Had a great 31st earlier this week and some great homemade molasses ginger cookies at a friend's house.

Went down to LA to see Basia with my girlfriend and had a blast dancing to old favorites and spending time with her whole family. I saw an ultrasound of her baby and heard "his" heartbeat who is soon to be due in 7 weeks. I "think" it's going to be a boy. It was great to be part of this family for so many years, through good times and bad.

Was totally sad to hear more about one of my childhood friends dying from a liver disease a few weeks ago. Strangely my friends just saw her a couple months ago at the funeral of a friend's mom. Argh. Some friends are still coping with the event and for me it's just difficult to know people die so young.

Spent some great time with my brothers and mom for an early Mother's Day at Villa Nova in Newport Beach. Great food and dessert. The wine list was very impressive but my family isn't really into wine so I had one on my own. A really nice 2003 Hess Select Cabernet.

Had a great time meeting new people at a gathering of church friends. Service at Sequoia Church was totally awesome. I can't wait to dig into the Vine's last message on Fasting.

I also had a great workout. When I loose 8lbs this month, I will have reached my first big goal...but I actually want to loose another 20 lbs by the end of summer.

...but then things just got really bad at dinner. I prayed for patience all day and I forgot to pray for peace instead. TC reminded me to pray for peace because if you ask for patience, God really does gives you a situation for patience to play out. Boy did I really learn my lesson for 2 hours.

Looking forward to starting the house projects this week as well as meeting up with more friends.

Photos from down in LA