What's up?

What's up? Not much here. Last night I was so exhausted, I just basically slept most of the evening :) Ivan volunteered to go into work because they kids were having this Madden football tournament thing, so he went to help with that...or play I don't know :)

I've been hearing it's pretty chilly back home?? We just got another heat wave, so it's been around 100 here. It's "fire season." I never knew fire had it's own season. I think we are okay but that fire near us wasn't getting any better. It had burned up I don't know how many thousands of acres and people were being evacuated from their homes. Crazy stuff.

I don't know what the plans are today...I'm debating between doing nothing and just chilling here in Rancho...or heading somewhere else...like Malibu or Santa Barbara... We'll see! Later :)

Hey

Hello :) How's life for everyone? Good here. I think my cold is going away a little, or at least changing-- now I can breathe but I have a bad cough. Ivan's sick now too, but he's off from work until Sunday so he can just sleep if he wants :) Haven't been up to much, but wanted to say hi. Probably won't do a whole lot this weekend either, just nursing back to health, ha :)

Did you see the brush fires out here on TV at all? Well it's not too near us, but it's close enough that the smoke just heads our way. Which is great, add smoke to the smog!! Alrighty, talk later :)

Hello

Hey :) Not much going on out here. We didn't do anything thrilling this weekend. I managed to get sick though--started getting a sore throat yesterday afternoon and by the time I went to bed last night I couldn't breathe or swallow. And it's not getting any better. Our secretary at work said that when she moved here from Ohio she was stuffed up for a month-- allergies, and she didn't have them until she moved here. I hope that it's not that. I will be mad. She said it's because the smog settles where we are because it doesn't go passed the mountain or something. I dunno, I just want to be able to breathe!

Ivan's working now. He started working weekends this weekend, so his schedule is Sunday-Wednesday afternoons/evenings. It works out ok. Sunday I did some cleaning & got groceries...then got a manicure & pedicure :) I think that might be my Sunday ritual! The place was cheaper here than back home and better too. They did my manicure while my feet were soaking and stuff. Nice!!

Anyway, that's that. Work's good-- planned a lot of fingerpainting for therapy this week so that's a good time :)

Later!

So tired...

Hey! Things are good. Not much new to say. Work is going well but I am so beat by the afternoon. Could just fall asleep anywhere. Too much thinking, I'm sure that's what causes it. No big plans this weekend. I have a conference for work all day Saturday and Ivan starts his regular hours of working Sundays. Friday night we're having a little game night though. It's way more fun than it sounds! Ivan is coming once he gets off work and maybe bringing a new friend from work. His name is Rome, and he used to be a pro-football player I guess. I guess they hit it off.

Alrighty, talk later.

Rain, Rain Come Again!

It rained today for the first time that we know of since we've been here! But I missed it :( I was on the phone earlier on the patio and was so excited just to hear thunder and see the sky get dark. I came inside and then it rained and I didn't notice. Ivan saw it though. I know this doesn't sound that thrilling, but believe me, 90 & sunny does get a little old after awhile. And they are calling for rain again tomorrow!

Oh and we lived through our first earthquake last week and didn't know it. I guess it happened at like 6:00 a.m. while we were still sleeping. It would've been nice to be awake for it to see if it was one that we could even really feel...

Lata!

Hollywood!

Yesterday we went to Universal Studio's & to Hollywood Blvd. It was so fun. Ok, so Universal first-- neither of us have been before, so that was cool. When we first walked in we saw Beetlegeuse. (I know you're thinking I spelled that wrong, it should say juice, but that's not how he spells it). Anyway, that was really exciting because I have to admit, Beetlegeuse is one of my favorite movies. I still love it. I used to act out scenes to that all the time-- like when they first cross over to the other world, and they are trying to "draw a door"...yup, if you take the drywall off the basement walls at our house, you will see many a door drawn on the wall. Ok anyway, so that was cool. Then all these super people pulled up on 4 wheelers-- Spiderman, Green Goblin, Wolverine, Storm, and Captain America. That was cool. Even though I know it wasn't really them, I think I was just as excited as all the other kids. Ivan was taking pictures and I was on my phone trying to call the kids to tell them who I saw. It was cool. So, then we went to the Terminator show. That was cool 'cause it was 3-D and so like bullets and robots were coming for you. After that we went on the Back to the Future ride. It was fun, but you could tell it had been around awhile...a little 80ish. But in ou car we had like 4 French people and the woman were laughing so hard, I think it made it a little more fun. From there we did this Van Helsing haunted house thing. It was scary. Probably could have been scarier but still made me jump :) And then we also watched the Waterworld live show. That was fun too. I love that movie. Oh and we met Shrek...:) I still want to go to back to take a studio tour (of like Desperate Housewives!!), and go on the Jurassic Park ride/show thing. We got a year long pass so we can go back anytime. So whenever you come visit, we'll be going!

From Universal we went to Hollywood Boulevard. It was pretty neat. Just to be around the places where you know all these stars have been at one time or another. It's a very cool place, but also kinda dirty. There are people begging for money, and freaks dressed up in costumes, and crazy people yelling. But it's such a busy area that all of that isn't really scary or anything. We went to this wax museum, which aside from meeting Beetlegeuse and seeing Spiderman, was probably my favorite thing. Some of the statues looked just like the people and some of them were pretty crappy... but was really neat. Don't you worry, I took pictures of almost every single one, so you can see! Ha! I just wish I could have stood next to them for pictures but they are roped off.

From there we went to see all the handprints and stuff in front of the Chinese Theatre. So cool! It was my purpose in going to Hollywood Blvd in the first place. It was nuts to look at the dates on some of those-- like I think Shirley Temple's was in like 1935 or something crazy like that. It was so cool though. And they had one roped off with security that hadn't been put in yet-- turns out it was Johnny Depp's, he'd just done it yesterday. All very cool.

Oh and really one of the most exciting things was just when we were driving down the freeway and looked up to see the Hollywood sign up in the hills. And also seeing the road signs for Hollywood & Sunset. Just really cool to see things that you've only seen in movies or on TV. We also went into the Kodak Theatre, which if I am not mistaken, is where the Emmy's are. I know that the Oscars are. Anyway, it is built in like a big circle and the middle is open...on the outside it's just like a mall and then upstairs is where the "special events" go down.

So anyway...that was yesterday. Did I say "cool" enough in this post?? And here's all the pictures that you're dying to see, copy and paste this up in your browser to see because the link won't work :)

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5YYI


Later!

Virus

Hey everyone!! My computer got a virus so I was out of commission for a week. That sucked. Although there wasn't much to say anyway. Work is getting better each week. The more I get used to my kids and they get used to me. Next week I will have a full caseload. I was supposed to be eased into some of my kids with a therapist who would be going on maternity leave in a couple of weeks, but she got put on bedrest...so I get to just dive in next week! I'll be pretty busy then :)

Ivan starts his job on Monday. He'll be doing training & stuff. Learning how to deal with these crazy kids... Ivan has a cousin who lives in Long Beach, which is like an hour from here, so he went to see her on Thursday and brought her back to our place to stay. That was the first time I've met her, she's cool. So on Friday he went to Long Beach to take her back and also went to Venice Beach. He had a good time. Yesterday was one of our friend's birthdays so everyone ordered food and brought to our apartment to hang out. From there, us girls went to this country bar called "Brandin' Iron" in San Bernardino. It was fun. I haven't line danced in a long time!!!!! But they played pop stuff too-- like Usher and Def Leopard. It was a lot of fun though.

So today our plans are up in the air- we're either going to the L.A. County Fair or to Hollywood. I kinda want to see the L.A. Fair just to see if it's really even like a fair at all! The commercials for it on the radio are hilarious. They're talking about food making you fat & talking like hillbillies. It's just funny.

Anyway, I'll get going. Have a good day!!

Finally Treating Kids!

So today was my first day actually working with the kids and it was good. In the morning I worked with another therapist whose Friday kids I will be taking over completely in a couple of weeks. It is nice to have her there to see what she does with the kids and give them a chance to get to know me too. In the afternoon I was flying solo with my kids. It was fun. It was so nice to get to treat a kid and not have somebody sitting there watching every move judging you-- like when you're in school. It's also nice because if I have no idea what I am doing, nobody knows! I can learn that way. And I can figure out what works & what doesn't ya know? And I can always go back to the office and be like "Look guys, I need some suggestions." Which I'm sure I will need. The kids I worked with today are all much lower cognitively than I have any experience with. So that's new. I'll be doing my homework this weekend for sure. Figuring out what I can do with these kids. Such a learning experience! So that's work :)

I think we're going to see that new movie-- "The Exorcism of Emily Rose"...tonight. I'm sure I'll regret it about 10 minutes into the movie, but I like being scared!! We saw "Red Eye" on Monday-- it was pretty good. I'd reccomend it. Oh, and we saw "The 40 Year Old Virgin" last week...very funny. One of the funniest movies I've ever seen probably.

Is everyone making their donations to the Red Cross??? If you look to your right, yes right now on your computer screen, you will see I now have a link to the Red Cross on my blog so you can just click there and make your donations :) I think Ivan & I are going to do our part next week-- Steve Harvey, the comedian, is doing this huge comedy show in Inglewood with like him, D.L. Hughly, Bernie Mac, and a bunch of other people and all the proceeds go to the hurricane victims. We'll see, we had to make sure Inglewood was safe and all :) The only time I've heard of it was in Tupac songs so that's not usually a good sign...but the girls at work said it was a-okay!

Talk to you soon!

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I start treating kids! YAY! I'm really excited because that's when I'm the most comfortable I guess. Just me & my kid ya know? Anyway I will let you know how it goes.

Oprah

Did anyone watch Oprah today? (Today being Tuesday) She had her show taped in the areas where Hurricane Katrina hit. It was horrible. I just had no idea...I mean they show you on the news that some people are homeless, okay, you understand that some people died, and it's all pretty bad. But then there's the stuff that I hadn't ever heard anything about-- like that people were being raped, kids were being raped, and killed inside the Superdome... that the gangs were taking control and shooting people inside the place, people were being taken to the morgue even though they weren't dead yet, just that they were so far gone that they couldn't be saved. It's really messed up. Anyway, tomorrow she is doing another show...I think you should watch it. Everyone just needs to see it.

Hola

Hey guys! Not much going on here. Today I started making treatment plans, Wednesday & Thursday I will be hanging out with another therapist who's caseload I will be taking over after she goes on maternity leave, and Friday I will actually start treating! Only 3 kids on Friday but it's a start. I'm excited, hopefully it all comes back to me. Pretty nervous too though :)

Ivan's still waiting on his job to finish checking his references. Any day now I think he should hear something. I don't know what we're going to do this weekend...we were invited to Vegas for a co-worker's birthday (Vegas is only 3 hours away), but I don't think we're going. I've been spending too much money out here! It costs a lot to do just about anything, and people are always wanting to go out to eat! We'll have to go to Vegas some other time.

What else...I'm looking into doing some volunteer work somewhere. Kinda need to do something to keep yourself from getting too self absorbed! I will say this about California-- I love it here, and everyone is really nice, but at the same time, people seem to be in their own little worlds ya know? Something as simple as walking through the mall and nobody paying attention to the fact that they are about to walk into someone! It's a bit annoying :) Whether people try to or not, it's just apparent that it's easy to get caught up in brand names & nice cars etc... so I am looking into the volunteer thing-- either at the animal shelter or at a therapeutic horseback riding place. We'll see. I might not do anything!

Ok, gotta go. Talk soon. Come visit!

Long Weekend!

Hey! Not much new out here. Just life as usual now. This week at work I did finally get to go out & meet my teachers and make my schedule- which is exciting & very scary. I'm supposed to be a real therapist now ya know? I just want to fast forward a few months and be comfortable & confident with treating! I'll get there. But I'm so happy to have a 3 day weekend. The work days while doing nothing just kinda suck!

Last night we went out to Burbank Bar & Grill with the girls from work and a couple of them's boyfriends for one of em's birthday. It was fun. They had an 80's band playing and stuff. Good times. I think tonight we're going to Dave & Busters. Tomorrow Ivan invited everyone over to the complex to grill out & chill. We'll see if that really happens...either way it should be a good time.

That's all here. Happy Labor Day!

Just in case you forgot what we looked like, here's a pic from last nite.

The Apartment

Some people...(Celeeste) wanted to see pictures of the apartment & stuff so I took some. It's hard to get any good pictures though. So anyway, you can see that you walk in the door and the living room/dining room are right there and the little kitchen area is off to the right. Anything you see with like the trees & a big building is pictures from our patio. The building is where the theater, fitness center, and game room are. Also the pool, hot tub & grill are in that fenced in area right behind the building. And then directly behind us is the putting green, sand volleyball, and the bocce ball thing.

I did the best I could! I like the apartment though. It's a perfect size for us. So here' s the link to the pics:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5YWw

And if that just isn't enough, here's a link to a website with the complex: http://www.rent.com/apartments/california/inland-empire/rancho-cucamonga/438530

Ivan gotta job!

Yes Ivan got a job! Well they haven't officially offered yet because they still have to do a background check but ya know, he got it. He will be working at a group home for kids. The kids he'll most likely be working with are chemically dependent and most of them are the 12 step program. It should be interesting!! Anyway, he'll be working afternoon/evenings, so I might get a second job a couple nights a week just to get some more experience in a different therapy area-- like in the hospitals or nursing homes (right now I'm in the schools.)

Speaking of work, still slow right now. I'm going crazy. We won't see kids until next week & the week after. I am sitting in an office doing absolutely nothing for 8 hours a day. I hate it! I did get to start making a schedule though so that's nice... it will pick up soon. But meanwhile, I am seriously losing my mind in this office with 9 other women...some of whom have VERY strong personalities :) Can't wait to start seeing kids and being busy and being on my own!!!!!

I'm In Love!

We went to Santa Monica today, and well, I'm in love. It was love at first site. We walked onto the beach and I looked around and knew I'd found the California beach of my dreams. The water was so blue, so pretty! It still wasn't as clear as Florida water, but it was good enough for me. The pier was awesome to see in the distance, and the sailboats. So, the pier was cool-- people doing little crafty things, fishing, restaurants, we rode the roller coaster and the ferris wheel. So fun. Then we walked to 3rd Street Promenade-- awesome!!! Packed full of shopping. So much shopping that I will need to go back. Several times. It was great. There were street performers ya know, dancing or playing instruments and stuff like that. Just a very cool place. Ivan saw some NBA player-- I'll have to ask him who it was. He said Hi to him and wanted to get a picture, but I was like no man leave him alone, dude just wants to shop like everyone else. I think I may have crushed his dream a little bit...oops. Anyway, if you ever come see me, I will definitely be taking you to Santa Monica. It was so cool & great, and probably exactly what you think of when you think of California... very cool place.

Here's some of the pictures... share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5YV8

Lata!

The View

I'm really liking it out here. For one, I love the speed limits. Down an average street, the speed limit is 50-55 mph! It's nice. And on the freeway, it's 70 but everyone's going like 105 :) I like it. And every time I look up and see that mountain, well it just doesn't get old ya know? And today was really clear. Some days the smog is just so annoying, you can hardly see the mountain, but today it was very clear and those days are awesome.

So anyway, I tried to get a pic of what just driving down the street looks like for me...it doesn't do it justice but you get the idea.

Seeya

Pictures!!!!!

OK, just click on these links and it will take you to the pictures. Enjoy!

Going Away Party:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5fX


The Drive to Cali:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5f1

Laguna Beach:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5fk

YAY! Internet Access

We have the internet folks! And it's DSL, no waiting at all. I love it.

Started work yesterday. It's really boring right now. Probably won't be seeing any kids until after Labor Day, so right now it's unpacking the office & crap like that. (They just moved offices at the end of last school year.) And a lot of politics & stuff that to be quite honest, I don't have opinion or care about, or need to because I'm, not long term. I'm here to do a job and then leave! It's nice. There are 8 OTR's (that is an occupational therapist-- they are in charge of doing evaluations and making goals, then I (COTA-meaning assistant) do treatment to meet those goals). That's the most basic description of our roles anyway. There is one OTR who works with the travel company like I do (Breigh is her name). She's cool, she's traveled before so it's cool. We were discussing how neither of us are too worried about a lot of stuff because we get to pack up & leave when we're done. Anyway, everyone else seems nice & helpful, and it will be nice to work with so many people, and people with a lot of experience. And there's one other COTA (like me). So the next week or 2 will be getting organized, getting caseload and meeting people basically. All very boring!!!! But necessary.

Other than work, life's good. Ivan's manning the fort while I am at work...sticking around while people come to do things--internet, dish, and security. Tomorrow I think the job search will begin for him. Wish him luck. Yesterday when I got home he was ready to go to Happy Hour to celebrate my first day at work! So we did. Watched some TV, and chilled in the hot tub. It's a rough life I tell ya :)

Although, the heat is a little obnoxious. While there is no humidity it is hot. Temperatures are going high 90's and 100's right now. But at night it cools down so it's nice. I've been informed that there will be another heat wave in September probably...I can't wait!

That's all for now. I'm gonna put the pics on so check them out!

Miss everyone

We're Here

YES! We're here! And I am so happy to be on the internet right now...It's pretty pathetic how badly I missed it while on the road and settling in!

We left Heyworth Monday morning around 3:30, met up with Ivan in St. Louis and were on the road by 6ish. It rained the first like 7 hours we were driving! But that was okay because I really wanted to see some good rain before getting to Cali. The drive didn't seem that bad to me really. The scenery was great- Rolling hills in Texas, plateaus and mesas in New Mexico and mountains all over Arizona. Just beautiful really. Monday we made it to Albuquerque before stopping for the night. Tuesday we went to the Grand Canyon-- that was awesome. It's just amazing really; I think everyone should see it. I'd love to go back someday and stay longer- ride a donkey to the bottom and camp, that sort of thing. We got to Rancho Cucamonga Tuesday night around 11 and stayed at a hotel.

Wednesday morning we got the apartment. I love it. It's perfect for Ivan & me. And it's decorated/furnished with stuff I probably would have chosen myself. It's nice, and so far everyone I've met has been really nice & helpful. We're right at the base of a mountain too. It's so cool to just look up & see that, and palm trees! It's really pretty. Except for the smog...:) We were like "So is it just kinda cloudy or is that smog?" Yup it's smog. Mmm, mmm!

So yesterday was spent just settling in & shopping for the necessities that we didn't bring with us. We pulled into Target yesterday and were heading to the store, when we heard a hissing noise-- turned around & Ivan's car was smoking & water & green stuff was shooting out from under the hood!! Dad's diagnosis was a busted radiator hose. It was prefect timing really-- after we got here & while my dad was still here to fix it! It's like the car just threw up after 27 hours of driving!

So today we're just chillin', waiting for our clothes to arrive (we shipped most of them), and I am trying to get to know the area a little. I'm actually at the library right now paying $3 an hour for internet access! It's worth it though. I was going a little insane.

Alright, that's about it. I should get internet at my place next week and I will post some pictures then. Take care! Miss everyone!

2 Weeks Left...

Hey! Exactly 2 weeks left until the big move. It doesn't seem real so I am not really thinking anything right now. I was like super excited, then nervous, then excited & nervous, and now I am just kinda oblivious I think. It'll hit me once I am in California for a little while probably.

My going away party was so fun, I think anyway :) I was so happy to see everyone and a ton of people came. It was nice to just chill like the good old days. Thank you to everyone who came!!!

I found out that I passed my certification exam, big relief. If that didn't happen I wouldn't be going anywhere. I got home from the Keys yesterday. It was nice to see everyone. We were complete lazy bums the entire time but I don't care. We hung out at the old places we used to go to, kicked back, went sailing one night and saw wild dolphins. They were pretty far away but it was still cool. They offered to me & Tiffany to intern one day like we did last summer...we were even too lazy for that! Some people would do anything to have that chance and we were like "uh, no thanks :)" Oh well. It was a great experience last summer, but really once was enough!