reunited and it feels so good

This is an entry I never would have expected myself to write. I was born and raised in northern California and was always proud of my roots. I thought nor cal was hella tight! :) During my college years in southern California I always looked forward to trips home. Northern California was where my heart was, my home, I felt like I belonged here. And here I am, packing to go back down south for a wedding and could not be more giddy. I have been counting down the days for so long and can’t wait to be in that smoggy part of the state. So I thought I would compile a few reasons of why I miss my beloved so cal so much

1. You can reach just about any freeway in less than 3 minutes. Up here it’s weird to think of travel time including the 15 minutes it takes you to actually get on that on ramp. Where within a few turns of where you down south, you have so many ramps to choose from!!

2. Things are open past 9:00. It is weird to have to plan things out depending on when they close. Unless I want to drive 20 minutes downtown to find places that realize they need to be open past 9:00. This does not help my already grandma like tendencies of wanting to go sleep at 9, now there is really no reason not to because nothing is open.

3. You are 45 minutes away from anything!!! Back at school, I could be in Pasadena in 20, LA in 45, Disneyland in 30, the beach or the snow in like an hour. I had so many options of places to go!! Now unless I want to drive a few hours out to the bay area, I don’t have that many choices.

4. Mexican Food. Its my favorite and during school I fell in love with many little places and up here have not found a replacement.  One of the first things I want to do is go to Max’s, get a chicken tostada and the best margarita you will ever have!

5. The sunsets in southern California are beautiful. Ya the smog is gross and there is too much but it really preserves those colors in the sky and make it just jaw droppin gorgeous.  

6. The fun things to do, you can choose from hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer of different teams to go watch. You have like 3 amusements parks close. You can get in to watch almost any television show and can get back in prizes from the Price is Right or if you are one of the few lucky ones that gets on Ellen’s 12 Days of Giveaways.

7. And of course the amazing support system I have down there. I still have so many friends down there who I am so excited to visit with, I just hope I can make enough time to see them all!! 

"just a morning workout"

     My dad is one of the most disciplined people I know. Whether it is finishing each computer engineering type work project to the highest standards to ensuring everyone enjoys the Make-A-Wish fundraiser he co-chairs, to getting to the airport in less than half the time it should take, if Michael puts his mind to it, it is going to happen. The past 5-10 years he has taken his health very seriously. He nixed all carbs, all sugars, and started working out more, going to the gym, and got his own trainer.
    Last November he put it on himself to really start putting in the miles. Started with 10Ks, then a half marathon and switching it up between those. He decided he should put all this hard work to use and signed up for the California International Marathon. He trained so much, running about 6 miles before work during the week, then doing the long runs on the weekend, working up to 20 miles, over months and months. He went through many experiments of what to eat before/during/after runs, what hydration system works best for him, and what tech shirt and short/pant combo worked best. And before we knew it, it was Dec 3, the day before the marathon.
     We woke up early to go get him to the drop off point by 0630. I had it all planned out, mom and I were going to say hi to him at mile 4, 13 (half point), 20 (the wall), and then the finish. It was gonna be perfect. We knew his pace, the start time, and knew when we needed and how to get to those parts. Little did we know that dad's watch broke so he couldnt time himself and just went for it! Dad had been training at a 12 min pace but was running at a 10! Luckily we got to mile 4 early so we got there right when he was zooming by! We gave a quick shout then quickly jetted off to our next stop. Thank goodness since we saw him then so we got to keep up with the pace. We saw him at each stop after that. My favorite was at mile 20 where it is supposed to be the hardest and he had a smile on his face and simply said, "Hey I just got my regular morning workout left! Only 6 miles left!" Granted he did not as smiley when we saw him 6 miles later, and had slowed down a bit, but he made it within his goal. He finished the marathon in less than 5 hours and thirty minutes and ran the whole time.
     This is just another time where I get to be so proud of my dad. He is so determined and disciplined and never once doubted that he could do it. He put in the time, the effort, and it all paid off. I hope that i can be like my dad in this way. Probably not running, since we all know i have never been one for exercise :) but in regards to determination I want the kind he has. The discipline he has and then the confidence he has in himself to follow it up. Now dad is still trying to recover his sore muscles, but walking is getting easier, and he can look at his medal hanging off of our christmas tree. Here are some pics from the day!! 

this is dad at mile 13, the half way point. Running in his got wine shirt is a must :)

Dad's response to the wall, "hey, just my morning workout left!" take that wall!

coming in for the final stretch, the finish line is just around the corner!

And the day before the marathon we transformed the house into our christmas wonderland. We hung the lights, got our tree, and set up all the decorations. Here is a little look at our front lawn.

Inflatable Christmas decorations for our household are a must!

And lastly a little plug for all the work dad puts into for Make-A-Wish: http://sacnortheast.wish.org/

10 things i L.O.V.E about fall

(In no particular order)

1. Scarves - I love scarves and am that girl that tries to pull them off even in summer. So when it gets colder and all of the super cute scarves come out I get so excited!

2. Crunchy Colorful Leaves - Even in high school as I walked home from school I would go out of my way to step on any and every leaf…years later that still has not changed. And I love the vibrant colors the leaves turn into and the flipping scientific process that is behind it and how God created that to happen...seriously, how could you not be in awe of that. (Yes I am a bit of a geek I know)

3. THANKSGIVING - No explanation needed

4. Pumpkins – From the carving and decorating that can start in October to how every food item involves the flavor from pumpkin muffins to seasonal pumpkin beer.

5. Weather - It gets colder, windier, even rainier and it is the perfect weather for fire, tea, and layering/bundling up in comfy clothes. Sweaters, jackets, boots, etc. Perfect hood weather also, I love any clothing item with a good hood and pockets.

6. No Shave November - it gets colder, therefore I get to wear pants/tights more often, don’t have to be such a stickler in the shaving legs department, great time saver :)

7. Smells - Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and other delicious spices sneak there way into foods and desserts and make the home smell amazing! Not to mention the great candle scents that are released during this season.

8. TV Shows – They start up again and start to really wheel you in before they take their extended break for the holiday season. Example, Grey’s is so intense right now and am already going through withdrawals just because it’s not on tonight.

9. Fall Back – Gaining an extra hour of sleep for Daylight Savings, what is not to like about this!

10. And of course that this is just one more step before Christmas time :)

A Shout Out for Teachers

Alright, sorry about the lack of entries, I have actually been pretty busy the last week. Growing up, I had quite the number friends with teachers as parents. And now as I have grown up I have friends that are teachers as well. I have always had a huge respect for teachers because they do so much. Being in a classroom with 30 children for 7 hours a day, then having the time to stay after and grade papers, sort through assignments, create the lesson plan for the next day, and decorate the classroom with the students beautiful artwork. This week I got a small glimpse of what that like would be like.

My close friend’s mom has been a teacher at an elementary school for as long as I can remember. She has taught different grades and has seemed to love everyone. Since I have so much time on my hands now, due to the lack of unemployment :), she asked if I could come and help in her classroom. She had me hang up so artwork and just get the class ready for the parent teacher conferences she had coming up. I was not expecting much and was hoping to be able to help her get things done quickly, but it took longer than I expected.

She asked me to put together this project for the classroom, a way to display the students writing throughout the year. A simple, type up these short bios on the students, cut and paste those onto this paper, glue bio and picture onto another paper, then laminate. I really thought it wouldn’t take me TOO long. Then I started. Going at my own sweet pace, realizing I have only completed like 2 in 20 minutes. That times 30 students, then laminating and cutting them all…needed to speed my pace up! I realized that my perfectionist pace of, “is this completely straight, lets measure the exact distance so it’s equal, oh should I redo the cutting job of this,” was not going to work for 30 students. In the classroom you have to work fast and realize its ok if everything is not perfectly perfect. Believe it or not that was some of the hardest work I have done recently and felt silly that I was tired after, but it is a lot!

So just wanted to write a shout out for all the teachers out there, props to them!! Way to educate all the future minds of America and take the step further to encourage and be there for those minds also. And to take the time out of their already crazy busy schedule to spend time to create space to display the beautiful work of their students, so that the students learn to take pride in their work and themselves. Thanks so much for all you do!!

Red Cup Day!!

today is a day i look forward to each year, red cup day. In case some don't know, it's the day that starbucks releases their holiday cups, those beautiful red cups. Now i have had conversations with my mom and brother today trying to explain why this day is so great, and they still dont get it (fools) so i thought i would explain it more. Part of this is because i love christmas time. It is my favorite time of the year. (only 54 more days to go :) ) Now some people get upset at this because they think, "what about thanksgiving, you can't just skip over thanksgiving, it's a holiday too". But i am not, i LOVE thanksgiving also. I mean i am all about any holiday that involves eating a ridiculous amount of food. These things are all factors to this wonderful season! But the release of this cup is the start of my holiday countdown. Its going to get colder, more of those beautiful colored leaves will drop, trees will become bare and soon it will be winter. And its great that Thanksgiving falls in the middle of that and Christmas is the big finale at the end! So anyways, the holiday countdown has begun :)

oh! also, halloween was yesterday. normally i am not the biggest halloween fan only because i like the 5 year old kid version of the holiday. give me pumpkin patches, carved pumpkins, and candy and i am satisfied. I am not a fan of the scary movies, haunted houses, or any of that...my little heart just can't take it. :) So this year i took my best friend and her boyfriend to a pumpkin patch! She was born in Ukraine and came to the states when she was 5 and growing up she never went because her family didn't celebrate this american holiday, therefor until Sunday she had never been! So we went got some pumpkins and then carved them. Then put out the pumpkins on display for the 12 trick-or-treaters we had. Mom and I bought all this candy because our house is pretty busy usually. This year it was not. So I have left over candy that probably will last until next halloween. :) here are some pictures from the weekend!! 

Irene and Jason looking threw of the rows of pumpkins!!

Left to Right: Irene's pumpkin which is a girl and boy dragon looking at each other inside a heart (pretty ambitious for her second pumpkin carving ever, but looks pretty good close up), Jason's which was cleaned out on the inside but he never got around to carving it, then mine, a little owl!

A close up of my owl. His name was milburn :)

My mom's wiener dog. Therefore when I saw this costume I could not resist :)

And Bandit, the trusty town sheriff!!

i think the pictures really add a lot to the description of events :) thanks guys and don't forget to go get a red cup soon!!

greener on the other side

Hey y’all! This is my first official post, deciding if I should finally join this world of blogging, I mean I read enough of them so why not write one! :) Part of why I am just now really exploring this is because I feel I have not had time in last 3 years. I am a recent graduate of a nursing school in Southern California (ya APU, go cougs!!), but unfortunately there is just not a lot of money to hire new graduate nurses right now in California. Therefore I am still unemployed, moved back in with the family, and just living the average post grad life!!

It has been quite the adjustment. I mean my average week for the past few years has been waking up at some ungodly hour (4-5 am), going to an 8-12 hour clinical shift usually twice a week. Then on the other two days I would attend multiple 3-4 hour lectures so I could learn the stuff I was supposed to apply to clinicals. And finally I would use my last three days to fit in 16-20 hours of work, and of course studying was at any break point I had. I remember there were multiple times where I would have stop and pray for God to let it slow down because it was to much. I learned to take advantage of any free time I would get, when I got called of work, a class cancelled, even being stuck in traffic (I know kinda pathetic) but any break I had to take advantage of. Little did I know what He had in store for me post grad.

I feel like this season is finally the answer to my prayers. I mean when I was praying them, this is not what I thought of, but His plans and mine do not always align perfectly :). I was envisioning like a week of nothing to do, just sleeping, reading, vegging out pretty much, didn’t think it would be months later still happening. I am trying to take a new look upon my situation. I have days free for the first time I can remember in a long time. I have been able to cross of f some things from my bucket list, such as finishing the Harry Potter series, becoming more of a baker, finally putting those painting inspirations onto canvas, and who knows blogging may be next! :) This also means I have time to really dive into time with Him, reading scripture, devotionals, journals, etc. This also means that I can no longer use the excuse of being tired or not having enough time to skimp on my Jesus time.

But anyway the point of this (which I have used probably WAY too many words to get to) is that in the beginning of this time I was so anxious to get back in the hospital, working 12 hour shifts and wanting to be the busy busybody like before, even though during that time I was praying so much for a slow season, which I where I am now. It is funny how the human instinct is to want what you don’t or no longer have. The things that we are blessed with never seem good enough compared to what other people have. Right now I am trying to stay content in my pasture, the place that the Lord has placed me. Even though another one might look greener to me, God has me here for a reason and I need to remember and rejoice in that.