I am a Driving Fiend

As many of you should know, Easter is coming up. Out of my 22 Easters, I have had a new outfit probably 20 of those. So I needed a new Easter outfit. I am lucky enough to also be in need of an outfit for the luau that I am attending this coming weekend in Hawaii. As some of you may know, I am very picky about my clothing and my shoes. You might also know that this trait was passed down to me from my mother and my second mother. I grew up going to Dillard's all of the time. Dillard's is another one of those things that go in the "I Miss" category. Unfortunately, there are only FOUR Dillard's in the whole state of California, none of those being in the Los Angeles area.

The reason I like Dillard's so much is because it has brands that I know and trust. The shoe department also has two brands of shoes that are exclusively at Dillard's and probably for two years they are the only brands that I buy if I am in need of "grown-up" shoes. I decided this week that I was going to go shopping (since I only have 4 days until I leave the mainland). I decided that I want to go to Dillard's to look. This also happened because my mother taunted me last weekend saying that she and Lisa were at Dillard's and kept finding things that I would like. I looked on my handy-dandy computer for the nearest Dillard's and to my surprise I found one near me. Well sort of near me. It is in Palmdale, California. From my door to Dillard's door it is 86.6 miles. Thinking to myself that I have nothing better to do on a Saturday, I decided that I would drive to Palmdale.

I left at 9:15 this morning for the nearest Dillard's and got there at 10:30. Now some might think that driving this far to a department store is a little silly. But I challenge them to go without some of their favorite things. My dad also said now I will know what he felt like when he was growing up and lived so far away from the nearest stores.

As soon as I walked in I was greeted with the same smell that all Dillard's have. The next time you are at a mall, walk into Dillard's and you will know what I am talking about. People associate smells with things. Think about those smells that remind you of good things in your life. There is a certain smell that reminds me of my Nana. And one of the staircases of one of the dorms at Southwestern reminds me of the old "walk-church" which is now the new "walk-church". This smell of Dillard's just put me at peace with things. Well that might be a little much, but it did make me happy.

I now have the perfect shoes and the perfect dress (well probably almost perfect shoes and dress) for the luau and Easter. And while I put 170 miles on my truck, it was totally worth it to have a day of good times. And I got to see a different part of California.

grace and peace

Things I Miss

While there are many things I miss about being in Texas, there are several things that hit me everyday.

1. Fresh air. I went to Mt. Baldy yesterday with Peter and it was almost fresh air. We were standing at 78oo ft. and we were still in the smog. Not that I ever stood outside in Texas and took huge breaths of air, but I miss being able to do it and not get black lung.

2. Sonic and Bill Miller's. Yes the restaurants. I usually only go to those two places for the great sweet tea (in both cases) and the endless choices of drinks (in Sonic's case). I have always lived in a place where I can just drive right down the road and can get a good drink. Not the case here. To get sweet tea I have to drive to Chick-fil-a in Upland, which granted is only 7 miles away. But getting there takes about 20 minutes! and the tea isn't even that good.

3. Whataburger. You might ask, why do you miss Whataburger, you don't even eat hamburgers. Well, no I don't eat hamburgers, but I do eat other things on the menu that I can't really get here. Well, you actually can, for example. Yesterday, Peter and I went to Jack in the Box for lunch, yes the chicken sandwich was ok, but it wasn't Whataburger good. Another example, Peter brought me a chicken salad sanwich from Mc Allister's (another favorite deli for their chicken salad sandwich and sweet tea!!), so for dinner I had that and I thought he should try In'n'Out, since that is the burger place in California, other than Carl's Jr. which is just yuck! And yes, I was having my wonderful chicken salad sandwich, I was sort of sad that I could not get anything from In'n'Out.

Here I am going to go on a little tangent, but it is still related. On our trip to Mt. Baldy yesterday we decided that we needed a picture of both of us, one that one of us was not holding the camera. There are many things in my car that I don't know how they got there and one of them is a green sponge, one of those really thin ones that you use to scrub really tough things to get them off the dishes. So we got outside, put the camera on the sponge, but it still wasn't at the right angle to take the picture. I looked back in the car and lo and behold sitting right under my radio is a Whataburger lemon packet. Perfect size for the camera to sit on and be at an angle. So here is the picture that we took with just the bed of the truck, a sponge and a Whataburger lemon packet! And look at that beautiful scenery!!

That is all for now.

grace and peace

Aloha State Here I Come! update from 2/28

I AM GOING TO HAWAII!!! I will be there for practically 4 whole days, which might not sound like a lot, but who cares it is Hawaii. I will be at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, which is located in the Manoa Valley on Oahu. I don't really know what I will be doing other than speaking at least once about my US2 experience. I will keep everyone updated when I find out more.

grace and peace

Please pray for Kevin's family, friends and Bonita High. He was a student and Bonita High School, the public high school where we enroll some of our kids. He was killed by a drunk driver Thursday night.