One Photo

I took LOTS of pictures while we were in New York, but haven't had much time to go through them. so while you're waiting.... here's me & chris at the Top of the Rock --72 (or something) stories above New York.

Me having lots of fun.... and chris - tired of me taking pictures. :)

Did i mention that i dyed my hair blonde?

day 3 in NYC

no more rain... no more broken umbrellas lying around.

we woke up at 10:30 this am. laid around awhile, & went downstairs to get breakfast. They were closed for breakfast, but said they would open for lunch in 1/2 an hour. so we waited & got a lovely lunch. Chris was feeling sick from a cold he had before we left home, so we came upstairs to our room & watched a movie that we had rented before leaving SB. Then we took a nap, & woke up around 5:00pm. FINALLY got out the door to see NY around 6 in the eve! Went to dinner at a fun italian place called Alfredo's. They were the first place to make Fetuccini Alfredo - back in 1914, so of course i had to order some. The best i've ever had. After dinner we walked around a little more, and now we're back in the hotel, at 11:30 NY time. lots of fun details i'm leaving out, but i'm gonna go be w/my honey - who's glad to be back in bed. :)

tomorrow: a carriage ride at central park & maybe a visit to an art museum..and the statue of liberty??

here we are!

left home at 4 yesterday. arrived in NY at 6 this am. i got sick on the taxi, so we got a hotel room & crashed til about 12:30. We've got a room on the 22nd floor, in a hotel that overlooks the brooklyn bridge. very FUN!!! This evening, we took the subway to manhattan & watched a cirque du soliel at the Madison Square Garden. what a blast. i think everyone should see a cirque du soliel at some point in their lives. they're amazing! tomorrow, we don't know what we're doing yet. so much to see! so much to do! it's rainy & windy & cold. I've got a tally of how many broken umbrellas i find on the street. we've seen 23 so far. And that doesn't include the piles that we saw in the trash cans. :)

Off To The Big Apple

This afternoon, at 4:00, Chris & I leave for New York!!! Can't wait to see the big city all deck out for Christmas. :)

An interesting trip

So as I mentioned in my previous post, i went to Dallas last weekend to have a reunion with all my high school girlfriends. A few of them, i haven't seen since high school. We had *soooo* much fun!! it was so refreshing to hang out an just be girls. not mothers or wives or homemakers... just girls. :) we ate lots of chocolate, talked about our kids, our marriages, our hairy legs, and everything else we could think of. We laughed & cried & talked & talked & talked. And then we ate some more chocolate. We went to bed after 4am every night. Over the three nights that I was gone, I think i slept about 9 hours. Today, i was exhausted--and hoarse - yet my spirit is refreshed. :) I can't tell you what a treasure it is to have girlfriends. :)

My flight into Dallas was a nightmare. I left my house at 10am & didn't arrive in Dallas until 5am, due to a couple 3-4 hour delays, and 2 missed flights... *sigh*

however, my 1st flight out of santa barbara was a fun experience - even if we *did* take 3 hours to get off the ground. When i first sat down on the plane, i had a pilot sit next to me... but the flight attendant kicked him off, because we were over our weight limit. a few minutes later, two new people get on the plane. i don't know what happened to the weight limit, but i guess it didn't matter anymore.

those of you who know me well, know that i love to people watch & think it's fun to try to figure out the story behind the person. So my new seat-mate was very intriguing to me. He was an older guy, but very stylish - cool hair & clothes... looked a lot like this guy:
so I asked him if he was from santa barbara, & he said yes. (that explains it, a little. Santa barbara people tend to be pretty stylish :) ) He was going to Tucson to do a show. So i asked what kind of show he was doing. With a bit of hesitation in his voice, he told me that he was a singer. (ah! this explains it even more! he's a singer, so he has a "look.") so we talked some more, about i don't know what, & it occurred to me that maybe he was a famous singer, & here i am sitting next to some big famous guy & didn't even know it... so of course, i had to ask.

"So. you're a singer. Are you famous? Should I know you?"

Again, he hesitated a bit, & said, "yes."

HA! too funny! "well, who are you?"

"More importantly, who are you?"

(Who cares who *I* am? i'm not famous! ) I reached my hand out to shake his, & said, "hello. I'm Karina."

and he says, "Hello, Karina. I'm Kenny..." (that is *not* what kenny rogers looks like, is it??) "...Loggins." ooooooh! he *is* famous!

So i had a lovely 4 hour plane ride, talking to kenny loggins. & i've got to say, he was the most enjoyable seat-mate i've ever met (aside from my wonderful husband, of course ;) ) we talked about politics, marriage, kids, and our ridiculous flight, among other things.

I had lots of fun being silly with my girlfriends about it. saying all of those things a fan would say:
"I shook hands with Kenny Loggins!"

"I practically kissed Kenny Loggins!" (actually, he just shared some water with me, because it was crazy hot on the plane, --but hey! his mouth touched the bottle. my mouth touched the bottle. We practically kissed! ;~) )

"I shared a brownie with Kenny Loggins!"

"Kenny Loggins insulted me by thinking I was 33!"

"Kenny Loggins slept on my shoulder!" (actually, he was leaning on his hand, & just kinda fell over & bumped into me)

"Kenny Loggins thinks I'm funny!" (he laughed at a joke i made)

"Kenny Loggins made fun of my watch!" (I happen to think my watch is very stylish, thank you very much.)

"I told Kenny Loggins to shut up!"

Anyway... fun and silly. :) As we were leaving, he said, "not to put you on the spot or anything, but what songs of mine do you know?" well, those of you who know me, know that as much as I love music, i'm clueless about who actually sings the songs that I love. - and I told him so. But i told him i'm sure i would know them if he told me, so i asked him what some of his more popular songs were: "footloose"

"you sang THAT!?"

"yah. and the sound track to Top Gun"

"really!? that was you? i didn't know that!"

Looking back, I should've said, "that sounds kind of familiar. how does it go?" just so I could say, "Kenny Loggins sang to me!" :D

Heather later informed me that he also sang, "your mama don't dance", the "Caddy Shack" soundtrack, "house at pooh corner", and one of my all time favorite love songs: "for the first time"

Checking In

Lots going on in my life right now, which is why i haven't had much time to post. Kinda funny...when i have lots of time to write, there's nothing exciting to talk about. but when i have lots to tell you about, there's not time. :)

So... our friends who are going to England as missionaries have been delayed, so they've come to live in our house, until they can get their visas in order. I've really enjoyed this whole communal living thing. :) They have 2 little girls, 5 and 2; and all the kids just love playing together. And Shelley and I have someone to keep eachother company while we do the housework. Then in the evening, after all the kids are in bed, we hang out & play games. so fun! :) But until they leave, i'm just not going to have as much time on the computer.

In other news, we went to Yosemite last weekend & had a blast. We spent 6 hours hiking 4.5 miles up (& down) a waterfall. it was a LOT of work & got a bit dangerous in a few places, but it was SO fun!! Most impressive, is Zachary who did all that hiking w/out anyone carrying him! the next day, he informed us that he didn't want to do it again, because his "feet just got so tired, and I was so sweaty" :)

Here's a picture of us, after hiking 1 mile to the bottom of the waterfall, before starting the BIG hike. See how we all look happy and energeitc? :)

We took a break about half-way through our hike. This waterfall is just above the one that we were hiking to.
Here it is! vernal waterfall! If you look closely, you can see the double rainbow at the bottom. :)

More pictures to come. :)

This weekend, i'm going to a Ladies' retreat at church. i'm looking forward to that. I always enjoy getting away & having time to myself. I'm taking a car full of 4 other women, so we should have lots of fun. :)

And on the church subject, we've started anther class, going through the book, "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality" by Peter Scazzero. The title makes me cringe, but i think it's going to be really good.

In addition to all that, Mom's planning to come back next Friday. She's feeling like she needs to be here to help take care of Grandma. She's planning to stay here for several weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing her again. :)

That's about it everything, in a nutshell. Some day my life will slow down a little more, & i'll have the time to check all of your blogs, & update this one more frequently. :)