Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

I'm a little slow, okay I'm a lot slow. The "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival" was held at the beginning of October this last year and I am only writing about it now. I was able to meet up with two of my San Diego friends, Chad and Mel, and take in a day of music, frisbee, pizza and conversation. It was such a treat to see them. Oh and the music was good too :)

they got engaged in New Zealand a few months ago
and plan to be married...sometime soon

The day was a little cool and pretty foggy.
The good part about that is that I didn't come out
looking like an over ripe tomatoe :)

Chad's favorite of the weekend, Patty...Somebody...
Griffin! thanks Mel.

I would lose horribly in any music trivia game...

Nanking Chinese Restaurant

The day after Thanksgiving, Rachael, Trisha and I decided to do the tourist thing in San Francisco for the day. Our first stop was brunch at a place called Mama's - one of the famous local Italian eateries in our neighborhood. We then headed off to the recently reopened DeYoung Museum but found the lines a little too long for our patience, so we opted for a stroll through Golden Gate park which included tea at the Japanese Tea Garden, the diverse botanical gardens, a visit to the bison farm and a quick stop at Ocean Beach.

We then headed back to our neighborhood to eat at a place called Nanking - a well-known Chinese restaurant. Little did we know, they have no menus, so we were at their dining mercy as they brought us plate after plate of unknown dishes. We all got through the experience with a smile on our face.

Our evening ended at Union Square with the annual tree-lighting ceremony and then a quick stop at Starbucks to warm up with a hot chocolate.

glory

I used to think - there is so much more to me than I know...
and kept expecting some amazing, brillant person
to emerge from the deep.
One night I realized that I am emerging,
but the glory is not found in a beauty that one might expect
but is found in the crusty knarled broken creature
that has fallen before the tree.

It is a beautiful thing to know - salvation is here.

my place

dust no longer gathers there

it is worn and stained with tears
it is my place, never occupied by another
it is available anytime I seek an audience of One

true

long for me when all you see is darkness
seek when there is no joy to be found
love me when i am stripped of all beauty

treasure me when i have nothing to give
pursue when i don't want to be found
fight for me though it costs you everything

this is true. this is passion. this is love.

christmas time pics

a feast...turkey from the barbeque

jolene enjoying tate's toys

getting an update from the cousins about life in the Phillipines
a girls moment...except for the little man who decided to make use of his mommy's tub

new year's eve - flying in a few hours