walking next to you...

i thought i should post a couple photos. a few people told me it was supposed to be really cold today...well, i woke up to snow outside!! schools are shut down today and people are excited...facebook is telling me so:) these photos were taken about an hour ago and it has been snowing since that time...i will take more later...i am ultra tired at the moment and it is my day off so sleep first, more photos later:) enjoy today.

i can't believe we are in southern california right now. the rain has been wild these past few days and i mostly like it...but being wet every time i walk out of the house sort of sucks. i don't really like being wet. but i like the rain:)

later on in the afternoon i went over to brian's house. he is a boy i have been doing music with lately and it is pretty fantastic if i am allowed to say so myself. he has the sweetest recording studio set up in his room and we recorded for a while...and the end result left all of us smiling...that is a good thing:) i can't wait to hear it finished.

watched american idol, yes i know...and now i'm getting ready for bed. sweet dreams all:)

on sunday, zack and i took a trip to silver lake to visit a couple friends from Intelligentsia coffee...if you are not familiar with it, trust me when i say---you SHOULD be. it is the best thing around and the people in LA and Venice are clearly aware of it. it is not some coffee fad that way too many people are into just to be into, it is a really coffee lover's dream. and on top of the quality coffee, every person we came into contact with was absolute quality. we started the day off with capps at the silver lake shop and worked our way over to the location in Venice which is quite the experience:)

the capp was delicious. the flavor of the espresso was so yummy i could have honestly gone back for another and another. they understand the bean so well and use it to its fullest. the shop itself was a vision. the blue tile work that started on the floors and worked itself up the counters was lovely and who would have thought up such a thing as plywood walls for the place? brilliant.

from that location, we drove over to the Venice shop and that is a site! there are four espresso stations with one monster of a machine located in the center of all the goodness. a 1970's piece rebuilt for the Intelli gang. the wood panels really did it for me:) they have a full time dj who is there to keep the music going and the layout of the room is incredible. especially the ceiling...if you go, look up:) the four stations are all always open and every person working is lovely. i had another capp while there and it was wonderful once again, ethiopian yirgacheffe---wow. it was my first Intelligentsia experience and i was NOT disappointed one bit.

while we were in Venice, i got one of these:
and zack got one of these:
our day ended with dinner at the farmer's market...best brc ever and a trip to anthro:) hope you are all enjoying your week!

that is what we are right now but it is ok. we meaning this little group of musicians that just got together a couple months ago. myself and a few friends decided to join together to do music and well, i think it was a good idea:) we had a show at augie's last night and it was so wonderful. we had an over full house and it seemed like all those attending had a lovely time.

our last song involved a trumpet, a baritone, and a singalong...super, right?... :) we are planning on doing it more often which is nice...happy sunday folks.

some friends and myself are having a show at augie's. we had to cancel the last one due to sickness but this time that is not happening. if you happen to be in the redlands area at around 7:30ish, you should probably come. it should be fun. good day to you sweet friends:)

yesterday was an interesting day for me. it ended on a really good note with practice for tomorrow's show but it started off so crummy. when i woke up, i found a very unpleasant surprise waiting for me outside. it had nothing to do with anything i did, it was just someones idea of a good time, i guess. i won't go into detail because it was so disturbing...my stomach is still in knots over it. it influenced a great deal of my day mostly because it reminded me that people are not good. i am not saying we aren't nice or loving and caring. we so are. but people are not always these things and sometimes they are the complete opposite and that is always a downer.

i like people a lot. i love to see people help people out. for example, yesterday i attended a meeting where they spoke about an orphanage in africa started by a few folks from the states. they are doing great things there.

BUT when people are capable of doing bad things to other people, it is a real heart breaker:/ i had a very heavy heart yesterday. i guess i forgot how terrible we are capable of being to one another...it was a reminder of something i never want to be. cruel, hateful, ignorant, unthoughtful.

i am a lot better today. thank the Lord for forgiveness. i am not always a master at it but after a long night, my heart is a bit more relieved.

we should all strive to be as far away from those things as possible. things are already pretty bad in most parts, we don't need to make things worse...we should be working to make things lovelier.

i can hardly believe it is now officially 2010. i feel like i didn't really have a chance to get used to writing 2009 on papers and such since it seemed to go by so quickly and now we are here---2010. my family and i and a few sweet friends spent the eve together. we ate perhaps too much:) played tons of games---i learned dominoes. talked, listened to music---a project a friend and i are working on. i didn't really have any expectations for the evening so it is safe to say i had an amazing night---def not disappointed:)
when i wrote earlier that i was not disappointed by the way we brought in the new year, it was an understatement. i shed a few tears before i went to bed just thinking back on the events of 2009 and how the Lord not only heard us but responded. sometimes not how we would want but always how He desires. I hope you all celebrated well last night and i hope this coming year is special.