Me, me, me!

Because ultimately everything is about me, right? lol. Just kidding....

Monday I start my new position in the Chief Deputy's office. Kinda exciting, kinda not. It's something new and a new challenge AND will open up doors for me, but I'm not making that much more money and I'm going to miss my immediate co-workers. It's been so nice being able to fellowship at work, but nothing lasts forever does it.

My debt is so close to being paid off and it feels SO GOOD! Two years ago I was at nearly $24,000 of debt (not including that evil Audi, but mostly because of it). Right now I'm down to $5,000 and that's only because I added Invisalign to the mix. If it wasn't for Invisalign, I would be done already. October 2011 (7 months from now!), I will be officially debt-free! Hallelujah!

I have a date tonight with a guy from eHarmony with whom I have been texting and chatting over the phone. He's white, which is out of my norm (I love me some brown dudes, what can I say), but he's funny and seems cool. We'll see what happens. It's in God's hands.

I'm also chatting with another guy on eHarmony (who IS brown... lol). This guys seems like he has more of a solid relationship with the Lord, so I'm definitely not going to rule him out either. I'm learning that I need to leave myself a little more open and available to different opportunities. I'm definitely not a player, but I'm also not obligated to anyone right now. Until you are committed and maybe even put a ring on my finger, I don't owe you anything. I know what I want and won't settle for less than anyone who loves the Lord and who is ready for that next step in his life. This too is in God's hands.

That's about it.... I'll update what happens tonight later. Peace!

On the rocks...

There are two different married couples in my life who are having problems in their marriage and who are this close to crumbling. One wife wants to leave for good reason (pretty much abuse and drug involvement). The other wife doesn't want to leave, but her husband isn't man enough to be honest with her about never wanting to be with her in the first place. In both cases the human side of me feels for the women and is on their sides and wanting them to get away from these ridiculous men.

The Holy Spirit in me, however, is on the side of marriage in general. I'm on the side of healing in marriage. Why? Because I'm on the side of anything the devil hates and God loves. The devil hates marriage. His biggest mission seems to destroy all marriages. Why? Because the more broken marriages there are, the more broken and VULNERABLE people and children there are. It's a breeding ground for future mistakes and sins that could be so avoidable:

Men never marrying again because they no longer "trust women."

Women marrying any fool who comes along just so they won't have to be alone.

Little girls sleeping with multiple men, trying to find the daddy that was absent in their lives.

Little boys becoming addicts and criminals because they don't have a daddy to show them how to be the right kind of man.

And the list goes on...

The number one reason the Devil hates marriage, specifically between Christians, is because marriage is a picture of our relationship with Christ. He is the bridegroom and we are the bride. He paid it all to have us. He loves us and we love him and he will someday come back for his bride like knight in shining armor. The enemy HATES that with a passion. He would rather we be divorced from God forever, which is what we are when we are in our sin and without Christ.

Pray for all the married people in your life. EVERY DAY they are fighting against the enemy himself to keep their marriages together. It's hard, but it's not impossible... and God can heal even the most impossible situations. Look at my parents... The Lord healed their marriage after 10 years of being apart. He can do ANYTHING!

Instincts... You have them for a reason!

So I started taking morning walks at Hansen Dam, which is near my house. I usually park in a parking lot a little further from the dam because the one at the entrance to the dam is always full. Yeah, I won't be doing that anymore.

Saturday, I parked my car and took my walk, as usual. As I was heading back to my car, I spotted a man about 50 yards ahead of me sitting on some rocks near the parking lot. Immediatley my instincts told me to be leary of this man. As I got nearer to that area, I started going around to the side of where he was to get to my car. That was when he stood up and swiftly walked toward me.

My heart started racing.

I then abruptly stopped when he was only about 4 feet from me. I was not even going to try passing him because all I could imagine was him coming up behind me and grabbing me. When I stopped he stopped and I could tell that he could sense my defensiveness. It was pretty obvious because I stood cold in my tracks and looked (not-so-nicely) right at him. That's when he said, "Did you finish your walk?"

Um, who the heck are you, talking to me like you know me? Ew.

I said, kind of curtly, "Yeah, can I help you?"

My heart was pounding at this point, but I was not going to let this guy think I was vulnerable--this man who sure had some b***s trying to pull something in broad daylight!

He got the picture and kept walking. As soon as I knew I was out of his reach, I walked quickly to my car. That was when I noticed two men in a parked car looking at us. I'm glad to know that even if that guy did try something, there were witnesses and they would hopefully have come to my rescue.

(Thank you, Lord, for always protecting me!)

If you are a girl, or you have girls, there is an important message here: ALWAYS GO WITH YOUR INSTINCTS. Don't worry about being rude or hurting anyone's feelings. Your gut doesn't lie. Maybe that guy didn't intend to do anything but strike up a conversation with me (I highly doubt it). I don't really care. It didn't FEEL like those were his intentions and my gut told me that from 50 yards away.

Girls, you are BETTER OFF SAFE THAN SORRY! As for me, I am now carrying a small can of pepper spray on my keychain because, apparently, the freaks don't just come out at night...

The Miley syndrome...

Parents these days. They should just call them "Those Older Friends I Live With." It seems that so many people in this world are way too worried about their kids liking them and thinking they are "cool" that they forget their duties to protect their children by saying no to things that are harmful to them, even at the risk of their children being "mad" at them. Then they can't understand why their kids don't respect them. Your kids don't respect their other friends, so why should they respect you?

Miley Cyrus is an example of the consequences of being your child's buddy. She has gotten into a lot of trouble lately. First she was posing semi-nude before the age of 18. Now she's been photographed getting high. People want to blame Disney or "the man" or whoever, but I blame the parents.

Guess what! For once, so do the parents. Miley's father, Billy Ray Cyrus, said this in a recent GQ Magazine interview:

"How many interviews did I give and say, 'You know what's important between me and Miley is I try to be a friend to my kids'? I said it a lot. And sometimes I would even read other parents might say, 'You don't need to be a friend, you need to be a parent.' Well, I'm the first guy to say to them right now: You were right. I should have been a better parent. I should have said, 'Enough is enough--it's getting dangerous and somebody's going to get hurt.' I should have, but I didn't. Honestly, I didn't know the ball was out of bounds until it was way up in the stands somewhere."

I'm glad Billy Ray was able to open up his eyes to the truth that at the end of the day, HE is responsible for the way his kids turn out. It's unfortunate that it's too little too late for his daughter and for his marriage... for his family.

But then again, it's NOT too late. With God, it's never too late. He can redeem and restore anything. I pray that Billy Ray will open his heart to the Lord and get on his knees and cry out to the Great Healer right now. Nothing is irreparable with God. NOTHING.

Memories of Magic Mountain...

I don't write about it much, but during the end of my teens and for the first third of my twenties I worked at Six Flags Magic Mountain (and for one season in between at Hurricane Harbor). Many of my still-good friends and my adopted sister, Sandy, worked with me there. That place definitely was the backdrop of much of my "fun times," and what I mean by that was that I got into a lot of trouble and made a lot of dumb, young-person mistakes during that time. =)


Oh the stories I could tell. Oh the memories: Meeting Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the Main Gate toll booth. Hooking the singer, Brandy, up with a free ticket for a special event. Almost getting fired for not calling the ambulance for a little girl with a seizure at the Harbor (I didn't know I was supposed to!). Being in my first (and only) love triangle with Stage Tech and a Float Driver. Decorating the park for Halloween and helping build a maze ("I told you guys I'm not THAT girly!"). And so many more...


Anyway, Vintage Disneyland Tickets obviously mostly displays old stuff from Disneyland, but it also has a few things on Magic Mountain that I thought I would share. Pretty interesting. This is awesome because it gives some history of the Santa Clarita Valley, which was then known as the Valencia Valley:

And here's a brochure from 1981, the year I was born:

Enjoy more here...

Reason to celebrate on the worst holiday ever...

I hate V.D. No I'm not talking about THAT V.D., although that's pretty bad too. I'm talking about Valentine's Day. I hate it for the obvious reasons, which I have no problem admitting. =)

Well, I'm not going to worry about it today. I have good things to share:

1. I've been offered a promotion at work. It is only one level above what I'm at now and not much of a pay increase, but the exposure I will have is priceless. It will look very nice on my resume if and when I head out to Texas.

2. I just completed week 3 of Weight Watchers yesterday and I'm down 8 lbs. Not bad. I look like I've lost 15 though... I'm getting compliments left and right. It's probably because I've been adding some daily walking into the routine. I feel really good right now and everything is fitting me loosely.

I put on a dress this morning that I've never had the nerve to wear (which I am wearing at work right now BTW). I took the below picture of it and posted it on Facebook with the caption, "Take that Valentine's Day!" The response I got was amazing.




I love you, Weight Watchers. =)

Yeah, really not the worst Valentine's I've ever had....

And this guy is on the President's side?

He's making a pretty good case for those who think Obama's a muslim, which is hilarious because he started out trying to make the point that it's ridiculous that anyone might think that our President might not really be a Christian.....

Only in MY head...

Have you ever seen Inception? If you have, then I can say that it’s pretty darn close to what my dreams are like: very vivid and extremely detailed and, much of the time, utterly bizarre.

Last night I had a very strange and morbid dream. I’ve never dreamt of anyone committing suicide… until last night.

In the dream I was going to meet up with a friend I used to work with at Magic Mountain who I haven’t seen in years. I’m in a grocery store and I look out a window across the street to see 5 or 6 dogs running down the sidewalk. Only these dogs are standing upright and are dressed in sweatsuits. Weird and kinda funny actually. Everyone in the dream stopped to see these dogs. I was so intrigued that I decided to go outside to get a better look.

As I’m walking to the curb to look across the street I approach a beat up old truck. Inside in the passenger seat is the friend I’m waiting for. We say hi and then out of no where this thuggish looking girl walks out from the store with a gun in her hand. She starts shooting at the dogs and killing them one by one. I turn away because I don’t want to see this and when I look back at her she’s crying.

I realize that those are her dogs that she is killing. Then another girl approaches her crying and screaming to try and tell her to stop killing the dogs. I instinctually know this is the girl’s girlfriend (random, I know; I’ve never had dreams involving lesbians either). The girl turns and shoots her girlfriend.

At this point, I’m thinking this girl is on a rampage and is going to shoot me and my friend since we are witnesses and the closest to her. I can hear my friend scream from the car to please not shoot her, while in that very moment I’m trying to run behind the truck so this girl doesn’t shoot me (courageous, right? Lol). I look back at her and, instead of shooting anyone else, she puts the gun to her own forehead. I immediately look away because I don’t want to see what’s going to happen next.

That’s when I wake up.

Ick. What was that about? I tell you. I don’t understand what goes on in my subconscious brain sometimes… I’m not even going to try to interpret that one. Maybe I just watch too much TV...

*eye roll*

Yesterday's post was for nothing. The special event has now been called off.... well, postponed. More on that later....

Special days and secret preparations...

Wow. This week has been nuts. We are about to have an extremely special event take place for our family this Saturday and the plans are crazy because it's very last minute. I can't get into details right now because it's hush-hush and I don't want to risk anyone I know finding out what it is (not that anyone I know really reads this thing), but I can say that I had to go buy a dress today for it and I'm going to be running around like crazy on Friday preparing for it.


I was just complaining last night on Facebook about how I always have the worst time finding cute dresses (yeah, I admit it... I complain... like you couldn't tell from reading this blog! lol). SHOCK OF ALL SHOCKS, MIRACLE FROM HEAVEN, I was actually able to find a really cute and super flattering dress for a decent price (thank you, Macy's 1-Day Sale!):




So now I'm relieved to have that out of the way and I'm kinda excited to wear my pretty new dress. Hmmm.... Wait a minute. I think I need some earings for this dress. One more thing to add to the list. =)


As soon as the coast is clear, I will be sharing what this "special event" will entail. Stay tuned...

Shnazzing things up...

So, since we've taken over my Mom's house and made it our very own bachelorette pad, we've really spruced the place up. We got all new (matching!) furniture. There was just one problem: the kitchen. It was the only thing that needed major help.

What was wrong with it? It was pink. Yeah, PINK! I'm talking pink walls and pink linoleum. *shudder* Who has a pink kitchen? Well, that's not retro at least. Apparently, my crazy parents did.

Well, not anymore. This weekend we painted the kitchen with much more "modern" colors:

You don't even want to know what kind of heinously ugly curtains used to hang here... lol


I really like it. I did most of it (my sister "helped," but I mostly had to come behind her and fix a lot of mistakes. God love her, but painting is definitely not her expertise. lol). It came out--as my mother would say--very sharp looking.

Now all that's left is for my friend Mike to finish the tiling job he's already started: