A Fun Dinner at the Greek Restaurant

Last night Mom, Donna, Greg and the kids came up to LA so we all met up at a Greek Mediterranean restaurant in Pasadena for dinner. What a great time we had just being together and eating and talking and enjoying each others company. We were seated in the patio area and there were musicians playing Greek and middle eastern music which I love. I was feeling my middle eastern roots coming out! The food was fantastic. Aunt Grace and Josh were the bold ones and ordered the Spicy Mediterranean Frog Legs. They were pretty good, we all tasted them =) Then it was time for the dancing! We all got to give it a try! You can see all the fun, funny and entertaining pictures here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/

Happy 4th Birthday
to my sweet Margie!

Dear "little thing",
I can hardly believe you are already turning four years old. It seems like yesterday when I first met you. You were a little ray of joy and happiness that year for all of us. I pray that you will continue grow into the beautiful young lady that God wants you to be. I love you very much and can't wait to see you in May!
Love, Auntie Ruth (your "little toy")

A looooong week.... I'm tired and ready for the weekend. This week was quite busy with more "all day" Banner sessions. Our IT guy and I worked several days on data mapping. It was very intense and long! Trying to figure out and map where the data from our old system will go in the new Banner system. Thankfully it was Easter break so my "real job" was relatively quiet. Yesterday, several of us got away for lunch and celebrated Abby's 26th birthday at one of her favorite places, Chick-fil-A. They even came out and sang happy birthday to her and gave her a birthday strawberry shake. Coming up this weekend... I'm looking forward to the Myers' visit! Hope to have a blast with the kiddies during the week while mom and dad take a well deserved mini vacation =)

Easter weekend in Yuma

I had Good Friday off so I was able to get on the road bright and early. The drive was nice and really didn't hit any traffic on the way down. Stopped in El Centro for lunch and to pick Mom up. It is always so fun to be able to see Alyssa & Josh and spend time with them. Auntie Ruth had promised to make cookies with them so I arrived cookie dough in hand ready to roll! We all had a fun time rolling them out and picking from all the different shapes of cookie cutters. Later that evening Donna took the kids to their ballet rehearsal and I went to the Good Friday service at their church. Saturday morning was a nice warm sunny day. I had made plans to go target shooting in the desert with Frank. It was so fun! I didn't do too bad thanks to my awesome instructor. It's great when you get to learn from the best... "the few, the proud..." Came home that afternoon and decorated the cookies with the kids. I really love decorating them much more than baking them! The kids did great and were very creative with their designs. Now they were all ready and decorated for Easter lunch. After the service we all came home to make lunch and get things ready. We did a Mexican themed lunch rather than the traditional Easter dinner. It was delicious and we got to enjoy the great weather outdoors. Soon the kids were ready for the Easter egg hunt. So we sent them inside while we hid all of the eggs. We all had a fun time together! It was time to go much too soon. I finally got on the road right after the sun set. After dropping Mom off in El Centro I was on the long road home. It was a wonderful weekend! You can see all the pictures here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/

BABY, BABY, BABY...

It has been raining little girls recently! Meet Jordan Sentani, Mary Mayes Durham and Tegan Rinner. Jordan & Mary Mayes are our new "Registrar babies" who both arrived in March.

Kinda cute... aren't they? Congratulations to the proud parents.

An Art Filled Weekend...

Saturday evening Grace and I attended the 35th anniversary dinner for the Biola Art Department. It was an evening full of memories and seeing some fellow classmates I had not seen in decades! I was a student in the department from 1986-1988 and Grace from 1996-1999. We both had some of the same professors like Barry Krammes and Dan Callis who are still teaching today. I ran into a couple of old classmates. One of which was Tim Timmerman who is now at George Fox University. I had not seen him in over 20 years and he is the same funny guy! He entertained the audience with his skits and humor... I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! Sunday morning after church Grace, Jon and I drove into LA to the Hammer Museum and then picked up Dominic at the Convention Center. He was in town from PA for a trade show. I hadn't seen him since he moved three years ago so it was a fun reunion. We took him to the Getty Center since he had never been there and Jon was checking out some of the video exhibits for his senior project. It was such a beautiful, clear, sunny day! Great for outdoor photos! We had lunch and then walked around a couple hours looking at some of the exhibits. Then back outside to relax and enjoy the view. We ended the evening with a drive down to Irvine to have dinner at our favorite place, Lucca's. Our favorite waiter, Oliver, was there and took great care of us. The food was amazing as usual.

See all of the pictures here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/

Daylight Savings Time

I am still trying to get used to the time change. Don't get me wrong... I love it that the days are "longer" in the afternoon when I get off work. Mornings though, are a different story. I am an early riser anyway but is it really suppose to be this dark? To illustrate my point I took this picture Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. the day we changed time. I'll get adjusted soon enough (probably just in time to change it all back in October!).

So besides adjusting to the time change this week it has been relatively quiet at work enjoying a brief reprieve from Banner training. I've been busy writing reports and trying to do "my homework" and practice Banner on my own. Today, several of us met for a managers breakfast with President Corey. It was a time for getting to know us a little better, ask questions, and hear comments and suggestions. I am looking forward to seeing how the new leadership at Biola will influence the future.

Nature Walk in Coyote Hills

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to meet up with Grace and Jon to go on a nature hike. These are monthly hikes offered by a group of people who are trying to save Coyote Hills from urban development. Once we were all there, about twelve of us we started our hike. Our guide was interesting and he stopped regularly to show us some of the native and "non" native plants and trees. We hiked for a couple hours and I had a great time taking lots of pictures.

March Birthdays...

Today we all went out to celebrate the three March birthdays in our office, Jeri, Susan and Abby. We had lunch at Deluca's in Whittier... mmm... delicious Italian food. As usual we all enjoyed our time together and the food was wonderful. I had Spaghetti alla Puttanesca and Pasta e Fagioli soup. Tomorrow we will have a little party with cake and ice cream and so the celebration continues! You can see some more photos at our office picture site.

It's hard to believe that Spring is here already! This morning I got up and spent some time outside in the yard enjoying all the beautiful flowers and blooms that have popped up in the last couple of weeks. Yes, Spring has sprung up here on the hill! From daffodils to irises to orchids... they are all beautifully dressed for the season. You can see all the pictures I took of the beautiful flowers and blooms here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/"The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest" Psalm 88:12