Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Atheists saving the world!




Isaac and I recently heard about Kiva.org, a non profit website where anyone can make micro loans (any amount you want, but $25 is the default amount) to people in third world countries who need loans to improve their living conditions. Isaac and I donated $25 to 2 different groups of borrowers, each in Cambodia. Isaac and I have seen Cambodia's poverty first hand and I can imagine that getting a loan to start a small business is make or break for a lot of people there. We also saw that you can join a group of lenders, where whatever you lend is added to the group's total. The coolest part is the second largest group is an atheist/freethinkers group, who are out to prove that Atheists are altruistic and not the nihilists we are often made out to be. You can check out the group's blog here. They are called Atheist-Monkey, how perfect is that?! So please consider making a micro loan today, and if you feel inclined then join the atheist group first (we didn't join until after our first loan, so that one doesn't count toward the group's goal. Learned that after.) I won't go on and on about how it works, but the main point is you get paid back, which you then can keep (it's your money after all) or you can lend to someone else. So basically you get to keep helping people at no extra cost. If you want to help out the group of borrowers we helped, the link is on the right hand side of our blog. After they get all the money they need the picture will be replaced with another lender's profile.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Thanksgiving, part 2



Here we are with my dad, Marc and Lisa, and my grandma and her new boyfriend. Yeah, you read that right, my 92 year old grandma has a new boyfriend, and he's awesome. And she's awesome. Don't believe me? Here is a photo of her in 1933 on her high school's women's basketball team.



I'd like to see what your grandma was up to in 1933. Because I bet it wasn't shooting hoops.

Thanksgiving

Tired of seeing pictures of me and Isaac? I didn't think so! I know you bitches love to look at us- that's why you read our blog! Well, I have a special treat for everyone. We went home for Thanksgiving so here are lots of pictures of us, and our families. You're welcome.




Obama ♥



"Red stickers mean "I Voted!"


This was by far the most amazing election ever. Isaac and I always vote, but this time it really felt like it mattered. Seeing the lines at my work (we are a polling place) was incredible, and my coworkers and I kept running down to peek all day. It really felt like everyone cared this year. After work our neighbors Layla, Merritt, Pierre and their twin babies came over for homemade pizza, big salad and champagne. I like to pronounce it Cham-pag-ney to Pierre, because he's French. He doesn't mind. Being French I mean. I think he might mind my pronunciation. Anyways, we watched the news and tracked the results on the web (see the picture with the guys looking at the results- even the baby is happy!)and when it was announced that Obama was the winner, we all ran outside shouting and laughing. Every car on Valencia street was honking it's horn and everyone on the street was yelling, singing, and high fiving complete strangers. It was magic. Then we went back inside and watched Indiana go blue, for the first time that I can remember. Merritt is from Indiana too so it was special for all three of us to see that. Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween!



Isaac's costume is Billy Mitchell from King of Kong. Mine is a pumpkin.

Karaoke!



We FINALLY rented a Karaoke room with 8 of our closest friends on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and everyone sang as loud and as drunkenly as they could. I think we all agreed Ed and Isaac's duet of "Dick in a box" was the evening's highlight. And we all got a kick out of sneaking flasks of alcohol in, since everyone in the room was well over 21. ahhhhh... high school memories. The first picture is Jess before and immediately after knocking a light off the wall. Fortunately the guys were able to reattach it and no one was the wiser. After karaoke we went to Kat's house and almost set her house on fire because we started a fire in the fireplace with the flu (sp?) closed. we had to use a fire extinguisher to put it out. Oh yeah, and before that we almost got kicked out of BAR, BAR for god's sake, because people were getting a little bit naked. Just a little so they ended up not kicking us out. Crazy kids!

Dirty Thirty


Isaac's Birthday! Woo-hoo! We went bowling with Jen and Garland. Lunar bowling. Being the birthday boy, Isaac pooled all his birthday super powers and easily won every game. we were all suitably impressed. And even though I was a bad girlfriend and didn't get even one birthday-themed balloon or hat, the group in the lane next to us was coincidentally having a 30th birthday party for one of the bowlers. So there were "dirty thirty" signs and balloons everywhere. See? No need to decorate! The universe takes care of these things. Unfortunately, Isaac's birthday luck had run off by the time I bought him a bowling-alley lotto scratcher. Oh well.

Muir Woods!



So as I sit here writing this in... ummm... August or late June or something... we just went to Muir woods with dad! yeah! It was a lot of fun. Dad had never been so it was a nice drive up to Marin over the bridge. Parking at Muir was terrible but once we got parked we were able to wander around for several hours. After we ate some delicious Pho and garlic noodles at Sunflower (Turtle Tower is not open at night). Dad tried to get the waiter to tell us what the "secret ingredient" in the garlic noodles was. Silly dad! they won't tell! Not ever. Isaac says fish sauce. I say crack. I think I'm right.

errr.. forgot to add a few things

sooooooo.... Isaac and I have been really busy and haven't blogged in awhile. time to play catch up! that means you need to ignore the dates of the next few posts and pretend they are from a few months ago. So sit back,crack a cold one, and pretend that you are scared to death that Palin will be president in a few years.