Night on the Town

My daughter and the boyfriend invited me out on the town. We went downtown to the IMAX theater and saw Avatar in 3D. It was pretty good. Think "Dances With Wolves" in space. I highly recommend the 3D version, too. The effects were amazing, and I'm not really into that sort of thing. I can see why boys would be nuts for it, though, lots of chasing scenes and stuff blowing up.

We went to Buckhorn for tri-tip sandwiches first. Then to Rick's Dessert Diner, which was equally amazing. The place is really small, but the raspberry torte was delicious.
It was nice to spend time with my daughter and the boyfriend who are scheduled to be married on 10/10/10.

Next up....Wedding Planning. Oh my.

Burned Out Buttons

My son has a cell phone. What teenager doesn't?

He bought said phone with his own money. This was back when he had a job. It wasn't cheap either. It was my contract, but the phone was his purchase. It's a 2 year contract. That was 1 year ago. He has totally burned up the buttons on this expensive phone. This gives you some idea of the amount of texting this boy can do.

Buttons? Gone.

So we head to our local ATT store to investigate a new device. We walk in and the perky lady comes trotting over to help us. "Cheapest device in the store WITHOUT a new contract? $150."

She lowers her voice and says, "but if you go to Best Buy, you can buy a ATT compatible phone for about $30. You didn't hear that from me."

Well, we were screeching into the Best Buy parking lot moments later since I was the one with the checkbook. Sure enough, Go Phone $29.99 and up. Of course we wanted the "and up" model, but still I saved a TON of money.

We bought the texting model. I'll let you know how long these buttons last.

A Day Trip

Now this is what I call making the best of a day off. I never thought of Yosemite as a day trip, but here's what my Saturday looked like. It was amazing.

The Perfect Kid

I can't believe what a good sport my kid is. He's willing to get up early and drive 4+ hours with his mother to spend the day doing things "you do with your mom." He picks a CD we can both stand to listen to. We stopped for Starbuck's and talked about social issues and government on the way.

We went to the Golden Gate bridge and walked out half way. I've always wanted to do that and never have until today. It was fun. Windy. Windy and fun.

He's patient while I snoop through the gift shop. He pretends to be interested in which magnet I pick out. He has done this countless numbers of times before. (See refrigetator evidence).

Then he acts excited about eating at a restaurant that I saw on Drive-ins, Diners, and Dives. He looked up the menu on line last night to see what he might want to order and iGoogle'd directions.

It's not all sunshine and field trips. He's 18. He has no job.

But as part of "2010: The Year of Gratitude" I'm going to focus on the positive. He's patient and kind. He's super creative and intelligent. He's incredibly funny. He loves his mother. I am going to take some of the credit for proper care and training. But mostly he chooses to be a really wonderful person.

And for that, I am grateful.

Happy New Year!

I often go through my days wishing for an experience other than the one I'm actually having.

It's an odd thing that I do without realizing it. Why not just relax and enjoy where I'm at instead of always wishing things were as I think they "should be" (whatever that means).....it's quite frustrating. It keeps me from really being present with the people and places I encounter.

It also keeps me from experiencing the appropriate gratitude for the many blessings I do have.

I'm living a blessed life. I have so many things to be grateful for. This year I'm going to reverberate the beauty, joy, excitement, anticipation, laughter, and love I receive on a daily basis.

I want to cultivate a spirit of generosity and gratitude for what God has done right here in Apartment 501.

Happy New Year!