Barnes' Yard: August 2009

I actually started this blog post 3 weeks ago, but it's been a crazy couple of weeks...I've been editing and adding pictures (that takes forever, how do you people do it as often as you do?) and this has become quite the ordeal. Anyway...Here's up to mid-August. I am working on another one for our latest trip and endeavors. Enjoy (or at least humor me)...

I'm officially the world's worst EVER!! At least I have other talents, right? It's been rather crazy here in Southern California since mid-May. Let's see......

Strawberry Festival; Oxnard, CA:

I went to the Strawberry Festival with some girls from work (Jana, Anna, Mahala, and Kathleen). Nothing like strawberry pizza, strawberry wine, strawberry beer (or as I like to call it "Strawbeery"--haha), strawberry pie, and your regular yummy fair food (fish 'n' chips, sausage, garlic fries...mmmmmm). I love yummy food and hanging out with colleagues outside the confines of the office! I truly work with some amazing people and I'm so blessed to really enjoy being around with my coworkers.

Santa Barbara, CA:

We went to Santa Barbara with our friends Joe and Sarah. We got to hang out at the zoo, walk on the pier, walk around the Santa Barbara Mission, visit the botanical gardens post Santa Barbara fire, and hang out for a while. It was lots o' fun--I didn't know what fire would do to a cactus until I saw it up close! We always enjoy being with Joe and Sarah. They are so much fun and such great friends. It's great to have friends who allow you to just be yourself and love you for exactly who you are.

Memorial Day/Peeps massacre; Huntington Beach, CA:

We observed Memorial Day at the beach with our Sunday School class, an annual affair. It's always quite an experience because you never know what the weather is going to do. Last year it was around 65 degrees the whole day, this year it was 70-ish I think. Pretty comfortable and fun! We usually enjoy making s'mores after the sun goes down. Lately, I have been sharing my Peeps and making sadistic Peep s'mores. It sounds awful, but we like to refer to it as "poor man's creme brulee." It's delicious! Well, this year, we had a few boxes of stale Peeps that were not edible (trust me, I did everything I could to make the edible). So the guys decided to make a Dante's Inferno rendition with Peeps. It was quite amusing...and a little scary.

JAMES MARSTERS; Skirball Cultural Center; LA, CA:

I got to go see one of my favorite actors, James Marsters, in a play at the Skirball. Not only did we get to see a very intriguing performance of The Importance of Being Earnest, but I got to breathe the same air as James!!!! What a delightful evening, and it was all a surprise planned by my wonderful husby!

Running update:

I have not been able to run very long distances. My right knee has been acting up and I am trying to take things VERY slowly so I don't exacerbate the injury. Do you know how frustrating it is watching people run 10 miles and knowing you can't join them? It's a sad sad day!! But it's teaching me patience and it's great that I can currently take Sunnie Bernice on all my daily runs because they are short enough (she can only run up to 9 miles).

July 4th; Cloudcroft, NM:

We went to Cloudcroft over July 4th weekend. My parents have a cabin up there that they enjoy to get away from the craziness of their Georgian life. We saw my parents for about 3 hours at Christmastime, but otherwise we hadn't seen them in about a year. We had a great time driving the backroads looking for elk, hanging out at the cabin, and eating some wonderful comfort food! My parents even planned a fun campfire thing for our last night there (the thunderstorm didn't deter us)

(Our computer ate most of those pictures, for some reason, but I was able to salvage a few...)

Service Projects (Living Well Pregnancy Center; Habitat for Humanity):

We had the opportunity to participate in 2 service projects with Crossroads (our Sunday school class). We got to help clean and organize Living Well Crisis Pregnancy Center and help build an 11-townhouse-unit for Habitat for Humanity. Both were wonderful opportunities! After serving at the Living Well, we had a picnic to celebrate our hard work. It's always amazing how God uses service to bring groups closer together. Matt and I always love serving together as we find that it really helps to strengthen our relationship. It's always a blessing getting to serve others and taking focus off my silly self and my petty issues to project them on others who truly need to experience God's love.

Big Mama's Rib House; Pasadena, CA:

I'd been craving some barbecue lately, so Matthew found this little restaurant that looked ghetto but got rave reviews. I run by it often, but I'd never paid attention to it. We went to Big Mama's Rib House, and may I tell you that Big Mama is now my best friend! (The picture below is exactly why I rarely eat ribs in public!)

Picnic; Mount Wilson, CA:

We drove to the top of Mt. Wilson (yes, the one that is now significantly burning in the Angeles Forest Fire) with Mike and Lisa, had a lovely picnic, and watched the sunset over LA. It was beautiful! While our computer ate several of the pictures from this as well, we still had a great time. We love the spontaneity and love that we feel from Mike and Lisa. We love being able to have deep, thoughtful conversations with them. What a great couple!

The Tempest; Barnstall Park; LA, CA:

Matt, Hai, Nathanie, and I went to the Shakespeare in the park production of the Tempest at Barnstall Park. We got to enjoy a picnic and a wonderful performance. Yet, again, more friends that we love just being with and we gain so much diversity and knowledge from. Both are really great at finding random things to do in the area that are SO MUCH FUN!!

Trapezing update:

I've been continuing to trapeze. I'm now quite the pro at the knee hang catch. I think I may try a new trick next time I go. One time, our friends Joe and Ginger went with me. It was great fun as they had just gotten engaged about a week before. They are so much fun to hang out with!

Switchfoot/Blue October Concert; The Wiltern; Koreatown:

We went to the Switchfoot/Blue October concert at the Wiltern with our friends Mike and Lisa. Oddly, we were going for Switchfoot as we'd never heard of Blue October and Lisa loves Blue October and neither of them had heard of Switchfoot. It was a rockin' evening, even with my makeshift earplugs!

Fiddler on the Roof; The Pantages Theatre; Hollywood, CA:

I got to go to Topol's farewell tour of Fiddler on the Roof at the Pantages Theatre with my friend Nathanie. It was a fantastic performance (of course!)

Matt and Joe's Surprise 30th Birthday Party:

Sarah and I decided to throw a surprise party for our husbands' 30th birthdays. Joe's birthday (Sarah's husband) is August 6 and Matt's is September 10, so August 15 was as close to the middle as we could get with our crazy busy schedules. We decided on a Dallas Cowboys/Kansas City Chiefs theme and had it double as a game night. It was a great time! I even tried my hand on decorating a cake in under 10 minutes. I think I did pretty well since I forgot my frosting tips at home and had a very short time to decorate!

Diana Krall Concert; Hollywood Bowl; Hollywood, CA:

We got to go to the Hollywood Bowl! This was exciting, and a goal for the Barneseseses, in itself, but we got to see the lovely DIANA KRALL perform. Talk about an amazing evening! We'd found out that Lisa had actually also bought tickets to the performance, so the three of us, along with her friend Mel, all went to the bowl together, had a yummy picnic on the bowl grounds, and enjoyed the concert. It was a fantastic evening--what beautiful weather and what a phenomenal performer!

Dodgers vs Cubs game; Dodger Staduim; LA, CA:

The Chicago Cubs were in town recently. Since they are our favorite baseball team (independently of one another, for VERY different reasons), we hit Dodger Stadium on Saturday. Sadly, they lost, but our seats were perfect and kept us nicely shaded from the nasty hot weather. And who can turn down a Dodger dog?