Missing You All!!

Hey dearest friends and dear dear family! So - we miss you all a whole ton and then some. We're finding more and more to love about Southern California - but one of the things we love the most will never be found here: YOU! (that is unless you come VISIT!!) Today was our dear niece Lucy's first birthday - it's so hard to believe it's already been a year since that little angel squeezed into the world (sorry Kelle). But we could not be there :( This is one of the trades you make when you leave to chase your callings and dreams. It's kinda tough. On the other side of the coin, though, if you're going to have any problem in the world - having tons of people that you love so much is a pretty good problem to have. Some people move away to GET away from family. This is not the case for us. We're so blessed to have you all in our lives - even if it is from a distance at this particular season.

But just for a little update for y'all - this was an eventful week. Debbie finished her orientation this week and Monday will begin being a real nurse again. She's definitely excited about it. Her boss is really seeming to be a wonderful person. On Thursday, Gloria (the boss's name) took Debbie to the cafeteria on a break and bought her some tea and just intentionally chatted with her. So things are looking real good!

I worked four different extra gigs this week - I was a wedding reception guest on "Step Brothers" - Will Ferrell's new movie due out next summer (look for me in the background when John C. Reilly is giving his toast), Samantha Who (a new tv show staring Christina Applegate), Greek (don't really care about this one), and today I spent the morning at the beach and was a background beach goer for a Royal Navy commercial - so if you find yourself in England watching tv, look for me. On Friday I had my first audition - I found out about an agent who does open auditions for representation (which is actually quite rare - agents usually only want referrals) - so I went and read a commercial about Oreo's. So I'll let you know if I get an agent!!

One thing I'm excited about is a new soccer pickup group that I found. There's a group of people that play soccer in a park in Pasadena three times a week. I just got back from playing tonight. It's a great group of people who love the game. Not suprisingly, I'm one of the very few white guys that comes out to play. I love it!

So that's the update for now. Feel free to leave a comment or call us or email us! We love to hear from you! Until next time - HANG TEN DUDES!

timmy and debbie

The Work Begins!

Well - our wonderful TWO MONTH furlow/hiatus has sadly come to an end. Not that working is a bad thing at all - but not working - well - it's pretty fun :) Deb and I began working this week. Debbie is working at Huntington Hospital here in Pasadena - and this was orientation week. So Monday through Thursday Deb was up at 7AM and at the hospital sitting through seminars on benefits and hospital info. and all that fun stuff. As tough as it was to shift back into work mode, Deb is getting excited about working at Huntington. On three separate occasions - people have told her how GREAT her boss is. So she's very encouraged. Also - the benefits of working at Huntington are pretty cool. Every time Deb gives blood, she gets an hour of paid vacation AND a gift ranging from free movie tickets, starbucks coffee, a tee shirt, ice cream, or free carwash! So it's pretty awesome!

I began EXTRA work this week!!! wooohooo! The proper name is "background actor" but we all know we're just moving scenery. It was actually pretty fun - nothing I could stand doing long term - but fun to have front row seats to tv and film production. On Tuesday I was a cop for the new show "Womens Murder Club," which is beginning its first season on ABC on Friday evenings. My costume was realistic - I had the full cop getup with the full utility belt AND a bullet proof vest that I had to wear under my shirt. I probably weighed an extra 20 lbs. and looked like I weighed an extra 50. I looked quite rediculous, actually. I was also on "Criminal Minds" on Wednesday. That was a bit more boring - but I got a lot of reading done! Monday I'm on the movie "Step Brothers" with Will Ferrell - so that should be kinda fun.

I had my standup debut last night!! I connected with a guy who goes to Fuller Seminary and he was putting a show together for first year students and asked me to do 5 mintues. So, naturally, I did 10. It was a blast - the audience was great (yes - they laughed) and I got so much encouragement from the other comics who performed. There was actually a couple who were the headliners who have been doing a lot of work around LA who we talked to afterword for probably 30-45 minutes. They had some really nice things to say about my bit and gave me some great tips for performing out here. So bit by bit - God is connecting me to this place! Call us if you want more details.

As always - we miss you all very much. Keep in touch and stay tuned!! :)

New Wheels

So. Here's the dilemma: I (Deb) kind of need a way to get to work. Tim and I have been exploring many options. I could walk to the hospital, but that would be a long walk and I do plenty of that as a nurse anyway. Biking was an option, however we thought it might be a little dangerous to bike on the side of the road with traffic, and then I'd have to bike home after dark. Then we thought, "How about the bus?" We checked into the bus schedules and unfortunately, many nights there is no bus available to take me home. A car is out because, well, one car is plenty of money out here (insurance has doubled. But you do the math. Having 2 cars in PA was cheaper than having one car in LA) The ad should say "Geico could save you 15% or more on car insurance, except for in California. Everything here is expensive - get over it." But besides insurance, there is no place to park a second car, the upkeep would be expensive as well as not very economical. The solution: a scooter. We went to a local motorcycle/scooter dealer and went home with our new wheels. Dot (our scion's name) has a new sibling, yet to be named. It's a Honda Metropolitan scooter. It's small, zippy and get's 70-80 miles to the gallon. We're real Californians now! Especially since we now frequent Trader Joe's for groceries. We've scoped out the routes to the Hospital and have found a good, safe one to get me to and from the hospital, which happens to drive me past the famous Father of the Bride house. I'm going to take a scooter safety course too, so I'll get back to you on what tidbits I learn. We'll be taking it on the Freeway's in no time... ;)

We're still ready and waiting for visitors. And when you do come, we'll be glad to cruise you around town on our scooter. It may be a slow ride, but we'll still be saving gas! :)

Santa Barbara

We just took a nice three day/two night mini-vacation (as if our 2-month long vacation wasn't enough...) up to Santa Barbara to celebrate our 2 year anniversary! It is about an hour-and-a-half drive from here in Pasadena to Santa Barbara beach, without traffic, so it wasn't a bad trip at all. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast 2 blocks away from the beach. Tim and I got to go to a Farmer's Market on the street (that's a picture of Tim at the Farmer's Market) and get some beautiful California produce for a nice price. We spent a lot of time on the beach and exploring around town. There we are at the PACIFIC OCEAN!!! It was a nice way to celebrate our anniversary, since we were packing up the moving truck on our real anniversary. Tomorrow we're off to apply to be extras! :) Only in L.A...

We're here!!!

Dearest Friends and Family!!! (this is Tim writing)
We are here - we are in Los Angeles California - Pasadena more specifically! We made it safely across this great country of ours. What an awesome adventure that was. If you didn't get a chance to see it, check out our dear friend Rachel's blog at blogs.messiah.edu/rmoury. We wrote all about the 9 day drip on her blog and there are pictures and everything. Check it out. We've been in Pasadena now for a WHOLE WEEK! We are officially Californians - well, ok that's not completely true since our plates still say PA and we have PA drivers licenses making us look like tourists every time we have to pull them out. But soon enough - we will be official Californians. We LOVE our apartment. It was tough trying to find a place to live from 3000 miles away because you're just never sure what you'll end up with. But this place is amazing. They completely renovated the whole thing, so it's as good as new AND IKEAized (we have one just 15 minutes away)! We're also in an awesome part of Pasadena. You can literally walk EVERYWHERE - grocery stores, coffee shops, restaurants, movie theaters, seminaries - everywhere!! We're also near Old Town Pasadena which is just beautiful. You'll see when you come visit!

Deb will begin working in another week on September 17th at the beautiful Huntington Hospital. I'm going to be beginning the process of looking for work. I will most likely start doing extra work for a while. I also plan to audition for classes at the Groundling - an improv. theater in Hollywood. And once I figure out how, I'm going to start doing standup comedy again. While standup is not ultimately what I see myself doing professionally, it will be good to get in front of people with it! I also plan to release a short indy film that I shot earlier this summer - so stay tuned.

But we thought a blog would be a great idea to keep everyone updated with how things are going for us out here. You'll be able to follow Deb and me through this crazy adventure that will lead who knows where. But we trust God through it all - knowing that He cares and He is with us! We love and miss you all! Be in touch!

Timmy and Deb