i was at northgate mall on friday evening and i stopped by the bon. my goal was to find a cheap dress to wear for a wedding and the bon happened to be having the "one-day" sale that really lasts two days. as i was standing near the checkout counter, i noticed three guys walking toward another section with piles of clothing in their hands. my thoughts were the following: "gosh, that's a lot of clothes to try on...do they know that the fitting rooms have a 4 garment limit?" "wait...where are they going? that section is for older women... eh, whatever." "hmm...not to stereotype, but...what if they're like punk kids... yea, better not to stereotype. i'm sure they're just adding to their wardrobe." seconds later...i hear a security guard yell, "STOP" and some other stuff that sounded like warnings and was said in a threatening tone. apparently, these 3 guys, and a couple of other guys, were pulling a "grab and run" and were thwarted by a salesguy that found them a bit suspicious and called in security just in case. all the clothes were dropped and all but one guy got away. i'm mystified...it was so...blatant of these guys. they just had mounds of clothes and were just going to walk right out the door. inconceivable.

today i went to work and after work, i wasted some time at bell sq. before i had to be at a wedding rehearsal. while at the mall, i ran into some friends from dorm/early college years. it was really nice to catch up. ever since i moved out of the dorms/off-campus, and stopped frequenting by george, i don't get many chances to see that group of people anymore. at the wedding rehearsal, we watched them run through the ceremony and then we [as the choir] sang "arms of love." i can't tell if we suck or not, but angela [the bride] said we sounded great. as long as she's happy with the result, that's all that matters. and then it was on to dinner at hunan garden in bellevue. it was several courses...fitting since angela and steve are both chinese [well...taiwanese if you want to be technical about it] and are having a wedding. get it? lots of food...like a chinese wedding? ok fine, i'm not funny.

during dinner, there was lots of fun to be had. lots of laughter and catching up with people. it was great. towards the end of the night, one of my pastors daughters [who is severely allergic to nuts] accidentally touched a piece of the dessert, which is like a thick and sweet peanutty soup with soft mochi like balls in it. she just touched a bit of the mochi ball and broke out in rashes and her face started to swell. her mom busted out the benedryl and was waiting to see if you had to pull out the pen looking medicine shot thing that gets jammed into the upper thigh of the person with the allergic reaction. thankfully, the benedryl started working almost instantly. it was kinda scary for a moment there. lydia's [the child in question] sister, apphia, walked over, and quietly asked me if i would pray for lydia. i think that's the highlight of my day. apphia is only 4 and i was extremely touched and blessed by her love and concern for her little sister. these kids are so much fun to babysit. plus, they think we're funny. :D