Apples!

We made a trip to Apple Hill last weekend with the rest of the Perry's and our friends, the Haaland's and the Child's. It's sort of an annual tradition, that unfortunately doesn't actually happen every year. This year there were lots of new additions to our group: Babies! I started off the day with an apple donut and ended it with an amazing caramel apple. It was a great day!

Our whole gang at Apple Hill


Freida and I just LOVE our caramel apples!


Justin and I trying to take a good picture.


Hermanos


Ryan, Freida, and Bella

A-MAZE-ING

I took my student leadership group, the TigerPAC, to the corn maze in Lathrop on Sunday night as a bonding activity. I forgot how much I love "the country." Being there at night with the dust and the bright lights reminded me of Sutter High football games for some reason. Ah, childhood! We had a great time. I made the girls take a picture of me in the corn, then in a corn cutout...they pretty much humor my dorkyness all the time. When I made a reference to being a "grown up lady" who didn't NEED to take a picture in the corn cutout, Randi replied "yeah, a grown up lady who couldn't decide what to wear to watch High School Musical 3." Which is a completely different story that I'd rather not discuss in this forum. (Suffice it to say, I saw the movie, it was cheesy AND amazing, and we might have "dressed up.") :)

Here are some photos:

New Obsession

I haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately, but I wanted to share my latest obsession: Picnik.com

picnik.com is a site that let's you enhance photos, add text, framing, etc. It's AMAZING!!! I've already used it on a few projects for work and it makes me feel like a legit designer (even though all I really did was hit a few buttons). Here are a couple of practice runs I did on some personal photos.

The Overkill Threshold

You know how it goes. You like a song. It starts getting a lot of radio play and you continue you to like it. Then, it happens. You hear said song just one time too many and you reach what I like to call: the "song overkill threshold." I am at that place now with the song "Love Remains the Same." It's the one that plays over and over again in the previews for the new Nicholas Sparks flick Nights in Rodanthe, which I really wanted to see - UNTIL the aforementioned overkill threshold kicked in. Now I'm afraid if I hear that song one more time I might lose my mind! Not only do I hear it at the movies (previews), I also hear it at the gym, I hear it repeatedly on the adult contemporary station we listen to at the office, and if I had a car and I actually drove to work I would probably hear it there too. IT'S EVERYWHERE!!!

I actually had to look up the name of the song because I had no idea who sang it or what it was called, I just knew I heard it ALL THE TIME! Much to my surprise, the singer is Gavin Rossdale! As in the former frontman of 90's alterna/grunge/rock band Bush. Bush! I loved them! As a straight-laced high schooler I felt really hardcore when I listened to Bush and now Gavin Rossdale is singing a sappy overkilled song on adult contemporary radio like some teenage emo band!?! Man. Maybe for Gavin Rossdale's sake I'll temper my dislike for the song and celebrate his return to mainstream radio.(Disclaimer: I will admit that my estimation of Bush's "hardcoreness" may have something to do with the level of my "straightlacedness.")


What songs have you reaching for the dial?

Lars and the Real Girl

Based on the recommendation of another blogger I follow and my own curiosity, we rented the movie "Lars and the Real Girl" last night. The premise is a bit off-putting - a lonely, socially awkward man buys a "doll" on the Internet and parades her around town as his girlfriend. The real plot of the movie isn't about the guy and his doll (this film is sweet and wholesome, not raunchy at all - in fact the "church" itself is a character in the film), but it's about how a community comes together to support a person in crisis. It's definitely a quiet, independent film, but it's uplifting and happy in a "Little Miss Sunshine" kind of way. The script is innovative and tender and definitely a must-see! Check out the trailer on youtube and just see if you can stay away!

Life in a Fish Bowl

We recently got a new dining room set (thanks Mom and Aunt Pat!) which necessitated a habitat change for our little fish friend Winky. We decided to go with something a little more modern, the Biorb. Zippy is intrigued by this as Winky was always inaccessible to her in his former home. We keep repeating the phrase, "Fish are friends, not food."

Old Married Couple

On September 7th Justin and I celebrated 6 years of wedded bliss. (Let's be honest, the levels of blissfulness vary day by day.) :) To commemorate the occasion, we were able to get away for one night to our favorite place in the world, Monterey. We happened to be there the same weekend as the Cherries Jubilee car show, which made the "row" more crowded than usual. It was also unusually warm weather for Monterey, and I know I specifically ordered a forecast of overcast and 60. We had a nice time, except for our anniversary "dinner" which consisted of greasy appetizers and virgin pina coladas in the bar of a wannabe upscale restaurant that Justin was convinced was a front for a mafia ring. What??? After waiting over an hour for a table and filling up on the aforementioned "meal", we decided to call it a night. Then, being the exciting and energetic couple you all know we are, we promptly fell asleep after paying $17 to watch the documentary of the guy who tightrope walked between the World Trade Center towers on the hotel TV.


Close up of a random rock formation on the beach. There were a ton of them! I'm still not convinced it wasn't part of some weird cultish activity. (File this idea next to Justin's weird mafia intuition.)


Rocking a shorter, blonder 'do. Mom hasn't seen it yet, so this is for her. :)

Wishin' For Free Ice Cream?

Tonight is "the World's Largest Ice Cream Social" at Coldstone Creamery! Stop by any Coldstone tonight between 5:00-8:00pm for your free 3 oz. ice cream created by wish kids Jack and Emily. Feel free to buy a Make a Wish star or donate a few dollars while you're there!

The Make a Wish Foundationgrants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Justin and I have been involved with the organization since January 2005 and it is amazing! Every wish kid we've met has been awesome. Not all of the stories have happy endings, but Make a Wish provides a spark of hope and happiness in the midst of their dark world of sickness, doctor visits, and sadness. Issaac went on a shopping spree to Toys R Us. Trinity got the ultimate backyard playset. Eric got a sweet braille laptop and GPS system. Lauren went on a trip to NYC. Jayda, Grantley, Elizabeth and their families get to go to Walt Disney World. And next week me meet Henna - who knows what her wish will be? (She did mention something about Hawaii.) :)

It's the Little Things

Ping Pong Cat


I was inspired by my friend Kate to post a funny cat video. Justin and I about died of laughter watching this. Maybe you have to be a cat person to enjoy it. I don't know, but like I said in the title of this post, it's the little things.

Zippy's Buddy

As you may have guessed from previous posts, we really love our cat Zippy. She is the coolest cat in the world (others can attest to this fact), except that she doesn't really like anyone but us and she's kind of a biter.

Anyway, here she is taking a nap with her buddy. We find her "tiger friend" all over the house, sometimes in bed with us, sometimes looking out the window, sometimes as "prey" that's she brought to us as a treat.


Side Note: I bought this Tiger as part of a birthday present for Mike Nunan, but Zippy got it out of the bag and claimed it before I could get to it. But, it's a tiger, so it fits right into our family of Pacific alumni.

Jim and Pam Forever

New episodes of The Office start on September 25th!

Back to School

A new school year is starting today for the University of the Pacific, both my alma mater and my employer. As the alumni staff member in charge of student programs, my last few days have been consumed with activities for new students.

On Friday I accompanied a group of students to Pixie Woods for a service project. We weeded and landscaped a small area of the park. It was a million degrees outside, but it was fun working with the students and giving them advice/answers to their Stockton/college life questions. We also took a tour of Stockton via city bus (my first time on the RTD) and pointed out local highlights like Tiger's Yogurt, Chipotle, Lincoln Center, and the downtown movie theater.

Saturday was a packed day. It started with our Alumni Association board meeting and ended at Tiger Nights, the first campus "party" of the new school year. I've been working with some students to start a student/alumni group on campus. We gave out free "I Heart Pacific" stickers and did Tiger Trivia.

Here is the "crew" and I rockin' my latest shirt project (and our stickers) at Tiger Nights. (Devon had to wear her Theta shirt or risk being fined, so we let it slide.) :)

On Sunday, we welcomed the freshmen with the Tiger Roar, a relatively new campus tradition where student leaders, greek houses, the pep band, and alumni surprise the freshmen with fight songs, yelling, and confetti as they exit the new student convocation ceremony. We had a great contingent of alumni volunteers and enjoyed a fun afternoon of welcome. I love being a Tiger. Indeed, I heart Pacific!