Hello to all

Hi everyone!  How are you?  I just finished a fun-filled two weeks at work with heroin addicts and alcoholics and crazy people.  Who knew hospitals could be so much fun?  Every time I take care of one of these people I want to put them on a billboard to show everyone how messed up drugs and alcohol can make you.  Don't even get me started on cigarettes!  I have so many patients who can't breathe now from years of smoking that it's just sad.  They have to take steroids to keep their lungs open, and after a while the drugs just screw up your whole body!  Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox for now.

Last week, Eric and I went to L.A. to see my cousin Michael for a few days.  We saw Lion King the Musical at the Pantages Theater.  It was an old run-down place until Disney got the lease on it and renovated.  It was so beautiful!  The coolest part in the play was when Simba is looking at his reflection and he sees Mufasa.  They built a huge face of Mufasa by putting together these huge wooden pieces, but the way the light reflected on them, it looked like a mirage.  I wish I had been able to take a picture!  My cousins were there, they are fourteen and twelve.  Boy do I feel old.  I still remember when the fourteen year old was a baby.  He would cry when he saw me because he was afraid of my freckles!

Wednesday night Eric and I went to a dinner-dance for our church.  It was nice to have good food and dance to good music.  I danced with our priest a couple of times.  Turns out he is from Houston!  He says y'all just like us!  That excites me, if you're wondering, because everyone makes fun of me for saying it, including the people I work with.

The Oscars were pretty anti-climactic for us because they started at five o'clock!  We figured they'd be time-delayed like the Grammys were and we could hang out, cook, and watch them.  Well I was making grillades so I missed the first two hours.  The grillades were good though!  You know that Britney Spears commercial?  Our friend Mike works for Tribal Scenery Company and they built the set with the Pepsi-Cola insignia.  It was so cool to see it on TV!

Other than that... we finally met some normal people.  Eric and the chef at the seafood restaurant got to talking and invited us over for dinner the other night.  They just bought a house in Palm Desert about five minutes from ours.  William is from Orange county and his wife is from Brittany, France!  He spent a while in France cooking.  They both speak French, as does their four-year old.  It was so weird because all these words from preschool were coming back to me.  I remembered the words for dog and cat before I remembered how to say, "my name is"!  We BBQ'd and had wine, cheese, and pate!  Yum Yum!!

Well, I must go to bed because my dear friend Christina is coming tomorrow.  She is living in Dallas and had a conference to go to, then decided to come see us for a little while!  Now the rest of you have to come see our house!  I'm sorry, but the pictures do just not justify it!  Our first real house that we own!  TTFN!