Melani's Profile

I'm posting below my teammate who just passed away's profile. This is how she introduced herself to the team and I just thought I'd share it, so you could know more about her and her specific diagnosis.

"Diagnosis: Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia

Date of Diagnosis: November 2003

When people hear the word cancer, they often dread an unhappy ending to such a diagnosis. I always have. Cancer has been part of my life for a long time. First my father-in-law, then my father and then my two uncles all died of the dreaded disease. Eighteen months after my dad died, I was diagnosed with a rare form of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma called Waldenstrom's Macrogloblinemia (WM). Fortunately, it's a slow growing cancer. Waldenstrom's only accounts for 1.4% of blood cancers or 0.1% of all cancers in general. That means that approximately1500 people in the United States are diagnosed with this disease each year. Most people who are diagnosed with WM are 65 years old with a life expectancy of about 5 years but approximately 20% of people survive for more than 10 years. Autoimmune hemolytic anemia is a condition of WM that I am currently fighting. One treatment we recently tried was a splenectomy to prevent destruction of my red blood cells, presumably caused by my spleen. After my surgery in January 06, I enjoyed 2 months of normal hemoglobin until itplummeted again and I required my 11th blood transfusion. I was so anemia I couldn't get out of bed for nearly two days. Prednisone has been a lifesaving drug that currently stabilizes my blood counts and allowsme to function normally. Why my body destroys its own red blood cells we still don't know.

The good news is that The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has been a very helpful resource for me. Knowledge is power and I use the website almost daily. Patient Services was the first place I learned about my disease. Currently, I receive a very informative e-newsletter, have been put in touch with a First Connection friend, and listen to Telephone Education Conference on a regular basis. When I have a specific question, I can chat on-line with a live operator and get immediate feedback.

In January of last year, my husband and I signed up with Team in Training sponsored by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to train for a marathon and raise funds to find a cure for all blood-related cancers. Pictured above with me are my fellow survivors, Virginia & Roger, whose friendships I cherish thanks to TNT. The love & support I received through TNT was an awesome experience I will treasure forever!

Although I was anemic, last year, I walked 18 miles in the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon! I walked for my three daughters, who need to see that people can "livestrong" with a cancer diagnosis. My hope is that one day they will all participate in a TNT event and be difference-makers like you!!"

Kind Words

I'm putting an email below that a friend of mine wrote in response to my email about my honored teammate passing; she's one of the therapists I worked with in Florida a couple of years ago. I just thought it was really well worded and positive, so I thought I'd share it. Thanks Stef!

"I am very sad about the news you send and very happy that you did, because sharing is the most important thing in the world, no matter what, happiness, sadness etc., that makes us human and vulnerable...I can't give you any money but I send you lot's of love and good energy and please never forget, that all you are doing is already the cure itself, not the money you raise or the treatment at the end or whatsoever...it is the moment that counts and that all those sick people know that you are out there for them, THAT is important, much more important or at least as important than the outcome. You make them feel loved and being cared for and NO medicine in the world can do that. Even if they would have lived a little longer with treatment (I am a nurse and I must say, I have doubted that very often!!), it is the quality of living which is important and not the length and you make a differnce in terms of their quality. However, I don't think because of the medication or treatment but the love and commitment you are putting out there. So please never forget that!!!"

Sad News

Hello everyone. I am doing Team In Training not only to complete a marathon and be very proud of myself for doing something I never even imagined doing, not only to keep myself working out, but also because this program is the largest fundraiser for the Leukmemia & Lymphoma Society, and the LLS is the biggest research organization for blood cancer research. I don't really care what kind of cancer it is, the point is it's helping to beat cancer. Once you have met the people leading this organization, heard their stories, and met everyone you're going to train with, you are just completely and totally comitted to the cause. You are suddenly this passionate person you didn't know you were. You are a cancer warrior as our coaches like to call us. And to be honest it's this huge up and down roller coaster battle, you're up one second because you got a donation or you heard someone with cancer just went into remission, then you're down because the fundraising is slowing down or someone just got sicker, and that makes you want to work hard or give up; you don't know which to do. I guess we need to choose to work harder because we have a long way to go. Today one of my honored teammates passed away; she had a rare form of leukemia and it was too much, the cancer itself and the treatment as well. She is leaving behind a husband and two young daughters. Two weeks ago one of my great coaches couldn't make it to our first race in Calabasas because his father, who had lymphoma, was just put in the hospital. On our Wednesday night practice night, Coach Kiley couldn't make it, but things were looking up, his dad came home. The following day out of nowhere, things took a turn for the worse and his dad died. He had decided to go through a really tough kind of chemo, and it was too much. The treatments available aren't good enough.

Ok, so I didn't know either of these people very well, I only met Melanie once and I never got to meet Fred, and that's the point. These are two people I didn't get to know because cancer just took them before I got the chance, before our team got the chance. We would always get messages from them to keep up the good work and that they were proud, that what we're doing makes a difference, so we just have to believe that it does, that we may not have gotten to help them like we wanted, but we have to keep trying for the millions of other people who still need it.

I just wanted to share that. I guess it's my "mission moment" for this week. Feels kind of weird to say this at the end of all that, but it's true more than ever I guess, we still need those donations. So keep 'em coming guys.

Thanks.
http://www.active.com/donate/tntgla/chelsbels

The Comebacks

Saturday night me, Ivan, two girls from my team and a ton of their friends (since we don't have our own), are going to be extras in this new movie called "The Comebacks." It's a football comedy. Today I just got names of some of the people who are in it, you might not recognize the names but you will their faces...David Koechner (Anchorman), Chris Parnell (Saturday Night Live), Carl Weathers (Predator, Happy Gilmore), DJ Qualls (Road Trip, Hustle & Flow), and Matthew Lawrence (Hot Chick).



Also, let's celebrate, this is my 100th post! Woo hoo!

8 Miles!

Just a little update on the marathon training. Today we ran 8 miles!!!! Up until I decided to do this marathon, I hadn't traveled more than a mile or 2 at one time...and that was very slow jogging or walking. I have now completed 8 miles at once, and it was way better than 6! Last week I did 6 and I was about to kill myself and everyone around me. But today, with 8, nope, felt grrreat! Yes, I can bearly walk right now, about 8 hours later-- my shoulders hurt, my legs hurt, my feet are killing me, I'm kinda shuffling around instead of walking-- but tell you what, this morning it felt good. We (my pace group) completed this 8 miles in 2 hours and 7 minutes. Yes when I started this program I could do a 12 minute mile, and now I'm running a 16 minute mile, but there's method to the madness I guess. They slow you down so you can actually finish 26.2 miles you know? So anyway, we're all right on track.

Next week is a step back week where we recover before going further-- so next weekend we only do 4 miles! YAY!

The following week we up the mileage to 10 miles.

The week after we step back again and compete in a 10k, which is 6 miles.

And then it's on to 12 miles! Yikes!

Although, each week you kinda feel like, bring it on, I did't think I could do this, so I know I can do more. It's a crazy feeling. And it makes all the difference in the world to be doing it with a team-- last week a lot of people in my pace group were gone traveling for the holiday and everything, and we only had 3 people. And even that sucked. Today we had about 8 people and it was so much better. Nobody wants to let anyone else down so you keep pushing, and you have everyone else cheering you on . When I train by myself, I can hardly get through a mile because I lack will power and I get so damn bored!

Anyway, just a little update for you. Oh, and fundraising is good, but I still need to raise $1690! So keep 'em coming! I know someone out there wants to be a Titanium or Platinum donor :)

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgla/chelsbels

Give Thanks!

So I'm sitting here thinking about what I'm thankful for, since that's what this holiday is all about. It's been easier to think of what I'm unthankful for: being alone on Thanksgiving (yes I guess that was my choice), bills, traffic, extra weight :), and my job...

But a new friend of mine out here just lost someone close to them and has reminded me to think about what I DO have to be thankful for, so here we go:

-I'm alive :)

- I have a place to live (a nice one too)

- I have a job--whether I like it all the time or not

-Yes yes, friends & family I have a plenty, and Lucy!

-I have my health, extra pounds or not, I am actually a healthy person and apparently I have food to eat :)

-I live in a place with great weather!

-I have today & tomorrow off of work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-I will be coming home for Christmas in less than 30 days!

-I have new friends & am inolved in a great cause (Team In Training, still need those donations!)

-All those great friends & family that I have, are healthy too and have all the same things that I'm thankful for (except Lucy! ha)

Happy Thanksgiving!

5k!

Saturday morning, as a team, we participated in the Calabasas Classic, a 5k in Calabasas, that also helps fundraise for families suffering from cancer. For those who don't know, a 5k is about 3 miles, 3.1 I think. It wasn't too bad, except that about a mile in my shins were killing me!! So I had to slow down so I didn't end up just walking the whole thing. Damn shin splints. So from now on I will have to be icing my shins and keeping them elevated after running. Anyway, it was fun though. We got a nice goodie bag and a little medal as soon as you crossed the finish line. Then we had a team breakfast. After that Ivan and I took a drive along the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) to Malibu. We sat on the beach for awhile. It was probably 70ish out, so it was comfortable out. I'm putting a link to pictures at the bottom from the race & the beach.

Friday night we went to a taping of Mad TV. That was fun too. After each scene usually one or 2 of the actors would come up in the audience and talk to everyone and everything.

Thursday night we went to another screening. Sorry, at this one I had to sign something saying I wouldn't talk about it :)...it wasn't that good I don't think. I'll let you know when it comes out what movie it was! But anyway, we were chosen to stay after to be in a "focus group" where basically you just have to answer questions about what you did or didn't like about it & why, what would you change. And for staying we got a free movie pass.

Not much else going on. Ivan will be changing to a day shift in a couple of weeks, so that will be nice. He'll be home at night. He will work Saturday days though, but that's ok because I am busy on Saturdays with the training so it will work out well.

Ok, that's all for now. Here's the link to some pics:

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5Ywg

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I just got back from a screening of "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" and it was really good! I don't know when it comes out, but it was good so keep your eyes open for it. It was almost 3 hours long, but worth it I think. Obviously we know how it ends...but it was sad, which is weird because you know it's not like Jesse James was a great guy or anything, but it you were still rooting for him (which was played by Brad Pitt by the way, and Casey Affleck played Robert Ford).

GOOD!

Some Inspirational words

So I've been an inspirational kinda mood, ya know because of this whole marathon training and being around motivated people. So here's some quotes I like, my favorites are italicized :)

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go." -T. S. Eliot

Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying

You must be the change you want to see in the world.

You don't get to choose how you're going to die; or when. You can only decide how you're going to live; NOW. - Joan Baez -

"A year from now you may wish you had started today."

"Use what talents you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." - Henry van Dyke -

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another." - Charles Dickens

"One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do. " - Henry Ford -

"Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting." - Napolean Hill -

"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you." - Dale Carnegie -

"If you are not using your smile, you're a man with a million dollars in the bank and no checkbook." - Les Giblin -

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead -

"I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself." - Aldous Huxley -

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of that candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." - Buddha -

"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it." - William Arthur Ward -

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." - Mother Teresa -

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Eleanor Roosevelt -

Dalai Lama's 19 instructions for life

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three Rs: respect for self, respect for others and responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

- Dalai Lama -

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." - Theodore Roosevelt -

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus -

"We sometimes feel that what we do is just a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." - Mother Teresa -

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough" - Joe Lewis -

"Tell me and I`ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I`ll understand." - Chinese Proverb -

Resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die! - Anon -

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.

Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." - Mark Twain -

TNT Update!

(This is an email I sent out, but if you didn't get it, here it is)

Hello All!

I just wanted to take a second and let you know what's been going on with my training for the marathon. So, 2 weeks ago we had a pace assessment, where you run/walk 3 miles, they take your time, and then set us up in pace groups with people who run at a similar time. That night I finished at 38:12, which is great for me. I'm not trying to break records, I'm trying to finish a race! Then, Saturday the 4th was our first official practice with our pace group. We did 3 miles that day, and it was a little difficult but not near as bad you might think. We do a run/walk ratio of running for 1 minute and then walking for 1 minute, which makes any distance easier to get through. Not to mention, you are surrounded by a group of really great people. So the whole time you're running, you are just getting to know people and you always have other teammates coming and going giving you a good "Go Team!" In fact it's a rule on the team that you can't pass any person by without "good morning" or "GO TEAM!" Each practice begins with what they call a "mission moment," where someone will get up and talk about something that happened that reminded them of why they're doing this. We also get plenty of words of encouragement from our honored teammates, one of whom is in remission and trains with us, and the other who sends messages via email and is not doing so well right now. After hearing from them you know that what you're doing is worth it, no amount of tiredness or pain running could cause will ever compare, and the daunting task of fundraising is definitely worth the struggle. Each Saturday morning has become something I really look forward to because I look forward to seeing these people who I've just met and every weekend you are sure to get inspired over and over again!

Next weekend we have a training race where we will run as a ream in the Calabasas Classic, it's a 5k, put on by another organization supporting cancer research. Each week our mileage increases, and each week we think, my God, how are we going to do it?? And then we do!

I wish each of you could come one morning to see what happens when all these people meet and hear their stories. It's amazing. So anyway, that's a little update on where I am right now. I'll let you know when I get into running those double digits and see if I'm still as happy :)

As always, donations are very much appreciated!! GO TEAM!

Thanks!
Chelsey

Second Job...or Volunteer

So, I applied to get a second job just to get experience outside of the schools and you know, extra money has never hurt anyone. But I'm getting a bit busier with TNT training, and I just don't know if my heart's in it. I would rather volunteer somewhere I think than "have to" go do something. You know what I mean? I dunno what to do, because as far as my future in OT goes, it would be best to try to get a second job. I'm also a little bit afraid that it's not worth it to interview even b/c I have absolutely no experience in the hospitals and so I have basically nothing to offer...do I really want to go through an interview where I just sit there saying "No but I'm a quick learner." I dunno!

For whatever reason I've had an interest in doing something to help with the AIDS epidemic. I've felt this way for a few years and the other day I was searching for places around here to volunteer and stuff and I saw something called the AIDS service center. It's only a couple of blocks away and sounds like a good fit...we'll see.

As for everything else in life...it's fine :) TNT training is going well, and fun, and I like meeting people...and running?! Only at 3 miles right now, this weekend we increase to 4 or 5.

Work is...fine. Don't love or hate it, it just is what it is.

Ivan's good. He's still at the same job he had last year. Although I'm getting sick of the hours finally (he works Sunday-Wednesday 1:30 p.m.- 10:30 p.m.) Lonely! There might be a day shift opening up so he'll jump on that when he can hopefully.

We have no idea what will happen at the end of this school year. Love it or hate it, I'm comfortable in California, which is reason enough to move! I don't really want to get comfortable somewhere, especially here! Too many things to tick me off in So-Cal. (Yeah yeah, it has good points too). We've talked about Hawaii...or Chicago. Parts of me would love to just come home because I do like being with you guys, and I miss seeing the kids grow up, BUT I'm afraid to come home because it makes me feel like then that's it, time to get an SUV and get to the kids' soccer practice. And yes I want that someday....but not today! Ahh...only time will tell.

TNT

Saturday was the kick-off party for Team In Training (TNT), where we met our coaches and teammates and mentors and things like that. Basically, each team has a headcoach or 2, some assistant coaches and then mentors who are just people who have done it before and are doing it again & they train with you. They kinda keep you motivated, answer questions & things like that. Each team also has a social chair, who organizes things for the team to do to get to know each other & stuff. Anyway, the kick off party had all the teams in the Los Angeles area, I am on the San Gabriel Valley team. And people get up & speak-- people who have/had a form of blood cancer, and you basically cry or try not to cry for a couple of hours. It's exhausting! But you come away really proud of yourself and ready to work. Tonight was our first team practice, and we did our pace assessments. So we each had to complete 3 miles, they took our times, and then at our first "real" practice on the 28th, they will have us in pace groups of people who run at similar times. My time was 38:18, which I'm happy with. I tend to average a 12 minute mile, and that's just 1 mile at a time, so I figured if I was doing 3 it would be a lot longer, so only going over a couple minutes sounds great to me. It was nice to get to meet some people in the area too, which is a huge reason I'm doing this, I need friends! I happened to meet a girl who just moved here with her husband a few months ago & needs friends too :) And a bunch of other super nice people I hope to get to know. One thing they really talk about before you sign up for this is how close you get to your teammates. And really, why wouldn't you? You spend hours running next to people just talking & getting to know them. I'm pumped! Not to mention it's nice to get moving again.

One girl had a great idea, and I'm telling you to do this too-- whoever reading this usually gets me a Christmas present-- don't, please spend that on a donation for me!! It'll be put to way better use, and it's actually what I need right now.

What else...not much else is new. This past weekend Breigh & Joe, and Ivan's friend Brian came out & we all went out to eat for Ivan's birthday to this cool place called La Luna Negra, they have flamenco dancers & stuff, it was fun. Friday night Ivan & I went to see The Grudge 2...it was ok. It could've been better maybe if there weren't 10,000 15 year olds in the theatre who are overdramatic and scream about 10 seconds BEFORE anything scary happens, continue to scream for about 10 seconds AFTER, and then talk to each other for about 15 seconds after that. We almost got up & left. It was horrible!

Lucy is going through a terrible-two's stage. She's randomly having accidents, which she hasn't had in months really, and chewing on things she's never chewed on before! Let's hope this passes quickly. We've still been fairly regular at the dog park, so that's fun.

Well I'm gonna get going. Oh, I'm trying to teach myself how to do those Sodoku puzzles and I'm doing alright...but if anyone has any tips I'd love them!

Got My Flight!

Got my tickets bought today for my Christmas trip home. I will be flying into St. Louis on Friday, December 22 and staying until January 2nd. Ivan and I will both be home the same dates and are actually flying together! One of the first times ever, ha

See you then

Doing Better!

My last post was a little mean and I'm a little better...although I still think if you haven't donated yet you really need to think about it...skip a couple trips to Starbucks or something like that and you will magically have $10-20 to help cure cancer, but whatever, I'm not going to preach today!

Not much been going on out here. We took Lucy to the dog park on Saturday and then I took her again on Sunday and then again on Monday! I love the dog park as much as she does! She gets to just run off of her leash forever and play with other dogs. Much better than walking because I will never go as fast as she'd like and we always end up mad at each other anyway because I'm trying to teach her to stop pulling on the leash, so I've found that for both of our mental health, the dog park is good! I get to socialize a bit, so does she, all is well!

This Saturday I meet my team for the marathon. I'm excited to have people to get to know and work out with. I need someone to keep me motivated. I've been back to the tread mill doing some interval stuff to get ready for our first team practice, but other than that, I hadn't worked out for well 2.5 months aside from the 1-2 times I worked out at home and once we were back here. I really have to stop looking at working out just for weight loss. Because if I get un-motivated to lose weight then I just stop moving and kinda binge for months and that's how I always get right back where I started from. I need to start seeing it just as a necessity for the rest of my life instead of as a weight loss goal. And keep on doing things like marathons and stuff to keep me working towards something that's not a weight!! Obviously using weight as a goal isn't working for me! So wish me luck with that.

What else...tomorrow is Ivan's 24th birthday! Exciting stuff. I think we'll be going out this weekend with friends from Rancho, his friends from work, and maybe my new co-worker.

I applied for a part-time job in the hospitals. We'll see if I get it. I just really want to get experience outside of the schools so I don't end up trapped there. And extra money is never bad! I'll let you know how that goes.

Later!

You should be ashamed of yourselves!

I'm so frustrated right now and kinda angry and a little sad. As you know I'm doing this marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. And I know I just sent out the email last week to start raising money & everything...but only 3 people have donated so far. I sent that email to 106 people, posted it on Myspace and Facebook, and my blog. I get it, sometimes people read it, forget about it, and that's it. And I know not everyone has money laying around... but do you know if every person I emailed it to donated $20, I would have raised $2120! I'm sorry but $20 is not too much. And even if it was, $10 donations from each person would have given me $1060. As it is I'm going to donate hundreds of dollars of my own by setting aside $10-20 per week, and I'm ok with that! But I just can't get over how un-giving people have been so far. I know some people are waiting until they've saved up a bigger amount and things like that but damn, I'm just kinda pissed off right now.

I realize I'm probably talking to myself, and that's fine. And I might be pissing off potential doners right now, but whatever. It's not about me, I'm trying to do a good thing and it's really difficult when nobody will work with you on it. Yes it's early. But I'm so discouraged right now. And this is putting it very mildly. I just got off the phone with my mom and f%#@ was just about every other word out of my mouth because I just don't get it. Selfishness. Whatever.

If I pissed you off then fine don't donate anything, selfish bastard, and if I made you feel guilty, good, you should feel that way. And thank you for your future donation!

Let's let the cancer win, shall we.

A little dramatic but I'm super frustrated right now.

Blah

Things have been kinda blah lately (lack of money will do that to you). Hopefully next week things will be back to normal money wise; since I was off for 6 weeks you know, that'll drain the first paycheck pretty quickly! Anyway, yesterday we went to Hollywood because we were like, well we have to do something. We ended up spending some time wandering through Ripley's Believe it Or Not. That was interesting. I did some more window-shopping (I do that a lot!) And have a ton of things I want to get on Friday when the money drops into my account.

Ivan saw a couple of gray hairs on my head...I thought I saw them the other day too but I dunno. Scary. I am only 24!

Our building is having a doggie Halloween costume contest and I'm debating entering Lucy. I'm just worried that everyone else will go way over the top you know? We'll see.

So start donating your money people! It'll be much appreciated!

Thanks

I'm a runner!

Or I will be very soon...I've signed up to train for the Los Angeles Marathon in March and need all the help I can get raising the funds ($2500!) So click on the link I'm providing (or copy & paste it up top) and donate all the money you have :)

Help me help others! THANK YOU!

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgla/chelsbels

I'm Fancy Pancy

I'm a cool, hip, L.A. chic now. I went to my first movie screening. Ooh la la. Yeah, have you ever read an article and they were like "oh we changed the ending because audience screenings didn't go well" or they changed something else. Well yeah that's what I did last night.

What this actually means is that when I went to a movie the other night, afterwards people were standing outside handing out fliers for a movie screening. So I thought, what the heck, I will go. The movie was called "Michael Clayton" and it stars George Clooney. It was good. Anyway, afterwards you just fill out this form about what you liked or didn't, what you would change, if it was too fast or too slow, etc. And it's free.

Upon leaving I was handed a ticket to another screening for a different movie. It's not titled yet but it has Ryan Reynolds, Emily Mortimer, & Stuart Townsend, and is supposed to be funny. So I guess we'll be heading to Burbank tomorrow night for that. It's a nice hobby, seeing movies for free months before they come out. There's one nice thing about L.A.

New Apartment Pics

Here's a link to the pictures of our new place:

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5YvY

Coming to America...

Yeah that's how I feel everyday as I drive home from work, that I am coming back to America! I have 32 kids on my caseload, by looking at last names alone, at least 16 of them are Asian, 13 are Hispanic and that leaves 3 kids whose last names I can't tell what they are... Today I was in a classroom and there was 1 white kid, no black kids-- everyone else was Hispanic or Asian. It's just an odd thing to get used to. I mean don't get me wrong, last year I had a lot of Hispanic kids, I'm in Southern California, it's normal, but this is crazy. I hear & see more foreign languages on signs than in English, and the English I do hear has a really heavy accent and sometimes I can't even tell they are actually speaking English because the accent is so heavy. But that's just where I work...head back towards where I live--which is actually less than 10 miles-- and the signs are in English! (Maybe some Spanish ones but that's normal) And there's actually a variety of people, not just 2 major groups. It's so strange. The other day I was walking around this school and guess what flashed into my head... you know those infomercials about feeding some hungry kids for like 25 cents a day...I felt like I was in one of those countries!! Sounds kinda horrible but it's just so weird.

Going, Going, Back, Back to Cali Cali

Ok, we're actually already back, but now I have internet service! Watch out world! (And those are words to a song up top, it's not an accident that it's all twice!)

Kidding. So the trip home was good and long...maybe too long because I got used to being home and now I'm bitter about all the things I don't like about California. I'll get over it soon I'm sure. I don't really have any choice. Those things being that everything takes longer-- driving, lunch, waiting in lines...that sort of thing. And the sky in fact is not blue. It's brownish. And the grass is not in fact green. It's brownish. Everything is brownish. I knew this when I left but you know, after being around an actual blue sky and green grass it kinda pisses you off.

The good things...we got the apartment we wanted & we're all settled. It's bigger than I had imagined (just so I wouldn't be disappointed). We live on top of a mall. Our balcony overlooks a fountain and Mimi Maternity and Coach, and Footlocker is just across the way. The overpriced grocery store is just down the elevator, the post office is across the street and the library is 2 blocks away. Target is only 4 blocks--- so that is all very cool. We get to walk places :)

Work...today was the first day and I was completely overwhelmed. But I think that's standard for any first day. I won't get into the details other than it's much different than where I was for good & bad. Give me a couple weeks and I'll get to my kids and all will be well with the world again. As for right now I have a pounding headache. And want to fast forward. It's a much smaller area=good, I'm the only therapist=challenging, they don't have any materials=bad, I get to pick what we order=good. Just stress, good & bad.

I'm going to try & get some pictures up of that place later today, keep in mind it's not complete :)

Miss you all

I'm home!

As you know, I'm home! I will be home until sometime the week of Labor Day. It looks like everything is working out for the job in Pasadena but I haven't signed yet so technically it could all still go south. Although I think it's all fine.

Being home is good. One of the first things I noticed when I got home were the stars in the sky & how clear it was...that's when I realized I don't get to see stars in Cali b/c we're so close to L.A. that we have a lot of smog to deal with and the city lights are so bright, it's just never dark enough to see them. I'm also loving that there is no traffic...sometimes I'll admit it's a bit frustrating that nobody's in a hurry to get anywhere here though b/c really it makes it harder to pass people & stuff, but it's also nice to just go somewhere without having to be such a defensive driver you know?

I've got to visit with quite a few people so far and tonight I'm heading to Jacksonville (where Ivan went to college) to see a friend who lives there and pick Ivan up, then he's coming back up here for a couple of weeks.

Lucy is doing really well, I've been baby-sitting for a friend of mine during the day and they have a golden retriever and they just play all day long and Lucy loves it. She's so tired at the end of the day we hardly get to spend any time together :( I was thinking about getting another puppy b/c she has so much fun playing with other dogs and she hardly gets into any trouble but on the other hand I'd miss our little one on one time that we have :) hahaha

I guess not much else to say. If you're here reading this if I haven't seen you yet I probably will see you pretty soon!

I'm Coming Home!

Hey hey hey, so I'm coming home on Tuesday and will be home for awhile. I'm waiting to hear on a job in Pasadena and hopefully that works out. No matter what we'll be coming back to Cali at some point. I guess not much else to say, other than see you soon!

Notta

Hey there! Not much to say, I'll be home in like 9 days, so that's cool. Ivan will be coming home the following week. Yesterday we went to a Dodger-Cardinal game in L.A. Cards won 6-1. It was freakin' hot. It's been well over 105 here lately and today it was humid too...I dunno what that was about but it didn't make me happy.

I gave Lucy a bath today...my camera's batteries were out and that sucks because you should have seen her...looked like a drowned rat. Funny. She didn't like the hair dryer afterwards but she survived and it was for her own good :)

Not much goin' on

Hey everyone! So let's see, this week was pretty uneventful except that Ivan's sister, Leah, came to visit. We went to Santa Monica to the beach on Friday and that was cool. Me & Ivan played in the waves for like 2 hours. Love that stuff. And the traffic was great, we were smooth all the way home, which doesn't happen at 6 o'clock on a Friday. Crazy. Today we went & looked at apartments in Pasadena where I have a possible job interview. I like the city but the apartment hunt was a bust. Oh well. Then me, Ivan, Leah & Breigh went bowling, to kareoke, and then to Twins-- the only nightclub within like 30 miles. It was a good time, we closed the place down. I requested some Daddy Yankee and they finally played that, followed by Shakira so I was a pretty happy camper. I could dance to "Gasolina" (by Daddy Yankee, download it, I know they're not playing it in Central Illinois yet) all night, that could be the only song played and I'd be fine.

Anyway, that's about it. We actually just got home from the club and Ivan's talking to a friend outside and Leah & Breigh went to IHOP so I thought I'd write.

I'll be home on August 1st! YAY! I don't know how long, if I work in Pasadena they don't go back to school until September 11th so I will be home for like 6 weeks!!! Crazy! But looking forward to it.

Later!

Lisa Lampanelli Rocks

We went to the Improv the other night to see the comedian, Lisa Lampanelli. I'd seen her special on comedy central before and was dying to see her so luckily she came to Ontario. It was awesome, Breigh & Joe went with us & agreed that she was the best they've seen at the Improv. So basically all she does is tell racist joke after racist joke after racist joke-- nobody is off limits and it's the kinda of stuff you never would say. My God, it's just hilarious. So you need to rent her DVD or buy it or something, you will laugh your ass off. Promise. It's just relieving to hear someone say it & you know you have every race in the same room laughing at the same stuff, you can't get mad about it, and stuff. She's great!

Other than that not much been going on. I have only 2 sessions left with my trainer! I've been with her for 5 months...so that's kinda scary. But boot camp starts again tomorrow to keep me in line. Throughout the summer I have basically been maintaining because I've been lazy and not working out much on my own and haven't been as strict with my food. But I can handle maintaining, and last week I started working out more on my own to get myself prepared to not have my trainer. Luckily, if I stay here I will still have boot camp & there is one in Irvine, so either way I will have that if I want/need it.

Ivan just called to let me know he might be a little late coming home from work-- because the bears have come down from the mountains and are near his car, so they're waiting for the police to come and shoot them with something! Isn't that crazy?

Today I laid out a bit and then cleaned-- I really needed to, but also because Ivan's sister is coming to visit. I'm sure she wouldn't care but I know that I don't like tiptoeing around other people's dirty houses! That sounds horrible... but it has to be pretty dirty for me to care you know, but I do appreciate it when there's not like hairs all over the bathroom or I get to use a clean pillow or something. So you know, I try to do that for people who come to see me. I gotta say though, now that my hair is black I can see it all over the place & it's driving me nutty.

P.S.-- Lucy's good...still working on that housetraining :)

Hey Hey Hey

Hey! Not much to say. I dyed my hair black out of boredeom while Ivan was in Atlanta at a family reunion. I walked up to him at the airport and he just looked at me funny until I smiled, later he said he just thought it was somebody who looked a lot like me! I like the black but not for long term, it's good for now.

Lucy's good. Still working on the housetraining-- she has her moments of genius and then there's the moments where I'm like what have we been working on for the past 2 weeks?! This weekend we left her out of her crate but gated in the bathroom with her litterbox for about 5 hours while we apartment hunting and she went in her box every time! Woo hoo!

So I still don't know where I'll be working in the fall. I have 3 weeks left at my current job after this week and so hopefully I will be in a new contract within the next couple of weeks. At this time it looks like I will either be staying where I am or working in Irvine which is in Orange County and about 10 minutes to the beach!! Wish me luck either way, at this point I'm not super worreied where I end up, I just want to know where it will be. And once we know that, Ivan can look for a new job. So anyway, I will be home again on August 1st or 2nd for 2-4 weeks...depends where I'm working! See you then!

Hello

Hello everyone! Not a whole lot going on out here. I had the rest of last week off, so we've just been laying around and housetraining...which is going ok. Lucy doesn't go to the box on her own (we're using a litter box) but does go in it when we take her to it, and wait forever. Which I've read up on it & that's what you're supposed to do. We're trying! Other than that she does pretty well with other stuff, usually responds to NO when chewing and is doing ok on a leash, she has her stubborn moments. She doesn't cry too much either so that's nice. She loves being held & sleeping on you. Oh and she loves to lick anything she can get to-- whether that be furniture, the floor, or your face/arms/legs/neck/ears...you can see us tryingt oget away in the pics below.

Other than that, not much going on. I have been taking a bit of time off from working out because I blacked out the other day while I was working out with my trainer...just woke up on the floor. I think it was a combination of having not worked out while I was at home, it being hot out, and getting up & down a lot while I was working out. I'm sure it was nothing!!

It's been pretty hot here so we've been very lazy. It's been over 100 and seems a little humid out too. Needs to rain!

Well not much more to say I guess. Chat later. Some pics below!
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5YpA

The Lake House

We went & saw The Lake House yesterday (with Sandra Bullock & Keanu Reeves), loved it! Ivan & I both highly recommend it.

Pics

Here's some pics from at home that Jyll had taken and just sent me.

No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No! NO!

So most of my day has been saying NO! And trying not to beat the poor puppy... Just want to be make sure she understands what is not acceptable from the get go. I think overall she's been pretty good, most times she stops what she's doing as soon as I say No, it's just that there's so many things I have to say No to! So I tell her no and then find her a toy so she has something to chew on. And usually if I tell her no, she'll sit and just look at me like, what? I was just sitting here.

Potty training is going as well as can be expected for only being home like 18 hours. She went on the pee pad once as I was chasing her down with it! Seems like if I place her on it she will just walk off of it & pee, but when I moved the pad to her we had better success. We're getting there. For #2 I've just had to move it to the pad, which I've heard that it's harder to train for that anyway. Oh, as I was typing this she just went #2-- ran into the bathroom and went on the linoleum...better than the carpet, I'll give her credit for that. Patience! (I lack patience)

Flying back went well. The first flight from Peoria to Chicago, she whimpered a couple times and barked once, the flight attendant let me hold her so I did. While in OHare she fell asleep and slept the whole way to LA! So it was pretty awesome. Last night we put her in the crate and whimpered, well it was like 1:00 a.m. when we got back from the airport & stuff so I was a bit worried about the neighbors, but we turned the TV on and she slept until like 6...at which time she came into the bed and slept for a few more hours.

Off & on throughout the day I've been crating her for short periods of time and she's been whining/barking, so I wait for her to stop and then get her out. She did let me take like an hour & a half nap today and she went in her crate the whole time without a peep. That was nice.

Enough about her, my trip home was good. I love coming home. Didn't have a lot of time but it was still nice, and mom's surprise party was good. I think it was a pretty good surprise :) I'll be back in August, the first week of August. I don't know yet for how long. It depends on where I work in the fall & when I start that job, some schools start later than others you know.

I'm so happy to be off the rest of the week though because I'm still exhausted from the time changes, driving all day Monday, flying yesterday, and then Lucy being up late & early and stuff. I'm a grouchy new mom. And I find myself making Ivan feel guilty because he hasn't been here all day! The best thing I did today was put her in her crate and run to the store! I was going to take her with me, but I took her to the bank with me and she doesn't like her little bag yet so I thought, for both of our sanity I would just leave her home while I went to the store. Ivan's going to talk to the upstairs neighbors tomorrow because he knows them and just let them know if she's ever too loud to just come down and let us know. At home it was ok to just let her bark until she calmed down but it's a little harder here because we're in apartments you know?

Anyway, that's all for now. She's doing well! Oh, and I tried to get pictures but she turned her head every time, so this is the best one I could get!

Not much

So not much going on. It's the end of the school year so things at work are just a tad busy...which is weird and kinda nice too. Crazy that we've been out here 10 months already! Still no idea where I will be working in the fall...or living, or anything like that. It's a bit stressful but I'm trying to be patient. I really want to live in Encinitas. I loved it there...we'll see!

Still working out a lot. Last week my personal trainer was on vacation and boot camp was on an off week so I was like feeling crappy because I'm used to working out pretty hard like 6 times a week at least, and I just can't push myself as hard as they do! I had headaches and was bitchy and tired :) Much better already this week!

Alrighty, chat later

Ed

So yesterday I'm just sitting here on the computer and Ivan walks in and says, "Hey come to the door I want you to meet somebody." And there stands Ed, the English carpenter, from Extreme Makeover Home Edition! I was a bit embarrassed because Ivan had had him ome over just to meet me...so Ed's like "Oh don't be embarrassed." And we shook hands and he told me about the show a bit and how he always see Ivan out washing his car, and said thanks for watching the show, nice to mee you. And that was that. It was pretty damn exciting though. He seemed a lot taller in person, I don't know what I expected, but he was around Ivan's height (I think, Ivan says no, but he seemed that way to me).

Birthday Present

So my gift from Ivan was going to be going to Disney Land but we hadn't really felt like going so he got me something else...which you can see in the picture. Love it!

Lucy!

Here's the most updated picture of Lucy (yes her name is for sure Lucy)...at 6 weeks old. Isn't she sweet? She's all fluffy and everything. For my birthday, everyone from work got me puppy toys and a gift card to PetSmart! Fun fun.

So let's see, my birthday was good. We went to Olive Garden & totally stuffed our faces with cheese ravioli, bread sticks with alfredo sauce, and chocolate lasgna! Yum. Yesterday I finished my birthday celebration with a manicure, pedicure, and a massage. Loves it.

This weekend was awesome. We went to Encinitas, which is about 20-30 miles north of San Diego. There's also a possible job there, so we went to see if we even liked the place...I fell in love. It's this cute beach town with little shops, cottages, and great views. We went to the beach and for the first time since we've been out here that the water has been tolerable, not too cold. It was great, we just played in the waves for like ever. So we'll see how the job opportunity goes. Ivan needs more time to get used to the idea, he tends to need more time to adjust to change :)

Hola!

Hey everyone. Things are good out here. It's been nice out, around 85-90 and sunny. So we've just been laying out and hanging at the pool. I love it!

We got some more stuff for the puppy-- a crate, a couple of toys, food/water bowls, and a toothbrush and toothpaste. Still no leash because we can't agree on one-- one that will be cute for her but Ivan won't mind carrying :) He doesn't want a pink one!

Saturday morning we (me, Breigh & Eliza) went on a 5 mile hike. It was lead by my boot camp trainers and a bunch of people went. Good times. It was tough going up, because you're going up for about 2.5 miles and then most of the 2.5 is downhill. It's called the "Claremont Loop" (because it's in Claremont, which is like 10 miles from here, and it loops around a mountain). I'd like to do it again some time.

Today I got the cleaning bug and cleaned out my closets and stuff-- who knew I had 4 garbage bags of clothes, shoes & purses to get rid of! So I'll be taking that to the Salvation Army tomorrow. Oh, and a grocery bag full of books. I love getting rid of stuff.

Anyway, tomorrow is my big bad 24th birthday, woo hoo! So Ivan took off of work so we could hang out tomorrow night...probably eat at Olive Garden (YES!) and maybe a movie...

The Puppy

Here's the new picture of the puppy. She's 4 weeks old now. And she only weighs 11 ounces! Can't wait to get her.

Wango Tango!

So yesterday was Wango Tango, it's this giant concert and had Ray J, Natasha Beddingfield, Nick Canon, Rhianna, Baby Bash, Neyo, Mary J. Blige, Kanye West & Daddy Yankee. It was pretty fun. We got a hotel so we didn't have to worry about driving home afterwards and the hotel had a shuttle going too so we didn't have to drive at all. We thought for sure Kanye West would have been the last one to sing, but it was Daddy Yankee! And I'm pretty sure it was completely because of where we are-- Daddy Yankee's stuff is all Spanish! So being here in So-Cal, well you get the picture! It was definitely one time when I was like, wow I'm totally the minority right now!

Here's some pictures to look at, they're kinda hard to see at time but you get the idea. share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5YoE

Hola

Hey all, just thought I'd say hello. not much going on really. I am getting a puppy this summer! The puppy is in Kentucky, so whenever I come home to visit in the summer I will drive to Kentucky and get her, then she'll fly back with me. She is a Malti-Poo, which is a Maltese-Poodle mix. They're kinda popular right now because it's the same kind of puppy that Nick Lachey bought for Jessica Simpson on Newlyweds. I just needed something small since we live in an apartment you know and they are all tiny & fluffy so that's what I'm getting. Need someone to keep me company (and sane) while Ivan is at work at night! I'm going to train her to a litter box in the house so we don't have to worry about getting home to let her out and things like that. Plus, being so small, she'll have a tiny bladder and this would just be easier for her! The picture above is her and I'm supposed to get an updated one pretty soon so I can watch her grow! haha

Standup.org

As you know I hang on nearly every word that falls out of Oprah's mouth :) What can I say, she's usually saying something worth hearing.

Today her topic was how America's schools are basically crap. And it's not just poor areas and inner-city, it's everywhere (although it is worse in those places). And yeah we probably kinda knew that, but we probably didn't think ahead a little bit about that and what it means, and I'm going to paraphrase this a lot!-- ok, if our kids are coming out of school stupid, who is going to lead us? A bunch of stupid people? Not only that, they're lazy! Did you know that 1 student drops out of school in the U.S every 26 seconds?! So, our kids are lazy so they don't even want to lead the country, but if they're not lazy, they're stupid! America will fall behind all the other countries (as we are already slipping quickly) and we will not be the most powerful nation in the world anymore. (Along with a host of other reasons that I'm not going to go into right now about why we are making ourselves suck so bad- such as being super fat and over-spending, healthcare, etc.) And the thing is, it's not even the kids faults that they're "stupid." They're not being provided the right education/resources. And keep in mind it's not just a matter of "leading the country" as in a president & people like that, it's people researching, and becoming doctors and all that stuff. The kids won't be ready! And America will be the dumb, fat, broke nation that was.

Why do you care? You probably don't. I sure didn't until I watched Oprah & thought about it for a minute. Anyway, just go to www.standup.org and you can just type in your name & address and it generates a letter to your state officials. That's it, you can do nothing else but that. And if you're reading this then you're already doing nothing on the internet, so just do it real quick! Big numbers folks!!

Top 33 Work-Out Songs!

Ok, as you know I work out quite a bit, especially lately. (Yeah you can't always tell that I work out a lot, but I really do work out consistently) Anyway, tonight I was doing my cardio after I had my trainer session and got through it by finding my absolute, all time, most energizing songs that I have on my IPOD. And then I felt I needed to share them with you! I guess mom & Jyll because I think you're the only ones I read this every once in awhile :) haha

Anyway, I thought maybe it would be my top 20 or something, but I couldn't narrow it down at all...you should try some of these songs because for me, they are awesome!!! There is quite a range on here, but I think there's something for everyone, and it depends on my mood too ya know? (Can you tell I'm bored?? And in the zone right now??)

I could only rate the top 5, and that was a fairly difficult decision :) ha But the rest are all still in my faves!

1. Boom Boom Boom- Vengaboys
2. We Ready Remix- Archie Eversole & Bubba Sparxxx
3. Evil Deeds- Eminem
4. I Want To Be Sedated- Offspring
5. Lose Yourself- Eminem

Like A Prayer- Madonna
Mony Mony- Billy Idol
Beverly Hills- Weezer
Material Girl- Madonna
Right Back Where We Started From- Maxine Nightengale
Like A Virgin- Madonna
I Think We're Alone Now- Tiffany
Let's Go- Trick Daddy
Over & Over- Madonna
Jesus Walks- Kanye West
I Want You to Want Me- Cheap Trick
Sweet Caroline- Neil Diamond
Throw It Up- Lil Jon
I Hope You Die- Bloodhound Gang
Lean Back Remix- Fat Joe, Eminem, Lil Jon, Mase
Welcome To Detroit City- Eminem
How You Like It- Petey Pablo
Three Point One Four- Bloodhound Gang
Party- Dis N Dat
Outta Control- 50 Cent
Oh- Ciera
Gasolina Remix- Daddy Yankee
Hoochie Mama- 2 Live Crew
Cotton Eyed Joe
Yeah- Usher
Candy Shop- 50 Cent
Goodies Remix- Ciera
Rompe- Daddy Yankee

Big Bear Mountain

This week I was on Spring Break and loved it :) Ivan planned a little trip to the mountains, Big Bear Mountain which is about 55 miles from us. We went up on Thursday afternoon-- we had to buy snow chains for the tires. They were required; there was a little stop & the police made sure you had them on before you could go any higher. And the driving was crazy too-- as you can imagine, driving through the mountains is bad enough how it winds & stuff, now imagine doing that when you can only see about 20 feet in front of your car! It got really foggy up there and I was scared to death. All of a sudden it was completely clear and when you looked over to the side you could look down on the clouds! Very pretty, there's some pictures of them down below. So anyway, we got up there about 2:30, got some food and then went tubing. It was a good time. There was a moving sidewalk thing that you stood on & it took you back to the top of the hill and so we just kept going & going.

Friday we went to the Big Bear Resort and signed up for our lessons-- Ivan snowboarded and I skiied. I have to confess I was scared out of my mind before we went into our classes, I was crying a little & everything! Pathetic, I know. So anyway, it started out a little shaky... we were on like relatively flat ground and anytime I started gaining speed I totally forgot what to do because I was freaked out a little bit. It got better though, I actually only fell once that day! I was starting to enjoy it quite a bit & then it was time to go. Ivan was doing pretty well too, he fell a lot but the snowboarders did quite a bit so he was normal :) Today we went back and skiied for about 3 hours, and I didn't do nearly as well today! Neither of us did, must have been beginners luck yesterday. I fell 2 or 3 times coming off the lift-- both times when Ivan & I went up together, if we went separately I did much better! And one other time I fell and I fell good-- poles flew out of hands, I'm dragging my hands in the snow trying to stop! It was crazy. After that I did alright. Ivan fell pretty hard once, his tailbone is pretty sore right now. But overall I think we did pretty good for beginners, and had a lot of fun. Oh & my face got so burnt, day 1 I didn't wear sunscreen (duh) and you can tell, I look like a red & white raccoon. Ivan looks like it too only not as bad :)

Here's some pics for ya: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5Ylw

Snails!

Ok, this is kinda random, but anyway, I see these snails around sometimes. Mostly I have just seen a couple hanging out on our patio wall-- all you see is a shell like hanging there. Well last night I was out running & the snails were like out of the shells, with their antennas up slithering along. So tonight I saw them again & thought I needed to take a picture & post it :) Enjoy!

For anyone wondering, Megan made it back to Bloomington, a couple bumps in the road, but she's back :)

Friday night Ivan and I went to see the movie "Stay Alive." It's about this video game that once you start playing it, if you die in the game, then you die in real life. It was pretty creepy. Oh and we bought the movie "Kids." Yes it's like 10 years old but I had never seen it, that movie is crazy. If you haven't seen it, watch it, it's crazy I tell you.

So this week is my spring break and Ivan planned a little surprise-- Thursday we are going to Big Bear Mountain, which is about 40 miles from here, to go skiing!! I'm psyched. He got a little cabin or room...something, either way it sounds nice. And neither of us have been skiing before so this should be interesting, but really fun I think. So I will be sure to fill you all in when we get back, assuming I don't run into a tree or something messed up like that!

Megan's Gone :(

Well, Megan left yesterday to go back to Illinois. So, she worked one week for that porn lady & then I think the lady was just cracked out and said that she didn't need an assistant after all. (A little sidenote, the lady's porn name was Kelly Madison, so you should go check out her picture on her website...she's got like triple F's, and I guess they're real)

Anyway, so then she almost had a nanny job, but they didn't need her to start for awhile. Long story short, the job market wasn't kind!! She tried but it just didn't work out. Wish her luck driving back, she left around 4:00 p.m. yesterday and I talked to her at 10 this morning, she was in Colorado and had already hit some ice and flew off the road, but all is well :0

Next week is my Spring Break so I'm looking forward to that, sleeping in! Yes! And not dealing with any kids! YAY! I'll have to get up for boot camp but then I will just crawl back into bed. Did I tell you all about boot camp? Well I get up around 5:00 on M,W,F to go work out with about 40 other women while 3 personal trainers yell & yell & yell :) It's painful and wears me out but it's all good. I've still got my own trainer who I see 2-3 times a week, who also kicks my butt, but she's a lot nicer about it :) Ha!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

Guess who is our neighbor? Ed, the Australian carpenter on Extreme Makeover Home Edition! Kinda exciting right? Ivan's talked to him, I guess he is looking to get a Mustang so he was asking Ivan about his. I've yet to see him but Ivan says he's seen him out with his son riding bikes & stuff. I'll be keeping an eye out!

The Car!

So as you know, Ivan got a new car-- an '06 Mustang GT, here are some pictures. They're not the best but you get the idea. He didn't want me to post these because he hasn't got to do stuff to it yet-- tint the windows, get new rims, etc. But I assured him I'd send new ones when he gets that done :)

Hey!

Hey! I just got my computer fixed. Yay! Not a whole lot has been going on really. Been working out my trainer & that's been going well. Work's good.

Oh Ivan got a new car!! He got an '06 Mustang GT. It's black with black leather interior. It's nice. Fun to drive! I'll put a picture on sometime.

Hello!

Long time no write :) My computer has been on the fritz, hopefully I'll get it fixed tonight so for now I'm using my friend's computer. The trip home was good, but so quick! Friday night I went out with some friends, Saturday I had the wedding, Sunday was my nephew's birthday party and then I came back here on Monday.

The weather has been nice, actually it rained yesterday for about the first time in like 4 months or something. It was great!! I miss rain! It's been around 70 I think lately.

Work is good. I'm beginning to wonder where I will be in the fall. If the need was there I think I would stay where I am right now. I'd like the opportunity to move closer to the coast but if I can't, I'd stay here. I'm enjoying my job more lately, I think because I have been putting more effort into it.

Ivan's good. He might be looking for a new job soon though. He's getting frustrated with his because of his co-workers. As you know, he works with some trouble-making kids and he doesn't feel like his co-workers are helping the kids at all, he feels like he's the only one who's really doing anything, and that's not enough...hopefully he finds something better or finds a way to be happy with his job. We'll be car shopping for him here pretty soon. His car is about to give out, I can't believe it's made it this long, so wish us luck with that. Hopefully the car will last until we find the car & money for a new one!

What else...oh yeah, I've got my personal trainer and she's kicking my butt into shape. It's been about 2 weeks and I'm already starting to see some subtle differences. I probably won't post any pictures of me for awhile because I want to surprise everyone when I come home (if there's a big change!) ha!!!

Oh, Megan, my friend who lives with us now started her job yesterday. She's working as a personal assistant for an internet porn star!!!!!!! How fun!! So she just does whatever the woman needs her to do-- run errands, take other porn stars home to L.A. after a shoot (crazy!) and answer fan mail!! I'm so jealous just because I think it would be fun.

Alrighty, talk to you all later! Oh yeah, I think I won't be home again until the summer...will keep you posted :)

I'll Be Home Tomorrow!

So here's the agenda, arrive in Bloomington around 8:30, head to Pit Row, Saturday is a wedding, Sunday is Clayton's birthday party and I leave on Monday...hope to see you all!

Valentine's Day

So instead of going out to eat or anything I told Ivan to make me dinner...and since I'm trying to eat healthy I told him to just pick something with chicken, turkey or fish out of my friend Breigh's "light cooking" cook books. So last night, Breigh & Ivan made dinner-- we had honey glazed salmon, brown rice, and broccoli with champagne. Later we had this mint pie that Breigh made. It was all very yummy! And I'd never tried salmon, rice or broccoli (pretty pathetic I know) so I was little scared but it was all really good :) So here's some pics!

First Meal...

Ok, you all know me, you know that I don't cook anything at all...never have, besides like pizza, mac & cheese...anything microwaveable...things like that :) Well anyway, I'm trying to eat better so tonight I made me first meal ever. Well Ivan really had to tell me what to do every step of the way but I did it... so I had chicken tenderloins and threw some cut up red potato on there and covered it in lemon paper-- very delish I must say. So anyway, here's a pic of it! And I swear it's better & more filling than it looks!

Mt. Baldy Hiking

Hola! Well we had a kinda fun weekend. Friday night Breigh & Joe & Eliza came over and grilled out & drank. Good times. Saturday morning Breigh made breakfast, yummy, and then we all went hiking at Mt. Baldy-- it's about a half hour drive to get up there and everything. It was cool, beautiful, and definitely makes you feel like you're out of shape. That night we went to Dave & Buster's for dinner & games.

Sunday Megan & I went to see Brokeback Mountain (yes I've already seen it.) It was just as good the second time around. And then we went & ate at Johnny Rockets-- my fave, it's just like Steak-N-Shake (we don't have those here!)

Here's some pictures: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5Yk0

Megan's Here

Some of you knew that my friend Megan was coming to stay on my couch for an undetermined amount of time-- well she's here! She left her friend's house in St. Louis on Monday afternoon, drove for awhile and stayed in a hotel around Oklahoma City. Tuesday she drove until she got to just around Barstow (which is only a bit over an hour from here)and she slept at a truck stop for awhile...spooky, in the desert especially! Anyway, she got here around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. So far so good :) I think she's a little like "Oh God, what the hell did I do." Which I'm not gonna lie, I felt that way when I first got here for a few days to a week...ya know? I think it'll get better for her once she adjusts to here and finds a job. Plus she has to adjust to me & Ivan-- we're not the type of people she's used to being around a lot-- not drinking ourselves stupid and going out every night and doing drugs ya know? Oh well :) I guess we're a little boring, she'll adjust. But anyway, it's pretty fun right now to have someone here!

Hey

Hey! Not much going on out here. Let's see...Friday night was pretty low key, I was knocked out on the couch at like 8:30...Saturday we slept in late and then went to work out. We got these 8 week free passes to Bally's so we're tyring to get all healthy. We have a deal that you have to work out at least 4 days a week and if you don't have to put $5 in the pot for each day that you miss. One week down and neither of us had to pay. I'm trying to do my Nutri-System more regularly. We'll see!! Last night we went out to this place called Club Vegas in Costa Mesa. It was fun, Breigh who I work with went with us and we met Ashley (who I work with) and some other therapists from other schools. It was a good time.

Anyway, that's about it, just thought I'd say hola! Hopefully soon we'll do something interesting, but it's pretty much just life as usual out here now-- just a little bit warmer :) It's been around 70 lately, and really windy.

Our First Visitors

Hey! Well we just had our first visitors...oh wait, I forgot that Ivan's cousin came, so I guess it's our second visitors-- my first friend out here though. Anyway, my friend Johnathan & his girlfriend Jill came out last week. They got here on Wednesday and just left today. It was a lot of fun to have them here & just really nice. Wednesday we just went out to eat & stuff. Thursday Ivan took them to Laguna Beach during the day while I was at work. That night we went to eat & went to the mall. Friday we all went to Santa Monica- my favorite place as you know. It was so nice & sunny out, but then like 10 minutes before we got to the beach the sun went behind some clouds and the temperature dropped drastically. That kinda sucked. It was like downright cold! We went to the Pier and walked around, went to the little aquarium there...and then walked up to 3rd street to the shops and things like that. Unfortunately we were ready to leave at 6:00 (RUSH HOUR) and it took us 2.5 hours to get back home...it's only like 50 miles away ok! So that night we order pizza and played some games. Saturday we were going to go to Tijuana but we all slept in! By the time we got up & would have been ready to go, we wouldn't be there very long because I don't really want to be in Tijuana after dark :) Who knows what could happen. So we hung around here, grilled out, had some friends over, and pretty much drank ourselves stupid. It was a good time! I paid majorly for it on Sunday morning... :( So yesterday me, Jill & Johnathan got manicures, and pedicures-- Johnathan wouldn't get a pedicure, it took hours of fighting with Jill & I to even get him to get a manicure, but I think he ended up liking it. Then last night after Ivan got off of work, we went to see the movie "Hostel." Wow...it's pretty crazy. Stop reading right here if you don't want to really know what it's about-- so anyway, these 2 guys are backpacking through Europe, end up at this hostel, and get drugged and kidnapped basically. Well it turns out that this happens to a lot of people and it's because they are running this like human hunting service! So once the people are kidnapped, other people are paying obscene amounts of money to experience torturing/killing people. It's was crazy!

So it's back to work tomorrow. Thank God for Dr. King! Love these random days off work. It makes the rest of the week that much better :)

Also, it looks like I will be coming home sooner than I thought. My cousin Samantha is getting married on February 18th and I happen to have Monday the 20th off of work so I thought, well, if I have 3 days, why not! And Ivan happened to already be going home that weekend for his fraternity's hell week (so he'll be in Jacksonville torturing young guys and will hopefully make it up to the wedding at some point). And it's Clayton's birthday around that time. So I'll probably be there!

I've been thinking about getting a pet...I'm totally not ready for a dog but I think I could handle a cat pretty well. That way even if we want to go away for a weekend a cat would be ok by itself. I'm looking into some shelters...I'll keep you posted. They have to come do some home visit, which is kind of a pain in the ass, and I don't get what needs to be special for a cat, but oh well...we'll see.

Later!

This Week...

Well this week was pretty uneventful! I got back on Monday night and have done pretty much nothing since then. I don't even remember Tuesday and Wednesday...pretty sad! Thursday I went to see Brokeback Mountain-- yeah the gay cowboy movie. It was pretty good, it started a little disturbing, then you got past that & it was kinda sweet & sad. Definitely some good acting there. Rented some movies- Four Brothers, The Devil's Rejects, Wedding Crashers, and House of D. All were pretty good....Four Brothers was good, The Devil's Rejects was just as messed up as the first part of it (House of 1000 Corpses), Wedding Crashers is super funny, and House of D...it was alright, about this guy growing up, nothing major there. That night Ivan went out with his cousins (one is visiting, one lives here), they got home at like 3 and got in the hot tub, I for some reason couldn't sleep, I was up watching TV & movies until 5 in the morning!!! Which lead to sleeping most of Friday, and watching more movies...we ended up not getting up until like 6:30 that night! Again, kinda sad really. Saturday we just hung out around here. I went & saw Rumor Has It-- it was ok. Kinda predictable, but I enjoyed it I guess. And today wasn't much of anything either...cleaning, and preparing myself to go back to work tomorrow, which I am not looking forward to at all. Luckily, my friend Johnathan & his girlfriend Jill are coming to visit on Wednesday, so that gives me something to look forward to!

Truth is, I'm bored with this job now...I had a feeling this would happen. Once I get used to something I immediately get bored & want a change. Same with Rancho Cucamonga...I'm ready to go somewhere else now. But I know I will be here at least until mid June, probably until the end of July if I do summer school, which would be easy so I probably will. I could work for companies that put you in jobs for 3 months at a time and then you go somewhere else, which I think would be right up my alley, but that wouldn't be fair to Ivan...so I can't really do that. I don't know! Ivan & I have talked about it and as of right now, I will probably do another year somewhere in California (hopefully closer to the coast) and then head back east...we're thinking about Chicago...who knows!

It's A Boy!

Hola! As you probably already know, Heidi & Jason had a baby boy at 11:41 on December 27th-- he was 7 pounds even, 18.5 inches long, named Connor Gabriel Spaulding. He looks just like Braydon did as a baby only with dark hair. Everyone's doing well. Heidi wasn't due until January 18th, but she worked hard to have that baby while I was home visiting!

Back in Cali!

Hey everyone! Finally got back to California last night after a long day of traveling & waiting--- I left Bloomington yesterday around 10:30 to Detroit, that went fine--actually it was pretty bumpy. I don't mind turbulence (Actually like it) and there was a couple of times I thought whoah, this is a bit too much. Anyway, I had about an hour in Detroit, got on the plane and then there was a problem with the plane, so we all sat there for 45 minutes before we took off. Finally landed in Minneapolis, settled in for my 5 HOUR layover!!!! Even though we were 45 minutes late taking off, we only got to Minneapolis 3 minutes late! So, I hopped on the metro to go to the Mall of America to pass some time. That was ok. I've never been there and wasn't there to do any serious shopping so it was kinda boring-- I got something to eat, and walked around a bit, got a new book (My Friend Leonard by James Frey- the same guy who wroted "Million Little Pieces", very good so far) Headed back to the airport where I laid on the floor and dozed for 2 hours. Finally get on the plane for the last & longest leg of the trip-- we were supposed to land in Ontario at 11:04-- about 10:30 I thought I was going to absolutely lose it. I couldn't get comfortable, I was tired and sick to death of planes & people, I just about wanted to cry. Then I'm thinking ok, when is the seatbelt sign going to come on & they're going to tell us it's time to descend...that time came & went- we landed 45 minutes late!!!!!!! Even though we left on time, and nobody ever said anything about why we're late- they just acted like we weren't. So anyway, by the time I got my luggage it was about 1:00 when we got back to the apartment. Tired! Just got done unpacking & all that fun stuff.

Anyway though, the time home was good. I had a lot of fun going out & seeing everyone. Got to see just about everyone I wanted to see. And I'm happy I have the rest of this week off of work-- still not ready/looking forward to going back to work. But Spring Break is only 3 months away! ha. At the moment I think I'll be back home then-- the first week of April...

Here's some pictures from my time at home:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5Yjo

Home soon...

Guess what! We felt our first earthquake!!! We were sitting here watching T.V.-- I was in the chair, Ivan was on the couch and all of a sudden I felt my legs like shaking a little and I heard something-- kinda like if the apartment above us slammed their door or whatever, and I looked at Ivan and he looked at me and he had felt the shaking too. There's really nothing else it could have been...so I looked it up on the internet and there was little one (1.4 on the richter scale) not too far from here & we were in the radius that would have felt it. So that was exciting, finally getting to feel one- cuz I guess they happen all the time you know.

So I will be home on Thursday!! Woo hoo!

Less Than 2 Weeks!

I'll be home in less than 2 weeks!! So all of this snowing that's going on will have to stop...maybe it's just getting it all out of it's system before I come home, ha! It'll be weird; cold weather is just an inconvenience really. You have to be cold for one, 2- you have to wait for things to warm up, 3- you have to think more about what you're going to wear, 4- it's messy if it's snowy, 5-the bottoms of your pants get all dirty & wet-- I was thinking about all of this today as I was shopping-in my jeans & t-shirt. It's still holding steady in the high 60's & 70's. I had read that December was supposed to be the coldest month here but it's usually more like in the 50's so either I'm lucky or we're in for an awakening in January...I dunno! I'm super psyched to come home though.

Not much else to say really. Oh, Ivan gave me my Christmas present-- a diamond bracelet and a diamond pinkie ring. If anyone's ever noticed Oprah's pinkie ring, that's where he got the idea. It's really pretty. I tried to take pictures but they didn't turn out so you can just see it when I get home. I got his present today-- a PSP (portable play station) and a game to go with it. That's all he really needs though-- one more place he can play video games! But it's what he wanted.

Alrighty, have a good week!! See you soon!

Howdy

Hey, what's up? Not much here at all. Friday night we did nothing at all. Saturday I went to Knotts Berry Farm with Brook & Eliza. It was so much fun. It's an amusement park-- 2 of the best rides I've ever ridden in my life. Ivan spent the day watching the USC-UCLA game (USC won by the way). And watching some fight. He also found time to surprise me by hanging up stuff I had bought from Pottery Barn. It looks really good. Seriously that's it. Ivan wants to go to Knotts so we might go again next weekend-- they are having a "special" until Christmas where you get in free if you bring a toy for "Toys for Tots." It's a pretty sweet deal.

Anyway, not much new out here. Weather is still nice-- mid 60's. I'll be home in less than 3 weeks! Woo hoo!

So Excited!

Ok, today we, the world, just found out that the next Real World is in Key West!!!!! I'm so flippin' excited!! Just to know the stuff they are living around, and you know I have a special place in my heart for the Keys! I cannot wait! Just thought I'd share that :)

Christmas Tree

Ok, I didn't want to get any kind of Christmas tree or decoration, purely out of laziness. Ivan wanted one...I was accused of being a scrooge!! So anyway I was at Pier 1 this morning and saw this little thing already decorated. So here is our Christmas tree! No hassle, cut the tags off and set it on a table!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! What are ya thankful for?? Honestly, at this moment I am most thankful to have Thursday & Friday off of work! Ahh, to sleep in will be fabulous. I'm pretty thankful to live an hour from the ocean, and thankful for 80 degree weather in November...oh yeah, and for healthy friends & family :) haha, of course that is actually first in line :)

Anyway, so tomorrow will be my first non-family Thanksgiving. Kinda weird, but it will also be my first Thanksgiving where I actually get to see Ivan I think. We are going to my friend Brook's apartment-- she's a traveling speech therapist from Missouri, and Eliza will be there-- traveling speech therapist from Pennsylvania, and Ashley-- traveling occupational therapist from North Dakota and her boyfriend Mike who is a helicopter pilot for the news. He lives in Burbank but is from Michigan. I told the girls-- I don't cook, so give me something to bring that I can buy easily!! I'll buy anything you want, just to don't make me make something! Lucky me I get the relish tray (which you can buy already put together, haha, and I did) and some wine. And I made Scotch-A-Roos... so those of you who know that I generally eat 90% of the scotch-a-roos at family functions, have no fear, I will still do it this year! And they turned out alright I think for my first time ever making them. I realize it's not a hard thing to make, but yes, I am that retarded in the kitchen that I could screw them up. It's funny because I used to watch shows like "Friends" and think-- don't these people have families?? Because it was always just them having dinner together-- I get it now! It had just never occurred to me that people wouldn't travel to be together...but stinkin' Christmas & Thanksgiving have to be so close together...kinda hard to do.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great dinner! I will miss you & your food. I'm sure ours will be fine...but it won't be the same as home cookin' and stuffing myself several times throughout the day, laying around looking at sale flyers...and eating again :)

Love ya!

Ants Ants Everywhere!!!!

We have ants people. It's freakin' me out. First it was an occasional ant here & there. Whatever. Yesterday morning we saw a few ya know...by the time we went to bed last night there was a full blown outbreak. They are teeny tiny and stay to the baseboards but it's making me all itchy you know? So Ivan went to the office today and told them. Apparently it's not just us and there is an exterminator coming tomorrow. In the mean time I think I'm losing my mind. I'm like spraying them off the counter with water and vacuuming like a madwoman. Not to mention flipping out because I think there is something crawling on me every second. I'll probably make a trip to get some ant killer (duh) but at the moment I thought hosing them down would be a good idea...don't know if it was really...I mean I killed a few, but there's just too many of them! You'd think someone was stalking me cuz I'm like looking behind me and around me ever 10 seconds...ok, gotta go!

Santa Monica

Hola! How's everyone doing? Good here. Friday night we went & saw "Walk the Line," that Johnny Cash movie with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. It was pretty good. I thought they both did great--and I learned that I really like his music, I had no idea!

Saturday we went to Santa Monica. We took the long way and just drove through downtown L.A., just to see what it was like. One street looked just like Mexico-- with tons of little shops and stuff out on the streets and everything, and then 1 block over it was tall buildings and a lot "classier." We were driving down Wilshire Blvd, and suddenly the street was blocked off with signs saying "FILMING IN PROGRESS." We didn't stop to see what was being filmed but that was pretty neat. It must have been some cop show or movie because there was like rubble in the streets and then an NY police car & fire truck. From there we headed towards Beverly Hills...I wanted to see Rodeo Drive, and I saw a sign saying "Rodeo Drive this way" but then we never saw it, probably needed to turn somewhere...oh well. We'll try again some other time.

From there we just kept driving until we ran into Santa Monica, my love :) We went and got some hot dogs on a stick...which are awesome...and just went & sat on the beach for a few hours. It was beautiful, warm & sunny. The waves were huge yesterday. Some people were surfing. I absolutely love that city. I tried to go take a tour of this apartment building that I am infatuated with, but the office was closed. This place is called the Seacastle, and you walk out the front door across a sidewalk and onto the beach. I want to live there so badly! I keep talking to my company about how much I want to live/work in Santa Monica, they say "yes we know" but so far nobody has said anything more to me about. And I know that the Santa Monica school district is hiring. Today I was looking at any therapy jobs in L.A. County-- there are quite a few. I'll be letting my company know! I want to be closer to the water if not on it, in Santa Monica!

Oh we also went to this little aquarium on the pier. It was neat, they had volunteers there to tell us about the fish we were seeing, and we got to touch some. Did you know that a Starfish (actually called a Sea Star) actually takes it's stomach out of it's body, has it digest the food, and then pulls it back in? And this other thing...I think it was the sea cucumber, actually shoots its intestines at the predator to get away and then grows new ones?? It does... :) Oh and another fish, a flat fish, starts out like a regular fish with it's eyes on either side of it's head, and after awhile it grows flat and the eye moves to on top of it's head.

Anyway, it was cool. I'm so excited to only work 3 days this week. Looking forward to another long weekend. Here's some pictures from the aquarium & the beach-- the one sunset picture with less people in it, that's Ivan out there in the water...

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5YbE

Dolphin Human Therapy

Hey-- ok you call remember Dolphin Human Therapy where I did my internship last summer? Well we all just got official word that they will be closing. I had heard this here & there for about 8 months now and now it's true for sure. The place they rent the dolphins & space from was trying to increase the price, and this stuff was already expensive enough as it was. Dr. Dave, the man behind it all, has been doing some research with "animotronic dolphins" (a.k.a. robot dolphins) to see if they have the same effect on kids-- sure enough in 33 out of 35 kids, the results were the same if not better. So he is working on opening up a new facility in 2-3 years I think, that will be using these robot dolphins. And in addition to the dolphins, they're doing horse therapy, music, art & maybe some more stuff. They'll also being moving the facility out of the Keys to more central Florida to escape some hurricane threats.

Anyway, just thought I'd pass that along...I will try & post pictures of the robot dolphins sometime, you can't really tell the difference :)

San Diego

Hey!! So I had Friday off of work for Veteran's Day so we decided to head to San Diego to hang there for a couple of days. Thursday night I got out of a meeting a little late so then we had to hang around here to wait out the traffic. We got to San Diego about 10:00 and just checked into the hotel.

Friday morning we headed to La Jolla (northern San Diego I believe) and we had some lunch there at this place called "Cafe At the Top of the Cove." The food was alright, the view was great! We sat on the balcony overlooking over the coast, beautiful!! I took lots of pictures of that. After lunch we started to head down to the beach and saw this store that my friend Celeeste had told me about- "The Cave Store." So we went in there. It's just a store, but you can pay to walk down into this cave that was tunneled out in like the early 1900's. So you go down 145 steep steps, which aren't very well lit, and they're wet. It's a little creepy, we were thinking about how bad it would suck if there was an earthquake at that moment. Anyway, you get to the bottom and you're standing inside this cave and you can look out the opening at the ocean. It's cool...creepy too though. There's a bunch of pigeons inside and you can hear some seals barking... :) After that you have to go back up those 145 stairs, which really sucked. So then we went over to the beach and just sat there for awhile. It was really pretty. The water was super cold but it was warm in the sun and just really beautiful. We spent most of Friday just walking around the beach & La Jolla doing some shopping. That evening we had a couples massage-- that was great! I think massages could be a regular occasion now!!
From there we went to downtown San Diego to eat dinner & go to the mall.

Saturday we slept in and then went to the Wild Animal Park. Which was cool. It's like the sister to the San Diego Zoo. The animals are more in a natural environment and you ride a little train type thing through the park to see them-- rhinos, zebras, giraffes, and tons of antelope/gazelle/deer type animals. After that we went back to downtown and got tattoos!! I got the Taurus symbol and Ivan got his fraternity letters on the inside of our wrists. We both agree this was the most painful spot (we both have one our back, our ring finger, and now this one.) But I think you always forget what it feels like anyway until you get a new one. So after that we went out to eat and then decided to go ahead & come on home.

It was a fun weekend. It's weird because San Diego is only like an hour and a half from us but it really felt like we were in a whole different place. Anyway, I'm putting the link for the pictures below here... enjoy! (You'll have to copy & paste into browser)

Ivan's got to back to work today, and it's supposed to be like 84 out so I think I'm going to lay by the pool and read :) Oh and go shopping for some thick bracelets to cover the tattoo during meetings!

Pics: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5YaA

FYI

Hola! Just an FYI-- I've discovered the cheapest way to fly to me is to fly out of Indianapolis. There were tickets on there for only $161!! Keep it in mind!

I have the Travelocity link to the right :)

Hey

Hey everyone! Not much new to write...Friday night me & Ivan went to see "Jarhead." For those who don't know-- it's about this one Marine and his life in Desert Storm basically. It was pretty good...not a typical war movie I think, and yes, you do get to see him in very little clothing...:) Many have asked about that! Saturday we went miniature golfing with Breigh & her boyfriend. (I work with Breigh, she's a traveler too, from Iowa. Her boyfriend flies out frequently to visit.) That was a lot of fun. I actually had the second best score. Maybe I'll take up golfing now! Then last night we went out to that club we went to last weekend-- Twins. It was fun, but not as fun as last weekend.

Today I have been planning a little trip for next weekend. I have Friday off (Thank God for those Veterans, huh?!) So we threw around some ideas-- L.A. all weekend, San Francisco, Las Vegas... and we settled on San Diego. There is a lot to do there...so I'm calling & making reservations and getting prices-- we're thinking about surf lessons, kayaking, massages, tattoos (yes tattoos), the zoo, Seaworld, hot air balloon...too much to choose from! So hopefully next weekend I'll have something fun to read & some pictures to look at.

Weather's nice, 75 & sunny. Love it!