Mother's Day - The 1st Half

Dave and I met my mom at her new church in Chino in the morning. Enjoyed the service and hen headed out to breakfast at Farmer Boy's, a favorite of Mom and Wendy's. Then we went on a tour of all the many critters of Chino.

You see when I was very young we didn't have much money so my mom would take me to the dog pound and call it the zoo. It is now a running family joke. So we called our tour through the streets of Chino, "a safari through the Wild Animal Park".

Here are some of the fierce beasts that we encountered:

PJ

In Escrow!

Well, the Aliso house is finally in escrow!!! YIPPY! It should close at the end of May, assuming all goes smoothly. So on June 1st...let the horse shopping begin! :o)

Day 2 w/ The New Camera

Getting Closer....

Well, we have finally gotten a couple offers on the Aliso house. I will be sure to post an update once it goes into escrow, which we are hoping will happen in the next couple days!

Here is PJ helping Dave review one of the offers on his computer:

A Whole New World

Day 1 with our new digital camera!











Thanks, Jeff, for recomendinig the Canon Powershot A510. We are loving it. As you can see from the pictures, we will be loving it even more once we figure out how it works!

CHER

Lori and I went to the Cher concert at the Hollywood Bowl last night. We had a great time. Cher was amazing!

Del Mar National

Saturday I got up at 6am (not a single snooze did I hit) and headed down to Del Mar to go to the Del Mar National Horse Show. My mom's friend, Wendy, was going to be showing in the show.

It was such a wonderful day. As soon as I stepped on the property I felt like I was home. I miss showing horses so much!

Highlights for the day:

1. Spending the day hanging out with my mom.
2. Catching up with old friends. Funny how not much has changed in the 4 years I have been completely out of the sport.
3. My new jacket. It was getting really cool toward the middle of the day so my mom bought me a really cool new jacket. I have worn it every day since.
4. Standing only 5 feet away form Bob Avila! Bobby Avila is one of the top horsemen ever! He is like the Lance Armstrong of the horse industry.
5. Sting Ray boots. My boots are just about to fall apart so I was checking out the boot selection at one of the vender booths. They had boots made out of all types of hide, such as ostrich and alligator, however there was one that I could not identify. They merchant explained that it was sting ray and I guess it is one of the most durable materials to make boots out of it. It is non-porous so you don't have to polish them; you just hose them down when they get dirty. They were a mere $400 so I passed. They were really cool looking though.

Important Information....just in case

Kristin Michele Titov's Aliases

Your movie star name: Ice Cream Bob

Your fashion designer name is Kristin Paris

Your socialite name is Midget Cabo

Your fly girl / guy name is K Tit

Your detective name is Pony Ocean View

Your barfly name is Candy Vodka

Your soap opera name is Michele Waltz

Your rock star name is Strawberry Jet

Your star wars name is Kripj Titdav

Your punk rock band name is The Lazy Candle

The Amazing Meganame Generator

No More Planes...PLEASE!

WOW...What a trip!

My boss and I flew out of John Wayne at 9am Tuesday morning. We landed in Houston around 2pm for a 2 hour layover. Then we got on a plane headed for Charlotte, NC. However, once we got near the airport they closed it down due to severe weather. We flew in a circle waiting to things to clear up, but when we began to run out of fuel we were rerouted to Charleston, SC. We landed in Charleston, waited on the plane for a half hour and then they let us off the plane to wait in the now closed down airport. Donn and I were starving, having been well past dinner time by now. However, the only food options where inside the souvenir shop. I had a bag of Skittles and Donn had some salted peanuts. After about an hour in the Charleston airport they let us back on the plane and we headed back to Charlotte. By the time we got off the plane in Charlotte, haled a cab and got to our hotel, it was midnight. However, we still hadn't really had dinner yet. So we hoofed it to the nearest restaurant in the rain. We were exhausted and quite punchy at this point, but it felt good to be out side and stretching out legs.

The next morning started with a 7:30am wait-up call (keep in mid that this is 4:30am CA time). My eyes felt heave and I just wanted to stay in bed. I drug myself over to the mirror and was quickly aware of why my eyes felt so heavy. They were totally swollen and red. I looked like once of those big gold fish with the bugged out eyes. When I met Donn for breakfast he refused to even look at me claiming that they made him sick to his stomach (yes, this made me feel much better). We had 9am and 10:30am appointments (which I won't go into deals about being the discreet HR pro that I am). Then the cab came to pick us up to take us to the airport at noon. Our 2:35pm (11:35pm CA time) flight was delayed by an hour. Turning out 1 hour and 5 minute lay over in Houston only a 5minute layover. We found ourselves speed walking from the B terminal to the E terminal on direct opposite ends of the airport. We got to out next plane just in time...hot and sweaty, but on time. I was really not look forward to getting on another plane. This was just way too much airplane time in such a short period. And my travel companion wasn't very entertaining. The second we got in the air he would fall fast asleep and then wake up just as the landing gear was hitting the runway. We ended up getting back to The OC last night at 8pm.


PLEASE...N O M O R E P L A N E S ! ! !

House For Sale

Our Aliso house is finally beautified and on the market. It is on Homeseekers.com of you want to check it out. I am expecting the offers to be rolling in any minute now!

"Camping"

Friday night we packed up our camping gear and headed down to Doheny Beach to meet some friends from SCU for a bit of camping. By the time Dave and I got there it was dark but we were able to get our tent up with out too much trouble. We didn't bring a hammer so we weren't able to steak it down. But, we figured that that wasn't very important anyways. Also, we didn't really want to bother with the directions so we we just attached the cape on the top so that it "looked" right.

We all had a nice evening sitting around the campfire roasting marshmellows. At 11pm we decided it was bed time. We all ajerned into out own tents for a restful slumber. However, then the wind started up. It was blowing so hard that our entire tent was moving. Every few minutes the side of the tent would hit me in the head. And the cape that wasn't secured correctly to begin with was being caught by the wind and acting more like a sail. Oh, and it was also freezing. I just couldn't seem to get warm. So at 2pm I had not gotten a second of sleep so I sat up and turned to Dave saying, "I am seriously thinking about driving home." Giving the amount of complaining that I had done over the past few hours he replied, "I think that is a good idea." So he got up to remove the "sail" and I headed home.

The next morning I headed back to our camp site to endure some teasing, but turns out I wasn't the only one that didn't sleep very well. We spend that day basically just relaxing. We sat around and talked and read magazines. After lunch a group of us headed to a big grass field for a game of barefoot soccer. I wasn't planning on playing but when they were short a person I was called upon to even out the teams. I played defense and ended up having a really great time. Our team, consisting of Eric J., David T., Matthew J., Conner E. and myself, ended up the victors.

Dave and I stayed for dinner, amazing chili made by Jenn W. and Natalie J. Then headed home to get a good night of sleep since sunday was going to be spend putting the final touches on the Aliso house including planting tons of flowers and trees.

Paint Everywhere!

As most you know, that see me in person on a regular basis, I am a fan of the creative airbrush designs on my finger nails. I have had everything from stars to ocean scenes with dolphins and palm trees to the most recent Easter eggs. However, right now all that is noticeable on my nails is brown and white paint. No, not nail polish or airbrush paint....wall paint.

Dave and I are in the midst of getting our Aliso Viejo house ready to sell. Yesterday was phase 1. Dave resoded part of the back yard during his lunch break and then both of us were there last night. I chose a brownie-grey color for the bedroom to match the towels I had purchased for the master bath since there isn't a door between the two. I thought it would look great to have the bedroom brownie-grey with white accents and then the bathroom white with the exact same brownie-grey accents. I spent about 1/2 hour at Lowes finding the exact color to match the towels. After the color was mixed it looked perfect in the can. Then I got home and painted a little spot on the wall. However, on the wall the color looked more mauve. Dave and I continued painting hoping that it would dry the right color or maybe it was just the peachy-orange color it was covering that was reflecting oddly, but once it is all covered it will look right. By the time we left at 9pm it was looking better, but I seriously doubt that it will end up being the same brownie-grey as the towels. O'well...it was a nice try, I guess. Dave's dad is spending the day today finishing up the room. I am excited to see how it will turn out.

Anyways, that is the big time consuming project for this week...getting the house ready to sell. We still have about 20-30 more projects on the list to get done before Monday.

Palm Desert

The brokerage firm the we use at Barbeques Galore invited Jen (our HR Assistant)and I to attend their Annual Employee Benefits Informational Seminar in Palm Desert at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort. Since it was free our boss encouraged us to go and learn more about trends and new legislation/regulations relating to employee benefits. Soon after RSVPing that we would attend we found out that our husbands were also invited. I though this was a bit strange, but Dave was more than willing to attend. So we left around 3pm on Friday. We got there around 5:30pm since there was quite a bit of traffic. The frustration of the traffic was quickly forgotten once I checked in and was informed that we would be staying in a "1 bedroom Penthouse Suite" on the "Concierge Floor".

Friday night at 6:30pm there was a Welcome Reception for all the attendees of the seminar and their families. Then after breakfast at the Regency club on Saturday morning the real work began at 9am. The hard work ended at 12pm just in time for lunch. And that was it. The "Employee Benefits Seminar" part of the weekend was over after only 3 hours of information. So after lunch Dave and I headed out to the pool for awhile and then it was time for my 50 minute Sweetish Massage. Then back to our "suite" for a quite nap and some lounging on the balcony enjoying the mountain views. And then to the regency club for ordurves and off to dinner. Dinner was at a swanky little Italian restaurant in the shopping district of Palm Desert. It was one of the nicest meals I've ever had (probably in the top 10). Dave had Filet Minion and I had some dish I can't pronounce or remember but had to moan with each bit. Oh, and did I mention the entire weekend was "open bar"?

When we went to check out on Sunday morning the only charge on our bill was for the tip on the massage. The weekend cost about $60 including gas and road tolls. Now this is my kind of "seminar"!!!

Easter

Easter morning started with going to church. We attended the 9am SCU/Sakred service.

Me & Karen


The boys of the RSM Community Group


Me & Troy


Then we made the trek to the Moreno Valley for an Easter meal with Dave's family.

The girls


The cousins


Dave eatting a color coordinated M&M

A Shopping Trip to Remember

I had the best shopping trip last night!!!

First I went to Nordstrom's because the super cute pointy toe boots I got there in December were getting a tear in one of the seams. So took the boots up to the desk and showed the guy the tear. He asked me if I would like to have them fixed or get a whole new pair. I told him that I didn't care. So he brought me out a shiny new pair of the exact same boots...tear free! With that success behind me I was off to find a new pair of jeans. Now I have never spent very much on my jeans, but jeans are my favorite piece of clothing. SO since I have finally been able to maintain a weight that I am happy with I decided that it was time that I have a pair of jeans that fit just right. I ended up in Saks 5th Avenue. I had never shopped there before, but their website had the best selection of jeans out of all the stores in the mall.

Saks is my new favorite place! It was so fun! They had a huge selection. I think I must have tried on 15-20 pairs of jeans. The dressing room they gave me was gigantic with multiple mirrors and everyone was super nice. I felt like Cinderella. My search finally concluded with finding my "Dream Jeans"! They are so perfect! They are a dark jean color with a touch of fading and fit perfectly! And the best part is they were under my budgeted amount to spend!

After purchasing the most perfect jeans ever I was walking out of the store when I noticed a sale rack that caught my eye. I found a super cute long sleeve shirt by Juicy Couture priced down to $24 from it's originally price of $64! I had to try it on! And..it fit! What a night! I am still reeling from the exhilaration (as you can probably tell from all the !'s)!

Lake Arrowhead

Karen, Dave and I drove up to Lake Arrowhead Friday afternoon. As we were driving up the final hill we were seeing all kinds of cool homes through the darkness and were getting pretty excited. When we finally pulled up to our cabin it didn't quite look like the luxury homes we had pasted by, but we weren't disappointed...yet. After opening the front door we were immediately confronted with an awful musty smell. The cabin was totally dark inside. We slowly made our way into our new home for the weekend turning on one light at a time throughout the house until every light was one. With the flick of each switch a glimpse of the 60's was reviled. First the brown, orange and green linoleum flooring in the kitchen...Then the patterned brown carpet...Next the neon green vinyl and white rod iron dinning room set with matching bar stools...and so on. Each window had its own set of heavy, albeit dusty, draperies in an array of rusty oranges, drab yellows, olive greens and poop browns. I have seen my fair share of Scooby-Doo episodes so I opened each cabinet and bedroom door with extreme caution half expecting bats to fly out at me. It was our estimation that no one had set foot in the house for few weeks at best. We made a quick phone call to Mike to ask him to be sure to bring up some candles to help with the odor. On the bright side; the cabin did have 3 separate areas that made for great gaming, nice big fireplace, and 2 really cool balconies with a gigantic tree coming up through the middle of both of them.

Once we had finished our exploration of the place we decided to make the best of our time by playing a game of Cities & Knights. Dave, of course, won. By the time we finished our game the musty smell was barely noticeable and Mike, Matthew and Anita we only a few minutes away. Once they arrived we played a quick round of Blackjack to decide who got which room and we were off to sleep.

The next morning we awoke to a beautiful sunny day. We quickly crammed down some breakfast and began a game of Settler's of Catan, which Anita, even though it was here first time playing, won. Then we were on a mission to find snow. We ended up driving to Big Bear were we purchased some plastic saucers. We found a cool little place that had some great sledding runs with a little help from a local. Dave and I were the first ones to take the saucers and hike up the hill. He suggested that I go first. I had 2 options...1. take the smooth slope or 2. take the one that resembled a roller coaster. I, of course, decided to try the roller coaster one hoping to catch some air. Well my wish came true. Everything was going well over the first bump, but then I started to spin around backwards and was picking up a lot of speed. The next bump proved to be a bit too much. As I crested it facing back up the hit I caught huge air that bounced me right off the saucer on the landing. However, by now I was flying down the hill totally out of control. I took the next bump without my saucer and finally came to a stop a couple of yards later. Dave declared that I won the award for Biggest Wipe-out of the Day! I am a bit sore, but no injuries. Needless to say I took the smooth tack for the rest of my runs. Once we had our fill of sledding we had a quick snow(ice)ball fight and then ended our snow experience by building a snow man.

While on our snow excursion we left the windows open in the cabin so by the time we got back that evening all traces of the musty smell had vanished. We finished up the evening with a game of Settler's of Catan and then various card games.

Sunday morning we got up and cleaned the cabin and then headed over to where the Aliso Community Group was staying for their Community Group retreat just a couple of miles away. I called our cabin the "retro cabin", but their cabin wasn't even a cabin. It was more of a palatial estate right on the lake. We hung out there for awhile talking and roasting marshmallows before heading back to The South OC.

The only pic of my big wipe-out:


The group:


Dave and I take a rest from the fun:


The snowman artists -- all I did was his hair:


Dave makes-out with the snowman:


Karen and I brave the hill together:


Mike and Dave, who won't even share a meal, share a saucere down the hill:

Annual Manager's Conference

Just got back from the 2005 Annual Barbeques Galore Manager's Conference which was held at the Torrey Pines Hilton in La Jolla. It was really fun and a great opportunity to get to know our manager's better, but also quite tiring. I had an awesome time, but am glad to be home.

Can you find me iin teh crowd?


Me & the 2003 Store Manager of the Year with the Owner and CEO of Lynx

PJ

Now that I can post pictures on my bolg I thought I would share some pics of my little kitty, PJ.


Posing for the camera


She just LOVES ribbons and...doesn't she have the cutest little toes?


Here we are in the car on the way to pay a visit to the vet


Enjoying Super Bowl Sunday together

Baby Shower

Karen and I attended a baby shower for one of the Bunko Girls, Erika, yesterday. She is due in just a couple of weeks. Karen and I met before the shower to pick up a gift. But, soon discovered that neither of us could remember if the baby was going to be a girl or a boy. So we strategically chose items that were neutral, but felt bad for not knowing. We took all precautions to hide our not knowing. Soon after getting to the party we discovered that nobody knows the sex of the baby, not even Erika :o) So our neutral gifts fit right in.

Tahoe Pics

The SCU Community Pastors ready to hit the slopes


Lori, Dave and I preparing to take on lift #5


Pro Snowboarders


Riding up lift #2 behind Dave and I


Innertubing


Lori and I wrestling in the snow


Aren't we cute?!?!?!

My Calling

It has been confirmed that I am a better driver than Dave. We went to a birthday party for a good friend at Dave & Busters on Friday night. Well, you know how they have those Daytona race car simulators that can race against each other? I think Dave and I raced 4 different times. I won all 4 times! By the 4th win Dave had completely run out of excuses for this phenomenon. Turns out my calling isn't Human Resources it's RACECAR DRIVER!!!

Tahoe Trip

Just got back yesterday from an awesome trip to Tahoe with the South County United Community Pastors. It was an amazing week for fun, relaxation and fellowship. We left Orange County in Troy and Tricia's van early Wednesday morning. The six of us (Troy, Tricia, Marc, Megan, Dave and I) drove straight to Tahoe only stopping for restrooms, food, and gas. We arrived in Tahoe around 3:30pm and Jeff and Lori joined us about an hour later. We stayed in a condo in Kirkwood right on the mountain. The ski lifts were only steps away. There was tons of snow on the ground (looked like about 8-10 feet). Each evening we broke apart different sections of Col. 4:2-6 and discussed how to best live these verses out in our lives, our community groups and our church. Each morning a different couple would lead us in a discussion ranging from prayer with your spouse to dealing with specific prayer needs. It was such an awesome time of being real and vulnerable with each other. I feel like God is really moving inside of us. These discussions wree actaully the highlight of the trip for me.

During the days we were on the slopes or playing games. Thursday morning, after some time of prayer with our spouses, we hit the slopes bright and early. The sun was out and the snow was perfect. Dave and I made some real progress with our quest to be master snowboarders. I even did a black diamond (of course I didn't know it was a black diamond until I got down the hill or I probably wouldn't have followed Troy down it). I never did master riding on the toe edge of the board. I just rode down on my heals switching between regular and goofy foot in order to steer without ever having to go on my toe edge (the standard "falling leaf" method). I was, however, quite proud of the progress I made with getting off the lifts. I only ate it big once and didn't even take anyone down with me.

We were on the slopes again the next day. It was another beautiful day. It snowed lightly all day until about 5pm when it really started snowing heavly. By the end of the day I was so exhausted the muscles on my thighs were totally spasming. However, Dave looked like he was about ready to turn pro. He was going down the mountain on both the toe and heal edges. I was so proud of him. Is there anything that this guy isn't good at???

It snowed all Friday night and we awoke Saturday morning at 4am to the snowplows pushing snow into our windows. Then at 6am started the canons. It sounded like we were being invaded, but I guess they were causing avalanches to make the mountain safe to ski on. This blasting continued until about 8am. So much for sleeping in! Oh, and I fogot to mention the fire allarm that went off for 2 hour the first night right when we were getting into bed (yes, sleeping was a bt of a challenge on this trip). However, when I looked out the window at 7:15am Saturday morning I was faced with the most beautiful sight. The sun was rising, the ski was blue, and everything was covered with a thick layer of snow. It was incredible! That day we went intertobeing! It was so so much fun!!!

Sunday Troy said we were to leave at 5:28am, but the cars didn't start rolling until 5:31am. Fortunately, even with this set back we still made it home by 2:30pm and had plenty of time to unload the vehicles, get to our homes, shower and be to church by 4:45pm for the 5pm service.

I am so thankful for this pastor's retreat and the opportunity to rest, refresh, pray, and have fellowship with this group of incredible people.

It was such a wonderful trip and I had a total blast, but it is good to be home!

Sin City Here I Come

Tomorrow morning I am off to Las Vegas to do some recruiting for work. It will be a quick trip. I should be getting back to the OC Thursday evening just in time to go to Community Group. I don't really mind these short trips. It is nice to get out of the office once in awhile. I will miss my hubby though :o( Dave will probably spend most his time while I am gone sulking around the house staring longingly at pictures of me. At least that is how I will picture him.

Our Household is Growing!

No, it's not a baby (praise God!)....not a puppy...

It's a cousin!

Yep, Dave's cousin, Derek, is moving in this Saturday. He will be moving into Jeff's old room. Dave spent about 3 hours last night cleaning the room, moving out the furniture and shampooing the carpets. We are excited for this opportunity to get to know Derek better. Currently he is an EMT for Laguna Hills and works 24 hour shifts so I am not sure how often we will get to see him. But, the close proximity to work will definitely be a bonus for him...Not to mention the joys for living with us (which is a BIG bonus...just ask Cathy)! And with Derek's medical expertise are really going to save on health care costs. I think I will go ahead and cancel my dentist appoint for next week :o)

Help!

Hey, anyone have any idea what is going on with the format of my blog? Why is my picture and stuff at the bottom instead of the top?

Breathing (& Sleeping!) Again

I feel like everything in my life has been on pause for the last week except for what was going on with my mom, which was on fast forward. My mom went into the hospital last Tuesday for knee replacement surgery, but ended up having some heart complications and just got out of ICU yesterday. But, I just got a call from her that she will get to go home today! I feel like I have been holding my breath all this time and now I can finally breathe.

Pasted below are the e-mails sent out to friends and family updating them on how my mom was doing:


From: Kristin
Sent: Tue 1/25/2005 10:06 AM
To: David ;vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags@; wka; tricia; thmurphy; Lynell
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: YEAHHHHHHH

My mom just called me from the hospital....she is going home TODAY!!!!!!!! Last night it looked like she wouldn't be able to leave until tomorrow or even Friday. But, Wendy is picking her up at noon to take her home. Her heart is still a little bit of an issue, but she will be able to have it monitored from home.

Thank you all for your prayers!!!!!


From: Kristin
Sent: Mon 1/24/2005 9:17 PM
To: David ; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka; tricia; thmurphy;
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


Just got back from visiting my mom. She is doing really well. She is still feeling depressed and like she has very little control over the situation, but she is definitely physically healing. It was fun to watch her walk on her new knee and not have any heart problems. Oh, and they moved her to a new room while I was there. She is now in room 428. I am finally feeling like I can breath deeply and sleep well that she is going to be okay :o)


From: Kristin
Sent: Mon 1/24/2005 3:17 PM
To: David ; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka; tricia; thmurphy
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


They have finally moved my mom out of ICU!!! She is in room 429 now. I got to talk to her just a few minutes ago. She sounded really good. She explained that they are monitoring her heart from monitors at the nurses station and will be treating her heart as a separate issue from the knee surgery. I guess her heart is still acting up. I will be going to visit her after work this evening.



From: Kristin
Sent: Sat 1/22/2005 6:38 PM
To: vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka; tricia; thmurphy
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


My mom seems to be doing even better today. Her heart rate is now back in the 70s (yesterday the whole time I was there it only dropped below 100 once or twice, but was mostly in the 120s). They said that for the most part her heart is rhythmic now, but when they got her out of bed to do physical therapy it started to get out of sync and flutter again. Not as bad as it was yesterday, but still a problem. She was out of bed for about 2 hours today while Dave and I were there and felt pretty good. Her nurse, Fritz, said that she will definitely be in ICU tonight and then if the heart issue doesn't crop up again tomorrow when she does her PT, then she might get to move into a normal room and out of ICU. They are also starting her on another pill that is supposed to help her heart out. She is starting to get depressed and tired of the whole thing. The thought that she will need to have the other knee replaced in about 3-4 months scary for her.

I just called the ICU unit to get an update and I guess Fritz was working with my mom in her room so he couldn't talk to me, but my mom told the lady that answered the phone to tell me that she is sitting up and feeling great! I am so thankful for all of the wonderful nurses at HB Hospital. Everyone has been so wonderful and attentive.

Thanks for your continued prayers!



From: Kristin
Sent: Fri 1/21/2005 10:38 AM
To: David; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: Good News


I just talked to my mom's nurse in ICU, Tina. She said that my mom has had a good morning. 3 different doctor's have come in to see her and check on her so that makes me feel good. They got the catscan results back and they were negative, which is actually positive thing :o) They still have no idea why her heart is out of rhythm and are still hoping that the medications will fix it. She will be in intensive care until at least tomorrow. she does have a slight temp, but the nurse said the doctor isn't too worried about it.



From: Kristin
Sent: Fri 1/21/2005 9:07 AM
To: David; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


When I left the hospital last night mom my was doing well, but still in ICU. She was in good spirits and not in much pain. The biggest problem seems to be that her heart is in atrofib(sp?), it is beating without any rhythm. Just before I left they told us that all the test had come back negative for blood clots so that is a BIG relief. They also ordered a catscan for her. I will probably be heading back there in a few hours.

-Kristin


From: David
Sent: Thu 1/20/2005 5:05 PM
To: vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


Kristin's Mom is doing better so far but still in the ICU. They are
running 4 tests to try to determine the problem. 2 of the tests have
come back so far and have been clear so that is good news. So far, no
blood clots in her legs or lungs.

-Dave


From: Vera
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 12:40 PM
To: vera; debbee;ldarnall; bill;lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth; David
Titov
Subject: Re: update

We just received a call from Kristin, her mom was taken to ICU because
her oxygen was low and her blood pressure was high. Please keep her in
your prays. Also pray for Kristin, she is on her way to the hospital
now.


From: Kristin
Date: 2005/01/19 Wed PM 01:57:21 PST
CC: "Karen" "Jenny" "Cathy" "Eric 2" "Straty" "Mike""Natalie" "Elizabeth"
"Dave"
Subject: update

I just got off the phone with my mom. She sounded kind of groggy, but I
guess she is doing well. She started feeling itchy today so the nurse
gave her some Benadryl (sp?) and the nurse says that it is the reason
she is groggy along with the Morphine. Physical Therapy came in the
morning and got her out of bed. She said it was painful. She is now on
that machine that will keep her knee in continuous motion. She said
that the machine isn't too bad. While I was talking to her the physical
therapist came is and she had to go. I called the nurses station and
talked to her nurse, which was the same one as yesterday, just to make
sure everything was okay and her nurse said she was doing great.


From: Kristin
Sent: Tue 1/18/2005 5:10 PM
To: verat; debbee;ldarnall; bill;lettybags; vera
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth; Dave
Subject: RE: prayer request


My mom had her surgery today. The surgeon said that it went really
well. He explained that her entire join was totally shot and worst than
he thought including her knee cap. So the new knee should be a big
improvement for her once she is healed. The surgery took 1 1/2 hours.
She was in a lot of pain went she got out of recovery and into her room.
She said that on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the worst pain ever) it
was at about 10+. I stayed with her while they got the morphine set up
and got all her things within arms reach for her and then ran some
errands that she ask me to do. By the time I got back her pain was down
to a 5 on the scale and she seemed to be in much higher spirits. I
talked to her nurse, who was really nice, and she was going to keep a
close eye on her. I left her at about 4pm. She was going to take a
nap.

One really cool answer to prayer was that the hospital she was at for
her back surgery faxed in the reports from the scary episode that sent
her to ICU last time this morning and the anesthesiologist was able to
look them over before she went into surgery. He read the entire report
and so did the surgeon. I guess it was an allergic reaction to a
medication they gave her to keep her from being nauseous. So that
relieved a lot of fears for her.

She is at Huntington Beach Hospital in room 108 bed 2. She was the only
one in the room today. They said that she will have to be in the
hospital for 4-5 days. Tomorrow she starts her physical therapy and
they will put her on a machine that will move her knee continually for 8
hours per day. She will have to be on the machine for a couple of
weeks. The main thing now is that she does not get an infection and
that the pain is not too bad as she starts the physical therapy.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

-Kristin


From: Kristin
Sent: Thu 1/13/2005 11:41 AM
To: vera; debbee;ldarnall; bill;lettybags
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth; Dave
Subject: prayer request


Just wanted to let you all know that my mom is going to have knee
replacement surgery next Tuesday, 1/18/05, at the Huntington Beach
Hospital. She has to be to the hospital at 5:30am, but the surgery
doesn't begin until 7am. I will be there from 6am till whenever on the
18th. She will have to stay in the hospital for 4-5 days. The good
news is that for this surgery, unlike the last one, she will have use of
her upper body and will be able to do things like feed herself and talk
on the phone which should make this one easier. The only real worry
about the surgery is that they still aren't sure what caused her to have
all the problems with her blood pressure and stuff that sent her to ICU
after the last surgery. Whatever it was we REALLY don't want it to
happen again!

Thanks,

Kristin

A Fun and Relaxing Weekend

Saturday morning I slept in until 11am! It was wonderful! Then Karen called and we decided to go for a walk in the rain while Dave worked on his "water wall" in the garage. Karen and Sam (her lab) picked me up. We hicked for a couple of hours in the canyon behind our house. It was so green and beautiful. There is usually a little stream down there, but that day it was more like a roaring rapid. We hiked up and down it and just enjoyed the beauty. It was great to be outside in the rain and to spend the time with a great friend. Then we went back home to get cleaned up. Dave and I had lunch together. Then I headed over to Karen's house for some quality game time. We had 2 exciting games of Cities and Knight; each of us winning a game. Then Dave came over to eat dinner with us and we all played Sequence. We each won a game, but I can't remember who won the championship game. Then Dave went back home to play X-Box and Karen and I watched a movie.

Sunday PJ decided that sleeping in was not an option. I gave in to her pleeding and went down stairs with her. She and I snuggled on the sofa while watching "Cinderella Story" so that Dave could continue sleeping. We both really liked the movie. Dave finally came down stairs just in time to see the last few minutes of the movie and saw one of his friends from college in the background of the last scene. So then we had to watch the whole movie again to see if we could spy is friend in any other parts of the movie. We couldn't. Then Dave went to work on his "water wall" and I headed to the mall. Oh the sales! I got a skirt at AE for onlt $4.99! Then off to church, to dinner, and then to bed.

Story Time

So I really haven't been doing too many exciting and blog worthy things in this new year yet so I am going to tell you a story.

One time at band camp...Just Kidding.

Okay, for reals this time.

Once upon a time a few years ago it was the middle of the night I awoke and realized that I had a huge wad of Dave's flesh from his side pinched between my fingers. Dave must have had the same realization because he asked, "What are you doing!?” I was still rather groggy and obviously not thinking clearly. Thus, I decided to lie. I replied in the most precious voice I could muster, "sleeping". However, I neglected to actually release my grip. This little detail must have cast some shadow of doubt since Dave grabbed my hand and flung it away from him. At this point I was pretty much awake and hysterical laughter took over.

This story makes me laugh every time and I have told it a lot. It is so funny to think that in my only partially conscious state my first response was to lie!

New Year's Eve

I had a wonderful New Year's Eve! Dave and I went over to Mike and Karen's house for dinner. Then just as we finished up dinner, Eric and Natalie came over. We played a record 3.5 hour game of Cities and Knights ending with Dave as the victor. It was actaully a really close game with all of us within 3 points of each other until Dave pulled out 3 points on his last turn for the win. It was a very exahusting game. After a brief rest we broke out The Newly Wed Game. Dave and I, being the perfect couple, took the lead. Natlie and Eric really came on strong at the end. I am actaully not sure who ended up winning. It ended up being a really fun night with some awesome friends!

Playing Cities & Knights:


At midnight!






Sam wants a kiss too!

10 BIGGEST Moments of 2004

Last night at the Murphy's house we wrote out our top 10 biggest moments for 2004. I thought I should post them, so here they are in no particular order:

1. Becoming Community Pastors
2. Getting the house in RSM
3. Our 4 year anniversary
4. Getting our first income properties
5. Cabo vacation
6. Bush getting re-elected
7. Pastor's retreats
8. My mom's scary back sugery
9. Atlanta Trip
10.The girls (The Dream Team) winning the "winner takes all" final set of Pool Volleyball at my birthday party

Check It Out

My loving husband has finally, after only 4 short years of nagging, updated our website. He did a really good job on it and I totally love it! You should check it out... www.daveandkris.com

Sneaky Sneaky

So Dave and I really never are able to make it to Christmas before opening our gifts for each other. So the Saturday before Christmas Dave and I wrapped all the Christmas gifts. That night we just couldn't wait any longer so we crept down stair, turned on the lights on the tree and handed each other our gifts. I began to open mine first. There were 3 items wrapped separately, but stacked on top of each other. It was pretty obvious that the top 2 items were DVDs so, considering the spending limits we had decided on, I figured it was probably a top of some sort in the larger box on the bottom. As I tore into the top package, I could see that it was in fact a DVD. But, it was Black Hawk Down. My first thought..."this wasn't even on my list" and my second thought..."Don't we already have this DVD". Then I tore into the second one. It was Charlie's Angels. Now I knew we already had this one. My next thought, "Wait a minute...these aren't even sealed....wait...these are OUR DVDs". I looked up and there was Dave with a huge smile on his face; obviously enjoying my confusion. The DVDs were decoys! So I pealed the wrapping off the 3rd and final box. It was a box from Coach. I was getting really excited at this point, but tried to hide it just incase this was another decoy. I opened the box and inside was the most adorable hot pink Coach purse. It was perfect and so totally unexpected. You see, Dave hates purses. His thinking is that he has one wallet; therefore I should have one purse and it should only cost slightly more than his wallet since it is only slightly bigger. I, on the other hand, love purses and love using them as functional accessories to my outfits. I probably have 5 different purses, which Dave thinks is totally ridiculous (and he is probably right). So for him to pick out such an amazing Christmas present for me was both surprising and wonderful.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! It began on Christmas Eve at Dave's grandparent's home in Downey. Just about his entire family on his mom's side was there. It was a great evening of family and food.

Then Chirstmas morning Dave's parents and sister came over to our house for breakfast and we opened packages with them. After they left Dave and I broke out the Sequence game that Troy and Tricia made for us. Then my mom and Wendy came over at around 3pm. We opened a few packages and played Catch Phrase and Scatagories with them. After they left we went back to playing Sequesnce. Dave kept winning so I became addicted to the game. I just couldn't stop playing with him winning all the time. Yes, it is a game of mostly luck, but I just had to win before we went to bed. Finially, I won a few and was actaully feeling fatigued from sitting all day playing the silly game.

The day after Christmas began with some grocery shopping and then some cleaning. Dave and I made a lasagna (well he cooked up the meat and I did everything else). My dad, step mom, and grandmother came over at around 3pm. My grandmother lives in Arizonia so it was her first time to see our house. After the tour we opened gifts. Then my mom came over and we all had dinner. It was so great to see my grandmother and also be able to spend time with my parents. Parents...seems weird for me to call them "my parents". Growing up it was either "my mom" or "my dad and Lanell". It was cool to have everyone there together enjoying eachother.

Catch up

Well, it has been awhile since my last entry. Seems like I have been really busy, but haven't really done much that seems exciting enough to write about. It suddenly strikes me that this could be a problem. Am I getting so bogged down in the day to day that I am missing out on the fun? Or, is it that I am just not seeing the best in the things that I am doing? Is it a true void or just a matter of a lacking in luster?

Looking back in my calendar here are some of the things I have been doing outside of work since my last blog entry:

11/23 SCU and Sakred Feast - It was potluck style. First we loaded up plates to take to a shelter and then ate the left over ourselves.

11/24 Shopping with my wonderful sister-in-law

11/25 Thanksgiving with Dave's family

12/1 Addressed Christmas Cards with a group of friends from SCU. It made a usually mundane job fun!

12/4 JP Jones spoke at SCU. I mustered up the nerve to do the announcements. Funny how singing is so much easier than talking when it comes to a large group of people. I did okay, just forgot to pray at the end and said "ummm" about 100 times (I think Dave was actually counting).

12/10 A big day for Christmas parties. First was the Barbeques Galore Christmas party which I was ultimately responsible for. It was at Dave & Busters and was a huge hit. My team, The Regulators (yes, the teams were named after barbecue parts), came in 3rd place out of 10 teams. Then I raced home and changed into my party dress for Dave's company’s party. It was held at a cute little Italian place in Irvine.

12/11 Dave and I drove to USC to take a picture of a "water wall" and then went to the Annual Hobby Horse Christmas Party. They showed the "Mockumentary" of the photo shoots done this year. Both my mom and I were featured in the film. They are supposed to send me a copy soon. It was hilarious.

12/13 Had dinner with our dear friends, The Johnson’s. It was a wonderful and encouraging evening.

12/14 Got sick. Stayed home from work. Had a Stewardship meeting that evening.

12/15 Had to go to work even though I still felt sick. Had a 6am unemployment phone hearing that I was the star witness for since I was basically the one the fired the guy. It went really well.

12/16 The Cleary's came over for worship and prayer, but we really only had time for prayer. Still a cool evening.

12/17 7am emergency Stewardship meeting. Don't they know that stewardship is more of an evening team? I don't join morning teams! That night we went to a Christmas Cocktail Party. It was fun to enjoy friends and dancing.

12/18 Sang at church with the Worship team, but wasn't fully recovered from being sick and lost my voice on the 3rd song. Luckily it came back for the last songs. I just sang some low harmonies and soft echoes. Then went to dinner with The Smith's and Cathy after.

12/19 Karen and Lori came over and we baked cookies together. I made 3 different kinds of cookies. It was totally exhausting, but really fun! We packet up plates of cookies to give to our neighbors.

12/20 Troy and Tricia had the Community Pastors over to their home for dinner. It was a wonderful evening of friends, encouragement and really good food!

Okay, so this exercise has shown me that it is a matter of luster. These have all been really cool things that I have been doing. Just about all of which could have been blog worthy if I had truly appreciated them. Alright, lesson learned...Don't get so busy that you start just going through the motions. I'll have to remember that...

It's the Little Things

Have you ever noticed that it is some of the simplest gestures that make you feel the most loved?

So this doesn't sound like much, but it is one of those "little" things that makes true love so amazing. Dave just got home from work. Yes, it is after 10:30pm and he just got home. I guess a server went down or something; who can really understand computer talk anyways? Though it is obvious that he has had a long stressful day. When he gets home I am already in bed just catching up on reading a few of my favorite blogs. I mention to him that my knee is hurting again. Then he turns around, after just reaching the bedroom only minutes ago and goes back down stairs and returns a few minutes later with my heating bag all warm and cozy for my knee. What a thoughtful wonderful husband!!!!

It is funny how a gift of a trip down stairs when your knee hurts can be more precious than some crazy expensive gift.

Trip to Atlanta

So this is going to be a rather long drawn out entry. It is the blow by blow of my trip to Atlanta. I was sent with a team of about 9 other people to help open the 2 new Atlanta stores for Barbeques Galore.

Monday - The shuttle picked me up at 6am to take me to the OC Airport to hop on a 7:55am flight. I got on the plane and got all settled in. Then as they went to close the back door of the plane the inflatable slide that is only supposed to inflate when you make a crash landing in the ocean inflated. We all then had to deboard the plane. I was of course in one of the last rows and therefore was one of the last off and the last in line to get a new flight. I stood in line for 2 hours. After an hour and a half they announced that the 11:45am flight was not full and my only hope was to get on the 1:40pm flight. Considering the 4 hour flight and the 3 hour time change this would put me in Atlanta pretty late. By the time I reached the front of the line I had pretty much resigned myself to the fate. I handed the guy my driver's license and a copy of my original itinerary. A few moments later he handed me a ticket for the 11:45am flight. I couldn't believe it! I began to thank him profusely. He got this concerned look on his face and told me to "shhhh". Whatever, I didn't care. I raced to the same terminal that I had already used once this morning. I finally arrived in Atlanta sometime after 8pm. Elizabeth (Trainer) and Lisa (Auditor) came to pick me up. We met the rest of the BBQZ team for dinner and then back to the hotel for some serious sleep. However, when I went to check into the hotel they didn't have my reservation. I'm telling you...this is the LAST time I let a VP make my travel arrangements! They only had 3 rooms available and they were all handicapped. Once I got to my room all I wanted to do was fall into the bed since I was exhausted from the long day for travel and had to get up at 5:30am (2:30am in CA) the next morning. Unfortunately the first thing I did once in the room was proceed to drop the coffee pot leaving shattered glass all over the floor. It was 11pm by the time the guy finished cleaning up the glass.

Tuesday - This day was spent at our store on Roswell Rd on Sandy Springs. In the morning I conducted an orientation for all of our newly converted employees. The rest of the day was filled with cleaning, organizing and filling out forms. We left the store at 8pm and went to dinner at a wonderful Italian place. This time I was able to get to bed by 10pm.

Wednesday - I had 3 interviews in the morning. All three were totally atrocious. Then I called Lisa to pick me up for lunch. This was my first chance to see my surroundings since I arrived since all other traveling had occurred in the dark. I was really impressed. It was really beautiful! Lisa, me and Michelle (Trainer) spent the rest of the day at the Duluth store reskuing and pricing. We worked really hard and were totally exhausted by 8pm when we finally got to leave the store. It was Elizabeth's birthday so we went to Dave and Busters for a dinner celebration. Everyone was so exhausted it was difficult to convince people that it was time to celebrate. There ended up only being 6 of us that had enough energy to go; me, Michelle, Elizabeth, Lisa, Monica (Auditor), and Dale (Store Manager from VA). It was a great group. We all squeezed into Lisa's Buick. By the time we finished dinner and got in the car to go home we were all so tired we were delirious. I car ride to the hotel was filled with nonstop laughter.

Thursday - I had 8 interviews scheduled, however only half of them showed up. It was the longest most boring day. I couldn't go anywhere or do anything because I never knew when one might actually show up. I filled the hours by watching TV in the lobby, making phone calls, and collecting pretty leaves for Dave. Yes, I later got made fun of extensively for the leaf collecting. Everyone got back to the hotel around 8pm and then we went to dinner followed by another laughter filled car ride. I love these people!

Friday - We went supposed to work this day, but Mark (District Manager) called in a panic needing help at the Duluth store. So Michelle, Elizabeth and I backed up our stuff and went to the store to help. We cleaned all morning and I scheduled interviews for Mark. Finally at 1pm Rod (Assistant Manager from NC) drove us to the MARTA station in Sandy Springs and dropped us off. It cost $1.75 each to ride the MARTA all the way to airport. MARTA is like a mostly above ground subway. This was my big chance to really see Atlanta. I was in awe. Everything was so beautiful. There were trees everywhere and lush foliage. All the buildings are totally beautiful too. The rich brick and white of the buildings against the shades of green, orange and red trees and then the blue sky; It was just breath taking. There was so much history too. I would really love to go back and be able to explore. The rest of the trip was smooth sailing; or I guess I should say "flying". I got home around 9pm, hugged my husband, checked my e-mail and then off to bed.

It is so good to be home!

I Went on a Date Last Night

Yep, I went on a date with my husband. It was really fun. His idea was to go to the Irvine Spectrum, have dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then walk around looking at the shops. Well, the rain kinda messed that up. So we just adjusted the plans slightly and went to the Mission Viejo Mall instead and ate at P.F. Chang's. It was such a wonderful evening. I love hanging out with my husband.

Seems like lately we just haven't had very much time together and the time we do have together is usually shared with other people too. I just haven't had enough "Dave Time". So Dave had the great idea of implementing a once a week date night. So far so good :o)

There is nobody in the world that I love hanging out with more than my husband! Once again, I feel so lucky :o)

Pool Volleyball: My New Favorite Sport

Last Sunday I invited our community group and former community pastors over to my mom's house to celebrate my birthday with a little lasagna and pool volleyball. The lasagna was perfect, but the pool volleyball was stupendous! It was Me, Karen C., Lori S., and Cathy G. (aka - The Dream Team) against Dave T., Jeff S., and Mike C. (aka- The Boys). We had a blast! It took The Dream Team a little while to warm up, but we pulled it together when it counted. The Boys had won the first few sets, but we were really beginning to pull together our team work and strategy so we challenged The Boys to a "for all the marbles, winner takes all" final set. And...We WON 15-8! There was such a celebration that an onlooker might have thought we had just won an Olympic Gold. It felt extra great because each of us on the team had each made a number of awesome plays and it really felt like we won as a team.

Still hungry for competition we moved it into the garage for a friendly game of darts. Yes, the girls prevailed yet again! This time I got to make the winning throw that put us at exactly 701 to win the game. Karen told me to aim for the 11 and then seconds later I watched the dart leave my hand and travel directly to the 11 square for the win.


Thank you all for making it so special!

I talked to Jon!!!

Yesterday Cathy and I went to the Switchfoot concert at The Grove in Anaheim. It was so awesome!!!! The tickets were standing room only so we got there two hours early to make sure we had prime viewing. It worked!!! We were in the first row of the second tear; only about fifteen feet from the band! We were so close that we could see every facial expression. Let me just say that they are even better live than on the CD. They ROCK! They played almost all of my favorite songs and then even played some new ones that they are working.

Our friends Conner and Dianne are really good friends with Jon (the lead guy) so they had special VIP passes. So after the show we waited, as instructed, hoping that Conner could hook us up to meet him or his brother (backup vocals & guitar guy). Conner called and told us to meet them at the back of the venue and he would bring Jon around to meet us. We waited and waited and finally just started walking to the car. I had a 7am flight the next day and didn't want to wait around all night for something that might not even happen. The night had already been amazing enough without meeting the band. As we were getting into the car my cell phone rang. It was Conner. He told me to hold on and then another voice came on the phone. I said "hello", then he said "hello" and back and forth like that until I asked, "Who is this?" He replied, "Jon". I told him who I was and then we citchated from maybe 2 minutes (this may not be anywhere close to an actually time fame...1. I don't have a watch, and 2. I was talking to the lead singer from my favorite band). Then he told me to take care of Conner and Dianne and we said good bye.

The night was practically perfect (with the exception of sore knees and feet from standing 6 hours straight). I got to hang out with a good friend, see an awesome show and talk to Jon. What more could I ask for?!?!?

Older, but Blessed!

Well, I am officially 27 years old now. Funny how 26 seemed so young and now 27 sounds so much older.

I had a great birthday weekend! Friday the HR Department took me to PF Chang's for lunch. Then Friday night Mike and Karen invited us to play tennis with them. It was an awesome impromptu evening. (By the way...Karen and I call a rematch; we will definitely take you guys next time!). After tennis we set up a gigantic screen and projector to watch Home on the Range in life size (the ONLY way to watch this action packed flick!). Then Saturday morning we totally slept in, which was much needed. That night Debbee came to The Gathering with us and then afterwards about ten of us went to Chili's for dinner. Sunday Dave and I went to Oak Glen to pick our own apples and stroll around the shops and museum. This weekend was so wonderful and relaxing.

I definitely feel older, but also feel appreciative of the many blessing God has provided. First of all, my husband. He is my best friend and perfect mate. Then my awesome friends and family. I feel so loved! And then countless other blessings like SCU, our home, my job, ect.

Older, but so blessed!