Sand & Snow

You may be slightly curious about this title. It will soon make sense. I just returned from my weekend trip to Southern California. I had a blast! Here's how it went:

I left work around 1:00 Friday afternoon. I had a 3:00 flight which left pretty much on time. I had an hour and a half layover in Dallas, so being a little late was no big deal. Three hours later, I arrived in Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport. I got some dinner and waited for my next flight to California. We left the gate for an on time departure, but just as we were about to get on the runway, we had to turn around and head back to the gate. Apparently some important documents (perhaps the instruction manual) had been taken off the plane. So we had to go back and get them. We started to head back to the terminal, but there weren't any open gates for us to go to, so we sat for about an hour. Finally, a gate opens up. When we got to the gate, we also had to pick up a new flight attendant and refuel. While we are waiting, we find out that the new flight attendant is not qualified for this particular flight, so they had to call in for a new one. Finally, 2-1/2 hours after we were scheduled to depart, we have everything we need and we can FINALLY take off. We arrived at Ontario Airport around 10:00 pm (CA time - which means to me, it felt like 1:00 am). Becky was there to pick me up and we headed to her apartment in Corona, CA.

We slept in a bit Saturday morning and then made our way towards Los Angeles. Although she doesn't live all that far away, it still took us nearly 2 hours. We passed the downtown area and I gazed up at the nearby hills and pointed out, "hey, there's the Hollywood sign." We both thought that was pretty cool. Our first stop was at the Getty Center. It is an art museum complex that sits atop a hill that overlooks Beverly Hills and the greater Los Angeles area. The museum only holds art that predates 1900. The real significance of the place for Becky and me is that it is designed by the famous architect Richard Mier.


After the Getty Center, we went to Santa Monica to go rollerblading on the beach and watch the sunset. Instead of taking the 405, we decided to take side roads. We drove down the very winding Sunset Boulevard to the Pacific Coast Highway and found a place to park. We walked towards the beach and saw a film crew filming something or doing a photo shoot of some sort. Only in California! We started rollerblading towards the Santa Monica Pier. It was really windy. While heading south, the wind was at our backs and we harly had to work. The wind just coasted us along the path. But on the return trip, we had to blade head on to what felt like atleast 20 mph gusts. I couldn't get any momentum going and the sand was blowing in my face. By the time we returned to where we started, I was completely exhausted!

After blading, I had to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean. I knew it would be freezing cold, but I had to do it anyways.

On Sunday, after church, we went on a hike. First, we stopped at Becky's office where she showed me where she worked and we met up with one of her coworkers who was going with us. We went to Forest Falls in the San Bernardino Mountains.

This was a little more than just a hike. I climbed a mountain! It was so amazing! I don't know that I can truly express it in words, but I will try. We started out along the trail and followed it until it ended at the base of the waterfall. But we decided to keep going, "off the beated path." We climbed up the rocks, higher and higher. There were a few times when I almost lost my footing and started to slip. I was able to catch myself, but wasn't sure that I could go on. Becky encouraged me to keep going. When ever we reached a ridge and looked out into the valley, it was absolutely "breathtaking." So just in case no one believes me, here's my proof:

So going back to the title of "Sand & Snow," where else can you go to the beach one day and the next be hiking in the snowy mountains? That's California!

California, Here I Come!

I am so excited to head out to California tomorrow to see Becky! I am so ready for a vacation. We're going to have so much fun. We're going to go rollerblading at the beach and hiking in the snowy mountains. I'll be sure to blog about it (and include some pictures) when I get back.

I bought a new cell phone. Well, I didn't really "buy" it. I got it for free. A $150 phone for FREE! With my plan, I can get a new phone every 2 years when I renew my contract. This one will be so much cooler than the one that I have now. It is a flip phone with a color screen. It has 41 ring tones to choose from. I can take and send pictures. I should receive it in 2-5 business days. Just in case you were wondering, yes, I will have the same phone #.

Girl Time Is Good

I had a great weekend. I had a really good girl time/bonding time with my friend Becky H. Satutday night, I met up with her and her friend at church. Afterwards, we went over to Becky's place for dinner and we just sat and talked for a good 3 hours or so. It was awesome. On sunday, we went browsing around the mall. Although we both resisted the temptation to buy anything, I was able to finally get Grandma's wedding ring fixed. A couple of the prongs which held in the diamond had been broken and when worn down (that's what happens it's more than 60 years old). Now it's been fixed and it's all shiny and sparkly! After the mall, we headed back to my place and watched a movie (Princess Diaries 2). I am so grateful that Becky has become a part of my life. She is a great friend and an awesome woman of God.

In other news:
It has turned cold again! The temperature was 33 degrees (wind chill of 24) when I came to work this morning! BBRRR!! It's not supposed to be this cold! This is Florida for goodness sake! I actually made it to work by 8:00 this morning (of course I THOUGHT it was 9:00 - I guess I still haven't learned how to tell time). I had a semi-unpleasant meeting when I got to the office this morning. Basically, I have a ton of work to do before I can leave for my vacation this weekend. Yes, I'm taking another vacation. I'm going out to SoCal (that's Southern California) to visit my OTHER friend Becky (Becky Bell from BSU). She recently moved to Corona, CA (SE of LA). So, I am going to give her a friendly visit. I haven't seen her in about a year and a half. I am so excited. I can't wait. I am going to make sure that I truly enjoy this vacation (which shouldn't be a problem) because I won't be taking another one for quite a while. I am going to be super busy this week. I'm probably going to have to put in some extra time. I don't want to be thinking about work while I'm on vacation.

So You Want An Update, Huh?

Fine. Here's your update (Mom). I've been busy, OK. I have a fairly demanding job and a recently acquired a semi-active social life. For those of you who read my previous post, you know what I've been up to during the week. But as for the weekend, here is how it went. On Friday night, I was supposed to have a foriegn movie night with my friend Jen, but she wasn't feeling well as postponed it to a later date TBD. So instead, I went out to see a movie with Bryan. We went to see, "Meet The Fockers." It was alright. It was funny, but a bit crude. It was basically what I expected it would be like.

I got up early on Saturday to go to yoga with Becky. I like going except for the fact that it is at 9:00 on a Saturday morning (when I would much rather be sleeping in my nice, warm, comfy bed). I found myself yawning throughout the entire session. Afterwards, I was so relaxed that I fell asleep on the couch watching TV. Since I had basically wasted my day away (but it was worth it), I figured I might as well get up, get dressed, and do something. So for my evening entertainment, I experienced some of the Orlando Night Life. Jen invited me, along with some other people, to go this club downtown to here some local bands play. Through some poor communication, I ended up there by myself. I called Jen to find out where everyone was. Apparently everyone else cancelled. Jen said that she would come and join me, but it would take her atleast a half-hour to get there and the first band, Atomic Tangerine, was getting ready to go on. I felt a little uncomfortable being there by myself, but once I found a seat at the bar and the band started playing, it wasn't too bad. After the first set, I got a call from Jen saying that she was just outside, second in line, and they stopped letting people in. Bummer for her. So we decided to visit a couple other bars instead. First we went to Room 3 Nine. We didn't stay long since it was really crowded and they weren't playing very good music (bad 80s music). So we went next door to a bar called The Lodge. It looked like a hunting lodge (a much more casual atmosphere). It was a little less crowded and the music was much better. It was still 80s music, but better. Before we knew it, it was nearly 1am and that is when the time ran out on my parking meter (and I didn't have any more change). So that meant that it was time to go. Oh well. We still had fun, even though the weather wasn't very good. It was drizzly and cold.

I didn't really do anything on Sunday. I went to church Saturday night so that I could sleep in on Sunday morning (which I did). I did get a couple loads of laundry done, so I wasn't COMPLETELY unproductive. You may think that I'm totally wasting my weekends by not doing much of anything, but when you have hectic weeks like I have, it's really nice to just not do anything!

Back In The Swing Of Things

Well, Christmas and the "holiday season" are over. Thursday was Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas. The choir had our 2nd annual Epiphany Cantata. It went OK. Some pieces went better than others. On Saturday, to officially end the Christmas season, I put away all of my Christmas decorations (except for my tree which I am attempting once again to keep alive and the lights on my patio). On Sunday, Becky & I went to see the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. A coworker of mine gave me two tickets because her and her husband were going to be out of town. It was really cool. It was all Tchaikovsky. There was even an encore at the end (they played the "Russian Dance" from "The Nutcracker Suite".

Now that the holidays are over, all of my weekly evening activities are starting back up once again. Here is my weekly schedule:
Monday - Dance class
Tuesday - Bible Study: "It's Not About Me"
Wednesday - The Way (Dinner, Praise & Worship time, and Bible Study: "Bad Girls of the Bible") and Choir Practice
Thursday - Wallyball
Friday - FREE!!!

Now that you know my schedule, I have no need to repeat myself in any future blogs.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yesterday was my 26th Birthday. Here's how it went:

I woke up in the morning, sang "Happy Birthday" to myself, and opened my birthday present from my parents. It had been sitting in my room since last thursday and I couldn't wait any longer (especially since I knew I wouldn't be home again until late). I eventually dragged my body out of bed and went off to work. Work went pretty well. I got a couple new projects to work on. One of which is a tenant fit out and Norberto (our Director of Design) wants me to do the interior "design". I'm meeting with the client tomorrow. Another good thing happened today. One of the first projects that I worked on almost completely by myself came back from the building department. There were absolutely NO COMMENTS. I don't have to fix anything. This RARELY ever happens. I do have to make some changes on it, but they are purely aesthetic (I need to simplify the design to bring the cost down). Jim is letting me take complete control of this project. That is, I will review all the shop drawings, make site visits, answer any questions that come up. I'm a little nervous about this new responsibility, but I need it if I want to become a registered Architect (and I do). Jim took our team out to lunch at Olive Garden to celebrate my birthday.

After work, Bryan and I went out to dinner at P.F. Chang's. It was really nice. We split an Almond & Cashew Chicken dinner. After dinner, I had choir practice for our Cantata tomorrow night. It was long (2 hours) and kind of boring. I love to sing, but I just wasn't in the mood last night. I mean, I would have rather been out with friends. After practice I did go out. Jen (who is also in choir) and I went to a bar downtown and had a couple drinks. I was kind of hoping that our other friends could join us, but Becky was busy and Kristin was sleeping (she has to get up really early in the morning to go to work at the Animal Kingdom). So it was just Jen & me. It was really nice, though. We got to spend some quality time together and get to know each other a bit better. So it was another late night for me. I haven't been in bed before midnight in the past week. Maybe tonight.

All in all, it was a really nice birthday.

A Freaky Story

OK, this is really freaky:

Back in college, I often received overdue bill notices for a magazine for which I never had a subcription. The bills were addressed to Amy Kushnir, a student at Arizona State University. While I obviously did not go to ASU, I did apply there and was accepted. I can only assume that is why they forwarded the mail to me instead of the real Amy Kushnir to whom they belonged.

Anywho, for a bit of fun, today I did an internet search on my name to see what would come up. Basically, I wanted to see if my website would show up. Well, it didn't, but I did find something about me on a Ball State Alumni page. But here is the freaking part. I also came across the following article from the Las Vegas Review Journal dated October 6, 2003:

U.S. HIGHWAY 93
Four Arizonians killed in head-on collision

Four Arizona residents were killed Saturday afternoon in a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 93.

All of the victims were dead at the scene. There were no survivors.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety said the wreck occured about 4:15 p.m. just south of the U.S. 93-Interstate 40 junction.

DPS said 24-year-old Emily Baur of Chandler, Ariz., was driving northbound in a 2000 Infinity when she attempted a pass and collided with an oncoming 1998 Chevrolet pickup. Bauer's passenger was identified as 24-year-old Amy Kushnir of Tempe, Ariz.

The occupants of the pickup were identified as 49-year-old Cruz Reyes of Phoenix and 55-year-old Roberta Williams of Scottsdale Ariz.

I have no proof that this is the same person as mentioned above, but it very well could be. But how freaky is it to read an article about someone with your same name and same age who was killed. Trust me, it's freaky.

Happy New Year!

Well, it's actually 2005. I hosted a New Year's Eve party this year. It went pretty well. It was very low-key, but nice. We just sat around, ate, drank, and talked. We also had a champagne toast at midnight and watched the ball drop. I had 7 guests for a total of 8 people. The first guests left at 12:30 and the last left around 1:30. I think that I may stick to being party guest rather than host. Even after everyone had left (and I was completely exhausted) I couldn't sleep. I was awake until about 4 am. But once I finally fell asleep, I was completely out (until my mom decided to call with a noon wake-up call. After I hung up, I slept for about another hour. I spent the rest of the day cleaning up from the party.