g by guess and cotton inc is hosting "cotton. from blue to green" denim drive. the g by guess stores are accepting donations of old jeans at any of their stores. they are recycling the old jeans to natural cotton fiber insulation which will be given to habitat for humanity to use in their home building. the closest g by guess store is at the block in orange and one at the lakewood mall. you get a $10 discount off of any of their jeans and additional $10 discount of purchases of $50 or more when you make a donation.

this past weekend was the 1st cbc women's retreat. it was so fun, encouraging, challenging and tiring. i'm truly thankful for the women of cbc! i'm so privileged to run this race with you all and am so challenged by your lives as you serve the Lord, your family and the church.

i just want to say thanks to the men who participated in the survey that i sent out in preparation for the women's retreat. here are the questions, answers and some funny highlights from our family feud game.

1. name something found in a woman's purse.
lipstick/lipgloss, makeup, wallet, keys, compact

highlights: pepper spray, brass knuckles

2. what's your favorite book of the bible?
romans, ephesians, philippians, james

highlights: collosions (colossians)

3. name a popular clothing brand.
banana republic, ralph lauren polo, nike, gap

highlights: burton, byc, dolche and cobana (dolce and gabbana), gucci

4. name a place to go on your first date.
restaurant (cheesecake factory), costco, getty museum, movie

highlights: guitar center, shooting range, rock climbing, taco san pedro

5. name a makeup brand.
mac, maybelline (spelling mistakes: mayballene, maybeline), shiseido (spelling mistakes: shiesiedo, shisedo, shisiedo), clinique, l'oreal

highlights: avon, sephora, sharpie

6. cbc women wear this color often.
black (over 90%), white, pink, blue

highlights: modest

7. name something women borrow from each other.
clothes, books, mirror, dvds

highlights: clip-on nails, hair thingies

8. name something a woman out on a date would hate to discover on her face.
pimple, booger, food, sauce

highlights: eye booger, lipstick not on the lips, blood, forgot to put on lipstick even though she has all the other makeup on

9. name a board game you like to play.
settlers, scrabble, monopoly, risk

highlights: cambodian hangman

10. name something a wife does for her husband.
cook, prays for him, buys/picks his clothes, massage

highlights: step on his back, remember things

11. name a christian woman author.
elisabeth elliot, martha peace, elizabeth george, joni eareckson-tada

highlights: elizabeth taylor, jeena lim, jim elliot's wife - something elliot

12. name a term of endearment.
honey, dear, sweetie, cutie

highlights: butterfly, howdie patna, wow you lost weight (my favorite!)

13. what do cbc women do sunday afternoon while the men play basketball?
talk/chat, frozen yogurt, take a nap, eat, coffee

highlights: kickboxing, pray for men to grow up

14. name something your wife would hope you never lose.
wedding ring, faith/love for Christ, hair, muscles/abs, sense of humor

highlights: good hygene, your child(ren), your mind, christ-like testosterone, my hair...too late!

15. name a bad habit you'd like most to get rid of.
leaving socks/clothes on the floor, laziness, snoring,eating too much, forgetting things

highlights: biting my ear lobes, eating all the bags of costco beef jerky by myself, picking my boogers right before getting into the shower

16a. married men - how long did you date before you got engaged?
1 year, 6 months, 2 months, 4 years

highlights: 2 months (shane lee and marcus denny), 4.5 years (brian kang)

16b. single men - how long would you date before you got engaged?
1 year, 8 months, 6 months, 4 months

highlights: 3-6 business days, depends on the girl, if she's cool, probably less

17. name a slang word for "woman".
girl, chick, gal, babe

highlights: doll, homegirl, woman, nubian princess

18. name an occupation that you consider to be unmasculine.
nurse, hair designer, fashion/interior designer, flight attendant

higlights: figure skater, make up artist, social worker, stay at home dad, wedding candlelighter

19. name your favorite christian book.
don't waste your life (piper), the pursuit of holiness (bridges), the gospel according to jesus (macarthur), disciplines of a godly man (hughes), humility (mahaney)

highlights: the christian grandma's idea book (ellen banks elwell)

20. what is the most commonly sung hymn?
amazing grace, come thou fount, be thou my vision

21. what is your favorite praise song?
before the throne of God above, how great is our God, Jesus i my cross have taken, blessed be your name

22. name one word that would describe the women of cbc.
godly, friendly, proper/presentable, super/spectacular

highlights: asian, interesting, mafia

23. how many times do you work out a week?
2 times, 3 times, 1 time only, none

24a. married men - what's one thing (spiritual or physical) that attracted you to your wife?
servant, cute, considerate, love for God

highlights: appearance of being low maintenance - being able to "tough it" in the mission field, eyes, hands, how weird she was and is

24b. single men - what's one thing that's a non-negotiable for you? (can be spiritual or physical)
christian, intelligence, humility

highlights: has to laugh at my jokes, must not be taller than me

25. what's one song you can listen to all the time?
every single person had a different answer.

highlights: everybody wang chung tonight, nba on nbc by john tesh, a whole new world (wasn't peter oh)

26. what's your favorite "guy" movie.
braveheart, the rock, top gun, saving private ryan

highlights: howard the duck, wall-e (read the question wrong and thought favorite movie overall)

27. what's your favorite "girl" movie.
this one varied as well, no common answers.

highlights (not sure if these are girl movies): cinderella man, top gun, forbidden kingdom

28. if you were a superhero, what super power would you like to have?
flying, super strength, invisibility, teleport

highlights: ability to dunk, ability to grow to 6'2"

 

here's the video of the cbc men to the cbc women:

 

thanks men for staying home and watching the kids allowing your wife to attend. thanks to all the cbc men for encouraging us ladies in our walks, to God be all the glory.

Million Lights Project is offering Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs for Free to the first 1 million requests.

i also received 2 free CFLs from the city of anaheim a while ago to help in the process of conserving electricity. yesterday i bought 5 CFLs and will be changing out the bulbs in my house today. i started my own recycling system in my house, bought 2 bins for cans/bottles and paper. yesterday i went to trader joe's and brought in my canvas bag instead of taking their paper bags for my groceries. hopefully i can implement the other things on my list.

other tips/ideas:

• rain barrel/bin - collect the rain and use it to water your plants, trees, pets.
• car washes - i know that it's definitely cheaper washing your car yourself, but you end up wasting a lot of water, washing your car at a professional car wash will save on water, some places will recycle their water instead of letting it go to the sewer system (ask before you go), if you do wash your car at home, try washing on your lawn so that the water doesn't go to waste, but make sure you use cleaners that won't harm your lawn or the environment
• ride a bike - instead of driving, ride a bicycle (i will be getting one this week, hopefully) to local places like the grocery store or target. this is a great way to save on gas and get exercise

enjoy! happy tuesday!