Really behind

Hello all. I am about a month behind on postings. Here's a summary of the past month: It was really fun having Rachel and the kids in town. I'm so lucky to have my sister as one of my best friends, too. On July 19, my gma celebrated her birthday. We went to Chef Chu's for dinner. It was really fun.

Nick and I have been working Mon-Fri, but in our spare time, we do two different things. We either play the Wii together (Nick bought it for us for our 1 1/2 year anniversary) or else he paints while I do school work. I'm doing really well in school (I have a 3.95 GPA), but Nick does better with his paintings. The art show that Nick will sell his paintings at is only 2.5 weeks away! The stress is definitely on! I will post pictures later regarding that. I hope this post ties you over until I am able to blog again.

Los Altos Arts & Wine Festival

Nick has a buddy. Lexi-bug is glued to Nick when we are around. The art, food, atmosphere and company couldn't have been better.

"Resume"

You may already know this, but I work with a staffing company. One of the Account Managers, Phil, is moving on to another company (Oracle, I think). Everyone at the office likes to tease him because he's such a goof ball. A mass email went out showing his "resume" (if you think this is real, I hope you don't own a company):
Resume of Phil Bonin:

Objective

To get back to work

Edgeookashun

St. Mary’s Presbyterian School – Pre-Kindergarten

Certificate with smiley face


History of Employment

Bill’s Tattoo Parlor, Turlock, CA (1913 – 1917)
Blood Wiper

-Wiped blood off customer when tattoo artist drilled too hard
-Threw out trash when wadded up balls of blood-soaked paper towels made trash can full
-Occasionally played a record
-Generally just sat around looking disinterested in life

The Meat Pit, Reno, NV (1898 – 1905)
Sweeper

-Swept meat off the floor after customers finished eating
-Swept everything else off the floor too


Dead-End Saloon, Tumbleweed, TX (1894 – 1897)
Spittoon Cleaner
-Cleaned the spittoons
-Dodged bullets
-Avoided death

Skeelz
Staring
Coughing
Shifting from one foot to the other
Living for a really long time

Do you know anyone who is hiring? :)

Appreciated

In my job, I oversee over 65 contractors. I make sure they get paid correctly and on time, and also answer any HR questions that they may have. There are some contractors that I only talk to if there is an issue (i.e. their timecard is late or written incorrectly)but then there are others that I consider my friends. There is one contractor that has worked here under a few different assignments. She is such a sweetheart and is hilarious to talk to. I bring her paycheck to her every Thursday. Sometimes, though, I do not have time to take it to her. Today was one of those days. I told her I was going to lunch at 11:30 and would leave her paycheck in a certain spot. When I returned from lunch, roses and some candy were sitting on my chair. There wasn't a note, but I asked Kellie if it was her who brouhgt those to me. She said she did. She also said "Thank you for all that you do. You are a complete asset to this organization and I'm so happy to have met you." It is sure nice to be appreciated by contractors (simply because I have never gotten any presents from the contractors). Today is a good day.

Weekend with the family

This weekend was my cousin Brittany's wedding. What a perfect time to pamper ourselves. On Thursday, my mom and I went to get pedicures together. It was really relaxing. The lady who did my pedicure must have been really scared because I haven't gotten a pedicure in 5 years!! The end result was beautiful. I'll spare you pictures of the pre-pedicure... Here is the after results...

On Friday, Rachel and I went to go get body wraps. Basically, they wrap us up REALLY tightly in a gigantic ace bandage lookin-thing then squirt ("baste") us with detoxing minerals. Then, we proceed to work out on either an elliptical machine or a small trampoline. After 45 minutes, they unwrap us. Overall, I lost 13 3/8 of an inch. Rachel lost more than me, but I shan't conceal that personal number. Rachel and I could not stop laughing. Good times!

On Saturday, Nick and I took care of Rachel's kids. It was really fun having them up at our house. Nick and Brenden played Madden 2007 on the XBOX360. Izzie, Lexi, Betsy, and I walked Bailey. We also made cookies. As the day went on, the kids noticed that Nick had done all the paintings in the house. The kids wanted to do some paintings on their own. Nick and the kids painted some pictures. Brenden painted a rainbow and leprechauns. Izzie painted Mulan. Lexi painted... abstract art.
Overall, this weekend was a blast! I sure love spending time with my favoritest sister and all the rest of the family!

Camping at Big Basin

Nick and I went camping last weekend with some friends. We went to Big Basin and stayed at an RV site (with no RV). It was really fun. We got there Friday afternoon around 3. After setting up the tents and exploring around a bit, we had some dinner. We had excellent BBQ. After eating, we sat around and talked while playing some instruments. Not quite sure how the time passed, but it was so nice sitting around having nothing to do! The weather was beautiful and warm. We chose an excellent weekend to go camping because it was 100 degrees in the city. After having a night of interrupted sleep (due to the hard ground), we all got up and made some breakfast. Shannon made some eggs and sausage while Kelly made a vegetarian egg dish (with tofurky)!! The above video is Nick trying to open a can of black beans with pliers!!! After we were all full from breakfast, we went walking in the river.
It was a perfect way to stay cool during the hot day. We all splashed around and had fun trying not to fall. After a few hours, we all had bruises on our tailbones from falling in the water. I went through a few pairs of pants. Here is the result of one fall...
For the rest of the day, we sat around and ate a fantastic dinner and had s'mores. YUMMY! When we left on Sunday, we were all dirty but happy to have had such a great weekend with great friends!

San Diego

Greetings from San Diego. On April 17-19, Nick and I ventured down to San Diego, CA. It was great to get away from every day routine. On Thursday, we flew via Southwest Airlines to Sunny San Diego. It was gorgeous weather when we got there. We got a rental car that was a dinky little car. It was a Chevy Aveo. It literally went 0-60 in 45 seconds. It was a great commuter car, though. Being the penny pincher that I am, I got us reservations at the cheapest budget motel. We stayed at the Travelodge in La Mesa, CA. It was kind of ghetto! Ha ha. It was a good place to sleep, though. We took a trip out to Coronado. The hotel and beach were gorgeous. We took lots of pictures.

On Friday, we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was a gorgeous 80 something degrees. We both got a little sunburnt, but it was awesome to see all the different animals. I took pictures of both the sign and the animals. We saw hippos, camels, elephants, jaguars, etc. A lot of zoo's are only somewhat interesting, but this zoo had everything we could ever want in a zoo! The new/main exhibit was the panda exhibit. There was actually a line to go into the exhibit. There were signs everywhere telling everyone to be quiet. It was interesting to watch it eat bamboo, though.
When we got back on Saturday, we were ready to be home. As fun as San Deigo was, it is always good to be home.