CSUF

I got to take my oldest girl yesterday to visit her new school! 

I went to beauty college, not that there is ANYTHING wrong with beauty college but it's just not the same as what I got to see yesterday!

The campus at this school was filled with huge trees some of them full of purple or pink flowers (wish I had taken more pics.) There were lots of little areas with benches under trees for students to sit and do their homework or just ponder the meaning of life and all that lies ahead of them.

My sweet girl and her boyfriend under one of those giant gorgeous trees!

But the thing that won me over, that made me want to enroll MYSELF yesterday were all of the activities available to the kids.

There are . . . 

free concerts (Gwen Steffani performed there before anyone knew who she was)

free movies on the grass

a free gym with a rock climbing wall

a underground area full of games and lots of other fun stuff

free food, free food, free food

lots of clubs to join with activities of their own,

and even a snow day in December (p.s. it does not snow in the OC) they truck the snow in and fill the quad and serve the college kids hot cocoa with tiny marshmallows!

Activities are my middle name, they make the world a better, or at least a more fun place to be!

Oh ya, I forgot to mention that we did get to hear about the 8 different college at this great University. (Am I the only one who never knew there were multiple colleges IN a University?) Just another reason I might need to get myself signed up today.

It was just a fantastic day!

After all the school stuff was finished we did a little eating, a little shopping and a little more eating. 

Then we took the scenic route home down the PCH through Laguna. (I could live the rest of my days in Laguna! It's my favorite place on earth, at least so far.)

Pretty is . . . CSUF (California State University Fullerton)

A Fire & a Broken Sprinkler

Two nights ago I went for a walk around my neighborhood.

I walked because I'm 40. I walked because even if I only ate one saltine all day long everyday for a week I would not lose 1 pound! Since I turned 40 things have changed.

By the way, when I say I'm 40 I mean I'm in the 40's (actually 41) but I think for the whole decade of my 40's I will just refer to myself as 40. OK? OK.

While I was walking I noticed a couple of things that I cannot stop thinking about. Now, I am not the kind of person who can turn an everyday ordinary circumstance or object into a life lesson or sermon like some of my wonderful friends (Dana & Mark). But what I saw has got me thinking.

The first was a house. I walked down this particular street because a few nights before it had been blocked off by tape and there was a fire engine and an ambulance. I wanted to see if there had been a fire. (I'm kinda curious by nature) While walking I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Then turning the corner of this street I glanced back thinking hmmm, I guess it was a false alarm, nothing actually wrong. That's when I saw it. On one of the homes, which still looked completely perfect, even beautiful from the front, the roof in the back was completely gone. All that was left were the charred beams that once held up the roof that provided shelter for this family.

I stood in shock for a few minutes, amazed that I had just walked right on by, not being able to see anything wrong. Saddened for the family or people who called this home.

I walked on.

The next thing I noticed on my walk was a broken sprinkler in front of another house. The water was shooting in the air at least 15 feet high! I went up to the door and knocked . . . no answer. I stood watching the water for a minuet. It was ALOT of water. Flooding their yard and running down the street.

One a simple problem with a simple solution. One a catastrophe with a very long, hard, costly solution.

I've been thinking how we, individuals or families are like this at different times in our lives.

Sometimes we have problems that are simple to solve, annoying but manageable. Sometimes they are right there out in the open for everyone to see and a good friend can come along and say "hey, you've got a problem there, can I help?"

Other times our individual or family problems are huge. There is damage that seems insurmountable. From the outside there may be no evidence of the damage at all. No way others would know the devastation on the inside.

What I've been thinking, am thinking, is, how can we help or receive help when no one knows.

No one person may know the pain, the turmoil, the hurt or the suffering but there is One who does. 

Thank you Lord that you not only know, you love.

As for us, we can be more compassionate towards others, more understanding and less judgemental, more forgiving and more loving, remembering that we don't always know what pain someone else is going through.

Pretty is . . . compassion

Sleeping Babies

Well hello! 

It's April. 

I don't know what happened to March (except I've been working like 70 hours a week!) but it's gone.

March is gone.

I've wanted to blog but just haven't had one spare second, not one.

My house is a filthy mess but like I said, not one spare second!

Today I wanted to share a photo I took yesterday.

It's my baby girl. 

She's a napper. I can say she comes by it honestly. I used to keep a nap blanket and pillow under my desk at work!  It is an AMAZING blanket and pillow from Brookstone.

This is how happy you really are when you have this super snugglie blankie! Really!

Anyway . . .

I was planning on posting the photo on facebook as soon as I took it.

But then my precious woke up and said "Do NOT post that!"

She meant on facebook I'm sure :)

Pretty is . . .

a sleeping "baby" :)