Wednesday, December 20, 2006

It's a Boy Girl Thing!

Dad and I were out playing on Leicester Square when we saw a crowd of people in front of the Odeon Theatre. We walked over to see what all the fuss was about and it just happened to be the World Premiere for It's a Boy Girl Thing. Just as we got there, guess who stepped out of his car - yep, Elton John! He's the Executive Producer. What a fun night! We stood there and watched Sting, Sharon Osborne, Kelly Osborne, Kevin Zegers and more walk up the red carpet. What a great city! Posted by Picasa
We have had a wonderful day in Oxford. We started with a C.S. Lewis tour where they showed us his home, his hangouts, his friends, etc. It was fun to walk in his footsteps and know about the man who's writings have had an impact on so many people's faith journey. He himself didn't become a Christian until later in life - when he was riding a bus up Headington Hill. :) It is pretty cold here today - there is frost on everything. This picture is in front of the Randolph Hotel which was seen in the movie Shadowlands. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

It's great to be in London!! Think I'm a little blurry? That's the cider! :) The first week has been fabulous. We've walked all over the city, took a bus tour, day trip to Oxford for an Inspector Morse tour, went to the ceremony of the keys at the tower of London and went to church at All Souls on Regent Street. It has all been fabulous! We moved in to our flat on Sunday and that has been nice - just having a kitchen and our own rooms. Tomorrow it's back to Oxford. I'll add more highlights tomorrow. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

We're off to London!! I flew to Dallas yesterday (Dec. 11) and spent some time with my good friends, the Lindberg's, in Mesquite, TX. We had a great dinner at Cane's and laughed a lot. This morning they brought me to DFW where I waited for the rest of the family. We are now waiting to board our plane for London. I can't believe this trip that we've talked about for 2 years is finally here. What a great way to spend Christmas! Posted by Picasa

Monday, October 30, 2006

Extended family...

What a wonderful time when folks you love meet folks you love! We spent the night on Saturday with some of my favorite people from PSCE days in Richmond, VA. Matt and Amy Kirkland have three adorable children, Hannah, Caroline & Sam and they welcomed us into their home. It's always fun when parts of your life begin to merge and it was great to have some of the people from two different "families" in my life come together and enjoy one another. We even got an extra hour because of the time change which was a blessing because we didn't get away from San Fran as early as we had planned. Thank you, Matt & Amy, for being such gracious hosts! Posted by Picasa

Saturday in San Francisco!

We spent the day on Saturday in San Francisco where we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was beautiful and reminded me of when Jo and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance - either coast! Then we had a chocolate sundae at Ghirardelli Square, ate shrimp on fisherman's wharf, took pictures of the seals at Pier 39 and took a ride on a bicycle cart back to our car. It was an incredible day! Posted by Picasa

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Day four of our West Coast Adventure


Today we drove through the red wood forest and we even drove through the middle of a tree! We also took our picture standing in side one of the trunks (see pic) - it was awesome! There is just no other word for it. This is beautiful country! Diana saw some people stopped by the side of the road so she figured they were looking at something so we pulled over and there was a group of about 8 elk lying down by the road. Of course, we had to get our picture taken with them even though the lady kept saying how dangerous it was because they are wild. Well, so are we! :) We also saw a black bear climbing up the mountain across the creek from the road. That was an amazing sight - we pulled over again, loaded in the car and went back to get a better look. It was still there! Incredible. The best part of the day was getting the chance to catch up with one of my very best friends from since we were kids, Stefen, who invited us in to his home in Newman, CA. He even had an orange futon!! I knew I liked him! :) Posted by Picasa

Thursday, October 26, 2006

The view from Sarah's living room window! Posted by Picasa
Here we are in the shower at Sarah's apartment. The greatest part is the view of the space needle from her living room window! Posted by Picasa

Carla, Diana & Lesa - watch out California!


 Posted by Picasa

West Coast Adventure

I keep pinching myself to make sure I'm awake because I'm living a dream! I am helping my friend, Diana, move from Seattle to Santa Barbara, California. We are currently in Crescent City, CA in the middle of the Red Wood Forest. It's BEAUTIFUL!! Our friend, Lesa, and I flew out to Seattle on Tuesday and we had dinner with our friend, Sarah, and my friend, Jessica, and Sarah's friend, Jackie. We went to a fun pub which was within walking distance of Sarah's very cool apartment. We had a GREAT time! We had to take some fun pics of all of us in Sarah's bathtub because it's so short that it makes you feel like a giant! On Wed we loaded up the truck and headed out of Seattle about 4pm. We made one stop at her sister's house to pick up the last of her belongings and then headed to Portland. We stayed with our friend, Thomas, who lives in Newberg, OR. We had a wonderful evening catching up (we met last November when we were all volunteers with the Red Cross in Biloxi, MS). This morning we took Thomas to breakfast and then headed across Oregon. The weather was perfect and the drive was GORGEOUS! This is such a beautiful state. We stopped in Crescent City for the night and tomorrow we plan to explore the Red Wood Forest before heading to Newman, CA to stay with my friend, Stefen, from high school. This is such an amazing trip and I'm so glad to be sharing it with two of my favorite people!

Friday, October 06, 2006

RAN

It's been a while since I've posted on my blog. I'm doing a temp job today at Reece & Nichols so I have a little time to just play on the computer. I wish I had some pictures - but I'll add them later. Last week we went to New Orleans again for another mission trip. We spent five days gutting three houses. The weather was a little cooler than June but still warm. We had a fabulous team of 12 plus a couple of extras who were in town and wanted to help. It was a fun week and we worked HARD! It's amazing how slow it's moving - I'm sure it will take years to see some real progress. We did two houses in one suburb and we were told that 700 homes just in that suburb would have to be completely torn down. WOW! 90% of the gutting work is being done by volunteers. We visited with one of the crews that clean up the piles in front of the house and they said their work had really slowed down after summer. I guess a lot of the work was being done by our incredible young people who eventually had to go back to school.

I had the shortest date in history last night. It lasted 12 minutes. It was one of those experiences that every woman dreads. He didn't climb out the bathroom window but he definitely could not get away fast enough. I guess I didn't think that could actually happen - but low and behold - it does. I'm not sure how you get back on the bike after that kind of crash but I guess I'll just play it one date at a time. :)

That's all for now. Check back later for updates on the life of Carla.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Sunset

I'm practicing with this new program, Picasa, and wanted to share a photo. I took this out the car window on the way home from New Orleans this summer. The sky was gorgeous after this horrific rain we drove through! Posted by Picasa

Friday, September 01, 2006

This is supposed to be my day off but I received a call from PBC staffing that they were in need of a temp to answer phones - so I agreed. I am now sitting at Renewal by Anderson waiting for the phone to ring. I wish I had thought to bring a book to read. :) Oh well - it gives me time to write in my blog which I have not done since I started it. This evening I am heading to Springfield, MO with a few friends from church to visit one of our recent graduates. We are staying with some family friends so it should be a fun time on all levels. I haven't spent much time in Springfield since I graduated so I'm looking forward to exploring the city and visiting Drury. I'm sure it has changed a lot!

This has been a crazy month! It seems like every program in the church has to have a kick-off! And, of course, everything seems to culminate on Sept 8-10 which is also the weekend of our Spiritual Renewal Weekend. It's going to be a great weekend but I'm sure I will be exhausted by the time it's over.

At the end of the month we are going back to New Orleans for another mission trip - this time just for adults (since the youth are in school). I'm really excited about the number of people that signed up to go on such short notice. There is a strong desire in people to want to help and I'm so glad we were able to put this together.

That's all I have for now. Have a blessed and beautiful day! CJ

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Day 1

Well, I'm finally a blogger! I have no idea if I will be able to keep up with this ever changing world of blogging but I shall try...

Check back later for more info! CJ