Another reason I love my job...

A couple of months back, I found this little gift and note on my desk when I got back from the weekend. It's from one of my adorable young volunteers. So heartwarming to receive such a simple and sweet surprise.

Bowling

Scott & Crystal are in town visiting from Australia! It was nice to see them, and I can't wait to go to the wedding in Kauai next year. They're such a cute couple...


We went bowling the other night. I forget how much fun it is, no matter how bad I suck at it...


But this time, I won the game! I tied my best score ever, 130. From a girl who's happy when she breaks 100, this is very exciting. Yay!

I heart fresh flowers

Bought $3 worth of flowers at the farmers market and was able to make 4 bouquets with it. Makes me so happy to see pretty fresh flowers around the house!

Saturday: how I spent my day off

I went running in the morning. A few of my friends and I are going to do the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, so I'm trying to gear up for it. Running the 5k distance may not be much for some people, but it will be an exciting accomplishment for me. I have never been a runner, so it's been a hard yet rewarding challenge to overcome. It will be a lot of fun doing the race with friends, plus they give free pies away at the end, how can you beat that?

Then I dropped flyers around town for our THIRD Night Dive event.


In the afternoon, we went to the Brewery Artwalk in LA. Pretty cool event. The place was huge and we weren't able to visit all of the studios, but did stop in to say hi to an artist that displayed pieces at our first Night Dive. He makes illuminated sculptures and his stuff is AMAZING. Check out his site, Sandman Creations by Sean Sobczak. Below are a couple of shots of a dragon he had on display. The scale and lights and details are much more impressive in person. I LOVE IT.

Photography Outing

I haven't played with my Nikon D200 in a long time. Which bothers me because it means I'm not getting any practice or any better. There are so many buttons! There's still so much to learn! I want to be inspired, to take great pictures. I'm determined to lug the camera out more often, so Staci and I went to The Huntington Library on our day off this past Friday. It was hotter than heck, but we endured the oven-like heat and took photos for a couple of hours.

Mostly been shooting in aperture mode, still trying to get a feel for it. I hope that one day it will just click (no pun intended) and that this will all come naturally to me! It will take many more outings and thousands more photos, I'm sure...

Here are some photos from the day, you can see all of them in this flickr set.

Why I love my job...

Okay, I admit it, I don't love my job all of the time. But who does? I don't think there's one person out there who likes their job every moment of every day, work can't always be roses and sunshine. How I feel about my job spans the whole spectrum of emotions. I have many moments of stress, tears and frustration. There are times when my weaknesses creep up or my fears overcome me. But along with that, I also experience moments when hard work is paid off and accomplishments are recognized. I'm at a place where smiles and laughter are plentiful and people are awed and inspired every day, where people truly care about the work they do.

And every once in a while, something very special and rare happens...I touch a life, I make a difference somehow. No matter how simple or how small that impact is, it still means the world to me.

Summer's bounty

Summer is, once again, slowly coming to a close. One of the things I will miss most about the season? This fresh, juicy, sweet deliciousness. Each season brings its own gems of fruits and veggies, but summer is by far my favorite. Of course I can still find berries and peaches and nectarines during the rest of the year at any old grocery store. But nothing compares to getting it local and in season at my Sunday morning farmers market.

Photo snippets from this past weekend

Had a mini vacation with friends this past weekend, which was great since I haven't been able to get away all summer. We went camping one night out in the desert at Red Rock Canyon State Park for the Perseids meteor shower, then spent the rest of the weekend in the Pismo Beach/San Luis Obispo area. More photos to come soon hopefully, but here are a few photos from my iPhone...

Baby Ferris

Look at his adorably dimpled hand. He's so cute, I just want to eat him up.

In the blink of an eye

Yesterday was February. I blinked. And today, today we are partway through June. Summer is approaching and I’m not quite sure how four months passed by so quickly. I have been swamped doing things, but besides a few events, I can’t really account for my time. That’s how life is, though—you get caught up in so many things and before you know it, time just slips through your fingers. So, since I can’t recall the details of what has been keeping me so busy the past few months, let me at least share pics of a few of the events that I do remember...

Old roommate, Ann, was in town during her spring break. It was fun to see her and hang out, we went hiking and biking. We also went on a sail and had an American Pride crew reunion--it was so much fun to see those guys again and made me miss all of our good times on the boat!





Went on our "1st Annual Pt. Mugu Camping Trip", or AKA "5th Annual Malibu Camping Trip" with a group of friends...




Worked. Worked some more. Worked really hard. No, we were really hard at work, I swear...




Alicia and I went to a Rise Above Plastics/Surfrider event that Kat was working. What we learned was to "Recycle, YO!"



Went camping at Mount Laguna...




FINALLY went on a photography outing with my friend Kera. We had been trying to get out with our cameras for months, our last attempt resulted in her breaking her foot. But this time, we successfully made it out and actually took pictures! Here's my shot of a night heron...



Went camping at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We did some hiking, some of it through snow, saw amazing views, relaxed, hung out. It was beautiful and a lot of fun...