Cheers to 2009!

What a year 2009 has been for the Lee family! God has blessed us so many ways in this second year of our marriage!

I just wanted to take a moment to share with you all the joyous events we have experienced in 2009, and praise God for what he has done in our lives!

1) Deciding that we want to make traveling a regular part of our family's life Cameron and I decided to sign up for the Disney Vacation Club, a timeshare through the Disney Corporation. We are super excited about all that this investment will bring in the years to come for ourselves and future little ones, and have already been able to stay at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel twice this year. So if we haven't come to visit you and your family recently... we'll make our way around sooner or later!

2) Both Cameron and I underwent minor surgeries in the early spring this year, and we are grateful that they both went smoothly, the cost was low, and we recovered very nicely!

3) We brought home a new kitten, Jazz! He has added quite a bit of laughter, scolding, playing, surprises, and general "cuteness" into our home. We brought him home a teeny tiny teacup fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand size 6 week old kitten, and today at 9 months old he is just under 12 pounds!!

4) An off-season getaway weekend to Big Bear found us enjoying ourselves in an almost deserted ski town last spring. It was nice to explore the town feeling like we owned the place. Very relaxing.

5) Always one to love the sound of wedding bells, when our friends Julie and Jeff got married this summer in central California we decided to make the most of the weekend (which happened to be my birthday weekend as well) and booked a room at the eclectic Madonna Inn. We ended up staying in two rooms that weekend - "Currier and Ives" and "Mountain Cabin". It was a great weekend with college friends, Catan, the wedding was beautiful, the day before and the day after the wedding were absolutely gorgeous, and we ended the weekend off with a brunch with friends at a local bakery in down town San Luis Obispo and off to a vinyard for some wine tasting. We stopped in the little town of Solvang for a walk around the block and some ice cream before heading the rest of the way home.

6) And then came the trip we had been looking forward to all year! We were off to England in October - first to see the sights in London for five days and then over to the city of Poole to visit Grace and Richard Sanders and their little ones. There are so many amazing things to see and experience in London, historical sights, street performers, bright lights, incredible architecture, the river Thames, double-decker buses, the Underground (subway system - "Mind the gap"), the theatre... and we did our best to see at least a glimpse of as much as we could. Then the REAL adventure began... driving! My brave husband got behind the wheel for the next three and a half days and drove us safely over to our friends' and around the countryside sights - all without a GPS system! Praise the Lord for his protection!

7) After all the "playing" we were able to do this year, the Fall of 2009 brought us an amazing business opportunity that we decided to dive into head-first. We are now the proud owners of OC Tae Kwon Do, open for business since October 19, 2009. We both work for Mesa Energy Systems still during the day, and spend our afternoons and evenings at the dojang teaching, organizing, planning, and preparing. We currently have 15 students committed for at least a year and are confident that there are many more just around the corner!!

So here's to 2009. A memorable year. Another year that God has kept us trusting in Him, leaning on Him, seeking His will, waiting on His answers... blessing us in so many ways!

Our trip overseas

Well, England was a huge hit!

We spent Oct 7 - Oct 17th traveling abroad in London and Poole, England. The first five days were spent in London and we were blessed with an outstanding hotel room right next to Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park (think London's version of Central Park). We filled our days with sights such as Wimbledon (yes, the lawn tennis courts - only used 2 weeks out of the entire year, by the way!), strolling through Hyde Park, Kensington Palace, The Royal Albert Hall (a grand place for concerts, basket ball, balls, you name it!), THE ORIGINAL Hard Rock Cafe, Windsor Castle (my favorite, I think), a cruise tour down the Thames River, the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Billy Elliot the Musical.

The second part of our adventure in England started with renting a car (the Hybrid Prius is HUGE by English standards, by the way... if you have to drive in England get something smaller!), finding out there were no more GPS units available so we'd have to go off of the dilapidated maps they provided for us, and making our way west to Dorset County to visit friends Grace and Richard and their family, stopping to see Stonehenge on the way. We had a very pleasant stay with the Sanders but it was much too short. After seeing the English seaside and visiting the city of Bath for a day, it was already time to say goodbye. Already looking forward to the day we will see each other again! I miss you Grace! You were wonderful hosts to us!

Our travels back became loooooooonnnnnnnng. Upon arriving at the airport Friday morning (3 hours early for an international flight, mind you) we found our flight was going to be delayed 4 1/2 hours! Turned out to be almost 6 hours delayed, putting us at that airport for 9 hours that day! Thankfully the airport had a shopping center and computer access. Then we were put up for the night in Pennsylvania since we of course missed our flight home. But all in all, we got home safely after being up 36 hours. Good to be home.

There are far too many pictures to post on here right now. So if you want to see pics, check out my Facebook page as I've just downloaded them all there. I will try and add some of my favorites here soon.

Introducing OC Tae Kwon Do

Its really happening... doesn't quite feel real...

Cameron and I are officially business owners! We received the keys today to our very own Tae Kwon Do studio!!

In case you haven't heard, we are going into business for ourselves. We've been contemplating being our own bosses ever since we got married basically. And technically, we did run Kelly's Gift Basket for a while, but that didn't really go anywhere so we stopped after just a few months (but we made out even, so it was a good experience!). And now Cameron is going back to his roots, which I am very pleased about and very proud of him for. He has done Tae Kwon Do for over 15 years and he even ran his own business for a while back in the day. His pre-Kelly days. Sad days (j/k).

My husband is so happy these days. Right now he is over there placing the mats on the floor with his brother. Even before we had the keys he's been driving by the place almost every night to plan and imagine things out. Its so cute. I'm so proud of him.

So here's the plan - we'll set up and move in as much as we can this week. Mats, desks, supplies, changing room set-up, phone, utilities, etc. THEN we leave for ENGLAND next Wednesday and hopefully he will have accomplished enough to set his mind at rest for a little while during our trip =). When we get back we'll start taking sign-ups for our INTRODUCTORY SPECIAL= 2 Private Introductory lessons for only $19.95 and we'll include a FREE uniform! Once we have enough students (by the first of November or so) we'll start classes!

So if you know anyone who may be interested, tell them to check out our website! WWW.OCBLACKBELTSCHOOL.COM.

And watch out, in a few years I just might be a black belt myself...

2 Years!

On September 1, 2009 Cameron and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary! What a thrill it has been, and how fortunate I feel to have found a man who makes me laugh, allows me to open up and completely be myself, loves to dance, loves to be with me, loves the Lord. I love him for his hard work, his passion for life, his desire to do the right thing. I'm glad he's not perfect and I'm glad that he has (finally) gotten me to see that I cannot and do not have to be perfect either.

For dinner on our actual anniversary we went to one of my all time most favorite restaurants - The Old Spaghetti Factory! It was SO yummy! There's nothing better than mizithra!
Then, over Labor Day weekend, we had a wonderful time staying at the Grand Californian at Disneyland! It is such a nice hotel, and we were able to stay using our Disney Vacation Club points so it was a deal. When we arrived for check-in, they told us that there was a special wine and cheese event planned for Disney Vacation Club members which was unexpected and turned out to be a very nice event. We received as a give-away this collectors-edition painting which features Mickey and cute representations of all the Disney Vacation club resorts.We spent the weekend looking for Hidden Mickeys in the rides and had a blast! Totally puts a different spin on going on rides when you are searching out the hidden mickeys and following the clues. Can you spot the Mickeys in the pictures below??Here are some more fun pictures of the weekend.

Thank you to all our family and close friends who have supported us and built us up over these past two years! We are so grateful to have many wonderful role models and examples of Christ-pleasing marriages at Christ Community Church!

England

Well, its settled. We're going to England this fall! Our flight is booked and paid for. We just purchased LondonPasses for ourselves which includes admission fees for most sightseeing spots as well as unlimited underground, bus and train travel within the city of London. And we get to see my good friend Grace and her husband and two sons who live in Dorset. We are SO excited!

Has anyone been to England before and have any suggestions of sights to see or tips on driving in the English countryside?

Family

I just have to write about how happy I am that I have such a large and connected family. I know my immediate family is not that large, having just one brother. But I have what seems to be an ever-growing extended family of aunts, uncles, grandmas, cousins, second cousins, first cousins-once-removed... And that's just MY family! I love the part of being married that includes HIS family too! Through marriage I now have four sisters, another brother, a father and step-mom and I'm an aunt EIGHTEEN times over! Some of this family I have yet to meet and I am so looking forward to when that time comes.

This week I met three of my father's cousins from Nebraska. Such sweet ladies. They saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time last Sunday and they've been having so much fun and can't believe they're actually in California =).

This week we're also hosting our first overnight guests in our 2-bedroom apartment. Cameron's sister Sunny from San Antonio, TX, and her two kids, Renee and Solomon (who were in our wedding), are staying with us until Monday. I'm having a great time reconnecting. I appreciate any time I get to spend with his family since we don't see them very often.

Thank you , Father, for the many blessings of family you have placed in my life. May Cameron and I be blessed to continue the legacy with a family of our own some day!

Fleas!!

How does a cat who stays indoors all day get fleas? Well those darn bugs have found a way and Jazz has 'em! They're all over him, poor thing! We used some solution on his neck the other night and I'm hoping that they stay away. I guess its time to invest in some kitty insurance.

For those of you who may not know, we brought home a little 6 week old kitty last May. He is the cutest thing! He's very playful and unfortunately he's got a bit of a problem of biting us when he plays. Good thing he's so cute!!
This first pic was Jazz on the first night we brought him home. Take note of his size compared to the teacups for future reference!Just two weeks later he had already noticeably grown!
And this is Jazz just the other day!
Here are some of my other favorite pictures of our new pet as he has grown up.

Gotta love Goodwill

We found this awesome desk at the Goodwill today! We like to stop in every once in a while to see if anything catches our eye. Today we were looking for a table/workspace, but saw this desk instead. Its a piece that could easily be $400 or $500 dollars new, and we found this one for only $30 and just a few dings and scratches! I love it.

Fun Times in SLO

Last weekend Cameron and I had the awesome experience of staying at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. It was so cool! Since some of you may never have heard of this place, I'll fill you in... Besides the fact that it is absolutely charming and provides the perfect comforts of a resort-style retreat (even a heated toilet seat in every room!), it is also very unique. Every room has a different theme, and they go all out! Floor to ceiling every room is decked out in whatever theme it is and includes unique and fun features such as rock walls and showers (or entire rooms made of rock!), mural paintings, furniture and linens that match the theme, etc. You can check out their website at http://www.madonnainn.com/. We stayed in two rooms: Currier & Ives, and Mountain Cabin. Here are some pics from the rooms and hotel.

Introductions

Wow, I've finally made it into the blogging world... a breakthrough! I can't promise that I'll post often, but I am so grateful that we live in a day and age where we can so easily keep in touch through the internet.

Two weeks ago was my 10 year high school reunion, and last weekend was a college reunion of sorts... a good friend from Azusa Pacific got married and it was wonderful to meet up in the San Luis Obispo area with so many friends from APU. Seeing all these people again that I've missed gave me new inspiration to be stronger at keeping in touch. Maybe a blog such as this one will help!

Pictures to come!