Backpacking

In September, Paul and I went backpacking through part of the Sierra National Forest and never put up the pictures. We had grand plans of hiking each day and making a giant loop but a couple of persistent and painful blisters forced us to take it easy. Regardless, the trip was beautiful, so I thought I'd post a few.

-Alyssa

Alyssa's Dream Date

Paul and I went back and forth on whether or not we should exchange Christmas gifts this year. After some creative though, we came up with some ideas.

Paul and I have far too many books in our little apartment. With two bookcases nearly full and two tubs of children's books in the garage, we really should read everything we own before we adopt any more books. However, books are far too tempting and fun, so Paul suggested we give one another a book for Christmas. I gave him the new Rob Bell book, and he gave me The Life of Pi (I know book titles are supposed to be underlined but I can't figure out how to underline using this blog thing).

I came up with the idea of choosing our own dates. Paul and I go don't go out very often, but when we do we have to make sure we both really want to go on that date. My idea allows us to choose whatever date we want and the other person has to go. Paul would like to see a show sometime, and knowing him, probably go out for Italian or Pat & Oscars.

I chose to go down to Balboa Park for the Museum of Photographic Arts and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. The photography museum had photos taken by children that they correlated with literature. The science museum had an exhibit titled "Animal Grossology" as well as the normal exhibits that you get to play with. These are some pics from my date.

Paul created concentric circles with sand on a potter's wheel.

This was part of the "Animal Grossology" exhibit, teaching how a cow digests its food.

The slime game was gross, and slightly inappropriate.

Also part of the exhibit, Paul dared to stick his hand into a dark box and guess what was inside. They were really just fake replicas of sea creatures skin.

By far the weirdes thing I saw in the exhbit. It actually had you try to move a "piece of food" and see how it is blocked by the hairball.

I took this for my own self satisfaction. I feel that too many people have been misinformed and do not believe me when I tell them their blood isn't blue. It's already oxygenized in your veins and is therefore red. Veins are blue. Blood is red.

-Alyssa

A day with LJ

So Paul has been out of town all weekend at Forest Home for Junior High Winter Camp, only this time as a counselor and not staff. I have no doubt he's having a blast, but I've been having quite some fun myself. My best friend, Leanna, and I both have zoo passes and took advantage of the beautiful sunny weather to check out some animals.

Giraffes are by far my favorite.

I'm not quite sure about this baby giraffe. He kept licking the pole.

Elephants are Leanna's favorite animal.

His best side.

Those silly digging meerkats.


I don't even remember what this one was called, but its legs were so thin it looked like they would break, and their eyes looked circled with white eyeliner. Leanna called them the supermodels of the deer.

A random peacock walking around. Not Leanna's favorite.

baby koala

-Alyssa

Fish are Friends, Not Food

My dear friend, KC, and I do not see each other enough. We spent an entire summer sharing a room at Forest Home and now our visits are fewer and further between. I guess living three hours away from one another will do that. Regardless of distance, we find time to spend together because friends are important and decided to "meet in the middle" at the Long Beach Aquarium last month. These are some of the highlights.

posing with some scuba divers

strange looking fish that look like they could eat you

trying to make fish hold still so I can take their picture

shark eggs - there is actually a shark in there!

fish that look like they're from a fairy tale

seahorses

jellies

colorful coral and fish

They had a giant tank with all the larger sized fish.

If you look below, you'll see the largest fish that swims around in this tank.

Giant Sea Bass

petting sharks

discovering his outer layer is very rough and hard in some places

more petting of the sharks

obstruction of view

This seal would not leave the little girl alone. We couldn't figure it out until we realized that she was holding a coin on the glass and moving it around.

Good friend, unique company, good day.

-Alyssa

The Interview

Paul and I have known for a very long time that we want to live and work overseas for at least some part of our lives. We figured that now is the time before we're bombarded with financial commitments and munchkins. After many discussions about what all these dreams of ours mean and look like, we landed on the Peace Corps. Last November we took the first step of many and applied, and today we had our interview.

For three hours we were asked about life experiences we've had, how we handle stress, and times we've dealt with challenges, conflict, and loneliness. We were asked about our own relationship, what we want to do, where we want to go, and if our families are supportive. We talked and talked and talked, and the more we talked the more I began to realize that none of the experiences we talked about could possibly compare to those we may soon experience.

So, at about hour two of the interview, Paul was asked what job he felt he most likely would qualify for and want, landing on community development. I was told that I don't have a choice as I have a teaching credential, which was just fine by me. Most likely those are fields we would work in. We hadn't specified a region in hopes that not restricting the Peace Corps would increase our chances of being placed. Well, we were quite surprised when we were told that we had to choose a region or two so that the Peace Corps could contact those regions and see if they could use us (basically placing individuals is far less complicated then placing couples). After some discussion (again), we decided they ought to start with Africa and Asia. And that was that.

The only real negative to the interview was hearing we may not be able to leave until sometime between March and June of 2010. We knew that it takes longer to place couples, but it was both disappointing and frustrating to hear nonetheless. We drove home from Orange County, all the while talking about the possibility of being given this great opportunity to work in a developing country, as well as the wait to do so. Still, the more we talked, the more excited we became. Now we just hope and pray that someone far more intelligent than us will work out the details, and soon enough we'll be on our way.

-Alyssa

That Boring Married Couple

This year Paul and I rang in 2009 the best way we know how: by going to bed at 10:30. I had worked all day so we/I decided that instead of staying up late and spending one of my only weekdays off catching up on sleep, we grabbed some dinner, rented some movies, and fell asleep right after the first movie ended.

We did wake up at some time around midnight to hear some of our neighbors with air horns. All was not entirely missed.

So I'm not very fond of new year's resolutions. Often I think we just set ourselves up for disaster and failure. However, I was challenged to look at it more as a reflection on the past year and moving forward. So, another year brings with it new goals )notice how carefully I avoided the word "resolutions"). Paul created several goals, and in typical Paul fashion, categorized them. I won't go into detail but I was quite amused and impressed by his orderliness. I came up with a couple myself, but the best ones we came up with together.

1. Live off one income and save/tithe the other. This would force us to constantly live within our means and have enough money to embark on whatever adventure we want to embark on, whether it be now or later.

2. Take better care of ourselves. That includes eating better, sleeping better, spending more time being active, and spending more time just relaxing.

3. Start volunteering and become involved with something on a regular basis that we do not get paid for.

4. Read more, whether that be the Bible (Paul has a very ambitious goal) or pleasure reading, to read some of the many unread books we own. It's somewhat pathetic to realize that we've only read a small percentage of the books occupying our bookshelves.

5. And Paul's personal favorite, don't get pregnant.

We'll see how it goes.

-Alyssa