Julia's Occupations

Christmas Pictures

2012-01-28T15:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas pictures as promised. It was a glorious week at home staying inside and spending time with the family. Everyone was home except Carolyn and Nathan. The weather was even nice to me and the first couple of days it didn't rain. Susan so kindly cleaned out the hot tub which kept me warm all week long.

The Christmas tree was a little late going up this year due to the house remodel. But it was all beautiful by the time I got home.

Apparently you can make your own vanilla extract by using vanilla beans and vodka in some contraption Carolyn gave Mom and John for Christmas. John looks a little too excited about that bottle of vodka though.

Mom and Dad with the blanket I crocheted for them.

David before his basketball game. He still hasn't learned how to smile for pictures.

Kitchen remodel is complete. It looks really nice. I guess the mice thought it was nicer in there than outside in the rain because we had a couple of them join us in the kitchen one night. Good thing we have mouse traps handy all the time.

After Christmas I got together with some old friends from Loma Rica that all live up in the Northwest now. It was so fun to see them and catch up.

2012-01-26T18:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas came and went. New Years came and went. And somehow it's almost February already. Where does the time go? I got to spend some time at home in Oregon for Christmas. I'll have to put some pictures up when I have more time (don't hold your breath, it might be a while). Work has kept me really busy during January. There seems to be a never ending supply of children who need occupational therapy services.
A couple of weeks ago I was pretty excited when the 1st counselor in the bishopric told me they were releasing me from 2 of my 3 callings. For three whole days I was just the Mid-singles rep in the ward. Then I got a call from the stake presidency that immediately started my brain racing. I'm sure just about every calling I could have been called to went through my mind. Luckily I was only in suspense for 1 day as I went and talked with President Vargas the next day. So just when I thought I was getting the hang of everything I got called as the 1st Counselor in the Stake Young Women's Presidency. I'm excited to work with the girls and get to know them but I'm sure it will be a lot of work. For now they threw me right into things and I'm in charge of the Service Auction, the fundraiser for Girl's Camp and the Pioneer Trek (yes I get to go to both this year). So never a dull moment in my life.

Creative Wardrobe

2011-12-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

This winter weather (60 degrees or less) has been tough on me. Not only does our lovely Greenfield not have functional heating but my office is freezing. While we've all taken to wearing our snuggies and turning on the fireplace while at home I can't exactly do that at work. This week I've spent a lot more time than usual at the office since the schools are closed. When I get there in the morning it is about 55 degrees outside and even colder than that inside. It's pretty bad when you open the doors and windows to let the heat in from outside during December at 9:00am. So I've taken to wearing t-shirts, long sleeved shirts, sweatshirts, vests, jackets, gloves, ski hats, and bringing a blanket to work. And when we're lucky no one is in the waiting room and we can steal our 1 space heater and bring it upstairs to the office. It gives me a whole new appreciation for the sunshine and the warmth it provides. I'd take the 90 degree heat over the 50 degree ice any day!

Martini has a new owner

2011-12-21T17:11:00.000-08:00

As of this week I officially own Martini, my 2009 Corolla. It'll be wonderful to finally have her fixed after the rainy day mishap where the Escalade hit me. Then I can really celebrate Martini being all mine!

2011-12-21T17:09:00.000-08:00

Last weekend after a couple of weeks off from all physical activity (except work) I thought it would be a good idea to get moving again. Karen, Ali, Allison, Chelsea and I went back to the archery range and man was it ugly. I was even worse the second time around than the first day. But after some one-on-one refreshers I was able to hit the badger with one of my arrows (never mind that I wasn't aiming for it). After archery was over I got out and played a little tennis. It was so good to get out there again. I've been neglecting the court for several months but I think it's time to put a renewed effort in. I do love playing tennis. I think that if I'd just done archery and tennis I would have been fine but to top it all off Ali and I went running when I got back from tennis. It was only about 2.5 miles but combine it all together and I think my body is warning me that I better take a little more care of it. Right knee is still yelling at me, right and left shins are stabbing me and my upper back is a dull reminder that I haven't used those muscles in far too long. Moral of the story: I must do all these things more often.

New hobby

2011-11-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

As a Relief Society activity last weekend we went to the archery range and I think I found a new hobby. I'm really not good at it at all, but it was a lot of fun. Somehow I managed to hit myself with the bow string twice in the arm which left me with a bruise about the size of a tennis ball. But despite the injuries I think I'll be going back again.

Halloween

2011-11-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

For Halloween this year a group of us decided to be a foosball team. We quickly ditched the PVC pipe after taking pictures because it was way too hard to dance with all of us connected. Our ward was responsible for setting up a lounge area at the dance which is pictured below. It turned out really cool. I didn't get a picture with all of the apothecary jars full of slimy stuff and body parts sadly, but everyone seemed to love it.

Gotta love my girls!

Shana's Wedding

2011-11-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

October 22nd one of my old roommates and good friends, Shana, got married here in LA. I was one of her bridesmaids and got to help with all the festivities. We had a great bridal shower here and a bachelorette party at The Grove. Turns out that they don't let you go up to people at The Grove and do things like ask for a dollar for your honeymoon fund, ask for a piggy back ride, or for marriage advice. Sadly Shana only got to do 7 things before security shut us down. The actual day of the wedding was beautiful. It really couldn't have been better weather. It did get really foggy at night, but things turned out great. Shana and Steve looked great and were really happy so I guess that's all that matters.

Employment

2011-09-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

Before I left for Europe I finally decided that I'd had enough with my job and quit. I decided to take another job at a clinic one of my friends worked at in Culver City. I am still working with kids but now I see kids all the way through high school. We contract with the Inglewood School District so in the mornings I see kids in the schools and in the afternoon I am in the clinic. It's been almost 3 weeks there and I'm starting to feel at home. I really like the people that I work with and things are going well so far. It has been a nice change of pace from where I was before.

Europe

2011-09-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

Now that it's been over a month since I left for Europe I guess it's time for me to catch up. My brother-in-law spent the summer over in Norway and in August I met he and my sister for 10 days. I booked the flight earlier in the summer and my first thought after booking it was anxiety over the flight. I really do not love flying and the thought of flying for 18 hours by myself was a little more than I wanted but it's the only practical way to get the Europe. So once again practicality wins over my irrational fears.

I left LA early Friday morning and flew threw Quebec and Frankfurt before ending up in Stockholm. Luckily I managed to make all my connections, barely, and after watching 4 movies I ended up in Stockholm on Saturday morning. The airline lost my luggage in one of the quick transfers and it was kind of stressful the first day. It ended up being a blessing because instead of lugging my stuff around Stockholm all day I just got it about 9:00 that night. The first day was hard enough to stay away without having luggage to drag around. I didn't know that it was possible to fall asleep standing up until spending 34 hours awake topped off by going through museums. I really don't remember anything about those museums.

In Stockholm we were the typical tourists and hit up all the museums, the royal palace and grounds, a cool cemetery, a 1700s salvaged ship, and many more things. After exhausting ourselves through Stockholm we rode the train to Oslo, spent the night there and then took the train from Oslo to Bergen. It was a gorgeous ride. The scenery was absolutely beautiful and I found riding the train was much more pleasant than flying. Then we spent the rest of the time in Bergen.

We did less touristy stuff in Bergen but still hit up a few things like Bryggen, an old Hanseatic village, and some more museums. We also took a cruise through the fjords which was incredible. We also took a 15 mile hike through the mountains surrounding Bergen which was a little exhausting but totally worth it. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It took me about 2 weeks to finally get back on the pacific time zone when I got back. But I had a great time and would totally do it again.

Here is the link to my photos from the trip rather than trying to post all of them or trying to pick out my favorites.

Europe Photos

Summer in 5 minutes

2011-08-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

Somehow it has already turned into August and I feel like the summer is rapidly slipping out of my fingertips. It's been a busy summer for sure, but a fun one too. I had some time off work the second half of June and took a few little trips to pass the time. First I headed down to Gilbert, AZ to visit my cousin Melanie who was one of the only other people I knew that had time off during the summer (she's a teacher).

It was ridiculously hot there with a high of 113 one of the days. But it was great to see her and just relax. I also got to see my friend Courtney who used to live in LA but moved down to Arizona a couple of years ago. We just hung out in the pool all day. It's either the pool or the air conditioning there.

I was in Arizona from Monday-Thursday and then on Friday Ali and I headed up to Sacramento for her state hearing aid dispensing exam. She had to bring a subject with her so I volunteered since I didn't have to work. It was a lot of driving in one week but it was kind of fun to be back near my roots in Northern California. We walked around Old Town Sacramento, checked out the mall (LA ones are better, no surprise), saw X-Men, and even made it to a Rivercats (the As minor league team) game. The weather was gorgeous.

For the 4th of July weekend I spent all day Saturday at the beach for Whitney's birthday. Then Whitney, Karen, Ali and I went to the Hollywood Bowl to see Hall and Oats and see the fireworks.

On the actual 4th of July Shana and I went to the beach in the morning and then I headed down to Orange County to hang out with my family. John was still in town so it was fun to see him. We ate a ridiculous amount of food and the not so little cousins gave us a good fireworks show in the street at Brad and Carol's house.

Since then I've gone camping twice, gone to the Wiener Dog races, been to a Dodger's game, celebrated our ward victory in the watermelon eating contest, pie baking contest and tug of war at Pioneer Day, and signed up for another triathlon. Soon I need to start preparing for Norway and Sweden which I will be visiting at the end of the month.

80s Awesomeness

2011-06-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time 27 seemed old. I remember my first home teacher when I was in the singles ward at Oregon State was about to turn 27 and I thought he was ancient. Hopefully not everyone thinks that about me (particularly because most of the people reading this blog are older than 27).
For my birthday my lovely roommates Jessica and Ali decided that I needed to have a party. I was less than excited for my birthday but we decided that since I had come to possess two rather 80s looking jumpsuits it would be the perfect opportunity to have an 80s party. The girls decked the place out and then we went to work on making ourselves the epitome of 80s awesomeness. I guess you'll be the judges to whether that actually happened. Getting ready with the crimper, large can of hairspray, neon nail polish and bright pink lipstick was almost more fun than having the party. The neighbors maybe didn't appreciate the 80s music jammin' from our place last night but we sure did. It was pretty fun. Complete with furry slap bracelets, fingerless gloves, pixie sticks and pie. We almost never have birthday cake at my house and almost always have pie so the girls carried that tradition on for me.

So what does a can of hairspray, a crimper, 10 shots of pixie sticks, and all the neon we could find give you...

John is staying with the Grandparents in Orange County and even made it up for the party. It was great to see him too.

Memorial Day in San Diego

2011-05-31T20:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend 7 of us spent the long weekend in San Diego. The lovely Karen's parents were kind enough to let us stay at their house. Her mom even cooked for us. We drove down on Friday night and got there in time to check out Karen's house and hit the sheets. Saturday morning we all went to the San Diego temple.

It was the first time I'd been inside. It is really beautiful. After that we hit up El Indio, the birthplace of the taquito, for lunch. It was pretty good. Then we went to Old Town and sampled the taffy in the candy store and learned how to throw a tomahawk.

We then went to the Mormon Battalion site. It has been recently redone and was pretty fun. I even struck it rich panning for gold there! Then we drove down to the border and went shopping at the outlet mall.

Good thing we didn't take a wrong turn here!
Sunday we went to church and then went to the La Jolla cove to watch the seals and take in the beautiful ocean views.

After that it was back to Karen's house for more candy than I should ever consume and lots of games. We even threw in MASH for a while where I ended up getting married in 2015, having 77 kids, living in a portapotty in Tijuana with a batmobile for a car. Man am I going to have an interesting life. Monday morning we headed back up to LA so we could be there for our ward activity of slip 'n slide kickball. Since I never made it past 2nd base I did not partake in the slip 'n slide which I wasn't that sad about since it was only 70 degrees. Not quite warm enough for me to want to get wet.
My resolution after this trip is to take more.

Welcome home Elder Evans

2011-05-17T20:56:00.001-07:00

On Friday I flew home because my little brother Thomas came home from his 2 year mission to Colorado Springs. It was great to see him. He flew into Eugene which is the best airport in the world, only 2 terminals. The place was like a ghost town at 10:30 at night. It was fun to be home with most of the family and to see Thomas. Really it was just nice to be home and not think about any of the stresses of real life just for 2 days.

Cinco de Mayo

2011-05-17T20:53:00.000-07:00

For Cinco de Mayo we had to go out and celebrate so we headed to Olvera Street for some stuffed churros. They were amazing. I'd go back every week.

Paint Dancing

2011-05-17T20:45:00.001-07:00

Some may ask what paint dancing is. Well it is exactly what it sounds like. Painting while you're dancing, dancing while you're painting. One of my friends found a Groupon for paint dancing up in the valley a couple of months ago. After much schedule coordination we finally all got together to try this out. It was amazing. By Friday afternoon I'm usually quite dead after a week of work so this was just what I needed. We painted on paper, walls, each other and just had a blast. Here are a few pictures of the fun. I'd definitely do it again some time.

The unthinkable

2011-04-26T14:25:00.001-07:00

After much pushing from several friends I finally broke down and did the unthinkable...

bought a pair of skinny jeans.

Ukrainian Easter Eggs

2011-04-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend Jessica taught us how to make Ukrainian Easter Eggs. They look super complex and it does take a while, but it's not as hard as it looks. It is basically several layers of putting wax on and then dying the egg different colors from lightest to darkest ending with black. As you put more wax on it covers the lighter colors and keeps them on the egg while dying the rest of the egg darker colors. Here are a few of the eggs that we made. You use a little tool that holds melted wax (pictured below) to draw the wax on. Mine aren't prefect by any means, but it sure was a fun way to spend a few hours.

I'm back!

2011-04-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

No I was never really gone from anywhere, but I haven't posted in a while. I guess I just forget sometimes and then I don't think anyone really reads this anyway. But occasionally I get reminded that people do read, so here's for the 2 or 3 of you who actually do read this. My life for the last three months...

Well work was just terrible for the first month or so of the year. I was the only therapist there and just hated it. But Lisa started in February and things have gone up since then. We work really well together and it's nice to just have someone else there to share the fun stuff and the hard stuff. I'm actually liking it more than I have probably the whole time I've worked there. So I guess something is going right. Maybe it's emails like the one I got from one mother last week who told me her son is always excited when he gets up on Tuesdays because he knows he gets to come and play with me. Or the little ones who run up to me whenever I'm in their classroom and ask if its their turn to play. How can I not love them when they are just so cute?

Church has been keeping me busy, even though I'm down to two callings, ward music chair and choir pianist. But those two are enough to keep anyone busy. I was in charge of a musical fireside put on by my ward at the LA Temple visitor's center a month ago. It was A LOT of work, but turned out really well. I'm hoping the Easter Program we have lined up for Sunday turns out as good.

About a month ago I did my first triathlon. My friend Whitney and I did it together. It was a 600 meter swim, 13 mile bike ride and a 5K run. Whit stayed with me the whole time even though I'm sure she could have finished much faster. In some strange way I enjoyed myself, probably now more that I'm looking back on it than when I was actually completing it. But I kind of want to do another one in the Fall sometime. I guess it's good motivation to stay active.

In March my good friend and old roommate Heidi got married in San Diego. I'm not sure if I was more excited about getting a day off of work for the wedding or being a bridesmaid. But it was a beautiful day and a lot of fun.

Now that summer is coming I'm sure I'll have more excitement going on. My little strawberry plants are getting baby strawberries! I had a nice beach and tennis day last Saturday. Went to a Dodger's game this week (thanks to Jess who got tickets in the suite). Walked around the art galleries downtown at Artwalk.

Opposing Forces

2011-01-22T16:29:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been thinking a lot about how to balance out optimism and disappointment. I would consider myself a fairly optimistic person who tends to expect the best from myself and everyone around me. It takes repetitive offenses to really make me expect the worst from someone. But I've also noticed that I tend to stumble across disappointment frequently when people don't live up to my expectations or ideals. How do I balance out being optimistic about people and opportunities without then having the disappointment when things don't turn out? I don't feel like I should automatically have lower expectations. Maybe I need a better way to deal with disappointment. Food for my thoughts at least.

Good news

2011-01-22T16:27:00.000-08:00

Over the last 2 weeks I've helped interview a couple of therapists to work with me. And finally I found out on Friday that one of them has taken the job. She starts in 2 weeks!! I'm super excited to not be seeing 35-37 hours worth of kids every week now. The kids will probably be excited too because now I'll have more time to actually plan for my sessions. Everyone wins.

New Year

2011-01-18T21:04:00.000-08:00

The first couple of weeks of 2011 have not been wonderful to say the least.
-Flu
-Other OT quit so double my workload
-Terrible neck pain for 5 days
-Foot pain for a week and counting
But luckily I've been able to manage. I'm trying to be positive about work and changing my mindset about things. It's helped a lot. I did get a great holiday weekend in San Diego and Orange County with my parents and Laura. It was wonderful to just sit by the pool and soak up the sun. 70s and 80s in January is why it would be hard to leave LA. A day off of work and plenty of sunshine will make any week better. While my triathlon training is going to be postponed due to injury I'm going to make it to one this year. A couple of new therapists have been interviewed so hopefully work will slow down soon. And with any luck my flu shot will actually keep me from getting sick again. Bring it on 2011, it's gotta get better from here.

Catch up

2011-01-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm usually playing catch up on my blog. Somehow I just never manage to write things as they happen and then it slips my mind. But it's been an eventful last 6 weeks or so. I guess you'll get the quick version. We had our annual Greenfield Christmas party the first weekend in December. It was a success as always. We made hundreds of sugar cookies and had people decorating them in the kitchen and then we had a Christmas ornament making table in the living room.

Shana decorating her cookies.

All the Greenfield Girls

Sara couldn't stay away and decided to come back for the party. She ended up staying 20 days instead of 4. I guess we're pretty persuasive.

Our real Christmas tree. Love the smell.

Hundreds of cookies. Yes we had leftovers.

We had a ward activity down on Balboa Island at a beach house down there. It was lots of fun to look at the lights and walk around while peaking into everyone's houses because the USC vs. UCLA game was on.

It was Southern California freezing so we were all bundled up.

I got to go home for 10 days for Christmas. One of the perks of working at a school. We had great weather for the first 4 days (no rain) and then it still wasn't bad the rest of the time. We even got a little bit of snow. We made our usual gingerbread houses and went Christmas caroling. I also got to go to dinner with some old friends from high school. It was great to see them.

2010-11-27T20:43:00.000-08:00

Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard to get her poor dog a bone. When she got there, the cupboard was bare...

We decided to clean out our pantry before our new roommate, Ali, moved in. We had a spider infestation in the bottom of the pantry and needed to clean it out. So we put all of our food on the kitchen counters and went to work. We filled half of the dumpster with expired and disgusting food and then went to work putting it all back into the pantry. I think it's safe to say that should something happen we'd be set for food for at least a couple of weeks.

Now our pantry is sparkly clean and filled with wonderful food, just in time for Ali to move her stuff in!

St. George Vacation

2010-11-27T20:27:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I met up with some friends (Josh and Kellyanne) from Utah in St. George for the weekend. I unfortunately left on Friday afternoon and it took me 8 1/2 hours to get there due to horrid LA traffic. But I finally got there and it was a wonderful vacation weekend. We stayed in a "cabin" that was gigantic and had all the amenities possible. There was a pool, tennis court, 4-wheelers, etc. and I got to play some tennis, explore the grounds, eat a pomegranate straight off the tree, partake in a poolside BBQ, hang out in the hot tub after the freezing pool, and just relax in the beauty of nature. It was fun to meet some new people and just have a weekend away from life.

Halloween Murder Mystery

2010-11-27T20:20:00.001-08:00

The week before Halloween one of my friends hosted a murder mystery dinner. We were all dressed up as different storybook characters. I got to be Katherine from the Taming of the Shrew, the man hating, woman's rights activist. I only got a picture of all the girls, but it was a blast and I didn't even commit the murder in the end.

Engagement

2010-11-27T20:13:00.000-08:00

Nope it's not mine...My old roommate from the Missouri apartment, Heidi, got engaged a couple of weeks ago. Her fiance, Nate, told Shana and I that he was going to propose on a Wednesday night, the same day they went to Phantom of the Opera. So Shana and I met up with them in Hollywood at Bossa Nova for dessert to help them celebrate. Heidi didn't know that we were going to meet them so it was a nice surprise for her.

Downtown Light Festival

2010-11-27T20:04:00.000-08:00

In October I went with a few friends to a light festival Downtown. There were many different exhibits all made with different lights. Here are a few of my favorites.

Plus a beautiful view of the city buildings.

Thursday

2010-10-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I had the most unfortunate experience of participating in Thursday. Thursday turned out to be everything a day should not be. It is not yet Friday but you're so tired of the week that you wish it was. Work had actually been pretty good that week and I was feeling like things were going well. My last kid of the day has some feeding difficulties and so we're working on eating. I thought I was doing really well as she had eaten about 4 bite-sized pieces of chicken and was still eating more. Then all my hard work literally came back up. I'm not sure which is more disturbing, being puked on or it really not phasing me.
So after cleaning up and finishing up with her I got to come home. I walked in to the kitchen to see a note from Heather saying that she'd moved most of her stuff out and would be back some time to get the rest of it. She had told us the day before that she was moving next month, so it was a little bit of a surprise that she was gone. More stress ensues knowing that we'll have to find someone else to move in. And someone preferably not crazy, has a job, not an actress, is LDS and goes to church. So if you know of anyone looking for a place, we're still looking.
Then I look in the mail pile and pull out my credit card statement. As I start looking through it I notice about 20 entries for over $1000.00 in gas. Somehow I don't think I can use $1000 dollars in gas in one month or even in 6 months. So more stress. Called the credit card company who was very kind and said all the disputed charges would be removed and I would not have to worry about them. By this time Thursday had really taken a turn for the worst.
Thankfully Ali called and we decided that the best fix for Thursday was Yogurtland, which fixes everything. So after a wonderful heap of mango frozen yogurt and a couple of hours talking with Ali I decided to continue on to Friday and hope it all goes up from there.
So far my little throwing up girl has yet to throw up on me again and I've managed to get more food down her each time I've seen her! The housing situation is still up in the air, unfortunately. Police report made, new credit card number and all the charges removed has kind of taken care of that mess. And luckily Thursday hasn't been such a beast for the past two weeks.

Fall update

2010-10-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while but I've done some really fun stuff and wanted to at least post some pictures before it was way too late.

Jessica and I went to the Carrie Underwood concert with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Conference weekend. It was a lot of fun but I never knew that many women in LA owned cowboy boots. Pretty crazy. The effects were amazing. There were different backgrounds for each song that were projects on huge screens behind the set. She was really good live and it was just beautiful.

Back in June I bought myself tickets to see Phantom of the Opera. I'd always wanted to see it and it was coming to LA this Fall. So of course I didn't want to go by myself so I bought two tickets thinking it'd be easy to get a date for Phantom. Little did I know... After asking 3 guys and being turned down 3 times I asked my cousin who ended up being busy that night as well. So lucky Ali got to come with me. It was my first time at the Pantages theater which is beautiful! Great night, great company, an all around good time.

Last week Jessica's company had box seats for the LA Kings hockey team's opening game of the season. So I was lucky enough to tag along and experience my first time at the Staples Center and my first professional hockey game. It was a lot of fun. I don't know tons about hockey, but this was a good game and they ended up winning 3-1 which was a great way to open the season. Maybe there should be more trips to the Staples Center in my future!

Homecoming 2010

2010-09-29T17:33:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was the annual Los Angeles 1st vs. Santa Monica homecoming football game. We've started practicing in August and it all came to a head on Friday night. Due to a last minute change in the rules (or at least last minute to our ward) the girls got to play a whole lot more than we would have. We practiced 7 on 7 with 2 girls playing all the time but when we got to the game they told us it was 8 on 8 with 3 girls all the time. So I played corner the entire game since we only had 6 girls (3 for defense and 3 for offense). Sadly the outcome wasn't as good as last year with a 35-42 loss to Santa Monica. But we played well and I had a good time and I almost got an interception so I guess it was worth it. I'm just kind of sad now that we don't get to play football every week now. Jessica was my trusty photographer and here are some of the gems from the game.

Lobster Fest

2010-09-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night was Lobster Fest down in San Pedro. I've lived here >3 years and never been to San Pedro but figured it was as good as any reason to go there. John and I had taken Shana and Steve to the airport right after work and hung out at Borders for a couple of hours before heading off to Lobster Fest. I must say that 2 hours in a bookstore flew by. I found so many books that I need to read.
We met up with a bunch of friends at Lobster Fest around 8:00 and since we were all famished we went straight to the lobster dinners. I'd never had lobster before and the fact that they just gave you a plate with a whole lobster on it didn't really phase me. We got them cut open and then the feasting began. The lobster was really good.

The remnants of my lobster dinner

After enjoying our taste of lobster, there really isn't that much meat on a lobster, we walked around and checked out the scenery. It was really a lot like a small fair with food stands, carnival games/rides, plus some live music. Martha had head this band on the radio and we went over to check them out. It was pretty good. Can't remember the name of the band now, but the music was fine.
After checking things out a couple of people decided they wanted to go on the twisty carnival ride (a recipe for puke if you ask me). The rest of us just hung out by the ride watching them with disgust as our stomachs threatened to turn just from watching them. But they had music on and we had our own little dance party there in the middle of the rides, so it was all worth it.
After deciding we'd had enough of Lobster Fest, since there really wasn't that much there, we headed off to Marie Calendars which turned into IHOP which turned into Denny's for second dinner. Or dessert if you're like me. Fabulous night full of friends, food and fun.

Fragile: Handle with Care

2010-09-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

How ironic that the box on my desk read "Fragile Handle With Care" when that was exactly how I was feeling Sunday night. I guess it said that for the past year+ but I never noticed it until Sunday night. Sundays are always a Catch 22 for me. I love having a break from everyday life, getting a good pick-me-up at church, and hanging out with friends but most of the time I also have too much time to think about life and expectations and such. And somehow Sunday day always turns into Sunday night which equals the Sunday night blues aka I have to go to work the next day and start everything all over again. So from someone who doesn't hide my emotions well err on the side of caution when handling me while fragile.

Birthdays

2010-09-10T18:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend all but 3 of the Evans side of the family got together to celebrate Grandma's 85th birthday. It was a three or four day celebration. Friday night we all went to Farrell's down in Mission Viejo. David got the Volcano and ended up eating the whole thing plus his free ice cream sundae because it was his birthday. Aaron needed a little help making a pig out of himself by eating The Trough. But Steven was willing to help him out.

Saturday we all got together at Mike and Laurel's for a pool and pizza party. It was wonderfully hot and the pool felt great. I could have stayed out there on my little inflated raft forever, but managed to not get sunburned while being there. I caught a few minutes of college football between the pool and getting ready for the true birthday celebration. We all met up at Mimi's for dinner.
There were 27 of us there and it was a real party.

Only Catherine, Romney and Thomas were missing. After dinner we went back to the grandparent's house and did out "program". What Evans celebration would be complete without a program? or dessert?

Sunday was David's actual birthday and the Oregon part of my family flew home that morning. Sunday afternoon/evening we one of my favorite parts of family get togethers...hanging out around the dinner table and talking. Carolyn and I left to come up to LA that night.
Monday was Grandma's actual birthday. So Carolyn and I celebrated it by walking around the Promenade and Santa Monica Beach in the morning. Then we hit up LACMA and the La Brea Tar Pits in the afternoon.
Somehow during that day I did something to my foot and it's been sore since then. Not sure what I did but some seem to think it was from wearing flip flops all day. I guess we'll never know. But I sure hope it goes away soon. I actually wanted to come home and work out today, probably due to immense stress from figuring out my schedule at work for 2 hours today. And on that note, it's gonna be a horribly busy school year for me. Way too many kids to see. Hopefully I'll manage to stay sane, but if I don't you'll know what happened.

Fall is for Football

2010-09-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite seasons is now upon us...football season. I'm watching USC beat Hawaii right now and hoping they'll be able to hold it together this year. Saturdays will soon be graced with football, friends, and food. Now if only USC beats UCLA, BYU beats Utah and Oregon State beats Oregon it'll be a successful year for me. And of course LA1 needs to beat SM3 in our annual homecoming game here. 3 weeks of practice and we're looking pretty good!

P90X continued or again

2010-09-01T18:44:00.001-07:00

My good intentions with P90X were squashed quickly. After one day I didn't follow through...the first time. But this week I decided to rededicate myself and start over. So far I'm 2/2 this week. Heather and I have already planned on it for today, so that'll make me 3/3. I can say that yesterday I was supremely sore. But it felt really good to know that I could get through it. I'll let you know how abs and arms goes today. I'm afraid that's going to be the killer.

Exercise or the lack thereof

2010-08-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Shana and I made a goal at the beginning of the year to play tennis every week. Well that didn't really work out for several reasons. But this Monday she and I were supposed to play after FHE. It has been extra warm here lately and summer evenings seem to be finally here. The downside of this is that all the tennis courts were full when we got there. 9:00 on a Monday night and they were all full. It's a first for us. So we made a rather rash decision to go running. It's been months to years since either of us have seriously gone running, so I'm not sure where this idea came from. But we decided to run to our friend's house which was a little over a mile away with the thought that they could take us back to our car when we got there (we're not that into running). So we ran there and rang the buzzer...no one answered. Rang again, still no answer. Good thing Shana had brought her phone, for this very reason. We called them and they were grabbing some food at a place about a mile away. So we told them to wait there and we'd be right over. So a mile later after many positive affirmations we arrived at the restaurant looking rather hot and sweaty. Somehow our short mile run turned into 2.4 miles. But I'm proud of us because I honestly didn't think I could run that far. I guess our aspirations of doing a mini-triathlon aren't totally out of the question.
Tuesday morning I woke up feeling pretty good. Somehow I forgot that the second day after is always worse. So when I got home Heather convinced me to do P90X with her. We had planned on starting together but I used the excuse of going out of town to not start when she did. Cardio P90X at 4:00 in the afternoon on a hot day is not a good mix. We were both ridiculously hot by the end. But it was a strange satisfaction that we made it through. Now if I can only keep up the motivation to go on to day 2.
Today when I woke up I wasn't feeling quite so good. My muscles were yelling about the torture they had been put through the past couple of days. But I'm determined to torture them yet again today as we have football practice. I haven't quite decided if I'll run to practice yet though or do P90X when Heather gets home???

Family

2010-08-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

After not taking any pictures while I was home we decided to take one right before we left. So here's some of the family (minus Thomas-on a mission, Carolyn and Nathan-out of state, and me-taking the picture).

Kinda hard to get everyone smiling at the same time!

Oregon

2010-08-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

Between summer school and when school starts again in the fall I got a week off. Partly because no one else has this time off and I didn't want to go somewhere cool by myself I decided to come home to Oregon. Oregon in the summer is amazing. It's actually been hotter here the first couple of days than it's been in LA all summer. But it was a nice dry heat when I got off the plane and really it felt wonderful.
I've taken advantage of the heat and relaxed by the pool each day, kayaked the Santiam River (class I rapids!), gone sales tax-free shopping, eaten food picked straight from the garden (blackberries, blueberries, peas, beans, zucchini, tomatoes, etc.), made blackberry and banana chocolate chip ice cream, caught up with a few old friends and hung out with the family. John decided to come home this week too so it's been fun to see him as well.
It's been nice and relaxing to not think about work or anything else. Steven was kind enough to shut my arm in the truck door Monday so that's been a pain, literally. But other than that it's been a great vacation.

Hello Goodbye

2010-08-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

Red Velvet recently hit 80,000 miles and with that came a not completely unexpected set of problems. One night after tap class I went out to my car and it wouldn't start. After several phone conversations, some starter fluid, AAA guy banging on the gas tank it finally started. All was good until Friday night about midnight when it wouldn't start again. By that point I basically knew it was the fuel pump and wasn't all too happy. But since I was stressed enough with work and life at the moment I just couldn't add buying a new car into the mix. So I got the fuel pump replaced and had basically decided that I would just keep driving her until something else major went wrong. Well that next week when I was at the Keane concert I opened the trunk to get some blankets out and it wouldn't shut. This had happened before about a year ago and I had to get the trunk welded back together. So that was the last straw, Red Velvet had to go.

So the past few weeks I have been crazy busy at work, coming home and researching cars, test driving cars on the weekend. Finally it all paid off and I found my newest big ticket item, Martini, the 2009 Corolla. I don't usually name cars this quickly but while Jessica and I were sitting at the dealership the name just came. Some how we went from Red Velvet to Grey Goose Martini and the name just stuck. And since my Dad was running a crazy relay race the weekend I got my car I ended up doing the whole thing on my own (with Jessica's help).

So now I don't have to worry about if he's going to start, if the trunk is going to close, if there are any weird noises, or if the Velcro on the glove compartment is going to hold. It was a bittersweet goodbye to Red Velvet when I left her at the dealership, but I must say that I definitely moved up in the car world.

Concerts

2010-08-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks I've gone to a couple of concerts here. Keane and Ingrid Michaelson came to the Greek Theater a couple of weeks ago and a group of us went for a great summer concert. I think I liked Ingrid even more than Keane. She was such a good performer.

Then yesterday was the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach and I went down to spend the day in the sun. John, Shana and I drove down and parked many many blocks from the beach since it was so crowded. But we caught up with Heidi and Nate, watched some surfing right from the beach, caught some of the skateboarding competition, and then were mauled by mobs of people as we fought for what turned out to be great seats in the sand for the Weezer concert after it was all over. Surfing, swimsuits, concerts on the beach, can't get much better than that for a summer Saturday in California.

Stress

2010-07-28T17:07:00.001-07:00

Stress is the theme of my life right now. Hopefully in the coming weeks I'll have a little less stress and a little more time to let you know all that I've been doing. Until then, wish me luck.

Birthday!

2010-06-24T17:32:00.000-07:00

My birthday this year turned into a 4-day celebration. I hadn't even really planned on doing anything, but it just kinda happened that way. Thursday at work my office brought in cake. One of my little kids made me the cutest birthday cake too.

Thursday night I went to dinner with a few people at El Cholo.

The girls decided that watching the end of the NBA finals was better than sitting at the table with the rest of us.

Maybe that's why I like those girls so much. If it'd been college basketball I would have been right there with them. Yes the Lakers did win for me.
Friday night we had a rockin' party at my house. It was fun to see lots of friends I hadn't seen in a while! Sadly I forgot to get my camera out, so there's no footage from that night. Thanks girls for all the jewelry I got for my birthday!
Saturday I went down to Orange County to hang out with my dad who was in town for my grandparents 60th anniversary. We hit up the sporting goods store and did some birthday shopping. I now have a backpacking stove and a lantern to add to my other camping equipment. Time for a camping trip. After that we went to dinner and just hung out for the rest of the night.
Sunday we all got together for Father's Day and June birthdays. I was the only June birthday that was there from the family. Laurel made me a beautiful cake and dinner was amazing as well.

Camping chairs were also added to my camping equipment too. It was great to see the family and have a good healthy dose of medicine, politics and religion, the Evans family staple topics of conversation.

After 4 days of celebration I guess it's time to embrace being 26.

Happy Anniversary

2010-06-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

Today marks my three year anniversary of living in LA. It's hard to believe it's been that long. But it may be even harder to believe that I feel totally at home here. I'm not saying that I want to live here forever, because I don't, but somehow LA is home for now. Shana and I have a 5 year plan and I'm not even sure I'll make it 5 years here. This year has been filled with ups and downs much like every year. But I'd have to say that the good has outweighed the bad. I got to visit my sister in North Carolina; take several trips with friends to Pismo Beach, Palm Springs, San Francisco; attend my first Indian wedding, go to Disneyland for the first time in years, find a job...twice, try sushi for the first time, get my first pedicure, cut 10 inches off my hair, make some great new friends, attend a bachelorette party on the Queen Mary, attend several cousins' weddings, spend the 4th of July in the Huntington Beach brothel aka Heidi's apartment, finish my first crocheted patchwork quilt, get my picture in the Deseret News, go rock climbing outdoors for the first time, weave a May pole, make waffle cones and ice cream with my very own waffle cone maker and ice cream maker, and so much more. Here's to year three. On to year four!

Camping

2010-06-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went on a camping trip with the Santa Monica and Glendale wards. Heather, Shana and I drove up to Malibu after work on Friday to meet up at the campground. We set up camp. Friday night we hung out around the campfire and then headed off for a midnight hike and to go geocaching. We found one of the two that we looked for. It took some hiking through many bushes and tall grass, but it was fun. Then we came back and 11 of us played cards in one of the tents. Saturday morning I woke up with the sun. The Hobitat was a great tent for us...spacious, ventilated, kept the bugs out. I'm happy with my purchase. Then we headed off for a hike and rock climbing. It was the first time I'd ever climbed outside and I didn't make it up all that far. But it was fun. When everyone was done climbing we headed off to the beach to meet up with the rest of the group. Too bad it was June gloomy and not very warm. I ended up taking a nap on the beach in jeans and a sweatshirt. Could have been a better beach day, but it was still a fun camping trip.

Hello Hobitat

2010-06-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

The end of May marked REI's annual sale. Since I am a member of REI I got a nice 20% of any regular priced item coupon. Oh the things I could buy there. After already buying a nice camping pad that was on sale so I couldn't use my coupon I decided I needed to make another trip and use that coupon. I guess the marketing gimmick works on me! I have been wanting to buy a tent for a while and Memorial Day between tennis and the beach I made a trip to REI with Shana and Nick. Thanks to their help I was able to find my newest camping purchase...the Hobitat. No I didn't just purchase it for the cool name. No it's not small like a hobbit house, it's actually quite large, 6'3" to be exact. Yes I am super excited about it. My nice 4 man tent is going on it's maiden voyage when I go camping in Malibu this weekend. But feeling like a small child who has just gotten a new pair of shoes and wants to wear them to bed at night, I couldn't wait until then to set it up. It took up basically my whole living room. Had there been slightly more room I would have probably slept in it that night. But since I didn't want to take up the entire room I decided to take it down. Friday night=first night in the Hobitat.

Memorial Day

2010-06-02T19:14:00.001-07:00

I figured I'd better get to writing about my Memorial Day weekend or it'd never be done. It honestly was the best weekend. Just what I needed after last week. The start of the weekend wasn't the greatest though. My number one rule at work is never be the last person to leave. Several times I've come close, but until Friday I'd never broken that rule. Then Friday came along and the month of June the OT department (all 2 of us) were in charge of setting up this loft that the kids play in. Every other Friday the other OT there doesn't work, so this Friday it was just me setting up the loft. Needless to say, I was there until well past everyone else. But I'll take having that as the worst part of the weekend.

Saturday morning I slept in until 8:30ish and hit up the grocery store which was surprisingly empty for a Saturday. Then I met up with Shana and we headed down to Huntington Beach via Cafe Rio to meet up with Heidi. We took our Rio and headed to the beach to enjoy a scrumptious lunch and catch up on everything aka boys. We finally got to meet Heidi's new man, Nate. Yes Heidi, I do approve. Best of all he liked Shana and I too (I mean who wouldn't). We hung out at the beach for 3.5 hours and then headed to Nate's house for pizza and the Laker's game. It was quite a relaxing and fun evening just chatting with friends and new friends.

Sunday I didn't even have choir before church so I had a nice long morning to myself. We had a really good lesson on prayer and promptings in Relief Society. Church was just what I needed that day. I caught up with some old friends and met some new people after church and then headed off to the airport to pick Emily up. We hung out at her house for a while just chatting, picked Nick up from the airport, and then chatted some more. It was just a chill night catching up with friends.

Monday morning Shana, Nick, Tony and I went and played a great game of tennis. It'd been about a month since I played, but it was a pretty good game. Tony and I won the first set and then Tony and Shana won the second set. Guess Tony was the key to winning. Somehow I didn't think to put sunscreen on before playing tennis, so my shoulders got roasted. After tennis we decided that it was lunch time and hit up the Rio again (yes I did just go on Saturday). But it served a purpose, because REI is right next to the Rio, and I had my 20% of coupon that had to be used by Monday. So while we waited for Allana to meet up with us Shana, Nick and I kicked it at REI and I came out with a tent (pictures to come, it takes 2 people to set up and I'm home alone right now). I'm excited to try out the Hobitat in 2 weeks when I go camping! After lunch it was time to hit up the beach. Nick and I parked a ways from the beach and he had 2 longboards in his car, so we longboarded to the beach. Or I should really say he longboarded to the beach while I attempted to. It's been a while since I've been on a longboard. He pretty much ended up pushing me along the beach. It was there I realized that my sunburn was bad because a perfect stranger commented on how bad it was as we rode by. We met up with other people from the ward who were already at the beach and had a most relaxing time. Then to top off the whole weekend I met up with Martha, Kaliska, Allana, McKenzie, and Annita for alternate FHE at BJs. Mmmmm more pizza and pazookies. It was then I realized that I'd eaten the Rio and pizza twice this weekend. I guess that's just part of making it great.

Thanks to all those who have served our country so that I could enjoy such a wonderful place to live (and a day off doesn't hurt either). What a blessing to live in America.

My crafty side

2010-05-27T17:24:00.001-07:00

A couple of months ago I had this idea to take all the scraps of yarn I had and my roommates had and crochet a patchwork quilt. I made lots of granny squares and then just pieced it all together and used whatever random yarn I had. Yesterday I finally finished the border around it. Yes I realize that it's not perfectly rectangle and beautiful, but it's a bunch of scraps that now look better than they did 3 months ago. I rather like the finished product.

San Francisco

2010-05-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

Back in January or February Heidi, Shana and I had a planning pow wow and made all these plans to take trips and do fun things before Heidi graduated and leaves or doesn't leave us. Last weekend was the last of the vacations that we planned. At Christmastime my uncle Glen who lives up in the Bay Area told me I should bring some friends and come up for a weekend. So we took him up on it.

Friday night we met up after work and flew up to Oakland. After a pretty quick flight (but long enough for the guy in front of us to eves drop on our conversations and answer the questions we were asking several times) and we got in about 8:30. Since we had already eaten dinner Glen took us to Fenton's Creamery and we got some amazing ice cream. I had a blueberry cheesecake ice cream that was fantastic. And the servings were HUGE. But don't worry I ate all of mine.

Saturday we took our time getting ready and headed out to San Fran about 10:00. As is typical for the three of us, we hadn't planned a thing we were going to do during our vacation. My feelings are as long as we have a place to stay and some way to get around, we're good. Glen was nice enough to let us use his truck to get to the BART station. We took BART in and got off around this great statue.

Then we walked from Pier 1 all the way to Pier 39 for some delicious clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls for lunch. (I must be related to my Dad, he remembers every vacation we take by the food we ate) We watched the sea lions for a little while and even saw a few fights.

After that we rented bikes and rode through San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge and into Sausalito. It's quite a hilly ride and it was super windy. There was one place where we had to turn straight into the wind while we were riding on the bridge and I literally stopped moving because the wind was blowing so strong.

But despite the wind, it was a beautiful day and we had a great ride. In Sausalito we checked out the one and only ice cream place there, along with everyone else in the town. We stumbled across this photo gallery that was just amazing. It was from a photographer named Rodney Lough who's work is absolutely beautiful. Check out the website for amazing pictures www.rodneyloughjr.com

The last ferry back to Pier 39 left at 6:00 and we weren't about to ride 8 miles back in the wind, so we jumped on the ferry. We were all so tired that it was great to sit down for a half an hour while we rode back over. After we returned our bikes it was time for more food. We rode the cable car to Chinatown and found the first restaurant with a menu in English and went in.

Dinner was good and we were just cold and tired. After dinner we headed back to the BART and made out way home. It was quite a fun day.

Sunday we hit up the singles ward for Sacrament meeting since Glen is in the high council over that ward. Then we had a great salmon dinner and headed off. We stopped by the Oakland Temple before heading to the airport because Heidi had never seen it. it was a beautiful day and a great way to end the vacation.

And here are just a few other action shots from the weekend:

Anniversary

2010-05-16T19:39:00.001-07:00

It's been a year since I graduated from USC. And what a year it's been. I can't believe that it's been a year in some ways and in others it seems like forever ago I was taking tests and writing papers and wishing I could be done forever. I haven't reached the point that I'd want to go back to school right now, but it would be nice to be able to just skip work sometimes when I don't want to go. But when I look at my savings account going up and think of the fun things I've done since having a little more flexibility and income I can't complain too much. So here's to year one and may year two be even better!

May is My Month

2010-05-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

After finally getting off work Friday at 6:30 after being there for 11 hours I was beat and just tired of life. Then on my way home my check engine light went on. Oh Red Velvet, why must you fail me again? I got home and just wanted to take a break from life for a while. Too bad you can't really do that. So instead I watched the Lakers and the Jazz win their respective games and fell asleep at 10:00. I think that was the best thing for me to do. Usually when I feel like life is not going well it's because I don't feel in control and I really do like to be in control. But after a great night's sleep I woke up this morning and realized it was May. While I was lying in my bed looking at the May calendar picture of Bora Bora I decided that May is my month. 2010 hasn't been my year so far, but May is going to be my month.
Already is has begun to work out. I decided to check my gas cap just on the off chance that it was loose and that was why the check engine light was on. Good news, it was. No more check engine light. Hurray for May!

Youth Conference

2010-04-29T17:35:00.001-07:00

Yes I am a little old to be still going to Youth Conference. But I'm not still going, I'm going again. It has been weird to reach the age where I can be a leader for the youth. Sometimes I forget that I'm supposed to be an adult. This past weekend was our stake's Youth Conference. My roommate and one of my good friends are both in the stake Young Women's presidency so I got lucky enough to be invited to take place in Youth Conference this year. The theme was Be Strong and of a Good Courage.
After work on Friday I headed up to Camp Josepho with Emily and Nick to start our youth conference adventure. We met up with Martha, Jonathan, Jessica, Christy, Whitney, Wen-Chia and Shaun who were also youth group leaders. The kids started getting there and we all ate dinner together and came up with a group name. Wen-Chia and I were group leaders together and we had 10 kids (4 girls, 6 boys). I have to say that we had amazing kids. I never had any problem with my girls and they were just fun to be around and meshed well as a group. The kids came up with the name Neon Cheese for our group name because we technically were the gold group, but our wristbands were more of a neon yellow/green color.
After dinner we had a speaker, the illustrious Eric Smith, and then had a dance. I was full of energy for about the first half of the dance, and then the energy just died. I think all the group leaders felt about the same.

My girls were tired too by the end of the night so we all went to sleep pretty quickly. No one tried to sneak out of the cabin and everyone slept as well as we could in a cabin. Judging from other group leaders I had really great kids.
Saturday we had a great day of service projects and Youth Courage Olympics. We tied some quilts, made stress balls, and cards for kids in hospitals.

EZ showing her quilting skills

It was also Martha's birthday on Saturday so we celebrated with her.

After the service project it was time for the Youth Courage Olympics. We had a giant Twister game, capture the flag, balloon relay, and sponge relay. I had been talking up my group all day, especially to Whitney and Nick, so I'm glad we ended up pulling off a win. The sponge relay was the last event and it was Whitney and Nick's team versus my team and we pulled it off.

By the end of Saturday I was exhausted. Emily, Nick and I left early because we didn't have to stay for the testimony meeting. I came home and slept for 11 hours. I guess I really needed it. It was a great weekend though. It was nice just to get to know some of the youth in our stake.

Pismo Beach

2010-04-21T22:01:00.001-07:00

Last week was crazy busy at work. We had a new therapist start who is more experienced in the therapy part of the job, but I've been at the school for longer than she has so I felt like I was trying to do all my work and show her around and figure out scheduling and try and stay sane in the midst of it all. So all week I debated about whether or not I should go up to Pismo Beach for the weekend to a beach house with some friends. I really wanted to go but was just exhausted from work and stress and the rest. But I decided that if I didn't go I would just sit at home and get some stuff done but wish I had gone. So I decided just to do it.
Friday night I got home from work about 5:15 and met Autumn and Caitlin to drive up there. Traffic was horrible leaving LA. I think it took us a good 15 minutes to get from my house to the 405 freeway which is a total of 6 blocks. But once we got out of LA it wasn't too bad. It was pretty windy about sunset, at least that's what Autumn says to make us think it wasn't her driving! We got up to the beach house about 9:15 and met up with Whitney, Karen and Christy. Sadly Karen had to leave that night to come home to work. For it being a girls weekend we went to bed relatively early that night. But it might have been because we were getting up at 6:00 to hit the tide pools at low tide. But we did stay up late enough to watch a fascinating documentary, Black Hair. Who knew people spent so much money on their hair?
We had fun watching the sea anemones, starfish, crabs, dogs, and birds at the beach. There were only two falls and none of them resulted in people getting too wet. Caitlin decided that sleep was more fun than tide pools so it was just the four of us that went. It was such a peaceful morning with the sun rising that I think I should get up for beach sunrises more often. Probably won't happen though.
Another highlight of the weekend was candy salad. Yes it's just what it sounds like. You take all different kinds of candy (M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, etc.) and put them together in a bowl and just feast. Orange M&Ms, orange skittles, and orange reese's pieces look very similar.
Saturday we hit up three beaches and a farm and I fell in love with the Central Coast. I loved the little farm and farmer's market we stopped at. They had some amazing blueberries and cute little goats. Beach one was in the morning at the tide pools. Beach two was the farthest away. We packed up a picnic lunch and drove out to this beach I forget the name of. We hiked in to the beach and then had our picnic lunch quickly because it was super windy (our footprints were disappearing as we walked because it was so windy). But the coast was beautiful, the water was just so clean and frothy. But we decided that the wind was just too much. So we spent the afternoon at the beach house and walked out to the beach right by there for sunset. Jumping pictures (just like you love them Shana), cartwheels, sand fight were some of the highlights.
Sunday morning we had to make the drive back to LA. As we left and I got to see all the beautiful coastline and the farms and vineyards I thought to myself, why do I live in LA? If only I could settle down in a beautiful Central Coast town and have my land and my house and everything I want. But since it's never been my plan to settle down somewhere like that all alone, I guess I'll have to stay where the people are for now. But some day...

Diamonds in the Roughness

2010-04-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

If you couldn't tell from the work update the past few weeks have been kinda rough. Getting up early is not my friend and doing it every day just stinks. Plus by the time I get home from work I have several hours of daylight and no energy to enjoy it. But I've made myself work out a couple of times a week. And it hasn't been all drudgery the past month.

Last week my siblings had their Spring Break and my dad, Laura, and David made the trek from Oregon down here to visit. Well they really visited the extended family more than me because I was working. But Thursday night after work I drove down to Orange County to get together with everyone for a traditional dinner at Yen Ching. Yen Ching has to be one of the best Chinese places around. All the aunts and uncles and cousins who could make it were there plus my grandparents. It was a fun night. Being with my family somehow makes everything better. They're just great to hang out with, talk about medicine, politics and religion (the three Evans family staple topics of discussion) with and a lot of fun. After the festivities we all went back to the grandparents' house and did what we do best, talk about leaving while continue to talk for several hours. About the middle of the leaving process my grandma took me aside and told me that she had been cleaning out her closet and that she had come across a pamphlet she thought might be useful. She then handed me "Dear Abby: How To Be Popular" printed in 1983. The entire pamphlet is basically a how to be popular so people will date you booklet. It contains some of the following gems: Grooming and Healthy Habits, How Do You Dress?, The Friendly Personality, The Overly Friendly Personality, The Art of Conversation, Be an Upper Not a Downer, Shyness: The Number One Problem. And the wonderful summary at the end of the pamphlet which says

The key to being popular with both sexes is: Be kind. Be honest. Be tactful.

If you can't be beautiful be well-groomed, tastefully attired, and KEEP A SMILE ON YOUR FACE.

Be clean in body and mind.

If you're not a "brain", try harder. If you're not a great athlete, be a good sport.

Try to be a stand-out in something. If you can't dance, sing or play an instrument, be good company--a pleasure to have around.

Think for yourself, but respect the rules.

Be generous with kind words and affectionate gestures.

If you need help, ask God. If you don't need anything, thank God."

So from the mouth of Dear Abby you have it--all you need to be popular.

Long Awaited Work Update

2010-04-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

Ok so I promised a couple of weeks ago that I would update on the first week of work. Well I'm approaching the end of week four and that update has been long awaited (that is if anyone actually reads this). But due to the massive amount of work at work, I come home exhausted. Day one on the job I seriously wanted to never go back. I was completely overwhelmed because I was the only OT there, I have never worked in the school setting before and the OT office/gym was a disaster. I literally spent the first week organizing the department. I did not see any kids that first week. In hindsight this was a good way to ease me in because I got to know some of the kids from seeing them around the school and started to feel less freaked out by the whole experience. Plus now I everything that we have in the office. I'm still yet to really have good files on the kids because all the paperwork was strewn around the office in random boxes and files with no rhyme or reason. Hopefully my system of organization will do better than the previous one, if there was one.
Well week two came and I started seeing the little kiddos. For the most part I have just been seeing kids that are funded through the school district. I see them individually and in groups depending on the services they have been allotted. The individual sessions are usually pretty good. The group session tend to be a half an hour of me trying to corral 3-5 three-five year olds who do not want to/don't have the capacity to listen to my directions or complete some/any of the activities I have planned. By the end I feel exhausted and like I'm accomplishing nothing. Thankfully I usually only have 1-2 groups a day, except on Wednesday when I have 4. Wednesday tends to be a bad day. After seeing 8-15 little cherubs a day I then get to do what turns in to several hours of paperwork. Plus I get to do things like plan for the next day, try and learn about the kids I have, set up new goals for IEPs, and e-mail parents. I think I'm averaging 45-50 hours at work each week. No wonder when I get home I can't bring myself to try and learn more about the actual OT I'm supposed to be doing with them. I have all the good intentions of opening my books and learning, but it just doesn't happen. Maybe during Spring Break, oh wait I'm doing make-ups during the week of Spring Break.
I can't wait until after Spring Break when the other OT is starting and hopefully I'll have someone to ask questions to and someone who can take some of my kids! Hopefully she doesn't figure out that at least half the time I'm just making stuff up as I go!

Christening

2010-04-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

My wonderful 2003 Chevy Malibu has finally received a name. I've been trying to give her a name for several years, but finally a couple of weekends ago the name came while Martha, McKenzie and I were driving to a mini golf place in Sherman Oaks. Somehow out popped the name Red Velvet and I knew at once that her name had come. All the other names, none of which I currently remember, have stuck. But after 2 weeks Red Velvet is still going strong. Hopefully she'll continue to her strength for a good long while.

Sister Susie

2010-04-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

My little sister is all grown up. She had her first date to Winter Formal (yes I know that was a long time ago and this is old news but I just got the pictures). She got to experience Lebanon High School dances at their finest, which isn't too fine. But she had a good time and looked fabulous. Can't believe she'll be 17 in a few months. It seems like I was just 17.

Wounds

2010-03-15T16:45:00.001-07:00

I took pictures of my wound while I changed the bandaid and let it get some air. It looks pretty bad, but it only hurts when I stand or walk. Too bad I can't spend the rest of the week on the couch with my leg up and ice on it.

Girls Weekend in Palm Springs

2010-03-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago Shana, Heidi and I were lamenting the fact that Heidi is moving away after she graduates and planned a couple of girls weekends for before she leaves. This past weekend was our weekend in Palm Springs. We were originally planning on leaving on Friday night, but it was Ryan's karaoke birthday party that night so we decided to stay for it. The party was great and I did so much singing that I had much less voice by the end of the night. Due to a late night Friday night we didn't get off to an early start Saturday though.

We ended up leaving about 11:00 to drive out to Palm Springs. We actually ended up staying in Banning because there was a golf tournament in Palm Springs and all the hotels were full there. Shana and I drove out together and then Heidi drove as well because she was heading to Utah after this weekend. We met up at the hotel in Banning about 1:00 to check in and plan our weekend. Part of what made it a great weekend was that we didn't really plan much before we went. We had a place to stay and that was about it.

We drove in to Palm Springs and walked around the downtown area. We got some lunch at this Mexican place that was pretty good. It wasn't as warm as we thought it was going to be, so we decided not to spend time by the pool, but to go on a hike. We got to the base of the hike and the ranger told us that they weren't letting anyone out on the trail because it was past 3:00 and we wouldn't get back before it got dark. Lame.

The hike was out. So we did what any girls would do who saw a huge outlet mall on the way in...check it out. We spent a couple of hours there and found some great deals. We all tried to exercise self-restraint and were fairly successful. After a long shopping excursion we got some dinner and took it back to the hotel room, ate and then went out to the hot tub. For some reason our card wouldn't open the door, so rather than asking the hotel staff for help Shana just climbed over the fence and let us in. The hot tub was just what we needed and afterward we were so relaxed that we just chilled and fell asleep.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church in Desert Hot Springs. After church we were driving around and decided to take this little road out to see all these windmills.

We took some great pictures and changed out of our church clothes. Then we headed back to the hike we were going to take the day before. We got there and the person at the desk rudely informed us that it was going to be $12.50 per person to hike this 2 mile hike. We thought this was pretty steep and decided to take the free trail that was right by the other trail. We climbed up the hills and got a good view of Palm Springs. It really is amazing how many palm trees there are there. We were taking a bunch of pictures and we saw this rock that was above the trail. Shana said someone should go up there and we would take pictures. Heidi was wearing flip flops so she was out, so I volunteered to go up. I was climbing up the rock when all of a sudden the piece I was standing on decided it no longer wanted to be connected to the rest of the rock and took me down with it. I did a nice 360 turn as I was falling and landed on the trail, thankfully not falling down the rest of the mountain. But I ended up with scrapes on all of my limbs with my left lower leg taking the brunt of the fall. Combined with the soccer bruises from earlier this week, I kind of look like a mess. After that our hike was over and we hiked back down to the car and went to CVS to get something to clean my wounds with. Thankfully with some ice, ibuprofen, and bandages I'm as good as new.

After our hike it was time to part ways. Heidi went off to Utah and Shana and I drove out to Redlands to visit with my aunt and uncle and cousins. I didn't realize how close they were to Palm Springs. Next time we're totally staying in the guest house. It was so much fun just hanging out with family and friends out there. My aunt, always ready to play matchmaker, has all but set Shana up on a date with my cousin's friend. She even talked to him on the phone while we were there. It was just a end to a wonderful weekend. Now if only I can get the swelling to go down in my leg so I can walk normally again!

How long to build a habit?

2010-03-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

When I got laid off I decided that it would be the perfect time to re-start for the umpteenth time the habit of being more physically active. Somehow I always value sleep more than exercising in the morning. But being without a schedule for a month, I was actually pretty good at exercising 4-5 times a week. I think I actually slept better and just felt better because of it. Plus it gave me something to do every morning and kind of put me on a schedule. I'm trying to get myself to at least tolerate running and do some strength training and work on my flexibility as well.

But this week will be the test of my habit (is a month actually long enough to form a habit?). I already did away with the notion that I would wake up early enough to work out before going to work. I know myself way too well to even think that would work. But I get off work about 4:00 and then have lots of daylight left so my goal is to work out after work. Monday I got home from work about 4:25 and was just so excited to be done with the day that I couldn't wait to get out there and run. I walked a few blocks to warm up and then started running. I made it to the church (a mere .75 miles) when my shins were cramping unbearably. It wasn't shin splints, I'm very familiar with those, but just cramping. So I tried to walk it off and run again and after running about a block more just decided that I'd better walk home. I came home defeated.

After some good stretching and sitting on my couch doing nothing it was off to FHE where we played indoor soccer. I didn't really know what to expect with this because you never know with a church activity. But it was really fun and a workout. The first three goals we played linked up with one other person just to get everyone warmed up. Then it was an hour and a half of intense soccer playing. It made me really miss soccer and realize once again that I'd much rather get my exercise by participating in a sport than by going to the gym. It's just so much more fun. We played about 6 on 6 in the gym and I happened to be the token girl on my team for most of the game. Ruth-Ann (my church athletics buddy) and another girl were the female representatives on the other team. Soccer was just what I needed after a long day at work (more on the new job at the end of the week). I was completely exhausted by 9:30 and my legs were starting to cramp again (but I ignored them this time).

After such a successful Monday I woke up on Tuesday and thought my legs were never going to forgive me. My shins are a lovely shade of black and blue with a tinge of purple here and there. Note to self: wear shin guards next time you play soccer. Shana and I were supposed to play tennis Tuesday night, but she had something come up and in all honesty my legs were screaming at me so much that it probably was a good idea to give them a day off.

Wednesday...couldn't bring my legs to doing anything today. More will power for Thursday.

Camera

2010-03-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went and bought a new camera. I had a gift card at Radio Shack and didn't really have anything else that I wanted. And my trusty little camera is showing signs of aging (the lense doesn't close when you turn it off, the battery has a short in it, etc.) so it got replaced. Since you all know how much I love to post things when I have pictures, look forward to me posting more often as I get lots of use in with the new camrea!

Literary discovery

2010-03-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

"All that was needed was shrewd questioning, first of the patient and then of his mother, to conclude once again that the symptoms of love were the same as those of cholera."
-Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The beautiful imagery in this paragraph comparing the torments of unrequited love with that of cholera just stuck out to me. May I never have cholera.

Employment

2010-03-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

After a long month of resumes, interviews, phone calls, waiting, etc. I would like to finish my employment story. I think my last post I wrote I was in the waiting stage of things. Monday came and went and I had to call the hospital to ask them if I could have another day to think about things since the pediatric clinic was supposed to call on Tuesday. Tuesday morning comes and the clinic called and said that the person they were interviewing was sick and couldn't come in that day. So they rescheduled for Wednesday. I had to call the hospital again asking for another day. No one answered, so I just left a message letting them know I'd get back to them on Wednesday. The stress of job searching must have caught up with me because Tuesday afternoon I got that terrible aura that is the precursor for a migraine. The rest of the day was toast. I think I spent 100% of Tuesday afternoon/evening on the couch. But thankfully it wasn't a terrible one and I was able to sleep Tuesday night. Wednesday morning came and I got a phone call from the pediatric clinic in the morning saying that the person they were going to interview was sick still so they were just going to offer me the job still and hope that everything would work out so they could get someone else in there too to mentor me and just be an experienced OT. So I finally was able to figure things out and I start there on Monday. It's been a roller coaster of a month, but it looks like things are going up. Look for more updates once I start working!

Cafe Rio

2010-02-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-21T22:16:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-02-16T16:05:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-04T16:37:00.000-08:00

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.

Embrace the Unexpected

2010-01-26T19:18:00.001-08:00

January has not been my favorite month. I hope it's not a precursor of what 2010 is going to bring for me. Sure the beginning of the month wasn't too bad. I was sick for a while, had to go to a work conference 2 weekends, but got a 3 day weekend. But this week has been downright bad. I found out my grandma had a stroke last weekend. Thankfully she's ok and recovering nicely. And to top it all off I got the wonderful notice at work that Friday is my last day. Due to the wonderful mismanagement of California's money the state funding that supplied most of our kids at work is drastically cutting back and my employer no longer has the money to pay me. I can't say I'm that surprised. I have never been incredibly busy since I started, but kept hoping that the numbers would pick up. On Friday when the director asked if I was free to meet with her and the lady from HR on Monday I tried not to think too much about it. My three month probationary period ended last week and I wanted to make myself believe that we were just doing our review at the end of that. But I think deep down I already knew what they were going to say. So I guess it was good that I had some sort of mental preparation for Monday. But it didn't make it that much easier. I managed to hold it together while I was in the meeting but then when I had to go back to my office and tell my co-workers, I kind of lost it. Now I can't remember the last time I cried in front of anyone. For some reason it's just not something I do. But the tears came whether I wanted them to or not. But I pulled myself together and got through the rest of the day. Today as I had to start telling my kids that it was my last week it really started to become real. I don't have a full caseload right now, but I'm sure gonna miss my kiddos. They are just so cute. But I'm sure that life will turn out for the best. It always does. I guess that's what makes life interesting. So if anyone knows of any occupational therapy jobs (pediatrics ideally, but I'll consider other things right now) I'd love to know about them. At times like these I'm thankful for the perspective I have and also for my laid back temperament that allows me to not freak out. For now I guess I'll just embrace the unexpected and run where ever it takes me.

Holiday Weekends

2010-01-18T10:42:00.000-08:00

The best things about this three-day weekend:

~Pho with Martha, Emily and Nick on Friday night
~Beginning Ratatouille after dinner
~Tennis with Nick Friday night for 20 minutes because the lights turned off on us in the middle
~Tennis with Shana Saturday morning
~H1N1 flu shot (take that, immune system. I'm not getting sick with that.)
~Target with Allana and Martha where I bought some really cute new shoes
~Quaint little bakery on Westwood with Martha, Allana and Emily where I got a wonderful piece of cheesecake (the only thing it was missing was a graham cracker crust)
~Stake Conference Saturday night which I went to wearing Martha's clothes because I was too lazy to go the 8 blocks home and change into my own clothes. But I got to wear the new shoes!
~Watching the movie Leap Year with Shana, John, Dan, and Ruth-Ann (which is really quite slow and I would say is a rental, not a theater movie if you wanna see it) with only 10 other people in the theater. But we got in basically for free so it was worth it.
~Being so tired after the movie that Shana and I found everything hilarious and just laughed out loud in the street
~Stake Conference Sunday morning where we got to hear from the general authorities
~Hanging out with Jessica at home
~Talking with Mom (Dad hadn't made it home from church yet, so hard to catch on a Sunday now)
~Watching the Princess Bride at Martha, McKenzie and Allana's
~Playing Mario on the Wii with Martha, Nick, Emily and Brian
~Finishing Ratatouille
~Going running in the rain (yes I think I enjoy running more when it's raining, too bad it doesn't rain much in LA)
~Getting pizza with Allana (our government holiday tradition)
~Shopping (it wasn't quite as fun as it could have been because I was looking for something specific, which I didn't really find)

Wow that's quite a lot for one weekend. Maybe that's why it was so great.

2010-01-14T19:31:00.000-08:00

I've realized that I only post when I take pictures. Well I haven't taken any pictures lately, so I haven't written much. I looked at the calendar at work today and realized that January is half over. Where has it gone? The first week was spent just getting back into the swing of things. My much needed couple of days off left me not wanting to face reality again. But reality came and I guess is here to stay. I lost another roommate this month. Sara up and moved to Utah to live in the condo she bought there. I'm excited for her but sad for me. So for now it's just Jessica and I in the apartment which is kind of strange. I can't get too used to it though as we're getting new roommate(s). More updates when that is final. Some of the highlights of the past few weeks...the amazing weather that LA affords that allows me to play tennis at 9:00pm in 60 degree weather in January. Can't really beat that. I am going to play more this year. That falls into the Physical Activity category of my new year's resolutions. I actually made some this year, which I haven't done for several years. Half my weekends in January are/will be taken up by a Sensory Integration course that I'm taking for work. It's Friday-Sunday and then Saturday-Sunday two weeks later. I felt like I was in school again, but I actually didn't mind it. Maybe it was because I knew there wasn't going to be a test. Or maybe it was because I'd gotten so good at being a student that it was like coming back to a familiar role. Hopefully weekend two will be just as informative. January brought cold #4 since I started working at the pediatric clinic. Those kids are walking germs. Somehow the immune system is gonna need a boost because I'm not gonna make it through the winter if I'm constantly sick. Any tips? Well enough ramblings from me. I better find something to do on this fine Thursday night.

Danielle's Wedding

2010-01-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

The second weekend in December I went up to Sacramento for my cousin Danielle's wedding. My parents came down from Oregon, Grandma came from Utah, and Glen came up from the Bay Area and we all stayed at Dean's house. It was quite a party. I flew in late Friday night after work and my flight was late so it really was pretty late. When I got to Dean's house they had a wonderful dinner of grilled portabello mushrooms for me. They were amazing. The actual day of the wedding was pretty cold and rainy. The power even went off at the temple right before the wedding. But everything worked out Danielle and Russell got married. It was great to be able to see all the family and be there for her wedding. They had a reception after the wedding which was fun times seeing the family and eating wonderful food. After the reception we hung out at Dean's house and did some Christmas shopping. Dad, Dean, Glen and I hit up the Jelly Belly store there and had lots of fun. They let us have unlimited samples! I would avoid ones such as dog food and skunk spray (yes these are real Jelly Belly flavors now) but I would recommend Dr. Pepper, blackberry, and pear. Fun times with the family. I see a pattern in family gatherings, there is never a lack of good food. Sunday before we headed home we went to hear Brett, Danielle's brother, give a talk in church before he headed off to the Missionary Training Center to serve a mission for our church in Argentina. I'm glad we got to see him before he left. It was nice just to get out of LA and have a fun weekend with family as well.

Gingerbread House Pictures

2010-01-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

Steven made a BYU house with an Oregon State Beaver being hung over the pond to celebrate BYU's win over OSU in the Vegas Bowl.

Dad decided to make his house a reflection of the times and his was in foreclosure.

Glen's house.

Laura making her house.

David and his house.

Nathan surveying his house.

I decided to go with a Christmas color theme for my house this year.

Susan's house.

Steven making his house.

Dean's house.

Carolyn's house.

Mom's house

Laura's house.

Christmas

2009-12-30T15:57:00.000-08:00

To say I was ready for a vacation would be an extreme understatement. By the 23rd I was counting down the hours until I could be done with work and come home to pack. After 4 hours of sleep I got up at 3:30am on Christmas Eve and Jessica dropped me off at the airport (what a great roommate!) My uncles were flying in at the same time I was so I met up with them and my dad at the airport and was welcomed to Portland by the freezing air that rushes over the walkway to the parking garage. Ahhhh the fresh, brisk air of winter in the northwest. Somehow I always forget how cold it is up there in the winter. We hurried home by way of several stores, picking up last minute Santa goodies. When we got home we were greeted by a rush of not so small anymore children welcoming us home. Everyone was home this year except for Thomas who is on a mission in Colorado Springs.

One of my favorite family traditions is making gingerbread houses. My mom hand makes every gingerbread house and then we all get to decorate one. This year there were a total of 12 houses to be decorated, one for each of us. We spent Christmas Eve day decorating and eating way more candy than is good for anyone. Then that night we went Christmas caroling and delivered houses to friends in the area. It was absolutely freezing for this soft California girl, but it was a lot of fun. I got to see some people I haven't seen in a long time and just spend good time with my family. Here are some pictures of the houses we made. Everyone but David agreed to give theirs away. Maybe next year he'll be old enough to want to give his away!

***For some reason I can't upload my pictures right now, so look for gingerbread house pictures in the next post!

Christmas day was fun as usual. The kids got up at who knows what time, but I stayed in bed until 7:30 when David was just dying to be able to open his presents. Somehow I neglected to take any pictures on Christmas, so the gingerbread houses will have to do for now. It was nice to just be able to hang around the house and have fun with the family. We also go to talk to Thomas. We only got a few minutes each but it was great to say hi to him and see how he is doing. He's hanging in there right now. Thomas never says much, but it was fun to talk to him anyway. Mom delighted us the whole weekend with a gastronomical feast. She seriously is the best cook ever. Between the waffle cones, blueberry coffee cake, delicious ham dinner, berry and cherry pies, mouth watering soups and much much more it was a weekend of constant indulgence.

The rest of the weekend was spent around the house mostly. It was too cold for me to really want to do anything else. I could not have had a better time. It was so relaxing and fun just to hang out with the family. Monday came much too soon and I found myself packing again. This time I wanted nothing more than to not get on that airplane. But I finished packing and we headed up to Portland to see a few sights before my uncles and I headed back to reality. Somehow this year I wasn't excited to come back to LA like I usually am. Maybe I didn't spend enough time away from it or maybe I'm just not that excited about LA anymore. Only time will tell I guess. Even if it was only a few short days break it was great to get that time to see family and also remember the wonderful miracle that Christ's birth brought to each of us. It truly is a season to rejoice.

Christmas RSVP

2009-12-19T16:01:00.000-08:00

Most of the time I think of an RSVP as a courtesy to let someone know I'm coming to their event. Lately I have been RSVPing to events just to make myself go. I'm not one who will just blow off something I've said I'll do, so when I want to go to an event I'll RSVP as a way to make sure I go no matter how little I want to go at the time it happens. Take Friday...

Long day at work. I was going non-stop and then at 5:00 when I was finally finished with everything I needed to get done for the day I still had to plan for Saturday. Yep that's right, I worked on Saturday this week. By the time I got home on Friday night the last thing I wanted to do was go to a Christmas party. But since I had RSVPd that I was going, I forced myself to at least look somewhat presentable, found a white elephant gift, and Jessica and I trudged off to the Ohio House Christmas party. Both of us had agreed not to stay too long, but you all know how well that works once you get somewhere.

We walked into the Ohio House and were handed a playing card and told to keep it for later. We spotted two open chairs on the far side of the room and promptly sat down. The room was probably 3/4 full and people were talking and just hanging out. We started talking to this guy sitting next to us, Ted. Somehow the conversation turned to where our ancestors were from and Ted said he was part Mexican. Jessica surmised that he must have been from the American colonies down in Mexico because he didn't look 1% Mexican; she was right. So then of course we asked if he was related to any Calls (my family members that were in the Mexican colonies). And would you believe it, he is. I really think that in any large gathering of Mormons I will find someone related to me. We figured out that we are 3rd cousins (we have the same great-great grandparents--not sure if that really is 3rd cousins, but that's what someone said).

About this time everyone was getting settled and the white elephant gift exchange was about to begin. I had been kind of lame and looked in my bathroom and found some bubble bath and an exfoliating glove that had never been opened and figured that would be good enough. Little did I know, these people went all out on white elephant gifts. The way it worked was that each card we were given had a double and it was placed in a container and they were drawn at random to figure out which order we went in. We then proceeded to find ourselves a gift and sit on Santa's lap to tell him what we really wanted for Christmas since only a few lucky souls probably got anything they wanted that night. Then we were informed of the second function of the playing card. The red cards went to the girls and the black cards went to the boys. At random times during the gift exchange Santa would pull two cards and these lucky people would get to stand under the mistletoe and steal a Christmas kiss. Needless to say, this added a whole other aspect to the night. As the game unfolded there were quite the gifts...a guitar (sadly I didn't get this one), several snuggies, Obama chia-pet, pasta maker, massage gift certificates, and my personal favorite...a hamster. Yes a real live hamster complete with hamster ball and something that may have been food. I think I would have died had I picked that one. Jessica brought some butt enhancer shorts that someone had sent to her work and no one wanted. And the rule was that if you got an article of clothing as your gift you had to wear it for the rest of the night. Poor Darby, she picked that one.

Now you may be wondering, what happened with the mistletoe. Every time Santa would pick two people Jessica and I would look at each other just hoping it wouldn't be one of us. But as fate had it, near the beginning the Jack of Hearts, my lucky card, was called. I struck out on the first guy because he had a girlfriend, but the second one was none other than my long lost distant cousin Ted. We were all laughing over in my corner because they all knew that we were related. But being good sports we took our quick kiss under the mistletoe and that was that. I must say that I enjoyed the party just a smidge more after that was over because I knew my card would not be pulled again. Let's just say there were quite the kisses in the course of that evening. But I think it added to the festiveness of the night.

I came away with water globes (little glass globes that are tapered at the end and you put water in them and stick them in your plants and they gradually release water into the soil). Don't worry, I didn't know what they were either when I opened them up. But considering that I keep forgetting to water my lettuce and peas, maybe it was a present I could actually use. Jessica and I left about 11:30 having been thoroughly entertained. White elephant gifts, mistletoe, Santa, Christmas music, treats--how could you go wrong? So I guess I will continue RSVPing to make sure I don't miss out on all the fun there is to be had not sitting at home.

Housing

2009-12-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

My roommate and I are looking for 2 roommates. We have a shared room and a private room available. If you know of anyone looking for an apartment in the West LA area please send them my way. We would really like to fine someone ASAP.

Twilight Years

2009-12-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

Best video ever courtesy of Sara.

http://vimeo.com/8009598

Locked Out

2009-12-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

It's been over a year since I locked myself out of my apartment. But sadly that record was broken last night. I was sitting at home minding my own business, cooking up some food, when Shana called.

Shana: Hey have you eaten dinner?
Me: Nope, but I'm cooking something right now.
Shana: You're making dinner? (like it was something that never happens)
Me: Well I'm cooking up some potatoes, they're almost ready
Shana: Just potatoes?
Me: Well I hadn't thought that far ahead, I haven't been to the grocery store in several weeks (also something that's not unusual)
Shana: Well what if I stop and get something to go along with potatoes and come over?
Me: Sounds good, see you in a few.

A few minutes pass and the potatoes finish. I turned off the oven, but left them in there to keep warm. I warmed up some green beans as they were about the only thing I had that remotely went with potatoes and waited for Shana. The phone rang.

Shana: So I couldn't get to Boston Market to get some chicken you wanna just get some In-N-Out or something and then come back and eat it with your potatoes?
Me: Sure.
Shana: I'll be there in a minute I'm just around the corner.

I turn the stove off, thankfully, and grab my purse. It's freezing outside (45 is freezing for me now) so I waited inside for her. I saw her come around the corner and walked out the door, slowly shutting the door. Almost as soon as I shut the door I reached for my purse and felt the pocket where my keys live. It was empty. I got in Shana's car and laughingly said "So I just locked myself out of my apartment". No one else was home and judging from the hours my roommates keep, who knew when someone would be home. I texted Sara and Jessica to see when they would be home and then we hit In-N-Out. As we were in line there we realized that we would have no where to eat our food. So we called Daniel and headed to his house. Luckily Daniel and Jonathan were home. We shared our somewhat pathetic story and then proceeded to eat out dinner minus the food that was on the stove/in the oven at my apartment still. Shana had to leave right after we were done eating to meet up with her brother so she left me at their house. By this time I had talked to Sara and knew she wouldn't be home for a little while. So we all decided the best thing to do was to meet up with Heather at Starbucks for her birthday celebration and make the best of my vagabond situation. We had a great night of work stories from all (elementary school, radio station, occupational therapy clinic, Iraq, and the infertility clinic) And at 11:30 when I finally made it home after what I thought would be a 15 minute jaunt no one was worse for the wear...well except the potatoes. They weren't exactly edible after an extended stint in the oven/on the counter.

Greenfield Christmas Party 2009

2009-12-06T22:13:00.001-08:00

Before the madness began

It has become an annual tradition now for the Greenfield apartment to host a Christmas party. This year's decorating theme was little Christmas cakes (snowmen, Christmas trees, gingerbread men, snowflakes)I have been sick most of the week so I didn't do much of the cooking, but Sara and Jessica cooked away all day Saturday before the party while I watched football and took three naps to rest up for the evening. I wish I'd got a 4th nap in, but it just didn't happen. I did help out by taking care of the Christmas decorating which didn't require touching the food and getting everyone else sick. We put up our borrowed Christmas tree and all the decorations and lights we could. It's rather homey in here with the fireplace on and everything. Due to being sick it wasn't the best party I've ever been to, but it was still a good one. We had quite a few people and many fun cakes were decorated. There were lots of leftovers since we couldn't coerce many people into taking extra cakes home for themselves, but we took them to break-the-fast after church today and came home with an empty plate.

Disneyland

2009-12-06T21:58:00.000-08:00

Yeah I know I'm catching up, but I haven't really written much about my goings on for a while. I'll use the excuse that I've been working. Well this week it's been that I was sick. But hopefully that's on it's way out. In September Shana got us the hook-up with Disneyland. Gotta love advertising jobs! Shana, Heidi, McKenzie, Allana and I all went. I hadn't been to Disneyland in at least 5 years. The last time I went California Adventure had only one or two rides. So it's been a while. But I had a blast. We decided to hit California Adventure first since it closed earlier. After some coercion I was tricked into going on the Tower of Terror. Let me say my face is lying in the picture; I was terrified. But it was a good way to start off the day, I thought I could handle pretty much anything after that. I was also convinced to go on only the second upside down rollercoaster of my life. It was pretty fun. After hitting up California Adventure we went to Disneyland and got some overpriced lunch. Then we planned out attack for the rest of the day. Pirates of the Carribean, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn (we were in line for this ride when we got the updates that BYU had beaten Oklahoma who was ranked #3 at the time. There was much celebration in line.), Indiana Jones, Star Tours, Small World, and more. We ended our night on Space Mountain which ended up being the longest line we waited in that day at just over 50 minutes. Not too bad considering it was Labor Day weekend. We were all pretty tired by the end of the day. After treating ourselves to ice cream for dinner we headed home for a much needed good night's sleep.

Fall Football

2009-12-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about Fall is football. I was sad this year that since I'm no longer a student I don't have a student pass to USC football. But thanks to TV I have been able to keep up with lots of football. Not like USC was amazing this year or anything, but it was still fun to watch (most of the time). Heidi and I decided that we had to go to at least one game. Too bad we decided to go to the Stanford game. What a homecoming. We should have known from last year's Stanford game experience (see post from last year) that it was going to be an adventure. Since neither of us go to institute there anymore we couldn't park at the Institute building and since that's where we always parked we didn't know what a crazy thing it is to find parking within 20 blocks of USC on game day. We must have driven around for 45 minutes looking for some place to park. All the USC lots were full and they told us just to find street parking. We drove by this parking lot and were appaled that people paid $80 for parking.

Seriously, my tickets were half that. So we ended up driving to this neighborhood about 6 blocks away from the stadium and seeing a teenager on the street waving a flag for parking. Yep we ended up parking in someone's back yard. We were just praying that the car would still be there when we got back. Then we headed off to the game. It was a terrible game :( USC proceeded to lose miserably to Stanford. So we did get to a game, but it didn't have the greatest turn-out. At about 5 minutes left of the game when the 4th turnover happened we gave up (and I'm usually the one that sticks it out to the end). Thankfully our car was still there when we got back. And we actually had quite a good conversation with the people who's house we parked at. They were such a cute family. It almost made it worth it to pay them to park in their backyard.

Earlier in the Fall Heidi, Shana and I decided to drive down to San Diego for the BYU vs. SDSU game. We made a day of it and picked Heidi up in Orange County and drove down to San Diego. Traffic wasn't horrible so we got there in plenty of time. But when we got to the stadium they couldn't find our tickets at the ticket office. After going back and forth several times from the SDSU and BYU ticket people we finally figured out that they spelled Heidi's last name wrong and that's why we couldn't find them. Either that or we got Miss Maylor's tickets, whoever she is. It was a great game. We didn't really know where our seats were so we just decided to sit down on the second row right by the end zone because there was plenty of room. Besides the anoying SDSU fans right behind us, it was great. The most exciting part was right before half-time when BYU scored right next to our seats. Too bad we were in line for food and were watching it on the TV pointing to our seats and wishing we were sitting there. But after the game we got to high-five all the players as they came around and even made it into the Deseret News!
I'm kind of in the middle right above Heidi (the blonde girl that looks like she's touching the guy's helmet in the middle). Pretty cool. When we got in the car we decided it would be cool to blast the radio really loud and play our favorite Backstreet Boys songs as we were waiting to get out of the parking lot. Judging from the looks we got people liked it. Either that or the kids were too young to even know who the Backstreet Boys were. I mean, kids starting college now were born in the 90's. Can't believe that. Heidi was true to herself on the way home. Pumped with excitement after the game, she was ready to have fun. But not 5 minutes later we looked in the backseat and there was Heidi...fast asleep. Gotta love her!

Taco Soup Recipe

2009-11-11T09:50:00.000-08:00

After receiving so many compliments on the recipe at Break the Fast this month (I didn't even make the soup, it was just my recipe) I decided to share this yummy goodness with everyone.

Taco Soup

2 lbs. hamburger
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 16 oz. cans kidney beans
2 16 oz. cans corn
2 16 oz. can tomatoes
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
2 packages of taco seasoning
1 bag of tortilla chips

Brown the hamburger and onion together. Add all the other ingredients except for the chips. Heat until boiling. You can let it cook for as long as you want, but it is ready to eat as soon as it is warm. Sometimes I put it in the crock pot and just let it go all day (you might need to add just a little bit of water if you do this). Also sometimes I leave out the hamburger or add black beans with or instead of kidney beans. Most of the time I only use on package of taco seasoning. But just adjust it to taste. There's really no way to go wrong with it. Serve the soup over tortilla chips. You can top it with cheese, sour cream, salsa, whatever you want.

Winter Garden

2009-11-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

So I'm trying my hand at gardening again. I figured that since it doesn't ever really get cold here I could try and grow some cool weather crops, peas and lettuce. I'm tired to buying lettuce at the grocery store. So hopefully I will soon be growing it on my porch. I planted flowers a couple of weeks ago and had them out on the balcony and as soon as they started coming up something ate every single one of the shoots. I'm blaming it on the pesky squirrel that likes to hang out near my house. May my lettuce and peas have a better life than the flowers I planted.

First Week of the Rest of My Life

2009-10-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

It was with both excitement and some resignation that I began my first real full-time job this week. I was excited becasue I can finally put those 20 years of schooling to work and start making some money but on the other hand I get to do this for the rest of my life. During my not too horrendous but still long commute home I took some thinking time and I'm still not sure that I ever thought I would get here or really wanted to get here. Yeah I don't miss the homework or the tests or anything like that, but I will miss the long vacations and being able to just not go to class if you just don't have time or don't feel like it (not that I really did that much). But I guess it's time for me to be responsible and "grown up" now. I think it'll just take me a while to get used to not having the end of something in sight...end of semester, year, program, etc.

My first week on the job was pretty good. I was basically observing for the whole week. I have lots of experience with kids but not a lot of experience with sensory integration, the primary frame of reference used at this clinic. So I felt like a fieldwork student again as I was following the OTs around and trying to get used to everything. But the difference came on Friday afternoon when one of the OTs had to leave early and asked me if I would be comfortable taking her afternoon kids for her!! My first thought was "oh my goodness, it's my first week" but then I realized that I would have to jump in some time and it might as well be now. It helped that I was co-treating with another therapist from a different specialty though. So at least they knew the kids already. It went fine though. I'm not sure, actually I am sure that I didn't know completely what I was doing but the kids didn't have any major meltdowns and I think overall things went quite well. And after being informed earlier that day that my California license had gone through I could write my own daily notes on the kids and sign them with OTR/L and not need anyone to co-sign. I guess that really is the mark of being a working professional.

So the first week was a whirlwind of learning names, where things are, how to do everything and all that. But I'm beginning to remember some things and it should only get easier from here, I hope.

First Real Job

2009-10-13T12:07:00.001-07:00

This morning I accepted my first real OT job (actually my first real job of any kind, working for the attorney for 6 months after I graduated from BYU just wasn't real). Anyway I decided to work for the Child Development Institute in Woodland Hills. I will be primarily working with children ages 0-3 who need occupational therapy. I will also have some older kids as well. I guess I'll know better in a couple of weeks what it's all going to be like. But I'm glad to have a job. Since the commute won't be too bad I can stay in my apartment here which is great. I love living here and have great roommates (even if Danielle is getting married in December ;) Well that's my exciting news for the day, maybe for the week!

Mike and Zahra's Wedding

2009-10-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I got to experience my first Indian wedding. Mike and Zahra got married in the San Diego temple Friday morning, had the Indian portion of the festivities Friday night and then had a ring ceremony/reception on Saturday night too. It was quite a party. Friday morning was amazingly beautiful in San Diego.
Such a great day for a wedding. I would definitely recommend an Indian wedding reception for lots of fun. We had the Mendhi Friday afternoon which is where all the girls get together and talk and get henna done. The bride typically has her arms and legs done, but Zahra opted just to have her hands done. It can take up to 6 hours for the full bridal henna! Then all the boys joined us later for the Sangeet which was full of food and dancing. Mike was a good sport and did this awesome dance for Zahra. I wish I could have captured the whole thing on video. All the Indian clothing was so beautiful too. It was so colorful and really a celebration.

Saturday we went back for the ring ceremony and more partying.
Congrats Mike and Zahra!

Vacation

2009-10-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

After finishing up my fieldwork, work on the research study at USC, and taking my OT board exam I took off for Oregon for a much needed vacation. It was great to be home. I took in 4 soccer games which my siblings participated in. Susan, Steven and David each won a game and Susan tied another game.
It was nice to see them play. As I'm never home during the Fall I haven't seen them play in a while. As is typical I spent the whole time cold, but what can you expect after several years in Southern California? I've become a softy to the cold. I visited my old high school for a football game and was again thankful that I'm not there anymore. As is true to tradition they lost the game. After a week at home I flew off to North Carolina to visit Carolyn and Nate with my mom and Laura. It was a very fun trip. Our activities included:

Latta Plantation (old plantation house)

Downtown Asheville, NC (we spent out evening checking out the downtown and finally found somewhere to eat that wasn't a bar; quite a feat at 9:00 at night I guess)

The Biltmore House (largest privately owned home in America)

Mt. Mitchell (tallest mountain east of the Mississippi)
Blue Ridge Parkway (too bad the Fall colors weren't out too much yet)

Bennett Home (where the last peace talks of the Civil War took place)
Duke Homestead (where the whole tobacco thing was started)

Life and Science Museum (highlight being the butterfly room)
Raleigh capitol building (oldest capitol building in U.S.)

Raleigh History Museum

Raleigh Science Museum
Duke University (gardens and and the church were amazing)

It was a fun filled trip definitely packed with activities. But we had time to lounge around for a bit too. I even got a thunderstorm one night, much to the chagrin of those wanting to BBQ. But it stopped and we got to BBQ anyway. Seeing Carolyn and Nate was fun and it was great to explore a new part of the country. Tons of trees and so green. It was beautiful. But the humidity might get to you. It wasn't too bad while we were there but word on the street is it's pretty bad in July and August (yes there was a reason I didn't go in the summer)

Yes this is what our clothes are made out of. I got to see cotton growing on the bush for the first time! Pretty cool.

OTR

2009-10-06T17:20:00.001-07:00

I did it! While I was on vacation at home I got word that I passed the national exam I had to pass to become an official Occupational Therapist. Now I can actually have those letters after my name. I guess it was all worth it. The best part is knowing that I never have to take that test again!!! And now I just have to pay California some more money and I can be OTR/L (registered and licensed). Then I can actually get a job. All the formalities. And here I am 2 months after being finished with school and I can finally legally work. Hurray for paperwork!

Self Realization

2009-09-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

After several recent experiences I have realized something about myself...I don't do well when I feel like someone is pushing themselves on me. If someone tries too hard to make me like them or want to work for them or anything like that I pretty much always run the other way. I'm not sure if it's the challenge of proving myself to them or just thinking something is wrong if it's too easy or what. But something in me just wants to push back when the pressure is on.

Memories

2009-09-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

I had a flood of memories as I got in my car after church on Sunday. I was on my way to Orange County to celebrate September birthdays with the Evans side of the family. I had brought an apple with me to church and left it in the car so I would have something eat on the way. I bit into the apple and was carried back to the backyard in Challenge, CA where I grew up. We had dozens of apple trees and on any given late summer/early fall day I probably ate several apples picked right off the tree. This apple tasted exactly like one picked fresh off the tree. It amazes me the power that taste or smell can have in bringing back memories. Those were the good old days of romping around the forest as a child without any cares in the world. I wouldn't trade those days for anything.

Job Search

2009-09-08T16:58:00.000-07:00

I've decided that as hard as school is it's nothing compared to looking for a job. I hate looking for a job. Those dreaded words >1 year experience are not my friend. How in the world are you supposed to get experience in the type of setting you want to get experience in when no one will hire you because you don't have experience? Maybe I'm just going crazy and getting stressed out from way too much studying for the NBCOT exam (which I take tomorrow). I can't wait until that's over, but then it just leaves me all the time in the world to try and figure out what to do next. I can't wait until the job search is over.

New Hair

2009-09-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

I've had several pictures taken of my new haircut that look way better than the last one I put up. So courtesy of Shana here are a few more pictures of the new hairdo.

No I did not go blonde, that's just Heidi's hair posing as mine.

Ruth-Ann and I eating our homemade dessert sushi

Playing with sparklers at Dave's wedding reception

Shana and I took some jumping pictures at the beach.

Dave's wedding reception (John tried to sneak into our picture)

Dance party in Heidi's car on the way to eating Pho at midnight

Beach hair

More beach fun

Time for a change

2009-08-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

I can tell when it's time for me to get my hair cut (no the split ends don't even get me to cut it). It's time to get it cut when I just can't get myself to do anything with it anymore. Well I reached that point about a two weeks ago and started trying to find something to do with my hair and someone to do it. As luck would have it Kristen had just got her hair cut and she gave me the name of the person who does her hair. So instead of figuring out what I wanted to do I called and made an appointment before I could change my mind.
It had been a really long time since I had gone short and after weighing all the input everyone gave me I decided to chop it all off again. So here's a not so good picture of the short hair.

But I did get to donate my hair which was cool.

Weekend of Summer Magic

2009-08-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

I decided to be rather random this weekend and head off to camp in the Angeles National Forest with a few friends. It was weird because I didn't really do any of the planning. Christy and Autumn were the masterminds behind it all. Martha and Lindsay picked me up Friday night and we headed up to the campground where Christy, Autumn and Phil had already set up camp. We got in just in the for dinner! Christy found some huge marshmallows, like 4x a big as regular ones which turned out to be quite a treat. She also found a rad roaster at the dollar store. It was supposed to be for fish, but we used it for toast, hot dogs, and buns. It was a wonderful invention. After a wonderful evening around the campfire we decided to turn in. It was a rather warm night and we didn't put the rain fly on because it was just too hot. Well during the night it started raining, but not hard, so we had to make some midnight adjustments. But thankfully Christy's tent was waterproof and we had a nice sleep. It was still raining when we woke up in the morning. But we got up and started building a fire and soon it stopped raining. After a delicious camping breakfast of salsa scrambled eggs we decided to go on a hike. Christy's sister, her husband and their little boy came up in the morning. We went on a great little hike and then decided to turn around when it became a little too strenuous for some shins. Christy, Martha, Lindsay and I went back to the camp and played some cards for a while. Then some people took a nap and I did some studying for the boards for a little while. I think my favorite part of the trip was that we didn't have a clock. I didn't know what time it was and didn't care because it just didn't matter. Martha made friends with a honey bee. It decided to crawl up her arm and wouldn't leave her alone. Then it crawled down her shirt. But thankfully it wasn't in the stinging mood. As soon as the bee was out of her shirt Martha went and hid in the tent to give him time to find a new love before coming out. We had a nice and relaxing afternoon and then just watched and sunset and ate dinner. It was another wonderful night of relaxing around the fire. It was much cooler Saturday night which was great because it was clear skys and we could see all the stars. Sunday morning we got up about 7:00, ate breakfast and then headed back down to the city so we could make it to church on time. This weekend was just what I needed after a rather stressful week. I think I need a weekend away in nature about once a month.

Adios escuela

2009-08-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

It is with some mixed feelings that I formally end my education at USC. Friday was my last day of fieldwork and thus my last day as a USC student. It's amazing how quickly this time has gone by. It seems like just a couple of months ago I moved to LA without a clue what I was doing. These past two years have been good to me. Now I just wish the same for the next. Somehow I thought I would have more time once fieldwork was over, but considering that I'm still employed by USC for one more week, excess time has not materialized yet. Or maybe once I have taken my boards I will have extra time since I will no longer have to study for them. On second thought I'm hoping to find a job by the time I take the boards which will end up taking up lots of time. So I guess this wonder known as free time will continue to evade me.

Snippet from a "normal" week

2009-07-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

As my fieldwork approaches an end (only 2 weeks left) it seems appropriate to give an example of what life has been like this summer for me. We'll take this last week for the example.

THURSDAY:
Get up, go walking, read scriptures, get ready for work. Spend the rest of the time I had left before I go to work studying for the Occupational Therapy boards I have to take in September. Catch the bus about noon and go to work. Work until about 6:30 with the cutest kids ever. They really are so much fun to work with. And the therapists I work with are amazing as well. Get home in time to grab my stuff and head off to the temple. I got there early which was good since there were probably about 100 people there to do baptisms. It's great to see the temple so busy. After a great time at the temple head over to Allana's to drop off some much needed cookies to her. Talks with Allana and McKenzie for a while until I convince myself it's time to go home and go to sleep.

FRIDAY:
Wake up about 7:00, make sure car is moved to Josh and Jeff's garage so I don't get a parking ticket for street cleaning. Get ready and leave for work at the clinic so I can be there in time to plan for our Friday Summer Camp from 10-1. Continue working until about 6:30 with enough time to snatch lunch bites between patients. Come home, meet Shana, grab dinner and take her to the airport. Come home and decompress on the couch before I attempt to go to sleep.

SATURDAY:
Wake up early enough that I can go walking and not roast to death in the heat, before 8:00. Shower and take off for Orange County to go to Mike and Laurel's house for Jeremy's 2nd birthday party. Spend several hours there catching up with the family and eating way too much food. Plus partaking of a cake made in the shape of a tractor. Laurel does amazing things with cake. About 3:30 decide I'd better come home and get caught in traffic on the 405 because there is a brush fire right off the freeway near Long Beach. By 5:00 make it home. Start getting ready for the film festival ward activity with Santa Monica ward. Michelle calls to say that they need help getting everything ready so it will be done by the time everyone gets there. Quickly finish getting ready and head to the church. Help put up a film strip representing the movie Vertigo and then partake of the 18 wonderful films that were made by members of our wards. It was a wonderful activity. After it was over I jumped in the car and went to the store to buy food for the birthday dinner that was happening the next day.

SUNDAY:
Wake up, write Thomas his weekly e-mail, read the lessons for church, get ready for church, make cake for the birthday dinner, head to church. Wait for 15 minutes until they let us in to ward council. After ward council have our fellowshipping committee meeting in the hallway since there are no empty rooms in the church at that time. Then it was finally time for church. Found out we had a new committee member!!! Hurray for that. After church it was time to put the cakes out for munch and mingle. I took off a little early to head home in time to grab the food fo the birthday dinner and head to the bishop's house to make dinner before all the birthday people got there. The rest of the committe caught up with me after munch and mingle was cleaned up. We had a great birthday dinner at the bishop's house for the July birthdays. Seriously, people don't know what they're missing out on when they don't come on their birthday month. About 9:00 I made it home. Ahhhh relaxation.

MONDAY:
Leave by 7:00 so I can get to work at USC by 7:30 so I can leave work by 3:30. Since my clinic isn't open on Mondays I decided to keep working at USC through the summer. Can't have a day off in the week. Wouldn't know what to do with that. Plus a little money coming in is good. Didn't actually leave work until 3:45 so I had to race home and fight traffic but got here at 4:25. Run in and throw on a dress to be ready when Eric picked me up at 4:30 to go to Chelsea and Jonathan's wedding reception. The reception was so much fun. My friend Chelsea from BYU married Jonathan, my friend Eric from LA's little brother. I had a great time seeing Chelsea and meeting Eric's family too. Everyone was so nice. It was one of those receptions where you could just tell everyone was happy. It made me feel like this is what marriage is supposed to be like. A great night. We got home about 11:00, just in time to go to sleep.

TUESDAY:
Wake up early enough to get to work by 9:30. Work until 6:45 and then worry that I'm not gonna get home in time for knitting group. Get home at 7:15 and still have 15 minutes to eat dinner before people start getting here for knitting group. Had a great time with Emily, Allana and Whitney crocheting and knitting away for an hour or so. It was actually relaxing! Try to get ready for bed early enough to catch up on my journal before catching some restless sleep due to the current temperature increase this week.

WEDNESDAY:
Somehow the middle of the week tends to be the most relaxing. I didn't have to work until 2:00 and spent the morning exercising, reading, studying, talking to mom and looking for jobs. Somehow looking for jobs takes up way too much time. Can't wait until that is over. Went to work and had a really short day which was nice. Made it home with all the good intentions of studying for the boards. Ended up making dinner (yay!) and then spending way too long signing up to take the boards and figure out my timeline for the next few months until I will hopefully, fingers crossed, be working as a registered and licensed occupational therapist! After that it was too late to start studying for the boards, so I opened up a little family history and tried to piece together several files that needed merging. And thanks to Allana's help I think I figured out how to do it. Amanda and I caught up for a couple of minutes before deciding it was bed time.

Phew! What a week. And I wonder how I ever fit school into this schedule? I've come to the conclusion that life just fills up whatever time you have so plan accordingly...there will never be spare time.

Frat House 4th of July

2009-07-23T22:04:00.001-07:00

I decided to branch out this year and try something new for 4th of July. I always have fun at Carol and Brads with the family BBQ and fireworks in the street. This year Shana and I decided to make a trip down to Huntington Beach to stay with Heidi for the weekend. She warned us that we needed to get there at least the night before in order to find a parking spot anywhere near her place which is conveniently located a few blocks from the beach. So neither of us had to work on Friday but due to extraneous circumstances we didn't head down to HB until about 5:00. Yeah the traffic was bad and we didn't really know where we were going and went several exits past where we were supposed to get off, but it didn't take us all that long. I guess everyone had exited LA the night before when we were stuck in traffic for an hour going from Olympic and 14th to Shana's house after playing tennis.

We get to Heidi's house and end up parking a couple of blocks away. As we were carrying our stuff in we were trying to remember what number Heidi lived in. When we passed what turned out to be Heidi's neighbor she said "it's the next one down" like she had been directing traffic there all day. That should have been an omen for the rest of the weekend. Heidi's entryway was strewn with bags, clothing, and other weekend accessories. We decided to grab some dinner before heading to an open mic night on someone's front lawn a couple of blocks away. So we, along with half the city, went to Chronic Taco and got some food. Ryan met up with us there and then we headed to the open mic night. It was an enjoyable time of people watching and listening to the guy behind us shamelessly flirting with Heidi just waiting for him to get her number. Don't worry, he did. Ahh the OC party scene. After we'd had enough of that we headed back to Heidi's place and wanted to go in the hot tub, but sadly it was 86 degrees. Not nearly hot enough and only warming up at a rate of 1-2 degrees an hour. The frat house look was becoming complete by the time we got back there that night. There were air mattresses in the living room, extra blankets and pillows strewn all over the house. We found out the next day that a grand total os 33 people were staying in her house that weekend. Our air mattress barely fit between Heidi's bed and the bathroom door in Heidi's room. But I guess it could have been worse, we could have been sleeping in the bedroom next door with something like 8 people in it. I think that half the state of Arizona and Utah were staying there that night, or at least visiting.

Saturday morning we got up and put our beach stuff on and headed to Main Street for the 4th of July parade. It was a lot of fun and I only managed to get my feet sunburned at this time (not so luck in the latter part of the day). Some guys in Heidi's ward have a house on Main and so all the young single adults in the state of California were watching the parade from their house. It felt like we were part of the parade because there were probably 20 people sitting on the roof of the house and every time a new float/group went by in the parade inevitably one person would start jabbing another person and pointing to the roof. The people in the parade were taking pictures of us! After about 2 hours of parade we decided to hit the beach. We walked down there and layed out for a while. Shana and Ryan decided to go meet up with some other people but Heidi and I just stayed on the beach for about 3.5 hours. I thought that I had put a sufficient amount of sunscreen on, but somehow the top 3-4 inches of the back of my thigh region was insufficiently lathered. By about 3:00 the wind had kicked up and we were all freezing. So we decided to head back up to Heidi's and hit the hot tub. Let me tell you, sunburned legs in a hot tub, not a good mix. After hot tubbing for a while and getting cleaned up we headed out for some dinner before watching the fireworks from the beach. We ended up just getting Jamba Juice because the lines were too long everywhere else. The fireworks were great. Sadly I didn't bring my camera with me because the shutter is stuck open and I didn't want to get sand in it and destroy it permanently. So my blog posts may include fewer pictures from now on, or I just might not post as often. Oops. Heidi had made the mistake of wearing very cute, but incredibly uncomfortable shoes and had a large blister forming on her foot. We were all tired and decided to skip out on the dance party of the century later that evening and just crash in Heidi's room. It was nice and relaxing.

Sunday morning we got up bright and early so I could get back to LA and make enough pasta, potato, and green salad to feed the ward since it was break the fast and very few people had signed up. So I cooked for about 3 hours and then got in the shower 30 minutes before I was supposed to be at church. Somehow I still made it on time and in a dress. Mad skills I tell you. By the time church was over I decided I needed a vacation from my vacation. But it was great weekend. It made me appreciate that I don't live with 7 other girls or have 32 other people staying at my house at any random time or have to keep my bedroom door locked for fear that my belonging will go missing. Heck I don't even think my bedroom door has a lock, never looked.

Chivalry

2009-07-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

I know it's been almost a month since I've posted on here and I promise there's stuff I could write, but time to write has been lacking lately. But I had some thoughts while on the bus on the way home from work today (it's actually a good place to think). I got on the bus and it was rather crowded as it usually is at 5:00ish any day. This nice guy probably about 19-20 was sitting down and as I stood next to him he looked up and asked if I wanted his seat. My first reaction was to say no don't worry about it. But then I accepted. I've decided that at times we think chivalry is dead because we as women don't allow it. But really I'm not less of a person because I decided to sit down in a seat that was offered, or let my friend open the door for me or anything else like that. So I learned my lesson that I need to allow myself to accept the niceties other people offer to me.

Link to 1st puppet video

2009-06-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Here's the link for puppet video that was made.

http://www.youtube.com/californiaysa

Making Puppets

2009-06-27T09:58:00.001-07:00

This week one of my friends called me and said she needed some help with a project for the young single adult conference. She had been asked to make some sock puppets for a video they are making about the conference. She didn't wasn't able to make the puppets they needed before she headed off to Hawaii for a couple of weeks and so needed someone to finish them. So of course I said yes, because let's face it when do I ever say no to things, and started brain storming for the puppets.

So a little background on the conference is probably needed to make this all make sense. This summer all the young single adults in the state of California are participating in a statewide YSA Conference with a theme surrounding the temple. As part of this conference we have been asked to make videos and other things to promote and document what's going on as we lead up to the conference this summer. So a couple of people in the Santa Monica ward got together to make a movie and needed puppets representing people from each of the temple districts in the state. There are 7 temples: Sacramento, Fresno, Oakland, Los Angeles, Redlands, Newport Beach, and San Diego. So I made puppets for each one and then an announcer puppet for the movie they are doing. Acknowledgment needs to go to Jessica as well because she helped design/decorate the puppets as well. They're filming today so I'm not sure what it's gonna be like, but we'll see what happens. Here are some pictures of the puppets.

The announcer (Chet) with his microphone and slicked back hair

San Diego: sunburned surfer dude

Sacramento: Arnold style with muscles you may or may not be able to see in this picture

Redlands: The Inland Emperor

Oakland: Hippie recycle girl (yes the very shiny pendant is a recycling sign)

Newport Beach: Matching bag, sunglasses, and eye shadow

Los Angeles: Film maker (wish you could see the beret better but it's hiding in the dark background)

Fresno: Not sure what to call her, but she'll be excited to come too

I'm sure they'll put the video up on a website somewhere so when I get the link for that I'll post it so you can check out how it all came together. I must admit it was rather fun to take my creative side out for a little while. That side gets neglected I'm afraid. So even though it was a daunting task at first I had a great time making these.