The Man With Common Sense

I absolutley adore this man. He had an amazing view of life and I feel this message should be spread around to [re]open people's eyes.


A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways ,but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbour. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...




Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember, to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

The Family Went Home...

And so they went. It was a great weekend with the fam. It was awesome to see my sisters, Caitlin has about another inch until she is taller than me. And EeppsterPeepster is growing up so fast!!! We all went to dinner at Hard Rock the first night they got in. The next day I worked and got off at 3:30, went to willcall with my dad to get the tickets and then we all went to the show. I had to be at work the next morning (again) at 7am, so I was exhausted by the end of the weekend. On Sunday my dad and the girls went on the gondola only to find that they couldn't get off and had to ride all the way back down because of t-storm and lighting warnings (thank goodness he got a refund!!!). Later that night we had dinner on the beach at Ryan's work -- he is a very good waiter. We all watched the sunset, went down to the water and played on the jungle-gym like the crazy kids we are. Monday morning we went down to the beach for some more fun and I decided not to wear sunscreen and got a massive burn! The other two girls were smart and wore sunscreen but I was just trying to get any color, and now I am a lobster.

Its not the best picture (since it's off my phone) but you can still see the red and the white. That is the last time I am ever going to not wear sunscreen again. I forget we are a mile closer to the sun than the rest of you... lol. Then the family left back down to LA. I miss them so much already. I think my sisters are already bugging my dad about when they're next going to visit. They're ready for the snow!

WOW

...is all I can say. Last night was amazing!! The Robert Plant & Allison Krauss concert was absolutley fantastic. Sharon Little opened up for them -- and if you don't know who she is you need to go check her out. Her new album is called Perfect Time for a Breakdown, and she has one of the most spectacular vocals I have ever heard. I am a very lucky girl to know her. She started working with Scot Sax (who my dad has known for over 10 years), they wrote a bunch of songs together... actually they wrote a bunch of really really good songs together. Sharon was hand picked by Robert and Allison to go on tour with them, which is one of the coolest opportunities of a lifetime.


Sharon went on at exactly 7:30, and Ryan and I were dead center 12 rows back. My lucky dad and sisters got into the 6th row. She sang a set of 7 songs, which all were amazing. She wrote the song 'Child in a Storm' for my sisters and I. It's about my mom... and she could barely get the words out to dedicate it to us... But Scot helped her. Sharon said "This song is very close to my heart....**pause pause pause**" and then she and Scot said together "this is for Evann, Caitlin and Meghan". And next thing you know I am crying uncontrollably. It was beautiful. She finished her set and the entire crowd in front of me stood up and applauded. It was wonderful.


They changed sets and then Allison and Robert came on. Their voices together are awe-inspiring. Robert played a few Led Zeppelin songs, and Allison sang backups. T-Bone Burnett was AMAZING as well. And of course, they played quite a few songs from their album together.
My dad came back over with the backstage passes and we hung out in Sharon's trailor and watched the show on a big screen on the side of the stage. Caitlin and Evann had so much fun hanging out with Sharon 'The Rockstar'. Hahhaahaha. Evann was 5ft away from Robert when she went out to got to the bathroom. But everytime Robert or Allison would leave stage we would all have to go into Sharon's trailer because they didn't want to be bothered.

I came back into work today and talked to a few co-workers who were also there who said that Sharon was better than Allison, and she would have rather watched Sharon perform the whole time.

I will have more pictures coming soon!

My Family Says I Need To "Update"

So here I am... updating... My 'vacation' was not much of a vacation, that's for damn sure. Ryan and I had a great time, but there was very few minutes that I was able to relax and sleep. Our drive down the 395 was beautiful. It was my first time ever going through Mammoth, Bishop and Mojave. We stopped a few times to use the restrooms and saw the highest gas price EVER -- $5.19/gal -- of the medium grade... It's CRAZY! We made it in to Valencia a day early because Ryan and I both had the day off and I got an employee rate at the Best Western I used to work at. We surprised our families and hung out with friends that night. The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind of friends, family and fun.

The wedding was beautiful. Our friend Victoria looked like a princess, and Carlos looked very handsome. The ceremony was short and sweet, the pastor is the same pastor who orchestrated her father's funeral, so we heard a lot of stories about what V's dad wanted to say to her on her wedding day. I cried (granted I always cry at any wedding... it's just so beautiful, I know I am a major dork). We stayed in Pasadena since the wedding ended around 1:00am.

The next morning we got up a little late and drove back to Castaic for the family brunch. I was a little nervous because it was the first time that Ryan's mom had met my dad (after dating for almost 2 years and living together just about the same amount of time). Jan is one of the sweetest women I have ever met, and she adored my dad - whew what a big weight lifted off my shoulders, lol. Otherwise the brunch was delicious and it was great to see my family. All of my favorite aunts and uncles. I met my aunt Linda's new roommate who had the CUTEST little chiuawha EVER. It was so nice to see my dad and my uncle Vince and his kids too! Then we drove to Saugus to pick up our friends Wendy and Troy. They drove back up with us and helped us save on gas.

We got back around 10:30pm, and we are driving down the main road and all the sudden fire trucks are rushing down the street followed by ambulances... We heard there sirens for another 2 hours, which is a big deal up here in this small town, which means stuff is going down... I got up the next morning at 6am to get to work by 7am and sure enough come to find out it my work on fire! A dryer has some combustable material in it and when it was turned on it got hot enough and combusted!! The fire was contained inside of the dryer so nothing was damaged, but boy did I have to comp a bunch of rooms the next morning!

Frisbee Golf aka Hippie Golf

First off -- Happy 11th Birthday Evann! Today is my youngest sister's birthday. And she makes sure that everyone knows that Evann and eleven rhyme :) Hope she's enjoying her special day! I think we are going to chat on Skype tonight.

Other than that since it's been getting so warm up here, Ryan, my roomie Simon, his friends Jeremy and Chris and I all went to the Bijou Park and played some frisbee golf. This was Ryan and my first time playing the game, but we had a blast. The park has an entire frisbee golf course set up with 19 holes and signs that show you which way you should be going and how much the par is set as so on and so forth. If you have never heard of frisbee golf aka hippie golf (as Ryan calls it) how it works is everyone has their frisbee and you throw it towards the goal, and wherever it lands you walk over to it, pick the frisbee up and throw it again. It's pretty simple and easy and a lot of fun.

Now the reason why Ryan calls if hippie golf is because it's extremley cheap. Once you get a frisbee -- that's all you need! It's not like regular golf where you have to have a club for this, a putter for that and some other weird doohickey for that. You also don't have to go buy special clothes or special shoes for the silly dress code.

We had so much fun, the boys were drinking beers -- not ME -- and we kept loosing our target and we didnt know which ways to go, but Chris led us back to the right course. Simon, Chris and Jeremy were a LOT better than Ry and I were. I think I was 5 over par every time. I tried to keep throwing like an acutal frisbee but it always veered wayy over to the right. Ryan eventually gave up on throwing like a frisbee and started doing the 'tomahawk' throw, that's when he started getting more accurate.

All in all I had a great time. I think when I get off work today we might go do a round... Until then I get to stand here (I don't ever get to sit because I work at a hotel) bored outta my mind!

Happy Mother's Day...

Happy Mother's Day!! I love this day because it gives me a reason to talk about my amazing mom, all day long... lol. If you never met her -- she was pretty fantastic, and anyone who has met her can attest. So, Ryan and I went to Safeway yesterday and picked up the most gorgeous flowers to celebrate mother's day. We brought them home and I trimmed the ends and put them in a pretty red vase. And I think they are so pretty so I decided to post some pics...

aren't they so vibrant!

And since it is mother's day I am going to share a few stories about my awesome mommy.

When I was a toddler she would put me in laundry baskets and she would push me down hallways... I felt like I was going 100 miles an hour -- I laughed for hours.
I remember when she won Alanis Morrisette tickets on the radio, this was back in 1995, and we drove down to Irvine and the concert was at Irvine Meadows, now known as the Verizon Wireless Ampitheater. My mom booked a hotel room in Irvine because she didn't want to drive home. At the concert I kept smelling this weird smell from people smoking "cigaretts" behind us and I kept bugging her about it... well she explained that to me later. The concert was amazing and one of my most fond memories with her. :]
I can always remember when I would record really late at night with my dad, she would turn off the tv and just listen. When I went upstairs to bed she would always have me come into her room and she would always tell me how much she loved to hear me sing.
I remember a few weeks before she passed away we went to AAA to get the handicapped placard for the van. I drove her to the AAA building and she was so happy that we could go christmas shopping and park right in front at Target and the mall!


Otherwise I have to show you the most ridiculous thing I saw regarding mother's day today on the internet...

I found this on MSN today and it had some of the WORST advice -- ever. All the article mentions is how some people can feel. It barely gives any actual advice. She talks about acknowledging that you are sad and upset that you are missing your mother -- which people do on a daily basis, and if you have been through grief counseling you already are over this step. And then she mentions also acknowledging no one can replace your mother... Something I have also done a long time ago... She also mentioned on focusing on being a good mother yourself (which couldn't help anyone who is like me and not a mom -- except to Frances but that is different). And that was about it. Oh and she also talked about having an estranged relationship that today is a good day to get back in touch -- which also I could not relate to.

Overall, I found none of this information helpful, what so ever. To be honest, I would have expected a little more from MSN.

May Flowers...

The snow has melted -- finally! There is green grass everywhere except my front yard which is full of dirt. The skies are blue and its gonna be a high of 75 this next week! I am so excited! My dad is coming up to Tahoe and visiting me at the end of June with the girls. We are going to go out onto the lake and go up on the mountain, maybe do some hiking. Also one night we are going to see one of his friends open for Robert Plant and Allison Krause at Harrah's. Before that happens though I have to go back down to SoCal for a wedding on June 5th. This wedding is going to be really expensive. Between gas, hotel rooms, dress & tux, food, and the wedding present Ryan and I are going broke! But it is going to be a beautiful wedding!

That's all for now. Maybe I will post something funny later