Picture 120: bear attack! minus the attack

WE SAW A BEAR!!!!!!

Picture 119: Yosemite

Picture 118: Anticipation

I went to Yosemite this weekend!! We arrived on Thursday afternoon....driving down the tunnel around the corner to approach the breath taking view.

Anticipation.

Picture 117: ROYALTY!!!!

I freaking love royalty!

Seeeeriously love them.

Judge me all you want. I want Kate's hair!

Picture 116: prayer flags

Picture 115: corkboard

Picture 114: nature

Picture 113: girl time

i love my time with the girls.

Picture 112: errands

running errands is not so bad when you can walk a bit and it's a lovely day.

Picture 111: The Rose Bowl

Mukhtaran Mai

Mukhtaran Mai is a beautiful, inspiring and strong woman. My prayers are with her today and always as she continues to fight for her right to speak out against the injustices done against her. May God protect her and bring justice to those who now walk freely.

READ the story here.

Picture 110: guacamole

i WAS going to take a picture of the fresh guacamole and delicious margarita i devoured this evening. but, well, i devoured it. and didn't manage to take the picture until after I had finished it. you'll just have to trust me that it was beautiful and SOOOOOOO GOOD! the only thing that would have made it better is if my dad had been there :)

Picture 109: neighborhood streets

Female Genital Mutilation

does it seem impossible that this is still going on? how do we advocate for the rights of women while still appreciating and creating a sensitivity to cultural tradition? is there a way for women to both get married and remain uncircumcised?

Picture 108: coming home

there's nothing like coming home after a long day away...

picture 107: hiking

a little sunday morning hike.
i love nature.
and sun.
and movement.
and flowers.
and water.
and trails.
and exploring.

Picture 106: bees

bees like flowers

Picture 105: turning out

tonight on the track was frustrating. well, every night is frustrating. what an overwhelmingly beautiful and wonderful place to be able to enter into and speak to girls in the midst of. but there are some weeks that you are reminded, ever so severely, the dark world prostitution and trafficking is. we might only have to step into it once a week, but these girls live it.

tonight on the track we ran into a whole lot of girls. it was almost easier to just keep walking down the street rather than get back in our car and continue driving down the track. girls were everywhere! but what was strange was how spread out they were - few of them were clustered together. they were each individually standing on their own street corner watching each car as it drove by. as we approached some of these girls to try and offer them a gift bag or strike up conversation is became clear all at once that these were new girls that were being broken in - getting turned out for the first time. they were trained very well. they were too new in the game to be comfortable speaking to or making eye contact with a stranger. and if you paid close attention you could see the pimps and runners not very far away keeping a close eye on their behavior.

we even ran into one girl with a broken arm. she refused to talk to us and even tried to run across the street to get away. although, now that i think about it, i think she was attempting to get away from the man that was behind us. because this man walked with her down the street several blocks "sweating" her - trying to catch her "out of pocket".  i can't help but wonder how her arm got broken in the first place. was it really an accident? was it some form of punishment? was it a trick gone wrong? these women are put in such dangerous situations.

i know these things happen all of the time. i know these girls get treated horribly - but sometimes it is easy to forget when you don't see the ramifications all the time and they are so good at greeting you with a smile - telling you everything is going just great!

Picture 104: Peahen

what was the weirdest thing i saw today? two peahen's on the loose in pasadena. that's right. we were just walking along down green street when we happened upon them. they were blocking traffic as they trotted around the street. and when they finally made their way out of green and onto the sidewalk - they proceeded to fly up and land on the ledge of the nearby building.

i have NO idea how they got there or what they were doing...or how the will get back to some habitat more appropriate for them (who am i to judge - maybe they love tarantino's pizza - who doesn't really?!) but it was an interesting thing to see after dinner!

Picture 103: moving

one of the saddest thing you'll ever see...one of your very best friends house looking like this.
bookshelves put away.
boxes being assembled.
pictures taken off the wall.

...the beginning of the end.

long distance sucks!

Picture 102: urban tranquility

Picture 101: The West Wing

I'm sorry, something has just come up. I will be very busy until further notice.

Picture 99: milk duds

did someone bring you these today? I WIN!

Picture 98: the schuh's

In-n-Out with the Schuh's.....what a perfect friday night dinner!

Excuse me! Why does your dinner look tastier than mine?

More french fries, please!!

Picture 97: WINDY!

it is super windy in pasadena today. and i kind of love the wind.

Picture 96: alone

sometimes, people start group chats, and then they leave them, but you keep talking....unaware.
and then you realize it. but you don't stop.

Picture 95: how to know a bad driver

I was behind this car during my commute to work this morning. sorry for the bad picture - it was taken in a hurry through my windshield (i THINK i might need a car wash soon....) do you want to know how you can tell a bad driver in LA (and really, i assume, anywhere)? the ones with friendly messages on their car asking you to please stop harassing them when they are driving. they ask because they are the drivers that constantly get honked at or tailgated or yelled at or cut off. but the problem is - they deserve it. so when we see these friendly signs on the back of cars - we don't know whether to preemptively make angry gestures at them just to get it over with or let them prove themselves first.

obviously, i am not talking about myself. i am a PERFECT driver and never display anything resembling road rage.  but for the record...we are NOT all in this together. because if everyone in LA drove like me - the freeways would run much smoother :)

Picture 94: memories

I didn't take a picture today.
But I really miss my family.
And Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.
So...without getting any of their permission to use said photo - I thought I'd reminisce a little about the glory days.
If I didn't have to work tomorrow - I'd sure love to hike up to the Schilthorn!
Or grab a Rösti up at the Mürren.
And go to Trummelbach Falls.
And eat some Lola chocolate.
And play on the seesaw.
And lose to my brother on the giant chess board.
And wake up to the sound of waterfalls.

Or just sit at the campground and play cards.
I'm not picky. I just miss it. And I miss them.

Picture 93: Chasing Banksy

Surly you've all heard of the infamous Banksy by now! If you haven't....do yourself a favor and check out "Exit Through the Gift Shop" on your Netflix instant queue....or go to your nearest DVD rental place and check it out. It is well worth it.

I drove around the city today "chasing" Banksy's art. It was delightful. Here are a couple that I found. A few others we had heard about and then drove by had been removed or painted over - so sad - who would ever remove a Banksy!!?

Picture 92: Grill Em All Truck

Stop #3 on the Burger Tour 2011: Grill Em All Truck. Aaaaaaaaamazing!! Seriously. You all need to chase this truck down and order something. There were four of us, four different burgers ordered, and every single one of them was delicious.

#1 - Waste Em All: green chilies, pepper jack, beer soaked onion
 

 
#2 Hannah Montana: American, lettuce, tomato, pickle, ketchup (substitute cheddar cheese for American)

 
#3 Blue Cheer: bleu cheese, cranberry gastrique, Munchos

#4 Witte: cream cheese, deep fried bacon, beer/ Sriracha onion, malt vinegar aioli

We put this truck straight to the top of our everyday burger category. Have I told you about our rankings yet? We broke the burgers up into two categories: everyday burgers (those wrapped in paper) and fancy burgers...you know, the ones that come on glass plates!

Picture 91: Fish Tacos

the perfect way to end a long week? fish tacos with the girls.....and berto :)