I'll have a side of..."Get me the heck out of here!!!"

How many guest appearances can I make on the blog without being called a guest? In fact, the question should be...why did I ever consider myself to be a guest on my own blog? Anyways... I am back and have some random thoughts to share. Life has been pretty busy lately, but the other night something random happened that had Jenna laughing pretty hard.

It was 6:00 am and a loud crashing noise came from within our apartment. I was sound asleep, but the word on the street is that I sat up screaming"Mom...Mom!?!?!" I didn't even remember yelling that out as I sat up, but apparently I really miss my mom! After searching the house and finding out that a command hook had failed me in keeping my broom on the laundry room wall, I was finally at ease and Jenna just couldn't stop laughing about the moment. 

This weekend we checked out Malibu and I really should have rethought UTA and gone to Pepperdine. Poor kids...they must hate being forced to play outside and roll around on the beach all day long. Life must be hard. Pepperdine is outrageously gorgeous, and their tuition proves it.

After a day out we went to meet up with some friends at a restaurant in Hollywood called "El Compadre" or so we thought. The night before on Friday, Jenna had this cool mexican food place up on her laptop, assuming it was the right place I typed the address into my phone...no big deal. Google maps can get you anywhere right?? We exited off the highway, rolled through some neighborhoods...that I am pretty sure I've seen on COPS before, and arrived to our destination of...."El Tepeyac Cafe". I know what you're thinking..."Caleb, you automatically knew you were in the wrong place...right?!?!"

Wrong!! We walked in to look for the party, all the while, we were being eyed up because we were the only "Caucasian" people there. I called the group we were supposed to be meeting up with and sure enough I get the devestating news. They were in West Hollywood. We were in Boyle Heights. Never heard of it? A simple google search will tell you a little bit about Boyle Heights...

We were definitely in the right place for either a good dive restaurant or a drive by shooting... not really sure!

Well...11 miles and 45 minutes later we finally wound up at the right restaurant and it was amazing! The food was great, we were able to met some new people and we had a really good time. Jenna and I laughed all night about our little side trip. The food smelt really good at "El Tepeyac" so who knows we might take a visit...just when it's day time!

To wrap up this blog, I wanted to share my new favorite hobby called straight lining. Some people at TOMS introduced me to this today and I see it as a new challenge. You just tie this tow rope to some tree's and try your best to balance and walk across. They said it's really fun on the beach because the sand offers a softer landing, but we found a pretty sweet place right down the road from HQ. Take a look at this girl. This will be me some-time soon!

Traveling mishaps + TOMS + Chicken & Waffles

I know what you're thinking. "Is Caleb ever going to write a post?" I have good news. I am sitting down tonight to write about my adventure from Dallas to LA, my first day at TOMS, and what these past 2 weeks have been like (a whirlwind).

After loading up the Penske truck, my dad and I headed west.

I'll shed some light on a few useful traveling tips for traveling across the country. Trust me, it's better to learn from me than on your own.


1. When towing your car behind a moving truck, don't always assume the Penske people attached your car correctly. Always double check their work.
2. Always bring a jacket, not everywhere is 110 degrees like in Texas.
3. Make sure you get the right size truck, and make sure the inside is clean, before having to go back 2 times to get that "perfect truck".
4. Whenever you see a "Meteor Crater" exit sign, don't assume you will get to see the giant hole in the ground for free.
5. When an overloaded, oversized, diesel truck is about to tip over on the highway. Slow down, don't try to pass.
6. When you see other competing trucks (in my case U-Haul & Budget), you must race them down the highway. There's no questioning this...you just have to do it.
7. When a McDonald's in Albq., NM accidently puts a bug in your meal, don't ask for your next meal to be free. You'll probably get a business card with a hand written note that doesn't work in LA.
8. Read every parking sign in LA 3 times, then read it again just to be 100% sure you won't get a $68 parking ticket.

I really have no other way to explain my first day at TOMS other than truly amazing and welcoming. After kissing Jenna good-bye and leaving the house dressed up like my first day of school, I found a place to park (which can be difficult). I walked into HQ, took a tour, met a lot of people (whose names I am still learning), and found my desk! It was a busy first day covering everything I will be doing, but Allie T. and others around me made it a great first day.

Last Tuesday, I set out for a red eye to Atlanta to help with the Catalyst Conference. This is one of our biggest events of the year and it was helpful to see what all goes into making this happen. It was good experience and a lot of fun as well. I was starting to shake a little due to Chick-Fil-A withdrawals, but I loaded up in ATL and I think I should be okay for a while! After a hard day of setup, we went to a famous place in ATL called  "Gladys Knight Chicken & Waffles". I cleaned my plate and even downed a side of Mac & Cheese! This was probably one of the best meals I have had in a while! It was truly a great treat! The next 2 days at Catalyst were great. I was able to share the TOMS story to people who didn't know about it, as well as talk to others who are just as excited as I am about it. I enjoyed being able to hear  Katie Davis and Francis Chan speak. Francis Chan is an amazing speaker, but better than that, he puts his faith into action and truly lives out a Christ filled life. I saved the best for last and that was TOMS Chief Shoe Giver, Blake M. and he did an awesome job of representing TOMS in front of 13,000 people. He talked about giving sight to people in need and it almost made me cry. (Here's a cheap plug, but if you haven't heard TOMS sells eyewear now and helps give sight to a person in need, One for One)

After Catalyst I flew into Dallas for an amazing wedding for now Chase & Stacey Oliver! They had an awesome wedding and glad I was able to be there for it.

Well, my long overdue blog post is done, and I probably won't make an appearance for a while. So I hope you enjoyed it and I'll leave you with some pictures from the last few weeks!

Our booth display at Catalyst.

The start of a long day.

Our Start Something That Matters wall. People could write what mattered to them...apparently "Yo Mama & Name badges" matter to people! haha

Blake speaking.

Some amazing chicken & waffles! 

No More Boxes (YAY)

In one of my previous blogs I wrote about how I couldn't wait for the day that we didn't have any boxes in our house anymore... well folks the time has come and it feels even better than I thought it would! (Disclaimer: this doesn't mean that I have everything put in its place or hung on the walls yet, just that its not sitting in boxes)

I know everyone is disappointed that you get me again and not Caleb, I promised he would write a blog about his road-trip to California and his first day at TOMS.... and He still is going to just not as soon as I said he would. Poor guy has been so busy this week. He has promised to write one as soon as we get back from Dallas.

Yes, we are already coming back to Texas, to the land of delicious Tex-Mex and BlueBell Ice Cream. One of my best friends Stacey is getting married this weekend and I cant wait to watch her walk down the isle, I know she will be a stunning bride!

Caleb is going to be wore out by the time he gets to the wedding. I dropped him off at the airport at 11 pm tuesday night for him to fly to Atlanta. He arrived in Atlanta at 6 am checked in at his hotel go a little rest, worked setting up the TOMS booth all day Wednesday. He is working all day today and most of tomorrow then he catches a fight back to LAX and waits to catch his flight from LAX to Dallas for the wedding. Whew I'm tired just typing all that, I know he is going to be beat.

This is Caleb leaving on his first business trip

He is in Atlanta for the Catalyst Conference which is a super cool conference for young Christian leaders (can you tell I'm a tad bit jealous). They have tons of great speakers, I can't wait to hear all about it when he gets back. Here is the website if you wold like to know more Catalyst Conference.

He sent me a few pictures of them setting up the booth I'll share them with you

You are probably just as curious as I was about what is up with these socks... evidently they all wear socks when they are working hard putting together the booth... I'm assuming because TOMS can make your feet stink really bad... I'm still not quite sure on this..

This weekend we had a lot of good "Californian fun" we rode bikes down to Venice beach and the Venice Boardwalk. Venice Boardwalk is definitely an experience. Remember in one on my previous blogs how I talked about Crazy people and people smoking funny things.... well I found them.... ALL of them. It was a pretty unique experience and we saw some cool street shows. Also had many people soliciting marijuana to us. Here are the reasons you may need marijuana:

You can click on the picture to read it better. I specifically liked how cancer and AIDS were on the same bullet point.... as if those are at all related.

After Venice beach we walked down Abbot Kinney which is a really cool street lined with lots of cool restaurants, vintage shops, art shops etc. We ate at this really good pizzeria. Speaking of shopping (this is such a LA newbie story) a few nights ago Caleb and I went down to the shopping center in Santa Monica and we were in Steve Madden and low and behold Steve Madden himself walks in. Just walked in causally off the streets. Crazy!

 Also something really cool about the parking garage at this shopping center if you cant remember where you parked you just type in your license plate number on this big screen and it automatically tells you where you parked!

I know we are way to easily amused... and yes even though we live here we still act like tourist and take pictures everywhere we go.

We tried out a new church this weekend and it was pretty good, we are going to try out a few more in the next few weeks. Its really hard for us because we base everything on The Hills, we love The Hills and I know we will not be able to have the exact church here in LA but I know that God will lead us to one that we love just as much, it will just take time. We are praying for open minds and that we will find a church home soon.  

I am still on the job hunt, I interviewed with a nanny agency last week but right now they don't have any openings in West LA. I have an interview with another nanny agency on Monday so hopefully between the 2 of them I can find a job rather quickly. Please pray for this, its rather crucial that I find a job soon (not to mention I am bored out of my mind during the day). I know God is in control and that he will provide, he always has and he always will, this I can be sure of. 

My taxi should be here any minute to take me to the airport but Ill leave you with this picture I took while on a walk around our neighborhood.... it was just a subtle reminder that I am no longer living in Texas. I think they breed Prius' out here.

3 Prius' parked in a row