It's a DISCO Christmas....

Christmas time in San Diego was a blast, myself and my favourite people in the whole wide world gathered together for some Disco time inspired by my Absolut purchase in London... 

Kylie also inspired the party, seen as without her I wouldn't have looked anywhere near as good a host!! Thanks Kyles... 
Cuban cigar time... imported by Cassi after 4 months of traveling around South America... O yeah!

Jumping out of planes...

So, Friday night I met some new friends who invited me to Sky Dive on Saturday... I didn't end up jumping because in all honesty I didn't feel that this guys $300 would be well spent on me jumping out of a plane just to prove I would... seen as I had done it before I opted out and just watched all the boys jump over and over again! It was a perfect day and with my camera beside me I felt like I'd been on a week's vacation by the time the day was over.... so relaxed!!

Meet Andrew, he's Marine's Reconnaissance and from the few stories I've heard jumping out of a plane is the easiest thing these guys do... I don't envy their job but I am greatful someone's doing it! 

Old friends... GOOD times... and some new friends

I had too much fun catching up with old friends like Nikki, Shaun and Nick whilst I was in London as well as meeting some outrageously fun new people!!! 

Some new friends, Christopher and the girls from OC that took me to Cuckko Club in SoHo, Chris is a good friend of a good friend here in San Diego, it was nice of him to oblige to take out a bunch of strangers he'd never met! But it was well worth the effort!
Amy!!! O how I loved seeing Amy again... we haven't been in the same city for close to 5 years, it felt like it was only yesterday when we got back together!! Like old time Amy, I LOVE YOU!
Brendon, a new friend... as you can see I seem to be more excited about meeting my new friend than he is! Brendon was in town for business from South Africa and staying with some of my most treasured London friends (below) 
Nick Craddock... the craziest room mate I've ever had!!! Great seeing you again Nick! You rock!
Nick, myself and Shaun... we called Kelly for old time sake (she was sleeping like a good married girl!) and Shaun was kind enough to not make me walk home in the freezing cold and had me in his home around the corner from the pub... He's getting married and moving to Oz! So to all my friends down under I'm sending you some quality pals! Be good to them! 

Some pictures from VACAY!

Here are a few shots from my latest trip to London of around and about town.... 

The best things in life are free...

Just a few weeks ago we celebrated our amazing volunteers at Christian City Church and threw them a party! Which means I get to get dressed up and high 5 people! Twas fun to say the least... check out the crazybooth action at theblogisfound.com that's where the true photo mania is! 

Rach and I... who knows what we're up to. 
Alicia and I... Alicia is MY volunteer, she comes into our office every Wednesday and does things to make me look great! You don't get better people than that... 
Erica, Audrey and ME! The next two girls I plan on walking down the aisle in front of!!! 

America... CHANGES

Woooo hooooo!!! We've just ended two years of an intense political campaign here in the USA, and the weeks and months prior created an environment for heated debates and nerdy discussions galore! I loved it until the few days prior at which point things started to get really heated! As you can imagine in my line of work, mixing religion with politics can get very very complicated! But we made it through, I don't think I lost any friends on the way and I've lived through one of the greatest moments in American history! For those of you in Oz and abroad that know me well can only imagine how much I loved being in the USA for this Presidential Campaign. A US Presidential Campaign was the envy of us political geeks in Australia just because of the craziness, and I feel like I just watched the craziest one yet. To John McCain's credit he made one of the most tear-jerking and respectable concession speeches I imagine anyone has ever seen in a Presidential race. Worth looking it up on Youtube. 

Obama Rama people!!! I love America! 

This is Rach and I being the political geeks we are, very excited to see the results unfold, I decided to dress for the ocassion seen as I couldn't vote! I walked around all day just screaming "I vote America!" 

Live gig... small venue = happy happy Yvette

The Tuesday night just gone, myself and some "bff's" headed to rock the Casbah at a small live gig with Greg Laswell. Thankfully the support act ROCKED it... "Get Back Loretta" and Greg who is a San Diego local played on until well past midnight, there would have been maybe 200 people there! I love it when that happens, it's like a performance in your lounge room sorrounded by people of like mind! Here are some pics. 

Just because we can...

My new room mate Erica recently inspired me to get outside myself a little and do something small to change the world, so we both decided to make a goal to raise at least $5,000 in the next year or so towards campaigns like A21. So Tuesday night we took advantage of "tight ass tuesday" and went to see the movie Call and Response. Erica and I invited everyone we knew in San Diego to come along and, instead of just paying the cheap ticket price we asked everyone to give us at least $10, and we would donate the gap to charity!

I was hoping to see around $300 raised but low and behold all the incredible people that came out to join us rallied together to raise almost $1,000.00. I was AMAZED and it was the simplest thing I've ever done in my life! So look out... there will be more of these things to come! Keep an eye out for my posts on training for a half marathon in January, a group of us will be raising money for Global Support, who create initiatives that counteract things like the slave trade and bring people out of poverty!

Changing the world.... well I'm not, but these guys are!

Aside from the fact that these two are republicans, they actually turned out to be two paticularly amazing people! This week I had the pressure (I mean pleasure!) of hanging out with David and Travis who have sincerely decided to give changing the world a go (check out their blog! Creatively changing the world). A few days with these guys and you want to buy a lot less shoes, and start helping people! (I can't decide if I hate them or love them for that! I do love shoes!) Anyway David and Travis stumbled across San Diego through some rather strange circumstances and connections, but, we were happy to have them! Check their stuff out, buy some coffee... get your sister some jewelry or just give them some money they'll do more with it than you or I would! 

Keep an eye out for more of David and Travis, I'm heading to Nashville in February 09 to their fundraising dinner with some friends! No shoe shopping, but LOTS of fun!!!! 

A day in San Diego with Mike McFarland...

My new friend Mike was shocked to hear that I had never ventured to the "world famous" San Diego zoo... he offered to take me and sucessfully snuck me in! It was like being 15 and sneaking into the Jet Club all over again (Without the waiting in the bathrooms for hours on end)!! Anyway, I'm not sure why it's so world famous and I can't say I would recommend anyone pay money to go to the zoo, Mike was far more entertaining than anything else there! Then we headed off to Balboa Park for some fun at the Museum of photgraphic art and some San Diego sights... GORGEOUS DAY!! Thanks Mike!!!

Balboa Park... gorgeous. 

Our friend squirrel... too cute, you don't get these in Oz. 
Mike still smiling before we thought the car was stolen and then... 
realized it had just been towed... O well, still a great day! 

Always a bridesmaid

David & Briana's wedding, was stunning! I am becoming a professional bridesmaid and like each and every other time, this wedding was such an honor to be a part of. Dave and Briana are two of the greatest people in the world and to be a part of one of the greatest days of their life was amazing! And FUN!!! 

Hawaii... 2

More of the kids at Hawaii... 

Hawaii...1

Matt & Kala... too gorgeous
Hiking with Matt, Kala and Nate (This is Nate and Matt above) 
Kala and I... hardcore base jumpers! (NOT!)...
Some incredible beach we stumbled upon... and no I did not photoshop this picture... this is what it looks like!