EARTHQUAKE

ACK!!

About an hour ago I was working on packing up some of my scrapbooking stuff while I was waiting for the final Phelps swim and all of a sudden my whole apartment started shaking. It 'only' lasted about 15-20 seconds. And at first I thought a bus had hit my building or something, but that is a complete impossibility. We never lost power, it never even blinked. But it scared the hair off of me. I came online once I was sure it was over to see if it was an earthquake, and sure enough, I just lived through my first earthquake.

Here is what the USGS (US Geological Survey) reports. Magnitude 4.6, 9miles NNW of Trinidad, CA. or 27 miles N of Eureka. No damage has been reported so far.

My friend Nancy from work was just telling me today, "it's earthquake weather". I told her to shut her mouth. I only have about 2 weeks left in California and I did NOT plan on having an earthquake as part of my Eureka experience. I have half a mind to call her to complain about her 'prediction'.

Thankfully, the earthquake did not disturb my tv and I was able to see Phelps win gold #8, and see the fastest man in the world, 'lightening' Bolt. The olympics are a great distraction after that shaking.

Blessed by so many best friends and awesome family!

I can't believe it's almost been a month since I last blogged. It's been a crazy 4 weeks since I headed home to NOLA. My trip home was wonderful. I spent several nights with my dad and he took me to several of his favorite NO restaurants: Stella!, K-Paul and Mr. B's. I had 3 great meals, gumbo twice, BBQ shrimp, soft shell crab, and delicious medallions of veal. MMMM love my NOLA food.

I had the special pleasure of having the Windsor Tea at the English Tea Room with one of my best friends, Dee. It was great tea, great food and a great friend!

I was also blessed to get to see my Nanny, Aunt Jerri, cousin Heather with son Jacob, and my godchild, Meridith with daughters Eva and Katherine. It was so great to get to see all of them. This is one of the reasons I like to go home for a whole week at a time, so I can get to see lots of family and friends too.

After my time in NOLA, I headed up to Natchez with one of my best friends, Ann, and we went to our favorite crop Scrap-n-on-the-river. 3 days of scrapbooking and getting to see so many friends we have made at crops. We had a blast! And I got lots of layouts done.

The weekend after I got home from NOLA, I headed to Sacramento to see my best friends from Fresno, Corky and Dakota and their son, Qory. I haven't seen them since November, 2005, almost 3 years, which is waayyyy toooo long not to see your best friends. We had a great visit, visited a couple of the local parks, rode down memory lane with Dakota who had lived in Sacramento almost 20yrs ago, and got to just hang out and talk and visit and give/get lots of hugs. It was an awesome visit. Thankfully, it will NOT be 3years 'til my next time to see them. I will be going to their wedding in August before I head back east!

This past weekend I flew coast to coast, and back, in 4 days, for Richard's 8th birthday on 080808!!! Pretty cool huh? I also got to visit with another of my best friends, Michelle, and her family for a couple of hours. Mostly, though we built legos and then built some more legos. The boys are growing and growing and *both* of them are missing a front top tooth! Jacqueline is bundle of energy whose vocabulary has just exploded. She's so incredible and funny. Richard has started writing his own books. About what else? Legos! His latest lego obsession: Bionicles! Richard read us the first 3 pages of his book, Gala's Party. Richard told me he wants to grow up to be an NFL player, then after he retires he is going to write books and produce/direct lego movies! Lucas wants to be a painter, as in a house painter/construction person, then after that he would like to be a deep sea diver (though he is concerned by Richard's warning about being eaten by the great white shark!).

This weekend I am working on starting the packing for my trip back cross country in 2 weeks. Next weekend? I get to see 2more of my best friends! Dave and Karen Massey are coming to visit me! Isn't that just so cool! I flew down to LA to see Karen when she was working in the LA area soon after I arrived in Eureka. Out of the blue, Karen got an assignment in Chico, which is only 4hrs from here. So I get to see her again, and get to see Dave too! I'm totally psyched!

I feel really blessed to get to see soooo many of my best friends in a 6week period. Plus, my cousin Melissa, who I also count as a best friend, and I have started planning a Disney trip for December. I'm really missing my best friend Kathy. I won't get to see her soon, but I'm hoping for her to come to visit me in DC later this year.

I should be packing, but just had so much to share. And the Olympics are awesome this year! Go USA!!!

Homeward Bound!

I'll be heading home after work today. It's been much too long since I've been home. It's a marathon day for me with work, then 3 plane rides before I arrive in NOLA. I'm sure I'll be exhausted when I get there tomorrow morning. And I'm sure I'll be happy to be home again. I'm hoping to visit with family, eat delicious food, visit with friends, check out the parish for post-K progress, and do some scrapbooking up in Natchez for a couple of days. I know I'm in for a rude awakening temperature wise. We've had a week of 50s and 60s out here and 90s are the forcast for the entire week I'll be home. Getting my sweat glands ready! It's all good. I'm going home!!!

Grief-filled Anniversary

My mother died 16 years ago today.

I struggle with this day every year.

Tonight I am just overwhelmed with grief.

Melissa's mom died tonight.

I'll write more later.

Please pray for our family, especially the Deroche/Weavers.

Welcome to the World, Cooper!

Just a quick note to congratulate my best friend Ann on the birth of her 4th grandchild, her 2nd grandson, Cooper who arrived today at 9lbs! She texted me the cutest pictures! Mother and baby are both doing well. The 2 big sisters are excited and curious. CONGRATULATIONS Nana Ann!

California adventures!

I was all excited to go adventuring this weekend. Last week was beautiful, sunny, cool days everyday, even warmed up to 70. But Saturday morning I woke up to fog and colder, damper temperatures. So I went to the scrapbook store here in town instead. It was nice, but not as cool as my favorite stores Scrappersaurus and ScrapbookBarn. There was lots of scrapbook stuff there thats for sure. But, for me its more than just the stuff. Its about the people. I'm spoiled by my friends at my favorite stores. They make scrapbooking more about community than about stuff (though they don't hesitate to sell me stuff, lol).

In the evening, the weather cleared nicely and I decided to go ride up the coast and watch the sunset. I got my sweats on because it was chilly and windy. Grabbed my camera and headed north. Right into the fog again! It was rolling back in just in time for sunset. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. It's a challenge for me to go on these adventures by myself. This is really the first travel assignment I've had where I'm really out on my own. I have friends here in CA, and I will get to see each of them once, but for the most part I am on my own. So if I want to do something I have to do it by myself.

One of the hardest things for me to do by myself, is to eat out. I have friends that love eating out alone. My dad eats out alone several nights a week. But for all of these people, they frequent the same places, people know them, they can have conversations with the waitstaff, etc. But I'm new here. I've been researching places to go and I have a good list. But I really have to challenge myself to actually go sit in a restaurant by myself. People I know have suggested bringing a book. And thats fine I guess if I'm going to Dennys. But to go to a fine dining establishment and pull out a book, not something I feel ok about doing.

Saturday as I was headed into the fog, I decided to check out a place that was on the beach for dinner and sunset. I figured I'd rather be inside than in the fog. Plus I wanted to fine someplace with good food here. So I had dinner at the Moonstone Grill at Moonstone Beach. It was a medium sized place, with a nice crowd and awesome views of the beach and of the sunset. The menu was nice with several surf and turf selections. I had the Lobster Bisque which was tasty and I had a Florentine Sole rolled and stuffed with crabmeat which was very good. I passed on desert as there were no sugar free selections. It was a nice meal and I had a nice waitress. And I got to watch the sun drop down into the Pacific.

I spent Sunday cooking for this week. I made tuna salad, pork chops on my George Foreman Grill, chicken with balsamic goat cheese, and I have a meat loaf in the oven as I am typing. I also made Spinach and Artichoke dip for a vegee, its a great way to get spinach into my diet! I will heat up a can of green beans later in the week for another vegee. I also bring bell peppers and celery with salad dressing for vegees at work.

Tonight we are having a cookout here where I live. There are 4 of us, all travelers. The other 3 are nurses that work a few blocks from here. I'm the odd man out, an OT that works down in Fortuna. I was elected to bring watermelon, which was easy, and I was thankful to be elected to bring such an easy thing. Maybe next time I will make hamburgers or something if I have some more notice.

I know I need to upload some of my pictures here from my cross country trip and from my adventures so far here. One day I will, one day . . .

In closing I want to let my friend Dee know I am thinking about her and praying for her :)

Just for Fun!

One of the blogs I read had this cool quiz posted today. I thought it was interesting and checked it out just for fun. I edited out the HTML and only posted a part of the results. I think it describes me pretty well! I know of several others and maybe I will check them out occasionally for you to try yourself! Have a great weekend!


Your results:
You are Superman

You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.



Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...