rock in her friend's shoe...

I've been extra tired lately. It's the second round of midterms, I'm working more hours, and I've had company in town the last two weekends.. no wonder! My birth-weekend (it was definitely a drawn out event) was great. I felt super loved by family and close friends. On Saturday night we (Cynthia, Mom, Emily, Rod, Wielands, Nazaroffs, Cori, James, Vince, and I) went to dinner at Miguel's on Coronado. Afterwards some of us went to National Comedy Theatre to watch an improv show. The next morning, about 20-25 of my closest friends went to Extraordinary Desserts for a morning coffee/brunch. It was so great to look down the table and see the faces of people that that influenced me so much in college. Old roommates, co-workers, friends from CRU, friends from Kerman.. all sitting together and laughing. It made me happy. My college friends chipped in on a great gift- a black Nikon camera with 6.2 megapixels and 5x zoom! The card cracked me up. It said something like "On March 29, 1984 a baby girl was born. (My birthday is actually the 30th ha ha) Her name was Allison Ricks. The Jewel in her mom's eye.. the Rock in her friend's show.. and the hope for the China Man..." There was a picture of me standing with a Thai shop owner that I had bartered a wooden elephant with. We're both grinning from ear to ear. Probably my cheesiest picture. Rock in her friend's shoe... What the heck?!

I spent Friday night and Saturday with my childhood best friend, Trisha and her husband Sean. They live in Kansas City, Missouri and attend school on the campus of IHOP. It was fun to get sushi with them and talk about all that our Father is doing around the world. Trisha has this way of telling stories- she fills them with unnecessary details, until she loses track of the subject. It was funny to have her tell a story, switch subjects quickly, fill it with details.. until I finally have to admit that I'm completely lost. She has been an incredible friend to me. I can't count how many times we laid on the trampoline in my backyard and talked all night.. rollerbladed every sidewalk in Kerman, and swam in my grandma's pool. It's great to see her happily married. Her husband Sean is a perfect match.. they're hilarious together. It's hard to believe, but they both talk so much that I barely got a word in. They flew in to San Diego because they were spending a week in Ensenada on a trip. The last time I saw them was at their wedding last summer, so it was a fun mini-reunion.

I need to do my taxes, do 50-75 surveys in downtown for Marketing Research, study for Operations Management, do laundry, and pass these classes. Last week I got my cap and gown for graduation.. it was weird to think that I'm almost done. James just told me we only have 40 days left. I think I'm going to run to the bay for the next 40 days until we graduate. It'd be great to have a devo every morning on the water. It has become a morning ritual to have coffee on the balcony looking at the water.. this will only be an improvement. 40 days.. wow.