it's thursday...

i know i should be working, but i've got june on my mind, instead!

i'm mostly thinking about how badly she needs a bath...

every 6 weeks

this past weekend, josh, june, and i met our friends craig and zsa up in bishop, ca for some classic bouldering. it was nice to see bishop only 6 weeks after the last time we saw it! if we had a bishop trip every 6 weeks, i may be okay with that!! as a matter of fact, i think we're headed up there again on memorial day weekend. how about that's 6 weeks from now!!

check out that landscape!

josh is stoked to be outside climbing again! and if you sneak a peek behind him, a little set of lovebirds are cuddling............ ;-)

craig and zsa hanging out :-)

june was so excited to be outside. she'd go explore by herself for 10 minutes or so, then check back in like a good little puppy. we thought we lost her at one point--that was scary. but nope, she was right around the corner! phew!

uhm, hello, cows. i wanted to touch one, but thought i might die.

craig working on mandala (i think that's what this was called)... this sucker's "heinous" (a word i've noticed climbers use ALL THE TIME...!)

josh on a traverse on the headbanger boulder. this boulder was SHARP.

josh working on soulslinger at the buttermilks. this is also the boulder where june got bit by a red ant. i wanted to cry watching her in so much pain, but i sucked it up. barely.

zsa working on soulslinger. this chick is a kickass climber, btw. and she's fun :-)

don't know what this route was called. i just know i worked on it for a while...

...and it finally went!!

sushi bro.

rolly's 32nd birthday found its way into 2010 last week :-) happy birthday bro!!!!

to celebrate, mom and dad thought rolly's favorite food would work to satisfy his birthday cravings. SUSHI!! however, in an effort to be creative and fun (good job, guys) we didn't GO to sushi, instead sushi came to us. the parentals worked and worked to prep all the fixins needed for a make-your-own-sushi party. (can i really get away calling them "fixins" when it is the farthest thing possible from hick food?? how about "supplies"? or "suprise!" my seuc cousins may get that reference... anywho...)

with seaweed, rice, halibut, tuna, tuna tar-tare, crab, salmon, eel, avocado, cream cheese, cucumber, mushrooms, and those little orange eggs on the menu, we went to town mashing, rolling, stomping, cutting, and eating our freshly made hand rolls. no, it wasn't the most classy effort i've ever seen, it was more... functional. how do i get all this stuff in my mouth at once? (...that's a great segway to a "that's what she said" joke, btw. ya know, just in case you needed some help catching that one...) some rolls were small, some rolls were large. some looked like burritos (dad...) and some looked like small baseballs... in any case, they all tasted DELICIOUS!! and, to ensure authenticity, a few sake swigs and sapporro gulps were fully welcomed...!

rolly's ready...

so is dad...

they're tired from eating...

yummmmmmmy!

i love those orange eggy things...

josh ate potstickers... "i don't like the texture of sushi..."

cheers, kat and rolly!

happy birthday to my rolly poly! i hope you had fun celebrating all weekend long! and thanks to mom and dad for all your hard work!

...lovers of starbucks

the entirely-too-computer-saavy-husband o' mine follows a ton of blogs, and one of his favorites, "deal news", has posted an awesome deal about free starbucks.

on thursday, april 15th, (yes, that's tax day, my friends), you can receive a free mug o' joe at starbucks, just by bringing in your own travel mug. if you don't believe me, you can click here for the proof.

just thought my fellow coffee lovers would want to know this big, big news :-) that, and i'm such a sucker for free stuff.

happy caffiening!!

favorite places: park bench cafe

it's not often that we get to enjoy the little gem in huntington beach called central park, as it's a good 35 minutes from home, and we don't spend all that much time in that area to begin with. every so often, though, we make it a point to grab the dog's leash, jump in the car, and head up the freeway to get a bite at one of our favorite places: park bench cafe.

this fully outdoor breakfast and lunch restaurant not only allows dogs, they actually encourage 4-legged friends to join for a treat of their own. the puppy menu ranges from hot dogs and ice cream scoops to kibble and dog bones. june's treat today--just a simple peanut butter dog-shaped treat. she decapitated it, ate the head, and left the rest of the treat for her furry squirrel friends that would clean up behind her.

i know what you're thinking--if they serve dog food, i'm sure the people food can't be that good. WRONG. it's definitely a greasy spoon type of restaurant, and a "white plate/cheap silverware" type of place, but the grub is good!!

today's trip was not quite as planned as usual--we happened to be in fountain valley running errands, and we happened to have the june bug with us because the weather was cool enough to leave her in the car for 20 minutes at a time. realizing we were just 10 minutes from park bench cafe, we headed up for lunch and a walk. june loved this afternoon, and so did we. the weather was gorgeous and the flowers were blooming--i'll take this weekend afternoon any day!

to do -- ta da!

the recent warm weather and late sunsets have really proven themselves to act as a magnet to our little family of 3, when 7pm rolls around. sunset walks are coming back into the picture, and oh how i love them!

aside from allowing june to alleviate some pent up energy, our little evening walks have become yet another great enviroment for solid conversation. last night's conversation somehow shifted to a topic of our daily to do lists, and how we both work so differently.

josh seems to have a "rule of 7". his past research (of course he has researched this...) has shown him that people should focus their efforts on completing seven realistic tasks in one day. if more are completed, great, if not, no worries, you hit your lucky #7. at work, he has a "master to-do list" with mini lists of 7 that help him prioritize his daily activities.

i, on the other hand, have ONE list. this list has it all... until it's full, that is. at that point, i start another list, transferring unfinished items to the new list, adding to it, and abandoning the old list. i revisit my list at least 15 times in a day, and if things become higher priority, they get an extra touch of color as a reminder.

as we discussed the different ways we manage ourselves and our to-do's on a daily basis, we were reminded that, although we work really well together, we work very differently than one another. josh feels overwhelmed when faced with a long to do list, i feel comfortable that i've captured everything i need to get done on a peice of paper! if i gave my list to josh, he'd probably be so confused. if he gave his list to me, i'd feel like i was missing things.

i'm POSITIVE this plays out in our marraige. one fundamental difference we found on day 6 of marraige was this:

josh: "i cannot clean this house until i relax!"
gigi: "i cannot relax until i clean this house!"

i won't go into how many times this has happened in the past year--i'll leave that up to your imagination... the good news, though, is that we both want the same things: a clean house and time to relax. therefore, we find ourselves working toward the same goal in two different ways.

so, as is the case with both the lists and the cleaning/relaxing styles, we continue to find ourselves wanting the same things, getting the same things done, but always bringing another approach to the table. and i LOVE it! it keeps things interesting and challenging, makes for some great debating, and keeps us focused on our goals. not to mention, in the end, we've both gotten what we wanted, because we wanted the same things to begin with.

...phew!...

Two down, two to go...

The last couple of years have been busy to say the least. I have been engaged and married, moved into a new house with my wife, become a landlord, and recently celebrated a 1 year marriage anniversary! On top of all of that, I went back to school to finally get my bachelors degree. It was a decision I knew would be full of long hours and hard work, but would be an important step to take for the future. What I didn't realize at the time was what I would learn from going back to school. Of course there are all the things I have learned from the classes at school, but that isn't what I am referring to. What I am talking about is what life has taught me just by going back to school.

School has taught me that no matter how difficult things get to manage my wife is always by my side to help encourage and support me. After all, she was a major factor in me going back to school in the first place. School has never been a priority in my life and through her love and encouragement it has become something that I am proud of doing. There are always the days where neither one of us want me to disappear into the office to do schoolwork, but over the last two years it has become a little easier to deal with knowing that I am just that much closer to reaching the light at the end of the tunnel.

It has been two full years since I started school and I have two years left to go. The first two went by really quickly and with the Gigi's help we have been able to still maintain the very active lifestyle that we have grown accustomed to and we have even begun to make plans for the future... whatever that may hold for us.

Through the "going back to school" process it is very apparent to me that no matter what life throws at us, Gigi and I are very capable at handling it. We work really well as a team and can tackle any situation that comes our way. We may have ups and downs along the way, but we recover well and learn from our mistakes. It's just one of the infinite number of things that I continue to learn and love about my wife! Without her, going back to school wouldn't be nearly as meaningful or educational. In fact, I probably wouldn't have done it at all. And I most certainly wouldn't have received this in the mail the other day....

Thank you Gigi for all of your love and support during this process! I love you and I could never have done this without you!

attention pooch owners—

word on the street is that OC is cracking down on the requirement to have a dog license in place for your pet. i’ve heard cops are going to go door to door asking for pet licenses and fine people that are found empty handed. (i thought cops would have better things to do, but apparently not…) typically, you can only get a license within the first 4 months of dog life/ownership, but OC has open enrollment right now for anyone to apply for this license. thought i’d share this info with you guys--we’ve had the June Bug for 3 years and never finalized her paperwork (tsk, tsk, i know…) and others may be in a similar situation.

you can go to this website to apply for a license. the fee is somewhat minimal compared to a potential fine/ticket, or.....the loss of loved one.......... ugh, could you imagine?!?!?

http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Info%20OC/Departments%20&%20Agencies/OC%20Animal%20Care/Pet%20Licensing

so blessed...

...to have spent 365 amazing days tag-teaming this thing called LIFE

with my wonderful husband....



...I can't wait for a lifetime more!

happy one year anniversary, my love!

the latest happenings on the johnson front

not sure how many of you care to hear what we've been up to, but i'm pretty sure i have a few far-away family and friends that check up on our blog and see how we're doing, so i thought i'd post a little update of the past few months.

theBIRTHDAY
josh turned __ (blank on purpose) on january 19th. and we're obviously very proud... just kidding--the guy may be racking up the age-points, but he's still as playful as a young chap and i love him to peices! we hit up javiers mexican restaurant for dinner with a few pals, followed by a visit to the yardhouse. josh was testing his new age at the nearest bar. eh, he sort of passed.

theCITY
we entirely lucked out this month and got the opportunity to travel for work together, and to no better place than new york city! okay, i misrepresent...we went to new jersey. i owed a visit to a project out there, and josh spent a day in his new jersey office working on a project with his boss. as soon as we were done with the work, we jumped on a train and planted ourselves in that freezing city for 3 days. this trip was fairly mellow for NYC--it was cold, and unless we had a plan of where to go and exactly how to get there, we weren't the most eager to simply roam around aimlessly. strangely enough, our initial plan had been to have no plan, and hadn't realized how much the cold would hinder us from "just hanging out in the city". ultimately we made it to a couple museums (the MoMA was our favorite!), the new york library, rockefeller center, and some random bars and restaurants. for those "how i met your mother" fans, we visited a bar called mcgee's, which provided the concept behind maclaren's in the show.

theMORNINGS
josh and i have stumbled upon some new found time, recently. mornings. how about that?! turns out, there's lots one can do at 6am, and we're learning it together. eagerly, i might add. i think the jet lag from NYC has yet to fade, and we're hanging on to it tightly. mornings have recently consisted of a long walk with the dog, a yummy breakfast and the today show, or an early start at the office. i've always had an appreciation for mornings, but managed to easily sleep through them. now that josh is finding how beautiful the early part of the day can be, i'm finding myself NOT sleeping through them anymore. it's nice, june loves it, and i would highly recommend mornings to anyone! a little word of advice, though--do yourself a favor and hit the sack before midnight.

theBOOK
our valentine's day was fairly low key. it consisted of church, lunch, errands, and the gym. later in the day, we buckled down and got serious--threw a steak on the grill(pan) and sat down for a romantic dinner. after dinner, we moved to the couch, and josh read "catcher in the rye" to me. it was so simple, and so sweet. i absolutely LOVED it; well, until i fell asleep in chapter 6, that is... i can't wait to be read to more...such a nice treat! and this book is an awesome classic :-)

theWEEKEND
we are heading up to bishop, california to (finally) do some outdoor climbing. josh, june, and i will hit the road saturday morning and meet a couple friends of ours on the rocks that afternoon. i am SO looking forward to sometime outside, away from the hustle bustle, and spending time with friends. we'll post some pics when we return!

theBUS

josh and i like to think we're fun, playful, and lighthearted folks :-) we could be wrong, but we still like to think it! we stumbled upon a school bus yard a while back and got some photos of the good time. here's a few, just for kicks!

Reaching New Heights

We’re back! We are coming up on our first year anniversary and we are finally starting to settle into a routine that we can all handle. We are figuring out what our schedule can handle and how far we can stretch ourselves and trying not to ignore friends and family while still getting in the things we want to do each week.

One of the things that slipped out of the rotation was our climbing. Around the beginning of the year we both decided that we would get back into it; first for fun and as a means of staying in shape as well. From the moment we started hitting the gym again we both realized how much we missed it. The first week it was practically all we could talk to each other about… and it hasn’t stopped! Four weeks later and we still can’t stop talking about it. The other day Gigi came home with a bubble jacket she got from a friend. She pulled it out of the bag, held it up, and said, “for our next trip to Bishop.” She knows the way to my heart, doesn’t she?

I got bit by the climbing bug the day I went to Joshua Tree with an old friend (Kevin Ranck – if you are out there, I miss ya, man!). I always knew the sport would be a big part of my life after that day and told myself, “I’m gonna marry a woman who climbs one day.” Guess what? I did!! Not only did I marry a woman who climbs, I married a climber! Granted, she didn’t know she was a climber at the beginning, but she knows it now! It is so much fun to share the sport I love with the woman I love!

It’s so fun to watch her light up when she reaches a new level of climbing. It’s awesome to watch her figuring out the problem she is working on. And it’s exciting hear her voice get louder and more excited when she talks about it with me and others. The other day we almost went to the gym twice in the same day because she wanted to go back! Now that’s a climber!

I have always contended that climbing is a great metaphor for relationships. With or without a rope there are two people looking out for each other. When a person falls, the other is there to catch or help protect the other person from injury. When one person struggles, the other is there to take up the slack or give guidance to help the other person through the tough spot. And like with any sport, the more you do it, the better you become at doing it. The same thing goes for a healthy relationship.

Coming up on our first anniversary of marriage, we can definitely attest to it having been a lot like climbing. We have each had our times of struggle when we were reliant upon the other to get through. We have also each had times of pure success that we have been able to share in together. We are getting ready to reach new heights both in climbing and in marriage. It’s an exciting time for us and we couldn’t be happier about it!

P.S. - We are always looking to introduce people to the sport we love so much. If you are interested, let us know! We’d love to take you climbing!

when your mind's made up

tuesday blew like a drunk guy workin' a breathalizer. no, really, all kidding aside, i had the most horrible day i've had in a long time. the worst part was that i had no idea why my day was so difficult. it just was.

first off, i must clarify--nothing is "wrong", things aren't "bad", and my life isn't "rough". i simply woke up, showered, and began to get ready. i got in a small fight with my closet and the few exciting peices it offers, but that's not new. all of the sudden, i felt odd... different... uncomfortable... i felt like my little world was slowly turning upside down, and i was entirely not surprised when it didn't re-adjust itself until later that evening. i instantly had a disappointing perspective on everything--i didn't like what i saw in the mirror, i didn't enjoy running through my day's to-do list in my head, and i could barely appreciate the few morning exchanges my husband and i shared before work. i just wasn't having it.

i made my way into the office and felt on the verge of tears all day. every little thing i'd normally brush off was given enough credit in my mind to takeover my thoughts. ugh. what an awful feeling. ultimately, i made a decision to bail out of work a couple hours early. i had permission, of course--there was no way i was going to add my bad day by playing an unadvised day of hookie. i drove home, plopped on the couch, and submitted myself to 2 hours of predictable chick-flickness. thankfully, my dose of "confessions of a shopaholic" was just the right medicine. well, actually, i owe getting out of my slump to the desperate prayers and a self-given motivational pep-talk, but you get the jist. the movie helped. i was finally able to detach from whatever had unnerved me and essentially hit the restart button on my day. i jumped on the good-attitude train for the rest of the evening, and have felt fine ever since. :-) high fives to that!

i'm not sharing the details of my crappy day just for the mere purpose of sharing. it was quite the impactful day, seeing as how it's thursday and i'm still thinking about it. there must be a lesson in this somewhere...

since tuesday, i've found myself thinking that i hadn't had a bad day like that for a while, so it was bound to come. everyone deserves to have a bad attitude at their discretion, right??? ehhh, not so much. as i mentioned, nothing is wrong, life is good, and i'm a happy camper. i believe that each and every morning God gives me a little window of time in which i get to make a decision. i don't think the decision is between "having a good day" and "having a bad day" so much as it is between "working to have a good day" and "not working to have a good day". i'm lucky that good days often come my way, but on the occassional day in which i am blatently presented with that choice, i'm going to force myself to take an extra moment, say an extra prayer, and work a little harder to stretch a smile across my face. that morning's decision may be tested throughout the day, and i'll probably find myself working hard to fight off the little grey clouds that so badly want to cling themselves on to my smallest worry, but i must make it a priority to not allow a bad attitude to win me over. it's draining and tiring, and i definitely don't want it happening when i have no stinkin' reason for it.

bad days will come, but their reasons will come with them. and on those days i'll find the loving arms of my friends, my family, and my God to comfort me.

i will.

one of my goals for 2010 is to start setting goals.

one of my more relevant goals for 2010 is to become less restless. allow me to explain.

in this day and age, it is SO incredibly easy to yearn for "the next big thing", to always want what's on the other side of the fence, and to keep up, if not surpass, the "jones'". you grow up wanting to get to high school, then get to college, then get to the real world. you finally get there and you want to find a great job, buy a house, meet the man/woman of your dreams, get married, have kids, get a bigger house, get a more glorified job, have more kids, etc.etc.

i look at my own life and realize that in every step of the way, i have always want to be a step ahead of myself. this, my friends, is most likely the reason for why you may consider me "prematurely old". sad, huh? now, don't get me wrong, it's important to dream, wish, and work for all these great things to happen, but what happens when your entire focus becomes wanting what you don't currently have?? well, i believe you end up losing sight of the moment in which you stand.

i want to learn, so badly, how to just savor the moment while i'm in it. imagine the excitement!

so, this year i will do the following:
- i will cherish the tens of thousands of laughs i share with the love of my life
- i will utterly enjoy every minute of marriage...without kids
- i will love the moments i get to spend with my June Bug while she's still got the energy of a puppy
- i will appreciate the heck out of the fact that my bro, sis, mom, dad, and in laws all live within 30 minutes of me. that's equal to one episode of "friends"

- i will tell my friends how much i love them
- i will enjoy my little 1100 square foot condo and my tiny balcony
- i will work my butt off to tackle the daily learning curve i'm presented with in my career
- i will learn and retain as many music facts as my husband can tell me
- i will laugh aloud at the smart-ass jokes i quietly tell myself
- i will find a way to enjoy the countless hours spent in my car
- i will enjoy the daily grind as if its a vacation from the norm
- i will stop in my footsteps every so often and just...be
- i will not always be yearning for the next great moment, but instead make each moment great
- i will be...less restless and more at peace

i'm thankful for this life full of wonderful blessings, and i won't let it to go by too fast. you just never know...

the ultimate

my husband has a *PASSION* and a *DEEP LOVE* for climbing.

his face literally *LIGHTS UP* when he begins to talk about it.

a new route is the most *EXCITING* puzzle he could ever be faced with.

his thought process becomes entirely *LOGICAL*.

his ultimate goal is to *SUCCEED*.

his eyes scream *DETERMINATION* as they survey the routes.

he becomes *FOCUSED*, and nothing can get in his way.

he *DANCES* his way to the top, seemingly light as a feather.

and i simply *RELISH* in getting to watch him do what he loves.