Quick Note

Just a quick note to tell you to check out http://www.anthony-evans.com/. He's the son of pastor Dr. Tony Evans (maybe you've heard him on Christian radio) and he sang at my church on Sunday! He's awesome! Just take a listen!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Jenny and I celebrated a very laid back Thanksgiving thanks to Dream Dinners. They made it so easy and yummy. We even got bored waiting for the turkey to cook because everything was done already! There were hardly any dishes to do and everything turned out so well. We ended up with a lot of leftovers. I think I've had about 4 Thanksgiving dinners since and I'll still be eating turkey for a while.

I have so much to be thankful for this year too. I really took a look at what God has done for me this year, and through all the ups and downs, I am so thankful to have His Love and guidance with me through everything. He has given me incredible loving friendships to help me through my loneliness and tough times. He's provided absolutely anything I could possibly want and helped me financially throughout the year. He's given me a wonderful opportunity to teach children at church and continues to grow that ministry. And He continues to reveal Himself to me and show me His Love in new ways all the time, allowing me to grow in Him and receive the gifts He has for me. What a wonderful Father we have!

Friday, I avoided any type of retail store around. The sales just weren't worth it to me. Friday night, Jenny and I drove down to Santa Monica to meet with my friend Jenn from Monterey and two of her friends. We had a fun girl's night out at The Border Grill. The food was pretty good, especially the dessert.

Today, I helped Jenny hang lights on her house and we both put our Christmas trees up. This picture doesn't really do mine justice. It's much prettier in person. Tomorrow, I'll put up some lights on my balcony and put the rest of the decorations out. I suppose now that Christmas is just a month away, it's not too early! Hope everyone is having a great Holiday Season so far!

Christmas Trees!

So, this weekend Jenny and I bought Christmas trees for our homes, artificial ones. This picture is from the actual add for my tree. I think it's pretty and can't wait to put it up, but not until after Thanksgiving, mind you. Those of you who know us, know that it's only been recently that we would even consider buying a fake tree. Growing up, we would always drive to Utah to cut our own trees on the day after Thanksgiving, fresh from the forest. It was a big event with Grandma trying to steal everyone else's tree, the 2WD truck getting stuck, and a good time had by all. However, as time has gone on, it just made sense to get a fake one for now. Plus, the fake ones look much better than they did when we were growing up. And they even come with lights on them already! Now if they would only make them smell real - of course, I'm sure some of them do! At least we'll have a real one to smell at Mom and Dad's house, even if it did come from a lot instead of the Utah forest.

Holidays are Coming!

Now is the time of year when the weeks of work start getting shorter because of all the holidays. I had yesterday off because of Veteran's Day. Thank you all you Veterans out there! I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving already. Where has this year gone?

This weekend was a nice long one. I got a lot done around the house (like going through my downstairs closet, washing my car, taking stuff to goodwill, and laundry), had a girl's night in at Jenny's house with our friends Kenna and Stephanie, and even went clothes shopping. For those of you who know me well, you know I'm not a big shopper. But I figured with all the sales going on, it was a good time to go, so I just did it, and I was somewhat successful. Now, if I could only figure out what to get people for Christmas....only 42 shopping days left...help!

Lisa's Videos Worth Watching

You know how you get all kinds of emails with videos that are just hilarious or so touching that you just really need to share them? Well, I'll try and post some of those here as I get them. I've passed some of them along already, but some of these are worth repeating.

Here's one of a video shot in a game park in South Africa. It's hard to watch at first, but it is amazing - just keep watching until the end.
http://www.youtube.com/v/LU8DDYz68kM

This one is a little girl who reads Psalm 23. She's really cute.
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9e7c4b40cf5a13cea6ca

This one is a video from a Lifehouse concert. It's pretty emotional, but a wonderful display of how much Christ loves us.
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ee73e63418003b47d7d5

This one is a Blue Angel during fleet week in San Francisco.
http://jumpcut.com/view?id=C009AF72755211DC9F89000423CF037A

This is a link to a site that you just have to see to believe.
www.willitblend.com

And this one will just keep you laughing because we all know it's true....
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/412867/how_to_shower_men_women/

Caden is finally here!

As some of you know, I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my good friends' first child. Jon and Katy welcomed Caden Chapman to the world last night and mom and baby are doing well. See their blog for more info!

<http://web.mac.com/louisvillechapmans/iWeb/Louisville%20Chapmns>

Monterey with Jenn

Jenn and me, hanging out by the beach in beautiful Monterey.

I spent the weekend in Monterey with my old college roommate Jenn. She works for a civil engineering company up there and recently bought a house so it was time to go visit and see what she's been up to. I got there Friday afternoon and hung out with her German family next door until she got home from work. They had two little boys who liked Molly. When she got home, she showed me around her house. She's done a lot of work on it and it's coming together nicely. We walked Molly around her neighborhood and decided to go eat. We went to dinner at a Hawaiian place that night and we told each other about all our adventures lately. When we got home, we pulled out our old college RA pictures and laughed at those and reminisced about old Cal Poly days with the other RAs. I need to google those guys and find out where they are.

Saturday, we got up and took Molly for a walk along their Rec Trail which goes by the pier and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We ate breakfast at a place outside so Molly could sit with us. Molly was so tired from walking. We took her home, then we went back to the Aquarium. Jenn is a volunteer there, so she got me in for free and showed me around. Here are pictures of jellyfish and sea otters. The sea otters are so cute. There was one in the blue tub, and then the other one decided she wanted to be in the tub too, so they were both in the tub. Then we drove up to Big Sur and found the campground where we stayed as RAs. Then we got dinner and saw the new John Cusack film, Martian Child. It's a pretty cute movie. I recommend it.

Yesterday, we had breakfast at this old fashioned place in Carmel Valley and then walked up and down the streets with Molly through old town Carmel. I can't believe the money people have there. All in all, it was a really fun visit. It'll be great to go back soon!