sweet kylie

I was finally able to meet Kylie Capri Wood a few weekends ago when I went to visit Cristina and Brian in Northern California. Kylie was born in April so I was so excited to finally meet this precious baby girl. The trip was extremely fun. I always enjoy getting to see Cristina and Brian's life in NorCal and catch up in person rather than through email and the phone. Here are some photos of sweet Kylie and my trip. I had a hard time choosing, as you will see, Kylie is always adorable and photogenic!


I couldn't get over her tiny hands and feet.

I love this.

Beautiful Half Moon Bay. We took a picnic lunch and walked on the beach.

Jacob being cute.

Cristina graciously let me hold her most the weekend.

In downtown Danville.

reflections on restoration

"Gosh, you look gorgeous!" she exclaimed.

I was a bit taken aback and shocked at her statement, but I politely said thank you rather than say my thoughts of "No, I don't!"

She then asked, "What have you been doing?" I took this as a compliment. However, I must reflect upon the fact that at the age of 22, this is not a common question. Why? Because normally at 22 you are young enough that you don't need to "do things," or add face creams and such to your beauty diet. I figured this was a question that would be asked of me at age 55 when I finally lose my baby weight and have money for clothes after all the kids are out of the roost. (That is assuming, I find a rooster.)

I graciously accepted her compliments and we finished lunch. But I knew. I knew why she said those things. She hadn't seen me since graduation. I don't think I had realized either before today what has happened in the last few months.

I don't think I can fully describe what happened the last month and a half of my senior year at Biola, nor can I fully explain what I was feeling during that time, except to say that I was highly emotional. Between finishing some of my most difficult classes, working nearly 30 hours a week, preparing for graduation, grieving the idea of leaving Biola, trying to keep my friends, attend social events, be a bridesmaid, taking 18 units, dealing with family crises, my irrational fears, and attempting to keep my room clean so my roommate wouldn't kick me out (thankfully she would never do such a thing) was one of the hardest times of my life. It is an experience I never want to experience again. I learned a lot those weeks, but there was no stopping point, no time to breathe, no time to just sit and relax. It was go, go, go and GO! Or else..I felt as though I would die because there was not time to not go. I wanted desperately to stop and breathe. I wanted to just sleep and not do anything. And yes, there were a few Saturdays I was able to sleep in and maybe a few nights of relaxing, but for the most part relax was not in my vocabulary. For about three weeks straight, I was constantly on the verge of tears. There were quite a few people who experienced those tears as well and I am thankful for those who listened and for those who looked away when they knew I needed to silently cry because I was too tired to do anything else for a bit.

Today when Roe told me I looked gorgeous, I don't know how much of it had to do with the way I looked, but I know I feel different. My body and soul feel restored. I have energy and to be honest, smiling is so much easier now than it was a month ago. It's not that I didn't have fun at some great events the last few weeks of school, but it's that I have time to breathe. I have time to talk to my friends and really listen. I have time to talk to God and sit with him.

As I am finally processing these things, there will probably be a few more posts on this. Thanks for reading if you actually reached this sentence. :)

the maples

My good friend Megan married her prince charming, Craig a few weeks ago. I was honored to be a part of the wedding party and it was one of the best weddings I have been to. She had the lovely colors of persimmon and a deep red which adorned the reception and ceremony in bright gerber daisies, our bridesmaid dresses and other details. Triplecord Photography did an amazing job and was so fun to work with. One of the photographers actually goes to Biola so it was fun to see him as well.

Here is a link to the slideshow Triplecord put together. Megan looked absolutely gorgeous.

the culprit

I had blamed Disneyland. That is where I ate Thursday night so it seemed completely logical to file a claim with the happiest place on earth for my case of food poisoning. Then I came to work Monday and it seemed that an odd amount of people had food poisoning over the weekend. Five of us to be exact. And that was in my department alone!

After some CSI work, we had all eaten cheese on Wednesday or Thursday at the Cafe or Talon. I won't be filing a claim, but I'm definitely taking my lunch to work with me this week.

IVs, the ER and GI Cocktails

I took my first steps into the ER as a patient this past February after being in a car accident. I walked in with some whiplash and walked out about an hour later with some vicaden. I was happy.

I took my second steps into the ER as a patient this weekend. I'm not sure if steps would be the appropriate word since I really wanted to crawl. Thursday night I came home with a full stomach and a mild case of food poisoning. I thought I was simply really full..until I wouldn't stop throwing up and the nausea didn't leave me. I called my mom and bless her heart, she came over to take care of me at 2:30 a.m. By Friday morning, I had enough and she took me to the ER.

I was not expecting a pleasant experience - hospitals usually make me feel faint and the idea of a needle makes me dizzy, but I can proudly say I love the ER. They gave me anti nausea medicine as soon as I walked through those lovely doors to the back, stuck a needle in my vein which I barely felt, I didn't even know they took my blood, and gave me a GI cocktail which made me all numb and needless to say happy that I wasn't curled over a toilet. Not to mention, the nurses and doctor were all incredibly nice. I can't say I want to go back soon, but I am definitely thankful for IVs, the ER, GI cocktails and friendly nurses.