Mexican Comedy Birthday

For my birthday this year, I wanted to check out an improv comedy club in Old Town San Diego. We waited a week after my birthday, so we could plan it during the MLK 3-day weekend. A bunch of friends came to dinner at Fred's beforehand to enjoy tasty Mexican food and a rockin' Coldstone's ice cream cake that Dan picked out for me! Just to make you jealous, it had layers of red velvet cake, sweet cream ice cream mixed with brownies and cookie dough, and was covered in chocolate fudge icing. All my favorite desserts rolled into one amazing cake...I'm still dreaming about it...

Anyway, we were running a little late for the comedy show, but luckily they started a few minutes late, which gave everyone time to find street parking & seats just before the show started. Many of their improv skit ideas were literally pulled out of a hat, so the actors had no time to prep beforehand. It amazes me how they're able to think on their feet and still be funny! Plus it was a family-friendly show, so if anyone made an inappropriate suggestion (in the audience or the cast), they had to wear the "brown bag of shame" over their heads. One poor lady got to the show too late to hear that rule and yelled out a curse word (really loudly) as a suggestion to the cast. Everything screeched to a halt and they made this huge deal out of putting the bag over her head, so she was really embarrassed and had no clue what was going on! hil-arious!

It was a great night with great friends, and a fun way to kick off my 32nd year!

Around the table from the left front: Ann, Paul, Chris S., Cynthia, Eric, Jenn, James (Eric & Jenn's baby), Ian (Chris & Judy's baby), Chris, Judy, Me, Dan, and Adessa. The 2nd picture from the other side of the table turned out really fuzzy, but oh well, here it is anyway.

2010 - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

So far 2010 has been pretty dramatic for us. Besides the national & worldwide catastrophes (the U.S. economy & health care sagas, the Haiti earthquake, etc.), we've had a lot of unexpected personal drama. We like amusement park roller coasters, people, not emotional ones. Oh well, here's our January so far.

Family
The Good: We loved seeing our family during the holidays and my parents are coming to visit us in Feb! Also most of us are in good health and have stable jobs or retirement set-ups that are providing well for us.

The Bad: Dan's dad had a heart attack last weekend. All the Jesters (except us) live in Williamsburg, VA, so we felt especially helpless since we couldn't even be there for moral support. The good news is that they put a stent in, and he's been doing great since then! We're very thankful! We also just learned that my uncle on my dad's side has leukemia, so we're waiting to find out more about his treatment options.

Work
The Good: Dan's had a really exciting & positive year - probably his best year yet as high school principal.

The Bad: My company kicked off the new year by laying off employees, including 50% of my department. We're definitely down to the bare bones & we can feel it! Also, we're now all required to keep an 8-5 schedule, thus killing my morning workout time, since I was waking up to work out at 6:45 and going into the office at 9. I'm not getting up at 5:45. I have my limits.

General Life
The Good: I had an awesome 32nd birthday! (I'll write a separate blog on that) I used my birthday money to join the YMCA that's across the street from our new corporate office. They have really good classes and it's nice to belong to a gym again. The spinning instructors are punishing me for every cookie I ate during the holidays.

The Bad: I work out during lunchtime, so I have to shower in the gym locker room before going back to work. Eeeeew.

There is no more bad - so that's good. :) It just seems like the past few weeks have been extra emotional, with few breaks in between. But we know that God is using it all for His glory & our good! We're praying that we can truly rest in Him, no matter what the circumstances!

Happy New Year from Michael Tait!

I just wanted to pass on a New Year's wish from Michael Tait. He was singing a little personal concert to Dan and I last night right before the ball dropped, so we asked him to give a shout-out to all our family & friends.


Okay really, we went to the Knotts Berry Farms New Years Eve extravaganza last night, and it was a great time! They opened up most of the roller coasters and had line dancing instructors and the Newsboys rang in the New Year. They were fun - they did a mix of new songs, old Newsboys songs (Captain Crunch, anyone?), Michael Tait originals, and even threw in a little "Jesus Freak" for all those old school DC Talk fans. We ran into some staff & kids from Dan's school when we were in line for the roller coasters, and got to watch the countdown to midnight with them. Knott's was a full minute late, which everyone knew because they were watching the clocks on their cell phones (darn that modern technology - it ruins all the suspense!). But they made up for it with a pretty cool fireworks show. Anyway, here are a couple of photos of our New Year's party. We wish everyone the best in 2010!!

The Newsboys

Featuring Michael Tait as lead singer

Happy New Year!! Whoo hoo!!

Flashback to last year. I don't think we've changed much yet.