The flowers are waking up!

The flowers have begun waking from their winter slumber. Spring comes early when skies are clear, the sun is out, and its a high of 68! This is the first sprout of my bougainvillea on my patio. I always look forward to the first blossom and for some reason feel the need to document it. My Japanese Maple hasn't started sprouting but I think it will over the next few weeks.
February 27th is the American Martyrs annual 5k and last year it was the day I planted my imatients and lasted until October. I am eagerly awaiting to make it a tradition and plant them again this year. I am so fulfilled taking care of my little plants. They bring me so much joy.

"..but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts."
Acts 14:17

My heart

If I could paint you a picture of my heart you would notice two things. One, how big the piece labeled "Jesus" is, and the next large piece labeled "Pups". This isn't going to come as a surprise to anyone who knows me. My dogs are my babies (they don't even know they are dogs) and all 3 of us love Jesus...especially Pnut he LOVES him some Jesus. haha
Seriously, there would be huge sections labeled "family" and "music" but Jesus and the pups...they are up there. So, you can understand my frustration and disappointment when I learned that Randy is very allergic to dogs (he literally can't breathe) and is not a big fan of Jesus. We tried to work on both...vacuuming more, and talking about my faith...but in the end, it didn't work out. These nonnegotiable factors, I couldn't change, they make up such a huge part of my heart and who I am.
I tried, he tried, and in the end we just don't fit. We have a lot of fun, we have amazing chemistry, but I am looking for something more specific. Something long lasting and forever. You enter into a relationship hoping that the outcome is a happy one, but also being aware that it just might not be. We're just not meant to be and someday, God willing, my happy ending will come and I'll know why I had to learn this...even if it was the hard way.

0.5

Today at CE we had our annual “Whooo Rawww” meeting to propel us into the new year with goals and objectives we never revisit to see if we've met. I always enjoy these meetings.

We come to the section in the slides that is about LNG (technically my area of expertise) where my boss Christa and I are solely responsible for approximately 3.5 million gallons of a month.

The slide reads like this (all approximations. I can not disclose accurate calculations it is veeeeery confidential)...

Current:
3 million gallons a month
36 million gallons a year
50 trailers
1.5 FTE’s

Yes, 1.5 FTE’s. Christa leans over and says, “.5 that’s you haha just kidding.”
No seriously, it’s just me and Christa. FTE = Full time employee’s! I don’t work part time yet I am only .5 of an employee??

The sad part is that this is actually true. I only do .5 of LNG work, which is what I was hired to do, because over the past few years I have been “forced” to take on other positions that have managed to take over half of my day. So, they aren’t lying but actually being completely honest. On one hand I am happy they admit and understand my role is only .5 but what a sad way to put it. In the whole entire company presentation the only reference to me is in a fraction.

.5 FTE...yup...thats me

Mammoth, Winter Wonderland

After the huge storm that came through, we decided to take Friday off and spend the weekend in Mammoth. Randy is crazy for fresh powder. As an expert snowboarder, he lives for huge storms. We took the kids and one of Randy’s friends Mike, and headed out late Thursday night. We didn’t get in until about 3am but the boys were up bright and early to hit the slopes. Mammoth got about 10-15 feet of snow in one week.

Here he is decked out in all his gear...

Some people go to mammoth to snowboard a ski, but these two little ones just want to lay in blankies all day....

She actually liked exploring the snow.

We stayed in a nice one bedroom condo about the same size as my house. It was across from the Eagle Lodge, Juniper Springs Resort, and slopes so Randy could just head over and hop on! Here are two shots, one in the morning and one in the evening:

Here is a map of Mammoth Mountain. You can see how HUGE the mountain is and how many slopes there are. I think over 130 and something like 16 Chair Lifts and 3 Gondolas.

http://www.mammothmountain.com/docs/assets/trailmap0910.jpg

Some family portraits in the condo:

This picture makes me laugh out loud. She looks like a fake dog!

Puppy love

My boys

Randy and Mike have some friends that live up there and we hung with Dave, their buddy. He knows everyone and got us into restaurants and bars that had lines or reservation only. Here is Randy with his dinner. I think it was a blue bass or something. It was a full fish! Head and all!

My favorite part of the trip was going ice skating! It was a beautiful outdoor rink and there were hardly any people there. After about an hour, 12-15 kids showed up and kind of ruined it. They were sliding all around and falling super hard. I’m glad we got an hour in before they showed up to practice our backwards skating and spins.

Goofing around showing off my skills

Randy is a good ice skater (check)! He was equally impressed with my skating skills. We had fun and didn’t even fall once!

This is a shot of the road home. It was beautiful. I look forward to our next trip.

The Getty Museum

Me and Mom at The Getty Museum Viewpoint

The Getty Museum has been on my So-Cal list of “to do’s” but I haven’t yet. My mom had a great idea that we should visit it when she came into town on the 15th. I wasn’t even prepared for how amazing it was. I learned so much.
I was first surprised by how much religion and mythology played a part in the early paintings. The very first paintings were portraits of Jesus and Mary (some rather creepy) and the biblical scenes and stories from the bible. I guess this is stuff I would have learned in art appreciation. I don’t know why I didn’t take it in college.
The second thing I learned was how breathtaking the original paintings are versus a print. Prints do not do it justice. The Getty uses the natural light from sky lights to show how the paintings were intended for us to view them in natural light, and it makes a huge difference.
The third is the evolution of painting. Each floor is dedicated to a time period and you really see a difference from one century to the next.
Rembrandt’s sketches were showcased in their exhibition hall. I learned so much about his style and how to tell an original Rembrandt from his pupils. He was so talented.
The thought of the paintings and sketches lingered in my mind for days and weeks after. I can’t believe it took me so long to go. Admission is free and parking is free after 5pm. Throughout summer I hope to take advantage of it and go often. I also look forward to experiencing LAMCA and other art museums in the area. I absolutely love them.

Me and the view of LA and the 405 freeway

Here is a short list of some of my favorite paintings.

Venus and Adonis
Defending against cupid
Noah's Ark
Abduction of Europa

Tornado Watch

There was a tornado in Sunset Beach yesterday which is about a mile from my house. I've never seen it dump like this...especially in Southern California. Here is an article with some pictures.

http://sciencedude.freedomblogging.com/2010/01/19/wind-gusts-93-mph-at-newport/79939/

So much rain, but we need it. It will make for a prettier spring...and awesome snow in the mountains which is where we are headed tomorrow. :)

Makin $$

This is what I like to see....

CLNE

$18.59 today!

Congrats to all those who took my advice and bought CE stock when it was $5 a share! :)