So far I have some tiny sprouts of basil!

We went to a Couples Retreat for church last weekend that was very encouraging and fun. Jonathan is staying really busy with PBC Internship and Academy of Art on top of work. I've been loving having ballet in my life again on Monday nights. I have also been glad to have stayed in touch really well with my dear friend from my former job, Sakura. We email/chat online throughout the week and try to meet up for a meal and Sephora time every other month or so.

Our church has encouraged everyone to read certain verses of the Bible each night to prepare our hearts for Easter Sunday and have different events throughout the week like a Seder we went to last night at church put on by a group called Jews for Jesus that was amazing. We are going to a huge Easter potluck brunch at someone from church's house too that will be a great way to celebrate. A verse that I find so fitting for this time is Rev. 21:5, "Behold, I am making all things new!" Hallelujah for new beginnings!

I have been told that if you live in the bay area, you automatically become a green thumb; that it is impossible to not grow plants here. So I bought some seeds today and we will see how it goes. I hope to grow strawberries, basil, oregano, and chives.

I am writing this from my new hp MiniBook - my cute little laptop that Jonathan got me as a birthday present four months early!

We are starting to recuperate from my parents being here; they are so energetic. We both started to get sore throats on Saturday and now have full-blown coughs and runny noses. We still managed to do some fun things like going to Sausalito, Golden Gate Park (which has buffalo in it, random I know), Ikea, and a quick visit with Boo at the San Jose airport on her way home from SoCal. Shinobi was thrilled to have visitors and the weather behaved for the most part.

Here are some photos from our daytrip and one of Shinobi putting out the vibe :)

We found a black Ikea coffee table in perfect condition sitting next to the dumpster and it looks a lot like the one we were thinking of buying this weekend. Score!

And I tried out an adult ballet class last night and really liked it. I have been looking for one at my age/skill level and for a reasonable price and it has taken a long time. I busted out the old leotard, tights, and shoes and checked it out. It felt so good to back out on the dance floor!

With the economy in the toilet these days, we got a great deal on a tan micro-fiber recliner for Jonathan with the appropriate "sink factor". It arrived this week and we realized real quick that we would need to make some changes.

While Jonathan was in Colorado for work Friday night, I tried every possible furniture configuration (the dog looked at me like I was crazy) and came to the conclusion that our coffee table had to go. The dining table almost got kicked out too, but we took out the leaf and it is not too bad now. All of our furniture is hand-me-down and our one-bedroom apartment just can't hold it all. We always said we would keep our furniture until we moved back to Oregon and at that point just leave it here and buy everything new up there, but it looks like we will be getting a new, more reasonable-sized, coffee table in the near future. The new arrangement has a lot more open space on the floor for visitors to sleep on the air mattress :).

We hung out with Nick and Stacey, Pete and Charissa, and Nate and Amy on Saturday night. There are some really great people here that build eachother up and love to laugh. We are also really enjoying hanging out with our Sunday lunch crew every week. Through my gratitude glasses, our tiny little love nest is cozy, not cramped, and we know great people near and far.