Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Guess It's Been A While

This year has gone by so fast. I fell into work with a voracious deadline of a summer end website launch, which turned into a September, then October, then November... we will talk about the end of the project in January 2010. So that consumed most of my time for the third and fourth quarters this year.

Trevor and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary in May and found out we were pregnant in August. Yeah! we are very excited, just found out it is a girl.

Now it's Christmas and write with a pre-New Years dedication to blog when I can.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

April Things

April was perfectly busy as far as I'm concerned.

Week 1
The first weekend Yorba Linda Friends Church had a conference with Kay Arthur and I was introduced to inductive Bible study which I found very interesting. The richness found in slowing down and reading to understand more of the text is simple, genius and something I want to learn more about.
(interestingly, my mom picked up a bunch of workbooks on precepts which she is willing to share with me, yeah!)


Week 2-3
The second and third weekend my friend Stephanie and I turned her mom's drapes into decorative pillows and a duvet cover for her new bedroom. The fabric is her mom's favorite (think elegant country: boarderline french country, but in cotton) and we planned out the design, found complimentary fabric and sewed it all with my new birthday sewing machine. Thanks to my husband for the fabulous gift. Stephanie wants one now. She and I fanticized about staying home and making pillows all day long. :-)

I will upload pictures from T's phone soon


Week 4
The fourth week/weekend Missie and Nick came to our house and played. While Nick attended a conference at Mariner's church, Missie and the boys hung out with Lollie and the girls. Again I pulled out the sewing machine and Missie and I made Adam a T-shirt with the number 3 stitched on and his name across the back. It turned out so cute!

On Saturday all 10 of us went to the San Diego Zoo, celebrating Adam's 3rd birthday. We tailgated lunch and walked around till everyone melted into total exhaustion. The most precious part was to see the zoo through the nieces and nephews eyes. All four of them were a joy to watch with the animals. We talked and laughed about all we saw. The flamingos are still my favorite. J & L suggested an amazing BBQ place for dinner in Point Loma. It had big tables, big food and cleaned up as soon as someone threw corn or a chicken bone on the floor. Everyone crashed on the car ride home. It was a great day. Happy Birthday Adam.

BTW, our camera broke so I have absolutely no pictures of the wonderful time at the zoo. Did anyone else take pictures? I can't remember. Please share if you do. I would love to have copies.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Since Thanksgiving ...

Here is my attempt to recap December to March:

Dad's birthday 12/13/08 - I sent my dad an email at midnight PT (2 am CT) so I was officially the last person to wish my dad a Happy Birthday. Don't I get extra credit for that one?
Mom flew in the next day and stayed for about a month.

Trevor's Graduation from BIOLA - YEAH! I am so proud of my husband for graduating, with honors. He had a wonderful time learning and enjoyed meeting classmates who he meets with on a regular basis now that school is over. He's organized a BIOLA BOLD alumn group which he plans on expanding and providing greater services and resources to graduates.
My mom sold Nicky's car the day after she arrived. What a sales lady!
Christmas - Trevor and I went to the Kientz' house in Northern California. We spent 8 days with everyone including Nicky who joined us at Bev and John's house on Christmas Day. Loved seeing her and the entire clan. It was the most fun.







Us at Bev and John's. Thanks John for use of these pictures. Love them.



Pittam Christmas - After the 8 day Christmas with the Kientz's we flew home and celebrated with my parents and Nicky who came to So. Cal for 2.5 days. My living room floor was covered with wrapping paper and the time was magical, us all being together.

New Years Eve - Trevor and I spent the early evening hours at my friend Michelle's house catching up with dear friends from my New Century days. We occationally have dinner with a group of four couples and tried to stay in contact with them as much as possible. Then we went to our friends Lori and Garrett Bell for the ball drop. We played games with some friends and then played some more.
Dad went back to Chicago on New Years Day.

Mom and I had a fun crafty day making pillows for Nicky's apartment with Ricki's really old sewing machine.
Amber's Birthday 1/5/09 - So I turned 30 minus one, as Nicky has told me often. Nothing was planned because I had no time to pull a party together. In steps Trevor and mom who called Ricki, Holly and Kris the day of my birthday. They just happened to be free and met us for dinner at Bistro, a great restaurant in downtown Santa Ana. Nicky happened to be in town for a meeting and mom made sure we gave her the pillows for the apartment. They were a surprise and I really enjoyed seeing Nicky's face when we gave them to her.

Trevor got me a sewing machine for my birthday.

I worked like a crazy person for the entire month of January and launched two new sites for my company.

Mom went back to Chicago early because dad got laid off from GE. Seriously, this is not a joke.
More to come on this one.
Mammoth in February - Trevor and I went to Mammoth with Tommy and Keri right after Valentines day. It was the most fun in the snow, and thanks to the Larson camera, we have pictures.




Trevor's Birthday - We celebrated with a low key dinner for Trevor's birthday then went to San Francisco to hang with Josh and Nicky. It turned into a bit of a work trip for me but we had Friday and Saturday to just do whatever. Trevor found a comedy college we all went to on Friday night. Saturday I had tea in Yerba Buena park with Josh and Trevor. Then we met Nicky and Reba after work and had dinner with Chris, Josh's boss. The weekend was all about the people. Brunch on Sunday at Circa turned into lunch and dinner as we did not leave until 4:30 pm. What a wonderful weekend.







Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Thanksgiving in Chicago

We had Thanksgiving at my parent's house in Chicago, and were there about 8 days. We landed at O'Hare airport, my parent's met us at baggage claim and mom handed me a stick of Juicy Fruit gum. MY FAVORITE ... Valentine came with us in her new travel bag which added nicely to my wardrobe.

She behaved really well on the plane and was only stressed on the take off and landing parts of the flight. I would unzip the top of the travel bag and pet her head to calm her. True to her personality she did not bark or make noise. People around us didn't know we had a dog with us. Praise the Lord.

The day we flew in was the day we headed 20 minutes outside of Chicago and toured Northwestern University. My cousin's finance (now) is in the graduate program there for Opera singing. Trevor would like to get his MBA from there, if we can swing it some day. No plans in that direction so far. The university was beautiful, right on Lake Michigan, and situated in a quaint town.

We tried many Chicagoland treats while there, the pizza, for one is pretty great. One night Trevor, mom, dad, Nicky and I went to Hancock tower to really see the city from 97 floors up. it was gorgeous. We had a drink at the lounge and enjoyed the sites. You could see all the way around Lake Michigan into Indiana. Amazing. We walked around the city a bit, right by the old water tower and hunted for a popcorn place called Garret's which has the best gourmet, Chicago style popcorn ever. Chicago style = chedder cheese popcorn mixed with carmel popcorn.

Thanksgiving day my parent's friends Gary and Anita Thomas came over to share dinner with us. They've known our family since I was six. Gary and my dad were in Marketing togehter at Beckman when we were in the Bay area, 1985 through 1992. They played on the Beckman softball team and I remember playing with their baby daughter Jessica, who is now in college. Wow did I feel old. They are great people and added much joy to our celebration. My mom was a wonderful host and the night ended with many rounds of Wii bowling. I won. :-)

We are blessed by the people, family and time together in this year of changes. What a wonderful Thanksgiving in 2008.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Spa

Spa, spa, I love the spa. Please bring your suit anyone who comes to visit. I could not have lived October without our spa. It forces relaxation in places I never knew were tense. Wonders are worked every night when I go home and have a crick in my neck from the computer bag and sitting on the train for hours. When I'm distracted by something that happened at work or have a problem to which there is no obvious solution.

After 10 minutes in the warm, toasty water, sleep comes easily. I even got Trevor in there a few times.

I think Debbie and Bryan should get a spa and put it on their deck. They have the perfect place for it. Then we can all pile in when we come for Christmas and it is snowing or cold outside.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

San Francisco

This just in, those with the last name PITTAM are being called out of Southern California. You know that song, "Sittin' on the dock of the bay, watching the tides roll away." Wait for it ... Nikki is moving to San Francisco. Promotions for everyone, she will be managing the SF salon, large and in charge. She has the perfect knowledge and experience to really grow the salon and the stylists that work there.

Trevor and I are so proud of her and feel better that she will not be alone in the busy city. Josh said he would give her free food :-) Now I have several reasons to go play in wonderful cities across America with people who I love. Trevor says I may even see her more since SF is not so far away. Can't help feeling sad.

She will be moving the exact same weekend as my parents. Who can know what God has in store for everyone.

Psalm 20: 4 & 5

May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
We will shout for joy when you are victorious
and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

A Bit Each Day

There are many ways to do this blogging thing and what may work better is not to wait till I get pictures of our vacation, or our house or ourselves, because Trevor and I are so bad at making pictures a priority. I'm going to write what is up in small bits. See the Kientz family blog for some info on our vacation to Somerset in August. We had a fabulous time with everyone.

Big news is my parent's house sold in two and a half weeks. Great timing in this market. They move out of it the first week in October, will stay with us for a few days and fly to their new house they bought in Cary, Ill. It's gorgeous and apparently huge and perfect etc. Thanksgiving in Ill. here we come!



Mom's been working the LA County fair and has adopted a puppie, three pounds of adorable. She named her Penny Pittam. She looks similar to Valentine, but she has big paws for how tiny she is. This is a melo, and loving dog.

She fit perfectly into our family and we are glad the doggies get along.




I will spare most of the crusty details of August and September. We've had issues with renters, busy work schedules, deadlines, spent max time with my parents, became familar with ebay, spent time with Nikki, friends and went to the beach.

Trevor is officially done with school!! I am so proud of him and all he's worked on this year. As we begin to lift our heads up from responsibilities and the perveribal grind stone, the fall looks eventful and full of choices about what the next phase of life will be. Please pray for us as we continue to learn that God's provision is suffient for us and we are sensitive to His guidance.