So, it's been almost a month...

Wow, hard to believe that in the last month I simply haven't found the time to post anything new on my blog...
I meant to--believe me.
I thought of waxing poetic when my faithful, old (albeit way beat up) Honda Accord finally pooped out on me a number of weeks ago.
(Now Josh and I are sharing driving his VW Jetta.)
I considered sharing some heartfelt thoughts on the eve of moving my stuff into the new apartment I'll be sharing with Josh. But moving takes forever and no extra time was found to blog.
I had banked on being able to post something once we got unpacked in our new place, but we soon discovered that there was no free wireless internet in our apartment building's lobby as had initially been promised...hmmmm.
While couch-hopping this last week, I figured I could sneak onto a friend's computer and put something on my blog...but no, it was enough of a battle just turning up by 10pm each night.
But here I finally am...my pals S&V just left for a trip to Puerto Rico this morning, and I'm staying at their place for the next few days, so I was determined to put some form of communication up and let you know I'm still kicking...

It has been a crazy month.
For work, I transferred stores but the original promotion was reneged on. So that was an adjustment, as was the move, as was the car, as was spending less time with Josh, as was having no time to exercise, as was being sick for about 3 weeks straight.
Then last week I was offered management of the store I transferred to, and as of this last Monday I officially took over the ship (so to speak). I am determined to do the best job I can, but such a big change so close to our wedding (and all the last minute drama it's enduring), is a bit of a challenge.

But as the Beatles sang, "O Bla dee, O bla da, Life goes on..."
And it does.

To leave you with something a bit more palatable, the following pics I leeched off of my friend Christy. She snapped them at a 'roomie reunion' a couple of weeks ago, when a bunch of us got together at a tasty pizzeria in Larchmont. (That explains the red glow).
While we never all lived together at once, I think Christy and Elizabeth managed to live in the apartment with most/all incarnations of the mix.



From left to right: Sarah, Stacey, me, Elizabeth, Elise, Christy, Tammy
Elizabeth/Elise/Tammy
Sarah/Stacey/Me

Baseball and life

Hi Friends!
Once again I acknowledge the lack of effort I have been devoting to keeping my blog updated. Sorry to an avid readers...Life has been super-busy...so much so that the countdown to my wedding isn't even in the forefront of my mind these days! (But it's 40 days to go for anyone who's wondering...)
This pic is from my recent visit to Wisconsin. To my left are my pals Lisa and Nick. The 3 of us called ourselves the trailergators. One year for Lisa's birthday, we had a 'trailergator' party and got alligator-themed items. I worked at a bakery in my hometown, and was able to order cupcakes with gators on them made out of frosting. Lisa was the purple one, Nick was the green one, and I was the blue one. Would've been well-represented by this pic here if only I had wore blue instead of Gray!



And this is Josh and me at a Dodgers game this last Friday night.
Our friend Matt--who is as much an avid baseball fan as Josh--was celebrating his birthday.
This was my second baseball game ever. The first was the weekend before when Josh took me to see his favorite team--the Baltimore Orioles--play the LA Angels. Josh did an excellent job of fielding all of my questions, and I actually enjoyed the game. By the end of it, I was even moving to see if foul balls were being caught (aka I really did care!). The Dodger game wasn't as fantastic for me due to a a number of reasons 1)there was so much going on in the crowd that it distracted me from the game...for instance, one home run was hit, but I missed it because our section was batting around a beach ball 2)Josh and I stood in line at the concession stand for 2-3 innings waiting to get hotdogs. They were so slow!!! 3)I ended up chatting with Matt's wife Kim at the end of the game, which was great--but again, I wasn't really paying attention to the game.
So the moral of the story is that I have learned that yes, I can quite enjoy watching a sports game...but I am still the same Kristie--no sportsified, die-hard bbal fan version to deal with.

In other news, Josh and I went apartment-hunting last week too. We found a nice place in an apartment building not too far from where I used to live last year. I was a bit sad that we didn't end up getting a place closer to where our friends live, but I guess that's life. The apartment we picked makes sense for us.
AND I found out the same day that I am getting a promotion through work and will be managing my own coffeeshop starting next week.
Wow!

Reasons to Smile...

Sometimes I just have to think about how good I've got it... :)

Today it was payday at work. I was happily surprised by the fact that my paycheck included a quarterly bonus that I was 95% positive I wouldn't be getting. Thank you, God! This is the second quarter that has happened...my wedding budget is not so intimidating with these happy surprises.

Today was also rainy here in LA. I went to a shop down the street to get alterations for the bridesmaid dress I'll wear in my brother's wedding this April. His fiance sent the dress to me in the mail, and expressed her concern over it getting wet or lost. I had an appointment at the shop for 2pm, but when I got there, a sign said the owner would be back at 2:15. I waited right in front of the door....the weather was amazingly clear for this short window of time, and then started to rain AFTER I was done and leaving the shop...I think I would have been in big trouble if the rain kicked in while I was waiting outside.

Another reason I have to smile is that a good handful of my coworkers are FUN and Funny! Last week I had a laughing fit after I called one coworker by his initials--HR. After a couple of times, he responded, "HR? Oh yeah, like Human Resource..." However, our store was loud and busy when he said this, so I didn't quite catch it, and I asked him, "What about a racehorse?" He chuckled and repeated, "HR like Human Racehorse...Yeah." The imagery of that almost put me in tears!

And yet another reason I can grin ear to ear...I know Valentine's Day was last week, but I'm still thinking about what a great gift Josh surprised me with--Fair Trade Chocolate Truffles AND a little Care Bear. It was the best present ever! And whenever I think of it, I can't stop grinning....!

Ok, my final pics from Turkey will be up soon, but I was feeling too happy to let the chance slide by without posting my thoughts today...!

Pics from Turkey Part II--Life & Culture

So, here are the friends I was visiting in Istanbul! Eun Sang and Suhye are the proud parents of Seo Hyun and Jun Seo. They quite enjoyed their two years in Turkey, and returned briefly to Korea for 6 months, leaving just days after my visit. The kids had forgotten most of the English they had learned, but it was fun to hear them tossing around some English phrases by the end of my visit. :)
These two pics are in a shop in the Egyptian Spice Bazzaar (aka market). Suhye and I stopped here to buy some boxes of Turkish delight. The food in the case below is primarily turkish delight...a gummy sort of candy that can be flavored with fruit or nuts. I liked the pistachio versions...

I had to ask Suhye what these guys were selling because it looked so intriguing. Turns out, they were shoe-shiners!
Suhye and I stopped for lunch, and the waiter offered to take our picture. You can't really see it on our plates, but we ordered 'meatballs' which which actually more like flat-rectangular pieces of meat. Very tasty though. There's also a colossal plate of bread behind Suhye's arm. I even tried the huge pepper on my plate and it wasn't half-bad!
These two vendors were very common sights in Istanbul. The top one is selling roasted chestnuts. The bottom one is selling this hard bread called simit. I wished I could've tried both, but there's only so much food I can eat in a day, so I didn't try either. It was also common to see guys selling roasted corn on the cob.

Here's my handful of Turkish Lira! The same guy's picture is on all the money. I am told he was the first president of Turkey, and a real hero. If I'm not mixing up my stories, he helped the country become way more literate by revamping how words were written, or something like that...??? I don't know, you'd be better off researching for yourself!

Here's lunch near Ephesus...Shish Kebabs for me...
A snack on the domestic flight to Ephesus. The tea is called Cay ("chai"), but tastes nothing like the Chai we serve at Starbucks! It's super bitter & strong. People drink it multiple times of day, but usually add around 4-5 cubes of sugar. Nasty! Below the tea is a towelette. Even our rental car had towelettes!
This was at a coffee shop near the market. The baklava was divine! Yum! Notice the glass the Cay is in--very traditional. To the left is the remains of my turkish coffee. It's half grounds (when you're done, you flip the cup and apparently read your fortune in the coffee grinds...), but the ounce of liquid is quite sweet and tasty. In the bottom right corner is my regular cup of Joe, or filtered 'kahve' to the Turks.

This was my first breakfast in Istanbul, and it was splendid! The bread gets spread with this salty cheese (see the green tub?). It's known simply as white cheese. The fruit juice (served at room temperature) was very tasty too.

Hello from Istanbul!

Hi Friends!
I'm just putting up a quick hello as I type in my friends' apartment here in Istanbul, Turkey. I arrived last night (I should note there's a 10 hour difference between L.A. time and the time here), and am enjoying catching up with my friends.
Today I got to see part of the city, try some delicious Turkish food, and ride on a bus, a metro, and in 2 taxis.
I definitely feel like I'm on an adventure here...I can now just barely say, "Hello" and "Thanks", though after a quick language lesson, I feel relatively confident in pronouncing the words I read. It is quite an odd feeling though to bump into people left and right, and know that most won't understand my "Sorry!"s and "Pardon Me"s.
I am taking a crazy number of pictures, so rest assured--I'll post some when I return to the U.S.
I'll be leaving here Monday morning (super early!), and getting back into LA Monday afternoon.
Be well in the meantime!

Here are some pics!

Hi Friends!
So, one of the presents Josh gave me for Christmas was a digital camera. I have to admit, though I used to be an avid picture-taker in my younger years, I am quite the opposite at this point in my life. Regardless, the camera was a fun present and I have enjoyed snapping a few random shots. So in the last month or so, these are the images I have collected to share with you all...

A couple of weekends ago, Josh and I went hiking in Angeles State Park. We were amazed to see snow...turned out that because of the snow, we only got about a mile in and had to turn back on the trail because tennis shoes just weren't going to get us where we wanted to go.
The above shot is a rock along the trail. From far off I thought it quite resembled an alien head, but closer up, I changed my mind and could quite certainly see a likeness to George Washington...
The below pic is Josh and me!
And this was the view only a few feet from where we stopped and had lunch. :)
Below is a coffee mug I got Josh from Starbucks...snapped it shortly after we figured out how to work the camera.
And this next one is my bedroom door laden with all the Christmas and Birthday cards I received in December of '07. If you contributed, I thank you again! :)
These are my two favorite canines in the world right now...my furry friends Mitzy and Buggins who belong to my pals Eric and Audrey. Whenever I stop over at their place, I look forward to some good puppy-petting!
This is Audrey, Eric, and Josh hunkering down to an intense game of Settlers...Audrey beat me by one turn!
And this is a pic Josh snapped of me as soon as we got the camera out of the package on Christmas Day!

Morally Reprehensible

Ducks are an animal I think fondly of.
Back when I lived in Minneapolis, I would see random mallards and wood ducks when I would go for a run. They made me smile and feel happy.
When I was little, I always enjoyed feeding ducks bread too.
One time, a number of years ago, a friend and I were talking about ducks and their potential to serve as a main course.
I came up with a little adage for my sentiments regarding this--Ducks are for feeding, not eating.
Ok, so I know the rest of the world is not bound to live by Kristie's convictions, but Kristie at least can, right?
Alas...I have a tale for you, my friends.
Saturday I was at a sort of potluck meal--one with a few different Asian dishes.
Among the different offerings of meat was a dish I thought might be barbecued pork. It looked good. I took a piece. It was decidedly hard to delve into, but I determinedly ripped the meat from the bone, and thought, "Not bad."
Minutes later a friend at this same meal looked at the 'barbecued pork' and mentioned, "Isn't the duck Good?"
"DUCK?!!" says I with a restrained level of consternation.
Oh yes, it was duck.
Wild duck, but duck all the same.
Josh noticed the look on my face and asked me if I was ok. I guess I had to be.
In some cultures its no big deal to eat dog or horse. For an American, this seems almost a crime. That about sums up how I felt.
Forgive me, my feathered friends, I promise to ask next time before I grab the mystery meat...

My First 10K!

So about 2 years back, I ran my first ever official race with my good Pal, Foxx back in Minneapolis. It was Lifetime Fitness' 5K Reindeer run around Lake Harriet...in the nasty cold. It was a great experience though, and certainly has remained a noteworthy page in my life.
Today I officially moved onto Chapter 2 in my racing career (ha!). I undertook a 10K run in Santa Monica with my good friends Kim and Matt F. Here's a shot of Kim and me after the race:

Kim told me once that her parents know me as 'the girl from Wisconsin who wears flannel', and so I had to grin on the car-ride to the race when I realized I was fitting the mold once again.
And how was the race?
Mile 2 felt GREAT to me. Mile 5 was a push. By Mile 6 I was pretty sure I was going to die.
The three of us ran together most of the way, but Matt (who had been pacing himself) shot ahead when he saw the finish line. I told Kim it was ok if she wanted to smoke me too. She encouraged me to sprint, but I know my limits and kindly declined. Kim's a trooper and stuck by me till the end. We finished with a time of 1 hour, 1 minute and about 20 seconds. If you take off the time it took us to get to the starting line, that's actually closer to about 1 hour. I feel great about that! I think it's the fastest I've ever run for that long of a distance!
Yay!
And here's one more photo that Kim snapped of me stretching out by Matt's car at the end...she and Matt both found it funny, and I guess I'm willing to look like a dork if it could make someone else smile too:

Goodbye, Ristey!

So, a lot of you who read this have already gotten the news, but to make it public knowledge: I am engaged! Wahoo!!! :)
Josh and I plan to get married in my hometown in Wisconsin this coming June 21st.
Should be one heck of a great time! :)
I am already feeling WAY blessed by the friends who have agreed to be a part of the wedding party, help out, and attend.
This pic is of almond blossoms, which I really *really* hope to get for the wedding flower...might prove difficult, but we'll see what we can do. It's hugely significant--if you want the dirt, shoot me an email.
I will try to post a better pic of Josh and I soon, but if you want to see a 24 second clip of him in real time, search for "Dodger Rant" at Youtube. :)
For those of you I promised an email of details to, I promise I will get on that soon...it's been a bit busy for me as of late, but I will get to it.
Thanks for sharing the joy, all!

Quotable quote from last Friday

Sorry I haven't posted this week, but I meant to put this on...

Last Friday Josh and I were hanging with Caleb & Elisabeth, studying Proverbs and whatnot.

Two things that came out of Elisabeth's mouth that night (and by the way, she's a sweet, 12 year-old redhead...that might help set the scene):


1) "Speaking of hell..."

2)[a lot later] "Hey, that reminds me that AC/DC sang that song, 'Highway to Hell', right?"

HA!

Notable Quotes

...that have came to my attention this weekend.

1) "...experiential pain and suffering are our earthly teachers, the patient Laureates, the poets who sing to us of a higher life. If we were content on this earth we would not desire a different life. Pain and suffering instill in our souls a 'homesick' longing to be transported to a world free of pain. They remind us of the promised room God has gone and prepared ahead of us. Dickinson alludes that pain and suffering are part of God's supreme plan to make us yearn for his heavenly paradise."
--from an article by a woman named Karin L. Becker

2)[This happened after the Kairos service last night]
My friend Andrew, looking at a guy named Tom as he walked up to us eating what appeared to be a sandwich:
"Is that the communion bread?!"
Tom, totally unphased:
"With Cheese!"

some more pics from a while back...

Hi Friends!
So my health is improving since the last little post I put up. I went to the doctor on Monday and got a prescription for antibiotics as it seems I've been dealing with an upper respiratory infection. Blah! All I know is that I'm on the mend, which is a good thing...not 100% yet, but getting there...
Anyway, my motivation to post deep thoughts still has not returned, so instead, I offer you some pics taken at a Canvas Group gathering of a month ago where we had a little birthday celebration for a few different people...
Pic #1 is one of the cutest toddlers ever--his name is Ethan!


And this is little Yessenia (sp?) who has the cute habit of trying to look ferocious. That's modelesque Elisabeth with her.
And the Larson boys, Caleb & Greg
Michelle and Me having a deep conversation in front of the fish tank
And here's a shot of Josh and me together. :)

Documentation of Night One in Vegas

So we went downtown last night to have some chow and see a show. Glitzy, glitzy place this city is. This is a shot Cheryl took of me, Andrew (Best Man), and Lizzy (Groom-to-be).

And another shot from afar...

This is a shot I took while we were buying discounted tickets for a show: Larry G. Jones the man with 1002 voices. The guy in the red shirt is Joe, Andrew's brother. Oh, and that's Cheryl in the green shirt--holding onto Lizzy's hand.

There was a light show on the ceiling above us, sothese are some shots taken during the show...

And I thought it was cute to watch Cheryl and Lizzy walking hand-in-hand down the street...

Lizzy's version of using chopsticks...Cheryl is trying to assist him, maybe?

More of the Happy Couple. Aren't they cute???!!! Awwww....! :)

Andrew's half-hearted suicide attempt while we waited in line... Ha! Actually he was talking on his cell phone...

Quotable Quotes from Today

From my friend Andrew: "I know I'm not like normal people."
and a little later...
"I've shot a lot of famous people."


[tee-hee! ok, so he was talking about filming]

And now from the soon groom to be, Lizzy:
"Women are put into men's lives so that we don't destroy the world."

This and That

Hey Friends--sorry for the not so on-top-of it manner in which I have been posting recently!
The good news is that I'm all moved in to my new place now, and it's going really well. Last week was a bit of a blur, but over the last day or two, I have made a significant go at unpacking.
Now I find myself putting the process on hold again as I'm leaving LA in a few short hours to help celebrate my pals Cheryl and Lizzy (a boy!) getting married in Las Vegas this coming Sunday.
I'm the Maid of Honor, and it's my first time being part of the wedding party...here's hoping I perform my duties to the best of my abilities!

So if you're wondering, the pic at the top of this post is from this past Saturday when Josh and I took our young pals Caleb and Elisabeth to Disneyland for the day. We were there for over 13 hours! It was quite a day--filled with moments of laughter, happiness, hunger, and being ready to go home... ;)

Before I forget, I obtained another quotable quote last week. Wednesday was Josh's birthday, and a number of us went out to eat sushi. During dinner, a fellow named A.J. began airing his opinion about myspace and blogs. Expressing his distaste for a number of these sites, A.J. explained that he was more sensitive than the average web surfer due to his experience with computers...he went on to say, "For me, a website can be like a bad rash!"
Ha!
:)

Quotable Quotes

So I have thought to myself for a while now that my blog would be a good place to post amusing/meaningful quotes. I hear amusing ones all the times. Too bad I forget most of them just as quickly...
Well, not this time, my friends!
The last few days I've been staying with my pals Audrey & Eric for the in-between time of having moved out of my apartment and the time when I can move into my new place. During this time, I've gleaned two memorable lines to share...


This is Dave.
Last Friday night he was heard saying the following to Audrey & Eric's dog, Buggins:
"Don't be afraid...just eat."
True words of wisdom if I've ever heard any...
And this is a fun shot of Audrey and Eric that I'm too inept to get right-side up.
Tonight I was offering to treat them to a meal out of thanks for the lodging/hospitality I've been enjoying over the weekend.
Eric decided that he wouldn't accept a free meal as I had recently dog-sat for Buggins while they were out of town.
I pointed out that they did give me a gift for doing that--four chocolate bars from Trader Joe's (made with ethically traded cocoa!). It was a thoughtful--and delicious--gift.
Eric thought a minute and said...
"Yeah, but the chocolate is more like giving you a thumbs up..."
After letting this sentiment sink in, the three of us discussed the possibility of giving out thumbs-ups for Christmas gifts this year...
:)

New Link

Hey all! On my sidebar now you might observe a link entitled "Craig in England".
This link will take you to a blog produced by a friend of mine who is embarking on a two month trek to England to do some ministry and plan for the future.
Craig has a real passion for acronyms as anyone can see when he explains what his vision of SEARCH BEYOND stands for.
Cheers!

A good night--sushi and Crowded House

Last night-August 28th...
What was going on in my life?
So glad you asked!

Josh and I had sushi for dinner! Josh likes sushi but I have publicly stated it's not my thing (much to the chagrin of a number of my friends--including Foxx!). However, I have to be honest and confess that I've only ever really had sushi at a little mall in New Zealand during my stay there. It was ok. Consumable. But it definitely wasn't something I have ever craved again...by and large because I have a thing about eating *hot* food for a main course as opposed to cold/room temperature food.
But last night's sushi experience was quite different. We went to a sushi restaurant just up the street from where I work, and I ordered a tornado roll, which is cooked. It was really good! Maybe a little hard to eat, but good! What's more, Josh let me try some of his--he ordered eel something or other--and I liked that too!
So, huh! Never say never, I guess...

And after sushi, we went to the Greek Theatre to see one of my favorite bands ever perform.
Yes, it was Crowded House--the new version anyway.
I have to admit, I wasn't that impressed by their latest album...it had only a few songs that grabbed me...but live, all of their stuff really comes alive.
It was fantastic to hear a number of old gems as well--and Neil is perpetually inviting the crowd to sing along so that's a doublescore! :)
The famous Crowded House banter was in full swing last night too. (I'm sure it would've been even more animated if Paul Hester--the late drummer--would've been there, but the guys did quite well for themselves as it was.) Neil even composed a song on the spot when someone from the crowd made a comment after Split Enz was mentioned. Neil's song was something like "I'm a mess on the message board"...sounded quite Enzish. No paper airplanes to be seen though...

One of the best moments for me was when the band played "Pineapple Head", with Neil's oldest son Liam being a backup musician. The lyrics came about when Liam was a little boy and had a fever and was talking crazy...Neil thought it'd make a good song.

So, the concert of the year? Depends on who you ask, I suppose. Suffice it to say, I believe I got my money's worth. Good on ya, Crowded House! ...and thank you God for tickets to the concert, and the best company I could ask for!

The comedic genius of Hunter Robinson

So I am on the verge of leaving the first ever apartment that I scouted out for myself/spear-headed moving into/had the bills in my name. Friday I will be gone and Apt #202 will miss me, I'm sure.
My roommates and I are also parting company.
It's been a good run, but life goes on.
We all three chatted for a little bit this weekend, and remembered last October when we went out to celebrate roommate #3's birthday. Hunter (who was humble enough to reside in our living room area and thereby save Sandra and I an extra $400/month) turned 23 last year, and we took him out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Sandra snapped a few pictures, and I finally persuaded her to email them to me, so I can post them for the rest of the world to enjoy.
This first one was snapped as the waiter brought out a little dessert in honor of Hunter's birthday. After Sandra took the picture, the two of us laughed (to the point of hysterics) for the next 10 minutes or so because of it. Maybe you have to know Hunter to fully appreciate what is caught on film here, but I diagnose it as a mix of shocked-surprise with a slight fight-or-flightish glint in his eye betraying a thought to deck the guy handing him the dessert. :)

Once Hunter relaxed though, he was pleased with his culinary gift...note the smile he can't suppress below.
And then came the serious task of eating the thing...not a chore to be taken lightly!
And this final pic is quintessential Hunter...
He hates the comparison, but Sandra and I both think he could easily fit into the movie Napoleon Dynamite. In fact, I'd one up that and say that if someone would make a movie just by following Hunter around for a few days, it might just be one of the funniest things ever.
Two thumbs up from the K-section.
:)

KR Recommends: Getting/Giving Flowers :)

Wow!
Seriously, my friends...what can compare to flowers? :)
My Fantastic/Wonderfully-Awesome/Terrifically-Amazing Boyfriend Josh had flowers sent to me at work today. Josh is in Virginia for about a week while I'm still in LA missing him like crazy. This morning I realized I still had 5 more days till his return.
What a delightful surprise then, to be delivered a bouquet of red roses and calla lillies during the middle of my lunch break at work! They look beautiful and smell lovely! And I had a smile on my face for about the next 3 hours straight. :) (A large number of my coworkers were sharing the joy too!)

When the subject of flowers comes up, I know some people frown and say they are a waste of money. I sort of wonder if these people have ever been on the receiving end... I'm rather on the practical side myself, but there's something about the beauty and symbolism of flowers that touches my heart in the way that a plant...or say a giftcard to a gas station or grocery store...couldn't. And whether the flowers themselves last a few hours to a few days, the powerful impact remains the same.

So, if anyone is wondering if they should or shouldn't buy flowers for anyone/any occaision, I say go for it! :)
[And Josh, if you read this, thanks SO much again--you completely made my day!!! ...and the card was lovely too! :) ]