Trust and Trip

I put in an offer on a condo last week. Over the past couple of months I've been out here and there with my agent getting a feel for what's on the market. I was wondering how I would know whether to take the scary leap and make an offer on something. Then the weekend before last I walked into a condo in Studio City and without even getting beyond the threshold said "Fric and frac! This is it." With some research and conversations with my dad and my tax guy, I made an offer. And for the first time I truly understood the process of trusting God. I mean seriously. We bandy about the term "I'm just trusting God in this" or "I trust that there's a reason" when something we really want doesn't happen. I've always wondered how to actually trust instead of just saying I do. For some reason it happened this time, like a gift. I was able to be fairly unattached to the outcome whether or not I got what I wanted. And I didn't get what I wanted, by the way. There were six offers and they accepted one that was all cash. Can't compete with that! And while it seemed perfect and all of the steps through the process were unhindered, it still wasn't meant to be. I know what I got out of it, though. An education on the process of home buying - what the numbers mean, what I can actually afford, etc. I hope I can hang on to genuine trust. It's so much better than disappointment every time there's a kink in my path.

This weekend I hung with my mom for our annual mother/daughter weekend. It was nice to escape for a couple of days. This time we landed in Julian, an old gold mining town. We stayed in a 110 year-old historical house that used to rent rooms to miners. I think the mattress on our bed was from old timey mining times (not really, but it was uncomfortable as heck.) We wandered around the town (I bought a cool celtic toe ring that I'm wearing on my pinky. If I ever have a wedding band, I want it to look like this!), went to an apple orchard (owned by some Scottish guy who was like Braveheart meets the old west), and had a great dinner at Jeremy's on the Hill, a newish restauant with a very young chef. The butternut squash soup with pomegranate reduction was excellent!

Main Street - Julian, CA

My mom doesn't usually look like this, but I made her pose as a nut cake while holding a nut cake. I love that my mom is willing to do the silly things that I suggest.

My mom fakes picking an apple. We had to buy a bag of pre-picked ones. It was a crappy crop this year.

My mom is on the verge of turning 65 and she told me during our time together that she's getting a tattoo for her birthday. Now, if you know my mom, you'll know she doesn't seem to be the tattoo sort. I assumed she'd have it placed on her ankle or somewhere conservative like that. Uh, nope. She wants it on the back of her neck for the world to see. And the kicker is her 87-year-old roommate is paying for it as a gift! These are two sassy ladies. She doesn't know what she wants, so a friend of hers is designing some sort of pattern. About 12-13 years ago my mom and I got henna tattoos, which go away after a month. My little brother thought it was a real tattoo and he couldn't get over how cool his mom was. When it faded, he was bummed. Guess what, Josh? Your dream will be a reality in just a few short weeks. Photo to follow soon!