El Nino, La Nina, Global Warming, Ice Caps Melting, and Ozone Holes.

Oh California.... How I love thee..

Oh, and how I hope it will be snowing when I go visit Baltimore and DC! I haven't seen snow yet this year! I miss it! Not that it snowed that much when I was in Baltimore, but still!

I was so excited this morning for two reasons:
1) I am off of probation! woot woot! (the new employee kind, not the criminal kind)
2) Because I am off of probation, I am going on vacation for a week in 2 weeks!! I'm going to visit friends in Baltimore, Virginia, and DC. I'm going to go back to my old stomping grounds in Baltimore. I haven't been back since I left, and everyday, the anticipation builds. I can't wait to see a city that really did manage to charm me in my 12 months there.

And then my elatedness was shattered by three things:
1) It's Monday, and I have to go back to work after having worked overtime most of the weekend.
2) I have to work overtime tonight.
3) My vacation is not in 2 weeks. It's in 3 weeks.

Yes. Whine whine whine.

Life is not bad at all. I have no complaints. Great weekend including impromptu hang out Friday night with lots of friends, practicing my "juicy voice," lots of eating for New Years, and time with Jessica. I *heart* my sister.

To leave you all with a happy note, one of my favorite photos from the last month:

edit: Stupid Sam. Well, I guess it should be Stupid Ev.

New Year’s Resolutions:
Run a half marathon
Do an American Cancer Society event (Relay for Life, Making Strides..)
Work on a political campaign
Hike once a month
Climb Half Dome
Be nice(r) to DB*
Get my policy paper published in a major journal
Cook at least 3 times a week
Travel to 5 different states (out of country travel will count as 2 states)
Be better about keeping in touch with people who live nearby (but not close), especially those in the 510 and 415 area codes.
Not let DB make me cry at work
Spend more time with Jessica
Read one book a month
Put my monthly gym membership fees to good use
Spend quality one-on-one time with each of my dear friends
See Jason more mid-week
Organize my friends to volunteer at Habitat

*DB: Dirty Boss

Books I want to read in 2006
Christopher Moore, Lamb
Phillip Gourevitch, We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: stories from Rwanda.
Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
C.S. Lewis, The last 5 books of the Chronicles of Narnia
Wicked
David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz
Pete Gall, Gall: Five Years of Unfettered Christian Exploration. Somewhere Between Youth Group and the Rest of Life.
Howard Frumkin et al, Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities

30 (no, 18..couldn't come up with 30) things I want to do before I’m 30
(That gives me 5 years).
Climb Half Dome
Hike the Grand Canyon
More graduate school
Work for a non-profit
Get married (before I’m 30, people! Not right away...oh stop all that engagement stuff that’s running through your heads)
Go to other Hawaiian islands
Take another Ohana vacation
Take another LAME trip
Learn how to make a wedding cake/Try to make a wedding cake
Start a Book Club and actually do something with it!
Triathlon (Sprint or Olympic length)
Go to Japan
Go to Greece
Roadtrip with Bev and Janet
Make a quilt
Go to see the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi’an
See my sister graduate from Cal
Cooking a fancy meal for 10

If anyone wants to do any of these things/read any of the books with me, I'd love the company!!

Beers and Cheers!

Congratulations to Alinna and Hideyo Satake!! Your wedding was oh so beautiful. Some choice memories: Sausage McMuffins, Girls showing our guns, Gum spitting picture, Pizza My Heart, Al and I become very good friends, the hoedown "Have you ever seen a frog kissin' a log down by the bay," Al looking like an absolutely radiant bride, the tears, the vows, the decorated car, dancin' the night away. I can't believe the Spice Girls made an appearance at your wedding! HAHAHA. Like I said, "Hideyo, you've landed yourself in a circle of girls who are really..uh...special."

A more proper post will follow with more pictures. But for now, I leave you with one photo from Al & I shopping for dresses. These ended up being the dresses we got too!

A picture post.

see fun friends play.

see old friends laugh.

see girl friends be girly and stupid and us.

see boyfriend be awesome.

see my one and only (sister, that is).

There are lots of people that I don't have pictures of but would want to put up. I love my friends and family. I am enormously blessed to have people who love me, whom I can love, who are not afraid to be stupid or lame, who understand that food feeds the soul, who believe that sharing is caring, and who are just all in all awesome. I love you guys!

Merry Christmas (I think that means that I'm not posting until after Christmas...we shall see!)