Shoulda

Haven't got long, but a quick story - yesterday I was walking downtown through the 22nd/Myrtle area and enjoying the peace and pretty houses when a loose dog (as in got out of it's yard, not as in a loose woman) started walking with me. Second time a dog has done that in that area. I noticed it looked recently groomed and had tags and so tried to get it to come over to me. No such luck, but it kept following me for several blocks. I tried again every once in a while, and for a second had a vision of capturing the dog, knocking on it's owner's door and being greeted by a handsome single young professional man living downtown, preferably already cooking dinner. OH WAIT, this is Bakersfield -snap back to reality and continue on my walk. A couple minutes later, as the dog had gotten behind exploring a yard about a block behind me, I was turning my head to call it again when a well-dressed young man pulls up in a white suv, says "there you are, Haley," stares curiously in my direction for a second, scoops up the dog and pulls away. I kid you not. I seriously SHOULD HAVE TRIED HARDER to catch that dog. Story of my life.

Tornado

So on Thursday night we had a birthday bash for Holly. If you ever watch Gilmore Girls, and where they plan to do "21" things all night for Rory's 21st birthday, we did something similar (minus the 21 shots). Holly turned 23 on April 23rd! Which is exciting but not the point of this endeavor. One of the items on my list that we didn't get around to was to watch the first video that comes up when you type in "23" on YouTube. So I did it the next morning and it came up with a TORNADO video. A giant one that split into three sections at one point. That's right, I watched all five minutes and 26 seconds of it. And decided to revise my policy of never living in the Midwest. I could in fact live in the Midwest if I was a tornado chaser and got paid for it. Maybe I'd only live there during tornado season. Then I started watching more and more tornado videos. Never before have I watched more than a couple things on YouTube at a time. I think I'm addicted.

Ahem. Back to Holly's Birthday. Here is the list I wrote -the ones in bold are the ones we completed. The rest will have to wait til someone else turns 23.

23 “23” things to do for Holly’s 23rd Birthday on April 23rd.
1. 23 wishes with 23 pennies into a Derrel’s Mini Storage Fountain
2. Buy 23 things at Goodwill/Dollar tree
3. Get 23 ice cream samples
4. Get 23 guys’ numbers
5. Listen to 23 songs
6. All night ask people for 23 things (ice cubes, lbs of food, napkins, etc)
7. Give 23 hearts to 23 different people
8. Eat 23 bites of food
9. Make up a sentence with 23 words
10. Play the new card game 23
11. Call 23 people
12. Watch the first video on YouTube that comes up when you type “23”
13. Scream “23” at the 23rd hour (that would be 11PM)
14. Cruise down 23rd street
15. Blow out 23 candles
16. Pick 23 flowers
17. Put hair into 23 braids
18. Wear 23 things. Out.
19. Illegally tag “23” somewhere – even if it’s in sidewalk chalk.
20. Make a mosaic out of 23 magazine pictures
21. Convince someone you have 23 fingers and toes
22. Go to the “self-help” section and choose the 23rd book from the left and read the 23rd page
23. Enjoy being 23.

I think doing them all would have been more of an all-day Saturday type of outing, as opposed to an all-night Thursday outing. But we went the extra mile in the things we did do, such as tagging "23" everywhere we went in sidewalk chalk. And getting a balloon and tying it to Holly as part of the dollar tree spree. And reading several page 23's. And we ended up playing cards with five older drunk latino men, which in my mind was way more entertaining than getting 23 guys' numbers would have been. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLLY.

Back.

WOW it's been a long time since I've posted. The break was much needed, and truthfully these last two months have been so busy I don't know what I would have done if I had thrown in tv/movies/internet. But on to other things. There is so much to write. I will try to break it up into coherent pieces but I kind of feel like the kid just back from summer camp telling his mom, this happened and this happened, and then we were- oh and THIS happened, and we went here, and we learned about bugs, and... actually maybe it would be easier to write about everything in this way.

For now, we will focus on what WILL BE- Christ will return and we who follow him will be glorified. And we get a new earth! Yay for no more valley pollution! (among other things)

Until That Day, here are my frivolous summer plans that WILL (hopefully) be:

a/ style: going for a late-70's by the lake / on the beach look. It's a bit by default as I just don't want to pay to cut or color my hair, so it's long and blonde and brassy again, but also by my choice of throw-back Aloha Tiare for this summer's perfume. This gives me a chance to follow a bit of the current fashion but not go full-fledged eighties.

b/ music: Kenny Chesney's When the Sun Goes Down album will always be the ultimate in summer tunes to me. Along with Uncle Kracker's Drift Away. Various other singles. Okay, maybe this part of the post is premature and I should make a playlist first.

c/ plans: Several long, lazy, full Neighborhood Dinners. A picnic by the lake/river with magazines, books, good music and lemonade. Studying about God's face. A trip to Malibu Getty & Red Rock Canyon for hiking. Venice Beach- just can’t get enough of that place. Lots of stretching- strange, but seriously. Someone take me Floating…. I’ve never been…. An herb garden outside my door maintained. Stargazing when there’s no moonlight, in a really dark place. A free-form worship night. Baking bread from scratch. Climb Mount Whitney. Lots of good times with my BigKids. San Francisco – in all its beautifulness. Poker night done right.
If I manage to do all of these things, it will be one very full summer.

Feel free to invite yourself along. But only if I already know you.