Oh By The Way.....

Just a little side note for my worrisome friends..... If I don't pick up or my phone is off, esp during the first two days (Sunday and Monday) I'm okay.... There is just sucky cell reception in the desert! I'll call you back when I get a good signal!

Love ya!

So long Cali.....

This will probably be my last post for a while. I had hoped (dreamed) that I would possibly be able to take a lap top with me on the drive and update at the end of each day- but alas, no luck.

My plan is to take off tomorrow at 8am and am going to try drive ten hours each day, but I don't think I'll be too strict about it I have tons of new tunes on my iPod, an iTrip that's set to go, three books on CD that I pumped to listen too (thanks April for the recommendations) and lots of Trader Joe's snacks! I am a new AAA member, trip tic in hand with cell phone car charger in case it goes dead (The AAA lady about had a heart attack when she heard that I was driving by myself.) My car has been inspected, a new spare tire bought and attached and every filter know to man changed.

Say a prayer- See ya soon!

My Crazy Mom

Thanks Mom!

Yesterday my mom did something hilarious! I had complained earlier in morning that kids from the highschool up the street kept ringing the doorbell in the afternoon while I was trying to sleep. A couple times a week they stop by on their way home and ask to pick oranges from our orange trees (Bring back memories Kim?). No one but me has been home so they ring and ring and ring and ring, until it becomes a test of wills- them to get someone to answer, me refusing to answer. When I left the house yesterday evening I saw this note taped to the mailbox right beside the doorbell and laughed- "Night worker" doesn't exactly make me think of nursing!

Tasty Deodorant

Yesterday I went to target to get some road trip supplies. Among them were dog food, a cooler, place mats (okay not for the trip but very cute and only 1 dollar) and deodorant. I am well versed in the world of deodorants for reasons that I am not proud of. I sweat..... I don't mean a little feminine perspiration, I'm talking pitting out, looking like I just ran 10miles SWEAT. Deodorant shopping isn't a big deal, but yesterday I noticed something a little "different" and quite frankly weird when I was picking out a scent. There is an increasing number of deodorants that smell like..... food!
That's right, mixed in with powder fresh, and rain fresh were "Arctic Apple," "Shimmering Pear," "Very Berry" and the newest "Vanilla Chai." Vanilla Chai?? and it actually did smell like Vanilla Chai! Will these crazy deodorant makers continue to branch out into the food the world? What began with "Vanilla Chai" will pretty soon be "Starbucks Non-fat Caramel Mocha Latte with Whip." Who knows what would be next- Deodorant that smells like "Thanksgiving Dinner?" Of course, once the magical smells of thanksgiving are conquered they will most certainly move on to taste. Will I one day think to myself "I'm hungry for some Secret Platinum Brownie Sunday with a little Arrid Caramel Creme on the side?" I certainly hope not.

Honestly, the last thing that this girl needs is to have something else to make her hungry, esp something that I depend on as much as deodorant, so I had to say no to that Vanilla Chai. Thank you Proctor and Gamble but I'll have to pass this time. I'm sticking to good ole' "Shower Fresh."

I love Mondays

Alright, I don't really love mondays, especially ones like this morning where Bear is barking at 6:30 to go out. This weekend left me exhausted and 6:30 is my my idea of an appropriate time to wake up (I know all of you get up early, but remember, I work nightshift). Salsa dancing was sooooo fun! Contrary to what Romel said, there is "free-styling." It seemed to me that a bunch of people were just trying to act like they knew what they were doing, myself included. The turns were a bit a tricky, esp when you turned one direction and then the other. One thing is for certain, its easier to be lead if you keep your eyes closed. Maybe it's because you aren't trying to mimick everyone else, or in my case, because you can't see how bad your doing.

I had a great time with Sarah yesterday. We drove everywhere looking for an open sushi place. The place she wanted to go, Miagi's, was 45minutes away and is closed on Sundays. Our second choice another 20minutes away was also closed on sundays.... who knew the Japanese were so religious:-) We ended up in Riverside (shout out to home town girl Leslie Yoder) after making a complete circle around the valley at Joe's sushi, a place that April and I typically go to. Sarah's capacity to eat sushi amazes me. At barely 5 feet tall and 98 pounds she gets all you can eat sushi and makes those sushi chefs work! We left after a call from my mom telling me that there was a miscommunication between her and my Grandmother- My grandma was making taco's for the whole family so they could come over and say goodbye and I needed to be there by 5pm. OOOOPPS!

I made it back around 5 stuffed with volcano roll and tiger roll to watched my family eat taco's. Typically I love tacos but last night I don't think I could have eaten them if I tried. I made it home around 7:30 after a round of goodbyes. I'm thankful that my family does this for me every arrival and departure, although I know that they do it in part because they love tacos too:-)

Tonight it's back to work. I have yet to begin packing! I think that Saturday seems like the perfect day to begin:-)

Okay- I'm a slacker! I've had good intentions to update my blog for awhile now but those intentions haven't materialized. I always think it's more interesting when I post pictures, you know, something to look at when you need to take a break from reading my rambling. Sorry, no pictures this time!

I'm rolling out of So. Cal a week from tomorrow. I downloaded a ton of new music to my iPod so I won't get sick of the other stuff and I've decided that each of my driving days are going to have a theme to keep it interesting. One day is going to be a spanish day where I will only speak spanish and listen to spanish music..... yes, it will be a quiet day. As far as the other three days... I don't know what other themes I should have. I would love to hear any and all ideas, the crazier the better.... after all I do have 40 hours in the car to kill.

I only have three more shifts left to work at San Antonio (sniff sniff:-( Work always seems to become fun (more fun) when you're about to leave. This weekend, my last full one in Cali, is a frenzy of activity. Last night I went to the worship leaders house for a house concert. Our worship leader was/is in a band that was pretty popular (or so I hear). I guess they toured with Third Day at one point. While I knew he was in a band, I didn't know much about it until Mel and Jamie were here and knew who he was. Crazy! To me he's just Alex. He and his wife Jacquie (and little guy Sam) are super cool people. They open up their house one friday night a month and invite some of Alexs music friends to perform for a small group of people, usually just enough to fill the living room- hence "house concert." Last night Suzanne Brewer played. She was amazing! She has this rich, smokey voice. Some other people from church got up and performed after. I didn't realize my church was musically talented. I had every intention of taking a picture with phone to post today but forgot my phone at home...... Oops:-)

Tonight is a girls night out! Yipppeeeeeee! A group of friends from work and my sister April are going salsa dancing. Now some of you may already know this, but I have come to appreciate most things Latin. You may also be surprised to know that I absolutely under no circumstance am able to salsa dance (shock and awe I know :-) My friend Romel tried to teach me a couple moves at work the other night ummmmm.....didn't go so well- maybe because I couldn't stop laughing. He assured me that there is no "free styling" in salsa and that if I tried I would look ridiculous. In turn, I assured him that looking ridiculous was something I do on a regular basis and that this wouldn't be any different. The good news is, no one that I'm going with knows how to salsa.

Tomorrow I'm getting up early to work out with April (April is the queen of making work out plans and then cancelling last minute, I agreed to her 6am work out knowing full well that tomorrow morning I will be no where near an eliptical machine). After church I'm going out with my friend Sarah for sushi.... mmmmmmmm love me some sushi!!!!! Sarah is a nurse extern at work and will be graduating this summer. We met last summer when I worked day shift and have been good friends since. She's going tonight but I'm sure we won't be able to catch up on the dance floor. I haven't hung out with Sarah in a long time! She has been crazy busy with school and wedding planning (she's getting married in Aug) and I have been...... not busy with school or wedding planning or anything for that matter. It promises to be a fun time! I mean seriously, how can it not be fun when your eating raw fish with chops sticks????

Monday I go back to work. I was walking out with one of the managers the other morning, discussing my leaving. She was asking about my last day and all, and they said, "Do we have a start date for when you come back yet?" I just laughed and said, "not yet, but I'll let you know."

I don't feel like charting........

Tonight is my first night back at work. I'm actually glad. Yesterday I was bored out of my mind, I even went to my sisters to help her hang pictures. Now, truth be told, there were plenty of things that I could have done at home, but some how doing laundry, scooping poop in the back yard didn't seem too exciting.

Thanks Geek for all your suggestions about getting my phone number to Matt! The patient (or as we call him here: My future father-in-law) was discharged yesterday so I haven't seen Matt since the infamous cheese fry encounter:-) Working with mostly females does have it's advantages though. Before he left one of my co-workers gave my number to the sister to give to him with a note attached (all my co-workers, including the managers and director of Critical Care are trying to fix me up with every and anybody single in the area.... true story. When asked last summer what they could do to get me to stay, I said (1/2) jokingly "find me a man." Since, every time I see the director Jan she lets me know if she's interviewed any single guys, and Lora, one of the managers, is waiting for the perfect time to set me up with her son, who just got out a long term relationship. Makes coming to work interesting to say the least!). Matt hasn't called, but I completely understand that getting a number from your sister who got it from a co-worker who may or may not have gotten it from the person whose number it is, may seem a little shady. My next move: show up at his house...... JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!

I have two and a half weeks left at work. Time flies! My family is beginning to talk about me leaving which always seems weird to me, but I think its probably weirder for them. In my mind 2.5weeks is a long time (I haven't even thought about packing yet!) but I know it will fly by and before you know it, it will be April 22 and time to hit the open road. Which leads me to a big prayer request. I'll be making all 3000 miles of this trip alone, well the dogs will be with me, but they don't count. I'm actually okay with it, mostly because I realize that if I continue traveling that I will eventually have to do it alone, so why not now? My family isn't very excited about it, and I'm sure neither are some of you reading, but in a way I'm looking forward to it. A couple people were looking into making the trip but no one was able to get the time off work. So please pray for protection for me esp on the first 2 days when cell phone reception is pretty sporadic, and that when I get my car serviced before I leave that they will find anything and everything that could possibly go wrong on the trip. (BTW- If anyone reading this is thinking that they would like to be spontaneous and take a road trip on such short notice I'm still accepting applications).

Well it seems I've procrastinated long enough.... I suppose I'll chart.... after I get coffee.......

Day 3- Central Coast

If you're just tuning in now, start with Day 1 and read to Day 3- It will make more sense- promise!

Saturday-
A large portion of the day was spent in the car but it was WELL worth it! Our plan was to leave the house and head to Central Coast Cali at 8am. The montero was going to be packed with me, Mel, Jamie, April and Sheli. We actually left closer to 915.... but whose keeping track.

The first stop on our trip up the coast was to be Hearst Castle. After the drive full of grid lock traffic, amazing views, bathroom stops and lunch at In&Out Burger we got to the visitor center of the castle at 300pm only to be told that getting tickets to the castle was going to be hard, they had been sold out since 1245pm. When were about to leave the ticket desk, a party of five canceled their reservations. we would have to split up 3 and 2 and take different buses up but would able to see the castle. I didn't know much about William R. Hearst before but am now close to fascinated by his life! I don't want to bore you with the story of him but his "castle" is cool. It sits up on a hill overlooking the ocean. You can see miles and miles from the from terrace. In fact, Hearst Castle sits on over 300sq miles of land that the Hearst family still owns (if I understood correctly). The house was ornate to say the least.

After the castle we went across the street to what my sister and I call the "white bridge." Its really a pier and you've seen pictures of it before after my last trip to Central Coast, but it's still just as pretty so I took more pictures:-)

About 15miles up the coast is a part of the beach where the elephant seals come and lay in the sun for the day. I'm exactly sure of the reason that they only go to this particular part of the beach, but I think it has something to do with the tide. You would think that we have never seen seals before! It was the coolest thing!! Seals are really cute in real life especially when they're trying to make their way down to the water. We stayed and took tons of pictures but wanted to get up to a place called Ragged Point before sunset.

After stopping several times to take coastal pictures we made it to Ragged Point. My sisters and I indulged in a very over priced latte with Godiva chocolate in it (very tasty!) More picture taking ensued (again, some of the pictures my look familiar from a previous post). It was even more beautiful this time then the first time I went. The sun was setting to the west and when we turned around, the moon was just beginning to come over the mountains. We all tried to get pictures of it, but you can't do justice to that kind of beauty! The marine layer was rolling in so everything started to have a "mystical" look to it. After sunset, we drove up the coast a little further before turning around, with a 5 hour trip home ahead of us.

We eventually made it back to good 'ole Upland around 215am after stopping at Taco Temple in Morro bay for dinner, bathroom/gas stops, driver changes, about 45 minutes of unexpected gridlock traffic (traffic at 1am??? Only in LA) and a roadside stop to see if a girl who appeared stranded needed help (she didn't). Once at home, there were a few incomprehensible sounds that I think were "goodnight"s but I'm not quite sure.

Today (Sunday) was laid back, church and lunch before heading to the airport. (One of the things we with lunch was Bionicos. It deserves mention in a post, maybe even its' own post, but, quite frankly, I'm exhausted. And eating it right now sounds a whole lot better to me then writing about it).

I had a little difficulty getting some of my favs up.... but I hope you enjoy the picts I posted. If you want to see the whole "collection" (and trust me there are tons of photos) I'll be more then happy to show you my ever expanding Cali photo album:-)

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

Day 2 - The Beach and Cuban Food

Mel and Jamie

SANGRIA

My Hot Bike

Pretty shells and stones

Friday-

The weather was clear and a few degrees warmer then thursday- in other words it was perfect!!!!

The timing of Mel and Jamies trip was awesome. They came when everyone in my house was on spring break. SO- asked my sister April to use her vast resources to get some bikes together so we could take a bike ride at the beach.

We left for the beach around 945 and stopped on the way to pick up some bikes. Sheli went to Disneyland with a friend but my sister April and Dana took her place. We used a friends beach apartment to store food and use the bathroom. Once everyone was sunblocked we hit the beach for a leisurely 6mile ride. The bike I was riding was the bike of the women who lived in the apartment. It rocked!!! It was a beach cruiser which is hard to explain, other then the seat is low, the handles are high and there was a basket on the bike..... sweet! We rode three miles from Huntington to Newport, parked our bikes and got icecream before we strolled on the beach and collected shells. The water was CHILLY and though no one planned on going in, I think everyones feet got hit by a wave or two.

We rode the three miles back to Huntington, went to eat Lunch at Lourdes' (the friend) and then left the beach around 3. Thankfully, we left a little earlier then planned, because traffic was RIDICULOUS! After about 2.5 hours in the car on what should have been a 45minute trip back we made it home, showered and went back into LA for Cuban food.

Those of you who have never had Cuban food- put that on your "to do" list. It is not at all like Mexican food, or Spanish food for that matter. It has a taste all it's own! Neither Melanie or Jamie (or Dana) had ever had Cuban food or sangria before so it was fun. The restaurant we went to also has Salsa dancing in another part of the restaurant. Unfortunately we didn't dance, the band was taking a break when we finished eating. It was probably a blessing because we were all exhausted and Sat was going to turn out to be a fun, fun, fun but long day.

Mel & Jamie Day 1- Olivera St, Hollywood, Griffith Observatory

First- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED (those of you who read my last blog will know exactly what I mean).



Mel and Jamie should just be arriving in Las Vegas any minute now. I dropped them off at the airport a couple hours ago after three days full of fun! Because I took so many pictures and am so inept at picture placement I figure that I'll write a post for each day and post the corresponding posts.

Day 1- Thursday

I think I had the most energy on Thursday morning! I picked up Mel and Jamie at the airport around 11:30pm Wednesday night. We stayed up and chatted for a bit before hitting the hay. Earlier in the day my mom and I realized that the airmatteress we had planned on using was less then comfortable. I gave M&J my bed and slept with Sheli. That was the first and will be the last time. Apparently I'm a cover hog and she is spider women- all over the place. Sheli and I got up early to make eggs and pancakes for our guests, while my dad made his way outside to pick oranges for fresh squeezed orange juice. After everyone had eaten and was ready (10:00) we hit the road to get lunch items and then head into LA. Our plan was to go to Olivera street, where street vender's sell Mexican goods and was the very first street in LA. We got there and had lunch and walked around before heading to Hollywood.

Once in Hollywood we walked the Star walk of fame, or at least a portion of it (it's quite long), went to Gap, Groumans Theatre, looked at the hand prints and foot prints, ate Coldstone, and people watched. We had shuttle tickets to go to Griffith Observatory, which has a spectacular view of LA and the valley. The observatory was just re-opened after having been closed years for repairs. The shuttle ride up gave us plenty of time to look at all the huge houses. The observatory was cool. I think Sheli would spend days there if she had a choice. There was multiple balconies for viewing and they even open up the HUGE telescope to the public after dark. We were tired and last that long.

We left the observatory around 615 on the shuttle and started the drive home. We reached home around 800. We ordered pizza and laughed with my parents for a bit before calling it a night. I was smarter this time- I slept on the couch and Sheli made a bed on the floor beside me.