Post #2--Pics from our Honeymoon

These are all G-rated, I swear. ;)
Ok, so in reverse order, I thought I would share some highlights from our honeymoon last month...
These first two are of Josh and me taking drinks while we're waiting for our lovely seafood dinner at a McCormick's restaurant in Seattle. I told Josh I think he's cute when he's sort of hiding--ie, taking a drink of something--so I couldn't resist snapping a pic, and he returned the favor...
Yes, I could be dressed nicer, I know... ;)
Look at those big, blue eyes. Awwwww.... :)
Josh and I were both looking forward to visiting Mars Hill Church in Seattle. We both enjoyed the service very much, but ultimately felt there was no reason for us to cash in our chips and move to Seattle anytime soon...
The below pic is one that was hiding in the lobby area of the church. I thought it was pretty cool.
So our hotel--the Hotel Monaco--was within walking distance to everything we wanted to visit. The downside was that our room looked like a Dr. Seuss nightmare--hideous decorating!
Note this patterned chair...there was another very near it with a different loud pink pattern...
And don't you love the wallpaper? Yecgk!!!
The highlight of our stay was the complimentary goldfish we were given...
Though the fish came with a tag that said its name was Stacey, we would have none of it. It was already predetermined that we were going to name our goldfish Rufus. The weird timing is that this was right around the time that George Carlin passed away (he played Rufus on Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure), and we heard about it a few days later...
Happy times on Orcas Island--before our last two days in Seattle. This pic is of us on a fruitless whalewatching trip. We did see some porpoise, bald-headed eagles, and seals though. I enjoyed sharing a blue-raspberry blowpop with Josh...we might get this picture blown up and put on our wall at some point...
These pics are of our massive hike to the highest point on the Island--Mount Constitution. We had some beautiful views and absolutely loved the long hike...until I almost started running back at the end because I had to go to the bathroom so badly...! Hey, 5 hours will do that to you...





The town on the island we were closest to (within walking distance) was Eastsound. There were a few souvenir shops in town, and one featured beautifully carved Juniper furniture, such as the table and chairs shown here. It was massively expensive stuff, but Josh and I enjoyed looking...I even got a little choked up at the artistry of it all.
Finally, this is one of the gorgeous views walking into Eastsound. We highly recommend the island for anyone looking for a nice trip. Be sure to try the micro-roasted coffee--it's delicious! You can also order it online at www.local-goods.com

Some pics, of course!

The above photo was snapped by my Aunt's boyfriend Eric F. Yay--our eyes are open! That's not the case in a number of other shots...er...
Our official wedding photos should be up very soon...I will put a link to the website when it is established.
In the meantime...

So, our friend Eric B. who is an aspiring hobby-photographer, snapped some really great shots when he was in Wisconsin for our wedding a month ago. Here is a link to all 27 pics if you'd like to check them out:www.picasaweb.com/eblumber
Here are a few of my favorites...

What a gorgeous pic--seriously! I'm guessing this was a shot from the area by the rural church we tied the knot in.
The Academy Award winning shot for sure: my youngest bridesmaid, Elisabeth, in front of West Salem's famous Gazebo. I think she'll be using this for her headshot when she starts applying for roles as an actress! Watch out--she's only 12! :)
My favorite shot of me and Josh...I'm so happy he didn't smash cake in my face.
Kairos Hollywood Canvas Group--yeah! Caleb & Greg with Matt and Kim F, Eric and Audrey B, and the Notorious S-P-O-T. Fabulous!
Josh's best man, Sam S....giving a shout out to the Almighty! (????)
Caleb and Greg--groomsman and Pastor/Officiant. Aren't they cute together? Awwww...
Our ringbearer--Erik--with Josh's sister Becky. :)
My Grandmas--Joyce R and Joyce R. Ha! The funny thing is that my Mom's name is Karon and Josh's mom's name is Karen, so when we have kids someday, their Grandmas will have the same name too.
,
Awww, lovely Ladies! Audrey (bridesmaid), Stacey (Matron of Honor), and Christy (performer/helper Extrordinaire) looking BEAUTIFUL!

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!

Pics from my Bro's Wedding

So, I'm back!
This last Saturday (April 19, 2008), my sole sibling got hitched.
Here are a few pics from the event--courtesy of my Aunt's boyfriend, Eric. :)

This is my Grandpa (Vernon) and me sitting in a pew before the ceremony. I got to be a bridesmaid, hence the fancy getup.

This is my Aunt Sharon and me with the light of God shining upon us...or something! Ha!

This is my brother Kurt, his wife Jessie, my Aunt Sharon and my Uncle TB. Sharon and TB are Kurt's godparents.
Kurt and me! We used to look a lot more alike than we do now...that's probably not a bad thing.
Jessie dancing with our cousin Corey (who doubled as the best man) during the dollar dance portion of the reception.
I paid a buck for this attitude?! Eric had to ask me what I said to make Kurt look at me so strangely. That is my little secret...I did laugh out loud when I first saw this pic though...

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.

Pics From Turkey Part I--Amazing Views

So, my short trip to Turkey was a lot of fun, but it is good to be back home. I've been pleasantly surprised that the jet lag has already worn off--Thank you, God! I took more pictures than I can post here on my blog, but I'm going to share a few with you.
Here is the first thread of them (and in reverse order--sorry!)
These are some of the amazing views I saw.
The first few are ruins from the town of Ephesus (or just Efes if you're Turkish), which is the city the Biblical Book of Ephesians was written to.
The first pic was at the end of the little walking trail...a bunch of columns on either side...I was very impressed with how magnificent it all must have looked back in the day.





Yeah, sorry I couldn't flip the image sideways before I posted it! These are the remains of a massive library. The four statues in front represented four different virtues...wisdom, kindness, beauty, or something like that...? The first two look a little odd, but the second two are headless! Scary!
Lots of room in this theatre!
Ok, these next pics (including the one above) are from a town outside of Ephesus where the remains are for the church of John--the disciple who was in Jesus' inner circle, and who wrote the book of Revelation. This is the baptismal area...
This is the tomb where John is actually buried. That thing in the middle has a stone with his name on it. It is also believed that Jesus' mother, Mary, lived here last days round these parts too...
I just liked this shot. :)
These two pics are right around Istanbul. This is the famous Blue Mosque--so called because most of the painting inside is done up in blue. It was impressive, if not a little awkward for me to be a tourist at a mosque...
This one might actually be St. Sophia's, which is across the street from the blue mosque. It was a Christian church back in the day, but was then turned into a mosque. It still has amazing Byzantine sort of Christian paintings on some of the walls though....

More pics to follow in the coming days...

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!

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...

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.
:)

Mi familia

Just because I can...I feel like putting up these pics that were taken at my Grandpa's birthday celebration on August 11th! These are just a few of my family members back in Wisconsin...they might kill me if they find out that I'm putting these up, but oh well! :)


This is my Mom and her youngest sister, who goes by the nickname of "Mutt". She hates that name, but my mom and their older sister picked it out when they were kids, and she hasn't been able to shake it. My mom is making a face--she doesn't usually look that appalled! Ha!
This is my uncle "TB." He'll tell you that stands for "The Boss", but really it's derived from 'Tinkerbell.' Yes, he has an interesting sense of fashion, but he's one of the coolest people on the earth.
This is my aunt Sharon holding her Great niece. Sharon has a knack for having odd expressions right when a photo snaps. I think I might be following suite. And yes, that's red hair and freckles to the max, but no, she's not Irish...100% Norwegian, believe it or not!
These are my cousins--Mutt's boys Mike and Ryan. Ryan's wife Angie and his son Hunter are in the middle. Ryan is the 3rd oldest of us 11 grandchildren, and the first to get married. Well done! My brother and I tip our hats to you!

And this is Ryan and Angie's daughter Gracie. I haven't met her in person yet, but I'm astounded by how much she looks like a real-life doll! Can you believe that porcelain skin and those deep blue eyes? Gorgeous!

The Joy of picking out a dress

Haha!
This is a shot that my pal S took of me in a dress one size too big for me when we recently went to a shop for me to get my Maid of Honor dress for Cheryl & Lizzy's upcoming September wedding. I just have to laugh at this pic because I was feeling pretty sick right about this time (feverish, wanted to just go home and sleep), so I think my health is affecting my attitude a bit. Otherwise I would be smiling. For real.
Cheryl decided she liked the other dress option better so I won't be wearing this getup at her wedding..
Why am I sharing this photo with the rest of the world?
Because I like being the one to laugh at myself first. Ha! ;)