It's Almost Time!

In a little more than one month I will be up at one of my most favorite places in the world...CAMP! As a child I only went to camp two times but as an adult I have been directing camps for almost 8 summers. I get to escape from a week of work and spend an entire week up in Big Bear with hundreds of kids from all over Southern California. I can't think of anything more fun than being up there with my "camp family", making lanyards, hiking, singing at campfire and just being a kid for a week. I am truly blessed to have such an opportunity like this one in my life.

Going Organic

I have been in a bit of a transition for the past couple months trying to become more organic conscious about the products I use and the food I buy. Last month I stopped using "regular" shampoos and soaps and switched to organic ones after learning how they seep into your pores and enter your bloodstream. Not many people know that beauty products aren't regulated by the FDA because they aren't ingested and therefore contain many harmful elements.

Over at The Cosmetic Database created by The Environmental Working Group you can do a search for your makeup and see where it is ranked in toxicity. On the website you can also check out the hazard ratings for other personal products including: Skin Care, hair Care, Eye Care, Nail Care, Baby Care, Oral Care, and Perfumes. It is eye opening and you will find that many of your favorite product lines unfortunately rank very high in toxicity.

Making healthy decisions about the food we eat and the products we use are tremendously important in our long term health and happiness.

My Family

I really like this picture. It was taken in front of Mission Viejo Country Club where we spent a lot of time when I was growing up. My grandma would play tennis there everyday and we would spend family holidays there as well. I like this picture because my mom looks so beautiful and happy. My grandmother is in her tennis outfits and it reminds me of how active she once was. My dad is in this picture too and since my parents divorced when I was 2 years old I don't have many pictures with all of us together. Not to mention the fact that my brother and I look so cute!!

Happy Birthday Gammie!

This Sunday was Father's Day which is a great day, but I was most excited about the fact that is was also the same day as my grandmother's 90th birthday! My grandmother is one of my most favorite people in the world and I think that everyone should have someone as wonderful as her to bless their lives.

My grandmother - "Gammie" - is unique in every sense of the word. She had never been like other grandmothers. She drove a cherry red camero up until she was in her early 80's, she wore leather skirts and stiletto heels, she wore fancy clothes and would "burn rubber" in the school parking lot when she would pick my brother and I from elementary school. She never cooked, baked or sewed. She was the grandma who people would mistake for my mom because she looked so young and acted so vibrant....everyone always wanted her to be their grandmother but I was the lucky one!

Yesterday was an amazing day because a week ago she fell at home and broke her hip. The whole family was worried that she would spend her 90th birthday in the hospital. But true to her determined spirit she was back home where we celebrated her birthday. She was in great spirits and said it was her best birthday yet...happy birthday Gammie looking forward to an even better b-day next year!

Backpacking Doggies

I know, I know I can't help it...I made a rule that this blog wouldn't be plastered with pictures of Jack and Charlie, but this one was so darn cute I couldn't resist. We took this picture a few weekends ago when a group of us went up to Arrowhead for the weekend for Julia's birthday. We had a great time getting away from the city, playing some ping pong and just hanging out.

Little Charlie

I don't think it's fair that no matter where Charlie is lying he always looks so darn comfortable.

I am HOT...HOT...HOT

My grandmother's 90th birthday is in June and my mom, brother and I thought it would be a great idea to create a picture album for her filled with family memories throughout the years. I was visiting my mom over Memorial Day weekend and we spent a few hours digging through old pictures to include in the album. In our picture hunt I came across an old school picture...which as you can clearly see is the early mark of my hotness.

I strongly believe the biggest fear for a child is the day they learn they need glasses or braces. These things are like the scarlet letter of elementary school. Kids who are cursed with four eyes or a metal mouth, no matter how easily they fit in before, find themselves cast out of the "in crowd" and quickly make their way to the end of the line at the polar opposite of "coolness". As a kid I was blessed with naturally straight teeth but horribly messed up eyesight. No matter how many carrots I chowed down on I saw the fuzzy lines of the blackboard grow even fuzzier until that fateful day when my teacher sent me home with a note addressed to my mom...which under strained squinted eyesight I knew read, "Stacy needs glasses".

The way my mom tells the story...I was the one who picked out my glasses and insisted on the huge pink frames. The way I tell it...my mom did not do her proper motherly duty in damage control. To add to insult my eyesight was so bad that my glasses were bi-focals and so thick that if I looked into the afternoon sun I would surely burn off all my eyelashes.

I wore glasses for about 4 years until the wonderful day when my wishes were answered and my mom allowed me to graduate from nerdy four eyes to a full fledged contact lens wearer. I couldn't ditch the glasses soon enough. The scars were almost healed although not forgotten. In those 4 years I endured countless name calling...suffered the brunt of many punchlines and was even asked out by the most popular boy in school as a result of a painful dare by his friends.

Being cursed with huge pink glasses...which over the years varied from huge pink glasses to huge navy blue glasses and varying shades between...actually brought me quite a few blessings. I wasn't ever one of the pretty girls that the boys wanted to go out with. I could never rely on my looks to get me by on anything. I couldn't bat my eyelashes to get my way...even though they were quite noticeable as they were magnified to ten times their normal size. I couldn't depend on the idea that guys would always be falling at my feet...that was my good friend Tania who held that curse. But I did spend those 4 years (between the tears of course) relying on my sense of humor and my ability to make people smile. I couldn't cherish my good looks so I cherished my good character and sensitivity. Looking the way I did forced me to dig deeper than what I looked like to others and focus on how I was to others. I didn't have the magnetism of looks to draw people in so I had to draw them in through other means. I got my friends through a far deeper connection.

No matter how many years pass between my "glasses years" and today I always feel like if I remember who I was back then...the little girl with huge glasses...I am able to see the world more clearly...and that is a blessing in itself.

And So It Begins...

I have been trying for years to be disciplined about writing in my journal. But there it sits in an obscure drawer for safe keeping. The 12 measily pages hidden safe from snooping eyes. Seriously, it's pathetic, I have written 12 pages in over two years. I remember when I was younger I would fill page upon page of journals. I used them as an escape and as a transcript that I knew I would visit years later...I trusted that the torment I was writing about would someday be looked back on as humorous or at best, insignifigant.

Journals have indeed changed over time. They are no longer diaries filled with secrets that we hide under our beds, locked safely away with the key hidden strategically from our siblings. Today, people live out loud. Their secrets, thoughts, impressions, poetry displayed proudly on Myspace pages, on our blogs. In a somewhat desensitized society we no longer guard our inner most thoughts under lock and key but proudly type them, dress them up with fancy graphics on standard templates and display it for millions of our virtual friends to see.

So at the risk of sounding like a sell out I am also going to live my life out loud...today I created my blog for the world to stumble upon. Being from the old school though I am sure I will ease into this virtual diary---instead of writing about the boy I secretly am in love with in my math class I may start small with recipes, scrap booking ideas, random harmless thoughts and cute pictures. Baby steps....I am sure the good chisme will come in time.