Mid-Week Update

Now that I've returned from California and my wonderful vacation, it's back to the grindstone and my busy schedule. Last night at The Way, I helped lead the "Praise & Worship" time by singing with the praise band. I was a little nervous to be standing in front of everyone, but it was actually pretty cool. I just kept reminding myself that it's not about me or whether or not I sing the right notes. It's all about God. Tonight is wallyball. I'm still sore from mountain climbing, but it should still be fun. I have some pretty big plans for the weekend as well. Mardi Gras at Universal starts this Saturday. I'll probably spend most of the day at the park and then stay for the festivities in the evening. I have to sing at the 8:00 service on Sunday. I love singing in the choir, but I don't particularily enjoy singing at that hour. I've actually been invited to 3 different Super Bowl parties for Sunday evening (and I don't even really care for football - I only watch because of the commercials and the half-time show). One party, I'm definitely not going to, but I'm trying to decide between the other two. Maybe I can do both (watch one half at Brian's house and the other have at Bryan's house). One party will include people from church, while the other will be people I currently or formerly work with (or don't know at all). Decisions, decisions.

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!