a trip to the zoo

"but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

today lauren and i decided to go to the san diego zoo! i had been talking about going ever since about a month before arriving in CA and i was so excited when we finally got to go!


our adventure began with the flamingos.




then we moved onto the monkey trail of the 'lost forest.'


always stopping for photo ops, of course.


next was the aviary. doesnt this remind you of a LOST episode? or perhaps jurassic park? yeah... it definitely wasnt our favorite place to be.




in fact, i pretty much ran through the entire giant bird cage (not a fan of things flying around my head).


hello mr. gorilla


there were so many children around the hippos - clearly a popular animal.


hey look its us!


the tigers were gorgeous. we throughly enjoyed the 'asian passage' and 'africa rocks' trails.








this ones for you, virginia lewis.


then we were off on the elephant odyssey! seester loves the elephants.




elephant butt.


next we moved onto the 'polar rim' and this was our first stop - obviously necessary.




this polar bear was giving the crowd a show.


next stops: the urban jungle, the outback, and panda canyon.












what an AWESOME day! thank you seester for taking me to the zoo. :)

a day at the beach

"i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, i know that full well." -psalm 139:14

the sun has FINALLY arrived in la jolla and lauren and i have spent the last two days soaking up every ray - it has been absolutely wonderful. today we spent some time at the beach - the sky and the water were clear blue and the sun was nice and warm. im personally hoping to look like a true california girl when i arrive back in NC.

we hopped in the car this morning and headed all of, well, probably a quarter of a mile down to the beach. i documented along the way, of course. this picture truly portrays our excitement for the day. lauren is maybe just fearful for her life as i try to take pictures while she is driving.






and then lauren did a GREAT job parallel parking... even if it did take a few tries. (3 times a charm sees)


she was very proud of herself. i was also proud.


the beach was gorgeous. see for yourself!




lauren spent a lot of time deciding whether she really wanted to go into the water. it was pretty chilly.




typical face (in response to the sand fleas and the seaweed).




and then this lady came up and asked if we wanted a picture of the both of us. we agreed, but when we saw it later we realized we were literally the size of ants on the screen. please disregard the odd cropping job that i had to do so that you could actually see us.




shes my favorite california girl :)

i decided to go for a walk...

"the King is enthralled with your beauty, honor Him, for He is your Lord." -Psalm 45:11

every day since i have been in la jolla, i have managed to take a walk through some part of the town. each time, i think to myself, "gosh, these flowers are pretty. i wish i had my camera!" so a couple days ago, i decided to go for a walk AND take my camera. this trip was solely devoted to taking pictures of unique flowers along the way, but as you may have noticed from previous posts, i got a little carried away with beautiful views of the ocean and amazing houses in the hills. it wasnt until i saw a sign that said, "neighborhood watch in effect: all suspicious activity will be notified to the police immediately" that i decided i should probably cease picture-taking.

here are some of my favorite tropical plants i have found - there may very well be flowers in this post that i have in my own NC backyard, but it seems like it wasnt until i came to california that i really noticed the beauty of the plants and landscape.

enjoy!

carpe diem!

yesterday was stacie's last day with us in california, so we made the most of our time for sure! in the morning, stacie and i went for a walk and took pictures of beautiful houses and views along the way.








yeah id like to know who lives in these places.




we stopped in for breakfast at a local coffee shop, Pannikin's, and then continued on for a hike up the same mountain as the previous time. unfortunately, i did not bring my camera to the top of the mountain, but stacie captured some photos that i can hopefully get from her later. i will say that the hike was quite an adventure! for some reason, we couldn't seem to figure out the same path we had taken a couple days earlier, and so we got lost multiple times. but dont worry - we made it out through the wilderness and it was an awesome, hilarious experience! plus we clocked out at 8.64 miles on the pedometer at the end of the day woo!

after a long day of exercise, we were reallllly hungry. lauren suggested that we go to the burger lounge for dinner and i am SO thankful that she did. they had regular grilled burgers and also turkey burgers - sooooo yummy!






it was literally the most amazing turkey burger ive ever had.




we miss you already stacie! were so glad that you came to visit!