Holidays

Bur chilly coooold. It’s December and cold.

Last weekend I was in Seattle where it was death cold. Like 38 degrees at 3pm- cold. I went up for training and the KR holiday party. It was really fun and I had a great time.

Dawson and I got a Christmas tree!! Went to the farm, (he) chopped it down and (the Giles) hauled it to my apartment. It was a lot of fun! And now my apartment smells like a forest!! It’s pretty neat.

I’m going home to Tracy for a few days. Then coming back here for Christmas and enjoying some time off of work. Im really excited for all the fun coming up. We got our tickets booked for Texas in January to see his family and friends!

Lots of exciting things to look forward to!

Catch up!

Well I’ve been waiting to write this Halloween blog so I could add the pictures but this app isn’t cooperating. So I’ll have to get them up soon!

The pumpkins turned out great. We carved them on Halloween after work. I did an angry birds picture and Dawson did an apple. Lots of pumpkin gut mess to clean up, but we had a good time. He helped with some of the hard, small corners because I’m not too experienced in the carving business. No sliced fingers or hands so I call it a success!

Since then I’ve been gearing up for thanksgiving and Christmas, which included getting a dining room set!! We looked and looked and I had decided I was going to get a table from target, but I wasn’t super thrilled about it, and the box wouldn’t fit in my car. That night Dawson went to another store in town and found the perfect table at a steal of a deal! And it was already assembled, win! So now I have a really nice table for turkey day.

My parents will be here in a week. I’m excited for them to come stay with me. They are bringing the dogs too!! Going to be quite a party. Can’t wait for all the goodies. I’m sure we’ll be doing tons of Christmas shopping too. Lots of thanksgiving sales. I can’t believe it’s like a month away. I’m still trying to decide what to do about when to go home and everything. Bleh decisions.

We got our flight booked to Texas after a small mishap… Meaning I booked our return flight a day early. Thankfully we were able to cancel the tickets with no penalty and book new ones that were $20 cheaper and a nonstop flight! Yayay happy day.

The snoring man with his earbuds is behind me today lol. Sounds like a thunderstorm.

Pinterest.com- my newest addiction

Here are a few of my favorite things

Inspired by that Oprah special that comes on around Christmas time I’m dedicating this entry to five of my I-doubt-I-could-live-without things. [however, not in any particular order] I also reserve the right to expand on this list of five.

1. Camelbak- I rarely drink soda or juice. Ima drink water all day long kinda girl. So camelbak has been a great addition. In case you’re not familiar with the greatness.. Look it up. Essentially a BPA free 20 something oz bottle with a sucky top. Tricky because you bite the top then suck. There’s a straw down the middle yadayada. not good for you people that have problems multitasking. I drink a lot more water than out of a regular bottle because, well I guess it’s more fun..? Not quite sure, but give it a shot! Its with me all day everyday. One of my friends actually asked me if it was an OCD thing that I had to have it lol. No it’s not. It’s just a better way to hydrate.

2. Zipfizz- so in exception to water, I drink Zipfizz. It’s a tube of powder that you mix with water. It’s the “healthy” energy. Whether or not it’s healthy I’m not exactly sold, but it is full of all kinds of vitamins, which I can’t say for red bull/monster etc. it’s convenient in its little tubes and a tonload cheaper than buying traditional energy drinks. It’s around $28 at costco for a box of 30 tubes and I use around half a tube per 20oz of water. Unless its a rough day, then I’ll be daring and use a full tube. I love it because I don’t get shaky/jitters/feel like my heart is going to work itself to death. It’s tasty and gives me a boost of energy without the crash. It’s my magic juice. Deliciousness.

important side note: do not mix objects 1 & 2. zipfizz molds your camelback top if you don’t wash it out within a day or so. I’m really bad about just filling it up with water again after I finish a zipfizz instead of washing it out. So now I’ve got a creepy black rim on the inside of my sipper. I soaked it in bleach for a while so I think I’m in the clear.

3. Burt’s Bees chapstick- i feel like having a good solid Chapstick in your purse/pocket at all times is a must. This stuff super wins. It’s minty, smooth, moisturizing goodness. It’s always more expensive than every other option but I assure you it’s worth it. I think the mint-ness is the selling point. Cooling and sorta covers that pepper/garlic pizza odor from today’s lunch. My only irk about it.. It melts super easy, so steer clear of dryers and hot vehicles. Lucky for me the temp never gets above 75 here :/ problem solved.

4. Boudin- ahhhh bread. My favorite food group. I’m a strong believer that bread can make or break a meal.. Sandwiches, bread bowls, rolls. Good bread makes all the difference and this tops the charts! Boudin was born in good ol NorCal of course, San Francisco to be exact. It’s the best sourdough bread I’ve come across, and I’ve done my fair share of taste testing. It’s soft and a little bubbly inside and crunchy sour on the outside.. Toasted, buttered, filled with soup, Boudin takes the cake. Unfortunately the closest bakery to me is in orange county. I may just snag a loaf next time I go home.. And now my mouth is watering.

5. Acozykitchen.com – continuing on my food love. I stumbled upon this blog after google searching for a recipe for coconut shrimp. (which turned out AWESOME) Adrianna is great. She posts recipes every couple days complete with cutesy pictures of whatever she’s making. I’m on her blog multiple times a day. So.much.good.food. It makes me want to stay home and cook all day every day. She’s got a super strong, fun writers voice and awesome recipes. Highly recommended reading.

Happy week stay tuned for a Halloween update. I have a feeling it’s gonna be a good year in the carving dept.

Little ball of sickness

WordPress has formatting! sweet. this could be fun

whiiiiiirlwind weekend whew. Breathe.

We got to go to apple headquarters and dropped some cash at the company store. I have a black scoop neck shirt with an apple logo. I’ve been welcomed into the apple family. Woot. I’m super bummed that we didn’t get a pic of me, joe and Dan in our black apple gear. #nerdherd

Saturday grandmas memorial went well. I misssss her a lot. We used to email a lot. That’s right, my grandma emailed me. Allll the time with fancy stationary and fonts. I’m planning on printing and assembling all her emails to me into a nice keepsake book. One of the last conversations I had with her was about her grandmother. She said that her grandmother was part of a different sort of generation and never really expressed her love for her grandkids and that she wanted me to know how proud she was of me. She wanted to be a kind loving grandmother that you could go to for anything and she was all of that and more. I loved when she used to mail cookies to me at Pepperdine. She always sent extras to share with my suitemates yum yum yum!! Saturday was a lot of remembering happy memories but sad that she won’t be there to make more.

Sunday we went to church in Dublin and introduced Dawson to my NorCal church family. It was fun and he looked so handsome. Poor guy was such a trooper.. Dying from a cold on top of everything. Drove home and unpacked. Thankfully, I took Monday off because I came down with his cold Sunday night. Sososo sick I’m getting a lot better but still don’t feel great.

I’m really excited for tomorrow. It’s his birthday! And he’s excited to work the launch for the new iPhone. Saturday he’s off so we’re planning a play date. Ready to have some fun after all the craziness of the past few weeks.

What season is this anyway?

Just this weekend I finally gave up wishing for a warm summer day and it’s around 75 both Saturday and Sunday. No marine layer or cloudy night, just clear and beautiful!! I had to take my car to the shop which is conveniently across the street from the beach. I had a nice time sitting in the sun and drawing in the sand.

Today however I’m back to confusion. Cold, cloudy dark morning, sunny, but windy..? I’ve just settled on the fact that instead of having actual seasons here, we just go through a few of them each day. DRESS IN LAYERS. [hate that] who wants to carry a jacket when it decides to be warm out? Annoying.

The only reliable element in my daily routine is that our office is ALWAYS freezing, everyday no matter what. The idiots who own our building run the ac all day, everyday. We’ve already complained that our office feels like a meat locker and so they sent out an ac guy (great!) he reaches up to one of the vents and looking puzzled says “oh you already closed it? Then I guess my job here is done” So that was the end of that. Apparently the temperature is taken in the hallway, where there arent any vents or windows. I mentioned in a follow up email that we leave the windows open all day to let the ac air out with no reply. So I stockpile jackets, hot chocolate and a blanket at my desk.

Lately, the bus has been rather uneventful. Lol although right now I’m mentally dousting the guy in front of me with febreeze bc he smells like smoke and dirt. Gross.

Dawson and I are busy being happily ever after right now, enjoying the simple pleasures of a non-long-distance relationship.. Watching tv, (not on skype! Haha) shopping, church. It’s wonderful.

He loves his job at apple and I enjoy hearing all the funny customer stories. He’s really good with people and has such a heart for helping people and understanding exactly what they want. It’s working out really well, and weekly lunch dates are a welcomed break in the day.

This weekend we are trekking up to Tracy then Oroville for grandma’s funeral. I’m so thankful he gets to come with me. He’ll get to see a little of norcal and meet some of the fam. Not exactly the preferred circumstances but you work with what you’ve got. Ill be very grateful for his support through this too. And joe’s flying in so it’ll be the first time we’ve all been together since my graduation.

Tonights our ladies bible class. Looking forward to some good prayer and discussion on “Captivating”

Exhausted

My uncle passed away from a heart attack 3 weeks ago and my grandmother passed away 3 days ago. Both were very unexpected.

Grief is absolutely exhausting. Holding it together a few hours at a time. Trying to be present instead of letting my mind wander to the memories. Praying.

It gets better, but right now it’s not. Not at all.

Strikeout

Well I really struck out on bus seating today. I get on at the first stop so it’s always chance about who sits next to/around me. Today, unfortunately quite unlucky.

There’s a kid behind me, and by kid i mean probably 18/19 year old with the mentality of a 2nd grader. For the entire duration of my morning ride I’ve been trying to drown out his offensive rap music with my freshly downloaded acapella tracks. You know when someone around you is listening to music at an unhealthy level.. Blasting through their headphones so all you hear is a steady beat and slur of muffled words and sounds. Well it’s like that, only sans headphones so everyone around can understand the garbage.. In case that’s unclear, yes he’s been playing his music directly off of his phone for 40 minutes. And kicking the back of my seat.

Lucky for him it’s Friday and I’m working on kindness today. Maybe I’ll bring him my old headphones. Take a hint.

Growth

What you feed will grow. Where are you spending your time, energy, money and thoughts?

I’m on what seems like such a set in stone schedule. It’s easy to get in a rut and stop growing. I’m challenging myself to look at my life and see where I can push myself to do more for others and spend more time with God.

It is never a convenient time to start something new or add another thing to our life but if I don’t start now, I probably never will.

I read a book in college for my marketing class called ‘The Dip’ tagline: when to stick and when to quit. It was all about quitting things that hinder you from doing better things. Quitting is often viewed with a negative connotation that you’re not tough enough to handle it and giving up is the easy way out. “what doesn’t kill you, will make you stronger” When in fact, quitting is often the best thing you could do for yourself… Quitting a toxic relationship, giving up a destructive habit, leaving a dead-end job. Quitting involves realizing your time, effort and energy is more valuable and may be better utilized in another channel. There are times when you’re just about to overcome “the dip” and get past the uphill battle and should stick with it. The book draws great distinctions between these two.

Anyways, all that to say it’s important to look at where you are spending time/energy/money/thoughts and evaluate if that is the best/ most productive thing you could be doing. Quit the things that aren’t, and stick with the ones that are.

What you feed, will grow. What are you feeding?

The labor of love

Ohhh moving.

This weekend was my last trek down the 405 [for a while]. Dawson had training all day fri-sun, so I had some me/napping/shopping time. San Diego has some great shopping.

I also did some packing. Maybe it’s just that he has a lot less misc items, but it was 42768492 times easier to pack his stuff up than mine.

Ha, but I’ve decided that deflating a queen size air mattress by yourself is pretty high on the list of awkward things I’ve done. [oh and its not one of the small floor ones, it's like triple high] You’re spreading your limbs in a million directions and balancing your weight..Trying not to fall, a lot like twister. And still getting swallowed by the sticky plastic. I don’t recommend this task to people with claustrophobia [mom].

The air mattress task probably added to the soreness. I feel like after moving you’re sore in muscles you didn’t even realize you had. Nothing a warm shower can’t fix.

So, now Dawson lives in Ventura and it’s wonderful. God is always blessing us, opening doors and providing what we never thought possible.

Look for opportunities to serve, pray for others, be kind to each other.

The wheels on the bus

So I take the bus to work everyday now. It’s an intercounty bus, which essentially means it’s huge, very tall with cushy seats.

Pros: I now spend approx $55 commuting instead of the previous $250 + oil changes once a month.

Cons: there are some interesting.. Characters I guess you could say. Nonetheless most of them are quite entertaining and are probably a large part of my inspiration for blogging.

I get about two hours of uninterrupted people watching. And so the story begins. Let me introduce you to some of the ‘regulars’.

I think my favorite and focus for today will be who I refer to as the super snorer. This elderly gentleman gets on at the second stop everyday. He’s got his apple earbuds in before he boards as to not be bothered with the morning chatter of the riders. I’m extremely intrigued by what he’s listening to.. For the simple fact that he is asleep before we even reach the freeway, which is less than a 5 min ride. Whatever he’s got going on in those buds puts him to sleep faster than any baby I’ve rocked to sleep. Magical I say. You may be wondering how I know he’s actually asleep and not just resting his eyes/relaxing. Well, if the occasional jarring head drops weren’t a clue, the snoring unquestionably answers the question. In short you could measure this man’s snores on a richter scale.. His chair shakes, and often the one next to him. I’m on high alert that at any point he’s going to choke.. On something and stop breathing. Hopefully if that happens, staff from the medical plaza will be aboard. Ha.. Oh and last week, his phone was sitting in his lap RINGING, like the old fashion telephone ring. It had to be on the highest volume because every single person started looking around with that peeved “what-the-heck-someone-answer-that” look. Super snorer- dead asleep. Not even the slightest notice that he was the one interrupting the quiet morning ride.

Magical- I want whatever’s in those earbuds.