Tiffany’s Corner

James and I took advantage of the long weekend this Memorial Day and visited a Bed and Breakfast in Pacific Beach, Washington. I haven’t spent much time on the penninsula, so this was a fun experience. We lucked out with one good day of sunshine, one day of yucky grey, and one day (the day we left) of much more tolerable grey. But this is Washington, so you just learn to get over it and go on with your day. A little rain never hurt anybody, right?! (And as you can see from the pictures, it didn’t stop me from getting my feet wet either!)

We had a great time staying at the Beach Avenue Bed and Breakfast in Pacific Beach, about 12 miles from Ocean Shores. Our room was titled “The Music Man” after the movie musical released way back when. Turns out the original owner of the home, Paul Groesse II, was nominated many times for an Oscar and was actually awarded one for Pride and Prejudice. (Just check out the slide show, we got to hold it!)

The B & B is run/owned by Paul Groesse III and his wife Mim. They are a wonderful couple who made the entire experience very enjoyable. Each morning we were greeted with a warm smile and a delicious breakfast.

We spent our first evening in Pacific Beach getting ice cream at Falcon’s Nest, a walk-up hamburger stand (one of the very few businesses in town), and walking down the beach collecting sand dollars. I stopped at two.  It was a lovely walk, with all the cool wet sand and the very chilly water. But it was quite relaxing after spending so long in the car.

Day two we spent going between Ocean Shores and Ocean City State Park. We got to drive on the beach, which I wasn’t too keen about to begin with, and explore one of the local camping areas. We had a lot of fun down at the rock jetty in Ocean Shores, once again with me walking in the water. But, ya know, I wasn’t the only one getting wet, there were a number of guys out there surfing!

After saying good-bye to our friends that were also in town for the holiday, we headed back to town for a little shopping, dinner, and Indiana Jones. Yep, we went to a movie! It was fun, but that place was packed! Everyone else had the same idea on such a yucky day.

Day three began with a delicious breakfast of Eggs Benedict, which I’ve never had before, but truly enjoyed! After breakfast, we packed up our things, checked out, and headed back into Ocean Shores. We were very fortunate on our trip in that we got to meet another married Christian couple who was staying at the B & B. Jennifer and Mike were there celebrating their wedding anniversary (how romantic!). Coincidentally, we all wanted to go for a horseback ride on the beach that morning, so why not go together?! So we did!

After a very bouncy hour-long horsey ride, we parted ways with our new friends and said good-bye to Ocean Shores. We took the scenic route via Highway 101 back to Kingston, hopped on the ferry, and eventually made it home to Bham.

 Man, what a trip! I’m sore in places I didn’t know existed…

As some of you may know from reading my preceding blog, I went to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert this past weekend. At the concert SCC talked about how much he loved his family, especially his 6 kids, 3 biological, 3 adopted from China.

Well just this morning the entire Christian community was informed of a terrible tragedy. Maria Chapman, the youngest (just 5 years old) of the Chapman clan was killed in a horrible accident at the family’s home. One of SCC’s sons, only 17, accidently backed over the young girl in the driveway. To make matters even more horrific, the family was gathered together at this same time to celebrate the eldest daughter’s engagement and the 17 year old’s graduation from High School.

I can’t even begin to imagine what their family is going through. For such a strong Christian family, I see this as a very powerful test of their faith and commitment. My heart aches for all of them.

If you’d like to visit the website that, at this point has been dedicated to the memory of Maria, just click on the link below.

http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/

Take care and God Bless.

He’s my lobster. James that is. Are you getting the Friends reference yet?!

Now your saying, “what on earth are you talking about?!”

Well, James and I had quite an adventure last weekend. The weekend started as soon as James got home from work. I had everything ready, including Subway for the road. So we jumped in the car and high-tailed it for Remond and Steven Curtis Chapman.

The concert was like, totally awesome, man! I was so amazed by the quality of the performances. The three groups performing were Temple (an okay band, I don’t think I’d buy their CD), Bebo Norman (amazing! just him and one other guy that played every instrument imaginable.), and of course, Steven Curtis Chapman (I walked down the aisle to his song “I’ll be here.”)

I was totally blown away by Bebo Norman. I’ve heard atleast one of his songs on the radio, but as far as I know, he’s pretty new, right? Well, he is awesome! He’s got to be the next Rich Mullins, if not even better. His songs are so powerful, he’s a great storyteller and song writer.

Steven Curtis Chapman was so much better than I expected. I mean, I grew up listening to this guy. I had a crush on him for quite a while, such a cutie! Anyway. His band seemed kind of young, they all looked about 20-something. At first I thought, well maybe he’s trying something new for his image. Turns out that two of the guys in the band were his sons! And, the night of our concert he got a call from his daughter saying that she was engaged! Yeah! This was especially poignant since his newest single is called “Dancing with Cinderella” and it’s all about a father dancing with his daughter as she grows up and gets engaged. Ah, how sweet!

I was also really excited when he sang “I’ll be here” our wedding song. It was great. Overall, all 4 FREAKIN’ HOURS of the concert were totally worth it.

After the concert we checked into our hotel room at the Redmond Marriot. Great hotel by the way. The bed was actually comfortable and the sheets were soft. Imagine that!!

Sunday we fueled up at Dennys and then we headed to Alki. Boy was it crowded!! We parked our car and walked toward the beach. 1.7 miles later (almost 4 miles round trip!!) we arrived at the beach. It was a gorgeous day and everyone was out to enjoy it. There are a few shops along the way, so we stopped and had ice cream at one. Delicious, I had one scoop of choc/peanutbutter and one scoop mint choc/chip. YUM! We hung out for about three hours. James fooled around with his new camera and I people watched. Believe me, that never gets boring!!

On the way back to car, which seemed 10.7 miles away, I noticed that James and I were a little red. What do you mean, 3 hours in 80 degree weather could get you burnt?! No way!

So that’s the long of the short of it. I’m a lobster and my lobster’s a lobster.

Adios!

One of my favorite things that we received this past September as a wedding present was our blender. I’ve never had my own before, I mean, I played around with the one my parents had, so it’s been fun learning how to use it. I thought I’d take minute and share the recipe I concocted for making a really scrumptous fruit smoothie.

Fruit Smoothie:

1 cup milk

1 cup water

3 heaping tsp Splenda (or 1/2 cup sugar)

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

7 ice cubes

1-2 cups frozen/fresh fruit

(we buy the bag of frozen fruit from Costco. We like the frozen best, then you don’t need as much ice)

I have to warn you, this recipe will make two really LARGE smoothies or 4 smaller ones, but they’re delicious all the same!

Okay, well that’s it for now. I’ll post again later about our trip to Alki and such.

They’ve still got it! Yep, this is another rant about NKOTB. I saw them on the Today yesterday morning. Despite the rain and all the screaming fans, they really did a good a job performing. Now, I do cut them a little slack since they are outside, and everyone knows that live/outside performances don’t always sounds as good as the studio recordings, but Geez, nobody’s perfect. I thought you all would enjoy watching the video, so I’ll try posting it below.

 I’d also like to share a few pics with you of a much younger, more mulletted me. Please, be kind, I grew up in the ’80s.

See you guys around, I’m off to Redmond/Seattle for the weekend!!