the end of a very long day of work.

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

enough of that blabber!!!

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

it's been real, people!
-tracey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

tracey

alright, michelle and emily making your lists! yeah!

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

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

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

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

have a great day!
tracey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

tracey

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

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

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

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

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

i'm out.
tracey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

well, i'm going for a walk.

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

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

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

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

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

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

the world can wait
-over the rhine

tracey

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

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

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

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

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

tracey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

farewell, people!
tracey

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

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

this is not goodbye-ye
-over the rhine

tracey