Anniversary Part 2

Now onto Newport Beach and Catalina Island:

Driving like we do...Phil's GPS saved us.

The lifestyle.

It doesn't get much better than Jesus, and the ocean.

Isn't he so handsome?

Catalina Island

They liked us so much, they named a restaurant after Eric!

The famous self portrait:

The view of our ghost ship from the tender boats we took
to get to the island:

Stay tuned for more pics! (I told you there was a lot!)

Anniversary!

Well two years have come and gone. Come and gone super fast I might add.
To celebrate this occasion Eric and I decided that we would hop on a ship and head for Mexico, with a little detour to Disneyland. We took so many pictures that I'm going to break it into parts, the first part being the happiest place on earth:


Never too cool for the Mickey ears
Never too cool for a fanny pack.
Splash mountain. Kinda hard to see Eric and I, but my face is ridiculous.
Eric let me drive, which turned out to be a mistake.
Needless to say it was a very bumpy ride!


A parade!

The castle.

Picture break during the parade.

Fantasmic - seriously one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

Some more fantasmic. It was fantastic!

The Celebration of my 23rd Year of Life

For my birthday, Eric surprised me with a trip to Seattle.
It's probably my favorite city right now.
Love, love, love it.
And I loved, loved, loved this trip!


The lovely drive which was so marvelous since we hadn't seen each other
for a week! (summer camp was in sesh)

I know it's a little strange, but I absolutely love hotels! To the point

where I will sacrifice shopping in order to stay in one.
(Okay, not all shopping...)
This was my "We're staying in hotel I'm so happy!" face.

Last year , we discovered this amazing little french restaurant right

by Pike's Place. It's the little place to the left in the picture.
Seriously, soooo yummy.
If you ever go to Seattle, eat there.

What is a Parnell blog without some alley way artistic shot?
Why, it's no Parnell blog at all!


I realize I look extremely unhappy here, but trust me when I say, I'm not.
This was right outside Pike's Place. So pretty!



We were trying to get the water behind us here like in the picture above,
but I guess either Eric's arms aren't long enough, or
our heads aren't small enough.


Cheesecake Factory, Cheesecake Factory, Cheesecake Factory.
Yummy!


Downtown Seattle. Sittin' on a wall somewhere.


We met up with Nicolette Sunday night for the
Linsolette Bday Bash '09.
5 years running strong!

Here's to the best year yet!

The 505

The Party

The Preparation

The Graduation

The Trip to Santa Fe

The Girls

The Nintendo

The Sisters

The Drive

The Saving Grace

The End

Mind Control

So I was writing my friend Brent, in response to his blog titled, "Are you offline" at: http://www.pleadthecause.org/v2/index.php?c=home&type=menu&section=21~blog. As I continued the thought it seemed like it might an interesting topic to post on here and see if you people have any thoughts on the subject.

"... read your blog on technology and the web vs time in his presence. I think you're right on. I set up imeem (internet playlists) to play music every morning when I do my devotions, and it's tempting to log on to facebook, or to check emails before seeking the Lord. But I've disciplined myself to push my desires aside so I'm able to focus. But then find that after I've spent my time with the Lord, I can almost get the idea that, now I can spend the rest of my day however I want (web, tv, movies) because I've already spent time w/ Jesus. I constantly need to remind myself that I walk with him, throughout my whole day and that there's so much more to be had in relationship with him. Not to short change myself by cutting off the communication after that short time in the morning.

BUT... I also had some thoughts on the subject in a different light, sorry if this isn't interesting to you and I'm going on, but I thought it was.

I recently read an article on "walk throughs" of video games. There was a video game producer who was encouraging players to not use walk throughs (an online guide giving step by step instructions for how to beat the game, contributed to by many different users with helpful tips and tricks) to cheat their way through the game. He made the game difficult on purpose but not impossible so people would have to work through the puzzle. BUT w/ online walk through postings, his game was cracked with in a couple days of it being released because thousands of users from all over the world contributed. Instead of one mind taking months to figure out this puzzle, thousands of minds working together solved it in days.

Also, yesterday a film casting director that I follow on twitter, who has over a thousand followers, sent out a message saying, "I can't remember, who do I know in New Jersey? Help me tweeples." Within minutes she had her answer.

With this connectedness of minds, I can totally see how learning and knowledge will accelerate. And this is just the beginning. As time goes on it will only get faster, multiplying itself. Impossible puzzles in science and technology may be solved faster and faster. Kind of a crazy thought as to where this could all lead."

It's been a whole month...

It's been a while.
Things have been busy, yet uneventful. Does that make sense? Still good (I can't tell you how much I love consistency and routine), just....uneventful. I'm teaching ballet now. That's new and fun and exciting. It has woken up a plethora of passions that were once asleep, and I'm having a blast rediscovering them all. As riveting as a life update would be, (and by riveting I mean boring) that is not the purpose of this post.

I was spending some precious time with Jesus this morning, and I felt like I was supposed to share my journal entry.

Matthew 8:25-26
Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

I have to admit that I can't count how many times I have felt engulfed by the waves these past few weeks. It's hard to understand the why behind so many of the things I walk through, and it's even harder to to continue to trust despite the lack of that seemingly necessary knowledge. But this morning, I refuse to be one of little faith. I read how You healed lepers and servants on their deathbed. How You cast out a legion of demons to help one little man....so why is it so hard for me to believe You can do that sort of thing in my own life?

If the same power that raised You from the dead really does live inside of me, then why do I choose to live like it doesn't? I can believe for the miraculous in my life. But even better, I can see the miraculous happen in my life.

Jesus, I choose to believe You are who You say You are. Today, I take my eyes of these waves called circumstance and know that with one word from Your mouth it's over and You win. I believe.

So there it is. Raw, straight from the pages of my journal and my life.

Back to the routine!

Spontaneity

I love this word.
I love it even more when we do it.
You know, be spontaneous.

For two weeks Eric and I decided to not watch TV.
It's been really cool, but that's another blog...

Anyway, I don't go in to work until 1 on Wednesdays.
I was not looking forward to being home with nothing to do until 1.
Eric, knowing this and being the sweetheart that he is,
decided he would take the morning off to keep me company.
We decided to drive to Sisters, Bruno and all.
We had coffee in front of the fire at Sisters' Coffee House,
read our Bibles,
and took Bruno for a little walk.
It was a lovely morning.

Here's Bruno in the car. Very curious about the camera....

Here's me!

For whatever reason, Bruno wanted to be in the drivers seat.
The beautiful view.

Here we are reading our Bibles. Well Eric was at least!

Going for our walk.

The drive home. And yes, Eric is wearing a pair of my sunglasses. He forgot his, and it was very sunny.