On my relationship with baseball.

So Z has always enjoyed watching baseball.

While I've never really shared this particular

interest, I thought I'd accompany him to a 

Dodgers game anyway.

Z picked me up from LAX 

after my trip to WA

& I got in a little city-style shopping

(Oh how I miss shopping in Chicago)

while he worked on his

 Holy Week sermons.

Then we just had to eat at 

The Oinkster...

soooo good!

Then off to Dodger Stadium!

The young guys from

The Deadliest Catch

got to throw in the first pitch.

Z knew that I wasn't super thrilled to 

be there, so he decided to get a scorecard.

Neither of us had ever kept score before, 

but he thought it would appeal to 

my librarian self.

And, 

he was right.

I really enjoyed keeping score...

it gave me a purpose during the game

and made things seem to move faster.

I will concede that this game was 

the most enjoyable baseball game that

I can remember.

But don't call me a baseball fan just yet.

When the going gets rough, write a blog post.

Well, y'all...

life is certainly not boring.

It's been one of those 

weeks where lots of small,

stressful situations

have all hit us at the same time.

But this blog is no place

to dwell on negativity, 

so I'll share some of the good

things that happened this week.

First, Z & I are trying to find

new/more things to do around here.

We know one of the baseball players

on a local college team, 

so we took in a game the other night.

 Then, I got a call from our favorite store, 

Trader Joe's.

When you take your own shopping bag

*at least at our local TJ's*

you get a raffle ticket.

Every so often they draw a name 

to spin the prize wheel & get a free item.

So in the midst of my crazy week

I got to spin the wheel & won some

free TJ's frosted flakes!

I also hosted

9 people from church for

a dinner/committee meeting.
The food was good
& my house is clean.

And thankfully the weather

has been lovely during the day

so I'm enjoying taking my

Mr. Wilson for walks 

around the neighborhood.

When I'm stressed, I like to try to 

do something productive, so I've 

been crocheting lots of new hats

& trying out new patterns & stitches.

I'll be posting some photos of them soon!

In the Carolinas: Part II

Meanwhile, we continued our whirlwind
Carolina adventure with a
Hickory Crawdad's game
with Josh, Arden, & mama.

If you know my brother,
you probably know that he likes
jokes of the practical persuasion.

We should have seen it coming, but...

alas, here we are: Z & I having a dance off
on top of the 1st base dugout.

Thanks, big brother, for signing us up
without our knowledge!

Z reads up on the team
(he did find out that the Hickory Crawdads
& the Bakersfield Blaze are affiliated!)

Josh got hungry.

The night before Z's ordination
we gathered with some
dear friends and family.

Old college roomies, reunited.

I was sort of busy the day of the ordination,
so no photos of that from me,
but it was great & we were glad
so many folks could be there!

Before leaving NC,
I spent a little more time
with my brother.

He was working, so I went to Gastonia
to a park that the YMCA uses for camps, etc.

The park was originally a Greek settlement of sorts,
and has a really interesting history,
including this chapel that is still used.

Greek influences are everywhere,
but since the YMCA has been using the space,
Josh has been clearing fields,
building new nature trails from scratch
& really cleaning up
for the campers.

Very proud of this guy.

Then one last lunch with my
favorite Kerri. I love her
face in this photo.

So that's it. Two-ish crazy weeks in the
Carolinas before flying back to Bako
& settling in a bit.

A day in LA/LB

After dropping off
Mama & Daddy
at the airport in the morning,
we had the day to kill
before our red eye flight
back to NC.

We started at a cute diner for breakfast.

Then I wanted to check out
the La Brea Tar Pits
to reenact the scene from
My Girl 2.

Anyway, they were doing some excavations
at some of the pits.

A sign said they had found some
bones from various animals,
including mastadons, saber-toothed kittens,
and giant ground sloths
the day we were there!

Then we went next door
to the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art
to see some outdoor exhibits.

We drove around to see other sights,
but of course we ended up at
Dodger Stadium.

After cruising around LA
we made our way down
to Long Beach where we mostly
hung out by the water
until it was back to the airport!