i just spent the evening...

in a movie theatre watching Courageous with twenty guys from the Arizona Wildcats football team.

Talk about an experience.

It was sort of a joke at first because not only was I the only girl, but I was the only caucasian... cool Asian dude, affectionately called "Koala" (real name, Keola, running back) and a couple Hispanic guys showed up late and sat in the back of the theatre

Seated near the middle-front of the theatre, I was smushed between "T-Wade" (Trevin Wade, cornerback) and "Yates" (Victor Yates, former defensive back). "O.G." or "Coach Ed" (Corey Edmond, head strength and conditioning coach) was two seats down and "Dirty D" (Donald Horton, former defensive tackle, current assistant strength coach) sat in front of me.

["O.G." stands for, "Original Gangster," which is a term of respect. In gang terms, it's the member of a gang who's been around the longest/put some time in and is a higher class member. Basically, a very respectful nickname.]

Many of the guys all had their comfort seats, skipping every other one as not to be unmanly and sit right next to one another. It's a guy thing. I get it. But T-Wade and Yates sat next to me... probably so I didn't feel weird with two empty seats beside me. Ha.

The guys passed around 5 bags of popcorn amongst themselves and were even sharing drinks with Coach Ed cracking on 'em every once in awhile.

Yates talks more during a movie than my mother. He and T-Wade, Dirty D and a few others were like a bunch of cackling women... especially during the gang scenes or cop chases in the movie. All 18 would bust out with deep, "Ohhh! Sucka got punched in the face!" or "Man! Bet he didn't see that coming!" or "Brotha 'bout to get sacked!"

Hil-arious.

But I didn't feel out of place. Nope. I have "street cred" now because I'm with "O.G."

Walking out of the theatre with 20 football players all wearing their team colored sweatshirts, "Jordan shorts" (basketball shorts) and socks with Adidas sandals (classy), was quite the spectacle. A few families stopped and moved aside as we walked out, a few kids jumped up and down whispering to their parents, "It's them! Did you see --insert players name here--?!"

Coach Ed looked over at me grinning as I was cutting up with T-Wade and Dirty D. He said, "Now whatchu gonna tell your magazine people? Bet none of them ever gone to a movie with a quarter of the Wildcats football team. ::chuckles:: And, you tell Ted he missed out. He shoulda got a picture of this." He chuckled and strutted his pimp-limp out of the mall with the rest of us.

Maybe one day I'll be an "O.G." but for now, all I can say is, I really love my job.

kiddos

Monday night we ate spaghetti, no cutting of noodles necessary. These kids know how it's done.

In between slurps of saucy, basil garnished noodles, we joked about ninjas, Star Wars and puppies.

Little Ben had three helpings -- growing boy. Lily opted to, "save her appetite for YogurtLand." Wise choice.

Clamoring out the door, Zach yelled, "Shotgun!" The other three raced behind him out to my Vue.

I love watching them wait anxiously to saddle up into my car, especially since it's significantly smaller than their mother's Suburban. Finally unlocking the door, they were able to pile in, filling all 4 passenger seats.

Arriving at YogurtLand I gave the strict, "Go easy on the serving size" warning and they ran to the various flavor dispensing stations, swirling sweets into cups.

Sitting outside at the table, elder Josiah shared my chair and was leaning on me when I exclaimed, "Gosh! I just wish parks were open at night. I wanna go play." The kids' eyes widened and Josiah's boney elbow jabbed me in the rib as he swung around, staring at me almost nose-to-nose, and said, "We can go to the wood fort!" Josiah looked at Zach. Zach looked at Lily. Lily called for Ben, who was playing on the small rocks and destroying the landscaping, "Hey! Amber said we can go to the park, let's go!"

We repeated our earlier piling into my vehicle and I made my way to the vaguely described park. I had no idea where we were going.

From the back seat, Josiah told me where it was. I had a hunch.

Pulling into a dark parking lot with a buzzing light and fields lit up for lacrosse and adult soccer games, I could see it. The massive wooden fort structure looming in the dark. It looked like a castle! (Apparently it's called Lake Island Park - off Denning.)

Ignoring the sign reading, "Park closes at dark," we each targeted various parts of the structure and began our play. First it was flashlight tag, then it became hide-and-go-seek.

An hour and a half later, we were sweating and it was 30-minutes past bedtime. I didn't care. We'd had an absolute blast.

We ended the evening by singing to Max the dog for his 4th birthday... and giving him a nice rub-down-loving before tucking in bed for prayers.

Love them.

four minutes

bryn said she used to do this with her new disciples when she worked on campus. so each of us here on the writers team have done it this past week.

take out a piece of pen and paper, or open a word document on your computer.

set a timer for 4 minutes and begin writing down all the things you love!

here's what my list looked like after the timer (aka: bryn yelled to stop) went off:

i, amber rose, love…
great danes
rock climbing, especially outdoors
biking trails, on and off road
driving, especially when it’s to a new place
little things, like small containers, miniature objects, etc.,
jaime eduardo alfaro –the way he cares for me, loves me when i’m grouchy and serves me selflessly, shares his stuff with me and cuddles.
technology, gadgets and figuring out how to use them
music, especially concerts and orchestral performances
dancing like crazy
funny people
dark chocolate
thunderstorms, especially at night
playing in the rain
wine
playing flashlight tag with the awesome moore children
wearing new jewelry
fall, specifically the month of november
traveling
trying to relearn and speak spanish
reading blogs
organizing things like drawers, cabinets, closets and book shelves
helping others feel cared for by serving them
skiing in water and snow

STOP! :)

your turn.

rooftop yoga, hummus, veggies and wine...

pretty much a perfect end to my day last night.

climbing hard on wednesday night left my body sore and tense. when my sweet friend, jess invited me to rooftop yoga at a local coffee shop, i jumped at the opportunity.

it was better than i could've imagined.

i arrived early and found my way to the rooftop, observing a gigantic painting resembling a colorful sun. i watched the sun fade behind downtown and listened to the sounds of evening, enjoying the cool breeze wafting through my hair. glorious.



for the first time ever i felt like i wasn't in florida. i was calm. still. content.

afterwards we headed to bikes, beans, bordeaux for tomato, mozzarella and basil with a plate of hummus, fresh veggies and organic wine. mmm... scrumptious.

we had wonderful conversation, laughing, crying and catching up. i think i found a new thursday routine...

Smile on my face

On Saturday, Jaime took me to Tijuana Flats for lunch. Mmm.

Ordering my favorite Tijuana beef and black bean (hold the jalapeño), I grabbed sassy hot sauce and a booth by the window.

Nibbling away and watching football, we chatted and people-watched. Mostly discussing the obviously new customers who sat down expecting a waitress. Only took them about 5 minutes to see the “Order Here” sign. Other than people watching, we observed love bugs plastering the window next to our booth. Nice.

Of course I finished first and began nibbling on Jaime’s nacho platter. After a few minutes he quietly said, “You should go outside.” Excuse me, what? “Just walk out on the patio.” Why? “Trust me.” Like, for real? You want me to go walk out onto the patio? Right now? “Yes.”

I turned around, scanning the patio outside. Nothing. Scuffing over to the door I scanned again. At that exact moment, I spotted him. My heart leapt and I may have leapt a bit myself (not an unusual occurrence when this type of thing happens) as I shoved the door open in excitement.

I rushed over and didn’t even ask the owner if I could pet him. His name was Eli, and he was lovely. A beautiful, tall, muscular, sweet natured fawn.

Turns out the owner had just walked in and left the beast with her friend. As the owner passed, Jaime leaned over and said, “You just made my girlfriends day.”

Eli was massive. Just like my old dane, Lucy. He leaned all his weight against my hip, the way danes do when they like someone, giving me a hug. After visiting for a bit, I reluctantly said goodbye. It was hot and love bugs were invading my space in gross proportion.

After washing my hands and sitting back down, I couldn’t stop smiling. It meant a lot to me that Jaime would think to surprise me like that, even if he knew I would’ve seen Eli eventually.

My friends know how much I love great danes. I’ve been known to pull off the road (in a neighborhood of course) to stop and visit one. Come to think of it, there aren’t many things I get that excited about. It’s not so much an obsession but a general love for the animal.

I appreciate the texts, e-mails and verbal affirmation of great dane sightings my friends often shower me with. It’s not uncommon to get a phone call from a good friend saying, “I was driving today and saw this huge, black great dane with his head sticking out the window of a car. I thought of you.” But it’s always so much better when I actually get to see one in person.

Rainbow

Wednesday 9:35pm

Eli: Hey, Amber, wanna help me vacuum in the morning?

Arrrrghh, I have a meeting at work and we don't have a vacuum right now; didn't you just drop it off at the repair shop?

Eli: Yeah, but I'm going to pick up [Aunt] Maggie's in the morning. She has one of those Rainbow's.

::loud gasp of excitement::

::bare feet skipping across tile floor through the living room and kitchen::

I appear in the doorway with an expression matching that of someone who was just told she won $1,000,000 dollars.

Really?! A REAL, live, actual, RAINBOW vacuum?!

::Eli laughs, cocking her head to the side a bit::

Eli: Um, yes! You should see your face. Should I go get it now?!

Absolutely.

Eli: It's almost 10pm.

So?!

Eli: Okay, I’ll be right back.

For the next two hours, elation plastered my face as I cleaned the entire house... every nook and cranny, carpet, corner, couch cushion, dog bed and floor board.

I even texted my mother, You'll never believe it. I get to vacuum with a Rainbow! Just like the one we had growing up.

My mother replied: "You need help."

Perhaps I do, but it's the little things in life I take great joy in. Things like a vacuum cleaner that I didn't know still existed (because I hadn't bothered to search for it). We used the Rainbow every week of my life and I always felt it outperformed every other machine on the market. When we moved from Florida to North Carolina, it was broken and on it's last leg anyway. My mother disowned it somewhere between one of the 5 homes our family lived in since 1999.

My late-night clean sweep proved the Rainbow (in my opinion) remains the highest performing, low maintenance vacuum cleaner ever invented.

Simply glorious.