My Happy Place

(I wrote this during the end of November...I know...it's been a LONG time!)

You gotta love IT friends. My buddy Paul had recommended some time ago to download Mozilla (I know it took me forever to finally do it Paul) to gain access to websites that I normally can't access at work. I did and sometimes it lets me through. Yay! But I still can't access blogger.

I miss blogging at work. It was such a great pass time and a great break from work. Now I can only read a selected websites from work. Honestly, by the time I get home from school, I just want to relax and rarely pick up the laptop to type away. The thought of "Ooo… I'm going to blog about this" does come to mind a lot though. I decided to do what Cindy thought of and email my post to myself and just post them when I get home .. so you should hear from me a little more frequently. *crossing fingers*

Sunday's have been dedicated to volunteering at the zoo. It's been fun to getting to know the keepers and zoo life, meeting the animals and getting to work with some too! I don't mind doing the dirty work of picking up the habitats and shoveling and raking crap. My favorite part has to be working with the Lemurs. My first week was just cleaning habitats of primates and basically we would move them to another location before cleaning, which meant I didn't get to be in there with them. Then two weeks later I was paired to work with zoo keeper T. He is the coolest ever! He made sure to inform me of all the details of the animals, where they came from, there habitat, fun experiences he has had and a little about him moving to Panama to retire with his wife. The day flew by. Luckily, I missed the boa feeding of a dead rat! The whole process of
feeding the boas is gnarly! The zoo keeper has to thaw the rat out in hot water for 20minutes to make it appear to have a warm life-like body temperature and then dangles it in front of the snakes face to bring out the natural killing instincts of the snake and tad dah dinner is served. EW!

But the part I'm glad I didn't miss was HAND FEEDING the Lemurs. Yup, those cute animals in the movie "Madagascar" are the ones that I fed. Zoo keep T is awesome! He knew I was leaving at noon and wanted to ensure that I was able to interact with the Lemurs, so he changed up his routine and headed for the commissary for a bunch of grapes. We headed off to the Lemurs habitat and he armed me with a ton of grapes. Lemurs are the sweetest and most gentle animals. As they saw I had treats they all came over lightly placing their little hand on my leg, to let me know that they were there. Some would make light noises. There was one that hangs upside down for his grapes. I was so excited and as I placed it in their mouth they would gentle grab it with there little hands and chew away. I think I must have called my whole family that day to tell them about my day.

Oh an they sun bath too. They sit facing the sun and look like they are meditating.

Thanksgiving '08

Thanksgiving Day was interesting. I welcomed the holiday with being at the airport at the stroke of midnight waiting for my Mom at LAX. She was coming back from a 3 week trip from her home country, Costa Rica. Her plane landed early, so had to be escorted two terminals downs. I rushed over just to learn that all together 4 planes and all their passengers and crew were clearing customs, so it was over an hour delay. It was good to see my Mom and was happy to hear she had such a great trip. My grandfather is my last living grandparent and is a strong 78! He makes his living building homes and as he gets older it hurts to do stuff like writing, so he didn't send any letters home this time. Instead, he made fresh bread that morning, so I just had to break my diet and try one. Man, he is a GREAT baker! It was so tasty! But I was good and only had one.

A few hours later my immediate family had a delicious breakfast of soy sausage, turkey bacon, chocolate chip pancakes, fresh fruit, my grandpa's bread, and egg whites. YUMMY!!! It was a small gathering as two of my sister's and their hubbies are now out of state and this year Jayla was with mom.

Afterwards, Jay and I got ready and headed down to San Diego to Jay's niece's (and boyfriend's) place. I was wiped out from the trip to LAX and waking up to make breakfast, so minutes into the drive I passed out. I guess I missed 2 hours of Thanksgiving Traffic. When we got there we were welcomed by the lovely couple, 3 kitties, a dog and a HUGE feast!!! Jay's niece was telling us that she wants to attend a culinary school and have a catering business focusing on cakes and baked goods. She was going to bake a cake for a friend's b-day part on Saturday and look at the amazing job she did!!!

I jokingly told Jay that she could make our wedding cake. Jay's response "oh lord!"

It's not a real party, unless there is a fight

October is always a month of much celebration with three family birthdays and all. This year I had three work birthday's, as well, and Jay's BS graduation to add in on the celebration month. It was a special month with my niece turning the big 1-6. I don't recall my 16th birthday, but I do recall being able to apply for my driving permit. My niece's parents were throwing her a huge birthday day bash and rented out a local community center for the event. It was a dance room that has huge floor length windows that looked directly to the street. There was a candy bowl station that with tons of treats to make your own goodies bag, tons of people, DJ .. and did I forget to mentions 80's themed! These kids were dressed SO cute! Why didn't I have style like that back in the 80's? My sis, Messy Jessy, flew from North Carolina to join in the celebration and we dressed alike for the event. The nite was going great with some little hic-ups. Like the birthday girl having a fit that her friends were not dancing much. Oh and then there was the party crashers. I walked out o the dance room that lead to the outdoor eating area to see a group of teens just looking out on the dance floor. They weren't causing trouble or giving dirty looks, just looking in awe. I invited them in thinking they were my niece's friends and they said they were "scared" to go in. The red flags were immediately raised and soon my niece came out telling the group that they were welcomed in but not her *niece pointing at some chick* because that girl was an unwanted and uninvited guest. I guess the girl talks a lot of trash on all my niece's friends and recently started up the trash talking on my niece. Naturally, my protective aunt-instincts had me keeping an eye on my niece and this group. Good thing too cuz all of a sudden I saw my niece dart out for the parking lot and I literally ran to see what was about to go down. As I turned the corner I saw my nieces dad and that girl yelling at each other. I passed up my niece to hear her dad telling the girl to leave and the girl telling him that my niece was a bitch. OH HELLO NO! I ran up, texted myself the license number of car she was in, told the girl to get the F in her car before I called the cops to escort her little ass out and she sheepishly did. I envisioned throwing the girl across the parking lot jujitsu style. LOL! I seriously did, though. I know... I am like 10 years older, but someone had to get this uninvited guest and her posy the heck out of the party and if she would've swung, I would have happily introduced her to the pavement. The funny thing is Jay had said earlier that evening "it's not a real party unless there is a fight" and jokingly I said I was gonna be in one. Now here I found myself about to. I acted like I was calling the cops and the group left. Boy, I don't miss HS!

The weekend got even more interesting as the next day we celebrated my oldest sis' b-day by going to a play. For some reason we thought it was going to be a comedy, but quickly learned that it wasn't once it started. It was a drama filled play filled with murder, ex-cons, corrupted government, drugs, alcohol and tons of cussing with an ending in the main character and a psychopath falling in love a burning themselves to death for fear of some bugs. It was so far from a comedy!!! But hey, at least we all got to go out together as a family, right?

It was the birthday of my sister who lives in CO on Sunday, so I called her to wish her a Happy B-day and had sent her some gifts throughout the week. It was the big 3-0 for her and I wanted her to have a special one. I tried sending her flowers for that weekend, but she lives in such a small town that neighboring cities do not delivery to her "remote" location and the ONLY florist in town was on vacay for two weeks. Even 1-800flower, proflowers.com and ftd.com wouldn't deliver. Oh well, it's the thought that counts. My sister got a good laugh at my amazement that there was only one flowershop in her city. You just don't hear of that in Souther Cali.

The next weekend was Jay's big graduation day!!!

Jayla came down from Az for the festivities :)

And so did my Mom!

And this was our celebration cookie cake from mrs. Fields...YUMMY!!!

Congrat honey! All those hours of studying, cramming, driving to SD is all over! You did it!! :)

The mark

Ummm... I wrote this about two weeks ago, but saved it instead of post. oops! But like they say, better late, than never.

Wow... can you believe it's been officially a year since Jay popped the big question and we became officially BF & GF. We moved kinda fast... less then a year into our relationship and we live together, but it didn't seem fast -- Instead more natural. Jay was coming home Saturday from visiting Jayla in Az, so I knew we were going to have a chill anniversary. It was an impromptu trip which prior to the trip, both of us had signed up for The Boot Camp Challenge.

(Don't I look like I am dying???)

The morning of the race I woke up at 3AM!!! Something was telling me to check my phone alarm and good thing I did because it was set for PM not AM. I hadn't decided whether I wanted to do the race yet, but just in case I did, I thought I better set it my alarm correctly. I woke up at 6, which was the time I wanted to leave and decided I better make the 100miles drive to the Marine Recruit Corp Depot.

Once I was there, I was proud that I got myself out of bed and was about to do the race. The race was harder then last year. Maybe it was because I was doing it myself. This years cadence that was over the loud speaker was rifles going off, people yelling and bullets flying... less motivating then the marching cadence from last year. When I got to the 2nd push up station (where the DI don't tell you how many push ups to do) near the end of my three miles and did like 5-7 guy push ups and said F-it and got on my knees. Bug mistake as a DI came to "motivate" me to get off my knees and do my push ups lower. I did like 5 more and just got up and kept running. LOL! I know this a boot camp challenge and I think I failed with that stunt I pulled. Nonetheless, I finished! YAY! I think my time was 42 mins and some change. But if you delete all the wait time, then probably 5 mins or so would be shaved off. :)

Monkey Around

You are now reading the blog of an official zoo volunteer! I just got back from orientation and will start volunteering 4 hours per week. Yippee! I wanted to start off slow and see how it goes so I don't get burnt out or over commit. Some people were signing up for 24 hours per week and I thought they were insane or didn't have a full time job and go to school. I can't wait until I don't work full time and can volunteer on Thursdays because that's vet day and I would be able to work along side the vet. That is too cool and the exposure I need. I was so happy to have the opportunity come up. Now I need to go shopping! Well I don't "need" to but want some pants and boots that i don't mind getting dirty. I am extremely excited *cheesy smile* and it seems that the zoo personnel are awesome and very passionate about what they do. It's exactly what I need to be around!



And yesterday I got a great tutoring session on chemistry. I was a little nervous since my search for a tutor came up with a bad experience. My first tutor had a big head about the knowledge he had to share and I was like a little peon that should be in awe of him. First thing I noticed when I walked into his house was that he had a cat. Good thing I am an animal lover, but I thought it was weird that he would not have mentioned it. There are so many people that don't like kitties and many more that have allergies to them. That should've been a sign of the unprofessional ism that was awaiting me. The tutor kept wanting to cover things that I didn't or need covered, then told me that if I have someone in front of me that has 30 years of experience I should take advantage of it. I told him that I was trying but he was helping me in areas I didn't need help in. Plus he was a smoker and my eyes were getting itching. I asked him if he smoked in the room and he said he had the Ozone 3 on, which I took to be a yes answer. I explained to him that it made the studying environment uncomfortable and he started up his criticism of me. He said that I was too much of an independent student. WTC? Then he said that if I wanted to ace my test, I need to see him again and could only do so by purchasing a 10-pack worth $420. When I told him I wasn't interested, he insulted me and questioned my finances and if I could hit up my parents. Obviously this guy was not a "patient tutor" as he said on his business card and someone I wouldn't want to see again! Friday was a totally different experience. This new tutor was VERY patient, nice, wanted to cover things that I wanted to explained on, printed guides out for me and helped me see chemistry in a lighter light. I saw one of the errors that I was making and now am feeling more confident. I purchased 11 more sessions with him, which will work out perfectly with the school semester.

Life is filled with blessing and I am so grateful for all of them this week especially! "

I'm alive... Photo Update

BIG Thanks to Paul, because if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be blogging. He was GREAT and fixed my laptop that had 344 viruses. Probably due to download from limewire. You would think that I would have blogged the night that I got the computer, but sorry school started and I have been a go student and studying my little heart away.

I have joined the group of bloggers that can't blog from work anymore cuz of stupid work "securities." So... time for an update!

Surgery went well, except for the thyroid hormonal imbalance crap that is coming to an end. I was always feeling on edge and like I was PMSing. It was a constant urge to want to cry or yell at anything and everything. I totally lived up to the California road rage crazy person during that time.

Then, there is the other women's worst fear... uncontrollable weight gain, which I am happy to report that is finally coming to an halt. YAY!!!

So since the last time I blogged
Natalie turned the big 21! She had a cool party at her house that was Vegas themed. She has casino tables, hookas, open bar and DJ. It was a fun night. We went shopping for dresses the weekend before and yes, you will see me re-wear it later, but hey! I really pay $70 for a dress, so have to make good use of it.

Jayla came down for her 60 days with dad. We had action pack time of zoo visits, family parties, and endless movie time of the Doodlebops.

My niece and I went to see Wicked. It's an AMAZING show! I would highly recommend you see it. It was so funny and I barely realized that it was a 3 hour show. Now that speaks volumes for a show.

We saw it at the Pantages Theater, which was a neat place filled with art and carving at every corner. Like this walker fountain that is at each end of the theater.

Not too long after, we (my sisters & I) had our garage sale of my Dad's stuff. It took over a year, but we finally did it.

We woke up SUPER early and pulled things out before daylight. Before 6AM we were having our first customers.

Luckily, the local Salvation Army had a special event going on that day and scheduled a pick up for later on that day. We made $527. Woohoo! It was a littler surreal seeing the rest of my Dad's stuff get loaded in the truck.

That following Tuesday, I had surgery on my thyroid. My sister had came from Colorado to help with the garage sale and for support for my surgery. My Mom, sisters, niece, Jay and mom's pastor were there during my hospitalization and boy was I spoiled! I came home to roses, balloons and decoration that Jay put up and for the following week ice cream, sushi and home cooked food entered my tummy.

After seeing this dried bloody, tape (that I couldn't removed for a WEEK!), the scar was tiny! Check out the last picture on this post and you can barely see it. My doctor did such a great job that I sent him a thank you. I got tons of compliments on his work, that i just had to let him know.

Shortly after, my lil sis was heading of to North Carolina. *sadness* I threw her a good bye party. She requested that my oldest sister show off her Flamenco moves...

And she delivered!

And then my Mom and lil sis did, too! (My family is the best!)

Then my Mom had a b-day! Happy birthday Mom! The fruit tart was YUMMY!

This great view of the sunset was taken at the Ritz for Cindy's bridal shower.

It was a great, personal time. Everyone had such great stories to share and were super cool! The food was tasty, too. I was craving truffle french fries for weeks after.

A co-worker wanted to do a play date with her son and Jayla, so off we went to the San Diego Zoo. And Naturally, had to stop at the photo spot. Too cute!

Jay's niece and her boyfriend met um with us later on. I never new that San Diego Zoo was such a large park. I had gone for a 5:00AM workout and felt the burn while we walked up and down the hilly park.

And then... the BIG moment! Cindy's wedding!!!!!

Here's the bride visiting the table next to us. It was a great time and I got to sit with my old jujitsu buddies and got caught up on their lives. We had to leave right before the cake cutting cuz Jay had homework due by midnight, but it was a good time.

So that's what's up with me in a nutshell!

Had surgery

If feels so weird not to be able to check blogger from work, but it is now officially block from my work computer and my computer at home is down. My buddy Paul is going to come check the home one out.

I will post what I have been up to a little later, but wanted to give an update on my surgery. It took place this past Tuesday the 15th. I had to spend the night just in case I bleed or has too much swelling blocked my air ways, then I would be close to help. They only removed the left side of my thyroid, which is a good sign. I see the doctor on Monday to get the pathology report. I was able to finally take a shower today and boy did it feel good.

I have had nothing but a lot of tender lovin care before and after my surgery. There were 60 people at my mom's church praying and fasting for 3 days. HOLY MOLY! My sisters, Mom, Jay, niece and my mom's pastors stopped by and tonight Cindy is stopping by to show me her engagment picture and drop off some DVD's to entertain me while I am home. When I arrived from the hposital Jay had the place filled with purple balloons, roses, a card and party garland. It really lifted my spirts to have the place decorated and so much love. Everyone says I have a good color and seems to be healing well, so off I am to the road to recovery.