( o f : A m a n d a )

was amazing. it was fantastic, and fun, and FABULOUS!! (picture uncle bobby saying the last one)

it was a beautiful day. dawn and nal had their nails done, and both girls had just gotten their hair colored, and let me tell you, beautiful....

we had been counting down this day for months, so the expectations were high, and we were basically peeing our pants all week long...


barb got there, but it wasn't barb...but no one really cared cuz hello, there was a bad ass limo!!!! we carted all our extra alcohol onto the bus, and her gifts, and prepared to PARTY!! nal put in cd one, and we immediately jumped up and started dancing... unfortunately dancing in a moving vehicle without falling over is more difficult than it sounds... we hadn't even made it out of the apartment complex before nal flashed someone. ha ha ha i know i know nal, you didn't really flash them, you were wearing an undershirt. lol.

we went to pick up lisa and on the way, we cracked bottle one of champagne. we then picked lisa said hello to her kiddos, and got back on the bus to pleasure town. (okay not pleasure town, but happy town for sure) We went and picked up kaylee and stacey, and were on our way to wherever the road might lead...

on our way to dinner, we had more champagne, and the first shot of the evening...PATRON!! ps whose idea was that...ewww **by the way, i took a sip of it and passed the rest off to lisa***

we got to the restaurant, and were welcomed by mom, a room decorated with ballons, and a table decorated with chocolate chips... we sat down, only to realize that dawn had yet to man up to the bar... now this is where i have to give roz props. dawn had told her that she would only take three shots while at the post. roz made those shots count. the shots were created in buckets, which when full are two plus shots...ha ha dawn she tricked you! and by the way, the second one took dawn two drinks to finish...i'm not gonna say the word i'm thinking there, but fyi it starts with a "P" so we sit down, order some delicious food, and began our obnoxious yet hilarious evening at the hp. Nikki was our server and she did a fantastic job at wrangling all the mildly intoxicated people into order. then dawn opened her gifts and found out we are all sending her on a cruise!! YAY she was so surprised!! so many funny things happened at dinner. dawn kept looking at tio and yelling tio, i'm so glad you made it! uncle bobby quite possible took cormans virginity, and melissa made some fantastic comment to uncle bill about our bowling event on wed morning...ahh good times... at the end of dinner, dawns cake came out and we sang. the cake was shaped like a bottle of cuervo...amazing...great job nal. dawn was then ready to take her final shot. however, she insisted that mom take it with her. in turn mom insisted that shane take it as well. LOL. roz lines up the shots, and down they go..


we left the hp, and onto elmers where jimmy was kind enough to start dawn with a flaming dr pepper followed by a rick james biatch! for each of us. dawn opened her present from jimmy and put on the fantastic hat..then the smiths bought a round of red-headed sluts, and we boarded the party bus and partied out way to SLO. there were dance competitions and well, basically standing competitions...haha hard wood floors, spilled liquids, a moving vehicle, and four inch heels... good times. uncle bobby's dancing was classic of course....there was a certain hand rail that many attempted....

we arrived in SLO, and went to the library...where we ALL got in, including kaylee...we danced the night away, and dawn made a dollar from melissa for dancing with the guy in the black sweatshirt. then there was the attempt to help that one guy get his dance on...poor guy couldn't even dance as well as jack...we left the library, and found a cozy bench on the way to mothers...after some deliberation we decided to go back to santa maria. as we waited for the limo, (i was on the phone with matt) some guy walks up to me and asks me for a light. i said, no. he then walked over to the rest of the group, and KAYLEE gave him a light. thus began the saga that was zach effron. (aka michael ross wambolt) as he talked and joked with those in the group, he ended up walking across the street with us to meet our limo... however, as we were all walking across the street, he somehow felt it would be appropriate to slap my ass a few times. i bascially punched him in the head and used some very clear words with him, and he said he was sorry. as i am relaying to matt what just happened, i see him boarding the bus (limo). i was like what the????

hhahahahahahah


so onto the bus we all go, and head back to sm. as we get underway, we realize that effron is destined to be THE life of the party. his uhh shall we say antics? were completely out of control. lol. he danced, he laughed, he did things that our parents don't need to know about...haha oh my goodness the pictures i have of that forty minute drive are amazing...i hope someday i run into a sober zach effron, and i can show him these pictures...

we got to the sm inn, and effron bought a round. we then decided to leave, and took stacy and kaylee home...at this point we were so spent that pretty much each of us had commandeered a couch except for gavin and cherise, who were just starting to get their party on. i drove melissa and i home from dawnals house (jacks word) and we stopped at jack in the box on the way home.

all in all, it was a beautiful evening. shared by people we love, people we are close to, in celebration of one of my closest friends. as i write this i am getting all emotional and whatnot. i am so thankful that we have all become friends. it has been close to a year of friendship with you two, and i could not ask for better friends. you guys are always there when i need to vent, or bitch, or need help. i love the laughter, the camaraderie, and who each of you are. i remember back in the day when i couldn't tell who was answering the phone. now i count you both as some of my closest friends. you guys are always honest with me, and supportive, and just all arond fantastic...okay i'm gonna stop writing cuz i'm now crying...uh... i love you girls, and happy 21st dawn!!!xoxox

people who believe themselves to be better than others annoy me.

no, annoy is vague, too easy to dismiss. some days i can blow off the ignorance and general lack of intelligence and chalk it up to a certain amount of arrogance all humans posses. however, some days i read, or hear, or run into a special breed of people. they are the people who believe that the rules of the world do not apply to them. these are the people who refuse to see their own faults, and cannot comprehend anything but their own perfection. it is so frustrating to be completely able to defend yourself and those you love, and yet to choose not to. i ran into a very arrogant woman. a woman who i am acquainted with because of similar circles that we were involved in many years ago. this woman doesn't know me, or my family. she has never cared to truly know us. to truly get in upto her elbows, and live life with us. yet she presumed to make judgments about us. she in her own religious self-righteous bubble, believes herself better than those i love and identify with most. in her upside down world, your worth as a spiritual being is defined by WHAT YOU DO. amazing. this same woman, whose life is of course perfect has a daughter going through a divorce. when asked about her children, she gave me full updates on all the rest while curiously leaving out the shamed and sinful soon to be divorcee daughter.

if you want to hit my hot button quickly, presume to know and judge someone else's spirituality. if you want to hit my hot button even quicker, bail on those who need you most, and distance yourself from things you don't "approve" of, or things that don't fit your lovely little package called theology.

real life isn't tied up in neat packages. truth doesn't come only when convenient. life is dirty, and muddy, and painful. life is fought in the trenches, and you can consider yourself blessed if you find yourself surrounded by people who truly love you. there are those i would take a bullet for. but in all likelihood, that will never be necessary. what will be necessary is for me to weep with them when they loose parents, to love them through addictions, to encourage them with my words, and to be a safe place to hide out during a storm.

i think the reason that woman, and the other arrogant and willfully ignorant people who come to mind now, make me so mad so fast is that i used to be them. i used to think i had it all together. i thought i was set on my life's course, and i clung to the formulas of Christianity as though they made me right. the more i see of life, and the more i get in up to my elbows with those around me, and truly love them, the more i am convinced that there is something seriously wrong with the way we act out "Christianity".

it seems to me as though Christianity has become synonymous with superiority. as Christians, the last thing we are is superior. we, more so than anyone else should be painfully aware of our own sickness, and the immeasurable cost that results from it. we should be the FIRST to extend grace and kindness. NOT the first to boo and hiss and make harsh statements. why do we feel the need to spread our righteousness? The Bible says it's the KINDNESS of God that brings us to repentance. not the ass whopping He hands out that we absolutely deserve.

i have come to believe that when Jesus said do not give that which is holy to the dogs, and don't cast your pearls before swine, he was not speaking about sinners, or pagans, or whores, or the outcast of society. I have an easier time believing Jesus was talking about those who consider themselves religious. Especially since it seems that Jesus spent more of his time hanging out with hoodlum fisherman, a murderer, an outcast prostitute, and the equivalent of a crooked irs agent. Jesus spent his time speaking to the poor, the lonely, the broken, the smelly, the people who likely swore and were not pure, religious, and articulate. I find that the most difficult people to stomach are those so convinced of their own perfection, that they cannot see how irrelevant and isolated they have become in their own community. i believe that the dogs, or the swine are people like the arrogant, ignorant woman i spoke of earlier. the real swine, the real dogs are those who can say out loud that others are not good enough. how dare we attempt to define who is or is not "good"?

God help us and our arrogance. God help our own willful ignorance, and our obsession with being better than others. Show us our brokenness. Let us remember what messes we are. Let us love others. Let us give of ourselves. Let us be truthful representations of you. Not these horrid knock-offs that somewhere have the word "Christ" stamped on us. That use your name as an excuse to hurt people. Teach us, redefine to us what you would look like in the year 2007. And help us to become those people. Because who we are is hurtful, and life stealing, and a piss-poor representation of Your name.