fire station t-shirts - jamie

I have an ongoing obsession with fireman and firetrucks. In the past I have collected fire station t-shirts from cities across the country (and a few from Europe). In some instances I purchased the t-shirt from a town swap meet (Honolulu and Bala Cynwyd) and in others the fireman were charmed by my desires to make a fire station t-shirt quilt and actually took their shirts off and gave them to me (San Diego, Denver, London). I have yet to make the quilt and thus have the17 t-shirt collection stashed in my trunk at my parents house. Whilst in Los Olivos this weekend the group of us who were "pretend camping" put on the shirts and hiked to the top of Uncle Walt's hill to eat breakfast. In this photo 3 year old Ayelen was the one who took her shirt off. Her shirt was the only one I purchased at a store. It read "I heart Fireman"! That shirt will the be center of my quilt.......

Thank you to all those who have fanned the fire station t-shirt obsession.  There are those who attempted to get a shirt, but had to settle for a photo with the fireman instead.  Also, a few have given me fire trucks (small and large, blinking lights and sounds) to add to my collection that began on my 3rd Christmas when Santa brought me my first fire truck.  It was a Mattel truck and is still in great plastic condition.  It will definitely be a pass me down in my future family.

Birthday weekend

My birthday weekend started on Friday when I arrived at work and my co-workers had decorated my cubicle. Hoody wanted my cubicle to look like my very own castle...so I had purple streamers and a tinker bell balloon adorning my cube, it was great!

Friday night I went to an Angels game, though I'm not sure if they Angels even showed up! They lost to the Twins 9-0..The tail gate party had tasty food and mingling. I chowed down a salmon burger, oh yeah that was good..the night ended with a spectacular fireworks display.

Saturday brought a trip to the temple, then Emily took me to Main Street for dinner, We dined on BBQ and onion rings, which were free, thanks to Emily for mentioning my bday, we also had a peach cobbler, free! Oh yeah...

We ended the night with Emily, Larysa and I going to get a reflexology massage, wow..that was the first time I had reflexology, it was amazing how they knew where the pain was pin pointed on my body.

On Sunday I walked to the pier, while contemplating the fact that I was now 30 years old..more on those thoughts later...

I baked a batch of cookies, and headed to church. When I arrived home, I looked on the kitchen table where I left my laptop and alas it was not there! I thought to myself, did some steal my computer! I thought I locked the door, but then I saw my power cord still plugged into the wall, so I went on a search and there it was on me bed...yeah! And there was a present sitting atop my lap top..It was the birthday blog fairy! She left my a binder filled all the blog entries for apt #6, it was a awesome surprise...Towards the end of the evening I chatted with my family and then Jamie on the phone and they all gave me birthday wishes..

I am grateful for the love of a great family and friends who are always there to support me!

30th

There are explicit things Liz must do when celebrating her 30th birthday. First, watch the When They All Turn Thirty episode of Friends from season 4. Second, listen to the thirtieth podcast of Ouch from the BBC from August 2008...it's the one where they make fun of soap operas popularity with those who have learning disabilities. And third, wait for a present from the Birthday Blog Fairy. She gives gifts to those who live in apt #6.

project vote smart

I recommend the project vote smart website to retrieve ALL the data you've wanted to know about your candidates, but were too disappointed by the liberal and/or conservative spin put on the most important issues by American media. The site is created my volunteers who are bipartisan and without a hidden agenda. I looked through my candidates support record and finance history. So far I've been able to decide who my local representative vote will go to. As for the presidential ticket...I'm still undecided on that because I want to know who the running mates are.

project vote smart

Girls Weekend

Two of my nieces came to visit me a couple of weekends ago..good times were had by all..

We had a fashion show, stopped by the Rainforest Cafe, watched the D-land fireworks, a trip to Starbucks, they also rode the train to Olivera Street, walked to the pier, of course had lunch at In n Out, and took in a movie..

It was a whirlwind weekend, but it was great to be able to spend time with them! They found a doll in one of my treasure chests, who comes with his own surfboard and smells of coconut, they were convinced that this would be the prefect boyfriend for me..His name is Blaine..He has great hair, smells great, looks good in swim trunks, has his own bottle of sunscreen, so he is concerned about skin damage..what more could a girl ask for??

I was happy to have the opportunity to entertain them, they are awesome girls who make me laugh and remind me that life is about enjoying the time with have with loved ones...

"Children are an heritage of the Lord"

-Psalm 127:3

I love Death Cab for Cutie

I'm it..

1. So many nicknames..Lizard, Lizzie Gizzie, Mowney, LJ, Liz Biz..

2. Sidewalk vending, selling snow cones and pizza made from the PizzaHut toy oven.

3. Chips and Salsa, ok that's more of an appetizer..Pita bread with some turkey, avocado, sprouts..mmm

4. The origin of Elizabeth is Hebrew, meaning God is my oath.

5. Belize

6. Cabbage Patch Dolls, micro-machines, Strawberry Shortcake dolls

7. Adam Melaney...awe yes..Adam

8. Giraffe...how can you not like an animal with long gangley legs!

9. Seychelles..

10. Just arrived home after spending some time with my Uncle, Aunt and cousin..good times!

tagged

I am tagging Liz.

1. nickname

2. first job

3. favorite food

4. origin of your name

5. favorite place

6. favorite childhood toy

7. past crush

8. favorite animal

9. dream place to visit

10. what you are doing now

August trips

There are more posts that I will make to tell the stories of tea drinking in colonial times and food memories from Philly as well as metro riding mishaps.  But for now I can share the entire slideshow of photos from my East Coast trip of 08.  I had taken 250 photos and videos, but only these made the final cut.  Slideshow

Losing Keys

..."i've been losing lots of keys lately
i don't know what that means but maybe
i'd be better off with things that can't be locked at all..

..the world has its ways to quiet us down
the world has its ways to quiet us down
down comes the rain
down comes our spirits again
but down come the strength
to lift us up and then.."

Tonight I made the discovery that I locked myself out of apt #6..I will provide the back story, when I walk to the ocean I don't like to be "weighed" down by anything I really don't need. So I take my apt key off my key ring and take that with me. When I arrive home I usually put it back on my key ring, alas not tonight!
When I arrived at my destination I looked at my keys and thought, Oh come on! With Jamie out of town my first thought was, hmmm..how easy would it be to take the screen off the front window? Luckily, Tyler the apt manager was home and he opened the door for me.

Though I can't help thinking the stories that could have been told if I had been seen breaking into my own apt and trying to high-step over the window ledge..

background

I've never posted backgrounds before, but I've seen other people do it.  I'll post the pictures and then you can right click, or click and hold to save as background.

I won't be disappointed if no one actually downloads them, but I want to see if it works when I get home....so I'm blogging them now.

I took the picture of the back of the capitol building when I was walking with Julie.  I wanted to capture the dome and the flag simultaneously.  One block behind the capitol is the Library of Congress building.  Julie had never been there so we went to see the book collection, but were denied of course because we don't have clearances.  I took a picture of the ornate ceiling adorned with names of poets and theologists and philosophers.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

On Saturday Crit and I went to a place neither of us had visited before in DC.  The Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens were created after the Civil War when a one armed soldier married and bought acres along the Anacostia River.  He filled the swampy land with hardy water lilies and later with tropical lilies brought into warming sheds during the winter.  It was a pretty National Parks garden to explore on the HOT, HUMID Saturday.

Later we went downtown to meet Niki and Mike to watch Batman at the Uptown theater.