My excuse this time for the long break from blogging is simple, I have no computer. My laptop is dead, I desperately need a new one. Oh how I would love a Mac, but oh, how that is dreaming. For now I must wait it out and sneak 'puter time at work and on my sisters.
Life has gone on much like it always does since my last post. A lot of working, tv watching, sleeping, interspersed with events. My little brother moved out here, aready hates it and is now moving back October 27th. Larry broke his ankle in three different places and has been stuck in the house with a cast on his foot, going stir crazy. Yet I think he might be becoming a hermit because now he never wants to go anywhere. The broken ankle has put a bit of a damper on our finances as he cannot work, but we are surviving. Dad works like crazy so the fam never really sees much of him. Mick, Raquel and Eli are doing good. Mick started a new job and Eli is going to preschool. Even the teachers have said how intelligent he is for being 3.
I love having Tawny out here, though I am so lazy I never hang out with her. I am trying to be less lazy. Ash, Tawn and I went for a small hike at Runyon Canyon today and it was so amazing. It made me think, geez I live in this beautiful city with so much going on and I work, come home and sit around everyday. What is wrong with me? I need to start enjoying life out of the living room. Tawn has done so much more and seen so much more if the city than I have and I've been here for over a year.
Sitting around everyday def isn't doing anything for my physique, that's for sure. Ash and I are going to make a go of running every Saturday. I know one day a week isn't much, but trust me it's better than the nothing I do now.
Not much else to really elaborate on....except for the one reason I decided to update: Photos. Since my laptop is down I haven't uploaded pictures in ages, seriously since April. So I decided to just upload them all straight to Flickr which is taking forever!! But you should check them out!
Oh shoot, wait there is one more thing. Go watch my amazing sister in her awesome commercial debut.
xoxo
This past weekend was a whirlwind. It had lots of ups and downs. It was the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate park. A three day music festival, featuring Tom Petty, Regina Spektor, Cake, Beck, Radiohead, etc. So, our flight was scheduled to leave at 1:21 pm on Friday afternoon and of course we are running behind and traffic is horrendous and unfortunately we were not checked in 45 minutes before take-off so we missed it. The four of us (Ash, George, Larry and myself) were then put on standby for the next San Fran flight. There were a ton of San Fran flights, but also a ton of people on standby so our names kept getting pushed down the list. We were basically screwed until 10:30pm when they could guarantee us a flight out. Not gonna work for us if we want to be able to check into our hotel room. So think-on-his-toes George came up with the idea of flying into Oakland and taking public transportation to San Francisco, which is what we ended up doing for $75 a person. We got to our hotel at around 9pm ish. Needless to say goodbye Beck, Manu Chau, and Radiohead. :tear, tear: Not a good start to our weekend. Word of advice be to the airport early!!! Never again, I swear.
Saturday-No major snags. Took hotel shuttle to CalTrain stop, rode CalTrain to Muni and Muni to Kate's Kitchen in Haight-Ashbury for some breakfast/lunch. Good food, too long of a wait. Got back on the Muni where we were literally crammed in like sardines to go to Golden Gate Park. Once we walked into that festival though, it made everything else disappear. The vibe and excitement in the air made me forget all the problems that had occured. It was my first music festival and I was so excited to finally be there. And it was an amazing time. We ended up seeing Steve Winwood, Regina Spektor, Ben Harper, Cake and Tom Petty. Some were longer than others, but all were great. Tom Petty can put on a concert. It was my second time seeing him, first time was in 7th grade, and I was much more appreciative this time. The show freakin rocked. Even Larry who is not a huge Petty fan was having a good time (though he would prolly deny it).
I tell you what though. That was one exhausting day. All of the walking involved at a huge festival, as well as the walking around hilly San Fran, and the long walk home from the CalTrain stop to our hotel at 11:30pm took it's toll and Sunday morning we were all feeling it. Achey and tired. I was still up for the festival though so we headed off. Sunday was much more of a chill day. We just laid our sheet down on the ground and took in the music laying down and relaxing, only getting up to move to another stage. Unfortunately we had to leave early to catch our flights home so we missed Jack Johnson, another bummer.
When we got to the airport our flights had been overbooked and they were looking for volunteers to give up their seats for a nice pay out. So we took them up on it. We got meal vouchers, a night's hotel stay, first class tickets for the next morning and round trip to tickets for anywhere in the US to be used in a year. Sweet. Free plane tickets are def worth alll the trouble we went through this weekend...and a first class flight home wasn't bad either.
All in all, an amazing weekend. I cannot wait until next year. As soon as I can I will upload the pics and videos I took, unfortunately I have no room on my POS 'puter so who knows when that will be.
xoxo
Hilarious!
xoxo
Today I witnessed childbirth. It is the scariest, craziest thing I have ever seen. My cousin Lexi gave birth to her first child. Not the most ideal of situations, but you take what happens and you make the best of the situation. She is going to struggle, but she has a wonderful family who will be there for her every step of the way. Hopefully she'll do some growing up and some soul searching and make the decision we all know she needs to make. I could not imagine being in her shoes right now. Shoot, I cannot imagine giving birth. I don't know what I will do when Larry and I have reached that point. It's pretty painful....and scary....and gross, but what a beautiful result.
The commercial that my sister shot in Mexico is now being released, only in the UK because the water is not popular here, but I have a link to view it online http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2008/jul/02/oasis This is the first spot, there will be more to come. Check it out, my sister the star.
xoxo
Wow, I am in desperate need of an update. It's been so long that I keep putting it off even more. I don't even know where to start. Obviously my last post wasn't too informative, so my last actual post was May 14th. So I guess I'll start from there.
Workin' It: So our new director at work lasted all about 3 weeks. Syanora! I had been filling in as Acting Director since then. My RVP started giving me more and more responsibilities, a new phone, etc and as of July 1st I got a promotion to Program Director. Both exciting and scary at the same time. It's a lot of responsibility, but I feel so lucky to have moved up so fast. Oh yeah, and it's more money! =>
We are family: Dad is an official California resident. He lived with us for about a month, but got his own place about 2 weeks ago. Been spending a lot of time with him, helping him get his place together, buy a computer. Since he's been here the fam's gone to Six Flags!!!, LA Zoo, Los Feliz street festival...fun times.
Ash just left for Europe yesterday. My sister, the jetsetter...Mexico, Europe. She'll be gone 3 1/2 weeks. I still cannot believe she is backpacking around Europe. Crazy.
My mom has been sober for the past 2 1/2 weeks. Very proud of her. It's all come from the fact that she's having problems with her liver really, but I'll take what I can get. I'm not gonna say I'm not skeptical about her staying sober because we've been down this road so many times before, but I have to be optimistic. It would be great to spend some time with her sober when I come home. I'm gonna keep hoping for that.
Be my friend: Tawny is here!!! Yeah! It's so nice to have her here. We've gone to the beach, done some shopping, saw SATC, karaoking, lunching, dinnering...nice. It had been so long since we had hung out really, like high school, so it's kinda like we're building our friendship back up. I feel like a slacker because I barely ever call to hang out though. It's really pure laziness. When I get off work I just feel like going home and doing nothing.
SF Outside Lands: In August Larry, Ash, George,and me are flying to San Fran for the Outside Lands music fest in Golden Gate Park. I am so stoked!! It'll be my first time in San Francisco and my first music fest. Jack Johnson, Tom Petty, Ben Harper, Regina Spektor, Beck, Radiohead, etc etc. Cannot wait!!!
It's def looking to be a good summer. Turtles/Badfinger/Animals concert, home visit in three weeks, Outside Lands.....and whatever else comes my way. I will try, try, try to be a better updater just in case there is actually anyone who reads this.
xoxo
Oh yeah and I actually read a book in June. Really good.
I could say that I haven't updated because I've been busy working, which is true being that I work 6 days a week, but honestly it's a mixture of laziness and having not too much to write about. So here is an update on my little ol' life...
On the work front: Job is going good. Working a lot, taking on more responsibilities since we haven't had a director. I've enjoyed the extra duties, it's been a learning experience. My RVP has continuously told me what a great job I've been doing and that's always nice to hear. Our new director started the 5th so I've kinda been showing her the ropes and stuff. I think we'll work well together, unfortunately as soon as she knows what she's doing my temporary raise will be reduced back to my normal wages. It was just while I was taking on director responsibilities. I think I am going to ask for a slight raise anyway though.
In addition to my primary job I have been helping out once a week at Griddle. It's quick hours, quick cash and it's nice to work with my sis again. After May is over I am done though. Having one day off a week is not for me. Janice Dickinson came in last week. Being the dork that I am I was like 'Ahhh, it's Janice freakin Dickinson!' Of course my sister was like 'oh yeah she comes in all the time', all nonchalant.
On the home front: Dad is driving here as I write this. He'll be in town around 5pm. My dad will now be living in Cali. It's seriously still hard for me to believe. I cannot believe that when I go home to visit Iowa my dad will not be there and our house won't be our house anymore. It was a piece of crap house, yes, but it holds a lot of memories. So now my dad is on his way here with a truck packed full of his life, no apartment and no job yet. This is the most unplanned, unorganized move ever. I am trying to find a place for him, but it hasn't been easy. And until he finds one he will be staying with us. That would be 5 people in our apartment. Stressful! I am trying to stay positive, but it is hard.
Ash booked a commercial. She is actually in Mexico shooting it right now. I am so happy for her. She was def nervous though, it being her first commercial and then having to go to another country for 9 days to shoot it. I haven't talked to her since Monday. She was on her way to rehearsal. I miss her already.
Tawny is supposed to be here tomorrow. I haven't talked to her for a few weeks, but I'm pretty sure it was a set date. So exciting! SG got the bank job and is steadily saving money away and she'll be out here before you know it.
Larry joined a softball team. George joined us for some dinner last night and then we went to Larry's game. Def not as boring as I though it would be. George kept me company which helped. I'm really glad Larry is being active. I wish I could get my lazy ass to be more active. I wanted to start running/walking, but I don't want to go myself. Bad excuse I know, but it keeps me from moving. Ash was supposed to start with me, but we didn't get far, meaning nowhere.
Eleven weeks until I come home to Iowa for a visit!!!!!
xoxo
(One) has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust (and respect) of intelligent men (and women), and the love of little children; who has filled (one’s) niche and accomplished (one’s) task; who has left the world better than (one) found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem or rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best (one) had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.
-Bessie Anderson Stanley
1904
So here I am in San Diego on a conference for work. I am so stoked! Sure I have to go to 2 days worth of conferences, but I've heard nothing but good things about them and the rest of the time is mine. Duanea and I just drove in about 2 hours ago and what's the first thing she wants to do, workout! Um, okay. So we did. I worked out on my mini work vacation when I don't even work out normally. Eh, it's good for me. The hotel is amazing, it's the Catamaran Resort, Hotel & Spa, so nice. I have a sweet room with a huge patio over a pond with lots of ducky visitors, flat screen t.v., king size bed. This is the life. Tonight Duanea and I are going to get some dinner and drinks. Maybe check out the beach, it's a little chilly though. I'll upload pics when I get back!!!!
xoxo
