Picture Updates!

Here's some pictures of Charlie's haircut & the pumkpins we carved:
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The weekend before last we had a bunch of people over to party at that was a good time as always. Here are pics from that:
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Saturday night we had a Halloween party with the usuals. It was a great time!! We made punch...it had 3 bottles of flavored Vodka in it, with orange juice and a splash of Sprite (YUM!) Here's pics:
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Not much else going on. Enjoy the pictures!

This Week

Hey! So not much new going on lately. Chuck (oh yeah, we call Charlie Chuck most of the time now) got her first real haircut and it's adorable, and I love it! Let's see, last week seemed really busy but I can't think why right now. Tuesday night at bowling we won all our games!! That has never happened before. We have only won one game before that night so that was awesome. I got a turkey in the 10th frame too so that was cool...

Thursday night Jeff got hockey tickets through his school so him & his kids, Ivan, me, Johnathan & Katie all went to the Phoenix Coyotes hockey game. It was fun. I could really get into hockey I think because it's so fast paced and it's kinda cool to seem them fight all the time too! haha
Friday night all the neighbors came over which as usual was a great time. I'll post some pictures of that. Unfortunately I had to spend all day Saturday recovering. It was bad. I was in bed until about 2:30, moved to the couch but was still sick. Then last night me & Ivan, Johnathan & Katie all went out to eat. We rented "Fantastic 4" (the second one) and "1408." Which I was a little disappointed with but oh well.

Today it's like super windy here so we opened up all the windows in ours & Jeff's apartment and his door and our door, put the gate up at the top of our stairs and just let the dogs run back and forth. I sat on the patio between our apts. pretty much all day, the guys were back and forth watching football. It was fun. Here in a minute we're gonna carve pumpkins. I'll post pics of that too.

So that's about it. Talk soon!

Hola!

Hey! So, another new & exciting venture. I will be starting a second job here in the next couple of weeks. I'll be contracting through a company providing therapy to children in their homes. The company will send me info about a child and then I will basically call up the parents and set up a time to come see them. I'm pretty excited about it. At first I was like...why are you doing this to yourself? Now is really not the time to get a second job, but I really don't see it so much as a job, although it does pay very well, which is a bonus. I think it will be fun and it will be so nice to see kids in their homes. Working in the schools you only see so much of what the kid's life is about, you don't get the opportunity to have contact with the parents sometimes but like once a year, and sometimes the relationship is hard anyway because the parents aren't always happy with the school system. I've always been jealous of home therapists when we're all sitting in meetings together because the parents always love them more! haha I think I'll get more of a chance to really do what I want to do with a little less restraints and things. We'll see, who knows, I might be complaining about it soon! But I will be starting slow and only picking up one or two kids, which is just a couple hours a week. Hopefully it'll be good. Plus I'm just trying to plan ahead to what I'm going to do this summer, and so I will be able to pick up more kids then and still have a lot of time to myself.

What else...tomorrow is Ivan's birthday!! The big 2-5. He's flying home for a long weekend to celebrate and go to Illinois College's homecoming. He hasn't been home since last summer so he's due for a visit. It'll be weird to have him gone but I have a lot to do so it's probably for the best.

Team In Training is going well. I have 14 mentees now!! So that's fun. Each week I just send them an email or phone call to see how things are going. The thing that is really different from my team in L.A is that there are a lot of people here who don't come to practices, they just train on their own. I'm really trying to get them out to practice though because to me that's the best part, obviously aside from curing cancer :)

What else...class is good. My 4th class just started this week. It goes so fast. They're a lot of work though but I've got it down to more of a pattern now so it's easier and I know what to expect. Every week there is typically an individual paper due and in each 5 week class there is also usually 2-3 team projects. I do great working with the team, which at first I didn't like the team projects, but I always leave my individual stuff to the last minute and scramble. Oh well.

I still haven't heard anything about a refugee family because there are more volunteers than refugees available. Which at this point is FINE! I'm thinking even if they do call I will have to tell them to move me to the bottom of the list until TNT is done in January. I know my limits! I really want to do it but I'll wait.

I guess not much else to say. Still having an awesome time here and everything. I had Monday off work so Sunday night was a drunken fest with our neighbor who also had Monday off for Columbus day. We were up until 4:30 a.m drinking and playing the Wii---we decided we better stop when we heard Ivan getting up for work! haha Good times though.

Oh yeah, reading a new, fabulous book-- it was featured on Oprah-- "Eat Pray Love." I love it!!!!!!!! Go get it.

My poor car...

Remember how I said it was making a very unhealthy noise? Well then last week it just wouldn't start a few different times I tried. Turns out my car is a lot sicker than I thought. I took it in on Friday and the guy called me with a list a mile long of things my car needed. He prioritized it for me because there is just no way I could afford everything. So, last week I got a new starter and belts (hefty chunk-o-change!) Friday we're going back for new breaks and break fluid (yet another, although not quite as hefty-chunk-o-change). And then there will be a list of "small" things that I can survive without but need to be done. Poor thing. Oh yeah, poor me too :) And poor Lucy! She needs her shots and they keep getting pushed off because random expenses like this keep coming up. Ah well. Soon, I see the light very soon...although if you ever feel like donating to a worthy cause (my car & Lucy's health :) feel free! haha We were joking that we should have a kegger or something to raise money for my car...but we don't know enough people to really make that worth it, but it would be a dang good time. I should be happy though because my car is a '96 and I've never had to put any money into it except tires and oil changes. So hopefully after this it'll last me as long as I need it to. Which would be...hmmm...maybe until '09 when the Prius comes out that gets 99 miles per gallon!! Does everyone get as excited about good gas mileage as I do? Probably not.

What else...this weekend we didn't do much, and you can expect to hear that for awhile until the car expenses are taken care of :) Jeff & the kids came over and made us french toast & bacon. Can I just say this was the best french toast I've ever had in my life!! I'm not even a fan of french toast really but this was heavenly. So good. Last night he shared stroganoff with us too, yum! Jeff says he likes to cook for people, and well, we like to eat...so it all works out. We agreed he should just give us a grocery list and then he can just make dinner every night. Totally fine with me. While we're on the subject, when we grilled out with him a few weeks ago, he made ranch burgers-- I guess you just put a packet of ranch mixed in with the hamburger...unbelievable! Try it.

So aside from food...not much else to say I guess. Just keeping busy with TNT and school work. I'm coming into the last week of my 3rd class. They're going fast!! YAY!

Not Much Up

Hey there! Not much to say I guess but I felt like I should say something...um, my car is making some very weird noises. It has been for awhile and today they have multiplied a lot...I think it has something to do with my breaks. Whatever it is it's very unhealthy sounding.

I finally got some mentees with TNT. I was supposed to just get any new people, well then something fell through with one of the other mentors so I just got all of her mentees. I'm excited though. We went to a TNT fundraiser the other night-- me, Ivan, Johnathan & our neighbors Katie & Jeff. (Also our bowling team) I really need to get some pics up of these people so you all can put a face with a name. Anyway, it was a poker fundraiser, Jeff won. He's like a poker fiend or something.

The weather this last few days has been amazing. Only the low 90's, which actually feels cool. Kinda like fall weather really. It's amazing I guess how fast your body adjusts to the heat. The other day I was going to take the dogs to the park but I wondered if it was too hot out, Ivan said "It's only 101" I was like oh, well let's go then...at home we'd have died!

Speaking of Ivan, he's involved in a new business venture with his mom. It's something called "Your Travel Business." Basically if you buy your plane tickets, book hotels, anything like that, through his website he makes money off it, and the prices are pretty much the same as Travelocity. So keep that in mind if you're ever booking in the future. The website is www.ytb.com/nicholsi

Alrighty, well I guess that's all. Talk to you later

Charlie's Hairdo

So I took Charlie to get her hair cut and they told me on her first time they won't do anything major because they just want to break her in, they just cleaned up her face, tummy, and booty for her first time. So here's a pic in case anyone was wondering what her face actually looked like :)

Doesn't the one look like Charlie is telling Lucy something funny and Lucy's cracking up or surprised??! She's like "Oh my God!"

Charlie's first trip to the dog park...

Charlie made her first trip to the dog park Saturday. Unfortunately only Charlie, Lucy & I were there :( It was exciting because she got to run but not meet any other dogs.

So we went back tonight and there were tons of dogs! At first she just sat under my feet so I got up & walked around and she followed me everywhere and eventually ran around. Whenever she would see Lucy she'd run for her but most of the time Lucy was too busy playing with other dogs. This was one of the first times she's really been around other dogs besides Lucy. Overall she did really well. I was worried she'd snap but I think she's come out of her shell quite a bit being around Lucy.

She goes to get her first haircut tomorrow! I'll post pictures, I'm thinking it will be funny.

TNT I'm back!

I decided to join Team In Training for another wonderful season. This time I'm back as a mentor. So I will have a small group of teammates as my mentees and I will basically help them through the process-- if they have questions, giving them advice, helping/encouraging with fundraising etc. I'm excited to be back as a mentor because it makes me be more accountable and I'll be way more involved with the team. There's some paperwork and requirements for mentors, which is a little more work than I ever knew they did, but at the same time it's manageable, and worth it I think. One of my teammates from last year is a mentor now and she loves it. It's a little intimidating too because it's a new team to me as well...so they might do things a little differently, and I don't know anyone either so it will push a bit to step up and get to know people and take somewhat of a leadership role. Their season has already started so I'm coming into late and will start my training on Saturday! I didn't expect that already but the race is in January so it's time. I'm thinking this time I'm only going to to the half marathon. I will do a full sometime again in my life, but I'm not ready, plus, I'm joining late so I don't want to set the bar too high. I'd rather be a good mentor and enjoy myself.

With all that said, being a mentor I don't have the required fundraising, but I am still going to try and raise some money, maybe $500 because it still is a wonderful cause, and I can share that money with my mentees, as we all know, raising $2200 is HARD! But it can be done! So I won't have any mentees right away, which is nice so I can get to know their team first, but we will be doing a big recruiting event in a couple of weeks and basically whoever comes in off of that will be mine! Scary! Exciting!

Hmm...oustide of that, boot camp is getting better each day. It kinda stinks that I won't have Saturday's to sleep in now because that is when TNT practice is, but I will survive, I did it last year and this season is even shorter.

Well I'll get going...I'll probably hassle for donations in the near future, but not nearly as much as I did last year! haha

GO TEAM!

Pics

Here's a link to some new pictures of the dogs, one of me & Ivan at the Cardinals-Diamondbacks game last weekend, and of grilling out. The picture where Johnathan is blowing up that big ball, the stairs in the background are the stairs that go to our apt. Oh, and the ones of Charlie laying on the couch--she fell asleep that way, and stayed that way for a good hour before I took the picture!!

Enjoy!

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I'm sore!!

I started boot camp on Monday...I am having mixed feelings about this. I need to do it. I haven't even moved really since the day the marathon was done...that was in March! And I've gained SO much weight. I need to do this! But because I haven't moved since March and have gained so much weight, boot camp is extremely difficult! I had to stop with about 5 minutes left on Monday because I thought I was going to hurl...or pass out. There are 2 other contributing factors I think, it's about 30 degrees or more warmer here than in CA at 5:30 in the morning. In Cali we'd be wearing gloves & hats and everything, here, it's already warm, not hot, but warm. Also, I think this woman has a lot more cardio in hers than lifting weights. Maybe that will change a bit but for now it's freakin' killing me. I sooo wanted to quit on Monday. I am a quitter you know :) But, my neighbor Katie is doing it with me so I can't. I know it will get better as I get more active, but all I kept thinking was man, I don't want to do this. This is not fun for me. Who knows, I may only do it this one month to kinda get me started. I don't know. I just know I really don't want to go back in the morning! I'm not as sore as I thought I would be, but I am. I'm walking kinda funny I think so I can't imagine running and doing more weight training with my legs feeling this way! UGGH! I was thinking, "man I don't want to be uncomfortable." Because really, that's what it gets down to when we're tired or sore or whatever, it's just a degree of uncomfortable. It stuck in my head because when we were at the starting line for the marathon our coach told us "I don't want anyone here thinking 'just as long as I'm comfortable I'll be ok'...it was funny because that's always what I was thinking when we did those long runs, I could get through it as long as I wasn't too uncomfortable...he wanted us to not think that because we should have been thinking about the chemo patients who are in pain and completely uncomfortable...he wanted us to feel everything just for one day. Anyway, I did! And for several days after. But I'm not curing cancer right now so dangit, I don't want to be uncomfortable!!!!

So Charlie escaped from the apartment this morning. Scary! My neighbor Jeff came over for a second and I was standing in the doorway holding Lucy, and Charlie kinda wandered out the door...no biggie...she got to the stairs and I swear she kinda looked back at us like...here I go! And away she went. Jeff took off faster than I've seen anyone move probably, chasing her, I threw Lucy down and took off barefoot...keep in mind this is like 7:30 in the morning. So Jeff goes one way yelling and I go the other way across some rocks (did I mention I was barefoot?) I was thinking she'd come around that side but she didn't, Jeff & I end up in the same place with no Charlie. So he goes another way and I go another calling for and she just runs out of the parking lot outta nowhere...well as soon as I head for her she turns, so I stopped and just called to her and she came to me. Can I tell you how scary this was?! She didn't have her collar on so if we didn't find her she'd have been gone for good. She was roaming the parking lot so I thought she was done for good already. When I picked her up she was super calm, I think she scared herself a bit too. Good. Brat.

I was going to try and come home the first weekend of October because we have a fall break here but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. Flight prices went up and so did the travel time. I'm not going to spend 8 hours in airports and switching planes if I'm only going to be there for a few days...so that sucks a bit. I'll keep you posted.

Life Is Good

So, life is good! It's amazing how happy I am here. I think it's a combination of things-- it's so nice to be around normal people, as a group they are probably the nicest people I have ever met, I'm really happy with our apartment and the complex as a whole, my job really couldn't be any better...

And I'm finally starting to volunteer instead of just talking about it or reading about it. Did anyone see Oprah last week when Bill Clinton was on there? (Quite possibly my 2 favorite people in the world.) Well, Bill just wrote a new book called "Giving." Of course I went and got about 2 hours after watching the show. In the book he talks about all these ways you can give--he breaks it down by chapter if you want to give money, give your time, give a skill. He tells about all these organizations that have been proven to be really great ones to give to or copycat. At the end of the book there are all the websites for the places so you can find them. What I really loved about the book is that he was just trying to say, no matter how little you can give, it WILL make a difference. That's something I have struggled with a little and has probably kept me from volunteering sooner, I have this 'go big or don't go at all' mentality and you can't always go big! It helped when I was raising money last year for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, I really saw how even the littlest amount ended up helping me out so much. Those little amounts really do add up.

One of the organizations featured on the show & in the book was Kiva.org. Basically you can go on there and pick someone who needs a small loan to get their business going, once you donate you can watch their business grow. It's amazing how little some of these people need to really make a difference in their lives. So, last night I went to the website, and guess what? After being in the book and on Oprah, all the loans had been fulfilled!!! Kiva is now working to find more small businesses who need help. I can only imagine how much all the other organizations will benefit just from getting exposure. Pretty amazing.

So of course, I'm going to tell you to check out the book. That saying "Many hands makes light work" comes to mind. If everyone gave just a little it would a HUGE difference. I'm trying!!

Ok, enough about that. I'm also really excited because I found a masters program that I would love to go into. Yes, I just started my bachelor's but there is nothing wrong with thinking ahead. And, keep in mind, I change my mind pretty frequently...but anyway, there are 2 degrees I saw, international development or public service. I've been saying for about 6 months to year I guess that it's be awesome to get into international development or crisis relief-- meaning working with third world countries to help develop or working with people after a natural disaster or something like that. I just didn't know there were actual degrees for it, I just sat here always thinking, how the hell do you get into that stuff? So, my volunteering I'm starting and my trip to Africa will hopefully really help me see if that's what I really want to do, although I can't imagine why I wouldn't...we'll see :)

Other than that stuff not much going on. Busy with classes, although I just started a new class and it is MUCH better, not nearly the amount of work needed. We're in a bowling league with a couple neighbors and that is always something to look forward to. Pretty much every weekend we're grilling out and swimming with our neighbors and it's just fun. We have great neighbors :)

Ok well I will get going. Go buy the book, donate some time or money... :)

International Rescue Committee

I went for the orientation for the volunteer stuff I want to do. It's with a place called the "International Rescue Committee (IRC)." Basically they provide all kinds of relief to refugees, both abroad and by bringing people to the U.S. Learned some interesting facts: there are 14.5 million refugees in the world, and only about 1% of them will ever get resettled, and half of those are in the U.S!! That's a lot of people, living in bad conditions, and a lot of them coming to the U.S. Good for us right, but kinda makes you think, what the hell is the rest of the world doing? I guess that number is going down every year because it's getting so much harder to get into the U.S.

Anyway, this organization is exactly the kind of place I would love to work for someday after my degree is done. It'll be great for me to get that volunteer experience for the future, but also just because it's something I'm really interested in.

So, as a volunteer I will be paired with a family who has just been brought to the Phoenix area. IRC picks them up from the airport and provides them with a fully furnished apartment, clothes, all of that stuff for 6 months. They get them job training and help them get started and the expectation is that within 6 months of being here they should be self sufficient, and 86% of them are! That's probably better than some of our own citizens do. Anyway, my part as a volunteer is to be an "American Friend." I will meet with them once a week and help them with whatever they need help with-- learning English, finding the library, finding a park, teaching them about American culture, really whatever they need. It's a little scary to think about because normally these people don't know a word of English! She said in the orientation, that it's a lot of gesturing and everything with the people...so it could be pretty awkward at times. Although after my internship in Florida working with European families and after being with a lot of families in Southern California who don't speak English, I know it's possible to create a bond without language, what will be hard is teaching them how to do stuff! And keep in mind a lot of these people have been living in refugee camps for years and some don't even know what electricity is or a toilet!!??! So it could be really basic stuff they need to learn. I'm excited. I should be paired with my family within a month hopefully.

Aside from that, life is good. Work is keeping me really busy which I really enjoy. My schedule has worked out so that I can help with the Special Olympics on Fridays during the workday. The district I'm working for sets aside every Friday to take their special ed kids bowling and then at the end of the semester there is a competition and everything, so I'm excited to go with my kids for that.

Alrighty well we're having people over later so I'll get going.

The Girls

Here they are in Lucy's bed. Charlie fell asleep in it last night and Lucy joined her, I think just to stake claim on her bed :)

Busy Bees

I have never felt so busy in my life! Really. I think it's just because of starting my new job. You know when you start a new job you are meeting all new people and learning their system & stuff. I mean, I love their system & the people are good, but you know, it still turns the old brain to mush. Plus I'm actually working full days. Last year my contract was only 35 hours a week, and on top of that I was always done with my stuff & would just go home. Really makes a difference when you actually have stuff to do, and truly spend a full day there. Makes the night much shorter. I think the other thing is that since Johnathan is here it feels like we're always doing something I guess, just because we're all hanging out all the time. Whereas if it was just me & Ivan it doesn't feel as much like that, you know? That's been going pretty well too. I get frustrated with them both, but that's normal. I'd get frustrated with just Ivan so you know, what's new.

Also, this class I'm in right now is ridiculous. There is so much work to do in it and I just never want to do it! In fact right now I am avoiding writing a paper, doing text exercises, and responding to discussion questions. Yuck.

Oh, I also am starting boot camp again in a few weeks. I don't know how I feel about that yet. I really enjoy being a lazy ass, but I've let that go on too long. I just really don't want to get up at 5:00 in the morning. But Ivan's already up so I guess that will help.

And, I signed up to volunteer at this place. I haven't started yet but I go for orientation next week. The volunteering I will be doing is called being an "American Friend." So basically, when a refugee family comes to the area, I will be paired with one it's kinda like a big-brothers big-sisters kind of thing only for a refugee family. You like help them get adjusted to America, walk them through things like if they need to get a drivers license I would help them figure out how to do that, and just hang out and do stuff with them to teach them about American culture. You know eventually I want to either work with refugees or international stuff, so I thought, once I finish up this degree it would be perfect experience to have. They ask you to commit 2-3 hours a week. Sounds like a lot, but I'm willing to try out this whole "being busy" thing hahaha. I'm sure I will be pulling my hair out at some point. I really think once work gets rolling I won't feel as busy at all.

Hmm, oh, the 3 of us are joining a bowling league, cool right? haha It was hard for me to commit to that because it's like every week until basically the end of the school year! But I thought, ok, I said I really want to meet people and everything...we'll see. It was my idea and I'll probably be the one that quits. I am a quitter you know :)

So really everything's been good. The neighbors are good, we met a few more. I kinda feel like I live in a college dorm but that's cool I guess cuz I never did haha.

Ok well I really need to do this paper...although I'll probably fold some laundry or something instead of actually working now :)

First day!

Today was my first day of my new job. It went remarkably well! Maybe third time is a charm? (It's my third contract). I think it has been so good for me to be a traveler because I have been in both ends of the spectrum as far as OT departments go, where first I was in a kinda large department that was pretty well off, and last year I was the OT dept, and it was chaos! This district is more like the first, but from first glance, it appears that everyone gets along a little better, a more cohesive team environment. Not to say there won't be bumps, but you really can tell a lot from first meetings with people.

1. The first wonderful thing is that there are a ton of COTA's! (That's me!) My first contract there was only one other, and for some reason I tend to let myself be intimidtaed by OTR's (supervising therapists), although I am getting much better with that with more experience. I am just happy to feel like more of an equal with people than beneath people, although again, I am the only one making me feel that way, the OTR's I've worked with have always been great. Sometimes I feel like I am always apologizing for being just a COTA...when there's no need for it, and so it is nice to be amongh COTA's. And last year there was only me & an OTR, so it's just nice to be among people period!
2. These people are oragnized! This is similar to my first contract, but MUCH different than last year. I walked into a mess last year, and thank God for my first year's experience to get me through it. But anyway, there was an agenda for the meeting with all the occupational & physical therapy staff (called the motor team). They already had OTR's paired with COTA's, and the schools divided up among those smaller teams.
3. My team of myself, my OTR, and another COTA, get along great. There are 5 schools, and it worked out that the other COTA requested two schools close to her home, the other 2 are the closest to me, and the last school for the OTR is the one she wanted anyway!
4. My schools are close to me and super close to each other. No more than about 3 miles from my house, and probably a mile apart from each other. Also, the district office is probably less than a mile from me too. The schools are NEW & NICE! My district last year was old...and kinda poor. You just feel better when you're among nice things ya know? So on top of that, each school has a room for the O.T to work in! You may not know that this is quite a big deal, as typically I would be in a hallway or cafeteria or something like that. Nope, I have rooms with supplies in them already. Sweet. Oh, and only having 2 schools is awesome! My first year at one point I had 17 schools spread over like 5 different cities, last year I had about 8 schools although they were close together. It's just so nice to think I won't have to travel much and will be able to stay at one school for an entire day?!??! So exciting.
5. Hmmm what else...everyone is super friendly. Oh yeah, about the schools again, they are indoors with hallways & everything. In California when you walk out of a classroom you walk outside, because the temperatures tend not to get too unbearable either way & stuff it's all outdoors. I'm sorry though, it does get hot! So here it's wonderful to just be inside all the time. And good thing I won't have to get in my car all the time because it's a freakin' oven when you do. Whew. It was around 110 today...yeah.

So anyway, that's all my excitement. I think it will be good. Let's hope it stays on a positive note for awhile :)

Lucy & Charlie meet

The meeting of Lucy & Charlie went well I guess. Let me back up.

Charlie did great on the flight & car rides. Never even made a sound until we were off the plane.

I left Charlie with Ivan outside and I came in to see Lucy...she's huge!!!!!! I'm sure it's just because I have been with Charlie who weighs 2 pounds, but when I saw her I was like whoah!! She's just big! Definitely changes my opinion of where she stands in the food chain at the dog park. Also...she's hyper. I will never know if Charlie really is just super laid back and Lucy is normal, or if Lucy is crazy...oh well, but their energy levels are very different! And I always thought Lucy was just spunky & friendly...now I'm not so sure!

So Lucy just wants to play with her and Charlie isn't the least bit interested. But they aren't fighting or anything. Charlie will snap at times. Like right now they are both chewing on bones laying right next to each other. Lucy will share and doesn't mind at all, Charlie nearly bit Lucy's head off when she tried to take the bone.

I'm not sure if Lucy remembers me or not. Charlie just follows me around, so in turn, Lucy just follows me around! Ivan said yesterday when he picked us up he feels like a step-parent or something! I do too, like I'm in charge of Charlie and he is of Lucy. It's weird.

The bad thing is that Lucy is the one who knows to stop when we yell & stuff like that so we find ourselves yelling at her more even if it's not her fault just because we know Charlie doesn't know yet. We're working on it.

OK, well I'm gonna go. I can't believe I just wrote this long of a blog about some dogs?!!!

Back to AZ!

I'm leaving for the airport in about an hour to head back to AZ! Mixed feelings about that...I'm excited to see Ivan & Lucy. But as usual, after a few days home I get really comfortable here. And it's just so nice to see everyone and hang out & everything. Thanks for a wonderful trip home!! If I didn't see you this trip I'll try again on the next one!

Home

I'm home! I have to say, it did take me a few days to adjust. Each time it gets a little longer to adjust really. It's strange. I'm always excited about coming home and then there's this time period where I'm ready to leave after I see everyone. But that time has passed and now I'm so happy to be here again :) I flew in on Monday the 23rd. Megan & Becky came to get me and that night I went and saw all the kids and saw Johnathan too. Tuesday I went to Kentucky to get the new puppy, Charlie. Wednesday I went to my Grandma's for dinner with family, then over to Jon's for awhile. Thursday I went to the pool with Jyll, Heidi, my mom & all the kids and that night went to Schooner's which is where I basically saw everyone else I hadn't seen yet...Friday Becky & I went to see the Lindsey Lohan movie...it was ok. Saturday I went to Jacksonville to see Holly and go to a bachelorette party. Yes, there was a stripper...and I wasn't impressed, yet thankful I wasn't the bride who got raped basically! haha Sunday my bro & sis and all the kids came over so that is always a good time...and after that Megan, Jon, & Johnathan came over to watch "Waiting." It was funny. Hmm..what else...ooh Monday I finally went to see Celeeste. And then Johnathan came over to play Nintendo, yes the original Nintendo. He sucks and I'm fabulous. Last night me, Jon, Johnathan, Jamie & Curtis all went to see "Chuck & Larry," gotta tell ya, I was unimpressed. I love Kevin James & Adam Sandler, but it just wasn't as good as I expected. Today I'm going to see my cousin & then my nephews are coming to swim. Later in the week I'm going to dinner with old co-workers, then out at Pit Row (getting sloppy then swimming, yay!), Saturday will be another sloppy night at Celeeste's with Kristen in the hot tub, and Sunday I'm having a cookout, which I am so excited about!!! I just thought it up yesterday and I'm just pumped. Next week will be dinner with the girls and then I'm flying back to AZ on Thursday. All in all, it's been a really great trip home.

I wish Ivan could be here for this stuff too, but at the same time, I probably do more when he's not here because if he is I'm just content to hang out with him you know? And I'm sure he's having more fun than he should be without me there :) Living like a slob and doing whatever he wants! Every time I talk to him he's either with or was with or will be with the neighbors. Which is great since we didn't even know our neighbors in CA, but sucks because I'm such a jealous person, so I'm mad that I'm not there too!! Ah well. He's really enjoying & excited about his new job so that's good.

Oh, Charlie. She's polar opposite of Lucy! I was worried at first because she didn't have much of a personality really. But she has warmed up to me and is really sweet. She's just not nearly as social as Lucy is though. Which could be a nice balance I guess. And she's TINY! I hope the meeting with Lucy goes well.
Alright well I gotta get ready to go see my cousin. Peace

We're here!

I ended up leaving Saturday morning around 3:30, in hopes to make it through the desert before it got too hot just in case my car had issues. Everything went great, and I got here just before 9:00. We unloaded my car & everything is pretty much settled in except we need to hang a couple things and buy some small stuff. I really like the new place. We have space, we have doors! (We lived in a studio apt. in Pasadena). We took a walk through the apt. complex and everyone said Hi, some people knowing Ivan by name already and asking if he'd be home tomorrow to help them with their IPod, or this other girl asking me how I was functioning because Ivan had talked to them about how I was driving down at like 3 a.m. I told Ivan, 'well aren't you Mr. Social' (because he had said this about me when I was making friends last weekend before he got here) and he said, "I haven't done anything! Everyone is just so friendly!" We agree that it's because he's black and everyone wants to have their one black friend, so when they see him they're like hey! because it is a mostly white area, hahahaha Really though, it's just nice to be around people who say Hi, and even actually talk to you.

Last night we were headed to Blockbuster and I was looking out the car window and saw nothing! It was great. If you haven't been to Southern California you might not understand this, but there is hardly anywhere, at least within 2.5 hours of a city where you see nothing (as it is around any big city really). It is just city after city along the freeway. Really, yesterday I'd say it took me a good 2 hours before there was just desert. I'm just like, wow, I don't feel claustrophobic. I can breathe, there is space here. Again, you don't notice the absence of something until you are around it again...I had no idea I was claustrophobic! haha

Also, who know I'd have to go to Arizona to see some freakin' rain! Honestly people, I don't know when the last time I saw rain was, I mean literally, I think it's rained maybe 2 times this entire school year in Pasadena. I swear to God, and I might be stretching it there because I don't even remember when that was. (To be fair, we lived in a cave-like aot so I might have missed a few times :) Not to mention, a thunderstorm. If it didn't storm while I was home last summer, then it truly has been 2 years since I heard thunder or saw lightning, and I MISS it!! So, guess what happened last night? I storm went by, it looked like it was going to be right here but it wasn't. But I did hear a little thunder, saw lightning, and saw the sky change to dark blue instead of this always-light blue/smog crap that I've had for the past 2 years. Didn't think someone would complain about near perfect-sunny days right? Well I am. I like some change! And, apparently this is monsoon season in AZ! So the weather forecast has a storm on there for everyday for the next like 2 weeks, but it's totally sunny & everything until it happens. Kinda like Florida, it rains and then the sun comes out & you never knew what happened. So, yesterday as the sky was getting dark & it was getting windy, I assumed it would be cooler outside because that's what happens at home.. oh no. It was still 100. haha And Ivan said the rain isn't cold, it's warm too! We don't have our cable hooked up yet, so literally I've just been looking out the windows; we had 1 window in our last apartment, and that was just the balcony door! Here we have 8 windows!! It's amazing! haha

So that's that. I will leave again tomorrow morning to come home! YAY! I'm excited for a visit. I told Ivan our neighbors are gonna be like, what the heck is up with your girlfriend? I was the first one they met, was here for 1 day, and then left for a week, I come back with more stuff, stay for 2 days, and leave again for 3 weeks! haha Oh well. I'm sure Ivan will have made us a bunch of friends by the time I get back.

Here's a link to my stuffed car & the place: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5Y-Y

Peace Out Californi-I-A!!

***I wrote this Friday, the night before I left, but it didn't post until today (Sunday)***

Well...last weekend we moved almost everything to AZ. Ivan's been down there all week starting his new job with University of Phoenix as an academic counselor. He likes it. In fact he's out with a co-worker right now...he used to be a Harlem Globetrotter...kinda interesting I guess :)So, today was my last day of work (THANK GOD!), I got my car checked out, packed everything--which my car is absolutely ridiculously full...if it's not in there right now it's getting tossed! I cleaned everything...and got a mani & pedi, so I am ready to roll first thing in the a,m.

What am I going to miss about CA...mostly Ryan Seacrest in the morning on KIISFM...really, that would be almost a good reason for me to stay here. I love me some Ryan in the morning and I'm trying not to think about how I won't have him anymore...I just can't wrap my head around it :) I will miss saying that I live in CA, and in the "L.A. area." haha I'll miss having access to the beach, hollywood & all the other wonderful things L.A. has to offer...even if I didn't do it all that often. I'll miss some people too...those of you here reading this going, hey, what about us?! Haha, thanks for some good times :) California has been wonderful and we got to do so many things, it was a 2 year long vacation with a little work thrown in the mix. But, oddly enough, I am ready to get back to reality!

What am I looking forward to...some space!!! Room in the new apartment, room outside the apartment that has grass, yes grass, room on the roads!!! Everything will be cheaper!!! And...so far, people are nicer/friendlier/normal! People driving regular cars, carrying regular purses, wearing regular clothes, and caring about regular stuff!!! hahaAlrighty, come visit in AZ!