash over it to give it some depth and texture. if anyone comes here and can describe the color, be my guest!
our neighbor, artie, just told us that he's putting pergo flooring on his whole bottom floor--so jealous!!! i want to do that with our upstairs so bad! but i don't have $2000 just sitting around.

i think we're going to see a school of rock matinee tomorrow.
glad to hear that dad and justin liked it!
welp,
i'm going to prep our room for painting!
tracey

yay! hannah michelle good came into this world at 9:50 am, weighing in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces.
ryan and michelle are now PARENTS for the rest of their lives--wow!
i can't wait to hear every detail about your beautiful daughter!!!
i can't wait to kiss my NIECE on her sweet chubby cheeks in one month!!!

my husband is home and i'm happy.
i went to such a beautiful wedding yesterday.
my girlfriend, janice, got married in mexico (about an hour away from here)
at a resort on a cliff overlooking the ocean. it was so beautiful.
and the food was so yummy!
and right after the ceremony (i'm talking 60 seconds), waiters came by the aisles with
big trays of tropical drinks in tall glasses--so fun!!!
the reception was in a big white tent right next to the ceremony so it was fun to just
sit around and chat and look at the ocean while we waited for all the pictures to be taken.
it was the best time i've had in between the ceremony and reception of any wedding i've ever been to!

i'm getting excited for christmas (emily, you're probably the only one who gets ready before i do!)
but i won't allow myself to decorate or play music or wrap presents or anything until november 1st.
that gives me a good 2 months to celebrate!!!
but what i can do now is start MAKING PLANS about which presents i'm going to buy,
how i want to decorate, the mixes i'm going to make, etc... so i can still start to get excited without
having matt make too much fun of me for being out of control!!!

welp, i'm taking off now.
have a great night!
tracey

yay!
it's friday!
and it's the first cloudy day in a long time. so strange. but very cool this morning as i pulled up to school and a giant cloud was just covering the place. it was all misty to walk through, and then normal on the other side!
justin, i'm pumped for the cd--i looked at them for a sec online, does the girl sing? i hope so.
i plan on getting a lot of things done this weekend, but right now i just want to blob out around this house, maybe even in bed.
i miss my husband!!! but now i can make salmon for dinner. and other stuff matt won't eat. :)
matt, i hope you're having a great time!
michelle, i'm so sorry about alpha--that does seem ridiculous, i hope those people find other groups to get plugged into. can YOU just continue with them on your own? i mean, you don't have anything else going on, like having a daughter or anything!!!

happy anniversary mom and dad, in case i don't get to the computer on your actual day!

well, i'm going to watch trading spaces now!
but i'll end with a
funny quote from a kid (i've heard this many times!!!):
peanut kindergartener looking around my room: is this your room?
me: yes, it is! what do you think, do you like it?
him: where is your bed?
me: oh, i don't live here.
him: why?
me: because i live in my own house.
him: why?
me: alright, moving on....

-tracey

some nice posts, people.
matt, yours was so sweet. i love you.
and i, like mary and michael, love the part about the music (no need to record the quote for a fourth time, agreed?)
mare, i'm so like you with being able to connect with God in music that doesn't necessarily have godly lyrics--so many times i'm worshipful when listening to ben folds, over the rhine, norah jones, cush, dashboard, jimmy, elliott, etc etc. etc!

matt left me this morning for bg
i'm excited for him to visit with everyone
and eat pollyeyes and dairy queen (and trotters?)

i took him to the airport around 6:00, and don't really have to be at work until 8:00, so i'm actually doing a load of laundry and some other random chores.
i'm pretty proud of myself--this is the first time i've been able to keep a place really neat and clean. i think i'm much more motivated now that we own this place and have started to decorate it in our style. it makes me want to keep it nice and uncluttered. a first!

last night we went to hodad's since i had a buy 1, get 1 free deal. we ate in the window seat so we could look out at everyone walking by and smell the ocean air. then we went to the farmer's market and bought 3 little cacti (spelling of plural cactus--i've never had to do that before!). matt has been wanting some since we moved here. (actually i did buy him one a while ago, but he put it on top of the entertainment center and knocked it behind it within one day of having it. therefore, we didn't see it again until we moved at the end of august!). so we put these new guys in our kitchen window. yay!

had nice long conversations with michelle and emily in the past few days. it was good to chat with both of you!

things are clearing up at school.
it's not really appropriate to post on a blog
but i can say that i haven't felt safe at one of my schools.
we had a team meeting and thankfully everyone agreed that the child will be going to another school
where his needs will be met by actual trained professionals.
hopefully that will go through as soon as possible, too.

i have some stuff on my to do list while matt is gone.
get important papers in order, MAIL some birthday presents!, hem some curtains, etc.
matt made me promise that i wouldn't paint our family room while he was gone. i told him there's no way i could do it by myself, anyways. and he said, "well i never know with you if you're going to pull a trading spaces on me." (actually, it's "while you were out"--and that's michelle's job next year for their great room!)
well everyone, i suppose i must get going to work.
it's strange to be productive this early in the morning before i even go to my job!

have a great day!
tracey
p.s. i love how God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow
no matter what we are going through...
what an UNBELIEVABLE comfort!!!

in this cyclical pattern i feel you
the back and forth
and up and down
You stay where You are
--sixpence--

weird days at work
and sleepless nights

i think it is getting better though.
i just have a situation at one school
with a child and his behavior issue
(or possession, really).
just praying that it gets cleared up and that no one gets hurt.

on to better things, though.
YES, mary--we are getting a dog someday!
but not until we are strapped down with kids :)
we like to travel too much right now!
not only that, our condo does not allow us to have dogs--so even if we were ready for a dog, it would be a no go.
but we get our fix every now and again at dog beach right down the road from us.
in fact, we went there yesterday and saw all those crazies running around, playing, and swimming in the ocean--so cute and fun!
p.s. we're finally sending your birthday present mare--we had it with us in san fran this summer, but since we didn't get to see you, it sort of got lost in the shuffle of moving. i'm planning a trip to the post office either tomorrow or weds!!!! have no fear!!!

as far as other bday ideas for me: i know it is not as much fun to buy, but i really want to get some stuff from home depot for our deck area, so a gift certificate directed that way could be nice!
things on my wish list:
lemon tree ($17)
lime tree ($20)
bamboo fencing ($21)
fiscus plant ($12)
palm tree ($50-100)-ha!
other cool tropical plants ($5-15)

we saw lost in translation the other night and it was interesting.
bill murray had some hilarious moments, plot was a tad slow, and i had that feeling of "no, don't do it!" throughout.
the scenes from tokyo were worth it all, though, and they really captured that feeling of loneliness and culture shock that comes from visiting a different country. it really made me want to go visit there someday (when someone i know lives there and can take us around- i don't know if i could figure that deal out from travel books!).

welp, i'm going to spend time with my honey!
bye!

what a long week!
thank god tomorrow is friday!
over here listening to jack johnson and just trying to chill--the music is helping for sure.
michelle, thanks for posting your pictures of the nursery and my favorite friend, mr. reeces!!!!
it's fun to be able to picture hannah's living area and wow, you are popping out--so cute!!!!
can't wait to meet miss hannah banana-only a couple of weeks to go (approximately--hopefully sooner than later).
emily, thanks for the fun bridesmaid gift--i love all the goodies and can't wait to put them to good use this weekend!
mare, i've enjoyed the blogs--i hope you do that race--i want to, too! i want to catch a person in a giant banana suit!

fun quote from a kid:
i was evaluating a 3rd grade boy and he was looking at things i had in my room.
"do you see terra nova?" he said.
"i sure do! do you know her?" i said.
he closed his eyes for a few seconds, pursed his lips, nodded, and said in an adult-ish tone, "you could say that."
i said, "well, what's the story?"
and he became very sad-faced and sad-voiced and said, "well, we had a crush on each other in first grade and second grade. two years! and then all of the sudden ("all done" type of hand motion), it was over."
this kid is so serious and i'm trying my hardest not to laugh at this point.
so i said, "what happened? you just don't like her anymore?"
and he said, "no, she started liking charlie and now i don't even exist. two whole years...and then all of the sudden she's in a whole other dimension. i've tried talking to her, but brittany is like a bodyguard for her or something. i can't even get near her!"

ahhhh...love....

this weekend my honey is going back to bg for jeb's wedding, so i'll be all alone!
i am actually going to mexico because my girlfriend from work is getting married there.
but i think i'm going to try to work on our deck area, you know, get all the dead plants out of there and get some reed fencing to cover the brick wall with. we shall see, though.

just a thought:
isn't it too bad that people have to think twice about writing about what movie they saw (and maybe liked!)
or that dad edwards has to feel like his music selection is "uncool"?

-tracey

i'm listening to over the rhine's new 2 cd album, "ohio".
some of it has too much of a country twang-weird! but maybe they're going with the theme of ohio or something.
they do have a cool song titled ohio, though.

here are some lyrics (hitting home over here):
what in the world would make all this worthwhile?
and if i knew then (i was older then)
would i see regret to the last mile?
hello ohio
the back roads
i know ohio
like the back of my hand
alone ohio
where the river bends
and it's strange to see your story end

i started listening to over the rhine in 1989, when i first moved to cincinnati.
and thus, the obsession began.
i loved their song "jacksie".
i had no idea it was about cs lewis.
even if i would have been told, i still didn't know who cs lewis was.
and little did i know i would be learning about cs lewis from my HUSBAND's father 10 years later.

when i started listening to them it was the time in my life that i have felt the most alone.
my life had been completely uprooted and it was the Lord's doing.
it was that time in my life that i began my search for the Lord.
(7 years later i would make a commitment to follow Him).
it was the same time in my life i felt the desire to move to california
(nevermind that i had never been there).
how amazing that God would have put that in me
because of his plans that are just now starting to be revealed!

i know i'm getting a little emo here, but just thinking about His plans
to prosper us
and not to harm us
that He has determined our paths,
even though we make our own footprints.
and just how He reaches us in pain
and the most difficult times in my life
have been the times that i have grown and
learned how to know Him and draw near to him and love him.
and
just
be
still.
the worst times of my life have been the most beautiful times with Jesus.
those scars are precious.

-tracey

hmm...
interesting banter on the blogs.
especially the neverending crossbow comments.

i made a few of my own
and chuckled at myself.
(a paul runyan sort of chuckle, if you know what i mean).

i can not get off of the new outkast video/song.
we recorded the video and i keep watching it--so quality!
i'm usually not like this, but it's so fresh and strange and catchy, i can't get enough.
i feel like matt!

speaking of that guy, he was the hot topic in speech therapy today!
cutie kid: do you have a boyfriend?
me: no, but i do have a husband.
kid: MISTER edwards???

i began laughing hysterically since i've never heard anyone call matt "mr. edwards". so strange.
dad, do you remember when matt and i were just friends and i tried to call you dr. edwards? you laughed and told me to call you bruce. i'm glad i call you dad now!

speaking of titles, our weirdo chiropractor said the stupidest thing today and i pulled off the most perfect slam of my life (it probably doesn't seem like it in writing, but trust me, it was perfect!):
he was blabbering something about going by "dr. joe" and saying something like, "yeah, i like getting mail addressed to 'dr.' joe dzendzel. (pause) that's a little pretentious (laughs)." (side note: he is completely pretentious in all aspects!!!)
matt and i smile politely and inside have the usual million comments that we won't let out until we get in the car.
then he starts up again, "yeah, but it does tick me off when my aunt writes me letters and addresses them to "mr." joe dzendzel."
he looks at me to get my nod of agreement.
and i say, "now THAT'S pretentious!"
he laughed and i didn't feel horrible for letting the truth come flinging out of my mouth.
matt shook his head in utter disbelief (and admiration, i like to think-heehee!)
but come on, she's your AUNT, guy! NO ONE should have to call you dr. unless you ARE their doctor!!!
the end of that rant!

a fun thing is that my school has a brand new library and the librarian is getting rid of a ton of books--for free!
i picked out three big boxes. some stuff is really good, too! another narnia set, a bunch of madeline l'engle books, the pippi longstocking series (my childhood favorites), mrs. piggle wiggle, some roald dahl, tolkien, and some random things. but i was expecting it to just be like encyclopedias from the 70's, so such a great surprise and all for FREE!!! so i've been reading some fun books and laughing and remembering fun things. did anyone ever read "mr. popper's penguins"? such a great book! justy, you might recognize some of the stuff. i know i can't use a lot of this stuff right now, but i always am getting excited to read these things with my own kids someday. that's how i justify any book purchase i make for school--because i know i'm going to be keeping them for my own kids (and secretly, me--i get such a kick out of some of these things).

time for more top ten lists, people.
top ten things i'm listening to right now...
1. uh, outkast's "hey ya"
2. ken stringfellow
3. denison witmer
4. jack johnson (i wasn't into him at first, but i'm addicted now, mare!)
5. apples in stereo
6. rooney
7. saves the day's new one (it sounds like wheatus at first)
8. cush (as usual)
9. wayne everett
10. brand new

mare, that's so funny about the cardigans, right before you started posting about that i was in the custodian's supply room and he had the radio going. we started chatting about good 80s music and he brought up the cardigans--apparently a big fan. so if you get a chance could you burn me a copy of your faves or just bring at thanksgiving so we can rip it?

matt is totally knocked out right now.
he fell asleep right after dinner and was all disoriented.
he was all, "why am i so tired?"
i told him i put a sleeping pill in his carne asada quesadilla and he actually believed me!
what a grog!!!

michelle--yay! you're back, too! everyone seems to be back from their summer blogging vacations.
i can't believe hannah is going to be here in a couple of weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
she is going to be so beautiful!!!!!!!!
i wish we could be there right when she is born but thankfully it won't be too long after that we get to see her.
also, that is the best story about skyline--i was laughing so hard! besides, i have never had a deluxe burrito there, but skyline chili tastes good on everything (sickly i put it on zucchini the other day--and it was good of course!), so i'm sure it would be allllsome. we'll plan our next visit there around a tuesday, if matt has anything to say about it!

welp,
i'm off to read "pippi goes on board"--so hilarious.
-tracey

the end of a very long day of work.

i probably should have taken the whole day to work on paperwork and stupid stuff, but i NEEDED to see kids. first of all, i have to because they have legally binding documents mandating speech/language services; but most of all, because i finally feel normal when i'm doing that part of my job--the part that i love, the part that energizes me.
so the consequence for that was working on dumb stuff until 6:00 tonight. i know, to normal people, not a long day, but i could have left at 3:30 if i had no work to do.

enough of that blabber!!!

i have my first funny kid's quote of the school year.
drumroll please...

the kids were putting little shapes on paper to show the concepts "same" and "different".
one little (kindergarten) boy was putting little circles within big circles, little squares within big squares, etc.
when asked how those patterns were the same or different, he replied: "these all have babies in their tummies and the other ones have no babies in their tummies!"
yay!

welp, i'm going to make matt some broccoli to help counteract the 4 doughnuts consumed today :)
-tracey


it's getting hard to
breathe in this life
-denison witmer

also, if anyone was interested in hearing about christmas ideas early this year, number one on my list is the christopher guest dvd collection (has guffman, a mighty wind, best in show--around $46-48 online) and it comes out 9/23/03. walmart has an additional $10 mail-in rebate. just a fun fact!
-tracey

did i mention that on our vaca up the coast that everything smelled wonderful due to the thousands of eucalyptus trees planted everywhere? well it did, and everything seemed "so fresh and so clean, clean" --speaking of outkast, WHOA, how about their new sweet and catchy song!?? and hilarious video?? matt and i are so into it right now!!!

today we went to the beach and chilled. i was craving a fountain coke so matt got me one and nothing tastes better than a good fountain coke on the beach!! when we came home i talked to heidi on the phone (michelle and ryan, i can't wait to talk to you about God's blessing for heidi through you guys!!) and made some dinner.

now we just arrived home from the padres/astros game, which was entertaining mostly because of the people sitting around us. number one was these two guys and a girl (and i'm sorry to label them, but they were pretty nerdy) and one of the guys just started unravelling TOILET PAPER from his backpack! we were cracking up! he just unravelled it and then folded it back up--why, guy? if only we could have reached our camera in time. but alas, it was not meant to be.

i'm sorry if this next part offends anyone, but if it does, pretend that you didn't read it. either way, i was inspired by something i saw tonight at the game and have a product idean that could make us rich someday. you know those huge foam fingers that people wave at sporting events? i was thinking about marketing one that people could use in their cars, for when they get angry at other drivers--only you know which finger would be pointing up on these new foam hands... wouldn't that really just put an extra punch in the message??? plus, it would be hilarious to see people using them. anyways, i'm thinking my first seller will be spencer's at the mall...

well, enough of that.
justin, grandpa said that you needed a peace pipe for your new movie--HA! hilarious either way (i mean whether it is true or whether gramps made it up--which is probably the case).
well gang, matt and i are going to watch a movie on the NEW tv in our bedroom--hopefully i can stay awake.
goodnight.
-tracey

happy birthday dad edwards!!!
we love you!!!

two days in a row, people!!!
how's that?

i enjoyed everyone's blogs, mom, mare, justy, matt's new pics...
yeah, justin on the list for your wife, funny but touching, too.
that astros dress is sweet! i can almost picture the kind of girl who would be wearing it!
i can't wait until your wife joins our fun edwards family--every year gets better and better with more people being added to the fam!

i just made a delicious dinner, if i do say so myself!
grilled steak, red potatoes, and broccoli and red wine--so good!
now we're fatly going to circuit city to find a TV for our bedroom.

we have to do it before i fall asleep.
apparently, i'm having difficulty getting acclamated (spelling?) to this new disruption in my previous summer lazy schedule.
i ridiculously conked out last night at 9:30!!!
i haven't gone to bed that early for years!!! maybe even before 5th grade. except for random jet lag type of nights...

also, all of you who are into knowing God, check out oswald chambers "my utmost for his highest".
mare, of course you already do.
that dude has some weird wordage, but concepts are so simple/profound they knock you over sometimes.
one that i love is about hearing only the voice of God when you are surrounded by voices of the world or even well-meaning christians with their own motives. it states, "to discuss spiritual matters with anyone else, WHEN GOD HAS ALREADY SPOKEN, is an impertinence to the Lord."
yikes.

welp, we're off!
love you all and miss you all
-tracey

believe it or not, i'm blogging.
i know half of you have probably stopped checking, since when i actually DO update, it is short and boring.
well, not today.
today i finally have a little bit of time to actually sit down and breathe (or breath, as mare likes to say) for a minute.
august and these few days of september have been so busy!
let's see here,
we had visitors:
-michael and wes
-rachael
-brundage and pals
-heidi and ken
(whew!)
it's getting to the point where matt and i are having to make our own rules about when we can have visitors!!!

it's fun and all, for sure, but it gets to be overwhelming after awhile (thanksgiving visitors, don't be discouraged, we'll be all revved up again by november which will be so fun!). it may be a little crowded in this place, though, and i've never made a turkey before! i'm sort of excited to do that--thankfully, i'll have mom edwards' professional help!

we also bought a condo.
OH MY.
it sounds weird to say that.
the transition has been smooth and this place feels like home already.
we've painted a few rooms and have it set up for the most part.
i'm sure it will feel even more like home after our first mortgage payment...

our vacation was awesome. some of you have probably read matt's blogs about it or seen the pictures.
i wanted to include an amusing story, though...

we were driving up highway 1, (which, for those of you who don't know, snakes up california right along the coast) and it was breathtaking and beautiful. well, we came to some construction signs and saw some workers up ahead. a lady construction worker with a WHITE, PLASTIC COWBOY HAT on was holding a stop sign in our lane, so we stopped. she then proceeded to come over to our window and give us a lecture on what was going to be happening: "you're going to be waiting here while the traffic comes through (sidenote: oh, which turned out to be one car), then i will remove the cones from this lane, then i will motion you through and you will drive slowly to the other side." pretty unneccessary (are there too many letters in that word?).

after we were through the scene, matt and i started saying things like, "then you will put your hand on the stick shift and your left foot on the clutch..." "your hands will be on the steering wheel as your foot presses the gas pedal"
"then you will inhale..."
so amusing and we had a chuckle. and now you can. or maybe you had to be there.

the vacation was so relaxing but also some work of hiking and lugging our gear to different sites (well worth the pain)!
matt was absolutely a psycho about his masterpieces, the campfires.
which were perfect, by the way.
the obsession level was just a smidge high, though.
san francisco was great, as usual, and i got over the rhine's new cd from amoeba records.
we were sort of in a culture shock when we got to san fran and amoeba was one of the first places we went. and even matt had to say, "let's get out of here, there are too many people in here!". we were just so used to seeing only each other and maybe a few other people for the past week. so needless to say, we were totally overstimulated and freaked out. maybe a little something like casey was feeling after alaska...

oh yeah, school started, too. the night before i was like, "i can't believe i have to get up and go to WORK tomorrow!" but as soon as i got there, i thought, "oh yeah! i forgot how much i love my job!" so i'm okay with it. but there is a huge transition period of being a tired face all the time! but my quotes from kids will now be back up and running, so hopefully we'll get some entertaining ones this year...

oh, and ha ha about the ben/brad blog you jerks! i was saying how funny i thought ben's was, and matt acted like i was an idiot, and then had to post it for the public to see. and mary made the mistake of commenting on it, so i feel the strong need to remind her of her statement about the justinabambina blog: "it's so crazy that there's actually a girl out there who is like justin!" yeah, thought we all forgot about that one, huh? :)

also, why in the world is your car registration so expensive, mare? that stinks! ours was $73, and i thought THAT was annoying.

dad, your birthday is in 2 days! yay! what are you going to do?

also, i'm a little weirded out by this talk of cleveland, matt edwards. folks, please know that is in the DISTANT future, if at all. nothing is more depressing than thinking about having to leave the place of our dreams.
it's just that we had such a great time with some of our best friends in the world, heidi and ken (who want to live in cleveland). and heid and i always daydream about living near each other and being able to be at each other's houses every day. the boys are gamers for it, too, which is so great. i think that was one of the best parts of our visit with those peeps, was that heidi and i were in our own world, just chatting and talking and laughing, and the boys were doing the same, without us having to pay attention to them or make sure they were okay. just like me and heid, our husbands became instant friends in a way that only God could arrange.

welp, i must be moving on.
matt and i have an appointment at the chiroblabber's.
then to the farmer's market.
then a relaxing time in the jacuzzi (the complex's jacuzzi, we haven't had time to figure ours out yet), hopefully.
and maybe some ice cream.
sounds like a good night.

it's been real, people!
-tracey

lately i've been feeling
like you'll never know
if you don't mark the way back
the further you'll go
-denison witmer

we're back from a perfect vacation!
we had so much fun and saw such incredible beauty.
and now we're glad to be home.

it's official, the condo is ours!
so now i can finally celebrate and get excited and emotionally attached!!!!
we're going over there tonight with a bottle of champagne so we can toast to our very first house...

and now i'm going to have home depot on the brain (all that watching of trading spaces gets me so excited to make some inexpensive renovations to our new place).
bye
tracey

man, it's been awhile!
here i am again--a lot has happened since i last blogged.
rachael was supposed to be in san diego last weekend but due to a fire in one of the detroit airport terminals, she missed her flight. she was able to make it in on tuesday and we packed a lot of stuff in and had a lot of fun. matt and i had a great, relaxing weekend alone, which we spent up in encinitas, at our favorite san elijo state beach.

i picked up my bridesmaid dress for kevin and emily's wedding! yay! i can't remember if i told you which one i ended up getting, em, but it's the one that is sleeveless, fitted and has a high neckline. it also came with an organza wrap--do you want me to wear it or no?
congratulations kevin, on your first teaching job--you will be such an excellent teacher!!!

and it is official--we just purchased airline tickets with vouchers (compliments of ryan and michelle!) for our friends heidi and ken, who will be coming to visit over labor day weekend.

speaking of official--well, this is almost official, i guess. we had our final walk-through for our house and will be closing on it either tonight or tomorrow--yay! so if all goes well, we will be proud homeowners within 30 hours. i took a stroll through home depot today--man, they have everything! it got me really excited for making fun home improvements--which we don't really need to do with this place, it really is actually quite nice. but it will be fun to finally have some COLOR on the walls! i've been watching "trading spaces" and "while you were out" to get some good ideas. dad good, i'll also need to get some carpentry and light fixture tips from you! this house finding process has been so fun and really not stressful at all (thanks to the Lord). we had such a great realtor, who we really trusted and who was agressive in getting what we wanted and went above and beyond what he had to do. we probably won't actually move in until the weekend of august 22nd, just due to our vacation and more visitors (whew!). but that gives me time to get in there and paint some walls without having to move or cover any furniture, so it works out.

we'll be leaving for our vacation on sunday (matt deserves a break--he's been working so hard!)
mare, you requested our itinerary, so here goes (the rest of you may or may not be interested):

sunday, aug 10th--point mugu state park (just north of malibu)
monday, aug 11th--montana de oro state park, (west of san luis obispo)
tuesday, aug 12th--andrew molera state park, big sur
wednesday, aug 13th--big sur again
thursday, aug 14th--manresa state beach, santa cruz
fri and sat--san francisco
drive home sunday or monday
yay!
the end

tracey

alright, michelle and emily making your lists! yeah!

i'm going to add to my list now, you guys have reminded me of some things, so i'm going single white female and copying you on some things!

more things that make me happy:
-ryan's floppy lips, too!
-the song, "in which hand is the candy corn?"
-matt's ears (they're so perfect and smooth! before we were dating, i asked him if i could hold on to one and he let me!!! not only that, he requested it later!)
-waking up early and drinking vanilla coffee on the quiet beach
-seeing my grammy and granddad be in love after 60 years
-on that note, waking up at myrtle beach and seeing grammy and granddad sitting in the same chair, holding hands, looking at the ocean before anyone else was awake
-along the same vein--coming back from the beach at hilton head and catching grammy and granddad playing basketball by themselves in the pool--
you two make us all happy!!!

i'm the only one up (i couldn't fall back asleep after matt's first alarm went off). i think the boys are leaving sometime this morning and heading off for the grand canyon. and, inspired by my list, i'm going to get some coffee and head down to ocean beach. i love to see it change throughout the day, quiet and peaceful in the morning, fun and people everywhere during the day, and then quiet and cozy at night (especially with a campfire!).

i spent the day yesterday in encinitas, our favorite place (maybe mary's, too?) and took a picnic to the beach, read a good book, and went into a couple of surf stores. i may do it again today! also, i'm going to see if home depot is offering any free classes, now that i'm going to be a homeowner!!!

have a great day!
tracey

how is it wednesday night already???
michael and wesley arrived on monday around 3 or so.
we played some major games of yahtzee (michael is now sharing the yahtzee box of shame with michelle good--don't worry michelle, you still have the lowest score!!!) and the guys have just been chilling around the apt, on the beach, and at some choice skate spots here in point loma.

i have been living up my summer vacation, as usual, come on now, people, if you can't guess where i've been for the past three days, then you have a serious problem!!! i've been at the beach, of course! and i've been running on sunset cliffs and eating turkey sandwiches for lunch! it's the best summer ever! if only this could be a lifelong time of not working!!! ha! i know it is bad news when i'm dreaming about work and how i'm going to work each child into my schedule. but enough about that, we have more than a whole month until that becomes reality!

well, the condo thing looks like its going to work out. things are drying out, but it's taking longer than our realtor expected--not a big deal to us, since we have this apt until aug 31st, and it only saves us money to have our closing delayed. it seems like after we get back from our vacation (aug 17th) we will be signing the final papers and getting the keys. yay! so everyone can come and visit us in our new place! we just sent our landlord

i just had a nice chat with mom edwards on the phone tonight. it sounds like mom and dad are replacing all the edwards kids (who have left them) with a brand new tanzanian person! it seems like whenever matt and i think of calling home it's too late and our family/friends are in bed already. speaking of which, emily--i got your message and you're probably in bed now, too! unless you're having another crazy night like you were the other night. by the way, i'm praying for both you and kevin and your future jobs--they're yours--you guys deserve them.

i really like norah jones, i must say. such calming music (grammy, i think you would like her, actually) and she really is talented--i don't care whatever anyone else says.

and now, a (partial) list of things i like:
-yelling the word "yahtzee!"
-when matt gave me a tiny flower to wear in my hair
-seeing two dogs rolling around in the grass, wiggling and scratching their backs
-eating french bread and brie with a good glass of wine
-getting home after a good, hard run and collapsing on the floor
-the best feeling in the world: warm sand under my body and the sound of the ocean--why do i never tire of this?

this list will be updated and i encourage anyone who reads this to also make a (partial, continually updating) list of things he/she likes...
the end
tracey

hello all.
it's been a fun past few days with friends. on friday night we went to our friends "christmas in july" party, which was very fun. we met some more new people, too. we had a fun conversation about peoples' names (you know, like justin case, kat chase, michelle beavers!!!--ha!) michelle, what was your 8th grade class president slogan that got banned? i was trying to remember but couldn't and it was driving me nuts! also, we played the gift exchange while someone read "twas the night before christmas", just like the edwards family! matt and i came home with a cool set of tall beer glasses.

then yesterday, we had an all day beach party! matt was out standing guard over the fire pit at 9:00 am (can you believe that several had already been taken???) thank goodness we got there when we did (even though i teased matt about it--then retracted it when i saw that people really do stake it out so early on weekends). then our friends from matt's work all starting showing up around 1:00 or 2:00. the waves were so awesome and we totally got beat up!!! but caught some huge ones with the body board. also, you know how you try to avoid being taken away by just ducking under the wave while it goes over your head? that was a fruitless attempt, in most cases--those deals were so powerful! and sad to say, as we were heading in, i felt fiery hot needles on the back of my leg---why am i a jellyfish magnet????? so annoying!!! and so painful. but, because of my expertise in this area now (grrr), i just rubbed wet sand on it right away to get the tentacles out of my skin--this was the most effective thing i've ever done (for future good family reference, who also seems to attract those bubbly guys) because my leg is neither as puffy or grotesquely red as it has been in the past. then i put ketchup on my leg, because it has vinegar in it, and it actually helped the pain a little. i finally had to come home and put real vinegar on it, which took care of the pain for the rest of the night. and then i was able to have fun. we cooked hotdogs, veggie burgers, tofu italian sausage (i kid you not, it was excellent--i wouldn't have known it was meatless unless i had been told in advance), and a big fat steak on our little grill. then we built a fire and watched the sun set--so relaxing. we made s'mores and roasted more hot dogs over the fire, made mojitos, and watched the sea world fireworks from our beach chairs. then about 6 people (including matt) decided to go for a night swim, which was hilarious. then we ended our night by having some kid try to play "imagine" on his guitar while we sang lyrics. the lyrics that people were singing were not from the song, i must say. i felt sort of bad for him, since he just learned to play his first song--but he sounded horrible and there was no way we could have sang the real lyrics if we even tried. very funny scene.

today matt and i are going over to the condo to see the repairs that have been made, and i think? maybe a final decision will be made today to see if we keep this deal or move on to something else--depending on if there is moisture there. apparently, they also had a plumber go through the entire place and check every pipe for any kind of leak. he found nothing, so it seems pretty obvious that it was our neighbor's garden--so we shall see. it's getting closer and closer to being real, but i can't get attached until we are signing the final papers.

we're hoping to see michael sometime this week and rachael will be here for sure friday-monday.

"cool evening falling, i can hear it calling
cross to summer time"
ash

tracey

where can you buy a dozen roses for $1? the ocean beach farmer's market, that's where!
of course they're a little wilty today, but it was worth it!
i also purchased a bunch of sunflowers for $2, along with some yummy peaches.
yesterday was one of the best days ever--i did all my favorite things;
first, hung out at the beach all afternoon, then walked to the farmer's market ( a block away), then came home (matt was already home from work! yay!) so i spent some quality time with him, and then since we've been eating so well for the past week we decided to splurge and get a papa john's pizza while we watched spykids 2. oh, we also stopped it to watch "reno 911" on comedy central--pretty funny--not unlike the improv style of christopher guest movies...(plus, there's a guy in it who reminds me of the dude who is in love with corky in "waiting for guffman").

while i was at ocean beach yesterday, i suddenly spotted a guy wearing jeans and no shirt, but a big white bra, really unnaturally shaped with some tennis balls. he was just walking along the beach, acting like there was nothing out of the ordinary. was this just an act? one never knows in OB. speaking of which, if this condo thing goes through, our new zip code will be ocean beach area. ha!

this weekend should be fun and busy. our friends are having a party (christmas in july) on friday and then we're having a beach party on saturday.

michelle, do you have that recipe for weightwatchers zero point vegetable soup? i've been meaning to make it again, but i can't find my recipe.
have fun today edwards family, with mary's birthday celebration!!! we'll be calling later this evening.

"all hail what will be revealed today"
-new pornographers

i'm out.
tracey

p.p.p.s. michelle, those lyrics (everybody knows it hurts to grow up) are from ben folds "still fighting it"
i love those lyrics, too. i was just thinking about how boring adult conversation can be, with this house buying and all. when we talk to people about mortgages and inspections and home repair, i sometimes find myself fighting the urge to shout, "next subject!" in the middle of the conversation. so i just think about that and quietly start laughing to myself about it!

p.s. emily, actually, matt and i were up watching kilborne last night, too! you could have called me. i love william h. macy--and i can not wait until he wins a bunch of stuff for "door-to-door"! although i think i did start to drift off right before miss vega started to play. and here's what i have to say about that--how can she have a "best of" cd? she had like one song!!!! what a kook! by the way, i feel safer being an aunt first, too! we get the love but no responsibility for ruining their lives!!!! ha!

p.p.s. one of the funniest things ever was last night david letterman was trying to see how many pirates could fit into a subway. it turned out to be 30, plus 3 horse costumes. most disturbing was the horse costume that just had one person in it, so it's really just a brown furry body with a huge horse head on top. it was so flaming lips!!!

happy birthday mary!!!!!!!
we love you and wish we could be with you today!!!

i feel like i haven't updated for awhile, so here's the news...
matt and i had fun this past weekend with his friend from work and her husband (sue and tom).
ate at this yummy mexican restaurant that i had seen while i was out running that morning--it has an outside eating area which is covered by an arbor and there are beautiful flowers just taking over the whole thing!!! then we went to a couple of places and played bar games like shuffleboard, foosball, and darts--i must say that the ladies ruled the men with the darts!!! so much fun, unexpectedly...

we got in some nice beach time, too. perfect days on both saturday and sunday. we did some body boarding and body surfing, but some of the fun was taken away by the crowds--you really had to look behind you and in front of you to make sure you weren't going to kill or be killed as you caught a wave--and even then i had about 5 near misses. but there is nothing like being on top of a 6 foot wave!!!!! the feeling is so amazing--and the waves were so perfectly rolling, too.

let's see, what else... still waiting on our condo thing--it looks like this garden/stucco thing really is the problem. i went over there yesterday to do some paperwork with our realtor and i still love it! but not getting emotionally attached to it, as nothing is a for sure deal yet. we'll see what happens...

matt said i was getting a root canal the other day but it didn't happen (yay!). the specialist looked at my mouth and tried a few things with cold stuff and determined that my root is fine and that maybe i have a crack in the tooth somewhere. boring, let's move on!

i ended up watching a beautiful sunset by myself last night as matt went out to see reggie and the full effect.
not much going on today. when the sun comes out i'll go to the beach, then the OB farmer's market this evening for some food and flowers.

well, i love you all! have an excellent wednesday!!!
tracey

hello there.
the other day when matt and i went to the beach there was a funny (well, just unbelievable) scene.
these 3 guys were sitting on a grassy area in the middle of ocean beach (beach on one side, street on the other) and passing around what looked to be a joint. they weren't even being secretive about it, either! i did a double take, and sure enough, it was a fatty. i said to matt, "is that pot?" and he said, "yep!". talk about risk-takers--there seriously were hundreds of people around, not to mention a police station less than 100 yards away! wow...

anyhoo, had a lazy day yesterday, preparing some stuff for our future vacation...making lists, spreadsheets, you know, mare, maps of how everything is going to be packed in our suitcases!!!

oh, and some good news for our condo. the plumber and both realtors went to check out the source of the leak yesterday. they pulled up the whole deck and found no moisture around the jacuzzi. so that eliminated the jacuzzi as being the source of the leak. then as they tore up boards by our wall and fence, they discovered that the neighbor has wet mulch (which is designed to retain moisture) that is covering 6 inches of the stucco. apparently, you are not allowed to have dirt or anything piled up higher than the foundation for this very reason. the mulch is right where our two walls meet and the water is travelling into the house through the ground and wicking its way up the wall (on our side). so it's a pretty easy solution, that dude (who we met and who is really nice) just has to move his mulch back.

so it looks like everything is a go, but i'm still not going to get too excited until we have our final walk through and the keys are in our hands.
we've prayed for God's will, so we'll see what happens!

well, i'm going for a walk.

"yeah we've been walking
barefoot
all summer
why can't we just decide
to live like this all the time?
why can't we just quit?"

yeah, really! 10 weeks off is not enough. my summer vacation is nearly halfway through--how in the world did that happen???
tracey
p.s. mare, do you have any birthday ideas?

it's early and the sun is out again!!! yeah! it's beach time for me!

i got up on tuesday and the weather was pulling its usual number of cloudiness in the morning so i drove 10 miles inland to mission valley trails and went hiking by myself. it was warm and totally sunny (justin, can you explain that phenomenon to me again? i know you learned about it in your weather class!). i hiked to this dam and river first, then through dry, fire-burned grasslands, then up a (small!) mountain. i was practically the only one out there so i enjoyed the sounds of nature, including a strange insect? that made a funny rattling sound throughout my hike. i finished off by doing a loop around this lake and stopped to read a sign which said, "beware of rattle snakes". uh, right, then... this happened to me earlier in the year with a mountain lion (except i never encountered one, that i know of--i just discovered the warning sign after my hike). probably better to not know of these things or i would be really jumpy.

and now for some personal messages:
grammy: i hope you are feeling better!
dad and mary and casey: have fun with grampy! tell him we say hi!
emily: yay! glad to see you're blogging again! oh, also, i um, er, watch pet psychic on occasion. shu-up! i can't help it!!! it's so great!
justy, mikey, and mommy: hope you're having fun on your trips! mom, we haven't been to that restaurant, maybe we'll try it when you guys come out for labor day weekend. just and mike, are you guys coming out, too?
ry dogg: where are you guy?
michelle: no mayonnaise? :)

welp, i'm going to start my day of relaxation...

the world can wait
-over the rhine

tracey

well i finally updated everyones new blog sites on my links (dad, michelle, mikey)!
dad edwards, we miss you all too, it would be so fun to be home with everyone right now!
michelle-- i can't wait to hear about you american idol adventures! did you watch amazing race?

yesterday, we went to check out the condo. still really at the same stage, but our realtor wanted us to see it for ourselves. they have removed a piece of the drywall (where the water stain was) and have exposed all the layers of stuff in the walls. nothing looked wet, but the moisture detector revealed some places that still are. so they're going to get a contractor out there to find the source of the leak, remove some floorboards from the deck, inspect/repair the jacuzzi, and hopefully fix it all. actually, this holdup is sort of nice--if we could push our closing date (july 28th) into august, we might be able to avoid paying our mortgage until october. that would be very nice!

after we took a look at our condo, matt and i hung out at ocean beach for a few hours. man!!! the tourists are everywhere! the waves were huge and long and it was so fun to watch the surfers catch some good waves. then we went to see "the pirates of the caribbean", which was pretty good! johnny depp's character was funny, that girl from bend it like beckham wasn't nearly as annoying as she could have been, and it was a fairly interesting plot. very enjoyable. dad, i'm glad to hear you liked "down with love"--i agree with you! it was a great movie!

i think i'm going for a hike at cowles mountain or torrey pines today, and then to veg out on the beach after i'm done.
have a great monday, everyone!

let me go
to the shore
on a beach where we belong
i always pray for sun
-travoltas "pray for sun"

tracey

MARY AND CASEY YOU ARE TOTALLY INSANE!!!!!!!!!
in a good way, of course!

i would have given anything to see the looks on the fam's faces when you walked in the door!!!!
mom and dad, i bet you are completely thrilled!!!
matt said that you guys (mare and casey) might stop by to visit--that would be so great! and we could also meet somewhere along the coast during our vacation. we're working our way north starting on august 10th and on august 12th and 13th we are going to stay in big sur (that campsite on the ocean that we talked about earlier) and a couple more places before we end up in san fran on the 15th and 16th-so if you want to get in on any or all of that scence, that would be cool as well.

i had such a fun time back in cincy these past two weeks, but i am so glad to be home! (i missed seeing mom and dad edwards, though--our schedules just didn't match up :( ) mike and justy, hope you are having fun on your trips and hope you can make it out here this summer!

man i missed this place!!! just the smell of the air here is so refreshing and clean and beachy. matt took me to the ocean right away when i got back and we walked along the beach, checked out the dogs, and finally just set up our beach chairs and hung out for a couple of hours, just looking at the ocean and relaxing. and yes, i know that was a run-on sentence, but it is summer and i am on vacation--so no rules apply!!!!

we're going to check out the work they're doing on the condo today, and get some more details as well, so that should be fun.

it is early morning and sunny already so i am going for a run on sunset clifffs.

"it gets me going in ways that i can't explain"
-spymob (thanks for the props, matt!!! ha!)

farewell, people!
tracey

oh my--i have been a delinquent, haven't i?
first off, matt, that quote from last week (grew a mustache and a mullet) is from ben folds "army".
i've been here in cincy just visiting and chillin and chatting uncontrollably!
it has been a really fun trip so far--so much to write about. i will, however, not bore you all with too many details and just try to skim the important factos...
fun things i've done:
-went to work with my mom (hung out with preschoolers all day--so fun and hilarious!!!) once again, i found myself saying something in reference to food on the face: "zachary. is that what we do with pizza? put it on our face? no, i didn't think so."
-heidi came in town for 3 days and we laughed nonstop!
-took care of mr. reeces for 2 days!
-had a baby shower for michelle
-hung out with the beavers family for a night. "undecorated" the living room with joey, ry and michelle by utilizing small stuffed animals tied to helium ballons...
-went to kings island with my dad-wahoo!
-went to the newport aquarium and saw tons of fun sea animals!!!
-went down to lexington for a day to see ry and michelle's home that they are building--wow! so perfect for you guys!!! awesome loft!
-went out for dinner at the bamboo club-very cool atmosphere and very tasty food!

tonight is my last night here. tomorrow evening we head to columbus to spend the night so i can catch my morning flight to san diego on saturday. i miss my husband so much!!!!!!! and next to missing him, i miss the ocean. that is the first place matt is taking me after he comes to pick me up at the airport and i can NOT wait!!!
welp, there's the short update for now.

this is not goodbye-ye
-over the rhine

tracey

hello gang!
it has been beautiful and warm this week (sorry ryan and michelle). seriously, when they were here, it was colder than it usually is in the winter. so annoying!!! anyways, i've been hanging out at the beach as much as possible--so nice. well the other day matt and i were watching TV around 5:00 and a preview for the 10 o'clock news came on. they were talking about the great weather we've been having and showing clips of the beach. and i was getting ready to change the channel when i'm like, "wait! that girl has my same bathing suit!" and then i'm like, "wait, that IS me!" we were dying laughing because it was a close up of me in the beach chair, just chillin. then they showed it like every half hour like it was going to be their top story--HA!!!
so now i'm famous!!!

i've totally been enjoying this great weather just hanging out at the beach ( i discovered this cool tiny one within sunset cliffs). the OB farmer's market was yesterday and i walked around there for awhile before buying some fresh pasta, tomato-cream sauce, and a huge bunch of electric purple daisy-looking flowers with yellow centers (2 bucks!!!).

as you may have read in matt's blog, we're in the process of buying a townhome. it is so perfect--hopefully everything will go smoothly for the next 30 days and then it will be ours. you can read the other details in matt's blog--it's pretty sweet! we're going to make a video of it also, so you peeps from ohio can visualize our place and picture where we are when we're chatting with you on the phone.

we have our last meeting with the finance guy and the home inspection today--then maybe lassie foundation show in LA tonight. then i'm off to cincy (by way of columbus) on saturday (until july 12th). thanks ry, for the pickup and ride home--it's so fun that i get to see you guys so soon again! for your info: i'm taking united airlines flight 1058 from denver to columbus and the plane is supposed to arrive at 2:53 pm. so you can check to see if it is on time and all. i guess we could just meet by the baggage claim outside so you don't have to park or anything. then i have a whole night with grammy and granddad and dinner with kevdogg (no emily though :( ). edwards family--i can't wait to see you guys--just give me a call at my parents house when you get a chance and we'll set up a good day to get together! i'm so pumped for this trip but i'm going to miss my husband. this will be the longest we have been apart since we've been married.

welp, i'm out.
tracey

how did you know i was heading for pacifico?
-lassie foundation

well, i'm updating this blog just because of michelle's manipulation!!!
not really, i've just been busy, PEOPLE!!!!

we've had a fun time with ry and michelle.
so you 've heard about the sad news with bob barker once again--CAN YOU BELIEVE IT????
it was disappointing but not as sad as the first time. but this just gives us more time to practice studying prices...

we finally had a sunny day so went to la jolla, checked out the cute seals, had a tasty snack at a fun cafe, ryan went to play golf with his buddy phil while michelle, matt and i went to sunset cliffs with our wahoo's tacos and enjoyed the rest of the sun for the day. michelle and i also got spa pedicures and it was SO relaxing! it was the classic asian women speaking little english to us and then talking to each other in their language and laughing. were they making fun of us? it reminded me of that seinfeld episode where elaine suspected her nail technician of doing the same...ha!

have fun in AK mary and casey!!!
dad edwards, where are you? you're usually more faithful at blogging than all of us (well, maybe not more faithful than justin)...

we're going to check out some condos tomorrow so we'll see if anything looks like a real option..
peace out.
tracey

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD GOOD AND DAD EDWARDS!!!
I LOVE YOU!!
tracey

yeah!!!! i'm done with school!!!!
now i have 10 weeks off!!!
(not to mention the other 23 vacation days--wow, almost 5 work weeks- i had throughout the school year)
man i love being in the schools!!!

also, i found out that i get to be at the same schools next year, so i am extremely excited.
this was my fourth year as a speech therapist and it has been my best.
i was telling this to a group of kids on their last day of speech and one little peanut said,
"it's my fourth year of speech, too, and it's been MY best."
yay!

on my list of things i want to do this summer:
1. go to the beach as much as possible
2. go back to cincinnati to see family and friends
3. finally do my scrapbook of our first year in san diego
4. maybe take a class? (nah...)
5. get a pedicure (ha! i don't know why, but i really want to do this! probably because i have been wearing sandals every day since march and am tired of my feet)
6. camp up the coast of california with my husband (which we have 5 different places reserved from august 10-17) one of the places we have reserved is called a hotel, where we are ending up our trip in san francisco.

i woke up at 6:45 today. why, you (and i) ask? well, because that's the time i get up every day when i'm working WHICH I'M NOT. oh well, i have some last minute shopping to do before ryan and michelle get here. man i'm looking forward to the field (yummy cool irish pub we go to), at ryan's request. and wahoo's fish taco...they just opened a new one in point loma--BIG MISTAKE---we've been there 3 times in the past 4 days. yikes! but it is by far our favorite restaurant here!!!!

yay! grammy wrote!!! i can't wait to see your new cute haircut!!! i'll have to get all the details of the shoulder surgery when i come to visit in a couple of weeks.

well, lots of things happening---i'm back on the blog train again. and justin, don't you quit on us!!! we'll miss you if you don't blog! and why don't you just come out with mikey? hey, did you get your harry potter book from us yet? it was supposedly going to be delivered on the 12th. or was it the 22nd? i also was thinking of your production company (of which i can't wait to be the social organizer) the other day--i can't wait until that happens!!!

also, happy 1 year anniversary mary and casey (tomorrow)!!!!
you guys are alllllllllllsome! i can't believe you guys saw a bear--that is so sweet. did you run after it and try to hug it?
i would have.
also, ramona is beautiful, if i remember correctly. when we drive to the desert, we start off here at the ocean, then through ramona, which is green and lush and foresty, and then an hour later we are in the hot, desolate desert. fun to see 3 totally different terrains in less than 2 hours of driving. mom and dad good, you remember that, eh? have so much fun on your vacation!!!! and grammy and granddad and the burns family!!!

my friend regina just had her baby-- a little girl named maria.
congratulations!!!!! she is so beautiful!!!!!

oh, and michael, i took two bricks from another...

welp, i need to get on the ball here...
have a great day/week/who knows when i'll blog again!
tracey

wow, has it really only been one blog in 2 weeks?
ryan trash-talked me into updating!

welpy welp welp--ooooooooooooooooooonly 6 more days of school!!!! and i can not wait!
everything is getting done, although i predict a couple of later evenings this next week of working (which equals 5:00 for me, so i shouldn't feel too sorry for myself, eh?).

let's see, what has been happening? well, this past weekend, i took matt to a vineyard/winery for some wine tasting. it was totally beautiful and quaint--apparently it is san diego's oldest winery. fun fact. i had never been to a vineyard before, so that was completely cool. plus, they allow you to taste 4 different wines for free in these rather large shot glasses. we had a really good time. we also spent the day in encinitas (which is where ry's buddy phil just moved--how random!!!) and watched the surfers and the ocean as we ate dinner. it was a perfect evening. we ended up seeing nemo, which i found to be cute (i liked the pelicans--there wasn't enough of those cuties--and the sea turtles--especially the baby ones). matt and i BOTH laughed out loud, which we don't freqently do. did i mention that we saw bruce almighty with mary and casey? which i thought was HILARIOUS. many hee-haw moments for me! and tastefully done --i mean, nothing too out of order like you see with most hollywood conceptions of God. and i thought jim carey's communication with the Lord, like when he was crying out to him, was so convincing. is he still trying to do missions work in africa with harmon parker or was that just a weird rumor?
sorry for all the grammatical errors today, and excessive commas, i , get, carried, away, and, i'm , exhausted, and tired of thinking!!!!!

condo hunting has been pretty sparse, but that's fine with us. we saw one yesterday where we walked in and we all made a beeline to open the sliding glass doors--we were choking ("noking, i'm noking!", as farley said...anyone remember what this quote is from?) from the narsty smoke smell in the place--such a turn-off! anyhoo, the right condo will come open at the right timing and we're really excited!!!

and my vote is yes for keeping the jeep, too--why not? you've put so much into it.
well, i must be going.
byebyebloggers.
tracey

hello everyone.
it's been awhile for me, but i'm back, have no fear.

wow, justin--fun pictures of england--did you edit them in any way/crop/shape/etc? the reason i ask is because they're so rectangular and perfect. and congratulations on your first car!
and dad too, for finally getting your dream of the land rover!

we had a good time over memorial day weekend with mary and casey.
yosemite was beautiful--i can't wait to go back and explore that place when i have some more time!
excessive sonic visits were made, but i handled it better than i did when we moved out here and had to stop at sonic for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 3 days straight!
it was fun to see their classrooms and their apartment--very cute. and in true small-town style, when we rolled into town around 1:30 am, a police cruiser spotted us on the main drag, did a u-ie and began to follow us through the town (what? that car isn't from this town! after them, boys!). then they finally flashed their lights and pulled us over and one officer came to matt's window, and one to my window--helpful, eh? they actually were asking if we were lost (but there was no way they could have known that when they started following us). so i told them where we needed to go (which was a couple of blocks back but we weren't able to see the house numbers) and mr. helpful condescending police officer said, "in chowchilla, the street numbers go up as you go this way. you need to go back where you came from." oh, thanks sir--extremely helpful. but, at least we gave them some action for the night.

man, these last two weeks of school are BUSY. how am i going to get it all done? but i guess i will...
only 10 days left!!! and then ryan and michelle come and then beach time every day!

matt and i went downtown last night (i had been in withdrawal mode since we went to chow town last weekend and matt was sick the weekend before)--it felt so good to be around big buildings and people... ahhh.... we went to this cool place called henry's pub, a scottish restaurant--very yummy! and somehow, matt manages to find either a burger or a pizza at any restaurant he goes to, regardless of fare!!!
matt then went to flaming lips, which sounded epic, but i'll let him tell the details. while he was gone, i chatted with michelle, who was up at 2am in ohio and decided to call! :)

alright michael! you're welcome whenever your road trip takes you here-it sounds like so much fun!
speaking of road trips, matt and i decided we are going to take a road trip of our own up the coast of cali and camp on our way. there are lots of places with free or cheap camping, right on the ocean. some places we're considering are (in case you are obsessed with atlases, like me!): santa barbara, santa cruz island (with mary and casey), big sur, and of course san francisco--won't be quite as fun without joel, astevens, and mccann, though. we're planning for sometime in late july/august, so we can meet up with the alaskans at some point!!!

well, i'm out.
and i'm with you, dad,
god is good.