Adventures in San Diego!

One week after moving from SacTown to SD, my new roomie and I went exploring Balboa Park.  So.  Much.  Fun.  And so much to do!  In the time we were there, we pretty much traveled the world.  No, really!  We have pictures to prove it.

We went to England:

Yeah, we TOTALLY caught some Olympic action there.  They wanted to give us gold medals for the sport of being awesome, but we politely declined since we couldn't stay for the award ceremony.

We stopped by the Butchart Gardens in British Columbia...

And smelled some flowers...

And admired their beauty...

And pretended to be African monkeys hanging from a flower filled well...  Ok, so that was only me...

We danced with the Kirov (Mariinsky) Ballet...

and the Paris Opera Ballet...  (no, those are not white tights, those are my white legs)

We crashed a flower show in a foreign-Spanish-looking-place.

It took great strength to refrain from bringing back any flowers 'cause they were so pretty!

We found a secret entrance to Wonderland (take that Alice!).

And in Wonderland, we met this super friendly green dragon-snake-thingy.  (Mom, don't freak out, but we brought him home!)

Just in case you were wondering, I'm loving my new home.  I'll have to tell you more later, but right now there's more adventures waiting for me, so off into beautiful 80 degree weather I go!

5 Thoughts From Today

I think alot.  I don't always think about intelligent things and I try to avoid thinking while doing homework, but I still think alot!  Most of the time, my thoughts are connected... not at all.  They jump from subject to subject in an attempt to lose me (or make me lose my mind) but I always manage to keep up.  So here's some of my most interesting random thoughts.

Random Thought #1:

It's February.  Did you know that?  It's February and this is what I see outside:

Trees are budding and some trees never even lost their leaves during "fall"...

 This tree will have white flowers all over it very soon (and that bench makes me want to sit and read a book!)...

The daffodils are blooming.  The DAFFODILS are blooming...  The daffodils are BLOOMING!



These cute little garden hogs flowers are blooming like crazy all over...

Is it really February, or am I that gullible?  The weather has been in the 70's, much to everyone's delight (and my dismay...  I love winter!).  I'm going to have to retire my sweaters and fur-lined boots incredibly early.  At this point, I'm quite scared for summer.  For those who do not know: I'm made of sugar and the heat simply "caramelizes" me (forget "melting"), I become a hot mess!  I just can't stand the heat, it's one of the main reasons winter is my favorite season.  Enjoy this weather while you can, cause the moment it hits above 80, I'm heading for Alaska (oh, how I wish).

Interesting Thought #2:

I'm in love.  I might just have an affair.  I've found the most amazing partner and I think I'm ready to finally commit... 

Chocolate...  and banana... and orange... and chocolate...  Is there anything better?  I think I'm finally ready to admit this is my favorite recipe.  I feel like I'm betraying all the other desserts I've created and enjoyed, but this little number is all I dream of baking and eating and devouring these days.  Do you see the chocolate?  How it's all melty and gooey?  It stays like that, even when it's not hot, it's still melted and gooey and simply wonderful!  Believe it or not, this is actually a bread, not a cake, but a loaf pan seems too mundane for it, so a bunt pan it is and should always be.  Are you in love yet?  I can share if needed...  Maybe...  Actually, I don't think I can, sorry!

Last Intelligent Thought Ever #3:

I have awesome co-workers.  They always make me laugh and we get along very well.  A job is always an awesome thing when you get to hang out with a friend all day!  I have 3 co-workers, but I only work with 2...  Does that make sense?  P'rolly not, but it'd take too long to explain.  Anyway, to prove the awesomeness of my co-workers, I shall have to show a picture full of personality.  We're re-naming this particular co-worker to "Daffodil".  I forget why, but we had a whole conversation about this and laughed at the end of it.  So, without further ado, Daffodil:

See how much fun we have?  Seriously, you just can't beat how much fun we have at work...  Or outside of work...  Ok, yeah, I admit, I think I have more fun than everyone else does...  Or maybe I just laugh louder, it's a possibility...

I changed my mind and here's another Thought #4:

I just watched a commercial with a little girl in a bikini.  Can I just say I don't appreciate little girls in bikinis...  I don't think it's cute or appropriate.  Little girls are little girls, not teenagers or little adults.  What's wrong with one-piece swimsuits or even tankinis?  Warning to my sister: Though you haven't yet, don't put my nieces in bikinis!  OK, done with the ranting now!


Facts Thought #5:

I've hit the backspace so many dang times in this post
I've spelled "thought" wrong every time I wrote it, including this time
I like the commercials that have funky-beat music
I have a new "friend" I've named Roxanne, but you'll meet her and hear her story another day
I have so many hobbies that I've no time for them, with the exception of eating
I just got home from visiting a dear friend and now the countdown to see my nieces has begun
Countdown till the nieces: 37 days!

Joy, Time, and Possibly Randomness

I feel as if I have no time to post anything these days!  If I have time to write a blog post, I feel I should be working on my ten-page essay for English instead or do a chapter of Psychology homework or start studying for the next Biology test, even if I just took the last one...  The few times I pulled out the computer to blog, I blanked out...  It's not that I have nothing I'm doing or to talk about, I just keep thinking, "Oh, as soon as I get some pictures, I'll put that post up," or "I can't write about that yet because it'll be so much better after it actually happens." Meaning: I have a trip coming up next week that I'm super excited about, but I want to blog about it with all the juicy details. Also meaning: I have a craft-ie-y-ish post just waiting on pictures of the actual crafts (which I think are SUPER cute). I'm also toying with a post about my nieces cause I can never get enough of them (proud and obsessed Auntie right here) and I think a blog post full of their pictures would make me smile for a week! Oh, AND, I have a clean room... And a re-organized room... And a clean room... And my laundry's done... And a clean room! I know you all don't believe me about my clean room (I like saying that) and I did promise my mom to post the "after" pictures (apparently the "before" were that bad...) so that's on the list as well. I'm finding my biggest problem is time. Time and I are always just missing each other, kind of like Sleep and I are doing... No time, no sleep, but homework and I are becoming... very acquainted.  So now what? How 'bout this:

I love life! I'm not sure how many people are aware of that fact, but I do!  Even when my schedule consists of only work, school, and homework (as many BUSY weeks do!) I still find myself laughing constantly and taking joy in little things.  I have so much to look forward to, I feel it would be easy to rush through today hoping to get to tomorrow faster.  I'm so glad I don't tho.  Joys from today: Laughing with my co-worker over thoroughly silly and random subjects, making and enjoying a new recipe (Lemon Olive Oil Banana Bread with a Lemon/Brown Sugar glaze= SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!), a delicious vegetable lasagna for dinner, a totally unexpected picture and text from dear friend that had me trying not to laugh (dang, Nolly!)...  What am I looking forward to? ALOT!

Besides the upcoming trip (seriously excited!!!!!!!), I feel I have a jam-packed, well, year! I have a Valentine's Day "date", kinda, sorta, ok, not really...  A co-worker and I made plans to go see "The Vow" the Tuesday after it came out, not knowing that would be V-Day.  Neither of us have or anticipate other plans, so we decided to keep our "date", we're even adding lunch to the movie.  Honestly, it's just a "Girl's Day Out" to us, so it'll be alot of fun.  For Spring Break, my older sister and brother-in-law and NIECES are coming up to stay for the week.  I'm quite excited, ecstatic, happy, delirious with joy over having family come to visit me for a week!  In June, I get to go see "Wicked" again with The Ginger (our Christmas/birthday gifts to each other).  In July, I'm going to San Francisco with Ramen Girl to go see "Les Miserable" (my first time seeing it, happiness!).  I get my nieces for two weeks this summer (both this time).  I apply for PTA programs in March and get responses in May.  If I get accepted, I start the program in August.  The most exciting thing to look forward to?  Drum roll please: In September, I become an Aunty for the third time!  :-D I think being an Aunty is the perfect job for me, I love being the crazy, eccentric Aunty and I adore my nieces (and possibly nephew?) sooooooo much!!!!

My goodness!  See why it's important to remember to enjoy today with so many wonderful things to look forward to?  And now I think I see why I have a hard time FINDING time!

A Quarter of a Century...

My birthday is officially over! I know, I sound like I'm rejoicing... Turning a quarter of a century is draining (just on the pride tho), particularly when I think back on where "teenager" Nicole thought "current" Nicole would be in life. Funny how it's NEVER the way we plan, huh? (I do believe there's a Bible verse about that...)

My day was very relaxed and I appreciate that particular aspect of it. I stayed up to greet my birthday the night before, so I slept in till noon (with the exception of my mom, aunt, and grandma calling to serenade me in the morning). My roommate had to wake me up (cause she was feeling guilty for sleeping so late as well) and we lazily got dressed as I went back and forth in my decision for which restaurant I wanted lunch at. I had a marvelous vegetarian sushi roll (I don't care that there was no fish- it was at least sushi-"styled") that I had been waiting almost a whole year to taste again. That alone made me very happy! Just when I thought we were done ans waiting on the check, two spoons and a dessert were brought out with birthday wishes. I honestly had not expected The Ginger (as she shall be fondly known) to tell on me, so I was mildly shocked until the deliciousness of the dessert made it all ok. There was many vintage shops in mid-town that we would've loved to explore, but The Ginger only had five quarters for the parking meter, so we had an hour total to get back to the car or else... We did have time to go to the vintage store right next door where I scored an amazingly awesome teal-ish waist belt for about $8. The Ginger has already informed me she's stealing it... Another friend dropped by after we got home and watched as The Ginger (I'm really enjoying calling her that...) and I cleaned some more of our room (still a work in progress, but oh-so-close!).

My other roommate (I shall call her Ramen Girl since she just might be obsessed with... ramen) arrived home after The Ginger and my other friend left. I was back to relaxing on the couch trying to figure out how to change the look of this blog (do you like the new look?) when she announced we had to go somewhere for my birthday. I was starting to thing people were conspiring against me staying home for my birthday like I actually wanted (The Ginger had originally planned to take me to San Fransisco, fun but I wanted to stay home), but they must've known better than me because I had more fun than I thought I'd have today. We ended up going to Color Me Mine.  I had never been before, but Ramen Girl had (I'm already plotting to go again, it's that awesome... for me...). It's a place where you can pick out a ceramic and paint it, they glaze it and fire it, then it's yours to keep, give away, lose, destroy, etc... I picked out a little plate that has a cupcake in the center, it's super cute and I think I did a marvelous job making it cuter (but you have to wait till I get it back to see the truth of my words since I didn't take any pictures at all today). Ramen Girl chose a mug that she painted these cute little characters on (from TokiDoki if anyone else besides her knows what that is). I finally figured out as we were driving home that she might be sneakier than I give her credit for since I concentrate more than I talk when I'm painting... Lucky her! We got home and had strawberry shortcake (delicious!) and watched totally ridiculous (but hilarious) videos on YouTube.

Such a silly, abnormal day for me, but I have to give a big thank you to both Ramen Girl and The Ginger for making this "turning a quarter of a century" thing not as bad as I had envisioned it'd be. Seriously, I just have amazing friends, what can I say? So, what are my plans for year 25? Besides more work and school and homework? I have grand plans!!! I just can't get enough of my friends and family, so seeing them and laughing with them and cherishing them more is so on my To-Do list, and growing closer to the One who cherishes me the most!

P.S-Just want you all to know I'm going to be tired tomorrow, especially since I have to get up in five hours...  That's what happens when you sleep till noon, even on your birthday!

P.P.S.- Although the room's not done yet, seriously MUCH better tho, I'll get pics up when we get everything rearranged (which is taking some serious math skills!). My mom is a true mother and wants to make sure I actually cleaned my room :-P I love you Mommy! :-D -THE END-

My Christmas Lists...

Happy Second Day of the New Year! :-D I had a wonderful Christmas (three of them actually!) and slept thru the "New Year" or the clock turning midnight... It's a tradition of mine to sleep thru it each year, I've only missed one or two years my whole life. Want to know what I got for Christmas? I know you do! Here's some of my favorite things:

-A Cake Pops mold and sticks (the good kind you actually use cake for!)
-A Shoe Cookie Cutter (Fashionable AND Edible, can it get any better?)
-The cutest apron (with shoes on it!)
-A Party Planning book (haven't had time to crack it open yet, but it's so on my calendar!)
-A small creative Cupcake book and a 30-minute Vegetarian book (both have GREAT ideas!)
-A marvelous and wonderful Craft Table (to save my room from the tornado known as "Nicole's craft mess")

And HERE'S my absolute favoritest presents of them all!

-Seeing my family and spending time with them!
-Hugging my nieces over and over and seeing their smiles meant just for me
-Seeing my brother in his Navy blue dress uniform walk down the stairs at the airport and feeling so proud of him
-Getting to tell everyone I hold dear that I love them at least one more time

I truly appreciate the money spent on presents for me, the fun stuff, the stuff I need, the stuff I want... The older I get, the more I realize the value of those tangible gifts are nothing compared to being hugged by my dad, laughing with my sisters, talking with my mom in the same room, having a conversation that no one else can follow with my brother or chasing my nieces and hearing their squeals of happiness.

As another year is heading my way (I'm turning 25 this week!!!!) I'm reminded more and more of my blessings and I hope to cherish them a lot more than I have been. I don't do "New Year Resolutions", and I don't plan to start. What I like to do is look back over the past year and take the time to thank Christ for my blessings. Here's some of my favorite's and biggest (or just the ones I remember...):

-My salvation thru Jesus Christ and His constant work in my life
-Another year of health insurance
-Making it thru my first whole year back at school
-The opportunity to see my family more often than in past years
-My job that allows me to go to school full time and work full time and have time for homework
-My co-workers who keep me sane during some days at my job
-Having my older niece for two weeks during the summer and being able to spend that time with her without other obligations
-Meeting new people and forming new friendships
-Having a car that is 10 years old, over 140,000 miles and still working
-The chance to see relatives I hadn't seen in years (anywhere from 2 years to over a decade!)
-Being able to attend my younger nieces first birthday
-Traveling to new places and out of state
-Keeping and deepening the friendships I have with my oldest and dearest friends (and now their husbands and some of them their children)
-My family
-My Mom
-My Dad
-My older Sister
-My younger Brother
-My younger Sister
-My older Niece
-My younger Niece
-My Grandma Penny and Donny
-My Grandma J and Papa
-My Aunts and Uncles and Cousins
-My best friend and my two closest friends in Sac-Town
-SO MUCH MORE!

I have so many blessings in my life! I'm slowly learning to take the time to enjoy them and rejoice in them as they are gifts from my Savior, but I still have a long way to go! :-P How was your Christmas/New Years?

P.S.- Believe it or not, this was not the blog I was intending to write! I was going to post pictures of my adorable nieces and tell about my holiday adventures... Maybe next time LOL

Instructions for making milk go UP your nose, as opposed to OUT of it!

I was estatic today when my roommate arrived home. She was... blessed... to be the first person to have to deal with me after getting off my four-day shift. I suppose she didn't HAVE to deal with me, she probably could've found a way to escape, but I have a sneaking suspicion she actually enjoyed laughing at my derlious state.

You see, having only been in contact with people on the job these last 96 hours, I think I went a little... crazy...? Added to that is the fact that I have not actually been home since Thursday, July 22nd, I hope you can now see why I might've lost a bit more than usual of my mind. It's been a crazy (almost) two weeks and as much as I'd like to say I can't wait for it to finally slow down, it will only get even more insane when I start school in three weeks! Aish (my favorite sound of frustration :-D ).

So the first thing Melissa receives upon entering our apartment is a demand to take me to go pick up the pizza! After picking up the pizza and grabbing a couple slices (why wait till you get home?) we decided to nix the planned movie at the theater and spend a night vegging at home. She had this anime she wanted to pick up from FRY's electronics, so off we go again, still munching pizza. Before we even got to the freeway, I exclaimed with such fervent passion, "I need milk!!!!" (Odd as you may think it, I love milk with my pizza.) She immediately bursts into laughter then explains that it's too late. Being in the wonderful, acquiescing mood I was in, I continue with, "No, turn here, there's a Save-Mart on the corner of Auburn, I can get milk there!" She laughs, again, and follows my directions (still eating, you guessed it, pizza).

Having left the pizza box in the car (shock!) and acquiring my milk and a soda for Melissa, I decide we should completely gorge during our vegging night. My weapon of choice? Melon... LOL, three melons- a watermelon, a cantaloupe and an orange-fleshed honey dew, and I had full intentions to eat (almost) all of it. I don't remember when fruit was considered pigging out, but I think the amount of which I chose had something to do with my justification that my melons could hold up in a gorge-fest just as well as candy or ice cream or cookies! Satisfied that I didn't want anything else from the store (at the moment) I paid for our stuff and back to our pizza box, I mean car we went. I opened my (half-gallon) of milk and proceed to drink it straight from the jug. *Now for those looking at my bad manners, I had full intentions of doing this when I bought it, and I refuse to pay $1.89 for a pint of milk when I can get a half-gallon for the same price! So there! :-P *

Melissa pulls out of our parking space, I'm still chugging. "Brake check!" Sudden stop. Milk UP my nose, on my shirt and on the pizza box (holding fort on my lap), courtesy of Melissa Diane Munoz... Now the whole world knows, it's her fault! LOL Man, she was laughing so hard! I looked in her visor mirror and had to laugh myself. The bottom half of my face had a 2% milk facial, and there was nothing in her car to clean it up with... I pondered aloud why my friends thought that I was a good specimen for their practical jokes... The reason we concluded is that I'll still be friends with the pranksters even after they completely ruin whatever moment I'm in... Oh well, it was seriously funny. I should've taken a picture, but I'm not that desperate for embarrassing proof of my end of the jokes.



We walk around FRY's with the computer geeks and get home just so I could flop on my couch (she has her couches, and I have mine... Meaning we have three couches in our apartment!). I'm sure we were home to accomplish the whole vegging thing, but I didn't want to put the effort into putting in a movie or getting more food, so the couch it was! I realize that to eat my melons I needed tools! So my good serv..err..sport of a friend followed my instructions to, "Get me a knife, melon baller and a cutting board!" Melissa, "That didn't sound like a command at all." Me, "Oh! Please! There. Thank you!" Yeah... Looking back I think I can see why she wants to "milk" me sometimes... Sigh, alas, I couldn't finish my melons... Not even one actually, but I impressed myself with eating a whole half of one by myself! :-)



So after vegging for a bit more I realize it's not dark yet and we have time to go for a walk! Poor Melissa is again told to get ready, and even tho there's a bit more complaining she's still a good sport! I grab my camera thinking I'd snap a few pics along the way as I'm always admiring how pretty God's creation is. I thought I'd be able to do this because in our past walks I've always out walked Melissa by quite a bit... Come to find it must've been because of her bad shoes (she borrowed my running shoes tonight)... I have rather short legs, especially in comparison to her (5'5" vs 5'9" here) She kept going and going and going (I didn't even see a pink bunny...?) I was trying to get pics while also trying to keep up with her long stride... Rather amusing outcomes if you ask me! I eventually ended up running ahead to take a pic or taking one and then running to catch up... Well, I did say I wanted to start running... LOL Some of the pics I took while running are quite... interesting. It made me think of "Yes Man" when Zoey Deschanel leads that group that runs and takes pictures... It's EXACTLY what I did! :-P


Walking and taking a picture...

Same...

And dido again... (I really like this!)

Melissa liked this rose, I stopped for this pic (No Way!!! :-P)

Another pretty flower!

Yay!

I think I like roses...

LOL, I WAS running while this was taken

The sunset from our apartments...

All in all, a very good evening, and for as demanding as I was, Melissa said she thinks she was able to laugh at my antics more than I was able to boss her around. Sometimes my mouth just won't stop... I babbled WAY more than once tonight... So I 'll stop here before YOU have to put up with it. :-D

Simplicity in the Midst of Chaos

When I look at people's lives' I'm fascinated by the vast differences we experience through some of the same situations. And visa-versa, how we can have different situations and yet experience something similar. I look at those around me and how they "juggle" their lives'. Some are married, have children, are in school, accomplishing careers, doing volunteer work, thoroughly organized in their lives or completely lost with the rest of us! But how many of us can claim simplicity in our lives? I'm not talking about having practically nothing to do every day, or cutting back on everything modern and going back to "simpler" times. What am I talking about tho? How do we have simplicity and still keep our busy lives? As a matter of fact, what is simplicity?

According to The Random House Dictionary and Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus "simplicity" has many definitions and synonyms. Instead of boring you with all the definitions and synonyms written out, I'm going to give you the ones I mean when I talk about simplicity:

Purity. Clarity. Unassumingness. Modesty. Innocence. Directness. Honesty. The simple truth. A simple fact. Free of deceit or guile. Sincere. Unconditional. A frank, simple answer. Humble.

I have a challenge right now in my life. I have to be honest, I have no idea how to conquer this, but I know that I must try, and I expect the growing I will do is going to be painful... I don't like that kind of growing! :-P I need to learn simplicity, even in the midst of my chaotic life. I need to back peddle and explain the complete disorder of my life, thrilling tho it sometimes can be.

Earlier this year in February my job at a bakery changed my schedule to different hours every day. I was seriously not happy. The new schedule cut into my time at church. It wasn't supposed to, my boss was actually trying to make sure I could get off on time, but more often than not I couldn't, thus being late or even completely missing AWANA or Youth Group or the college group I was involved with at the time. I also felt that it was time to go back to school and continue the education I had started in the medical field, but my job left no time for that either. I continued to not be happy but also not do anything to try and change the situation.

At the end of May, a job quite literally fell in my lap. They called me one day, interviewed the next and I started the day after. It was a complete answer to my prayers. I now work in non-medical-in-home-nursing. I work 72 hour shifts (live-in shifts) and I'm enjoying it. I've also signed up for fall classes at the local college to continue my medical career. Everything should be in place, right? Hardly...

My work schedule is kind of all over the place at the moment since I'm also trying to arrange prior commitments into it and not lose any hours or make the girl I work with overloaded... My Great-Grandmother is seriously amazing but she's still getting older and my whole family is taking a trip to visit her this year, so that's in my schedule too. I want to go see my maternal grandparents ALOT! So I'm determined to do that before the end of the year. I have a very close friend getting married and I won't miss it for the world and a dear little girl I grew up babysitting is in a performance missionary group right now and I'm hoping to make a trio to see her in a performance. All these things mean rearranging work and taking on extra shifts to cover missed ones and I'm seriously paying rent for an apartment I don't live in, or so it feels. I hurt my back (again) the other day as well which means I've put an exercise program into my schedule as well (having no insurance, I'll do what I'm capable of on my own to heal faster!).

I only realized the other day just how incredibly busy I've become. See, I've always been busy; I enjoy the rush of life when it's fast, but lately I've been missing a couple things in my 100 mph life.

I miss my time with my Savior. :-( I keep putting off my quiet time in hopes of a longer time-period in which to do it, only to have the day be gone before I found that time. My prayers have been rendered to short shouts up towards heaven, a quick plea here, an expression of thanks there, etc... I was once told that if you take away the written Word from man, that he'd fall very quickly. I'm telling you, there's no falling, just complete misery! The sharp ache in my spirit won't dissipate. The hole that's normally filled in my soul is empty. My joy isn't being renewed, my strength is draining, and I feel as if it's been decades since I stopped to feel my Savior's arms holding me.

I miss my girls and my church! I've missed the last four Sundays at church and two Wednesday nights for Youth Group. Those girls I lead can drain with so much need for attention, but they have this special power to refill you at the same time. I miss them. I miss the squeals of joy being shouted when we see each other and the races to receive huge hugs. I miss their questions and the challenges they give. I miss being in the choir. I can't attend the practices on Saturday nights anymore because of work, and missing the last four Sundays, well, you get the picture...

I miss my friends. I get texts here and there or a quick hug when I breeze by for 15 seconds. I miss talking to my friends and giving and receiving encouragement. I don't get to be involved like I used to be and the term of late when we see each other is "It's been Forever!" :-( Even my dear friend and roommate, I hardly ever see her, and we live together!


And silly as it may seem, I miss myself. I miss having time for myself, being able to do the things I enjoy, the things I need to do or just do nothing at all. My apartment is a mess, my clothes need to be washed and I'm scared to look in my fridge since I'm home so little that I'm not sure what's in there! Eek!

With all this being said, I want to gain back some simplicity. Yes, in the midst of my chaos! I want to wake up every morning looking onto an extraordinarily busy day and breathe calmly because I know my life is where it's supposed to be at during this time. This busier than normal season is seriously where I feel called to be right now. The lesson from it will be great and after the holidays end, and the craziness slows, I'm hoping to know that my focus can stay strong on the Lord no matter how chaotic I feel, and that He has a purpose, a purpose so simple, it only requires following Him! :-D Talk about true simplicity!