• In case you were unaware, I am now in charge of the volunteers for a small social services agency in Pasadena. I love working with the volunteers. They give and give and give. It’s really amazing.  To honor them each year we put on a volunteer appreciation event.  This year we had a picnic in a local park.  It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work.  Erin and I got up early Saturday morning and worked like dogs until the early afternoon.
• After the picnic we came home, and sold our Oldsmobile.  It’s soo great to have that weight and added monthly expense off our shoulders.  Now, if we can just sell the van we’d be down to two cars, and one project car. Still a lot of cars, I know.
• Sunday I lead worship at church.  I love getting the opportunity to do it every month or so, but it’s pretty emotionally draining.
• Sunday afternoon we grilled with the young adults group at church and then went home to take short naps before driving out to Ventura for Erin’s cousin’s open house.  It was a nice afternoon and evening, but we didn’t get home until after 10 PM, which is past my bedtime… especially for a Sunday night.  

Posted via email from brianhimes’s posterous

 

Posted via email from brianhimes’s posterous

• Erin and I were sitting around the house trying to decide how to fill our weekend when I received a text message from my Dad asking if I’d come down to work on my mustang.  Not having better plans we packed up and headed down the Whittier.  It was a fun impromptu visit and I made some good progress on the mustang.  Maybe it’ll run again some day soon.
• And Sunday, Erin and I spent the majority of the day just hanging around the house, watching movies and relaxing.  It was nice to not have any commitments for once.

Posted via email from brianhimes’s posterous

• Erin and I had an amazing dinner on Friday night celebrating Erin’s hard work.  She’s been putting in 12+ hour days and deserved a nice break so we had a fancy, leisurely dinner at Arnie Morton’s in Burbank.  Incredible steak, bacon wrapped scallops, asparagus, wine, coffee and a chocolate lava cake graced our plates that evening.
• And, another great meal followed that. Saturday we had a BATH (BBQ at the House) for a friend who’s getting hitched later this month.  It’s basically a guys shower, with less planning and a lot of meat. 
• Sunday Erin and I spent some time with my parents.  We drove down and joined them for church and a little visit. 
• And finally, Sunday night was filled with an evening of music at the Hollywood Bowl.  We saw The Swell Season, She and Him and The Bird and the Bee.  It was a great concert and both the Swell Season and She and Him surpassed my expectations. 

Posted via email from brianhimes’s posterous

• Erin was at school so I stayed home and did pretty much nothing.  I thought about doing something, but settled on doing nothing.

• Erin was at school so I stayed home and did pretty much nothing. Wait, that's not entirely true.
• I had a leisurely breakfast at Starbucks, returned a pair of pants that didn't fit, saw Avatar, cleaned the house and prepared a nice dinner for Erin and I. It was actually a pretty busy day.
• We concluded the evening with a viewing of Rachel Getting Married, and dessert at Denny's.

• Church, followed by lunch with the in-laws at Acapulco, a quick nap, and Night of Praise at church. It was a busy day.

Posted via email from brianhimes’s posterous

Friday

• Pizza from Tony’s Bella Vista and a movie at home.  That was after we tried to go to the Gold Class Cinemas in Pasadena, but were turned away because everything we wanted to see was sold out. Maybe another time.  Instead we fired up the DVR and watched Australia, which I thought was weird until I realized it was a Baz Luhrmann film. 

Saturday

• Rode the Metro into LA, ate at Philippes, and walked Olvera Street and China Town.  It was a very LA-centric day. 
• That evening we stayed home, ate leftover pizza, and watched a couple episodes of Fringe.  We’ve been working the way through our DVR this month trying to catch up on shows that we’ve been recording over the past two years.  We recently finished the first season of Southland, which was amazing. I’m so glad TNT picked it up.  I can’t wait for new episodes.  Now, we’re working our way through Fringe. I feel like that show took a little while to get into but now I’m hooked. 

Sunday

• Lead worship at church in the morning and spent the afternoon watching football with friends. 
• That evening Erin made a really good butternut squash risotto and we continued the process of catching up on past episodes of Fringe.

Posted via email from brianhimes’s posterous

• Dinner at Zeke's Smokehouse in Montrose. Chicken, Ribs, Beans, Green Beans, Hush Puppies, Onion Rings, Sweet Potato Fries, and Shiner Bock. Good stuff.
• Watched Up in the Air.  Erin enjoyed all of the little details about business travel.

• A little work around the house followed by a lot of playing with my new WD TV Live.  It's a cool little toy that allows me to share media on my home network and play it on my TV. It took me a while to figure out file sharing with my eMac, but it was because I skipped a step or two in setup.  Oops.

• Church
• More work around the house. We actually hung some stuff on our walls. 
• Small Group and a little New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Posted via email from brianhimes’s posterous