good books and long flights

Before I left for my trip to Florida and NY, I knew I'd need a big book to keep me busy on the long flights and car rides. I chose to buy the book, Escape by Carolyn Jessop. I'm obsessed.

As a child, I was always really obsessed with reading books reagarding morbid topics like the Holocaust, Polygamy, and mental illnesses. I guess this obsession was a good indication that my life's work would be dedicated to serving/helping others, IE: social work. I'm not sure what spurred my interest in Polygamy, but I remember doing a project on it when I was a freshman or sophmore in highschool. I believe it was around the same time that Tom Green was making headlines in the news. Mormonism and the FLDS fascinates me. I can't believe that Polygamy exists in the US. I didn't know how severely abused and mistreated women and children are in the polygamist cult. Carolyn Jessop reveals all of the unspoken behaviors and psychological, emotional, and physical abuse that goes on in their Polygamist homes. These people are brainwashed...it's unbelievable the lies they believe and the fear that they live in. My heart hurts for the hundreds of children that have just been removed from their homes and I hurt worse for the women whose only hope for a happy life was to mother their children while enduring abuse from their husbands and their "prophets" like Warren Jeffs. It's easy to blame the women for staying and for being abused, but they are raised to believe that only bad things happen to them when they are disobedient to their "priesthood" or "prophet" and then eventually to "God" who punishes them. Leaving isn't an option...their women and children are under severe mind control abuse. They are raised thinking the whole world is evil. When they go into public, the men reinforce this idea to their wives and children when people make fun of them for looking different. In their minds, they think that the outside world really is evil instead of realizing that people judge them because they look so different. These poor kids don't know who to believe or what to believe. Carolyn is no longer in an organized religion, but she claims that she believes in God because she feels that He helped her escape and she can not abandon believing in Him.

You can watch her share part of her story at: http://fora.tv/2007/12/05/Carolyn_Jessop_on_her_Escape_from_the_FLDS

Here is an interesting video about Warren Jeffs and the community:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI6pBftroEc

I think it's sad that they are taught to believe in a punishing God. It's such an evil and abusive cult and Warren Jeffs is an evil man. I think everyone should read Carolyn's book. I would go on tour with her if I could! Just kidding. It's a powerful testimony though.

I leave for NY on Friday morning for my friend Jaymi's wedding. I can't post pictures until I get home, but I will asap. I miss David and my house in California! It's so hot in FL. I forgot what it was like. Love to all of you!

Happy mother's day & the surf report

<3 Happy Mother's Day to our moms!!!!!! We love you and miss you terribly. <3

David's turn:

So I finally got my new surfboard. I was a little apprehensive about the art work because the guy that does all of the art was pretty unreliable when it came to correspondence. I am happy with the way it turned out, and I think the overall performance of the board is awesome. The first time I went out on the new board the surf was 1-3', kinda bad condition and pretty crowded. I got a few ok waves, but tomorrow's forcast is promising. I hope the waves will be bigger. Colleen got a few pics and videos of me surfing. I am kind of wobbely when I first get up because I am not used to such a fast board...plus I am still not that good at surfing. In the video, I'm the one in the middle that goes towards your left.

Colleen's turn:

So today Uncle Larry, Aut Kathy, John & Kari came over and we had a wonderful time celebrating Mother's Day. We told John about our bristle worm problem and after spotting a few, he became determined to catch one. He gets an A for effort but F for failure. Needless to say, bristle worms are jerks. After he left, I found this guy hanging out. I just couldn't believe John had missed his opportunity. Aren't bristle worms disgusting?

Anyway, we had a lazy Sunday afternoon. David and I wanted to leave you with a special picture of us wearing our matching 7 mile bridge run t-shirts.. We're so proud of Uncle Ty & Aunt Linda for running the race.

Jimmy Choo

We had a fabulous Friday.

David's custom made surfboard was being completed today and he could hardly wait to pick it up. We arrived and the board wasn't done yet so we needed to kill a few hours. We did the normal.....looked at books at Borders and walked around Z Gallerie wishing we had money to spend on cool things for our apartment. Occasionally, David will take me to puppy stores where we window shop and pretend we're actually going to buy a puppy. We usually name the puppy and make up scenarios about places we would take it. Normally I get upset when David takes me to see them because I seriously get too attached....and this is why:

We stopped at a new puppy store after visiting two. We were disappointed to find that no one had bull dogs available. With our last attempt, we found the most perfect and lovable little bulldog puppy. I begged David to ask the lady working if I could hold him. Not only did she say yes, she led us to a little play room where we had personal one-on-one floor playtime.

Much to my surprise, the puppy did the smartest thing he could have done to win my heart:

Yes, He went straight for my cute shoes. A dog after my own heart! In that moment, I told David that his name couldn't be any other name than "Jimmy Choo". Jimmy Choo for fabulous shoes and well, "choo"- get it? "chew"? Okay- anyway. David loved the name and we immediately fell in love. David only knows what Jimmy Choo shoes are because I make him go in the Jimmy Choo store with me at the South Coast Plaza- he makes jokes about there only being a few choices and how Jimmy Choo obviously doesn't have many ideas for shoes. We gag at the prices and seriously can't believe anyone would spend hundreds of dollars on shoes. The thought has crossed my mind but then I remember that people are dying in the world...the same people probably working in the factories making shoes for Jimmy. That's besides the point.

Anyway, Jimmy Choo was sleeping when we got there and after holding him for a few minutes, he woke up and became VERY playful. His brother had been purchased yesterday and I could tell Jimmy Choo was a little down about it. I could barely contain myself from biting his little paws off! Look how cute and pudgy they are; how could you resist? I will admit that we quickly began brainstorming ways to hide Jimmy Choo in our apartment. We even considered moving out of our complex being that doggies are prohibited. His little wrinkles and freckly nose began to have such power over us!

We played for quite a while. David had to convince me to let him go back into his horribly small and boring little cage. It broke my heart to leave him. He didn't want us to go either.

We picked up David's surfboard which came out really cool! I'll let him post more about it, but I will show you a picture.

The broseff who does the art work on the boards liked David's idea of Clint Eastwood. The top of the board looks rustic brown. It's actually a lot cooler than I thought it would be. I still think they should have done it pink with Clint....so macho. I love how dramatic the gun is. David is very pleased with the outcome. Anthem is the brand- they custom made the board for David's body.

Some of our life group friends (our only friends) came over and we watched Lars and the Real Girl. We LOVED it. It is very original and strange. It has a very meaningful story and it really surprised us. I'd love to add it to my collection.

We had a full and wonderful day....

but I'm missing Jimmy Choo very badly. I can't wait to move back to Florida so I can have my own doggy. If I can't have babies yet, I might as well get an animal, and fish obviously aren't our area of expertise. Plants are just too boring and our Maya Palm is turning brown. We stink at life.

Love to you all--our hearts are thinking fondly of the day we're back in Florida! EEEEEEEeeeeeeeep!

p.s. We've solved the mystery about our noisy neighbors and their strange behaviors at 3am every morning.....the news is XRATED!

The parasites of the apartment complexes

People lerking at the entrance of a gated community?
Does this make you angry?Are you one of the many Americans that live in a gated apartment complex? Have you ever come home after a good day(or bad) and turn into your apartment entrance just to see some vulture waiting for someone like you to press the gate remote so they can enter the parking area just to steel a parking space that they don't deserve or pay for. Then there is the thought in the back of your mind that they could be the next BTK or an even worse serial killer and you just gave them full access to all of your fellow apartmenteers.I can't stand when I see those people and it makes me boil. If I was having a good day, it immediately turns bad. Also, if you ARE one of those people, stop.
-No remo senior

Bristle Worm Bounty Hunters

Because our fish tank has been a source of such great pain, I dedicate our first blog to the renderings of the traumatic events of our aquarium's short-lived existence before it became a bristle worm breeding farm.

David and I, regrettably so, decided to buy an aquarium. We were thrilled at the prospect of choosing our own tropical fish and corals.

We could hardly contain our excitement when Jeff, our fish man, called to tell us that our tank had been delivered. We picked out our own live rock that was harvested from Fiji, ocean sand from the Caribbean, and salt water. We rushed home to set up the new home for our future fish and coral with great hopes of creating a beautiful ocean wonderland in our very own little apartment! Our luscious salt water ecosystem was beautiful and fun to watch for about.....

one week.

We had multiple corals, crabs, a shrimp, clams... the whole shabang. We told everyone and anyone about our tank and showed it off with great pride.

And then it happened....

One by one everything died and algae has spread all over the tank. Jeff, our fish man, and everyone he employs, could not seem to figure out what has happened to our tank.

The Culprit? Bristle Worms. I've concluded that they are either the reason or one of the reasons for the downfall of our fish tank (these to the right are not from our tank).

We basically bought a very expensive smorgasbord of crabs, corals, and clams for disgusting bristle worms. I've counted 9 and have set traps catching 3. David has attempted to catch a few with tweezers, but his hard works ends in vain due to his lack of patience. I am proud to admit that I have successfully caught one with my tweezers. We actually took out one of our rocks and smashed it to pieces outside after seeing a HUGE worm crawling through the holes. It was the biggest and fattest one we had ever seen.

This morning I spotted baby worms creating paths in our sand. David and I can no longer financially support battling the bristle worms and have surrendered. We will let them wreak havoc in our tank until everything is dead.

The tank will go on Craig's List.

The End