The journey of a thousand miles...

One Million Arrows: Raising Your Children to Change the World

2009-09-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

TODAY is the BIG DAY! The AMAZON BOOK BOMB and launch of

One Million Arrows:
Raising Your Children to Change the World

Author Julie Ferwerda is an inspirational Christian speaker and writer who is just an amazing Christ follower! She is passionate about her faith and describes herself as a "truth-teller" who treasures her family and friends. I had the privilege of being inspired by Julie's instruction when my Women's Adventure Group at church invited her to be the featured speaker of our Amazing Race Women's Retreat at Ralston White Retreat Center in Mill Valley, California, in November 2008.

I'm sharing this with you TODAY because I believe that this book will not only be LIFE changing but also WORLD changing!

We need everyone to help to make this day a BIG SUCCESS!
Please pass this on!

Dear God, bless this effort and those who purchase this book and share it, for Your children and Your Kingdom! AMEN

celebrating four years of marriage

2009-08-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

today, we celebrated our four-year anniversary. what a milestone, even though it doesn't seem like it's been four years. Dave & I have actually been together for about six years.

it was great to be able to have a celebration brunch with Dave's mom, his sister Karen and her husband Alex. Mom treated us to brunch at Los Gatos Cafe.

celebrating our three-year anniversary

2008-08-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

the journey of a thousand miles has arrived at year three. today, we celebrated our third wedding anniversary with a brunch at Mimi's and exchanged cards and lots of kisses :) we feel so blessed to be able to share our lives together and hope to celebrate many more happy anniversaries to come!

reconnecting with friends

2007-05-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

we drove to Davis on Saturday night to have dinner with friends i had not seen in almost 10 years.

Phil and Carol Hayden were my colleagues at Taiwan Adventist College. we were there from 1990 through 1993. as the chair of the music department, Phil was my boss. Phil and Carol flew in from Raleigh, North Carolina, to spend the weekend with their oldest of four children, Katie, who now lives in Winters, a small town near Davis. Katie plays the viola and performs with various orchestras in the Bay Area. we got to meet her husband, Scott Miller, for the first time. Scott is a composer currently pursuing post-graduate studies. visit his website and listen to demo samples of his work.

we had dinner at Bistro 33 located in the historic city hall building in downtown Davis. had a great time catching up and getting acquainted. sorry, no photos of the excellent food we had. for starters, we had the Artichoke and White Bean Puree with Olive Tampanade that was served with crostini. for dinner, i ordered the Butternut Squash Risotto and Dave had a Tillamook Cheddar Cheeseburger. the restaurant has a lovely ambience. the outdoor dining area with a "burning rock" fireplace will make a great summer dining venue. i highly recommend it. thank you, Phil and Carol, for a lovely dinner treat!

Annabel, if you're reading this, Phil and Carol said to say "hello."

exercising again

2007-04-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

after a four-month hiatus from our regular exercise routine, we finally managed to drag our lazy butts out of the house this morning to the track. the sun was out and a nice cool breeze was in the air. we'd never seen so many people at the track at any one time before.

after four rounds (= a mile), i was ready to quit, but when i asked Dave if we were done, he said, let's go for one more round. i say, why? he says, 'coz we can! so we did.

we figure the distance between our apartment and the track is a mile roundtrip, we actually walked two and a quarter miles in all. feels good to be exercising again!

lunch in bed

2007-04-22T23:32:00.000-07:00

well, taxes took a big chunk out of our savings and we're a little tight on finances right now. so we're trying as much as possible to save by not eating out. i was determined to make lunch after coming home from Gilroy Presbyterian this morning, but was having such a difficult time staying awake on the road. i've been fighting this cold and it's zapping energy from me. when i got home, all i could think about was sleep. i sent a text message to Dave, who was still at Church on the Hill, and said that maybe we could use our 2-for-1 coupon at Panera's instead.

when he got home, i was still so groggy i didn't feel like getting up to go out. as i lay half asleep in bed, i could hear rustling of packaging and microwave activity in the kitchen, and thought that Dave was helping himself to snacks.

next thing i know, he's waking me up from my stupor and serving me lunch in bed! wish i had a picture of the wonderful chicken meal he made us. he improvised with what we had in the fridge and made a spicy citrus glaze on baked chicken that was cooked so perfectly! served it with mixed vegetables and rice. i didn't even think i was hungry but i started eating and cleaned up my plate even before he was half way through his lunch! what a nice treat!

i love my husband!

taxes...done!

2007-04-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

so i stayed up till the wee hours of Wednesday morning trying to complete our tax returns. finished up state returns later that morning and both federal and state returns were in the mail by afternoon of the 11th. after paying penalty and interest because we filed for an extension last year, i vowed i would get our taxes in on time this year. no more "charitable contributions" to the IRS!

this morning, Dave treated me to pancakes for breakfast, his "secret" recipe, as he put it, of oatmeal pancakes. yum! then for lunch, we went to Hobees and dessert at Cold Stone Creamery. that was my reward for doing our taxes.

vacation in Singapore

2007-02-12T00:04:00.001-08:00

Singapore Jurong Bird Park
Originally uploaded by missuspie.

Our vacation photos from Singapore and Tokyo are finally on flickr. We spent two very relaxing and enjoyable weeks in Singapore visiting family and renewing old friendships. We also got to spend a few hours in Tokyo around Shibuya Square (Tokyo's Times Square) on our way home.

If my mom's internet dialup wasn't so slow, I probably would've written my daily blogs while in Singapore, but there's too much to do right now, so visit our flickr site and have a little taste of our travels.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from The Pies!

ever since Dave and i started dating, he's always been playing at some gig on new year's eve. this year was our first time ever together on new year's eve! Dave and i rang in the new year celebrating at a party hosted by The Peelers band members, Bryan and Ian in Santa Clara. see more photos on flickr.com.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-25T22:17:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Pies!

Read our online Seasons Greetings here.

2 miles

2006-12-04T17:03:00.000-08:00

today marks the 6th week since Dave and i started our exercise routine. we walk at the Campbell Community Center track. when we started 6 weeks ago, we walked a mile each weekday for two weeks. we've been adding 1/4 mile to our walk each subsequent week, and we are now at the 2-mile mark. we'll probably stay at 2 miles for a while. it really helped that the sun was out and the temperature balmy in the early afternoon to get me going for the whole 2 miles today!

Thanksgiving 2006

2006-12-02T23:29:00.000-08:00

we spent Thanksgiving Day with Dave's family. Dave's sister, Karen, and her husband Alex drove up from So. Cal, and Alex's parents, Eleanor and Marc Pangan, joined us from Fresno. we had a sumptious Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey and dressing. my contribution to the dinner was a cole slaw and hot apple pie sundaes for dessert. we were so full after dinner that we decided to hold off on dessert, and played several games of dominoes before we actually had the hot apple pie sundaes (for the recipe, scroll down on this page). didn't even have pumpkin pie. sorry no photos of the good food, but we have pictures of the family. more pictures at my flickr.com site.

Yahoo Time Capsule

2006-10-24T00:26:00.000-07:00

i just submitted this picture to the Yahoo Time Capsule.

blackout fondue lunch

2006-10-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

we had a blackout this afternoon, so my ingenious husband takes out the fondue set and improvises with a stainless steel skillet to make fondue for lunch. he used Oregon honeybeer, double creme brie, and monterey jack cheese for the fondue with some corn starch and a little dry sherry.

we still have to practice our fondue technique as the consistency of the fondue was not 100% satisfactory. but still tasted good with sourdough bread, Gala apples and baby carrots for dips.

here's a closeup of the Oregon honeybeer used in this fondue.

interim choir director position

2006-09-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

i accepted a request from Gilroy Presbyterian Church, where i play the organ on Sundays, to be their interim choir director until they find a new director of worship arts. we had our first choir rehearsal last night and it went very well, and i actually enjoyed it. choir members were very supportive in affirming my ability to do well as their choir director. that was an encouraging start.

smoochie, smooch, smooch

2006-09-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

i thought these photos make a cute mosaic, so i went to fd's Flickr Toys to create this.

Rancho San Antonio

2006-09-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

this morning we went with our friend Darlene for a nice long hike at Rancho San Antonio. it was a lovely day, albeit windy and the air chilly. we'd like to make this a weekly hike, weather permitting.

here are a few pictures Darlene took of the trail we walked.

it took us 55 minutes to get to the top of the trail, and 50 minutes to get back down. here's a view from the top of the trail's Vista Point, Dave getting all smoochy with me...

if you look carefully in the background, you can see Hangar One at NASA's Moffett Field in Mountain View.

here's another pix without any distractions.

my missing car

2006-09-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

friday morning, Dave comes home from tutoring and noticed my car was not in its usual parking spot. he thought perhaps i'd gone out. but he found me in our apartment when he got back.

my car's stolen again!!! even with steering wheel locked by "The Club."

the police called this morning and said that my car had been towed to a tow yard from, of all places, the same apartment complex it was towed from the last time it was stolen. so after church, Dave and i head over to the SJPD to get release papers, then over to the tow yard to retrieve the car. the guy at the tow yard processes my papers, charges my credit card $176 for the tow fees and storage. then he heads to the yard to locate the car. he looks, then i look, then Dave looks and we still didn't see my car. finally, the tow yard guy shows me a charcoal gray Honda Accord and asks me to make sure if it wasn't mine. its VIN matched the one on my receipt. sure enough, it had my VIN tag on the dashboard, but when we tugged at it, it came right off the dash. we also noticed the VIN that was etched on the windshield did not match the VIN on the dash tag.

i'm relieved that car wasn't mine. for one thing, there were parts stripped from the car, and the police report had indicated that the alternator and car radio was missing.

so my car is still at large. and i have to go back to the tow yard on Tuesday to get reimbursed for the charge put on my credit card.

please pray that the police will be able to find my car soon.

Happy BlogDay 2006!

2006-08-31T23:51:00.000-07:00

Happy BlogDay 2006!

hiking above the clouds

2006-08-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

yesterday, we went hiking at Black Mountain, an open reserve above the Stevens Creek Dam in Cupertino, elevation 2800'.

our friend, Darlene, took us there and we really enjoyed walking above the clouds! it was a short hike, probably about 2.6 miles or so.

Seattle ~ August 18-21

2006-08-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

Dave and i got to take a mini vacation in Seattle last weekend. went primarily to witness Dave's cousin Annette's marriage to her attorney husband Min-Su Suh. when we got there, we stopped at Enterprise rent-a-car and picked up our economy rental car, a Chevy Aveo. it cost us only about $41 for the weekend since we got a $75 rewards certificate courtesy of American Express.

the first evening, we were treated to a really yummy Chinese dinner by my cousin, Roz, and her husband, Jack, with whom we stayed for the weekend. (thank you again! we really miss the roomy queen-size Tempur-Pedic bed we got to sleep in, now that we're back in our own full-size bed!) that evening, we also got to meet up with my other cousin, Justin.

that's us here at the Shanghai Garden Restaurant. if you go there to eat, try their barley green hand shaved noodles. quite unique. now i regret not taking pictures of the food we ate.

the next day, we got to spend time with Dave's relatives and to meet some of them for the first time.

here's me with cousin Annette and her niece, Samantha.

here's Samantha with her parents, Andrew and Rachael Fredriksen. Rachael is Annette's big sister.

i met Dave's Uncle Paul and his wife, Aunt Sue, for the first time. Uncle Paul is the dad of Rachael and Annette and the brother of Dave's biological mom.

that evening we set out to tour underground Seattle. but before that, we stopped in at Longhorn Outpost at Pioneer Square for some good Texas style barbecue. we highly recommend this eatery.

here's our self-portrait taken at the Longhorn Outpost.

after that, it was off to Bill Speidel's Underground Tour of Seattle.

sign left in Underground Seattle.

glass skylights that turned purple with age.

here are the skylights from the sidewalk above.

more pictures of Underground Seattle...

an old bathroom with one of those old crappers. i learned that Thomas Crapper is known for his efforts to popularize the modern flush toilet.

here is our tour group. our tour guide, faintly distinct in the background on the left, was an Irish girl who was a hilarious storyteller.

after the underground tour, we walked (more like hiked) from Pioneer Square to the Seattle Center, where the famous Space Needle is situated. Dave got to take some cool pictures of the Space Needle, one of which is this one below. there was an outdoor showing of Lawrence of Arabia that night and you can see the big screen in juxtaposition with the Space Needle.

Sunday was the big wedding day. we got to meet more relatives for the first time.

here is a picture of Dave with his mom and her siblings.

here is Dave with cousin Caleb. they definitely look related. incidentally, Caleb is a bass player, too.

here is Samantha with her two older brothers, Nate and Nick.

and here is the bride and groom with the bride's parents.

and a final portrait of the happy travelers.

our greatest regret of the weekend was that we did not get to visit any of the local coffee scenes. owe it to poor time management and planning. but that only gives us more reason to return to Seattle, and definitely visit places like Hotwire Coffee, where my Barista Extraordinaire friend is barista in residence. i saw pictures of his impressive latte art on flickr.com, which is how we met.

Seattle, we'll be back!

first anniversary

2006-08-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

Monday, August 14, was our first anniversary. we celebrated on Sunday evening with dinner at The Steps of Rome Trattoria, an Italian restaurant in San Francisco. i had gnocchi in a gorgonzola cream sauce and Dave had tagliatelli alla bolognese. yummy!

probably the most "memorable" event of this past year was moving to our own apartment. we really enjoy having our own little place to call home.

it's been a wonderful first year being married. if married life is this easy the first year, we can imagine it will be pretty smooth sailing in the years to come. all in all, we thank God for blessing us with each other and for providing for our needs.

cooler weather...house sitting

2006-08-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

thankfully, the air is cooling down around here. Dave and I are house sitting this week for some friends who live in Los Gatos. the first morning before we got there, some thieves had broken the window of their Volvo that was parked in the driveway. they had also broken into several other cars on the same street. the neighbor next door had his credit cards stolen. he told us that the police had just been into our house with guns drawn thinking the thugs might still be around. seems like nothing was stolen from our friends' Volvo nor were the thugs in the house. the flat screen TV's still there!

our friends have a golden retriever named Amber. she is really sweet, except she just got skunk juice sprayed on her several days before and she still stinks! Dave has taken responsibility for taking her on walks and feeding her. i haven't made it on the walks yet, but will have to walk her the next 3 evenings since Dave is busy. good for me to get some exercise!

It is freakin' HOT!!!

2006-07-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

Our clock thermometer, which sits above our wall unit AC, reads 96 degrees right now!!! And our AC is on!

our pool

2006-07-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

this is a picture of our pool taken from our apartment. it's definitely getting much use with our record high three-digit temperatures this past week!!!

this week

2006-07-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

wednesday evening, Pie comes home and asks me where my car was. the last time i'd driven it was on monday evening when we took a drive to the mall. i stayed home all of tuesday, so i don't know when the car actually went missing. i called the police and immediately made a report. the officer who took my report told me my car was most likely taken by gang kids stealing cars just to get from point A to point B, then abandoning the cars some place else. after making the report, all that was left to do was wait and pray that my car would be found.

got a call from the police the very next morning....my car had landed up in a tow yard. was able to retrieve it by mid afternoon. sure enough as predicted, some gang bangers stole the car. they drove it from our apartment complex and parked it at an apartment complex about 2 blocks or so away....who knows where they went or what they did while it was in their possession. the management of that complex had it towed.

no obvious damage was done to the car. they took a few valuables from the car, but nothing important that cannot be replaced. i am really relieved they didn't take the most prized of my possessions that i leave in my car--a little stuffed dinosaur that Pie made when he was a kid. the thieves did leave some stuff behind, so hopefully that might help the police track them down. i don't want revenge; i just don't want somebody else getting hit by these gang bangers!!!

i learned from another police officer when i made a subsequent update to my report that the first officer who took my report is the guru of the car theft department. so i actually might see some follow up to this incident.

we picked up a Club for my car to hopefully deter future car thieves...one more key in my keychain, but i am thankful to God for helping me get my car back. feel a little creepy tho coz i keep thinking the guys that stole it live in the area and probably recognize the car when i'm driving around....

ice cream maker update

2006-07-15T00:53:00.000-07:00

our second attempt at using our ice cream maker was a success. this past week, we had homemade frozen strawberry yogurt. it was yummilicious! thank you, Marxmillers!

vacuuming, unpacking, etc...

2006-07-15T00:46:00.000-07:00

yesterday, my honey vacuumed our apartment. he created more visible floor space, too! he is so sweet to do that for us. our apartment is still a mess, but i'm glad to say it's less of a mess than it was a week ago.

we found a china cabinet on craigslist for $55. hauled it back from San Francisco in Dave's Explorer. got to unpack my Villeroy and Boch china...yeah!...and some crystal pieces and displayed them in the cabinet. looks really nice! we could use more cabinet space but i like the size of this one coz it doesn't dominate the dining area. threw out more packaging boxes..yay! more floor space!

i also got to organize our utility and linen closet a bit better this week. our bath linens are now all in one place and accessible. still need to find room for all the miscellaneous toiletries we have accumulated. maybe i'll just throw them away.

Cuisinart frozen yogurt...or not

2006-07-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

so today Pie comes home from his gig and asks for the ice cream maker...brought fixings for making frozen yogurt. whoopie! we get to use our ice cream maker for the first time. we blend the frozen strawberries, measure out the yogurt, pour everything nicely into the ice cream maker bowl. it's on...we sent the timer to 20 minutes, and watch the whole ten yards while waiting. 20 minutes is up, the mixture isn't even cold! take out instruction manual....we were supposed to freeze the bowl! ha! so we end up with strawberry yogurt smoothies instead. delicious, too!

intermittent blogger

2006-07-05T01:12:00.000-07:00

i guess i'm not a very seasoned blogger yet and am missing out on documenting all the wonderful memories Pie and I have been making. it will be 11 months soon, and then we'll be celebrating our first wedding anniversary. time flies when you're in love...

friends first

2006-02-19T22:35:00.000-08:00

yes, we had to be friends first. Pie and i met at OpenDOOR in 1999 when we played in one of the first worship bands together. at that time, i was with someone else, but somehow i knew he had a crush on me. wasn't the other way around for me, but maybe i was in denial, who knows. to cut a long story short, August of 2002, a couple of months after my ex-boyfriend broke up with me, Pie started calling me. he'd ask me out to a movie, i'd make some excuse that i was busy. in actuality, i really wasn't interested. we'd end up talking on the phone. he'd ask me out again, and i gave him lots of excuses why i couldn't go, but eventually gave in. our first "date" he took me to the Peppermill in Santa Clara. that was the beginning of a series of dinner dates...then more spending time hanging out with each other...he was really good company, mostly coz i knew that he really cared about my well being.

it wasn't until July of 2003 that i realized i had fallen in love with this guy who had become my best friend. the rest, as they say, is history...

the beginning...

2006-01-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. - Chinese Proverb

Tuesday, November 16, 2004 I originally created my piegirl blog intending to, as I put it, "document my wonderful life with my sweetheart, Mister Pie, and what's in store for us in the days, months and years to come." But that blog turned out to be my own personal journal with miscellaneous entries scattered throughout the ensuing months.

This evening as I was cleaning out my desk and putting stuff away, Karen & Alex's Valentine's 2005 card to Pie and me inspired the creation of this blog, which WILL be dedicated to documenting the life of Mr & Mrs Pie. Karen made the card and found this "tag" with the above Chinese proverb. I thought that was just apropros for this blog's title.

Here's what the card said - words in italics were stickers:

Dear Dave & Amelia ~ First you had to be friends. Then you had to fall in love! Then, the 3 little words were spoken...i love you. You both soon realized that you're two peas in a pod, and GETTING HITCHED was the only thing that would give either of you the happy ever after. So...welcome to the magical NOW & FOREVER. We want to wish you both the BEST OF EVERYTHING. Now is the time to focus on all the planning. But keep in mind that it is your SPECIAL day! It'll have The perfect blend of your style. One piece of advice...Make it your own! Right down to THE FAVORS, Cake, FLOWERS, decorations, Invitations, MUSIC, love songs, Wedding Party, flower girls, photographers, VOWS and accessories! DECIDE ON A BUDGET! Try to forget all the drama involved with Wedding plans--just KEEP IT REAL and Enjoy every minute of doing all this together. but in the meantime, get on a few bridal registry lists! After you've sent the "save the date," timing of The perfect invitation! is imperative! And don't forget the THANK YOU CARDS. Think about what you want to look like on your special day...gorgeous, romantic and refined, Elegant, beautiful, FABULOUS or timeless! Then after the ceremony you will be the perfect couple and your dream of becomes one! I'm sure Dave, you'll get Two lives, two hearts All Choked Up when you hear Here comes the bride. Your sweetie and you have THE LOOK of being madly in love. The morning of you'll sing to yourself, I'm Getting Married! So enjoy your day to the fullest as Bride and Groom. But until then, there's LOTS TO DO before that perfect wedding and honeymoon. Welcome to a lifetime of LOVE and hopefully many a Breakfast in bed. Be creative with the festivities that surround your I DO moment! Let us know if there's ANYTHING we can do to help!
Love much, Karen & Alex HAPPY VALENTINES =)