Crashing California

Well, tomorrow marks Jay's and mines (mine and Jays?) 8th wedding anniversary. Eight years we have made it! To me, it doesn't seem so long really ... in fact, is it really possible to feel like you've known someone your whole life and that doesn't seem like a very long time at all? Kind of like, when you celebrate a birthday and you don't feel any older, but you have the number to prove that yes, in fact you are "X" number of years old. In this age of marriages that crumble at the seams, people who give up, or hold so tightly they crush ... there can be so much heartache, and yet, it is possible to weather the storms. But it does always take two. I think all I can truly say -- without speaking from others experiences -- is that, it takes a lot of "Give" and maybe not so much "Take". It takes more listening ( really listening) than speaking, but it also needs the knowing that someone is listening to you, no matter what you are saying....

Every morning I try (key word "try") to get up and exercise. I admit, it's been a battle since starting a full time job, since so much of my time is now taken up with other things. It's like the last thing I start to think of is my health. Anyways, I have started the habit of running, at least 2-3 days a week along the beach in the morning ... and I'm telling you. There is NO better way than to wake up (well, at least for me) when the sky is that dark blue/grey of dawn, before the sun has kissed the clouds with the first hints of morning and go running (I go barefoot) along the flat cool sand of the ocean beach. My run is about 3.5 miles from start to finish, and by the time I'm done, the sun is up, sparkling and glowing off the houses and water and I feel like the day has "begun". But it's in those early moments. When there seems to be just me, and a lone jogger or random other person with their dog, that I really have been able to let my heart...

I'm going to start this blog with a bit of a "pre-quil" of sorts. We have a very interesting (and STRANGE) neighbor lady named Eileen. She's almost like the "classic" and stereotypical "Strange" neighbor, who, obviously has issues, of various kinds. She's sort of spindly and skinny, middle aged and quite disheveled and quite the pack rat. Her balcony is littered (literally) with shells and rocks from the sea...her parking spot is right next to ours and the inside of her car looks like a hurricane of papers and junk just blew through. Unfortunately, her apt. looks the same. And in all truth I do actually feel for her. I really like her though, weird as she is. We've chatted on a couple of occasions and although you can tell she's not really "all on" upstairs, she is enough that it makes you like her and appreciate her quirkiness. So, our wonderful neighbor lady Eileen has left her outside porch light on, well, pretty much since...

So, I'm blogging right now from my work, which is now Jenny Craig H.O. (They call it "Home Office" ... prob. in some feeble attempt to make it sound more "Friendly" and less "Cold and Corporate", even though, that's pretty much what it always is when you sit in a cubicle. Have you ever experienced one of those moments when you're looking through old friends photos, or those who live "back home" and realize how completely removed from their lives you've become (By way of distance, or maybe just lack of time). Sure, technology enables us to shrink our physical surroundings and make our little "world" more closely intertwined with each other. By the modern day vantages of Facebook or myspace we're able to keep "in touch" with friends and family, see their photos-- see what's goin' on in their lives. But I wonder sometimes, if our definition of what we think being "close" to someone is, is i...

As if on some quirky queue ~ on the morning of April 1st we walked into our living room and looked out of our window and saw this duck, who had apparently been fooled himself. He paddled around for a couple minutes too before he took off for "greener pastures" ... or, "real water" as it were. This week was very busy (ofcourse). Me, still juggling working two jobs ... but somehow seeming to manage things. After Jay's parent's left on Monday morning for home, Amanda was here visiting with her friend Chris for the week. So, we spent evenings with them, eating out and playing video games (well, mostly Jay and Chris did, although there is this game demo we've downloaded called "Boogie Bunnies" and you can just imagine from the title, WHY I LOVE this game ... it's full of cute, computerized bunnies that dance around and talk ... yah, anyways, good stress reliever ... end sidebar). Here are some shots from the last week. This week I'm sure wil...