nate's blog

Ashley at 5 months

2008-05-10T15:15:00.001-07:00

Ashley at 5 months
Originally uploaded by Nate Murray

This is a great little picture of Ash in our room at Piedmont Baptist College for Stephanie's wedding on May 10th, 2008. Ashley is 5 months along! More pictures and video to follow when we return.

Ashley's Blog

2008-01-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday night and I took a two hour nap this afternoon trying to sleep off morning sickness so now I'm wide awake and Nate is asleep. He worked some really late nights this past week and then we were out to dinner with his work people until almosst midnight last night. Not too bad for me because these days I have a very strict regimine of napping, sleeping and resting. Nate's worn out though.
It's pouring rain here right now and I love that. I think that I probably like the first few months of the year the best in Sothern California because that's when it rains. Nate and I bought a CD of rain and thunder and used to play it most nights as we went to sleep. I remember a few times also playing it while it was actually raining that way we felt like it was thundering too. But that just got confusing. "Was that real thunder or the CD?" So we stopped.
I'm 7 weeks pregnant on Mon. and counting down the days hoping that morning sickness will wane in a month or two. I was thinking that we should find out the gender of the baby, but not tell anyone that way we don't get flooded with pink or blue things. Maybe I'll just tell everyone to just stick to greens and browns and neutrals regardless of gender. I have a sinking feeling that wouldn't really work though. So much to ponder.

Sunday Afternoon

2008-01-20T11:44:00.000-08:00

Last night we made our own sushi for the first time. I can't eat raw fish these days, but have been craving sushi so we got some imitation crab and made california rolls that were actually quite good. Nate also wanted to make a fresh fruit danish similar to the ones from Porto's (which if you haven't tried we strongly recommend.) The danishes turned our to be more like orange flavored custard cups and we agreed that we did not want to eat them again. So Nate got the great idea to take them to our sunday school class as our donation to the snack table. He was happy to report that by the end of class all the custard cups had been taken and we didn't see any half eaten ones in the trash. I've decided that I don't like anything made with orange zest as am ain ingredient and I think it all started with some orange chicken from my childhood.
Tomorrow is Nate's birthday. He'll be 25. It will be low key this year - hanging out with family and eating some pie. Several months ago we bought some tickets to see Wynton Marsalis at the Disney Center on Feb. 1 and that's kind of a late birthday/ early Valentines Day thing that we'll be doing.
I've been really starting to feel the early pregnancy nausea lately. It usually hits early afternoon and lasts the rest of the day. I have found that so far it feels as if I've been in the back seat of a crowded car with hot stale air during a winding drive up the side of a mountain. Bleh. But we're happy that things are progressing and Nate reminds me daily, "A sick mommy means a healthy baby." It helps get me through.
Our friend Beckah is coming today to visit today and we're very excited. We haven't seen her since we bought our puppies so we're really looking forward to catching up.

Murray Baby Stats

2008-01-15T19:48:00.001-08:00

Due Date: September 17, 2008
Current Size: Grain of Rice
Gender: Unknown (Nate thinks it's a boy)
Hometown: Ashley's Uterus
Habitat: A dark world punctuated by sounds of digestion
Favorite Foods: Cucumbers and Ice Cream
Hobbies: Listening to dad play the upright bass, sleeping, growing a head
Thing Most Looked Forward to After Birth: Being read to, being the final member of dad's jazz trio, long walks on the beach

"That's One Doodle That Can't Be Un-did, Homeskillet"

2008-01-15T19:36:00.000-08:00

Erin and Nate playing Christmas Songs

2007-12-19T20:11:00.001-08:00

Erin came over the other night and we practiced our Christmas songs. I still need a lot of work on the bass but it's still a fun first bass video. Thanks for coming over and playing, Erin!

God Bless Us, Every One!

2007-12-08T08:35:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we bought our Christmas tree. After some price comparison shopping we decided that this years tree would be bought at Lowes. We were looking through their 6'-7' trees and pulled out one that looked a little taller the rest. We held it up and looked at it and said, "That's got to be taller than 7 feet." We bought the tree, tied it to the car brought it home and as it was lying in the living room floor before we put it in the stand we decided to measure it. We were surprised and I was elated to discover that the tree was 9' tall. I was so happy!! The 9' trees were $40 more than we spent on our "6'-7'." Thankfully we have high ceilings in our condo so a 9 footer isn't a problem. So here's a picture of our wonderful mis-priced tree.

What We Did Tonight

2007-12-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went to dinner at Maru Sushi in the Valencia Towncenter. They have some of the best sushi in town, we think. After sushi we went to Target and I bought a cream pashmina to wear to Nate's work Christmas party and looked for a few straggling Christmas gifts we haven't yet bought. We decided while we were there that we wanted some ice cream. We looked in their freezer section and decided that we could find ice cream in a grocery store for cheaper. We headed to Ralph's and looked, then on to Vons thinking that there had to be better sales on ice cream. In Vons we looked over the sales and then decided on some store brand ice cream that was the cheapest one. We left the store and on the way home saw a stretch hummer coming off the freeway. The back windows were rolled down and three girls, no older than 15, were hanging their heads out screaming at every car they passed. I said to Nate, "You know, I'm always curious where those things are going. Is it a school dance or prom or something or are they actually going someplace cool." So Nate said, "Well, let's follow it and see." So we started following the stretch hummer with the screaming girls. We followed it as it cruised through the towncenter and then headed back to the freeway. We decided that the girls for some reason were just out for a nightly drive in a stretch hummer and that it was time for us to go home and eat our ice cream. Once at home, we dished up the ice cream, sat down and took a bite. It was disgusting. The ice cream was crunchy, and the bits of waffle cone in it were stale. So we headed back out to Vons, returned the box of nastiness and bought the ice cream that we'd wanted in the first place. So now we're watching Ratatouille with the taste of Breyer's Cookies and Cream in our mouth, and our curiosity about the destination of adolescent filled stretch hummers salved.

Ashley's Birthday

2007-11-28T18:54:00.000-08:00

This weekend was Ashley's Birthday. I decided to take her to San Diego. We usually like to stay at the Lafayette Hotel on El Cajon Blvd., but because we're on one income we opted for the Good Nite Inn, San Diego.

There's a photo booth we really love at the Balboa Park Museum of Photographic Arts. We visited the booth last year and we're trying to make it a tradition.

2 Days Before Thanksgiving

2007-11-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to say hi. I've been sick for the past few days, so I haven't been outside the house much. Actually yesterday I didn't go outside at all and today I only went out to do the laundry and take out the trash. I don't mind it as much as one would think. I can find alot to do in our 720 sq.ft. of space. I did 5 loads of laundry and some filing today and made chicken and biscuits and broccoli for dinner. Now I'm using up time until Nate gets home and we can eat. For Thanksgiving we're going over the Courtyard and hanging out with family. I'm making a turkey, stuffing, gravy, asparagus and apple pie. Sounds like enough to be a whole meal in itself, but we're actually adding that to an already full menu that Nate's mom is making. We should take a wagon with us so that Nate can wheel me out to the car after dinner is over. It doesn't feel like the holidays to me. I just realized the other day that Christmas is only a few weeks away. One of my favorite things to do is to go pick out and buy a Christmas tree. I'll have to write a post about that this year when we do that.

tons of photos

2007-11-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

Hollywood BW

12 photos

sculpture

9 photos

New Years Eve 04-05

15 photos

Bw Doll Portraits

16 photos

north hollywood

34 photos

Random Black and Whites #01

11 photos

BW Christmas 05

12 photos

Pacific at Christmas

27 photos

Ashley Studio

4 photos

better than one

2007-11-11T00:05:00.001-08:00

better than one
Originally uploaded by Nate Murray

two heads are better than one. Or so they say. This Halloween I decided to make a version of my own head in paper mache. You can view a bit of the progress here (slideshow).

Pre-teen mutant ninja turtle

2007-11-05T19:23:00.001-08:00

Ninja Turtles
Originally uploaded by Nate Murray

Well you are in for a treat today. My parents have digitized a gang of photos from my childhood. I have uploaded them to flickr and you can view the set here (slideshow).

another halloween memory

2007-11-04T14:03:00.001-08:00

Here's a photo of Mat, Melissa, me, and Steph from a Halloween years ago.

Halloween
Originally uploaded by Nate Murray

Halloween Memories

2007-10-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

Nate:
When I was a kid the towns in our area would each host trick-or-treating on a different night of halloween week. Each night my parents would drive us around to whichever town was having it's trick-or-treat night and we would fill a pillow case with candy. By the end of halloween week we had enough candy to last us until Easter, the next big candy holiday. By the time Easter came around I would be down to the dregs - butterscotch and tootsie rolls, but at least it was candy.

Ashley:
We didn't celebrate Halloween and not once growing up did I go trick-or-treating. To this day I have not been trick-or-treating. The day after Halloween we would walk through the neighborhood and pick up the candy that had fallen out of the other kids bags. Usually this consisted of Laffy Taffys, Now and Laters, and if we were lucky a miniature candy bar - a snickers maybe that had fallen in the shade and had not been melted by the sun yet. I would walk around with the front of my shirt turned up to make a little pocket and would use that to hold the candy. We tried to get out there pretty early the next morning before the candy on the sidewalks got stepped on.

Home Life

2007-10-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

It's been just over a week that my tenure at Centex Homes came to an end. I thought that I would be sad or nostalgic when I left, but I found that I really wasn't. I said goodbye to my coworkers, emptied out my office, boxed up my files and sent them down with people to the Inland Empire office, shut down my computer for the last time and walked out the door, leaving the Master the Moment sign fluttering behind me.

Since then, I've been enjoying home life. We've decided that I won't be returning to work for the time being, so I've thrown all my efforts into housewifing. I love it.

This morning I dreamed that I watched Pulp Fiction in Starbucks with Jason Helms and then gave a gospel presentation to a woman on a dude ranch while my sister gave me pointers on how to effectively evangelize the lost. When I woke up and thought back over the dream, I was happy that I could accurately tell the story of redemption in my subconscious.

I'm on my way out the door for a walk, then I'll be coming home and doing some house cleaning, making some dinner, maybe visiting some friends. I really love that the most pressing thing on my mind right now is that I need to go price comparison shopping for all natural face cleansers. A few weeks ago I was under the gun to get budgets corrected, presidents reports issued, sales release reports run, get the paperwork in place to pay the light fixture company the $40,000 that we owed them. I remember one day checking my emails, then turning to talk to a coworker. We talked for 6 minutes and in that 6 minutes I got 8 new emails - all asking for something that had to be done "right now." Maybe in time I'll miss that, but I'm thinking it will take awhile.

Camping Video

2007-10-16T20:17:00.001-07:00

On JCrew

2007-10-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

I find myself being particularly drawn to JCrew. One day I spent some time trying to determine the reason for this and have decided that along with my enthusiastic adoration of their classic styles, that it's really their marketing that keeps me hooked. I noticed this when one day as I was perusing their shoe selections I came across some ballet flats. The color: Roasted Pumpkin. I felt my heart jump up. What a wonderful color! In that moment I was fully convinced that I wanted to walk around in Roasted Pumpkins, and that $138 for a pair of them was a reasonable price for the joy that they would bring me.

As I continued to look I saw different items with colors like Windsor Blue, Randolph Stripe, Leaf, Hartsdale Gingham, Craymore Tartan, Rivington, Riveira, Lime Zest. Sign me up. With names like that who can resist? I could walk the streets of Cambridge in a double-cloth boulevard coat, color whipering pine and feel like I belong there. I decided that these distinguished yet imaginative names created images in my mind of crisp autums in an established town - traditional and educated. And I found that very appealing. So brown herringbone driving caps off to you, JCrew. You know your audience.

Expected Response: "Yes, Sensei."

2007-10-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

So I got into work this morning and noticed that the front conference room was decked out. There was a banner hanging on the window that faces out into the lobby reading, "Master the Moment" and the conference room tables were filled with note pads, colorful noise makers, and there was a purple orchid plant at each seat. A table in the lobby was covered with a table cloth and bottles of water. I knew that a catered breakfast would be here soon. I passed all this by thinking, "Must be a sales team meeting." They're always doing big flashy meetings to get all our sales agents excited and "power housed" up to go out and try to sell an item that is not selling these days - new homes.

About half way through the morning our marketing director sent out a division wide email letting us know that there was a martial arts themed sales event going on. A campaign called "Master the Moment." Ok. We get these emails all the time, asking for the support of fellow employees and letting us know that it's not for lack of creativity on the part of sales and marketing that our homes aren't moving. I read on: "We will be holding a belt ceremony this morning during our sales meeting. As with any martial arts belt ceremony, we would like to award each of you with your beginner white wrist belt. Upon receipt of this band, remember that you are committing to the challenge with your whole mind, body and spirit...Please be prepared to come to the front of the room to receive your first wrist belt, bow to your awarding sensei...and proceed back to your seats or desk. You will be asked:

DO YOU COMMIT TO MASTER THE MOMENT?

Expected Response: "Yes, Sensei."

I realized that this was not isolated to the sales team, this was something that I was expected to do. I have often felt that I am a part of my own little "The Office" episodes, but never so much as today. My first thought: "Who put Dwight in charge of organizing the sales meetings?"

So what did I do? I hid in the Design Center until the ceremony was over and then, head down, crept back to my desk, quickly and quietly. Past the flashy banners, the table filled with half empty pastry boxes, and a conference room filled with motivated sales people who were applauding while watching a power point presentation their white bracelets bobbing on their wrists and their hearts committed to Mastering the Moment.

UPDATE: (1:30 PM)
Had a manditory meeting in the same room being used for the sales meeting. On an easel supported Post It white board were the words, "Unique Ideas to Build Rapport," a remnant of an earlier team building exercise. On the page were the following suggestions of what to say to potential buyers:
"What do you like about your Lexus? I'm thinking about buying one."
"Your two kids look exactly alike! Are they twins?" and,
"You smell wonderful! What fragrance are you wearing?"

The sales manager is currently wearing a white martial arts uniform with her high heels and has a shot glass on a string around her neck.

The meeting ended with several people yelling, "Sake!!"

UPDATE: (3:08 PM)
Sales meeting is finally over. They hung the Master the Moment banner on the cubical walls that are directly outside my office. The sign has been autographed by the entire sales team, one of whom dotted her "i" with a heart and another who finished her name off with an exclamation point. As in, My name is Ashley Murray! and I work at the best place on earth.

Hawaii Music Video

2007-09-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

Instant Shirt Removal

2007-09-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a video that shows you how to save hours of your life by instantly removing your shirt.

Hawaii Pictures!

2007-09-14T22:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to some Hawaii pictures.

Quite the adventure

2007-09-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

Today we had quite an adventure! It is our last day in hawaii so we tried to make it a good one. There is a great snorkeling spot right near captain cooks monument (Its where he died if you are wondering). Its such a great spot that the locals want to restrict access to it so that it does not becone overrun with "causual tourists".
Now that ash and i have spent some time on the island, we think this is a good idea. For instance, there is a very popular snorkeling spot on alii drive in kona (referred to as "snorkel beach"). This reef is easily accessable to anyone and it seems like pretty much every tourist and sight seer come to snorkel at this reef. The problem with this is that its very shallow so everyone steps on the coral, sun screen gets on (and kills) the coral and if a wave comes a long you'll land on the coral and break it etc. Because its so popular the reef is dying and there's not that much beauty left. There's still some, but its nothing compared to our two other favorite snorkeling spots. Needless to say, no one wants any of the snorkeling spots to end up like this one.

In an attempt to keep the massive crowds away from captain cook no maintained roads lead there. So a popular way to get there is by a mile kayak ride and that is how ash and i intended to get there.

We rented a double kayak at "kona boys" and strapped it to the top of our jeep. After arriving at the boat ramp we loaded up our gear and put in the seats to the kayak. A gentleman kindly informed us that we put the seats facong the wrong way and we were about to kayak "backwards" (whoops).

The kayak trip was a hoot. The bay is often used as a place of rest and nursery for a pod of spinner dolphins. I hoped we would see some but we did not. When we arrived at the monument i promptly stepped on a bee which stung my foot. We put on our snorkel gear, trief to avoid stepping on the purple sea urchins, and jumped into the ocean.

I have to say, that ashley was being very courageous during this time. After our first snorkel trip the last thing i thought we would be doing was kayaking our into the ocean to jump in with the fish. Earlier in the trip she was nearly in tears for being within a yard of a puffer fish and now she was dragging me along into schools of them. I thinks shes finally over her fear of fish.

The ocean was warm, the coral beautiful, and the fish fishy. We swam and took pictures and admired God's beautiful creation of the coral reef.

As we kayaked back i announced that we were not leaving until i spotted a dolphin (or we reached the other side). We reached the other side first, so i guess ill just have something to look forward to for the next trip to paradise.

snorkeling

2007-09-06T20:56:00.001-07:00

Ash and I are currently in hawaii! Yesterday we went "snorkeling". And by "snorkeling" I mean that we got in the water, saw one large, brave fish and promptly switched to evacuation mode and rushed out of the water. I knew that Ash didnt like fish, but i never knew how genuinely scared she was of them.
We didnt really have a great time. The ocean was a bit rough, Ash gashed her ankle on a rock, and the fish were really close (this is something i enjoyed but ashley did not). So after a couple minutes we were back on shore brushing off sand.

Thankfully Ash is resilliant and determind so she was willing to try again today. This time we brought a boogie board to act as a shield between ashley and the fish.

We jumped in at this great place called honaunau bay, ashley on her floating shield and me holding her hand. Now I have to admit, I havent been swimming deep in the ocean for a few years so I was glad that we had the boogie board as a place to rest when we got tired.

The reef was amazing! We saw tons of fish and even a gang of giant sea turtles. ash was very brave and did not freak out at all. Eventually she got off the boogie board and swam alongside. By the end she was dragging me out to sea even further than I wanted.

We have a bunch of pictures and videos ill post later on. Were planning on going to captian cooks monument later this week.

Well, writing blog posts on the blackberry is quite a challenge. Ill post more updates later in the week!

in hawaii

2007-09-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

We are in hawaii! Ash has a blackberry so I am able to post to our blog via email. We've been taking tons of pictures and video. I'll post them when I get back to a computer.