i am a triathlete! and so is mary!
yes!
so crazy to be able to say that!

so here's the story: mare came into town on friday evening and we picked up some wahoo's and enjoyed some conversation. matt and i went to bed early (i don't know why matt conked out! i was still sick-i had an excuse. and by the way, i lost my voice on thursday and it is replaced with a ridiculously hoarse and breathy voice with a ton of pitch breaks. so annoying to talk with and annoying for other people to listen to! it's a little better today, but still annoying).

saturday, mare and i went to the pre-race expo and we went to pick up our numbers and hear a triathlon guru (named "gurujan") talk about details of the triathlon. after what seemed like forever, we finally came home (he had a ton of good things to say, but it dragged on and i was fighting a fever. thankfully, he was at least funny and quirky. and bald. i don't know why that last quality seems important, but it just completes the picture of guru, i think). mare and i both took naps when we got home and sleepily woke up in time to go drop our bikes off at the transition area and go over the course.

mare and i made a yummy carb-loaded meal of spaghetti, bread and cheese, and salad. then we practiced our funny transitions (see her blog for extra details and procedures) while matt made fun of our alien swim-cap heads. "when you see me in this swim cap, you're going to wish you never married me," i said to matt. "you're right," he said when he saw me. HA! unfortunately, the fever i had been battling all day got the best of me. (doesn't God love me? why is He letting this happen to me NOW, of all times?----who else has had these irrational thoughts when you are sick? yet i've never wrestled with God over anything more than i have with disease and illness on this earth. but that's a way longer conversation-i digress...)

then, i got a nice call from my dear friend, heidi, calling to encourage me and give me tips to get better (calcium-for body aches, and a lemon bath, which supposedly draws toxins and infections out of your body through your skin. weird.) matt, mary, and i made a run to jamba juice to get smoothies with immune boosters in them and i came home and took the silly lemon bath and went to bed.

today: mare and i woke up at 5:00 am, full of adrenaline, and me feeling better (lemon bath? the Lord? both? i don't know). when we arrived at the transition area to set up our gear for the race, boy, were we glad we had gone to hear the guru! we had time to process and visualize and rehearse in our heads and were calm and ready to go in the morning. other people were asking out of control unprepared questions (when does my age group race? where do i put my bike?, etc.) and we were so glad to eliminate at least that portion of anxiousness from our day.

THE SWIM: we got halfway into our wetsuits and walked the 1/2 mile to the swim start and watched the pros and elites gracefully gliding through the water. then all the other men raced and mare and i were in the first female wave start. there were 15 wave starts, (1600 people competing total) and mary and i were in the 9th wave start.

anyhoo, as the time came closer to our wave, we got in the freezing cold water and were trying to practice swimming. not easy while hyperventilating from shock :). we were giggling and freaking out and chatting with the other girls in our age group (24-29). i started to feel really nervous and anxious. i heard a girl near me say, "ok, let's pray," to her two friends and i said all out of control, "oh, can we pray with you?" of course we could, they said. and we all held hands and prayed together. i felt better after that. i was telling matt about it after the race and he said, "i know. i saw you. i took a picture of you guys." that made me so happy!

so we got in line with all the other white and green swim caps and treaded water for 5 minutes until the siren signaled our start. we waited a few seconds (again, good advice from mr. guru) and then took off. instantly, i was on top of 5 girls, kicking and flapping! and during the first couple of stroke-breaths, i took in a large mouthful of saltwater. even though we were in a protected bay, the tide was coming in and there were still waves. waves which flung into the mouth. i lost mary and then switched back and forth from front crawl to backstroke when i couldn't breathe (i'm telling you people, it was hard to coordinate the breathing with the freezing cold and adrenaline and saltwater--matt has a hilarious video of this! as i watched, i thought, "hmm. my form looks pretty good." and then you see me stop and start coughing out of control-very funny!). we swam from one point along the shore to another point along the shore, with lifeguards on surfboards and jetskis monitoring us and yelling encouragement. after what seemed like a million years, i finally reached the end and ran to the transition area (maybe 100 yards away?).

TRANSITION #1: mr. guru told us that while swimming, the blood from our brains would be actually trying to get oxygen to our legs and arms, thereby rendering our thinking. i flung off my goggles, swim cap, wetsuit, and then put on my clothes and shoes. my brain apparently forgot how to tie shoes and my fingers were all slow and deliberate, and i was laughing deliriously. mare ran up and started her transition while matt took pictures and i drank some water. "it tastes so sweet [after ingesting saltwater]!" i deliriously shouted to mary, as she deliriously took it from me. ahhhhh, sweet, sweet nectar... matt took some good pictures of the goofballs, and we were off and running with our bikes. we hopped on our bikes once we were out of the transition area and past a chalk line that said, "BIKE MOUNT LINE".

THE BIKE: mare and i went sailing away on our bikes, feeling strong and happy to be out of the water. we were supposed to keep 2 bike lengths of a distance between us (single-file, that is), but we snuck sometimes (when the path was wide or when there weren't many people behind us) and rode together. people commented on our matching shirts-yay! perfect red under armour shirts, for those of you who don't know! one thing about the biking was that people on road bikes were much faster and went flying around us. and we were in our highest gears and couldn't pedal any faster. we circled around this island and then cut through sea world's parking lot. a lady passed us on a turn and then flipped head-first over a curb at the next turn. i screamed-because it looked horrible-- and mare and i slowed way down and yelled, "are you okay?" she looked dazed but said she was alright, so we kept on going. then the end was in sight. we dismounted and ran on our noodle legs toward our bike rack. i heard a crash and turned around to see a wreck of 4 bikes at the dismount line we had just passed.

TRANSITION #2: still running on noodle legs, we ran our bikes back to the rack and i was all confused when i saw that someone had put their bike on top of mine and mare's spot. it only took a few seconds for me to problem solve, though, and we threw our helmets down, grabbed an energy gel and a water and were off and running!

THE RUN: man, we had been dreading this leg of the race when we had talked about it in preparation, but it turned out to be the best leg of the race for both of us. yay! mare said it best, "it feels good to have normal, natural body movement again". this time, WE actually were the ones doing most of the passing and just got into a great flow and rhythm. we passed mile marker #1 and both felt pretty good. we kept on running and looking for mile marker #2 but never saw it. mare remembered that when we reached the top of the bridge we would have less than 1/2 mile left and all of the sudden we were at the base of it. mare led us up the bridge in the passing lane and we probably passed 30-40 people on that deal--YES! when we reached the bottom we could see the tents and the crowds of people up ahead. another few minutes and we saw matt, with his camera and backpack chair in tow. people were yelling and screaming and these guys were telling us to "pick up the pace, last 100 yards!!!" so we did!

THE FINISH: we picked it up, and did a 100 yard stride into the finish line, which we crossed together. the guy who was yelling people's names into the microphone at the finish line yelled in his funny announcer voice, "what's this? i'm seeing double! it's tracey and mary edwards!" we started laughing deliriously again and tried to give each other high fives but missed and laughed even harder and dizzily tried not to fall down as we walked down the chute and gave people our numbers and timing chips. matt was waiting for us there. ahhhh, bliss and success and adrenaline and thank you Lord!

after free food and jamba juice smoothies and lip balm and other free wierd stuff, we came home. mary and i jumped in the hot tub and relived all the fun moments of the race as we soaked our muscles.

now mare and matt are out surfing it up in encinitas with joel and the andys. matt made me (and i decided, too...) stay home because i really am not well. so i'm here resting and feeling like it is 7 at night because this day seems so long! when they get home we will all get into the steaming hot jacuzzi with maybe a drink.

all in all, fantastic day! we'll definitely do another triathlon again someday--it was so much fun and it went by so fast. and maybe the muddy buddy race at the end of the month--see mary's blog for a link!

welp, i'm out.

"i beat my body and make it my slave..."
-I corinthians 9:27a

happy birthday hannah baby!!!!!

we had a great visit with mom and dad edwards this past week. we went to santa monica, saw the padres play, checked out matt's office, hiked a little at torrey pines, made flavored martinis, went shopping everywhere, and ate, ate, ate!!! mom and dad spoiled us with so many great meals that i think we're each 5 pounds heavier! they also surprised me with an early birthday present last night--a trip to OB surf shops to get my very own board!!!! yes!!! it is a very cool, 7' 4" board, aqua-blue with a couple of white stripes. it's all waxed up and i'm ready to get on it!!!!!

unfortunately, last night i started to feel unnaturally tired and woke up at 3am with symptoms of a sinus infection. noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! i finally dozed off again around 5am and slept restlessly until 7:30am. normally, i would have sucked it up and gone into work feeling bad, but we have been training for so long for this triathlon, and i HAVE to be healthy by sunday (and sinus infections can go on forever...). so i called off, went to the chiropractor (who is a straight shooter, which i like, but funnily became all fatherly when he saw how awful i was feeling!), and have been resting and loading up on vitamins, water and soup all day long. my fever finally broke around 4pm, and i've been feeling a little bit better this evening. i pray that my body recovers overnight. i hate when sickness interferes with my life. but this little thing does not even BEGIN to compare with what justin deals with on a daily basis.

welp, i'm headed off to watch scrubs and then enter into a healing sleep.
goodnight!

we just returned from a fantastic show tonight--franz ferdinand was so energetic and fun, i would have paid the $ to see them alone. secret machines were excellent, deathcab was a little boring, which was a disappointment, because i love them. but they were the second band to play and maybe the sound wasn't quite right--they were really cool and humble guys, though. muse was surprisingly entertaining (a tiny bit goth-style with the electronica and odd bass distortion) and very rockin. i probably still won't get their cd, but if anyone loves them, they give a great live show. we left before the yeah yeah yeahs came on, because i hate the atmosphere they bring to a place. so we left on a perfect franz ferdinand-happy-60's ish set-beatles-esque positioning on stage-fun-energy-filled note!!!!

and i agree with dad edwards: it seems we are running a free bed and breakfast! :) we were expecting astevens (and maybe mccann again) for this weekend, but as matt mentioned, they ended up bringing 2 friends we didn't know. they were fine, but it takes energy to entertain and make conversation with people you don't know. i would have rather just had the andys and been able to just chill. we went surfing up in encinitas today. or shall i say, we went to battle the ridiculous undercurrent in encinitas today. i tried to get out past the whitewater, but after fighting for 15 minutes of the strongest ripcurrent i have ever been in, i gave up and just watched the boys as only 1 out of the 4 caught a single wave. darn.

all of the sudden, it feels like fall. this time last week, we were roasting and sweating all day and keeping all the windows and doors open through the night. tonight i had to close everything up-AND WEAR SOCKS!!!-(which is disturbing, since it has been several months since i've had to do that--aside from exercising, of course) because it was actually pretty chilly. i just hope the weather stays nice for the next 2 weeks worth of visitors (mom and dad edwards this weds, mary next friday). plus, it would be nice not to have to wear a wetsuit for a little bit longer, at least.

welp, monday is here again.
i have a busy week ahead of me.
have a good one, everybody!

i practiced my swim to bike transition this morning as i completed 2/3 of a triathlon (mare, it took me about 1 hour 10 minutes with dryoff and driving home-just 1/2 mile-- to get my bike). but hilariously i hopped out of the ymca pool and flung on my shoes and clothes over my wet bathing suit. i wish i could have videotaped that awkwardness, i'm sure the lifeguard was like, "what is she doing?". only 2 weeks until our race! i MUST practice an open water swim before this deal goes down. there are some moms at my school who swim the la jolla cove every saturday, so i will have to do it next saturday morning... mare, did you end up getting us shorts for the triath?

we met joel and elisha and andy mccann up in orange county to see lassie foundation on thursday night. lassie was supposed to play second, at 10:00, which was late as it was. then when we got there the guy at the door told us they had been moved to playing last, like at 11:30. we obviously ended up staying much later than planned but had a fun time with those three.

and tomorrow night we get to see franz ferdinand, secret machines, deathcab, yeah yeah yeahs and someone else. why can't i retain that information? either way, i'm pumped!!! and then the pixies and the thrills on tuesday! then mom and dad edwards come in town on thursday-yay!

justin, i pray for you always.

how we race
all our lives
erased
-secret machines

wow justin...awesome blog.

ahhh... last night matt went to drop jeb and jay off at the airport and i instantly washed the 3 sets of guest sheets and a bunch of towels (you may think i'm efficient, but we've got quite a little bed and breakfast going here-we have to be ready!). so then i went to pilates. when i came home and matt was back and we were just sitting at the computer, listening to the new thrills album and enjoying actually spending some time with each other. it was so nice. five minutes later, our cell phone rings. by the time matt gets upstairs, we have missed the call. but the caller is leaving a message, so he listens to it in a minute. it is jay, saying that all flights have been cancelled out of san diego and they can't get a flight until tomorrow. they're coming back. (sigh)

soooooooooooooooo, i miss my husband!!! i can't wait to see him tonight!

other excitement involved joel coming down from LA on monday to surf with the guys, with plans to return back home that evening. however, things did not go as planned. first of all, poor guy took a wrong turn and what was supposed to be a 2-hour drive turned into a 5-hour drive in LA's rush hour traffic. then, when he finally did arrive, he had been in the water no more than 30 minutes when he took a surfboard to the head and had to go to the emergency room for 9 stitches. needless to say, he decided to crash at our place and mccann stayed another night, too. we had such a good time catching up with those guys!

some good concerts coming up: lassie foundation, the thrills/mars volta, the pixies, and finally eisley and snow patrol.

so baby let's split tonight
i've got a tank full of gas to light
yeah we could drive for miles and miles....
-the thrills

i had my first day of seeing kids all day--it went great!
i think i'm finally getting into the flow of things now that i'm starting my third year with san diego city schools.

i had a great, relaxing weekend. on saturday, i spent all day and evening with my friend claudia and had a great time. on sunday i read a book, got stuff done for work, made some yummy food that matt wouldn't eat if he were here (ceviche, salmon), and spent the morning hiking torrey pines and praying and changing and being renewed!

some quick personal notes:
i think ryan wins the prize for hugest blog slacker....
michelle, i do hope you videotape hannah's first cake experience! i, too, hope she takes a face-first dive into that thing!!!!
mare, i like that OTR song, too. of all their albums, though, that one has been the most difficult for me to get into (maybe too country for me?)
edwards family- yay! i'm glad you were able to visit with heidi--i can imagine her excitement and it makes me laugh.

jeb and jay are still here. andy mccann came down here last night and will stay through this evening (and will maybe come back next weekend with astevens).
they're all out surfing right now. soooooo tempting for me to tag along on that one, but they're sharing boards as it is, and i really needed to take a bike ride anyways. maybe matt and i will hit the surf on weds or thurs after work when we finally get some alone time! :)

welp, at the risk of being made fun of by matt, i have to go to a fitball class. (it's pilates with a big exercise ball. matt misheard me the first time i said it and he thought i said, "football" and thinks it is hilarious. but who cares about that? i'm getting shtrong!!!!
byebye!

more visitors here now...
jeb and jay came into town on weds and leave tues night.
matt went to LA with them tonight to visit our friend andy mccann. they'll go to vegas for a night tomorrow.
so i'm reading books and getting together with some girlfriends this weekend. yay!
and trying to do some cram training for the triathlon.
yes, mare, i can relate to the slacking, but when i looked at my training schedule on sunday and realized that we only had one month left to train, i actually got into gear! i swam twice this week (yes, twice!), biked and ran 3 times each. even today, when i was exhausted after work. my friend sabrina was supposed to run with me but couldn't. therefore, i decided to be lazy. but as i was leaving she said, "are you running today?" and i said, "i'm so tired and it's so humid." and she said, "yeah, but you know that if you do run, you'll feel so much better." so i walked all the way down to my car and was putting my things in my trunk when i made a deal with myself: just go back up to school, put on your running clothes and shoes, and you can at least take a walk. so i did that, and by the time i walked down the hill to the ocean, walking seemed like it was going to take too long and suddenly i felt like running--hooray! sorry if this is boring but if anyone else is a runner, you can appreciate the psychology of running that just took place there!
needless to say, i need to be hardcore training for these next 3 weeks. mare, you'll be fine. you're a natural athlete--you could never train at all and still outperform half of the people in that triath!

this weekend i will also try to catch up on my guestbook. my friend amanda henry made me a cool guestbook out of a regular journal that she decorated with colorful grograin ribbon and beach-type decorations. so i've been recording visitors names and dates and throwing in a few pictures as well.

oh yeah--we saw "napoleon dynamite" the other day and i loved it. very funny and quirky. and i don't care if "anybody" could have made it. "anybody" didn't. those two guys did. and they did a hilarious job. i keep thinking of different things and laughing at inappropriate moments throughout my day. and the music was great and used at just the right places. i will for sure be going to see that again! teri sayre, if you still read this blog, you and mike would love it--go see it!

p.s. anyone who had ridiculous encounter with our phone, please know that i just purchased a new one and you should be able to get through/not get cut off/be able to leave a message, etc. so now you can sleep nights knowing that. and matt and i will be able to make calls without wanting to throw the phone across the room :)

happy birthday mom good!!!!

happy birthday dad edwards!!!

september already, people?!!!!
yes, it's true. it's september.
summer is over and school has begun...
more on that later, though.

ryan, michelle, and hannah left us around noon today. it was fun to wake up every morning and see a happy, warm, baldy baby sitting in my living room. i'll miss that peanut!!! we all had such a good time together, aside from ryan spraining his ankle on their 2nd day here--i can't believe how huge and swollen that thing still was even today! poor guy! he was such a tramp about it. yes, i said tramp. apparently, it is what michelle accidentally called hannah, when she couldn't decide whether to say "trooper" or "champ". ha! anyhoo, highlights included: surfing in encinitas, a campfire on the beach, a visit to the corvette diner, playing catan (michelle won once and matt won for his very first time ever--he is now the reigning lord of catan!), taking drinks and the baby monitor out to the hot tub after hannah went to bed, and, of course, THE PRICE IS RIGHT!!!!

yes! after our 3rd attempt to get into the studio audience, michelle and i finally did it!!! what a great feeling! we arrived in hollywood at midnight and there were already about 20 people in line, so we camped out with them. michelle had brought a portable dvd player and we watched the movie "lucky seven" (which just so happens to be the name of our favorite price is right game--which we were convinced one of us was going to play when we were called to "come on down") and made friends with our neighbors. we managed to get about an hour of sleep that night, amidst the people who were loudly talking all night and the traffic that drove by constantly. also, at some point in the night someone spotted a rat in the bushes behind us and my dreams were filled with rats pulling on my hair and climbing on me. all night michelle and i speculated who was going to get chosen. i thought she was and she thought i was--ha! we just knew our bright orange shirts (that said "pick me bob--my middle name is plinko" and "pick me bob-my dog has been neutered") were the ticket to get us up on stage....

we were finally allowed through the gates and into the first waiting area at 6:30 am. and we didn't feel like sitting down right away (or cramming with everyone else on the same bench), and apparently this was a problem, because people began to panic and freak out and ask us what we were doing!!! the girls who camped out next to us decided to try to make us follow the rules for the next 7 hours. this involved telling us where to sit every time we got back from going to the bathroom, to get something to eat, etc. it became highly annoying. i'm not even kidding when i say that people went into panic mode, too. i can't explain the wierdness of these people, but they were ultra concerned about whether michelle and i were following "rules". it may have been more annoying to us than normal because of the early hour and lack of sleep, i'm thinking. we did also have fun conversations with the people on the other side of us, who were from florida and were former teachers.

and then, ahhhhhhhh....... the moment we had been waiting for (after 2 years of trying to get on the show and 20-some years of dying to meet bob barker)...... we were inside the price is right studio!!!! it was so exciting!!!! it was smaller than i expected it to be, and very colorful and 60s-ish. michelle and i had seats in the second row!!!!! yes!!!! bob barker came out and started talking with the audience and making jokes--that guy is funny and actually a very nice man. some lady had made him a needlepoint hot air balloon and he sweetly said, "this is perfect for this place!" i think maybe because it was rainbow colored and so is the studio. and he was sharp and quick with witty comments. i was impressed, needless to say--the man is 80 years old!!!

then the taping started and we were screaming our heads off and applauding like it was our job! the contestants were called: and not us. so sad. but guess who did get on? one of the girls who made us follow rules for the previous 7 hours. what are the chances? and what were the chances of her making the first correct bid and winning a kayak, which i wanted? and what were the chances of her getting to play "lucky seven", our game? and what were the chances of her winning a new car? chances would be slim, you might say. but you would be wrong, because that is exactly what happened. needless to say, michelle and i were sore losers on that one. but it turned out that out of the 325 people in the studio, 4 of the 8 contestants picked were the first 20 in line with us. so it was really fun to cheer for those people because they were our brand new friends!!!

then it was time for the showcase showdown--ha! it feels funny to actually type those two words on my blog!!!! we knew the lady (billie) who was in the showcase showdown, and there was the obligatory military guy up there as well. i was determined to get on tv, and more importantly, on the price is right STAGE!!!! so i said to michelle, "no matter who wins, we're running up on stage to celebrate with them!!!" michelle (after being hounded by rule-followers all day long) was not so sure about this plan. however, i was determined. and when billie won, her whole group of red-shirted people ran on stage. when the last person ran by our row, i started pushing michelle out into the aisle. "i'm not going first,you go first," she yelled and then pushed me in front of her. i was laughing gleefully as i ran up the steps to the stage when i got apprehended by a bouncer, who clotheslined me at leg level. "you're not with that group," he said. i continued to laugh as michelle continued to push me (up the stairs, she thought) onto the man. he wouldn't budge, so i gave up. i kept laughing deliriously as i jumped off the steps and we went back to our seats. darn. but it was really fun trying!

so we finally made it to the price is right. the only rub was that we weren't called to come on down, but there's always next year (come on ryan, i can see you rolling your eyes from here!!!!!).

so there are the highlights of that surreal day!
i'm going now. i'm hungry.

oh yeah. school started last tuesday. :(
i get kids this tuesday. :)

last night i saw matt carrying a baby car seat and it was wierd, in a funny and good way.
those things always look heavy and uncomfortable to carry around, don't they?

justin, matt and i are praying for you. i was laughing so hard at your young person's railcard photo.

mom edwards, i meant to thank you for the fun batik quilt that you sent with mary--i love how bright and cheerful it is!

yay--we're going to have so much fun this thanksgiving. mary found us a great cabin in lake arrowhead for sitting around the fire, drinking hot chocolate (and smoothies and grasshoppers and mudslides and vanilla coffee), reading, refelecting, and my favorite, playing cards and board games loudly!!!
(speaking of which, i know i have a loud voice, especially when i am excited or having fun, or just being emo, but i just had a funny encounter with a lady whose voice became progressively quieter as we were talking. when she got down to a loudish whisper, i realized she was sending me a message that my own voice was much to loud. i tried to quiet it down, but it felt so unnatural, i couldn't do it! what can i say? i'm irish. we've got big mouths!)

we went to see "garden state" tonight, with the lead guy from scrubs. it was rushmore-like and very good. sort of a serious tone, but with well placed humor and fun random details. plus, great characters, especially the police officer. i was impressed to learn that the scrubs guy wrote the script and directed it. in addition to that, it had a fantastic soundtrack: the shins (three times), postal service, art garfunkel, and some acoustic stuff that sounded a lot like denison witmer).

i went in to school today to drop off some prizes and books that i've been accumulating this summer and met my new principal. instantly i picked up that she's a rule-follower. uh oh. looks like i'm going to have to suck it up or it could be a difficult year for moi. at least i have a little while to prepare for a new mindset. i've been flying sort of under the radar for the past two years, which is when i do my best work. but this lady seems like she likes to have her hands in everything, which could potentially create a situation that is not quite ideal for me. oh well--who moved my cheese??? :)

welp, that's it for now, and proabably for awhile. ry, michelle and hannah come tomorrow and i start school on august 31st.
have a good one, everybody!

i think this is probably my last day of sleeping in (9:30-yay!), since i want to get my body ready for getting up early for school.
today is a day of recovery--it's been a full weekend, with not much rest.

yesterday we had our friend desiree's amazing race and it was so much fun!!!
mare asked me to blog about it, so here are some details...
some of the places we went that had meaning to her were her vet's office (she has a dog and has had some funny experiences there. the people who work there are funny, too. when i went in to ask them if they would give her a clue when she showed up, they asked if they could make her complete a task before they gave it to her. like what, you may wonder? scooping poop!-ha!). then we sent her to belmont park, a mini-amusement park in pacific beach, where she had to ride the roller coaster and take a picture of herself at the top! then we made her go to wahoo's and complete a detour. a detour is where a team must choose between one of two tasks. and at wahoo's, it was EAT or BE EATEN. team members had to either order their favorite meal, eat it, and enjoy it thoroughly; OR find a nearby werewolf to eat them. guess what everyone chose... yum! after that we all were groggy and fat and full, but des had to complete a customized crossword puzzle to get her next clue, which led her to her favorite candy shop in downtown san diego, the sweet factory. she then assembled a tribal council of gummi bears, which we all devoured, even though we were complaining (not two minutes before) about how full we were! i got kicked out for videotaping inside the store--yeah, i'm opening my own candy shop soon, i was just going there for ideas! the next clue led her to her former place of employment, SCANTRON. there, we had previously placed 3 pictures of herself in a guy's cubicle (he liked her in a "more than friends" way, and she did not return the feelings). she had to remove the pictures from his cubicle, and get a snack from the fridge (coke and cheese) before getting her final clue. we ended up in ocean beach, where we all collapsed! the prize was not one million dollars, unfortunately, but it was some money towards a plane ticket back to san diego someday.

matt has free tickets to the padres game today, and they look like they might be pretty good seats, so we're going to check it out! and maybe not for the whole game, though--it's so nice out today. i pray that this weather stays for ryan and michelle's visit. (my poor parents--it was partly cloudy nearly every day they were here! they actually didn't seem to mind, though).

I'm getting excited for big bear at thanksgiving! thank you mary, for doing all that research!

well, i must take a bike ride before matt and i get going.
farewell!

thanks, mom and dad edwards, for the fun round teapot set! now i need to make (and serve!) some tea!
matt and i went to another free concert with our friends last night. this band is called "flock of 80s", and they play all 80s music. we saw them at octoberfest here last year and they were so fantastic! so they were playing in pacific beach last night so of course we couldn't miss it. most of the time we were the only ones on the dance floor--but it was so much fun! lots of the cure, modern english, a-ha, U2, men without hats---really good 80s music.

i helped our friend desiree move all of her stuff into a uhaul today. she hardly had anything--it literally took 4 of us 10 minutes to load up the van. i remember when matt and i moved out here we fit all of our belongings into an 8 (length)x5 (width)x10 (height) foot space. and i was impressed with that!!! but now that we live in a bigger place, of course we have filled it with things! we couldn't pull that off again!

so, this weekend will be very fun but a little bit sad, since des is moving. we have plans for friday night and all day saturday. saturday, we have a day filled with her favorite things. her favorite tv show is "amazing race", so i've created a fun scavenger hunt (amazing race-style) all around san diego, where she has to complete different tasks to get clues to the next place. all the places have meaning for her so it should be a fun way of getting in some memories without getting too emo!

in the meantime, i'm looking forward to seeing ryan, michelle, and hannah banana in exactly one week from today!!! yay!
welp folks, i'm outta here!

when summer started, i had a list of things that i wanted to get done before school started. as of sunday, none of it was done! so i spent yesterday and today taking care of things with the car, going through closets and organizing, getting retirement/investment things taken care of, creating a new budget, planning a going away party for our friend desiree, and returning calls and emails of faraway friends. whew! i think one more day of this and i'll have everything completed on my list! pretty impressive, eh?

matt and i went to see a free lassie foundation show last night up in orange county at this bar called the "detroit bar". hearing the name alone made me sort of nervous, but it ended up being in a nice area and the actual interior was very cool. mare, you would have loved it--all cool 60's "down with love"-type decorations and tv screens and sitting areas. it was a fantastic show and worth the drive. plus, the drive was actually fun. you know the feeling you have when it is night time and you're starting out on a road trip and the stars are out and the air is cool and everything smells fresh and new? that's what it felt like.
it made us want to take a real road trip...

matt is dealing with the aftermath of my organization--meaning, he has to sort through his stuff now.
i am a tosser or donater. this means if i haven't worn or used something in 6-12 months, and don't intend to wear or use it again, OR if it is taking up space and cluttering the house, it goes to goodwill or in the trash. matt is a saver. this means we have large collections of magazines that have been looked at once and then put away because "someday" he may want to read it again. additionally, it means he easily has 3x as many clothes as i do. and this is not an exaggeration. when we were first married, i made the mistake of throwing out some things that i knew weren't being used and would probably never be used again. apparently, i had discarded something precious to my poor husband (whoops!). therefore, i remain a tosser/donater with my own stuff, and encourage him to do the same--but i never toss his stuff. i learned that lesson the hard way! so blog poll: who is a saver, and who is a tosser/donater, and who is conflicted? ha! i can predict who is who, but i want to know how you perceive yourselves!!!!

a song you all should check out is "nearer than heaven" by the delays. i happened to be listening to it when i was looking at my friend's pictures of breaching whales she saw in baja mexico--amazing. i think i like the song even more because of the images it provokes now.

mom edwards, i'm so glad you feel at peace with your decision!
welp, i'm off to help matt (or read a book, whichever is actually more helpful to him:)

peaceful days over broken waves...
...look inside the ocean
-lassie foundation

whoa.
it's been almost 2 weeks since i've blogged.
welp, i'm back.
we just had a really fun week with mom and dad good. highlights included (but are not limited to...): the field, coronado beach, walks in the morning and sunsets in the evening on sunset cliffs, surfing/beaching in encinitas (matt and i surfed, mom and dad watched-and dad marinated out in the ocean), a spontaneous pedicure-ahhhh...., farmer's market (they bought me some raspberry mango jam-yum!) and sea world (really fantastic shamu and dolphin shows). we had such a great time and just got back from dropping them off at the airport.
we have a week and a half to recover and then ry, michelle, and hannah come. then 4 days later jeb and jay come, then a couple weeks after that mom and dad edwards come. whew! it's been a busy summer, that's for sure. we still need to find time to take a vacation for ourselves. although i don't think that's going to happen now that matt has his new job and i go back to work on aug. 31st. oh well, we live in a vacation spot-can't really complain! maybe we'll do a long weekend somewhere in the fall...

tickets for the price is right arrived the other day!!!! yes!!!!
michelle and i will get on for sure this time! i think we're buying some cheap chairs at the dollar store, getting in line around midnight or so (maybe we'll be the first ones in line!), and waiting all night until 7:30, when the doors open and we get interviewed to be on the show!!!! this is our third (AND FINAL) attempt to get on the price is right. we will be VICTORIOUS!!!

wow. i'm really tired. i think matt has the right idea about taking a nap this afternoon. i'm going to join him. nighty-night!

rock stars!!!!
yes, people, that is what we were last night!
it was so much fun--everyone went all out in their costumes and were easy to identify (except for one girl, who was from siouxie and the banshees, which only matt guessed correctly---of course---so she didn't have to buy any drinks or do any embarrassing thing in public)! we also had sonny and cher, billy idol, the blues brothers, coolio, and matt and i were billy ray cyrus and cyndi lauper. when we went out, people were so into us. everyone laughed at us (especially matt with his mullet and eddie--who normally has a totally shaved head--in his sonny outfit) and chatted with us. it was really fun to be someone who was recognizable because people would say, "hey cyndi!!!" as i walked by. to commemorate this evening, matt and i will make a cd including at least one song from each person's character!

matt and i had a cookout planned for the two of us on the beach today. he's still sleeping, though. and it's cloudy. therefore, i won't wake him up until the sun comes out. which is fine because i need to do some laundry and get the guest room ready for mary and casey's visit on wednesday. mare, we'll get the padres tickets for friday--and real seats are totally fine--any preference of section? i can't wait to see bo at dog beach!!!!!! we have to be subtle with him at our place, though, because we're really not allowed to have him here. but there's a great place for him to run in the field behind our place and also a fenced in dog run just across the street, if he still requires physical boundaries :)

about "the village":
you guys all have me excited about it now.
but, justin--would it be too scary for me? remember after we watched "stir of echos"? it was nice to have you telling me when a freaky part was coming in "the sixth sense", too (which i really liked).
also, my friend from junior high, judy (evans) greer was in it. she was the blondish chick who was also in the wedding planner, adaptation, and also recently played the secretary on arrested development. just a fun fact!

and anyone who wants to have a baby someday should read michelle's blog, about that hannah peanut being able to communicate through sign language before she can use actual words! thye use an awesomely created program by a speech therapist designed so that normal-ha! people can teach their babies how to use simple signs to communicate (called babysign). babies can learn gestures typically before they learn to speak and if you teach them a few signs before they start talking, research has shown that they will typically say their first words earlier, and have a much larger expressive vocabulary (even at ages 2 and 3) than babies who have not been exposed to sign language. plus, michelle and ryan know what she wants and don't have to guess why she is crying (if it even gets to that point, which it usually doesn't). it's something i've always planned to do with my babies and it is so fun to see ryan and michelle doing it with hannah and seeing it work so well. it was also awesome to be in home (cincy/ky) when she learned "milk" and "all done"--you can literally see her little brain working--so amazing! the best was when grammy was feeding hannah a bottle and the entire time she was just laying there, all relaxed, except for her tiny fat hand signing "milk" the whole time she was drinking! well that's enough auntie tracey talk from me!

but my hand was made strong by the hand of the Almighty...
-bob marley

yes, michelle, i was so excited to hear that hannah is saying "up"!!! (matt actually was, too). i can NOT wait to see that banana in august!!!! and even a 2-word sign---doing "more book" (which i bet she did :)--when i read about that sweet baby, i actually squealed and clapped in our guest bedroom here--what a nerd auntie i am!!!

i actually got up with matt this morning and took him to the train station, since i had to take the jetta in for service. yikes! what a sleep head i have become this summer. i usually am up by 7:30 or 8:00 every day, but i'm going to have to start training my body to get up at 6:00 again, since my first teacher day is august 31st. but let 's not talk about that right now!

did matt or i mention that we're having a rock star party with our friends on saturday? we're all dressing up as rock/pop stars and getting together at a couple's house, having some food and drinks, taking plenty o' pictures, and then going out into public!!!! we'll probably go to pacific beach, because there are some fun places to dance there. our costumes are supposed to be kept secret until the actual party. and if no one can guess who you are, there is going to be some sort of penalty such as buying everyone else drinks or having to do something embarrassing in public. no one from the party reads my blog, so i'll tell you all about my costume: cyndi lauper. because girls just wanna have fun! i have a perfect strapless, teal, fluffy, 80s dress to wear. along with fishnet stockings, red 80s pumps, giant earrings, loads of bracelets, and wild makeup. yes! the only thing i haven't worked out is how to get the orange hair. it will be either by buying orange hairspray or maybe even a wig. i'll let matt tell you about his own costume--his will be hilarious!

mare, speaking of triathlon training, i need to get up and go swimming tomorrow morning. i've been a huge slacker on the swimming portion of my training, i must say. i'm averaging about one practice/week. thankfully, the swimming part of the race is not that long. maybe if i swim tomorrow morning my reward can be surfing later on. i think yes on that self-discipline reward. i bet the new michelle can relate to this bargaining going on in my head and on my blog! one thing motivating about going swimming is the lifeguard who sings at the top of her lungs (off key, by the way) to bad whitney houston songs. that, alone, is both entertainment and motivation to get moving!

can't wait to see england/scotland pictures from edwards family members!!!!!
the weekend is almost here-yay!

i don't believe something like living for myself...
-denison witmer

amazing surf sessions two days in a row....
perfect weather, perfect waves--3-4 feet and glistening (except for some 5-7 footers, with which i was quite uncomfortable).
harr and i went up to enicinitas to surf yesterday--he did pretty great for his first time. we were exhausted and starving by the end and then met up with matt and we all went to the padres game, which was fun! and then on for a drink at the W outdoor beach bar. i was supposed to take harr to the train station at 10:00 today, but when i went to wake him up he reported that he was going to be able to stay until the afternoon. therefore, we naturally decided to have a repeat of yesterday. first stop: subway (which we took down to the beach and ate at our outdoor restaurant called the beach!), second stop: ocean waves--oh my, so perfectly formed and spaced!, third stop: collapsing on my towel on the sand, and then repeat stops 2 and 3 several times. the last time i went out i got pounded by some 6-7 footers, including one that flipped me under the board. the fin ended up scraping the back of my thighs, which are now swollen and bruised. ouch. i guess i'll take a break for a little while.
oops, sorry to cut this short but the amazing race is on--i must go!

happy birthday mary (a little late!)!!!

i love reading the blogs of the people who are in england and scotland right now--it sounds so fun!

harr is in town visiting with us. he arrived on thurs and will stay until tues. we've been having a fun time eating, going to the beach, shopping, etc. i just dropped matt and harr off downtown for a boys night out at the cigar bar or something. last night we went to the del mar race track, which was really impressive. very clean, beautiful, and there were two ponds and palm trees in the middle of the grassy area of the race track. we got there in time to see 4 of the races. i bet on 3 of the races and won each time!!!!! yay!!!! it ended up being $15 total, because i was only placing $1 or $2 bets. but still, it was so much fun to yell and cheer on my horses and then to celebrate when they won!!!! :) after the races, jet played a concert outside the stadium structure. matt gives a funny account of the action where he was in his blog. my friend sue and i scooted our way up to the front of the crowd and danced and made new friends :). they gave a great live performance, too.

today was so gray and gloomy. it figures now that we have a visitor in town the weather would act ridiculous!

matt and i bought the sealab dvd, which is hilarious---we laughed so hard!

welp, i'm all sleepy so i'm going to try to take a little nap before i have to go pick the boys up...nighty night!

it's wednesday.
i have to keep reminding myself of what day it is now that i'm not working.
and i'm always surprised when i hear the actual date--what? july 21st??
how did the time go so fast?

here are how most of my days go now:
7:00 or 8:00 wake up
8:00 or 9:00- 11:00 run, swim, bike, fitball, pilates, or yoga (or any combination of those activities)
11:00-12:00- come home and eat lunch and do a few little chores
12:00-4:00 beach (read, drink water, pray, look at the ocean, and thank God for my wonderful life)
4:00-5:00 get pretty for my husband
5:00 matt comes home
and now this schedule is getting ridiculous so i'm going to stop!!!!

harr comes in town tomorrow and we have a full long weekend planned with him.
friday night we're going to the del mar race track (we wish gramps and dad good could come--they would love it)
and then jet is playing a show there after the races are over. not bad for $2.50, eh?
we'll get a padres game in there at some point and then the usual tourist/beach/restaurant deal....

after he leaves, mary and casey arrive a few days later and then mom and dad good come in town a few days after that! yay!
i love summer!

deep calls to deep
in the roar of Your waterfalls;
all Your waves and breakers
have swept over me
-psalm 42:7

get swept away with God

matt andi loaded up the car last night so we'd be ready to hit the beach first thing this morning. all we have to do is throw the surfboard on top of the car and food and drinks in the cooler, and we'll be off!
it has been really hot for the past few days, a "heat wave", the news stations claim! so we're escaping by going to the beach. along with a ton of other people, i'm sure! but we'll be in encinitas, the least busy beach of all.

mom edwards, good job on your walking! mary and i have found that if you have a training program with a goal at the end it is very motivating.
here is a sample of one: http://www.halhigdon.com/10ktraining/10kwalk.htm
this guy also has a schedule for completing a 5k, but it seems like you've already been doing a decent amount of walking, you might want to do the 10k training program. and maybe if we do thanksgiving here, you can join in with me and mare and dad and walk the thanksgiving day race! don't forget to do a little bit of cross training 1-2x/week, like biking, so you can give your walking muscles a rest and work some other muscles.

my visit with "the running doctor" (heehee) went well. i'm getting orthotics, which i had when i first started getting injured in high school. where did those things go, i wonder? i went in for a consultation-just to see if he could do anything for me- and all of the sudden he's adjusting my feet, ankles, knees, and hips-whoa. the best thing is, if the orthotics (which are expensive) don't work, he takes them back and we try another kind (free of charge) until we find some that do work! yay! mare, i won't slow us down in the running portion of this race!

last night we watched "shattered glass"-very good movie. plus, it had paul giamatti in it, who i love. and also the softspoken bald guy from high fidelity and jerry macguire (the babysitter).

matt's taking me out on a date tonight so i can wear those great sandals i bought! ha!
welp, time to head out, matt is stirring. have a great weekend everyone!

yum, lobster tacos $1.50!
that's where we went last night---well, we didn't go to a place called lobster tacos. actually, i forget what the place is called, even though i've been there several times. anyhoo, it's on the ocean, so you get a great view and great food and lots of laughing with great friends.

i have felt wierd for the past couple of days now. not sick (i haven't been sick for 3 years now!!!!!, besides a cold last superbowl, and i don't really count colds because you don't miss anything with a cold). anyways, it seems that through all my ordeals starting 6 years ago (strep, sinus infections) and working with kids for so long, my immune system is finally built up. so i just fight things now, i just get a half of a cough, or congestion for a day or two, but i don't ever feel bad in my body. same deal with right now. and i still worked out for awhile today.

by the way, i tried yoga.
which is awesome!
they have this non-new-age yoga at the ymca and i couldn't believe how hard it was!
i thought yoga was just simple positions (with odd names) that you hold.
which is, i guess, true to some extent. however, the stretches are difficult and actually build muscle because you end up holding them for so long. i felt exhausted and great after the class! everyone should try that if you can find a yoga that is not too creepy... :)

tomorrow i have a free consultation with "the running doctor" (mary, do you remember that literature from the marathon?). ha! it is actually a chiropractor who specializes in running injuries--how perfect is that? we'll see if he can do anything for my legs!

i'm excited to hear that mom and dad edwards may be coming out in sept for a long weekend!

welp, matt has a happy hour thing at work today so i think i'll go ride my bike, seeing as he won't be home for awhile!
have a great friday everyone!

i woke up this morning and decided to take full advantage of my ymca membership today. i went to an 8:00 pilates class--and i'm just now starting to feel sore throughout my ab/torso area. not a good sign for the next few days... then i made an appointment with a fitness trainer (i get one hour of free training with my membership) for a couple hours later. since i had some time to kill, i did some laundry, cleaned up the place, took a walk--the sun was out early today-yes! then i went for my personal training, which was basically a weight training program, since i prefer to do the cardio outside. i just can't see getting on an exercycle (or treadmill, etc.) when the weather is beautiful and there are a million beautiful places i could ride a REAL bike (or run/walk on REAL legs, er, REAL ground-heehee)! then i came home and decided to go for a run. ha! apparently, since i've been an exercise slacker for the past week, i decided to make up everything i've missed in one day!!! :) and all this before lunch! so then i went to the beach for 3 hours--i think it was deserved, don't you?

our next visitor is mike harr, from BG, in a week and a half... visitors are pretty well spaced out this summer. well, that is, unless people do some impromptu visiting, which is fine as well... :)

i got this great new pair of sandals at target so i made matt promise to take me out on a date this weekend so i can wear them.
speaking of target, matt and i are headed there in a few minutes, so i must get going!
have a great week everyone.

p.s. i'm on another modest mouse kick again. it reminds me of staying in austin with justin, when mary and i took over his apartment and his life. "justin, can we do (fill in the blank)?" "justin, can we go (fill in the blank)?" "justin, can we...?" poor guy. the two of us never stopped talking or asking him if we could do things!

i had a fun time with amanda henry and her 2 friends. great catching up and showing them around san diego. i actually got to see the "real world-san diego" house for the first time, since they wanted to see it-ha! it really is huge, i must say. we ate at a great italian restaurant and i showed them around OB, la jolla, and downtown. very fun time!

man, justin, i wish i could have seen denison witmer live---i'm so glad to hear he is fantastic live! someday i'll see him...
i feel like we were seeing live music almost every weekend there for awhile and now it has slowed down. well, for me at least. matt had his nerdfest-er, i mean, rush concert--earlier this week. the next thing on the list is jet. we'll be seeing them for free at the del mar racetrack--2 fun events in one. and then for an epic pixies reunion later in september. it will be so fun to see the band that i loved as a junior high school student, and a band that was influential in so many bands today.

matt and i had a perfect day today.
we went up to encinitas and hung out by the ocean, took a long walk on the shore, played aerobie, ate a pizza, and read good books.
ahhh.....

tomorrow i'll get some household stuff done, hopefully get to the beach, and get back on my training program---huge slacker over here!!!!! oh well, my body is in decent enough shape and it is early enough in the program that i'll be okay. i wouldn't want to be pulling this in a couple of months, though!


it's a beautiful day
-U2

it's thursday and i'm waiting for my friend/(family, really) amanda henry to get into town.
more visitors and me still without my guestbook done. dang! i keep setting goals to have it ready by the time the next guest comes, but i keep forgetting or other things come up, etc. etc....

but i'm making a light dinner, since i don't really know when they'll arrive. then we'll probably go out to pacific beach or downtown later this evening. they'll be heading to the zoo tomorrow but i'll meet up with them later for some possible beach time and dinner.

it's fun to catch up with family and faraway friendsand it seems like it happens all at once.
of course i was visiting with the peeps back home for a nice long time and then i got to have a nice long chat with emily the other night!
i do miss the entire edwards clan, as well!
mare, i need to talk to you--i'll probably call in the next couple of days.
i was doing so well with my training but i have now become a slacker, due to a bunch of reasons that i don't feel are real excuses.
time to get back on the plan tomorrow!

michelle--nice job on the new you! i KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!

welp, i must finish cleaning this place up.
have a great weekend everyone!

um, dad edwards, i am really disturbed by that bird mask. yikes!
but on a less disturbing note, at dinner tonight there was a guy sitting next to us who was talking about how he attended a jackson browne concert (late for the sky tour). we thought of you.

wow.
i've been a blog slacker!
but that's how summer goes, eh?

i just arrived home from a long visit in cincinnati. and i still didn't get to see all the people i wanted to! ridonkulous!
it was a fun time, highlighted by great times with family, (especially watching baby hannah be so cute), catching up with some old friends, and just enjoying cincinnati. it was hard to be away from matt for 3 weeks, though, so next year it will be a shorter trip--i missed him so much. and i got homesick for san diego. i haven't been homesick since my freshman year in college! :) it was so nice to arrive back here and breathe the salty air and see the ocean again. ahhhh....

i can't write much now due to mail and bills and household stuff, etc. that have piled up for the past 3 weeks, so i must be a grownup and get things done! it's been fun to catch up on everybody's blogs.

friday night!!!
last day of school---woooooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
and it's been such a fun week that it feels like my vacation started early.

i know most of you reading this also read mary and matt's blog, but i'm also going to give my report on the past week. so some of this stuff will probably be repetitive, but with my own commentary and perception...
*saturday: mary arrived around 1:00 and we hung out for awhile, then napped, then went up to solana beach to see phantom planet. a good, fun, and relaxing show that started off the week of great music. we came home and ate some food and had some drinks and chatted and laughed some more....

*sunday: we went to ocean beach and it was more windy than it has ever been since we have lived here! i thought i was in big sur! matt and mary bucked up and went surfing (i did not, due to mary using my wetsuit--and you're crazy if you think i would go in that freezing cold water without a wetsuit--i was wearing a hooded sweatshirt while i was on land, for goodness sakes!). so matt and mary got beat up in the ridiculously choppy waves. when they had enough, we went to hodad's for a yummy lunch and the world's best chocolate milkshake!!! then we headed downtown to watch a padres game, which was sold out. :( but we shopped around and messed around and ate some more before we went to see the shins concert. wow. such a fantastic show!!!! i loved every song on their cd anyways, and they really are even better live. such clear vocals and guitar and great stage presence, as well. i would go see them again any day...

*monday: matt and i worked. when i came home, mary and i went mountain biking in tecolote canyon. the mountain biking book i have said it was "rolling hills". apparently, "rolling hills" means "straight up and down hills". it was a fantastic workout--so exhausting and fun (and scary) on the steep downhills. not quite as much fun on the steep uphills! we have some great pictures that capture the ruggedness of the place. then we went to filippi's italian restaurant for yummy pizza and then to our friend eddie's to see his new puppy. so cute!!!! we came home and watched (er, fell asleep to) the season finale of sopranos.

*tuesday: after work, matt and i each raced over to our encinitas campground, where mary had set up camp earlier that day. we charged out to the waves (this time the water was warm enough for no wetsuits for some) and caught some great waves. we all stood up on our boards many times and it was sunny and so satisfying. exhausted and happy, we cooked out hotdogs over the campfire. ahhhhh.... as it grew dark, we listened to music and chatted and ate campfire chocolate eclairs. then matt left around 10:30 or 11:00. i hadn't planned to spend the night, but it was too perfect to leave, so i slept there with mary and woke up the next morning at 5:30 (due to ridiculously loud crows--didn't they know my alarm wasn't going off until 6:00 am) and drove home to get ready for work.

*wednesday: raced to encinitas for more surfing directly after work again. the waves were really rough and the undercurrent strong. we all took a shellacing from the sea, and when we had enough, came up and showered and ate some more hotdogs and grilled cheese. then there was a beautiful sunset, which we watched as we played aerobie, tossed the football, and played horseshoes. matt stuck around until 10:30 again and we had our routine of chatting and laughing and listening to music. i slept over for real because i took thursday off of work to hang out with mary...it was a much better night of restfulness.

*thursday: i woke up around 6:30 and watched the ocean from our campsite (did i mention that we could see it? so relaxing, and great white noise to fall asleep to, as well!). then i went for a nice long walk on the shore. when i got back, mare was still asleep, so i made some eggs and read "my utmost for his highest". then mare got up and we had an early morning surf session. the sun was shining, the water was nice, the waves were still a little choppy, but not as strong--so we had a great session. such a great way to end the camping trip... then on to sea kayaking. you can read mary's blog for her rendition of her fiasco with getting out into the calmer portion of the ocean :) hee hee. yet i was not laughing in about 30 minutes from then. we kayaked out to some sea caves, which were very cool looking but too dangerous to kayak into. we saw a friend called a sea lion who popped his head out of the water about 10 feet from us and stared at us for awhile. so cute!!!! more sea lions on a big rock quite a ways away, barking and yelping. then i started feeling a little queasy so i put a little cool water on my head. "do you have a migraine?," asked mary. "i'm just a little seasick," i said. "me too! i was trying to buck up since i had a hard time getting out, but..." the we both started paddling back to shore as fast as we could (which was about a half an hour away, which may not sound long to you, but when you're battling nausea on a rolling ocean, every moment seems like an eternity), taking breaks and trying not to throw up. we finally made it back to shore and sat there, trying to recover for awhile. we didn't even use our kayaks for the full rental time. a waste, you may be saying to yourself, but so much better than the sickness option. we got in the car (more motion) and headed home. being home was so refreshing that we got our second wind after 45 minutes and we headed out to sunset cliffs and watched the ocean and chatted. then matt called us as we were on our way home and we went to play tennis. i was sort of losing steam but i bucked up and played (and may i add, very poorly?). remember, i had been doing constant activity since 6:30 am, people!!! then we showered, ate wahoo's with our friends sue and tom, and went to see our 3rd concert of the week. stellastarr was great (the portion we saw, at least), the killers were fantastic--the lead singer was such an entertainer. then the yeah yeah yeahs were funny at first--insane--and then just too dark and scary and sad for me to handle. i had to go wait outside in the hall until it was finished. then back home to collapse into bed. whew!!!!!

*friday, today.... i worked my last day--yes!!! then when i got home, mary and i went up to torrey pines and had such a great hike and more great chats. we came home and had chicken tortilla soup and sangria for dinner-so yummy. now we're getting ready to go see "saved"--the first movie we've seen in a theater since i can't remember even....
it's been an awesome week--thanks mare, for the fun and talks and laughs and pre-triath training!

i head to cincy on tuesday!!!!!!!
can't wait to see the good side of the family!!!
i'm out.
tracey

p.s. hi kim! i do read your blog--i hope that's not too creepy!!!! :) but i enjoy hearing what is going on with you!!!!

hello everyone.
it's friday night and i'm cleaning and matt is doing some editing work for scantron.
mare will be here around noon tomorrow-yay!
and then on to see phantom planet play in solana beach in the afternoon
(and maybe see the stills play in the evening)
and then sunday we get to see the shins
and then camping in encinitas
and exercise/triathlon training mongrels of mary and tracey throughout the week....

oh yeah, matt sort of got guilted into helping a friend's wife paint their new house tomorrow morning (but his friend will actually be out of town and he called a bunch of people to go help his wife--ha!) so wierd. not the best timing, but this guy and his wife are so nice, so i guess it is hard for matt to say no.

this week i met the boy counterpart of myself at age 6. nonstop talking from his teeny little mouth.
he was so cute, though.
when i went to get him in his classroom i said, "you get to come with me to my room today" (i see another little boy in his class, so he knows who i am). and he yelled "woohoo!!!" in the tiniest little voice! i was cracking up!

i love working with elementary aged children, but i really do miss working with babies (16 months +), toddlers, and preschoolers. that was one of the best things about working at toledo hearing and speech center. the little ones are too young to follow direct instructions with speech and language, so you have to address it all through play therapy. it is the most fun thing in the world--plus, you get to see their little brains actually working and language literally developing before your eyes.

anyways....

inspired by justin's top ten list of music this year, here's my own list (in no particular order)
-snow patrol
-the shins
-all things bright and beautiful
-belle and sebastian
-deathcab
-postal service
-(new) get up kids
-the killers

that's all for now...
have a great weekend, everybody!!!!
ry and michelle--have fun in myrtle beach!

welp, we're back from mexico.
such a fun, fun weekend.
it was one of those deals where the days seem so long.
we just hung out on our own beach (the house was right next to a nature preserve, so there were miles of untouched beach beauty (i.e. no houses, condos, highrises, etc.). our house was awesome, just the right size, and with a huge deck outside. the weather was perfect--sunny and breezy (a little windy the first day, but not out of control--enough to make cool patterns in the sand). we relaxed and read, played horseshoes, bocce ball, aerobie, and cards. one night we went out on the town to ensenada, which was crowded and not a lot of english spoken. slight culture shock, but we had so much fun. then we went to a cool place called la boufadora. there is a formation of rocks along the shore that when waves come crashing in, there is somehow a pocket of air that gets pushed up and sprays water maybe 100 meters into the air! they call it the blowhole, because that's what it sounds like. but on the way to that spot, many vendors have set up shops and it was bargaining time for tracey! it reminded me of nairobi's city market. i did end up getting a prada purse for a good price and some earrings for matt's boss, who gave him $ for me to buy her stuff (a little bit of pressure, i must say...) hopefully she likes what i bought her...
i ate so much good food (and probably more lard in those 3 days than i have in the rest of my life put together!) we went to this big fish market that was right on the bay and ate at a taco shop right there. the fishermen were literally bringing the fish into the restaurant and the workers were preparing it right then. so fresh and so good. mmmmmmm.....
i enjoyed runs and walks on the shore by myself every morning (of course i was the first one up! but no one slept in really late--i think the latest was 10:00, so not bad). i didn't mind, though. early morning walks on the beach by myself are one of my favorite parts of this life on earth.
tracey

p.s. can't wait to see mary in a few days!
p.p.s. finally! a blog from casey! er.. i mean... from bo!

i hear american idol in the background.
dang, that diana chick is annoying.
the only thing good about her being on stage is matt's funny and horribly mean comments about throwing an apple up on stage so she can have it in her mouth (uh, like a roast pig). sorry, matt. after your blog where you just got right with god, i had to go and blow your cover. but i'm worse, because i laugh every single time and then yell, "matt, that's mean!" as i'm still laughing.

just a few more days to get through until we are relaxing on our beach in mexico.
matt bought a big aerobie and horseshoe set (rydogg, you'll be into that when you come out here, eh?), our friends have bocce ball, our other friends have snorkel gear, the house has boogie boards, and we're all bringing cards, catchphrase, etc. it's fun to have friends who are gamers. there's always some fun game or competition going on. for example, this house we're staying in has 3 bedrooms, but the master bedroom has a jacuzzi and other fun stuff. so to be fair we played roulette to see which couple got which room. and then while we were playing we decided each couple could have the master bedroom for a night. matt and i won and picked the last night (we're working our way up from the ghetto rooms!!!). but i love that instead of being awkward and trying to figure out who deserves the best bedroom/who needs the best bedroom, etc., it turns into a game and no one even cares about the bedroom anymore--it's all about the game (michelle, i think you can relate!).

i'm off to ice my shins and read harry potter (#3). i'm saving #4 for the beach this weekend.
hey justin, remember when you were on the junie b jones kick and we would sit in the living room and read them? and then one of us would laugh and the other one would say, "what?" and the one who just laughed would read the funny part out loud to the other one? (you and me had some fun that year....)
today in speech i read "three billy goats gruff" and thought of my granddad, who used to read me that story all the time when i was young.
and then i thought about my first boyfriend who had a mechanic's coat and he had written in the name "billy" where the name tag was supposed to be, and then he said, "it's my billy coat!" and then i thought of kevdogg, who shares my love of goats, but to the extreme!!! when we were in high school, we tried to talk my dad into getting us a goat for the back yard. he didn't go for it, surprisingly....

have a great night, everyone.

another monday down...
and only 1 more monday left to work, since i have next monday off! yay!
12 more days total....
yikes. how will i fit it all in? oh well, i have to.

lately when i check on peoples blogs, it keeps giving me a url not found error message. maybe blogger is updating? or having problems? anyone know?

this weekend i was so lazy! well, i did finally paint my wine nook purple, which looks very cool. but that was the most exercise i got all weekend. the rest of the time was spent laying around on the couch, in the bed, on the beach.... i did, however, exercise my brain and read the first 2 harry potter books over again. so good! if anyone reading this has not read those, you really should. they're very clever and use decent vocabulary and are so great for the imagination. i think i will always have extra fondness for those books just because i read them in africa when i was awake at 3am, due to time change issues. nothing was better than being awake and reading and seeing matt come down the stairs all sleepy, then mary, and hearing justin and michael upstairs (still hadn't started their night of sleep yet) chatting and laughing about pseudobook (mom and dad were asleep, of course). and then reading some more and playing video games and eating with matt and mary, and then finally going back up to bed around 8 am, when mom and dad were just getting up...

matt and i heard this band called the veils last night on mtv2 and they're pretty good. you peeps should ch-check it out.

well, we're going to go and watch the sun set.
so have a good evening everyone.

i had a splitting headache all day today but now it's finally gone after a nice relaxing run by the ocean with two girlfriends. we now have 3 members in our after school running club (me, a spanish teacher, and the nurse)! yeah! several more interested parties, but none who will actually buck up and get out there with us. they may be intimidated by our "grand finale" of running all the way up hill street (the street my school is on with the, uh, big hill). we're going to do that on the last day of school (maybe, since mary will be here--and maybe mare wants to do it :)!

matt and i are getting ready to go to our friends' (sue and tom) house. we'll be heading down to mexico over memorial day weekend. we rented a cool condo on the beach for so cheap!!! (hey michelle and mary--maybe girls trip? or maybe camping in san luis obispo?) so we're getting together with the other two couples tonight to figure out who brings what. well, the LADIES will figure out what to bring. the guys will probably fool around (ry, i know you've just been through this!)

one of the janitors at our school was talking about how her 10 year old daughter is getting her black belt in karate, so i acted interested (which i was) and made a comment about how t i thought it would be fun to do karate. which i actually do. and matt of course refuses to entertain the thought of engaging in that sort of activity with me. well, anyways, to me it was a passing comment. but to her, it was a committment to now join this karate club and now every single time i see her, she has to remind me of the times and place of the class. and finally i said, "i'm so busy with this end of the year stuff, i won't have time to even think of it until summer." so she said she had my number off the staff directory and would be calling me the day after school got out (she was laughing, but i know she is not kidding!). so then i had to tell her that i was going to be gone for half of summer--jeez! get the point. i guess it is just one of those people who can't take a hint (respect my time and my schedule!!!) and i'm going to have to be blunt and just say, "nope because blah blah blah..."

dad edwards, good luck and have fun with your indians reunion game!!!!

new(er) music that i'm listening to: the killers, franz ferdinand, the walkmen, plus, i love the new beastie boys single--yes, they have to be one of my favorite bands of all time-just when i'm about to forget about them, they come out with something new and fun-always solid and catchy and fresh!

today i heard this great song by kings of leon that reminds me of when matt and i were dreaming of moving to san diego and we wanted to do it ASAP. but we knew that for things to work out perfectly, we had to wait for God's perfect timing:

by giving in
what am i giving up?
am i losing way too much?
california waiting
every little things gotta be just right.

only 14 more days of school left! woohooo!!!!
i can make it!
plus, those last 5 days for me are like the last day of school for teachers (since i see the majority of my kids once or twice/week) and that means party time! and making my cheap slave labor help me pack up all my belongings and tear down my office for the summer! yes!

matt and i went to the farmer's market last night and we did enjoy the OB people, as well as the cutie dogs that were everywhere. matt encountered a silly beagle that appeared to be in love with him. that guy howled and stared and wagged at matt all through our dinner. last week i got a bouquet of flowers for $1 that lasted about 5 days. i meant to try to find some more, but alas, i forgot.

i had a nice chat with michelle, who called last night.
looks like we have a 3 person adventure racing team for next spring (me, mary, michelle)!
yes!
since michelle posted her thoughts on turning 30, i wanted to put in my 2 cents! ha!
it won't be happening for another year and a half for me, but it does seem to be such a huge event in ones lifetime.
(of course, inflamed by american culture of youth-worship), but really, it is a big deal.
i'm just trying to make it a positive deal. i was considering trying to squeeze a bunch of stuff in that i've always wanted to do in the next year and a half so i could say, "i did that by the time i was thirty". but now, i'm going to celebrate turning 30 by either running a marathon or doing an adventure race, or something else physical--to show that my life isn't over! and how about a great trip to tanzania to celebrate? heehee! matt just informed me that he will not be a father while he is in his twenties. "what?" i said, "how do you know?", "because i'm going to be 30 in january", he said. oh. how did that happen? how were we just baby 22 year-olds when we got married and now he's turning 30?

well, enough of life's deep and mysterious questions.

oh yeah, justin, i want a dvd, please (matt will buy one from you when he comes in june). and so does michelle.

welp, i have to get going.
have a great thursday everyone!

i'm listening to hot rod circuit and remembering the drive up highway 1 on the coast last year. matt slept in the passenger seat and i had a 6 disc rotation of deathcab, travoltas, hot rod circuit, saves the day, ash, and ben folds. my scenery included the ocean, mountains, and vineyards...

matt is finishing the neverending job of painting our kitchen a deep red (cherry cobbler, for those who are interested in the actual name-probably no one :). i apparently am a little too sloppy and when using such a dark color, it really shows. so matt volunteered to finish/made me stop--ha! oh well, he's doing an awesome job. i think i like the way it looks (matt says that i'd better, with as long as it is taking him). it's just a lot of color. i might rag some reddish brown paint on top of it, to break it up and give it some depth and texture. we shall see.....

i received a fun letter from grammy in the mail, as well as a fun motivational packet/running journal from mary!
grammy/aunt deedee, i looked up your vacation condo-it looks fun! that lap pool is pretty neat. sounds like you all will be having so much fun!
and a second entry has been made in the training journal, mary.

matt has a job interview tomorrow, so pray for him everyone!
it looks pretty good on paper and he is really interested in it.

17 more days of school.
and i got permission to take june 10th off to go kayaking with mary!
so really only 16 more days :) yay!

how long is too long?
-get up kids

farewell.

happy birthday michelle!!!!!

yesterday i had another hiking class. this time it was at torrey pines, which i love already!
i arrived early so i decided to park at the bottom parking lot and take a mile hike up a winding hill. so i did, and when i got to the top, i realized that i didn't remember locking my car door. (we have 2 different keys for our jetta, one to unlock the doors and one to start the car--i only had the unlocker, the starter and the rest of my bulky keychain were in the glove compartment). so after considering that someone could drive off with the ghetto jetta with no problem, i ran back downhill for a mile, got to my car and realized that i had, in fact, locked it. by this time i was going to be late, so i did a run/walk back up the hill to meet up with my group. i arrived sweaty and out of breath, but it was quite a workout before the class even started!
it was really an interesting hike and at the end, the instructor bought us all big posters of plants and flowers in the area-so nice!
not something i'm going to hang up, but i will make it into a brochure type thing for next time i go.
when we were at the top of a bluff overlooking the water, we saw a fat, slippery seal bodysurfing in the waves! he was so happy and cute, flipping over and under the waves, going over and inspecting a kayaker (who had stopped to watch him--man, i wish that was me!), and then riding waves in. we also saw some dolphins making their way along the top of the water. ahhhhh.....

since i was already up north, i called matt and he decided to meet me up in encinitas.
we went surfing and i rode a few all the way in on my knees--it was so fun!
then, on my last two runs, i actually stood up at the end (it was all slow motion standing, screaming with glee, then slow motion bailing because i was getting too shallow-i wish i could have been an observer--i would have laughed at that girl!) then a preteen boy told me to watch out, he just saw a jellyfish. i asked him what color it was, thinking maybe he had just felt seaweed or something. he said it was red and white, which is exactly the kind i've seen there (and been stung by before). so i became frozen and matt finally came over to see what in the world was going on. it ended my surf session, but not a heartache, since the waves became so choppy right after that. poor matt got worked!
then we played some aerobie (little disc/ring thing that looks like a frisbie with a giant hole in it) and then i was down for the count--i took a fantastic nap on the beach!!! we finally headed home around 5:00, i listened to cush the whole way, and arrived home completely pooped!

19 more days of school--i can totally do it! it's going to fly, with everything going on.

p.s. i love how God heals everything in us

take that shame back
feel that heart attack
making it new for you
-cush

hmm.
a nice, relaxing tuesday night.
after a ridiculous day at work
(the server for the whole school district got that virus; therefore, nothing got done that needed to get done today. for anyone. and who knows when it will get fixed. really bad timing, i have a ton of stuff to do before the end of the year.)

but enough about that!

let's see, what has been happening?
snow patrol saturday night: oh man! i wanted so badly for it to be awesome, but alas-the sound in that venue was really bad.
way too much bass, too much drums, you could barely hear vocals or guitar-bummer.
it would have been great if the sound was right, though. i'll see them again at a different place.

matt and i spent a lot of time at the beach this past weekend.
we finally bought an umbrella (SPF 100, can you believe it?) so we can stay out all day long and not look like leather skins!
i relaxed and read "the bridge to terabithia"-anyone remember that from late elementary/jr. high?
we went to encinitas and took our little grill and made a yummy lunch of grilled hotdogs, chips, strawberries....mmmm...
why does food taste so good at the beach????
we also went surfing and it felt so great! i could not stop laughing!
the waves weren't that great, but it was fun to paddle around, sit on the board, and try to catch the breakers.
i got up on my knees a few times, so i consider that victory.
i have always felt that i was a semi-strong swimmer.
until i entered the ocean with a 9 foot piece of fiberglass.
that deal is hard to handle when the waves are rough and unforgiving!
absolutely exhausting! but a fantastic workout that you don't even realize you're getting!

i received a fun letter from grammy yesterday! hey grammy, my friend had one of those cool water bottles today and hers was not leaking :)
emily, you will be receiving 2 pkgs in the mail soon, so keep a lookout!

i (like mary) am looking forward to the triathlon, getting mentally prepared, doing research, working out a training schedule (we start june 13th for any interested parties...)

22 days of school left!!!
26 days until i come home to ohio for a nice summer vacation!

happy mother's day mom good and mom edwards!!!!
i love you!!!

yes!
the weekend!
matt and i have had a fun week together.
on wednesday we rode our bikes to the OB farmer's market and bought fresh vegetables, which i stuffed in my little hawaiian backpack (that mary brought back for me from a cali trip, i believe). then we got dinner from some of the vendors there and walked down to the beach to eat it.
then thursday we took a longer bike ride (about 7 miles) over to mission bay area, which was quiet and peaceful.
today we're planning on going up to encinitas to get in a surf session. i'm going to give it another go. swimming in encinitas usually freaks me out because of the amount of kelp and seaweed (it brushes against one's legs and feels like jellyfish tentacles before the fact that you've been stung actually registers the pain to your brain). but i'll be safe and sound in my wetsuit. that is, if i decide to get my lazy self off the sand and into the water. we shall see....

tomorrow is supposed to be just as nice, so yet another weekend of not getting the kitchen painted. oh well...

the physical therapist says i can run, as long as i don't overdo it. and i've been doing the stretches and strengthening exercises she gave me daily and my knees really do feel better. so now i am in triathlon mindset. mare and i are doing a triathlon on october 3rd here in san diego. any other takers? it will be a 500 meter swim, 15k bike, 5k run. here's the web site if you want more info: http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1092373

and then tonight---snow patrol!!! can't wait!!!!

welp, i must do some grocery shopping--we have no food in this house!!!!
24 more days of school left! or in mary's 24 hour day converted system = 6.5 more days of school left, if worked hour upon hour.
have a great weekend everyone!

i think i like every single song on the shins album (chutes too narrow).
mare, come on down--june 5th is calling your name!
i know, you can't help it--big time bunko game for you!!!

4 more mondays left for me, people!!!!
(5 more of everything else, i think)
man, this school year has gone by so fast!!!
it's been such a great one!

i forgot to mention that matt and i went to the padres game on friday night.
it was our first time in the new stadium, which actually was very cool.
very fun atmosphere and just neat things that gave it a ton of character.
for example, the stadium is built around an old metal supply building (still intact and used for seating as well as a big gift shop on the bottom floor). and all throughout the stadium there are a bunch of little nooks where you can just sort of stand and watch at different places. and the best was the huge hill behind the outfield with open seating. we brought our blankets and peanuts and layed around and didn't get uncomfortable or bored the whole time!
there was a giant (redundant?) jumbo tron in front of us also, since we were quite far away from home plate.
we wanted to get on TV, of course (and matt and desiree's plan was to pick their noses when the camera came to us).
but there was some debate about whether or not we would actually make it up on the jumbo tron, since i was wearing a stocking cap (hey, it gets cold and windy at night--it's right on the bay). everyone decided that no one would want to film me because i would be a bad advertisement for san diego ("come to san diego, we're all bundled up in our winter woolies!"). anyhoo, i proved them all wrong!!! because during one of the breaks, there we all were, jumping and waving our free shirts they had handed out at the gates!
yay!
i've never been on a jumbo tron before!!!
it was a great rush, and made me want to go wild! (what is that?? i'd like to do a study on human behavior and cameras...)
i hope someone i know was watching!!!

we've had some great beach time and have been spending a lot of time up in encinitas.
for those of you who don't know, one strange evening in august 2001, matt and i decided to drive to california from ohio. we met up with mary at 9:15pm in the BG parents' home and proposed an offer she couldn't refuse (we tried to convince justin and he was almost convinced until he realized he had a film due for film class :() and the three of us were on the road by midnight that night. we drove straight through and just drove up to this state park in encinitas, (on top of cliffs overlooking the ocean) where they magically had an opening. we set up camp, had a fire, talked, laughed, made grilled cheese and hot dogs and drank wyder's cider as the sun set. we finally felt like we were home. (i can speak for matt and myself, that is. but at the time, i think mare had similar feelings) so it has such strong sentimental/emotional/etc. ties for us.

and just writing about it makes me think of two songs:

1. denison witmer's "miles" : "we'll get in my car around 10:30 that night, for the new york city (san diego) skyline destination of our sight, it's the biggest healing session that i've had for some years, the laughter and the driving and the letting go of....and we feel the push of the christ directed life, the love directed life..."

and 2. snow patrol's "chocolate": "this could be the very minute i'm aware i'm alive, all these places feel like home..."

i'm looking forward to coming home this summer and seeing everyone!
and also looking forward to having all of our visitors here, too.

(also, mary, can you tell casey that his birthday present is going to be extra late? apparently, i had it shipped here--duh! i've only done that 100 times now--you'd think i'd have learned by now!!! so is it okay if we give it to you on june 5th? okay, okay, june 6th...)

have a great wednesday everyone!!!

happy birthday emily!!!!!!

hello everyone.
it's saturday again.
i had an all day conference today and yesterday (and it was so nice outside i was so fidgety!)

matt and i are really into this band called ambulance ltd (check out their music here: http://www.ambulancenyc.com/) the clips are really short, unfortunately, and you have to click exactly on the 56k part. they're going to be in san diego either may 7th or 11th, and we're in!!!

we just had a perfect night.
we took a picnic (roast beef sandwich, hard boiled eggs, bread and gouda cheese, strawberries, and soybeans) to sunset cliffs and talked and laughed for so long. matt said, "we're on the edge of the earth" and i loved it. because we were on the edge of a cliff and it felt so great to picture a map of the us and think of us on the very end of the country.

"we're at the top of the world
here tonight
we gotta lot of time
and it sure feels right"
--juliana theory

that's all for now
have a great sunday everyone.

hello everyone.
it's thursday but it feels like friday since i have a conference tomorrow and will not be attending school.
i feel sort of weird, though. extra tired, fake sore throat on the right side only, and slightly nauseous.
i haven't called off sick even once this year and i don't plan to do it during these last 6 weeks of school.
oops, that is, except for when mary comes into town and i decide to go camping with her in encinitas and
find that i just can't make it in to work that morning....

not feeling guilty at all, either.

i think probably my biggest pet peeve is someone who acts like they work so much harder than i do and assume that my job is easy just because i'm not complaining. (it's always people who complain about how busy they are, how hard they work, etc.) i've had a couple of comments come my way in the past few weeks, so i've been really bothered by this lately. it was really weighing on me and in my head i kept thinking of everything i do everyday, ticking off each event and getting more and more upset as i tried to justify myself in my head in imaginary conversations. so ridiculous! the enemy knows exactly how to get us to feel bad about ourselves...

but, so perfectly, i had a time of refreshing in the most unexpected venue...
remember that fun hiking class i went to last saturday?
well, the teacher was a totally cool lady who obviously had a great style of teaching (taking people outside to teach actual history/outdoor education) and was explaining her philosophy on teaching teachers. "you have one of the hardest jobs in the world and most people have no idea how much of yourselves you put into it, etc etc etc." which was nice to hear for once.

i know, i have a perfect school schedule and lots of time off, which i focus on. but i do put so much of myself into what i do, every day. i'm always "on", always performing, always thinking of how i can be more effective, always managing behavior without showing frustration... it can be exhausting. but even now that sounds like complaining, which i never want to do.
because i love what i do.
because i'm fulfilling God's will in my life.
because i'm using my gifts and being obedient.
because i normally don't desire affirmation from a person.

so strangely enough, at this outdoor education class that i was taking for credit, i received the refreshing that i had been needing.
just a reminder from the Lord that he knows what i do, he knows what i'm feeling, and now get on with it!
and back to the easy yoke of giving and flowing in my gifts of teaching and compassion and mercy---and not focusing on myself.
(and ignoring the weirdness of others who want to make me feel bad for being relaxed and confident).

at the end of the class the lady read, "thoughts of the dying person", which is why i'm taking a day off to be with mare.
one of the thoughts was, "i would play hookey more and worry about work less."
so that's what i'm doing! guilt-free, too!
and looking forward to a great night with a great campfire, hot dogs, wyder's pear cider, s'mores or chocolate eclairs, snow patrol, ocean, stars, and palm tree sky...

since justin's blog about the sad news at BGHS, i've just been thinking about how the enemy tries to stop us from fulfilling the will of God in our lives, but the holy spirit is so powerful in us that it is nearly impossible--as long as we are listening and being obedient. justin, you've had to struggle with your health and pain in your physical body in these past few years more than most people will ever have to deal with in their lifetimes. and you could have easily been selfish or full of self-pity and stayed in PA when you received the call. but you were obedient and put others above yourself (during maybe one of the most difficult times of your life) and were a broken vessel, out of which flowed the life of God.

i always think of this song "run" by snow patrol as if God were singing it over us:

light up
light up
as if you have a choice
even if you cannot hear my voice
i'll be right beside you dear


sorry for the emo blog
God's just dealing with me on some things right now

good night.

finally a blog.
first of all, happy birthday to casey!!! yes! now you're as old as me!

welp, lots of things to catch up on here...
last weekend in cleveland was so great! on friday my plane arrived and mom/dad/ryan picked me up and took me back to the hotel where a sleeping michelle and sleeping hannah baby were. then they woke up and i held that sleepyhead girl and kissed her on the head. then i held hannah. ha! anyways, she's so cute and sweet, especially when we put her on the big bed and she just sat there by herself, flapping her arms around.

the wedding was nice (except for the screaming child whose parents refused to remove him from the sanctuary) and graig and melissa were so happy. we all missed mary henry. but like matt reminded me when i got home, we'll have forever with her in heaven someday. our family had so much fun at the reception with yummy food, drinks, and fun dancing. i think the highlight was when dad did milli-vanilli-type chest slams with graig during the song "jump around". i'm still laughing thinking about it.

it was so good to see the good family--i miss you guys already! but i'll see you in a month and a half!

when i came home, matt had sweet surprise waiting for me--a new ipod, with an armband that i can wear when i run.
and a perfect extra gift--he loaded up all 15Gs for me with the music that i love! (yet another example of the little effort i am required to put forth for fantastic music!). speaking of which, snow patrol may 8th!!! and then lassie foundation (or is lassie foundation first? i can't remember...) yay!!

oh, and also, the shins are playing in san diego june 5th, mary, if you want to come down a day early...
we will be there for sure!

on tuesday this past week i came home from a run, feeling great, and matt wasn't home. so i got in the shower and by the time i was out, matt was running down the steps saying, "i'm taking you on a date!" yay! and then he took me to ocean beach and we had a campfire and grilled hot dogs and just sat there chatting and listening to snow patrol on the ipod speakers. we watched the sun set over the ocean and then came home and hopped in the hot tub--ahhh.... so fun to have a date randomly in the middle of the week. and even more fun that it was a beach campfire!!!

last night we had a martini party here at our house. we had all different flavors of martinis to choose from (blue raspberry, bikini--pineapple/coconut, chocolate, grapetini, watermelon, sour apple, lemon, vanilla sunrise, etc...) and yummy food and good friends. people didn't leave until 3:00 am. of course i had fallen asleep on our living room floor by then. come on now! i'm not a college student anymore. i was impressed that our "older" friends (and realtor), dan and deb, made it until 12:30. when they left, i was ready for bed but felt that i needed to be sociable, as i was one of the hosts!

justin, to respond to an earlier post: i wasn't actually kidding about all things bright and beautiful--and then i said the same thing to matt and he told me it was the luxury guy--ha!!! are there any more songs (besides the 3 songs you sent us?) you should check out camera obscura--girl singer with sort of a sweet voice, acoustic guitar, mild drums and piano. and i was sad (yet i laughed at parts) to read your most recent blog about your health issues. know that i pray for you always.

there was a thick fog when i woke up this morning at 7:00, but now it's completely sunny! another beach day for us! well, whenever matt gets up that is.

what a beautiful piece of heartache this has all turned out to be...
-over the rhine