Crazy month, photo fun :]

April flew by! May is too! 

In April I went up to Tahoe and down to Monterey and Carmel. 

A week or so ago, I passed my in the car driving exam. 

Last week my two betta fishies died :(.

Tonight, Sunday and Wednesday are the graduation ceremonies for my sister from UC Berkeley.

Tomorrow I'm doing the Human Race which is a fundraiser for most of the non-profits in Sonoma County.

Sunday, Mother's Day, I'm preforming in a "band" made up of a bunch of my friends at my work.

Next week is the last week of school before finals!

Next week is the last week of this round of the fitness bootcamp I've been doing. Two weeks later I start work at a 7:30am-5pm job Monday-Friday.For. The. Entire. Summer.
11 final papers to write.3 final tests to take.1 dance final to choreograph and preform.
A week to get it all done.Yikes.

On the trip to Tahoe and Monterey I took my camera with me and came back with these results.I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.:)

Happy Two Year Angelversary Emily!

Happy Two-Year Angelversary Emily!


At only 14, you were taken so soon but you left in style doing what you loved most, skiing with your team on the snowy mountains in Tahoe.


Love you SO much and miss you every day sunshine!

This is a wonderful video put together by another one of Emily's friends. 


It's filled with her bright smile, sweet voice and the ever apparent twinkle in her eye.

Skii the day away in paradise sweetpea. 

Fly high, Soar.

A Miracle If There Ever Was One

-Jaycee Lee Dugard-

Pulled into a car and abducted in 1991 while walking to the bus stop 18 years ago, Jaycee Lee has now reappeard alive.

It's because of Jaycee that I learned self defense in middle school.

All of my friends and the entire town (South Tahoe, CA) are now elated and feeling incredibly thankful.

I have mixed feelings on the subject. I'm incredibly thankful that she's been found but I'm a bit disturbed that as the kidnapper was a registered sex offender and that she was hidden in the backyard for the past 18 years yet no one knew.

It's said that the man (kidnapper) was passing out pamphlets on the UC Berkeley campus (where my sister attends) on Tuesday with 2 girls, 11 and 15. The campus police officer thought he was acting suspicious and looked up his profile and found out he'd previously been in prison (even for a while during the time he had Jaycee) so the officer called his parole officer. His parole officer called him in the next day.

So here's what confuses me..

He showed up at the parole office with the 2 girls(who were his and born to Jaycee-which means Jaycee had to be around 15 at the time of the first child's birth), his wife and Jaycee (introduced under the cover name of Alissa who is now 29 years old).

Why would he suddenly decide to bring her out of hiding for the first time in 18 years..especially since it was to his parole officer who wasn't aware of the existence of Jaycee or the two girls (all of whom who didn't ever attend school or go to the doctor).

Also, what about the woman who the man(kidnapper) rented a piece of land for his buisness from? In the interview with her, she said she knew he had the two younger kids but he'd said he homeschooled them and went to church in their basement making their family alone a congregation that he led.

Didn't anything he said sound strange to her?

Third, the neighbors. They knew strange things were going on and one woman even said she encountered the youngest girl (who had "blond hair, blue eyes and really pale skin with frekkels" while the seen "mother" was not caucasion at all) who told her she had two older sisters, one was 28 who both lived with her (yet hadn't been seen).

If they knew he was a registered sex offender and knew he'd been in prison for 11 years for raping a woman and they thought there was something weird going on, why did no one report anything?

Finally, I keep hearing how glad people in Tahoe are glad she's happy and healthy. Even if she's smiling, there's going to be some incredible psychological (if not physical as well) damage for both her and her two kids. I mean she's been kidnapped, raped (at least 2 obvious times), and stuffed away in sheds for 18 years.

I don't know, while this case proves that you should never give up hope and I'm incredibly glad that Jaycee has finally been reunited with her family..the case is just incredibly unsettling to me.

Welcome Home Jaycee.

Wordless Wednesday -#13 Friends, Cats and Tahoe 4th of July Style

This Wordless Wednesday is a bit of an update for the past two weeks.

Two weekends ago I got to go to San Francisco and see one of my amazing friends that I hadn't seen for over a year and a half!

(Celia and I)

Yesterday when I got home from Tahoe I set up my "dog/cat tent" that I've had for a few years. Both cats immediately claimed it.

While I didn't have my nice camera, I did have my handy dandy point and shoot. Here're the pictures from my week in Tahoe..starting with the beautiful fireworks!

(Mom feeding the Stellar Jays peanuts off our back deck in Tahoe)

Back in Tahoe - 4th of July Weekend

So I'm in Tahoe! I arrived yesterday afternoon. My mom and I had gotten up early and we hit the road by 8 so that we'd get up here in time for a boat ride on the lake with my dad. We'd made perfect time and were around 15 minutes away and suddenly all the cars were stopped on the side of the mountain and people were getting out of their cars and just walking around. I got out and asked the lady in the car in front of us if she had a clue to what was going on and she informed me that her husband was a few cars ahead and had told her there had been an accident. Every so often the line of cars would slowly creep forward and then stop again. An hour later, we'd missed the boat trip but were finally steadily moving along. In that hour, I'd also realized that my camera had gotten left behind at the house so all I had was my tripod and my little point-and-shoot. Shoot.

That also means no fireworks pictures for the Fourth or pictures of the lake.

I'm glad I at least have my little camera!

I'd planned on making a post last night but came to find out that the internet at the house turns on at 8:30 in the morning and suddenly shuts off sometime in the afternoon/evening. Heh. Good to know!

My mom, dad and I, in lieu of the boat trip, went down to one of the creeks where it pools to create a fairly deep hole and went swimming.

It's beautiful, I really do miss waking up to huge beautiful trees right outside my window and feeding the Stellar Jays peanuts off the deck (which my mom has been entertaining herself with all morning!).

We also went to the grocery store, and I saw around 15 people I knew. (Yeah, Tahoe really is a small town!) A few I'd even been really good friends with. There was even one who was talking to me in the store that I'd sat on the bus with for two years! And one who I'd been in dance class with for the last 4 years!

Only one recognized me though. He'd been in my French class in high school.

It feels so strange. Unfortunately, it really reminded me why I left Tahoe.

So today, my dad's at work and my mom and I are going to try and pack up as much of the stuff that's still left in this house as we can.

We want to be packed by the end of tomorrow as we have to load the truck up on Saturday and would love to have a day to just spend playing around and relaxing up here. =] We'll see if we can accomplish the impossible to be able to do that. I sure hope so!

I'm off! Got to get packing!

By the way! I wanted to mention that April Showers is creating an organic site that will talk about all things "going green". I've entered to be one of the 6 main contributers and am hoping to be picked! My fingers are crossed!