I can not tell you how ecstatic I am that I got my new shoes! When I received the email from the shipping dock at 11 AM today, I felt that I could not wait to pick them up during the designated pick up time (1:30-3:30). I used my "magic" (aka the person who used to be on our Aerotek payroll) to give me the shoes early. These shoes are heavenly. I have Rachel to thank for getting me interested in these shoes. I can't wait to try them out in both the gym and on our mountain roads.
Once again, I have been lagging on writing a post. SORRY! Let's see if I can remember all that has happened in the last month. Hmm....
Nick and I were able to house sit at our favorite house in Menlo Park last weekend. I may have posted about it before, but we house sit every so often for a friend of Nick's mom. She lives in a gorgeous house.. just her and her cat. The cat is 18 years old and needs medicine to have an appetite. It feels like a vacation being able to stay down the hill. It was fun waking up on Saturday morning, put on our flip flops, and walk to the cafe and get a breakfast sandwich. We house sat Thursday-Sunday.
Mother's day- I attended church with my mom and enjoyed spending time with her. It made me happy to see how happy she was that I went to church with her. Perhaps I'll surprise her again soon..... ;)
I started reading the Harry Potter series again, starting from book one. I am looking forward to the 6th movie coming out in July!! I have read the Harry Potter series 5 times from book one to 7 (well, the 7th book I only read 3 times...) I enjoy getting lost in the world of Hogwarts and magic. I gained my love of books from my mom. Thanks mom!!
Nick has been busy building things. He built a wall on our back porch and painted it black. The idea is for us to get his digital projector and watch movies in the summertime outside. This summer should be really fun.
School: Ah school... Today, it took me 10 hours to write my economics final!!!! I am happy I am done with that class! I realize I always like one class and dislike the other. I did like my marketing class and turned in my final early. For my last block of classes for my AA degree, I am taking nutrition and International Business. I am so excited to graduate on July 19 (in 9 weeks) that I have already done the first 5 weeks of assignments for nutrition!! Granted that they were incredibly easy (i.e. write a 200 word essay about the difference between soluble fiber and insoluble fiber), but I still did them all in one day!
Vacations: We were planning on going to Vegas with my friends, but for financial reasons, we had to cancel. Since the plane tickets are non-refundable but rather transferable, we decided we most likely will go somewhere after I finish my AA degree (so probably the weekend of July 23-26). We were thinking LA, Sunriver, Colorado, etc. So many options. It will be fun to go on another trip. Not sure anything can follow up the Bahamas or Napa!
Gym: Nick and I got our gym memberships this last month. I have been going every day except Sunday (and some Saturdays). Nick has to take the train to meet up with me, so he only works out with me 3-4 days a week. It is great to work out and relieve stress, yet I have seen no change. I have been eating more vegetables, cut down on my carbs, stopped going out and eating fried food, and drinking more water..... yet, no change. :( It is quite frustrating. Working out on the machines has resulted in numb toes and sore ankles, which I figured out is due to my 5 year old Nike's. After much convincing from Rachel on how great the Asics Kayano's are, I went and tried a pair on. OMG!! These are amazing shoes. No wonder they are $145!! I was smart and went home to find a cheaper pair. I was able to find a pair for $109. Still REALLY expensive, but worth it. I should receive them by Friday!
Other than that, Nick and I are happily spending time together and enjoying life! :)
Today marks my 2 year anniversary with Aerotek. I am not only happy to have a job in this economy, I am happy to have a job I love working at! I love the company and what it stands for, but I also love working onsite at Gilead Sciences. I love waking up every morning and coming to Foster City to work. I admit, there are some moments throughout the day where I get overly stressed and think "I wish I had a billion dollars so I would be able to work part time" but that only happens rarely. I have gotten kind emails today with people telling me that they are happy I work here and that I do a fantastic job. :) Today looks like it's going to be a good day!
Originally, I was a MySpace girl. I became addicted to it when I was going to move back to California when I was almost 21. This was a great way for me to get to know what I had missed out on in my friend's lives in the past 2 years that I lived in Utah. As time went on, I realized that there were many other people that I did not know that would friend request me. Many of these people didn't even live in the area! I am all for making new friends, but I found it kind of creepy that they would want to know about my life when I would probably never meet them! About 2 years ago, I was introduced to the world of facebook. Facebook is better than MySpace because if random people friend request you, they can't view your profile without your permission. Also, there is fun little pictures you can put on people's page (send them a little green plant), know about events that are going on, and most importantly: get in contact with people that you have not encountered in a LONG time! My main example is my experience this week with facebook. I received an email through facebook from someone I thought I didn't know. When she asked if I was "Lonnie's daughter", I thought to myself "wow, the only people who call my dad Lonnie are my cousins". So then I added her. Within 5 hours, I now have my 5 cousins plus one of my aunts as my friend on facebook. It has been at least 10 years since I last talked to any of my cousin's on my dad's side. I hope that now we can all keep in contact. As much as I like Facebook, though, I am making it a goal to never join TWITTER!!!
Ah Math. I enjoy numbers, but when you start adding Statistics, Geometry, and Algebra, prepare to get the eyes-glossed-over look from me. I understand a lot of it, but I lose interest very quickly. I failed Geometry 3 times (with a D) simply because I lost interest about halfway through. So when it came time to set the remainder of my AA degree schedule, I was told I would have to take two 9-week blocks of college Algebra, back to back (3 credits each). My fantastic academic advisor told me the alternative to 18 weeks of hair pulling and frustration is to take something called the "CLEP". This test stands for "College Learning Enhanced Placement". Taking the college mathametics version of the CLEP means that if I pass it, I would get 6 math credits. I was told that it was either a pass or a fail, and my grade would not be affected by the score. Me being the lazy person I am, I didn't even study until the night before..... 5:30 PM-1 AM was spent studying for the CLEP with some practice tests.
Nick and I woke up at 7 on Saturday morning (3/7) to drive to San Jose so I could take the computer exam at 8:30 AM. I got there 15 minutes early, so I was able to attempt to study. The test was done on a computer. It was 90% multiple choice and the rest were fill in the answer. On a lot of the questions, I actually shrugged my shoulders before choosing the answer (the instructor even called me out on it after the exam was done). After I finished, the teacher took me out of the room with the test results. He told me that in order to pass the test, I had to get over 50 points. (There were 60 questions). My score was (deep intake of breath here).....51!! This was the first time in my college career that I was actually thrilled I got a barely passing grade!! Since I passed the test, this means that I will graduate on July 19 with my AA instead of September 20! I am very excited! I wish I could say that I'm going to be totally finished with school, but I am going to continue on to get my BA.
Greetings all. Napa was so fun! On Friday, we drove up to Napa to the Napa Old World Inn. This place was amazing. The service was superb, the ambiance was magical, and the company was perfect (yes, I mean Nick). We walked downtown for dinner at Downtown Joe's. The food was good, but not what Nick was looking forward to... aka a big juicy steak. Either way, we filled our bellies then went back to go to bed early (thanks to Chloe waking us up at 3 AM earlier that morning). The bed was incredibly comfortable. The feather pillows were a special treat. On Saturday, we had breakfast in bed. The B&B made a delicious souffle with fruit and OJ on the side. We then took a trip over to the outlet stores. 5 hours later, we came out with new shoes and new clothes. Due to the present economy, the outlet stores were even having sales. Leaving the outlet stores with empty stomachs, we had a gourmet supper of... Safeway Sandwiches!! :) We went back to the room to watch a movie on our 82" flat screen. It was really nice to relax and not have to do homework. We then went to a nice Italian restaurant named "Tuscany". The service was not that great, but the food was really good! After that, we turned in for another early night. Napa really does not have much going on after 8 PM. On Sunday, Nick and I were lucky to go on the wine train. The food was decent, but the train rocking back and forth made me a little quesy. We were able to tour the Grgich winery. It's amazing how they make wine. Such a long process. When we returned back from the wine train, we drove home. What a wonderful and relaxing weekend. I wish we were financially able to do that again! Thanks Sally!
This last week has been pretty interesting. Our power went out from a tree falling on the power line (thanks to all the rain and wind we have been getting). I raised my grade in Finance (I am currently the top grade... there are only 7 people left in the class..... we started with 30! I barely have a B!!). Nick and I have been doing the Wii FIT and loving it! Nick and I did dance class last Friday and could not stop laughing out of our frustration with one another (I am a natural born leader, I guess. I don't care if it is supposed to be the man leading........) I saw Confessions of a Shopoholic and L-O-V-E-D it!! We experienced layoffs on Wednesday at my work, which was a really stressful time and made me appreciate my job even more. Kelly came and took Molly away (I don't care if it is her cat... Molly has become one of our family). Nick never ceases to amaze me of how wonderful he can be. Everything from the little things he does to the things he says. He never says unkind things even though I need to be reprimanded for things (like my cooking)! This weekend should be really fun. We are spending two night at a bed and breakfast in Napa. http://www.oldworldinn.com/ We are staying in the "Bella Tuscany" room. We would not be able to afford this without the generous gift certificate from the woman that we house sit for. I will attempt to take pictures so I can post them.
