A New Fork!!!

So, the highlight of my life...I have a new fork. No, not the kind you eat with, but the front shock to my bike. I have a 1" steer tube (what the fork goes into). That is a very old design. The newer bikes all have 1 1/8" steer tubes. I like my bike, it's so light. I don't have the money nor the desire to buy a new one. I have been wanting a new fork for quite some time though. My old one is busted. The problem though lies in the fact that NOBODY makes 1" forks anymore...making them very rare. What was once sold new for $300 (the Marzocchi Bomber MX 1") is now selling for $500. HA! I don't think so. So, last Thur. I did my typical search in ebay, 1" fork and what came up was way out my price range...oh well. So, I was casually searching through the fork listings when something caught my eye, "Marzocchi Bomber MX 1 in". I realized that that was what I was looking for. Everyone posts their forks as 1". They use the symbol, not "in". The amazing things too was that it was ending in 2 days and nobody had bid on it yet (very weird!). So, I placed my max bid and waited.

I knew that it was ending on Sat. morning but I didn't know what time. I went over to Jason's that morning and rushed to the computer. When I brought it up I thought that it had ended already becuase I saw "45 sec"...I thought it ended 45 seconds ago...duh. I was so sad becuase I saw how much I thought it had sold for...$130.00 with only one person bidding besides me. Then all of a sudden I realized..."Wait! It ends in 45 seconds!!!" It was a flurry of bidding but with 6 seconds left I won! I got it for $152. What a deal!!!! It felt like a special little gift to me from the Lord. The only way I was able to afford it was becuase the seller listed it in a weird way...making it so people missed it. On top of that I show up at the computer, without meaning to, with 45 seconds left to bid...and I won! How cool is that. I have been wanting a fork for soooooo long. Yay! Thank you Lord!!!!

*Crack*...

This is the lovely sound I heard at the climbing gym last night. It was the sound that my ankle made when I fell from an unsuccessful attempt at a route that I have been working on lately. I had two mats side by side underneath me, but where did my foot land do you ask?....Between them of course! I was about 10 feet up, and horizontal to the ground. It's the crux of the route and I have yet to conquer it. You have all your weight on two little fingers and some how you reach back and grab this awkward hand hold. What happened is that my feet actually slipped...rather than my hands. Since I was horizontal the slipping of my feet actually caused my body to gain momentum and I sort of whipped around...sticking my foot sideways into the ground. I heard and felt an awful pop. It hurt so bad, but since there were so many people there I tried to hold it in, and "calmly" called Jason over. He thought I was just frustrated with the fact that I couldn't complete it. Since I was holding my ankle he realized that it was a little more...:-) After laying on the floor for a minute or so...and yes, everyone of course realized that I hurt myself, I hobbled over to the couch that they have in there, looked down, and saw that I already had an enormously fat ankle...oh joy.

Jason took me to his house to ice it down and all that good stuff. I am happy to say that it is probably half the size that it was...but still quite big. I have never hurt my ankle...or anything for that matter. The Lord has really protected me. For all that I do...this is the worst injury I have ever had. Thank you Lord!!! I will also confess that sometimes when people hobble around on a hurt ankle I think..."Oh give me a break, it can't be that bad!" Uh, yeah, it is that bad. I walk like a full-on gimp. Oh well, hopefully I will bounce back fast!!! :-)

Also, a side note...you know you pay for your own health insurance when the first thing you think of when you hurt yourself is not, "Oh no, the pain, the pain," but, "Oh no, the doctor bills, the doctor bills." I sort of made myself laugh when that was the first thing I thought of. When I heard the "crack" I was so afraid that I broke it! I didn't :-)...obviously!!!

My Sunday...

Jason and I went and saw "Wicked" yesterday. It was SOOOOO good! I just loved it. I think I smiled the whole way through! The music was great, the costumes were gorgeous, the acting was superb...it was just so good. Our seats were pretty much perfect. The Lord really blessed us with that. We had a perfect view. It was completely worth every penny spent. I highly recommend it to anyone.

It was a bit much for one day but we managed it. We left at 7:45am and drove down, getting there at about 10:30am. Then we parked right off so that we wouldn't have to fight the parking battle. We walked around on Hollywood Blvd. and checked out the "sidewalk of stars" (what's the official name for that?) I thought that the Stars were a lot more...official. They go all along Hollywood Blvd. and most of the people on them I don't even know. We found Jackie Chan and Mister Rogers...oh yeah, definitely got a picture of that!!!! There was a Farmer's Market down there and we got some cool, funky fruit...like Mexican Guava's...yummm! After that we had lunch and then went to the show at 1pm.

It was hot outside (the theatre was very cool and pleasant though)!!! I didn't realize that it was 96 degrees. I think I got pretty dehydrated. We walked a lot and at the show I started getting stomach cramps. We got dinner afterwards at this yummy Italian food place and we both drank about 5 glasses of water! We ended our Hollywood experience with a stop at American Eagle on the way back to the car. Jason got this really handsome aqua blue polo shirt. He picked it out, and I was very pleased to see that it wasn't navy blue or black! Way to branch out on the color wheel Jas. We drove back home, and I dropped Jason off at about 9:30pm. Not bad! I slept so hard last night...I was definitely pooped! :-)

Yesterday was so refreshing. Jason and I were both so excited, because it sort of felt like we were traveling. We both love traveling so much. It was really nice to have a change of pace...even if it was for just a day. I feel more motivated to be at work and just...renewed. Thank you Lord!!!

*Note: I forgot to mention that the trip was not void of the typical "Me making a fool of myself" moment. Yeah, I ran into a pole. I was holding Jason's hand and we turned to get off the sidewalk and walk across the cross walk...I was looking at some people across the street, turned with out actually looking at what I was turning into, and ran into the pole...at the crosswalk, giving all the cars who were stopped at the light a great spectacle to laugh at. Oh well. What can you do? Jason thought it was hilarious obviously. I think it's his fault. He obviously didn't give me enough room...he practically led me into the pole. :-)

In Honor of Jason's Birthday!!!

A Birthday Tribute

I really, really think you're sweet

Even though you love to eat

If given the choice between me and pie

I don't believe you'd bat an eye

Pie is always number one

There is nothing to be done

Your stomach is your inner voice

You listen closely, you have no choice

This is my poem, it is all true

Happy day of birth to you!

Wow...am I a poet or what!?! Today is Jason's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON! Yay!!! His family does not do cake for birthdays, but rather they have birthday pie. Jason and his dad are pretty much obsessed with his mom's apple pie. It really is amazing, but I'm just not in LOVE with apple pie...it's not always my first pick. I think that I like peach a little more (which is pretty much blasphame in the Evangelista house). Anyways...so he gets pie and he is only slightly happy! :-). There is a running joke that I shouldn't ever get in the way of him and his sweets!!! Thus, the poem!

Hello Wicked, Here we Come...and THANK YOU Lord!

So, I just bought "Wicked" tix for THIS Sunday at 1pm. Yay! It's really cool actually. We were searching for tickets for the last week and a half. We kept holding out for something better, but as the time got closer the tickets got worse. I could only afford to pay $95/ticket (which is SO much money...ugh.). Yesterday evening, while at Jason's house, we decided to see what we could get if we paid $200/ticket. It ended up being Row N seat 105 and 106. That's right smack in the middle of the stage, 13 rows from the front...just right. (I was told not to sit in the very front because then you can't see all of the stage.) Jason was contemplating putting his money toward it so that we could get those really awesome seats. This is supposed to be MY birthday gift to him though...I really didn't want him to have to put money toward it. But guess what...I searched for $95 seats today again, and I came up with Row R seats 105 and 106. That's only 4 rows back from the $200 seats but for half the price....YAYYYYY! So, I scooped those puppies right up! I'm so excited. I think what happens is they try their best to get rid of all the junk seats. Then right before the event they put the $200 seats up for sale for the price of the $95 ones. I guess it's better to receive half the money for them then have them be vacant. So, thank you Lord!!! What a blessing and we are so very excited to see the show! We are doing a day trip...obviously :-) and it will be a crazy day of driving. I'm sure it will be worth it though! Now I just need to find a sub for my Sunday school class........:-)

Today, Tomorrow, and Friday

Today is Jason's family birthday gathering...yay! That means super good food and fun. Tomorrow we do our weekly "Badger house visit". That's always fun. Friday is Jason's real birthday and I get off at 1pm...Hallelujah!!! I'm taking him out to the Jaffa cafe'. They have giro's and kabobs. We LOVE the Oasis cafe so hopefully Jaffa will be a hit too. We've never tried it.

So, here is my cake idea for Jason. I am going to make a "Madonna Mountain Biking Cake" (or San Luis Mtn :-)..."M" and all. It will be a mountain with dark green fondant frosting all over it. It will have a carmel frosting path going up it. On the path I'm going to put a miniature toy mountain biker going up it. So, the "front" of the cake will have a white "M" on it with a mountain biker on the path...and yeah, that's my rough sketch of it so far. I will try to take some pictures of it. If it looks ok, I will post them. If it's a disgrace to all cake decorators out there, I won't :-). The trick is getting the actual cake to look like the image that I have in my head. We will see! :-

Some thoughts on the Future

I have no idea what I will be doing 2 years from now. I have no idea what I will be doing in a year for that matter. I have dreams. I have many aspirations. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the future and all of the possibilities that could come to fruition. I know that the Lord has a particular plan for my life...I just kind of wonder when it will be revealed TO me! I did not choose a major that ties me down to one particular job. For the most part, if you were an engineering major in college then you got a good paying, engineering job right out of college. I was a Philosophy major...Jason was a Spanish major...hmmmmm. Sometimes it's sort of disheartening when people laugh at our major choices...kind of like a "Wow, you guys picked the wrong majors." Actually, we've been told that very sentence a couple of times. I think it's funny because in my head I'm thinking, "Yeah, you're right, I should have been an engineering (or some other) major even though I have zero interest in it, hate math, and would probably be miserable...but by golly, I would have a good paying job right out of college!" I chose Philosophy because I really love it...it's the only thing I had an interest in. Jason chose Spanish for the same reason.

People have told us that the freedom we have...to do whatever we want, is exciting...even something to be envious over. I'm not really convinced yet. We seem to be leaning toward teaching English abroad but there really are SO many options. How do you just choose one? What if Jason got his credential and decides he hates teaching? What if we teach abroad for a year and it ends up being a fun time...but then what? These are some of the questions that plague us. I need to be reminded that no matter what happens...it will STILL be God's amazing plan coming to life. The Lord will provide something else for us if teaching isn't it. So, maybe you could pray for us. Some sort of direction would be wonderful, but I think that what is even more important and valuable is contentment. Patience and contentment are so huge in life. We are having trouble with it and this isn't even a big deal...all things considering. If we can not handle or be trusted with the small things how will we ever be trusted with the large? I want to be faithful and praise the Lord...no matter the situation.