LOL LOL LOL

I'm laughing so hard I'm crying.

Oh. My. God.

Doo doo doo doo.

Tonight I made Rhea the most awesome mix CD ever, for our little adventure on Saturday. You know the one. The day we might become COUSINS. (!!!!!!!!) Anyway, this is the first song on the CD, because I think it describes our friendship through music. I swear that cute little beat is US.

Easter with the family.

"Let the resurrection joy lift us

from loneliness and weakness and despair

to strength and beauty and happiness."

--

Floyd W. Tomkins

For Easter, I came home to spend a few days of quality time with the family. I have to say that it was probably the most special holiday I have spent with them to date! The sun was shining brightly, everyone was smiling fondly, and for once it just, felt right. The night before my parents and I went to a lovely dinner at 'The Dead Fish' in Crockett. I was surprised that such a beautiful restaurant was nestled beside the extensive expanse of refineries, but the food was golden and the view was even better. A few photos from our evening:

The fountain by the entrance. Are we in Rome?!

The view from our table (happy sigh.)

Mi madre and I. She's the best.

My Dad is adorable.

After dinner, we went for a walk down to the shores.

This was what I saw as the sun went down....

Sunset....

Driving by the refineries....

A tree in Rodeo....

A tree in Hercules....

-- (The Next Day! Easter Sunday in Davis) --

My cousins Jordan and Jacob. Seriously, how CUTE are they?!

After the Easter egg hunt...

The long car ride home, with my easter pen...

--xo--

a

Video of the day: The Everly Brothers

"All I have to do is Dream."

The Iverson's - Bon Voyage!

On Friday, my Aunt Vena, Uncle Till, Benjamin and Philipp, who live in Hamburg, Germany, had their "bon voyage" dinner at a nice restaurant in Benecia called Captain Blythers. (I think that is what it's called?!) After this dinner, they were on a plane to Aspen, Colorado to enjoy skiing and snow. Here is my family that night:

Auntie Vena and I (notice I'm holding WATER, not wine.)

My mom and her youngest sister...

"A Toast! To good health, and a happy family!"

Pretty candlelight....

It sure was cold that night! But grandma seemed warm in her jacket as well as having her many daughters by her side.

On our way back to Grandma's house, all of our cousins had created a "magic show" for us. Mind you, they have performed this magic show TWICE before, and this being their THIRD time, had made it much more intricate...now with a tip jar, and souvenir oragami stars and paper boxes! Each sold at $1-$2 dollars! They wiped us all clean!

(Joshua, Benjamin, Philipp, and Gabriel)

Gabriel and I (he's so sleepy here)

The "bigger" boy cousins...Matthew and John

Enjoy one of my favorite parts of the magic show! (It took them a year to get this down!) Aunty Vena's kids sure are talented!

An Ode; To Us

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart,

and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

What I love about Rhea: The way we can sit on the phone for hours and watch television or clean our rooms and say nothing at all -- because we just like to know the other one is there. How much we enjoy all things butter and sour cream, old school video games, celebrity news, good music and DISNEYLAND. The way we secretly wish we were related and hatch secret plans to make this happen. I love how I can't resist laughing when you are laughing, and how I want to cry when I hear you cry. The fact we have so many inside jokes from the years that we sometimes forget them and then get really excited when we remember them. The way we are so completely different and yet EXACTLY the same, and how nobody would know it except for us. When we fight we hang up and can't go ten minutes without frantically calling each other to apologize. The way we look at each other and know what each other are thinking based on our expression. How we both can't resist dancing to a good beat, even in the car, and how we both find meanings in songs that relate to our lives, our loves, and our friendship. We share the same sense of humor and the same morals; we both strive to be good human beings and we like to take care of other people. We feed each other whenever we're together and can't feel comfortable unless we know the other one isn't hungry or thirsty anymore. You're one of the few friends I can still close my eyes and pretend with; our daily adventures in egypt, hawaii, and morroco (in our minds.) You're also one of the only people that I will get on an airplane and feel safe flying with, because travelling with you is always such an amazing adventure, and, if the plane crashed, we both agree that at least we'd go down together!! I can tell you the worst things about myself and you always remind me of the best. I know that if either of us won the lottery we'd spoil the shit out of each other and we both genuinely want the best things to happen to each other. I love how even if I can't reach you on the phone or see you every day, it always feel like you're here anyway. Whenever something funny or strange happens, I always think, "I can't wait to tell rhea about this!" and when we read a good book or hear a beautiful song, we hope the other one knows about it too. These are just a few of the endless things I love about Rhea.

Xoxo--

April Richmond

It's the truth.

'nuff said.

Ahoy, me matey!

"He who stares at the sea is already sailing a little."

-- Paul Carvel

If there were ever a moment in my life when I was certain of my awesomeness, it had to be when this photograph was taken; a mandatory shot before Ryan and I made our maiden voyage to Alcatraz Island in late February 2008. We politely asked to fore-go this blatantly tourist activity, to which a disgruntled ferry employee blankly replied, "If you want to board the ship, you have to take the picture."

So we reluctantly oblidged. At first we stared blankly into the lens in a silent form of protest when suddenly the inner gangsta took ahold of me. This amazing moment is forever immortalized in a camera phone shot of the actual thing (24.95 for a 5 by 7?! No thanks yo!) .... Fun times. <3<3<3

climbing days

A while back, I made a promise to myself to try climbing. Which I'm glad I did, because after the first trip...i made a second...and a third...and a fourth...and, well, you know how that goes. One day I took Holly and Joel with me to Ironworks in Berkeley, and we had a fun filled day of climbing, huge wedgies up our butts, and the public market in emeryville. Here are some oldie (but goodie) pictures of that day! (This is a while back...my hair is still long!) Holly and I, before our graceful trek up the wall.

Different day, I think I went with Mike here, and posing like I knew what I was doing.

Although this is how i probably felt.

Finally getting the hang of things! (At this point, all I could hear was Holly screaming "Pretend you are on Road Rules! Road Rules, Rhea, Road Rules!!!) While I was thinking, "Joel better be holding on to my rope!"

Finally figuring out that Joel and I made a good team.

Rock climbing (even indoor) is very fun and challenging. I like it because it challenges one's self. You fall, yes, and thank Lord you have a rope, but you have to psych yourself up again to keep going, grab another rock, twist your body to the side, and keep reaching. You look down in fear of falling, but the BEST feeling in the world is when you overcome that feeling, and keep climbing. Once you reach the top, it makes you feel like you can do bigger, taller, more challenging walls. Like life, right?

If you don't know, now you know: The Beginning

Hello All, and welcome to the Rhea and April show. Your one stop shop to all your blogging needs. Haha..No seriously. April and I have created this site to chronicle the positive, funny, chaotic, and timeless friendship that we've had knowing each other for the past 18 years. So....here we go!