Eat, Pray, Love...I did Love it!

I just finished reading this book last night and have jumped on the bandwagon of fans. I know you've probably already heard this by now, but I highly recommend this book. It is entertaining, thoughtful, helpful, adventurous and an enjoying read.

Simple Summary: The author brings you through her 1 year journey of traveling to Italy, India and Indonesia in pursuit of pleasure, devotion and balance.

My favorite paragraph from the book:
I keep remembering one of my Guru's teachings about happiness. She says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have acheived a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.

Jason has wondered why I suddenly am persuading him that we should travel to Italy this Spring. I'm blaming the book!

Introducing You To Mika

The first song on my playlist is by Mika. I had to blog about him since I absolutely love his album and think it is something everyone might enjoy. His album, Life In Cartoon Motion is amazing and has a wide variety of fun dance songs, funky ballads and slower inspirational tunes. He is coming to the Warfield in Februrary, so we are hoping to be able to experience his music live.

Change He Can Believe In

I'm very proud of Jason! Last night he volunteered at the Obama phone banks to make some calls to local Democrats and Independents urging them to get out and vote next Tuesday. He said about 1/3 of people listened, 1/3 he left messages for and 1/3 of people told him to never call back. On Super Tuesday, he has been asked to stand on a corner and hold a sign. I can't wait to drive by and take some undercover pics. I imagine it being very similar to those guys that direct you to look at houses that dance with signs. I hope he does some good dance moves.
Jason loves following politics (it was his major and my minor), but I am getting ready for the primaries to be over. I love Chris Matthews, but he has been in my living room every night for the last few months. We will see what happens next Tuesday. Should be exciting.

Marley's New Mansion

So I came home the other night and Jason had purchased a new crate for Marley. I was amazed at the size he picked out. I think it is quite possibly the largest crate manufactured (probably made for Great Danes). I asked how it fit in his car and he then proceeded to tell me that he walked home with it (NO JOKE). Yes, he carried this crate about 1 mile from Pet Food Express to our house in the dark. So if you happened to see some man walking down Oak Grove after work carrying an extra large crate...it was Jason. The things we do for our beloved pets. (and yes, I'm pretty sure this thing can be broken down into 2 pieces to fit in cars)

Latest and Greatest

Had to post some of my favorite new pics.

This Month In Diablo

I was so excited to see at work that Diablo Magazine is featuring the Walnut Creek aquanuts on the cover this month. Some of the pictures they are featuring brought up some hilarous memories of my time with the team. Although I wasn't the best of syncronized swimmers, I have some of the most amazing memories and friends from these days.

Here are some of my favorite memories...
-Our trips all around the country. We got to travel to so many places. The best part wasn't the competitions, but was the nights. We were always getting into some kind of trouble in the hotels and who wouldn't love being away from home and sharing a hotel room with 3 of your best friends at the age of 13?

-My daily carpools with the Wynstras and our "Hook" trio. Mrs. Wynstra always brought us to Sweet Affair and we always had so much fun.

-My duet partner, Jamie Heil. Of course we had the most amazing suit, designed by Ross (her Dad).

-Practical jokes, secret santas, dance classes with that woman with awful 80's hair, stretching, land drills (is that what it was called?), knox gelatin, the show, Pam Edwards, The Josaphasens, Natalie Schneider's Olympic car, nose clips (I wonder how many we actually bought), the gross showers, the cold mornings and the wonderful amount of blush we would wear.

Truly the best part was the friendships I made. We were with each other for up to 4 hours a day and even some mornings. These girls became some of my closest friends and I am so happy that I am able to look back and smile at all the wonderful memories.

Wisdom Tooth Surgery

A few months ago Jason discovered what he thought was a new tooth in the back of his mouth. Turns out, after a consultation with Dr. McMillan, it was a wisdom tooth. He had already had his wisdom teeth removed in high school, so this was a mysterious new arrival. Yesterday he had a quick 5 minute surgery to have it removed. I was amazed at how quickly it came out. Not only did he come home with some Vicodin, but also came home with the tooth in a little box as a souvenir. Picture above is Jason holding not only his wisdom tooth, but also 3 of Marley's teeth that have fallen out this weekend.

An Extra Prayer

Please say an extra prayer for Tyler today. He has been having some complications with his liver and is undergoing tests today to hopefully figure out the root of his jaundice. An ultrasound yesterday showed a blockage and we are hopeful a solution will be figured out today once another test is done. This little guy has been through so much and is an inspiration to us all.

Good Luck McMillan Family. We love you so much and pray for some good news.

I've Been Tagged

So I was tagged by Kristin Andrus. I didn't know what it really meant, so she gladly gave me instructions to answer the following questions.

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:

1) Had just moved into the Pi Beta Phi sorority house with my new roommate Lauren.
2) Just started dating a boy at ASU from Walnut Creek named Jason.
3) Was interning at a hip hop radio station where I would attend local events such as Ladies Night (SCARY!)
4) Finding any way to get into the bars with any kind of fake ID.
5) Studying broadcast journalism with dreams to someday be on the news.

5 Things On My To Do List:

1) Fold my clean laundry
2) Pay any old, lingering 2007 bills
3) Buy some gifts
4) Go to the grocery store – I had nothing to eat this morning
5) RELAX after work (explains how #’s 1 – 4 might not get done)

5 Snacks I Enjoy:

1) Ice cream, gelato or frozen yogurt
2) Hawaiian BBQ Rings
3) Cheese with anything
4) York Peppermint Patties (Frozen)
5) 100 Calorie Snack Packs

5 Things I’d Do If I Was A Billionaire:

1) Have a daily maid
2) Buy another house in Tahoe and at the beach
3) Get even more animals and build them their own bedrooms
4) Start a non-profit
5) Shop for all my groceries at Whole Foods

3 Habits:

1) Worry too much
2) Have to check 5 times before I leave in the morning if the hair straightner is turned off
3) Have to check 10 times a day that the cats haven't gotten outside

5 Places I’ve Lived:

1) Marin, CA
2) Clayton, CA
3) Walnut Creek, CA
4) Tempe, AZ
5) Concord, CA

5 Jobs that I’ve Had:

1) My life also began at the Heather Farm’s Snack Bar
2) Helped women and MEN try on Speedos at the Downtown WC Speedo store. The store quickly went out of business.
3) Intern at numerous radio and tv stations throughout college
4) Account Executive at both Pickett Advertising and ARC
5) Currently…Senior Project Manager at Diablo

I tag the following people: Hillary, David McMillan and Jamie

Party of 5...in my bed

So last night was the first night where all 5 of us were in bed together at once. Yes, it was an exciting event for our animal household. Marley was asleep in bed with us (yes, we have gotten into the bad habit of having her sleep with us). She makes us laugh with all her funny positions while sleeping and sometimes even sleeps on Jason's head. Then, next up was Sage. She quickly went under the covers on Jason's side. Then a few minutes later up popped Serena on my side and I had her go under the covers. It probably only lasted for about an hour, but it was so fun to think that they are all getting more and more comfortable with one another.

Congrats Dad!

So my Dad has finally retired. He has been counting down for the last few years and I'm so happy to announce that as of Friday it is official. We attended a wonderful celebration at the Hilton in honor of him on Thursday and my sister and I surprised him with a speech. Of course, we added in a few funny stories and I think everyone really hearing about the Walt Lietz outside of the office. Danny also put together a beautiful slide show of my Dad's life starting from when he was a baby.

It was so nice to meet so many people that my Dad has managed through the years. Each person was so sincere with only the nicest comments to say about him. He will truly be missed. A lot of people have asked what he wants to do with his time, but I know he will keep himself busy with gardening, taking classes, art, many other projects and hopefully a little time relaxing.

All my love to you Dad for all your hard work. Your strong work ethic, dedication and drive has helped shape me into the person I am today.