How Not To Start Your Weekend

With a $750 ticket.

My car was in storage while Andy and I were away.  We pulled it out today--with expired tabs and no insurance.  Oops.

Sucks for me...I hope your weekend is off to a better start!

Can You Guess Where I Am?

All of these photos were taken on the same street.

Street performers.

 The crowd watching the street peformers (notice the gal in white?).

Did you guess LA?  Venice Beach to be exact.  The gal in white isn't anyone famous...or she could be, I dunno...I just thought she stood out in the crowd...it's not the usual attire for Venice, or a Thursday afternoon...but hey, to each their own.  

Confessions Of A Former Door To Door Salesperson

I was a door to door salesperson.

It's true...for 9 years in fact. There are many things you learn from having one of the most looked down upon jobs in America. It was the most humbling, hardest, best jobs I've ever had. I sold educational books for the Southwestern Company, the oldest direct sales company in the nation...don't feel sorry for me,  I did quite well; I funded my private school education and my lifestyle in Southern California with my earnings. 

Not to toot my own horn, but I was good.  Here is what I knew when I approached your door: 

• If you were hiding...your foot steps and whispering are not as quiet as you thought.
• If you've sent your kids to answer the door to tell me you're not home...I know you are.
• I (most likely) knew your name.  If it wasn't on a sign or on your mailbox...your neighbors told me.   
• If you had kids or not.  You lawn, minivan, toys or lack there of in the yard, bumper stickers and superman curtains in the top window say a lot about you.  
• If you were elderly.  The gnomes, globes, and flamingos in the yard were dead giveaways.  As was your Lincoln Mercury, and very old draperies.  
• I knew more about you than you would want me to.  Your neighbors gossip. 

I can't speak for other door to door companies (unfortunately there are a lot of unethical scams, and religious organizations that give legit companies a bad name), but if someone comes to your door, before you reject them outright, perhaps you could give them the benefit of the doubt and treat them like a person.  And who knows, you might actually like what the person is selling!

What was your most interesting job?

San Diego Is Calling My Name...

Spending time in Flagstaff with my in-laws was wonderful; it was a quick trip and Andy and I went to a fun off-beat Flagstaff wedding while we were there which I'll post about later. After Flagstaff we headed to my old stomping grounds, San Diego.  We left Flagstaff at 6:30 pm so we wouldn't have to drive through Phoenix with the sun boiling us at high noon.  Even still, it was 100+ degrees.  At 2:00 am we pulled over due to sheer exhaustion but couldn't sleep with the sticky heat enveloping us...so we continued on with sweat oozing from our pours until 4:00 am.  

Once we made it and showered I was SO EXCITED to have some girl time!!  Andy and I have been together 24 hours a day for 5 months...(a wonderful 5 months) but I think all you ladies can understand how much I needed time with my gal pals.

It was SO much fun!  3 bottles of wine and 2 cheese plates later we were all caught up with each others lives and I realized how much I missed my great little community in San Diego. I never thought I'd leave San Diego...it is truly an ideal place to live (you know, if you like the fact that one bedroom condos start at about $450,000).  I gave Andy a tour of all of my favorite places and I think my secret plan to lure him here is working...he's added it to his list...now, if we could just find that ministry job he's looking for. 

Road Trippin'

 Hey Folks!  Andy and I are still on the road...I'm  looking forward to catching up on all your lives as soon as we're back!  I hope you stay tuned and keep reading about our adventures :)

Have a great week! 

The Grand Canyon and Car Troubles

All I can say is how amazed I am at the hand of God.  The views are breathtaking. 

And there is NO WAY my dinky little camera could capture the magic of this place. 

And then....car trouble.  

I love that he can fix these things.  And he could have if we had a $2 thingamajig...unfortunately we were at the Grand Canyon National Park...the closest auto parts store was 85 miles back.  It's a good thing we had AAA. 

 He bought the $2 whachamacallit and we were off to Flagstaff...again. 

Of all the places to need a tow, The Grand Canyon was pretty high up there with "lucky" places to be.  Where is the worst or best place you've ever broken down?

Random Red Light Sightings

A guy in a kayak on top of a car and a girl posing for a picture on the side of the road.

What's the strangest thing you've seen at a red light?

How To Announce You're Pregnant

I'M NOT PREGNANT.  But if I was, this is how I'd love to tell my friends and family!

Thanks Christina for letting me share this!

If you're a mom, how did you share your good news?

Utah And All Its Glory

Seriously, have you been to Utah yet?  Start planning next year's summer road trip. 

Our hike through Zion National Park.  

Did you know you can get an annual National Park pass for $80?  We are looking forward to taking advantage of it!

Oh, The Places You'll Go

My husband's love of VW buses and VW vanagons has started to influence me a little.  Our sweet little Milly has been, well, the apple of our eye since we bought her.  We found that we like taking more pictures of her with scenic backgrounds than we do of each other! 

After Idaho, we continued on to Utah which proved to be THE most beautiful drive ever.  

We came across 5 or 6 stunning rainbows along our drive...God kept blessing us over and over with spectacular views.  

Utah has officially been added to my top 5 destinations to live list. 

If you could live anywhere in the US, where would you go?

And The Winner Is...

EVE!! Congratulations! Please send me an email so you can receive your gift card!

Thank you to everyone who entered!

*Winner selected by Random.org

 

Idaho Surprises

 *Enter my gift card giveaway here!*

Nothing makes a road trip like good music.  Our first stop in Idaho was Hastings to find a used CD--this is what we picked up to rock out to in between worship music!

We noticed as we were leaving the parking lot how out of place our Vanagon looked amongst monster trucks. We're not in hippie town anymore.

I've never been to Idaho, nor had I ever had any desire to visit; but our drive through the state surprised me--apparently Idaho is more than just potatoes.  Our first brief stop was the town Nampa to visit my good friend and wedding photographer, Maija  After breakfast we continued east...

The surprising part of Idaho was our trip to Twin Falls.  We initially pulled into this town to buy some groceries, but happened to pass over a bridge with a spectacular view.  We decided to pull up to the visitor center to see if there were some touristy things to do while we were there.  It just so happened that the bridge we drove over is the base jumping capital of the world.  AND there happened to be folks about to jump right when we showed up!

What a fun little surprise stumbling across this exit!  We decided to travel the back roads for a few more hours before we picked a place to camp for the evening.  There are some really scenic routes if you take the time to find them...you can come across views like these natural waterfalls.

Twin Falls was a fun, unexpected detour...but the best is yet to come....stay tuned!

Introducing Amelia

Or Milly for short.  We were praying we'd find one just in time for our road trip...and we did!! A 1986 VW Vanagon...camping has never been so fun!  Andy and I will be on the road for the next month or so, so I will try to post as frequently as possible...please keep visiting to see where we'll be next!

Where did your last road trip take you?

 

Have you entered the gift card giveaway yet?  Do it here.

Men and Food--Important Rules

1.  ALWAYS take samples at Costco and supermarkets whether you want them or not; your husband does want them.
2. You're husband is not a fan of "share-sies."  He would much rather spend the money and buy you an entire _____, than share just one bite of his _____. 
3. Apparently there are rules to splitting something.  He always gets the bigger half. 

Do you have any other important man/food rules to share?

If you haven't already entered my giveaway, do it now!

Ear Candling And Such...

What?  Doesn't everyone want to candle their ears when they get together with good friends they haven't seen in close to 5 months? 

If you've never done this, it feels really good in a strange sort of way.  Of course the boys had to turn it into a competition..."Who can extract the most ear wax?"  This is a competition I didn't want to win, but I did.  Eeew.  

When we're not candling our ears you can find us eating an unhealthy amount of food.  Check out our gargantuan seafood boil.  

And then to top it off we concocted a fabulous sort of non-roasted smore deluxe mad with home-made chocolate frosting, peanut butter, marshmallow fluff and graham crackers. 

Have you ever candled your ears?  What did you think of the experience? 

Giveaway-Enter Now!

CSN Stores is giving away a $40 gift card to one of my lucky readers!  If you haven't been to their website I would check it out--they have over 200 online stores with everything you can imagine from wedding decor, shoes and handbags, to random things like platform beds or this uber cool french press travel mug! Check out their site here. 

After drinking horrible coffee for the past 5 months abroad, we were stoked to finally have some good Seattle java. Wouldn't these make excellent travel companions while we're on our road trip!?

It's easy to win!  

Become a follower and post comment and you get 1entry. 

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and you'll get 2 entries. (Leave another comment that your following).

Repost this on your blog/Facebook/and or Twitter and you'll get 3 entries! (Please comment again!).

Just enter by midnight  PST July 16th!

*Disclaimer: Giveaway is sponsored by CSN Stores. All thoughts and opinions are my own and not edited by CSN Stores. I received no compensation for this giveaway.

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