california dreamin'

in a race against the clock, i hauled buns to laguna beach from my office trying to catch some backlighting to fulfill my latest photography assignment. i was too late for much backlighting but i managed to make it just in time to catch the last few minutes of the sunset.


ain't it purty? some days i can't wait for the next relocation adventure. but most days i wonder how i ever lived without all of the california delights. on days like today, days with waves and the sunsets, i can't imagine ever leaving. california livin' is the way to go, m'friends. until the next adventure, anyway.

nothin' but love

it was a whirlwind weekend - paula style. sealings, ceremonies, and so you think you can dance. good times, good times. i'm exhausted but wouldn't have missed any of it for the world. i guess it all started early this week, with cassie's super fun bachelorette party.


matt and cassie were sealed in the san diego temple on friday night. i had the honor of being cassie's escort in the temple. it was a wonderful experience. the bride's rooms are glorious and i was happy to share that moment with cassie. it's funny, we were talking on friday just before they were sealed, and we realized that cassie and i are friends because of visiting teaching. we were in the same ward for years but it wasn't until i, along with martha and tessa, starting visiting teaching her that we became great friends. funny how that works, eh?


saturday, matt and cassie had a ring ceremony. kim, tessa and i cut and arranged flowers, set up tables and placed food for hours before the ceremony. the culmination of it all was a beautiful ring ceremony. i am so happy for matt and cassie and wish them much happiness in the coming years. they are a great match.


and THEN, on saturday night, we rushed from the reception and headed up to anaheim for the so you think you can dance tour. oh, that was some seriously good times. i was able to score 10 tickets (thanks, angel!) to the show, so i grabbed some peeps and we headed up. a good time was had by all and we clapped, laughed and did a little dancin' of our own. good times, good times.
life is good, ya'll.

some things never change.

i'm holding a picture of myself in the 5th grade. in case you were wondering, yes, i've always been this awesome. i give you full permission to be jealous.

did i mention i convinced natalie to try the look?

i am what i am.

i am many things. athletic is not one of them. i love many things. kayaking is not one of them. what i DO love is making my friends laugh. prepare to do so. during seth's birthday weekend, we spent most of the time at the beach. i was coerced into trying my hand at kayaking. hilarity ensued. mind you, this is only a smidgeon of the delight that was me kayaking that day, but you'll get the gist of the experience as a whole.

seth's birfday

this weekend, the peeps gathered in santa barbara to celebrate seth's birthday. oh, how we laughed.

we went to the beach.

we took pictures in front of the whale.

seth loves whales.

happy birthday, seth! who knew we could have so much fun with a stack of envelopes?!

groupie love.

i've been a not-so-closet fan of jason mraz for years. i regularly frequent his website to peruse his travel journals and tour photographs. look, don't judge me. if you can't be honest with your blog readers (whoever you are), who CAN you be honest with?! anyway. okay, then. the man is a genius. lyrically, dude's got it goin' on. that's all i'm saying. which is why i don't know why i waited so long to buy his latest album. i'm halfway through the first listen and just had to blog about it. yeah, i'm a groupie like that.

love it.

the side effects of singleness.

you know, sometimes i'm pretty good at convincing myself that i'm not worried about being single forever. i'll get all settled into my awesome schedule in my awesome life which includes awesome friends and lots of other general awesomeness. most days, i feel pretty good about my place in this world. and then i read articles like this. awesome.

ain't i domestic?!

over the past few years, i've really developed a love for sewing projects. that may or may not be directly related to my parent's sewing machine gift awhile back. at any rate, i love to sew.
the women in the ward decided to get together to make a friendship quilt. everyone selected 4 fabrics they liked and they felt "represented" who they were as individuals. being ineffible, i had a hard time finding fabric for my quilt. as i dug through my fabric bins, i found this delightful little cowboy print. and, right alongside cowboys, i love polka dots. i have tons of polka dot fabric. luckily, i happened to have a bit in my favorite color - RED! so, i packed up the cowboys and dots and headed on down to tall mouse to find some matching fabrics. two weeks later - voila! i've got a quilt square. oh, so the idea is that everyone makes 24 of their own square and then we all swap. so, at the end of it all, i'll have 24 different quilt squares, one of which will be my very own cowboy, polka dottie number. yea-hoo!

miss natalie

our beloved natalie is back from her european gallivant. she's crashin' at our place for the next few weeks and we are ECSTATIC to have her back - even if it's only for a little while! so, last night, we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning laughing like loons and chattin' with the aussies. our roommates hate us (sorry, paola!) and i'm not exactly at the top of my game today, but there's nobody i'd rather suffer with. besides, it was totally worth it to get my new nickname: spooner! australia, here we come!

rocks rock hard but we rock harder.

i'm not entirely certain, but rockband may be considered passe these days. at any rate, i still love it and decided it was time for a little rockband partay. so, i rustled up some peeps and resurrected the mohawk. there's nothin' like metal-studded belts and fishnet gloves to make you feel good about life. a shout out to m'girls - tory and summer - for most rockalicious outfits. if only my "sexy face" were half as sexy as tory's. some girls have all the luck.

auk-muh-co

after a bit of a nerve-wracking audition and an eternity of waiting (and by eternity, i mean less than a week), i'm in ocmco for the fall term. yea-hoo! i love being a part of the organization. they re-auditioned all the women 'cause there were too many of us. isn't that always the case?! at any rate, i'm totally PSYCHED to have gotten back in - i love a-singin' so much. yep, i do. see you at the christmas concert!

to the crazy one's genius.

this weekend, i was reminded that people actually read my blog. and by people, i mean non-family members. i'm not gonna lie - it made me a little uncomfortable. it was suggested that if i didn't want people reading my blog then i probably shouldn't have it linked on my facebook profile. good lookin' out. so, i read my entries from the past several months and decided that there's not too much to be embarrassed about. aside from the occasional lament about not being a better writer. oh, to live in the land of the deep. and the link stays.
have i mentioned that i love igoogle? well, i do. i've got a daily literary quote section and this week featured the literary delights of jack kerouac. um, he wrote on the road. it might've been on oprah's book list. he was a very influential american writer in the 60s whose work inspired both writers and musicians - ken kesey (one flew over the cuckoo's nest), the beatles, bob dylan, etc. okay, anyway. seeing kerouac's name reminded me of something he said once:

here's to the crazy ones. the misfits. the rebels. the troublemakers. the round heads in the square holes. the ones who see things differently. they're not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. you can quote them, disagree with them, glorify them, or vilify them. but the only thing you can't do is ignore them. because they change things. they push the human race forward. and some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

now, i'm not much of a crazy or a misfit or a round head in a square hole. but i can appreciate our need for them in our world. i've loved many a round head and each of them have left their mark on how i perceive the world. how will i push the human race forward? where's my genius? how will i change things? will i change things? until i figure that out - crazies of the world, i salute you.
all this from an app on igoogle. i've GOT to get a life.

jayden.

and here's to the newest addition to the family: jayden leandre. weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 5oz, he's quite the little man! congrats to miss gina. our baby's got a baby!

off to the races.

for the past 3 years, i've been meaning to get down to del mar for the horse races. the closest i got was 3 months ago when i met my friend at the beach in del mar. okay, so that's not really close at all. i mean, it's close geographically, but that's it. anyway, so when a subcontractor offered tickets to their suite at the 4th turn, i was so in! i rustled up m'girls - katie and tessa - and headed on down. because the labor day traffic was RIDICULOUS, we decided to take the train. yeah. it's not as glamorous as you would think. but it was super fun. we made some memories on that trip. good times.
when we finally got to the races, the first order of business was to stuff our faces with the delicious spread. oh, yeah. we watched a couple of races. and we may or may not have placed a bet. not with money, mind you, but with our dignity. that's right, our dignity was on the line people. katie, tessa and i each picked a horse in the race. here were the stakes: whoever had the losing horse had to wear the giant red hat flower to church. for all three meetings. that's right. high stakes, indeed. katie lost. and wore the flower. for all three meetings. the best part was when, in the combined priesthood/relief society meeting, the bishop gave a shoutout to katie and asked her to stand up for everyone. it couldn't have worked better if i'd planned it. oh, by the way, my horse got first place. what's better than cash money in my pocket? why, katie's dignity of course. good times.

blog much?

so, when i was in slc for rachael's wedding awhile back, i had a good amount of bonding time with lady susan. she's been workin' hard to get her business - freshly picked - off the ground. she's doing really well at it. awhile back, she was featured on a mommy blogger's site - dooce.com - and it pushed her sales through the roof! anyway, it triggered this whole discussion about bloggers that make livings maintaining their websites, etc. it's incredible! apparently, it's a big deal and people are making good money blogging about their lives. go figure!
anyway, since then, my friend turned me on to a new website - the pioneer woman - which chronicles the life of a woman who walked away from the city life to marry a cattle rancher and live on his ranch in oklahoma. as some of you know, i'm obsessed with cowboys. this website does a great job of feeding the obsession. i could spend hours perusing the recipes, anecdotes and photos of her hunky husband, marlboro man. yum! apparently, a million other people love it, too. i checked in this morning and pioneer woman had a new post from just this morning that 600 people had already commented on! i wanted to scream, "get a life, people." but then i realized that i'd have to be pointin' the finger at myself. i kept quiet. so, check it out. love it, hate it. i'll be on it.

turnin' heads.

i recently moved to an area that borders what's known as leisure world - it's a GIANT retirement community. what that means is any local stores are usually swarming with geriatrics. it's good times. this morning i was doing a little grocery shopping and met the most adorable man. as i was standing behind him waiting for him to select his bunch o' spinach, so i could move in for my own, the conversation went a little something like this:

old man: is this spinach?
me: yes, sir, it is.
old man: i've got that macular degeneration. i don't see so good.
me: well, lucky for you i was here, then!
old man: you said it!

i had a bag in my hands and offered it to him. as we bagged his spinach and i turned to get my own bag, the conversation continued.

old man: in world war 2, i was a sniper. i could shoot a man's heart out from a mile away. and now...well, i'm getting old.
me: but you're as handsome as ever!
old man (chuckling): now, now, a pretty girl like you will turn my head with that nonsense.
me: maybe i wouldn't mind that. either way, it put a smile on your face, didn't it?
old man: that it did, little lady. that it did. you have a wonderful day.

that conversation put a big smile on MY face. you know, there's just somethin' about conversations with strangers that is so much fun. the older, the better. you just never know what you're going to get!

vm

i feel the urge to blog. and, having partaken of a most delicious bowl of dreyer's best, i'm ready to settle in. i can't help but overhear the dulcet tones of miss kristin bell's voice coming from the living room as my roommate ploughs through season 3 of my latest obsession. that's right, veronica mars. having spent the past several weeks drowning myself in episode after episode, it's official: i'm addicted. i, too, am working my way through season 3, but i'm only on the first disc of the set. and to think i once scoffed at my beloved martha when i walked in on her getting her vm fix. those were the olden days - i was young and stupid. now i'm up late and obsessing.
my developing crush on jason dohring fed naturally into another television obsession: moonlight. think twilight meets veronica mars. yeah, it's good times. it only made it one season, but i've been chompin' right through those episodes, too. the gods were smiling upon us the day we were given itunes.
and guilty pleasure numero tres starts up this week. yeah, it's tv watchin' time.
oh, to be logan's veronica.

i love my job.

so, i walked into my co-workers office the other day. he's a really nice guy. super smart and pretty reserved. he loves to golf. this is the conversation we had:

me: is that a golf tee in your mouth?
jason (looking sheepish): yeah. sometimes they just end up in my mouth. i don't know how.
me: really?
jason (laughing): yeah. so, if i were you and i saw it laying around, i wouldn't touch it.
me: noted

and scene.

only one.

there's nothing like the fall lineup to make you realize you're addicted to television. between pushing daisies, the amazing race, gossip girl (yes, it's a guilty pleasure) and a myriad of other shows, i'm simply not going to have much free time. although, it's pretty safe to say that "free time" hasn't really been in my vocabulary these days. then again, the fact that i'm spending a good amount of time getting caught up on the past 3 seasons of veronica mars would say otherwise. or blogging, for that matter. ah, well. priorities, i guess.
in other news, my darling new roommate, natalie, packed up and moved to utah. yeah, i guess i was too much for her to handle. hee. she's headed to europe before the big relo, but not before she found us a new roomie. named paula no less. yeah, insert some joke about there not being enough room for two paulas in one house. in case you're wondering, there's only ONE paula peralta. that's right, baby.
well, veronica's calling. go neptune high.