Moose

The day before Thanksgiving, we picked up this guy as an early Christmas present to Cocoa. Meet Moose, a year old Chocolate lab. He is a total love-bug and Cocoa's new best friend. He can often times be found looking for food and trying to get into the pantry. He is a cuddlier and is working on putting on some weight. He is keeping us busy!

Guess who turned 27 today?

We are off to Utah!

Updates when we return!

Changes...

I have never been a fan of change. Not that I resist trying new things, or shaking life up a bit, but something can be said for the comfort of consistency. These last few weeks, our lives have taken a cue from mother nature. Just as the trees have started to change, and the nights getting cooler, our lives are morphing into something new, and I am trying to like it.

The first major change is that I gave notice of my resignation at work. Three weeks from now I will be done with this job forever. After many many months of too much stress, late hours, and other not so pleasant happenings, I finally quit. Probably one of the most crazy, scary things I have had to do as an adult. I am enjoying this transition phase and the freedom that comes with it.

With the end of one job, I begin preparing myself for the new one. I am excited, and feel so blessed to be able to say I found a job closer to home, with a family-like environment. I know that this job is an answer to many prayers. I will be able to do the kind of work that I studied in college, and they will pay half my gym membership!

The last major change is that James and I were released from our callings as Nursery leaders and set apart to new callings. James was called to be a Sunday School teacher for the 16-17 year old kids. Yesterday was his first week teaching and he is a natural teacher. My new calling is the Secretary for the Relief Society. I must say it is slightly overwhelming to be a part of the Presidency. I am the youngest woman in our ward's Relief Society, and yet they are entrusting me to more responsibility in a calling than I have ever had.

So now begins our new life. I am training my replacement, trying to figure out how to create the Relief Society calender, and nervously anticipating my new job. James is enjoying preparing lessons with a little bit more substance than the Nursery allowed him, and is being very patient with his slightly frazzled, but very happy wife.

Remember him?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about James' cousin Mike Day making it to the Olympics. Well if you were watching, you might have noticed that he won silver!!! He was first in all of his heats and the time trial, and then medaled in the finals! Good job Mike, we are proud of you!

Mondays...

My lunch break today included:

• Talking on the phone to the hubs while walking past a homeless man asking for money. Instead of trying to lie to the man and tell him I have no money, I decide to ignore him. Apparently this did not go over well. Homeless man proceeds to laugh VERY loudly at me and shouts "Thanks a lot!"
• Walk past a car wash and almost eat it, in front of the entire car wash crew. Note to self: Your black flats don't have traction on wet sidewalks. Avoid wearing them when it rains next year.
• Finally sit down to eat lunch. While eating, eavesdrop on a couple sitting one table over debating whether one can tell the quality of a food establishment from the quality of napkins provided. I am still undecided on this one.
• Pull out my planner and plan out the next week, including grocery lists and cleaning schedules. Realize how nerdy I must look, but can't bring myself to put the planner away. My name is Danielle and I have a planning addiction.
• Start listening to a father and son talking near by. Notice that the son is scary looking due to his clothing and tattoos. The topics discussed included inflation, gas prices, the economy, politics and homeland security. Reprimand myself for finding this surprising. Hear son make comment that due to lack of security, he has been shopping for a handgun. Nothing too crazy like a rifle but something that will make him feel safe. I take this as my cue to leave quickly.
• Walk back to work and past homeless man again. He looks at me and then spits on the ground next to him. No words were said but I am pretty sure he knows I won with my silent treatment.

I swear I don't work in a scary town, apparently it was one of those days when all the crazies come out. My clumsy self included.

What in the world?

We just had a 5.4 earthquake. One of the reasons I love California. I am thinking the workday will pick up a little! You can read about it here:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/29/earthquake.ca/index.html

I work on the second floor of my building and we were moving quite a bit for a couple of seconds. I even got a bit seasick, or perhaps earthquake-sick?! It has been a while since I have felt an earthquake and it was as much fun as I remembered! Luckily no one was hurt and there was only minor damage at the epicenter down near LA.

I have heard people say that they would rather deal with tornadoes or hurricanes as opposed to earthquakes. I strongly disagree. It feels like you are sitting or standing on a water bed for a couple of seconds and then it is over. Plus I think Dorthy would agree with me that tornadoes are no fun.

Any friends from other states want to come visit?