Nine Highlights from '09

I may have stretched these *a bit* to make them fit into nine...but just a little :)

Interterm at Biola

This one started out as a bit of a sore spot for me, thanks to the whole "my family's on a cruise and I'm not" thing, but it ended up being a good month anyway. I took my stats class, which I really enjoyed thanks to the professor. When I wasn't doing stats problems, I was hanging out with people in Hart having family dinners and making Berry Cool runs. Tad visited me for the last week of interterm, and we enjoyed watching movies, hanging out at Berry Cool, wandering around Brea and Fullerton with Christine, and exploring new areas of campus.

Enjoying Olive Grove Park on campus

Hart Events

I absolutely LOVED living in Hart, no joke. The spring included '50's and "Funkship Cruise" all halls, HUOD/HUB sister floor "Spa and Dessert Night" Valentine's party, HUOD floor retreat to Shanelle's house in Valencia, and two girls' nights out to Cheesecake Factory.

looking nifty, fifties style :)

awesome HUOD girls on floor retreat

Funktastic friends with our funktabulous party drinks, at the Funkship Cruise All Hall, funk yeah!!! (oh how I love Ryan Low and the Hart Res Life staff xD)

Cheesecake Factory #1 for Raeleen's bday

Cheesecake #2 for Amanda's bday

Clarinet Club Events

Clarinet Club was one of my favorite extracurriculars at Biola - good friends, being nerdy about clarinet together and having fun. We had a Valentine's party at Amanda's house, hosted a concert by the LA clarinet choir, held a fundraiser for the Romania team, and put on an end-of-the-year recital.

About to watch Sleepless in Seattle

the Clarinet Club seniors after our last recital

Missions Conference

Missions Conference on its own is a delight, but it's even better when it's accompanied by a Tad visit. Tad was here for the St Patrick's all hall (mentioned above), all of the conference, and a really fun double date night with my friends Dave and Amy (who got married 10 days ago).

My love and me at the all hall

"it's a small world after all" kinda

Walking the Hermosa Beach pier

Final Days at Biola and Graduation

The last month of my time at Biola was filled with fun, including Comm Disorders dinner, Winds banquet, and of course graduation. I graduated magna cum laude and my family and Raelene were ther to celebrate with me.

Seniors at Comm Disorders dinner at El Torrito

The Romania clarinet section, at Winds Banquet

Communication Disorders graduating class Spring 09!

Mi familia y yo

Best friends since 2nd grade, this may it'll be her turn to wear the cap and gown :)

Romania

The Biola Romania tour was an incredible experience. I'd never been on a missions trip before, and this was certainly a wonderful first experience. I fell in love with the kids and people there, and I hope to return someday.

staying dry in Roschiori :)

our whole team, behind the team house

this sums up my trip

Summer Fun

This was quite possibly the best summer I've ever had. I spent my birthday at Disneyland with Raelene and Becky, played in the North County Community Band, went to California Adventure with Amanda, visited Tad and his family for a week, taught a group of Kindergarteners during VBS, and moved into my condo.

my super fun birthday/graduation party

Birthday, Disneyland style :)

California Adventure with Amanda <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbckf4htpkWtYPJtRx4lvS0ObUDowyLnf0kNAlLOR0WofvGFqUYSMBZKwhAkfjAE79pp8Tb7WafVUICG7cFhtmRGQzlEW6SQkx-pi31MgA5nTWMpEVWRC3rNxfgmCoNlr4uJDhN_DJr8Q/s1600-h/summer2.jpg">SonRock Kids' Camp VBS

Always delighted to see my love

Wicked at the San Diego Civic Center with the roomies and Raelene (and the fam)

Grad School

My first semester was killer, but I managed to find time to still have fun with friends.

An afternoon at Bates' Nut Farm

I helped Raelene put on her parents' surprise 50th birthday party

On a Biola visit weekend :)

December Nights in Balboa Park

a few of the ladies from my program, at my house for a Christmas party

Holidays with Tad

I spent Thanksgiving with Tad and his family. I was in Washington for half the week, and ont he Oregon coast for the other half. It was great getting to spend time with him, and get to know his family better. We were also blessed to get to spend New Years together, as Tad is now a San Diego resident :D

Hanging out in a Krispy Kreme in Spokane

Happy 2010!

Wrapping up a Decade

I'm never really "surprised" by the end of a year. A lot has happened in 2009. I am, however, surprised by the end of a decade. I still eel like it just recently turned 2000. I was 12 (and a half) at the turn of the century, thus I didn't have exquisitely clear memories of the entire 90's decade. So in a way, this is more first real closing of a decade.

Looking back, it's easy to see how much happens in ten years:

2001
Career day spent with a speech language pathologist
Graduated from middle school
Moved out of the house we'd lived in since I was 5
Started high school, and marching band, which ruled my life for 4 years
Moved into the house we live in now

2002
Mom started Mary Kay
Started playing percussion during marching season
Family trip to San Antonio

2003
First almost kinda sorta, not really boyfriend
Band trip to Australia
Began looking at colleges

2004
Spent 3 weeks in norcal at the STEP (Student Transition Education Program, I think) program at California School for the Blind
Family cruise to Alaska
Began applying to college

2005
Decided to go to Biola
Band trip to Hawaii
Graduated from high school
Started my college education at Biola
Met some of my best friends ever :)

2006
Interterm at Biola
Winds tour around OC?LA county
Family cruise to Mexico
Added my Spanish minor
Met Tad
Started dating Tad
Moved into Horton with Krista
Tad meets my family over Christmas

2007
Interterm at Biola
Met Tad's family over summer
Moved into Welch apartment with Krista and Becky
Started Clarinet Club with Becky
Family trip to Maui with Tad

2008
Biola Centennial
Winds tour to NorCal
Tad graduates from NNU
My 21st birthday
Valencia and I are paired and train for 4 weeks at Guide Dogs for the Blind
Becky, Valencia, and I move into Hart
Applied to grad school

2009
Interterm at Biola
I get accepted to SDSU for grad school
I graduate from Biola
First missions trip, to Romania with Heart 2 Heart International
22nd birthday at Disneyland
I move into my condo in Mission Valley
Grad school
Thanksgiving spent with the Tildens
Tad moves to San Diego!

I'm very excited for all that comes in the new decade :)

Celebrating Biola Style

This year, instead of heading down to San Diego from LA after finishing finals, I did the opposite. I was at home for a day, and then headed up to the Biola area for the weekend. And what a weekend it was.

I rode up to Orange County on Friday morning with Anja. We had fun talking in the car, espeically about how wonderful it was to not have school for a month. She dropped me off at Krista's house where I hung out with Krista's brother and sister while Krista got ready. Soon as she was ready we joined Becky at her place where the rest of us got ready to go to Biola graduation.

Dorothy (the graduate among us) picked Sizzler for dinner, which is conveniently between Becky's townhouse and Biola. I shared a combination plate of steak, shrimp, and ribs with Dorothy. Yum, I had forgotten how much I like Sizzler! We ate quicky since we were a bit short on time. Becky's and Dorhty's rommate Melissa and I went ahead early to the gym to save seats. It was wonderful (as it has been every time) to be back on campus. I became very excited when we walked past the Biola Christmas tree.

The gym was decorated festively with more Christmas trees. The ceremony was nice. I knew a few of the other graduates, mostly music people. Afterwards, we went with Dorothy and her family to the reception in the caf. The caf was also decorated with Christmas trees and such, and had delicious dessserts, eggnog, and cider. My dad made the point later that if you lived in the area you could make a point to go to that every year, lol.

After the reception we went down to Hart to pick up Becky's sister Jen, and happened upon a lot of Hart alumni. I got to chat with Beth for a while about grad school, and compare the programs at SDSU and Redlands. It's a bit of a relief to know that I'm not the only one who's thrilled with graduate coursework, haha

Saturday morning (after walking to Albertson's for milk) Becky made pancakes for her, me and Jen, which we ate with apple butter, very tasty. The rest of my Saturday was spent at Amy and Dave's wedding, which was beautiful.

I love weddings, love them, oh my goodness. Amy and Dave are friends I know, in a round about way, because of Valencia. Amy has a dog from GDB, and she was visiting Dave (who just graduated from Talbot) one week, and they came to a Symphonic Winds concert. My mom and Amy met in the bathroom with the two dogs. Amy and Dave are the couple that Tad and I went on a double date with to Hermosa Beach back in March (which happened to be the night before they got engaged).

Anywho

Their wedding was at the church Dave has been interning at. It's a small baptist church, with a tall steeple like a classic old church house, and very nice people. It was a beautiful ceremony, Amy sang a duet in Mandarin with her maid of honor, the wedding party read 2 Cor 13, they wrote their own vows, and at the end we all sang hymns together.

Immediately following the service was picture time, the favorite of which was the guide dog picture. Including Amy's dog Donna, there were five guides present. Donna was the star among the dogs, donning two different party dresses over the course of the afternoon and evening.

There was a reception in the church fellowship hall after the ceremony. Since they were also having a dinner reception, I assumed the church one would be just cake and punch. But they had a full array of food, including fruit and veggie platters, teriyaki chicken, california rolls, and several kinds of Chinese pastries. They had a slideshow of pictures of Amy and Dave and had a number of people say a message to Amy and Dave.

The dinner reception was at a restaurant across town called Happy Habor Seafood. Amy found a ride for me with one of her friends. We got a bit lost on the way, but found it a lot sooner than most of the guests.

The restaurant was a very nice, elegant, Chinese seafood place. Between receptions, Amy had changed from her traditional western wedding dress, into a traditional Chinese dress, red with beautiful gold embroidery. She and Dave looked great together with his matching red button down shirt. They're such a great couple!

Dinner was incredible, all nine courses of it! I tried several things I had never had before. Course one was jellyfish and a cold slice of beef. It was followed by delicious walnut shrimp. Then came the shark fin soup. Then there was shitaki mushrooms, bak choi, and abilone. Then there was the lobster, after which was the Peking duck. Next was the baked fish, and we finished off with a bowl of fried rice. Dessert was lotus paste cookies and red bean soup, both were amazingly delicious!

Amy and Dave came around to each table individually to toast and I got a chance to chat with them a bit. They sent me home with a vase of beautiful red and yellow roses from one o the tables. Presently, they are in Waikiki, lucky ducks :)

There were several things I decided from the day. 1. I want an afternoon wedding, 2. I want a slightly fancier reception locaiton than a church fellowship hall (though I want the ceremony in a church) and 3. White cake with straberries in it makes a delicious wedding cake layer.

Sunday I wrapped up my visit with church at Grace EV Free with Krista dnd Jen and then lunch at Panda Express.

Below are a few pictures from the weekend:


I am no longer in the most recent graduating class from Biola, weird


What a beautiful bride Amy is :)


the centerpiece at my table at their dinner reception


me with the happy couple, isn't Amy's dress gorgeous???

Preparing for Christmas

Celebrating Advent is so hard when the first 3 weeks are overshadowed by finals :/

As is evidenced by my life all semester, this year is especially difficult. I only have 4 days left in the semester, and yet so much to do. Add in that I am still slowly adjusting to my new again secular surroundings.

Nonetheless, I am almost finished with this darned semester, and have been doing my utmost to enjoy the season.

Last weekend I went with Raelene and her new boyfriend Nate to "December Nights" in Balboa Park. This is a San Diego tradition my family has never done. None of us are much for crowds, and as I discovered that night, all of San Diego (and their dog) goes to December Nights. It was fun though. We didn't actually end up getting there until 8:30 (we had been aiming for 7, and it ended at 10), but it didn't matter too much. I got a good chance to get to know Nate a bit and it was cold outside anyway.

The park was beautifully decorated with tons of lights strung everywhere and multiple Christmas trees. We had brotworst for dinner and enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate while watching some of the jazz choir performance at the organ pavillion.

Raelene dropped me off at home, where I spent Saturday and Sunday helping my family put up the Christmas decorations.

Last week (since clinic was finished) I spent a large amount of time at home working on projects...and rinking eggnog *mmm*. I finished up some Christmas shopping yesterday morning, and enjoyed a Starbucks (courtesy of the starbucks card from my landlord).

4 more days:
EMonday: diagnostics exam
Tuesday: research methods presentation
Wednesday: Phonology project due 4 pm, language project due midnight
Thursday: Online Neurogenics exam

Then, Christmas break!!!!

Thanksgiving with the Tildens: The Oregon Part

(Continued from "The Washington Part"

Wednesday morning we piled into the Tildens' minivan and set out for the Oregon coast. I did quite a bit of sleeping on this drive, and some homework, but still had time to admire the scenery out the window. Generally long drives bore me, but this one was brand new to me , and fairly pretty. Essentially, we followed the Columbia River all the way along the Oregon/Washington border til we reached the coast. We stopped for lunch at Wendy's in "The Dalles" Oregon, very interesting name for a city. A couple hours later the Tildens stopped to show me Multnomah Falls. I love waterfalls, so that was a fun surprise for me. I bought huckleberry muffin and pancake mixes from the gift shop for Christmas gifts.



After Multnomah, the ride got to be a bit tedious. We hit a LOT of traffic going through Portland and some thereafter. The original plan had been to meet up with the rest of the Tildens for dinner, reaching Newport before dark. That changed to 6 pm, then 6:30, then 7:00, then 8:00. At 7:30 we stopped for dinner in Lincoln City at Mo's Chowder. That was a fun dinner. It was a very casual, homestyle seafood place decorated cute with lots of twinkle lights. We all shared a pot of clam chowder and Tad and I shared a shrimp melt, mmm!

We finally got to Newport at 9:00, about 10 hours after we left Richland...apparently it's only supposed to be a 6 hour drive...yeah, yay traffic. We got settled in our rooms and then went to say hi to the rest of the family. I got to meet one of Tad's cousins, who is extraorinarily quiet, and his aunt and uncle.

Thanksgiving was extremely rainy. I was somewhat disappointed the I couldn't see more of, well, anything, through all the rain. I called home and did homework in the morning. Tad's family eats out on holidays, so we headed out just before 1 for our reservation. I was extremely nervous about this, my family NEVER eats out on holidays, but it actually wasn't terribly different. We ate at "Fishtail Cafe". It was a small restaurant, decorated like a home living room with pictures and comfy chairs and a Christmas tree. The owner had been there since 6 am cooking turkeys.

It was a wonderful, home cooked meal, complete with almost everything I've grown up having at Thanksgiving. The only real difference was that we weren't the only group in the room and the people serving weren't eating with us.

Once full with out salad, turkey dinner, and pie, we mosied back to the hotel and had triptophan induced naptime. ... Several hours later ... we gathered in Tad's uncle's room for a light dinner of lobster bisk, rolls and cheese, and more pie. I got a chance to talk quite a bit with Courtney, Tad's cousin Peter's new wife. We hung out for a while and then returned to our own room.

While his parents worked on a puzzle they had brought with us, Tad and I went to spend some time in the hot tub. We had about 20 minutes and then the pool closed. Before coming back to the room Tad took me down to see the crabbing dock. Crabbing is a major thing to do while staying in Newport. Back at the room Tad taught me how to play Guitar Hero, and I think I'm now addicted, hehe

Friday was a very lazy day. I did some homework and played a game on the wii with Tad and Jeana. Lunch was with the group at the Chowder Bowl in town. I shared a seafood platter with Tad and tried fried clams and oysters, not bad!

After lunch Tad and I walked (with Valencia this time) back to the crabbing dock. I had asked if we could go during the daylight so I could see more. It seems like it'd be fun to crab, or even just watch people. There was a tiny little dungeness crab on the dock, so I actually got to see one up close.

The afternoon was spent hanging out, doing homework, and playing more guitar hero. We rejoined the group again for dinner at Lum Yen for Chinese. There was more puzzle action in our room, followed by Tad and me starting a game of Mario Party.

Saturday we had a casual lunch type meal in Tad's uncle David's room (sandwiches, chips...and chocolate fondu) and spent most of the rest of the day shopping. We drove back up to Lincoln City and spent a couple hours at the outlet mall. I got a couple more things for Christmas gifts and a new clinic shirt from Aeropostale. I also got a tshirt from the Christian bookstore that says "Faithbook: Jesus wants to put you into his book, do you accept? Revelations 3:3" There was another one I wanted to get, but was too big that said "Join me for happy hour, every Sunday morning" it had a verse from Ephesians about not getting drunk on wine but worshipping God joyfully.

Shopping trip complete, we met the rest of the gang at Tidal Raves restaurant in Depoe Bay. It was a very nice dinner. I got more clam chowder and coconut shrimp. Tad and i shared a slice of marionberry cheesecake for dessert. After dinner we all played a couple hours of Apples to Apples. Tad and I finished our game of Mario Party once everyone else had gone to bed, I won!

Sunday morning we got up early and started the drive back to Portland for me, and TriCities for the Tildens. We got lunch at Gustav's Pub and Grill in Tigard. We shared swiss cheese fondue and a platter that came with broworst, snitzel, chicken, spatzel, and saurkraut. After that the Tildens dropped me off at PDX and headed for home.

I had a great trip, it was nice getting to spend time with Tad and his friends, and getting to meet more of his family. I'm having an awful time of it now without him, we only have a month til he moves, but that feels much too long. Hopefully I can pull the next 3 weeks together to finish the semester strong.


Me and my love :)

Thanksgiving with the Tildens: The Washington Part

After a bit longer of a break than was expected (nearly 4 months) I am once again with my love. I finished classes on Thursday and arrived in Pasco around 6 pm Friday evening. Tad was waiting for me at the airport and as soon as we had my bag, we got dinner from Sonic. I wasn't quite as impressed with their food as I thought I would be, but their limeade is still amazing. We spent Friday evening hanging out watching hulu and such.

Saturday I spent about the entire day doing homework. His parents fixed steak and mashed potatoes for lunch and in the afternoon we headed over to Tad's frien Tony's place. There was a lan party going on there, so I fit in great with my computer. I think they were having a good deal more fun than I was though. We grabbed Subway for dinner and I watched some of their gaming. The most amusing part of the evening was after a couple of the guys had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol. I had been asleep ont he couch and then heard "hey Edgar! look, I drew you on my mousepad!!!" "Huh? What'd you do?" "No, really, look! See, it's the smiley face...and the curly hair like yours!!!!" "Oh yeah! dude, that's so cool!!!!" lol, is all I have to say.

Sunday was the day I experienced a plethora of kinds of weather. We woke up to crazy 50-60 mph winds that lasted all day and into the night. Somehow in the craziness we made it to church without blowing off the road. Tad and I had lunch with his family at Red Robin and then headed out for a day trip up to Spokane. We stopped in Cheney to pick up his friend Kim from high school who goes to EWU and Valencia got to see snow for the first time. She was very curious about the wet, cold white stuff that was all over the ground.

After being joined by Kim, we met up with Emily at one of the malls in Spokane. We wandered around for a bit, making fun of all the stores that already had Christmas stuff up before Thanksgiving, and then got dinner at the food court. The mall closed at 6 since it was a Sunday, so we followed Emily over to the Barnes & Noble she works at and hung out until their closing time (7). Emily stayed for a work meeting, so the 3 of us headed across the street to Krispee Kremes. Donuts are yummy, very yummy. Kim had class early Monday morning, so Tad and I dropped back off at her dorm and made the drive back to Richland.


hanging out in Barnes & Noble


Krispy Kreme!

Monday morning I helped out with stuff around the house and did some more homework. Tad and I made another Sonic run and then went to hang out at the mall. Tad explored his personal "happiest place on earth" (gamestop), we got free chocolate from the Sees "store" set up for Christmas, and wandered around Barnes & oble (apparently that was just the thing to do on this trip). We arrived home in time for nachos for dinner.

Once the dishes had been cleared, I helped Tad make his "Famous" chocolate mousse pie for Tuesday night's pie party.

Tuesday was another day for the finishing of homework and helping out around the house. The main event for the day was our pie party. Tad had invitd all of his friends who were in town over to have pie and hang out. It was fun, I got to see basically all of Tad's friends from home who I've met. We had the chocolate pies, a pecan pie, an apple pie, half a watermelon pie, Swedish pancakes, and a wide variety of drinks and played about a hundred rounds of Apples to Apples.

Funny realization I made that night, that may well be the last night I spend in Washington as Tad's girlfriend. Who knows the next time I'll be back up there. Anyway, the second half of my trip (the Oregon half) gets its own post.

Survival in a Foreign Place

The second blog I've written during grad school with the word "Survive" in the title, hmmm, do we see a trend here? haha

This was going to be just a blog about what I've been up to lately, but there was some profound thinking that went on in church today. Thus this shall be a mixed blog entry. Let's begin with the thinking and end ith the recap.

Today's message at the Flood was about growing to know God when we're in a foreign place. A foreign place can be just about anything, things that are painful and things that are happy. Physically being in a new place, entering a new stage in life, mourning, anything that puts you somewhere you haven't been (physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc) before.

Immediately my brain began listing all the different ways I'm in a foreign place. New stage of life? Check: it's called grad school. New location? Check: condo in a part of San Diego I didn't grow up in. New environment? Check: surrounded by non Christians post high school (much more different than I thought while still at Biola New place financially? Check: I'm broke and living month to month.

You get the picutre, I'm in an almost completely foreign place right now.

This got me to thinking, it's not wonder I've been feeling so completely out of my element. The speaker this morning (we had a guest speaker, it wasn't the pastor) likened these "foreign places" to the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years. We aren't happy about them. We want to get straight from point A to point B, but God specifically puts us in those times to learn and grow closer to him.

All of this was comforting in a way. I've been feeling pretty lousy about my faith the last couple months, running around like a chicken with its head cut off makes making time for God even more challenging than it already is, and I've felt like I was starting to drift. But that's not necessarily it...I'm just wandering in the wilderness right now. I'm ok with that though, I know it means I'm supposed to be learning and growing, and I know God won't let me stay here forever.

Going back to the thought on being surrounded by non Christians, I had a sad realization about that. I definitely feel like I don't quite fit in my grad program. Not in terms of academics, I fit just fine in terms of the actual content of the program, but socially I don't. I don't drink (at least not more than a margarita every once in a while), I don't live or sleep with my boyfriend, I don't swear, for me "going out with the girls" is going to Cheesecake Factory...to get cheesecake, and my idea of a party is making cookies, eating lots of chocolate, and watching a chick flick, and if we're talking a CRAZY party there are also boys and a rootbeer keg.

I'm not the only Christian in the class. Out of 38 of us, there are at least 4 or 5 others, but the majority is definitely non Christian. Anyway, I realized, I'm *never* going to fit in, not with the girls in my class, not with future coworkers. Being a Christian sets us apart, lights are clearly going to stand out in the darkness. It saddens me to not be able to fully bond with a lot of the people around me. Thank goodness though for being connected at church and being surrounded by fellow believers there!

This concludes the "thoughts" portion of this blog, now on to what I've actually been up to.

The week after Halloween was awful in terms of workload, which made my second trip up to Biola this semester very refreshing. I rode up with Anja and James again and got dropped off at Krista's house. Becky met us and we went out for sushi followed by the most amazing Italian ice I've ever had.

Becky had a concert to go to that evening at Long Beach, so Krista and I watched hulu at her place until it was time to meet up with Charlotte for Boba. I don't like boba proper, but I love the teas, especially Thai milk tea. Yum! Once finished with our drinks we went back to Hart to hang out. I got to see Tia and Raeleen, and I hung out with Charlotte until Becky picked me up.

Saturday I had lunch at Chick Fil A with Amanda, who tag teamed with Krista and Diana. After they had eaten, the 3 of us went and wandered around Bed Bath & Beyond, smelling candles and finding interesting things like dog snuggies and marshmallow launchers. We spent a couple hours at the Biola library (me working on homework, Krista job searching) until it was time to meet Becky for dinner.

Krista had picked out Taps Fishhouse and Brewery for her birthday dinner. It was a very nice restaraunt, with quite good food. We shared a glass of white wine between the 3 of us and the complimentary baked Alaska they brought out for Krista. After dinner we spend over for the Symphonic Winds "Japan" fall concert, which was wonderful, as expected. And after that it was to the Fellers' house to feast on amazing Japanese food and yummy desserts.

Sunday morning I went with Becky and Jen to Redeemer (which was wonderful, as usual) and met Krista for lunch at Daphnes. Becky and I went to a fun "Viv la France" free orchestra concert, and then it was back to San Diego I came.

Last week wasn't so bad in terms of work (helped by the fact that we had Wednesday off) and I've had a very relaxing weekend. Last night I got to go out to In N Out and the last home football game with Raelene, Anja, and James. I hadn't seen Raelene for several weeks, so we definitely needed to catch up!

And that's my life right now...4 more days and I'll be with Tad again, and have a week off school. Life is pretty good right now :)