It’s Saturday night and I took a two hour nap this afternoon trying to sleep off morning sickness so now I’m wide awake and Nate is asleep. He worked some really late nights this past week and then we were out to dinner with his work people until almosst midnight last night. Not too bad for me because these days I have a very strict regimine of napping, sleeping and resting. Nate’s worn out though.
It’s pouring rain here right now and I love that. I think that I probably like the first few months of the year the best in Sothern California because that’s when it rains. Nate and I bought a CD of rain and thunder and used to play it most nights as we went to sleep. I remember a few times also playing it while it was actually raining that way we felt like it was thundering too. But that just got confusing. “Was that real thunder or the CD?” So we stopped.
I’m 7 weeks pregnant on Mon. and counting down the days hoping that morning sickness will wane in a month or two. I was thinking that we should find out the gender of the baby, but not tell anyone that way we don’t get flooded with pink or blue things. Maybe I’ll just tell everyone to just stick to greens and browns and neutrals regardless of gender. I have a sinking feeling that wouldn’t really work though. So much to ponder.
Ashley’s Blog
Sunday Afternoon
Last night we made our own sushi for the first time. I can’t eat raw fish these days, but have been craving sushi so we got some imitation crab and made california rolls that were actually quite good. Nate also wanted to make a fresh fruit danish similar to the ones from Porto’s (which if you haven’t tried we strongly recommend.) The danishes turned our to be more like orange flavored custard cups and we agreed that we did not want to eat them again. So Nate got the great idea to take them to our sunday school class as our donation to the snack table. He was happy to report that by the end of class all the custard cups had been taken and we didn’t see any half eaten ones in the trash. I’ve decided that I don’t like anything made with orange zest as am ain ingredient and I think it all started with some orange chicken from my childhood.
Tomorrow is Nate’s birthday. He’ll be 25. It will be low key this year - hanging out with family and eating some pie. Several months ago we bought some tickets to see Wynton Marsalis at the Disney Center on Feb. 1 and that’s kind of a late birthday/ early Valentines Day thing that we’ll be doing.
I’ve been really starting to feel the early pregnancy nausea lately. It usually hits early afternoon and lasts the rest of the day. I have found that so far it feels as if I’ve been in the back seat of a crowded car with hot stale air during a winding drive up the side of a mountain. Bleh. But we’re happy that things are progressing and Nate reminds me daily, “A sick mommy means a healthy baby.” It helps get me through.
Our friend Beckah is coming today to visit today and we’re very excited. We haven’t seen her since we bought our puppies so we’re really looking forward to catching up.
God Bless Us, Every One!
Last weekend we bought our Christmas tree. After some price comparison shopping we decided that this years tree would be bought at Lowes. We were looking through their 6′-7′ trees and pulled out one that looked a little taller the rest. We held it up and looked at it and said, “That’s got to be taller than 7 feet.” We bought the tree, tied it to the car brought it home and as it was lying in the living room floor before we put it in the stand we decided to measure it. We were surprised and I was elated to discover that the tree was 9′ tall. I was so happy!! 
The 9′ trees were $40 more than we spent on our “6′-7′.” Thankfully we have high ceilings in our condo so a 9 footer isn’t a problem. So here’s a picture of our wonderful mis-priced tree.
What We Did Tonight
Tonight we went to dinner at Maru Sushi in the Valencia Towncenter. They have some of the best sushi in town, we think. After sushi we went to Target and I bought a cream pashmina to wear to Nate’s work Christmas party and looked for a few straggling Christmas gifts we haven’t yet bought. We decided while we were there that we wanted some ice cream. We looked in their freezer section and decided that we could find ice cream in a grocery store for cheaper. We headed to Ralph’s and looked, then on to Vons thinking that there had to be better sales on ice cream. In Vons we looked over the sales and then decided on some store brand ice cream that was the cheapest one. We left the store and on the way home saw a stretch hummer coming off the freeway. The back windows were rolled down and three girls, no older than 15, were hanging their heads out screaming at every car they passed. I said to Nate, “You know, I’m always curious where those things are going. Is it a school dance or prom or something or are they actually going someplace cool.” So Nate said, “Well, let’s follow it and see.” So we started following the stretch hummer with the screaming girls. We followed it as it cruised through the towncenter and then headed back to the freeway. We decided that the girls for some reason were just out for a nightly drive in a stretch hummer and that it was time for us to go home and eat our ice cream. Once at home, we dished up the ice cream, sat down and took a bite. It was disgusting. The ice cream was crunchy, and the bits of waffle cone in it were stale. So we headed back out to Vons, returned the box of nastiness and bought the ice cream that we’d wanted in the first place. So now we’re watching Ratatouille with the taste of Breyer’s Cookies and Cream in our mouth, and our curiosity about the destination of adolescent filled stretch hummers salved.
2 Days Before Thanksgiving
Just wanted to say hi. I’ve been sick for the past few days, so I haven’t been outside the house much. Actually yesterday I didn’t go outside at all and today I only went out to do the laundry and take out the trash. I don’t mind it as much as one would think. I can find alot to do in our 720 sq.ft. of space. I did 5 loads of laundry and some filing today and made chicken and biscuits and broccoli for dinner. Now I’m using up time until Nate gets home and we can eat. For Thanksgiving we’re going over the Courtyard and hanging out with family. I’m making a turkey, stuffing, gravy, asparagus and apple pie. Sounds like enough to be a whole meal in itself, but we’re actually adding that to an already full menu that Nate’s mom is making. We should take a wagon with us so that Nate can wheel me out to the car after dinner is over. It doesn’t feel like the holidays to me. I just realized the other day that Christmas is only a few weeks away. One of my favorite things to do is to go pick out and buy a Christmas tree. I’ll have to write a post about that this year when we do that.
better than one
Home Life
It’s been just over a week that my tenure at Centex Homes came to an end. I thought that I would be sad or nostalgic when I left, but I found that I really wasn’t. I said goodbye to my coworkers, emptied out my office, boxed up my files and sent them down with people to the Inland Empire office, shut down my computer for the last time and walked out the door, leaving the Master the Moment sign fluttering behind me.
Since then, I’ve been enjoying home life. We’ve decided that I won’t be returning to work for the time being, so I’ve thrown all my efforts into housewifing. I love it.
This morning I dreamed that I watched Pulp Fiction in Starbucks with Jason Helms and then gave a gospel presentation to a woman on a dude ranch while my sister gave me pointers on how to effectively evangelize the lost. When I woke up and thought back over the dream, I was happy that I could accurately tell the story of redemption in my subconscious.
I’m on my way out the door for a walk, then I’ll be coming home and doing some house cleaning, making some dinner, maybe visiting some friends. I really love that the most pressing thing on my mind right now is that I need to go price comparison shopping for all natural face cleansers. A few weeks ago I was under the gun to get budgets corrected, presidents reports issued, sales release reports run, get the paperwork in place to pay the light fixture company the $40,000 that we owed them. I remember one day checking my emails, then turning to talk to a coworker. We talked for 6 minutes and in that 6 minutes I got 8 new emails - all asking for something that had to be done “right now.” Maybe in time I’ll miss that, but I’m thinking it will take awhile.
On JCrew
I find myself being particularly drawn to JCrew. One day I spent some time trying to determine the reason for this and have decided that along with my enthusiastic adoration of their classic styles, that it’s really their marketing that keeps me hooked. I noticed this when one day as I was perusing their shoe selections I came across some ballet flats. The color: Roasted Pumpkin. I felt my heart jump up. What a wonderful color! In that moment I was fully convinced that I wanted to walk around in Roasted Pumpkins, and that $138 for a pair of them was a reasonable price for the joy that they would bring me.
As I continued to look I saw different items with colors like Windsor Blue, Randolph Stripe, Leaf, Hartsdale Gingham, Craymore Tartan, Rivington, Riveira, Lime Zest. Sign me up. With names like that who can resist? I could walk the streets of Cambridge in a double-cloth boulevard coat, color whipering pine and feel like I belong there. I decided that these distinguished yet imaginative names created images in my mind of crisp autums in an established town - traditional and educated. And I found that very appealing. So brown herringbone driving caps off to you, JCrew. You know your audience.
Expected Response: "Yes, Sensei."
So I got into work this morning and noticed that the front conference room was decked out. There was a banner hanging on the window that faces out into the lobby reading, “Master the Moment” and the conference room tables were filled with note pads, colorful noise makers, and there was a purple orchid plant at each seat. A table in the lobby was covered with a table cloth and bottles of water. I knew that a catered breakfast would be here soon. I passed all this by thinking, “Must be a sales team meeting.” They’re always doing big flashy meetings to get all our sales agents excited and “power housed” up to go out and try to sell an item that is not selling these days - new homes.
About half way through the morning our marketing director sent out a division wide email letting us know that there was a martial arts themed sales event going on. A campaign called “Master the Moment.” Ok. We get these emails all the time, asking for the support of fellow employees and letting us know that it’s not for lack of creativity on the part of sales and marketing that our homes aren’t moving. I read on: “We will be holding a belt ceremony this morning during our sales meeting. As with any martial arts belt ceremony, we would like to award each of you with your beginner white wrist belt. Upon receipt of this band, remember that you are committing to the challenge with your whole mind, body and spirit…Please be prepared to come to the front of the room to receive your first wrist belt, bow to your awarding sensei…and proceed back to your seats or desk. You will be asked:
DO YOU COMMIT TO MASTER THE MOMENT?
Expected Response: “Yes, Sensei.”
I realized that this was not isolated to the sales team, this was something that I was expected to do. I have often felt that I am a part of my own little “The Office” episodes, but never so much as today. My first thought: “Who put Dwight in charge of organizing the sales meetings?”
So what did I do? I hid in the Design Center until the ceremony was over and then, head down, crept back to my desk, quickly and quietly. Past the flashy banners, the table filled with half empty pastry boxes, and a conference room filled with motivated sales people who were applauding while watching a power point presentation their white bracelets bobbing on their wrists and their hearts committed to Mastering the Moment.
UPDATE: (1:30 PM)
Had a manditory meeting in the same room being used for the sales meeting. On an easel supported Post It white board were the words, “Unique Ideas to Build Rapport,” a remnant of an earlier team building exercise. On the page were the following suggestions of what to say to potential buyers:
“What do you like about your Lexus? I’m thinking about buying one.”
“Your two kids look exactly alike! Are they twins?” and,
“You smell wonderful! What fragrance are you wearing?”
The sales manager is currently wearing a white martial arts uniform with her high heels and has a shot glass on a string around her neck.
The meeting ended with several people yelling, “Sake!!”
UPDATE: (3:08 PM)
Sales meeting is finally over. They hung the Master the Moment banner on the cubical walls that are directly outside my office. The sign has been autographed by the entire sales team, one of whom dotted her “i” with a heart and another who finished her name off with an exclamation point. As in, My name is Ashley Murray! and I work at the best place on earth.
in hawaii
We are in hawaii! Ash has a blackberry so I am able to post to our blog via email. We’ve been taking tons of pictures and video. I’ll post them when I get back to a computer.
snorkeling
Ash and I are currently in hawaii! Yesterday we went “snorkeling”. And by “snorkeling” I mean that we got in the water, saw one large, brave fish and promptly switched to evacuation mode and rushed out of the water. I knew that Ash didnt like fish, but i never knew how genuinely scared she was of them.
We didnt really have a great time. The ocean was a bit rough, Ash gashed her ankle on a rock, and the fish were really close (this is something i enjoyed but ashley did not). So after a couple minutes we were back on shore brushing off sand.
Thankfully Ash is resilliant and determind so she was willing to try again today. This time we brought a boogie board to act as a shield between ashley and the fish.
We jumped in at this great place called honaunau bay, ashley on her floating shield and me holding her hand. Now I have to admit, I havent been swimming deep in the ocean for a few years so I was glad that we had the boogie board as a place to rest when we got tired.
The reef was amazing! We saw tons of fish and even a gang of giant sea turtles. ash was very brave and did not freak out at all. Eventually she got off the boogie board and swam alongside. By the end she was dragging me out to sea even further than I wanted.
We have a bunch of pictures and videos ill post later on. Were planning on going to captian cooks monument later this week.
Well, writing blog posts on the blackberry is quite a challenge. Ill post more updates later in the week!
twitter IM finally works
twitter IM finally works
i find bill evans magical
i find bill evans magical
i like going on roads that are…
i like going on roads that are sometimes closed
the bare burrito
| ok, so at work someone left a burrito in the fridge. no wrapper, no packaging just one big, half eaten burrito. |
train adventures
I’m sitting on the train right now. At one of the station stops, these boys were playing a game where you have to run in one door, down the aisle and out the other door before the doors close or else you are stuck riding the train to the next stop.
Well, this one guy didn’t quite make it out the door. His partner (who made it outside) couldn’t have been happier and started jumping and laughing and pointing.
The boy on the train tried pushing the ‘open door’ button but the doors didn’t open and his gleeful friend went speeding by as the train pulled away. “Unfortunately” it was an express train and the express doesn’t stop between Highland Park and L.A. so he had to ride all the way to Union Station (it skips 4 stations).
His smile slowly faded as we made our trip and his face turned sour when we got to L.A. because the cops were checking tickets. He put his head down and ran into the train going the other direction.
Now a young spanish-speaking family are trying out all the ringtones on their new cell phone and the four-year-old daughter is dancing.
The fun never stops here in L.A.
fall cleaning
We’ve been cleaning out all of our closets lately. Yesterday we threw away like 4 boxes of stuff. I’m giving away my Dance Dance Revolution pads and playstation. If anybody wants it you better speak up soon.
We went to Diddy Riese with Leah on Friday. That was fun. They raised the price to $1.25 thought.
We’re going to see Mark and Aubrey in a couple weeks. They are coming back to the states, so we are going to drive up to NorCal with Leah.
rss feed
I’ve got my RSS feed up and running. If you’ve never used RSS before I would recommend it. If you use a mac you could try Vienna. Its a great, free RSS feed reader for Mac OS X.
some polaroids
I found these old polaroids so I decided to scan them and post them here.
i’ll take high school chaperones for 1000, alex
mrs. d asked me to chaperone for the academic bowl and of course i said yes. i always say yes even though i have about a billion other things to do. then i found out that ken jennings was going to be the moderator for the whole event, where students from across the state compete in a quiz contest against each other. i told all my classes that i was going to get to meet ken jennings. actually i told pretty much everyone i know that i was going to get to meet ken jennings.
the friday before, i was working out the details of the bowl with the few seniors that were going. one of my junior high students was there, isaac. isaac is a genious. he gets straight A’s puts together amazing presentations and projects, won the spelling bee, and the geography bee, and on top of it all he can write. he came up to me, trapper keeper in hand (ok i know they don’t really have trapper keepers anymore but i just don’t know what else to call them) and glasses held on by one of those cord things that go around your head.
‘my mom says that i am going to be ken jennings when i grow up. it would be so cool to get his autograph’
i’d just like to take a few seconds here to remind you that i live in utah. and utah doesn’t have a whole lot to brag about. they’ve got three things to brag about as i see it. the first is that the winter olympics were here (we’ve got the greatest snow on earth) second is john stockton (apparently he is a super great basketball player; there are streets named after him) and third is ken jennings (he won more games on Jeopardy! than any other person) so while it might be kinda geeky to want ken jennings autograph, he is a little bit more of a celebrity in utah than everywhere else
so i told him he should come.
he took out his cell phone right then and called his mom.
‘well, i probably will come but i think i’ll have to walk’
i told him we could work out a ride if he needed one.
so saturday morning came. i was at the school where the competition was being held by 8.30. the team showed up, and sure enough so did isaac. he even printed off a picture of mr. jennings on the internet for him to sign.
before the competition starts, isaac asks ken for his autograph and he signs the photo and chats with him for a while. what a great guy. isaac is way excited and stays with the team the whole day, even though he’s too young to compete. our team does ok, and a few of us even make it into the paper (my five minutes of fame is almost filled up now) we didn’t win, our team was put together in a week, the lunch they provided wasn’t that great, but the best part of the day was that i got to be a part of making some kids day.
being a teacher isn’t all that bad.
new pictures, and a new way of organizing them
This weekend, Ashley and I took some portraits of Cinnamin. You can view them here. This is the beta of a new photo album system I’m testing. I’ll probably release the code on the new tech.natemurray.com (coming soon!)
new server
Hey everyone, we’ve just moved our site to a new server so some things will probably be missing. I’ve been working on a better way to organize the pictures so hopefully I’ll have that up in a few days. Keep checking back for more fun blog-ness!
christmas pictures
Here are some updated photos of our place. We’re finally feeling moved in, and even though we still have to finish up the floors, it’s really starting to feel like home. Mom was here for Christmas and took these wonderful pics for us. Hope you enjoy!
christmas music
i’m sitting at gate B4 of the burbank airport. a chime interrupts the christmas music to tell passengers not to accept packages from strangers. by the time this public announcement is through ‘chestnuts roasting on an open fire’ is over and ‘holly jolly christmas’ is playing. christmas music has got to be the number one thing about christmas people like to complain about. i’m not sure why. any other time of the year its perfectly ok to play britney spears 20 times a day. most people are willing to carelessly endure the top 40 songs on a constant rotation for several hours. but when winter comes around suddenly we can’t endure the repetitiveness of christmas music.
maybe it’s not the repetitiveness that people can’t stand. some people are probably just upset about the commercialism of the ‘holiday season.’ this may have some validity. it’s kind of sick when moms are fighting in the aisles of walmarts across america over tickle me elmos. i’ve even found myself sipping overpriced hot cocoa at starbucks just because its called ‘candy cane cocoa.’ but people, do you really think the music is making you max out your credit cards? even this cynic doesn’t believe there are subliminal messages in the songs. (josie and the pussycats is the greatest band ever! candy cane cocoa is the new orange mocha frappuccino!)
its actually pretty sad to complain about christmas music. “i’m so sick of these christmas songs being played over and over. put eminem and christina aguilera back on!” OR “damn those big stores. they are playing music just to put me in the ‘christmas mood.’ and if i’m in the christmas mood i might just start thinking of someone other than myself and end up doing something nice for someone, like buying them a gift.”
so this year i’m not going to complain about the christmas music, in fact, i might just sing along through the whole season. or at least till i get sick of ‘jingle bell rock’.
blog update: new members added
Hey everyone, you may notice within the next few weeks that there are posts from people other than nate murray. mat and ashley have joined the team! we hope that between the three of us we can keep something updated that everyone will enjoy.
I’m working on a new template and site overhaul that is going to be really awesome. It will feature better categories, too. I’m going to pull out the tech-stuff and put it in its own category (tech.natemurray.com maybe?). It will also feature a more organized system of pictures and other goodies.
So stick around, life has been pretty crazy lately with the move and all.
We just got our Christmas tree!