Cafe Rio

February 24th, 2010 was a blessed day. Cafe Rio opened up in Manhattan Beach, a mere 20 minutes from my house. A couple of weeks ago Jessica may have made a pilgrimage down to Lake Forest in Orange County to pick up Cafe Rio for us, but now it's just a few minutes away. To celebrate this blessed event Jessica, Heather, Karen, Christy, Kristen, Caitlin and I decided we needed to be there on opening day. About 8:00 on the 24th we all met up in Manhattan Beach. The place wasn't too crowded and we easily got a table for the 7 of us. I think the employees were slightly surprised that we all already knew what we wanted without even looking at the menu. Mmm a pork burrito enchilada style. It doesn't get much better than that. And to top it all off I proceeded to eat the entire burrito. I usually only eat half, but I was so excited and so hungry last night, that it was a whole burrito day. Cafe Rio is great, but really what made the night even greater was the large amount of raucous laughter coming from our table. Put 7 girls together with great food and it is a party. Our excitement plus the laughter may have brought many employees over to our table and one particular guy was talking with us and asked us if we wanted dessert. At this point we were all beyond stuffed, but he continued to insist that if we wanted dessert we could take it home. Then the kicker, he offered us FREE dessert. So who can turn down free dessert to take home. We ended up with one key lime pie and another tres leche cake. I haven't tried them yet, but I'm sure they will be heavenly. How can it get better than this?

Stress and the rest

The past 10 days have been stressful yet fun somehow. The looking for a job side of things has been the stressful side, go figure. I had an interview at a pediatric clinic a couple of weeks ago and I liked it there. Then Monday I had an interview at a hospital downtown. Both interviews went well. Monday after my interview at the hospital the pediatric clinic called and offered me a job, but told me they wanted me to make a decision quickly and let them know by Wednesday. Well the hospital called Wednesday morning and told me they were interested, but didn't have the offer details yet because they had to go through all the proper authorities and all that stuff. So I called the pediatric place back and left a message asking if I could let them know Thursday because I thought I'd have my info from the hospital by then. Well Thursday rolls around the hospital still doesn't have the details of the offer to me. So I call the peds place again and leave another message that I want to talk to them about the job. Thursday afternoon they call back and schedule a time for me to talk with the director on Friday morning. All during this time I had really been trying to figure out which job I wanted more and which would be the best for me. By Friday when I talked to the director at the pediatric place I told her I was interested in the job. Turns out there was a little snafu there and the other OT they were going to hire decided not to take the job because of personal reasons and now I would be left without a mentor if they hired me. So they're trying to get another experienced OT so we could work together. Meanwhile the hospital calls back and gives me the details of the offer and now I have the weekend to mull things over. Basically I'm still stuck in limbo because I'm waiting for the pediatric clinic to interview someone on Tuesday and then let me know what their status is before I commit to either job. By Friday afternoon I was exhausted. Just too much to deal with in one week. All I could do was laugh and chalk it up to experience.

But on a more exciting side, I have managed to have some fun these past 10 days too. Thank goodness, I needed something to balance out the craziness of job searching. Thursday night there was a 25-35 bonfire in Newport Beach that some of us decided to check out. We figured it would be good to get out and just meet some new people. Reality was that we basically talk to ourselves and that the most fun part of the evening was when the GPS told us to "Get on the ferry" in it's wonderful British accent. That 5 minute ferry ride over to Balboa Island was the best part of the night! Friday night was the Glendale 7th Chinese New Year Dance. I went with low expectations following the bonfire and was pleasantly surprised that I had a great time.

Shana and I at the Glendale Dance

I even ran into my cousin Romney there. It was the first time I had seen him since he got home from his mission. Saturday was a gorgeous day and I played tennis and just had a great time. Then I hurried back up to Glendale to see Kiss Me Kate because one of my friends was in it. The play was good and Cynthia did a good job. But it was a little too long and there were way too many men in tights. Monday I got to hang out with Karen, Christy and Whitney and plan for Karen's birthday party. Tuesday Karen, Christy, Caitlin and I went and saw Valentine's Day. It actually wasn't too bad. I mean you don't go in expecting a great movie, but it was pretty good. Wednesday was the wonderful opening of Cafe Rio (see previous post). I couldn't have had a better night than the one I had hanging out with the girls and laughing until I thought I'd be sick (probably due to the consumption of entire pork burrito). Thursday night was temple night and then I caught up on some family history with the family history group from the ward. Friday night was Karen's birthday party.

Karen and I at her birthday party

It was complete with little cupcakes that had Karen's smiling face on them. Can't get much better than that. Saturday was Nick's surprise birthday party. I got to be the keeper of all the decorations last week so Nick wouldn't see them around his house. So we got him out of the house and then Emily, Martha and I got to work decorating the place and setting up all the goodies.

Even Michael Jackson couldn't stay away from this party.

Emily making a triple batch of rice krispy treats. Can't even have too many of those.

Martha texting people about the party.

I just love surprises. It was really fun to watch Nick come in and be surprised by everyone there. Good times.



Nick being surprised!

Quite possibly my favorite party favor "30 sucks"

The search continues...

It's the beginning of week 3 without a job. I think a two week break from work was long enough. Sadly I haven't found a job that works for me yet. So week 3 will continue to be time off. But I have managed to accomplish quite a few things will having this free time. I finished my crocheted sampler quilt (well I haven't decided if I'm going to put a border on it or not, so I guess it's not quite done). I am almost finished with a 700 page book that I read for fun. I've dabbled in the likes of being an auto mechanic (checking up on my radiator and coolant), a plumber (trying to figure out why my shower won't drain), an accountant (finishing my taxes) and a beach bum. Yes it was 80 degrees on President's Day in LA. So we celebrated our freedom by going to the beach. I love three day weekends, particularly because other people have days off and I can hang out with them instead of just me. Sadly, my camera has been in my car for the past few weeks and I have no pictures of all these wonderful events. I also tried my hand at being domestic and made some really cute heart-shaped peppermint patties for our big Valentines bash that our ward put on at our house. It was quite a soiree. I probably ate an entire pound of sugar considering all the goodies that were at our house. But the company was good as well. I also branched out and tried sushi again (the first time I tried it I wasn't a fan). But Nick and Emily convinced me to try it again with them and I actually liked most of it. I would eat it again. I also decided that I was going to play tennis at least once a week this year and so far I'm 7/7. I love it! I'm hoping to borrow a friend's guitar so I can brush up on my VERY rusty guitar skills while I have free time. And hopefully in the midst of all this I will actually find a job. Despite what it sounds like, I actually do spend time looking for jobs as well. I've had 4 interviews and have another one set up for Monday. Hopefully I'll have good job news soon! But until then funemployment continues.

Inspiring Artwork

I was reading Amy's blog and saw the link to this artwork. It is beautiful. So check it out if you get a chance.

http://www.reflectionsmg.com/reflections-of-christ-videos.php

Jury Duty and Job Hunting

Two of most monotonous things ever are jury duty and job hunting. I have had the privilege of doing both this week. Now I understand that having a jury system is supposed to be all fair and great and everything, but it is so inefficient. I spent 2 days at the courthouse only to be told that I was excused. It was a criminal trial so both the prosecution and defense got to excuse over 20 jurors if they wanted to. Luckily for me they only used about half of them and it still took 2 days. There's gotta be a more efficient way. I got to sit in the court room for 2 days and listen to all sorts of facts about the other jurors that I never wanted to know. I heard the juror questions so many times that I could ask them myself.
Occupation: Occupational Therapist
Spouse: No
Any encounters with the criminal justice system: Someone tried to break into my house while I was home. No I did not have to testify. Yes I did file a police report.
Any relatives or friends in law enforcement: Well yes I do have a good friend in the LAPD.
Any connection to an attorney: I worked for an estate attorney for 6 months. He did not take cases that would go to trial
Is there anything about this case that would cause you to not judge this case fairly: No
Do you promise to follow the law in the way outlined by the judge: Yes.

Imagine listening to those questions for a day and a half. Luckily I was one of the 20 or so people who didn't even make it to the jury box and got to leave once the jury was picked.
It was a good thing I got to leave since I had 2 job interview this week. Both were in pediatric occupational therapy settings. I think they went well. I have concerns about both of them and will have to do some serious thinking about what I want for my career. Maybe I can figure that out in all my spare time.

But for now I'm enjoying playing tennis during the day, hanging out with friends who happen to not have to work while I'm home, finishing my quilt, putting off going to the grocery store, actually going to the grocery store, visiting friends at Disneyland and more.