Visiting with Grandma Plus Some Exciting News!!!!

This weekend my grandma came down from Seattle to visit.  I picked her up on Thursday night and Richie took her to grandparent's day at Biola the next day.  I took her to BJs and she had her first pzookie, white chocolate macadamia nut!

Saturday I had breakfast at Corner Bakery with Grandma and Richie.  We drove around a while before deciding to play skip-bo in my backyard.  My parents spend a good amount of time trying to get Grandma a flight home after finding out that her first flight was delayed and would not get her to her connecting flight in time.  We ate lunch at Cafe Verones before dropping her off at the airport.  It was a great weekend, but I knew that I needed to start on my homework right away!

I haven't cooked anything exciting recently, I was busy and had plenty of leftovers.  I did get quite a bit of food from my parents when they were down here, which was awesome!  The veggies were all cut up already, all I had to do was chop up some garlic and throw it all on the stove.  I did make a chicken and ranch mix casserole this week.  It required rice, milk, and water, but I added garlic and onions for more flavor.  It's really good and I'd make it again!

I've noticed that the biggest thing that bothers me in my finance class is my professor's white board skills (or lack thereof).  He erases the board with his hands and does a sloppy job working through the problems.  He tries to draw a math problem, it doesn't work to well :P  I'm just thankful that we don't have a chalkboard XP

So, my exciting news...I'm getting promoted to a new job at my work!  I'll be working with different people, but I know a few of them already.  They approached me about 2 weeks ago, I didn't even know about it until they asked me if I was interested!  I feel so blessed and humbled and excited!!!!  I start in a few weeks, but I'll be helping out with tellers until they hire more people, can't leave them short now can I.

Anyways, that's what been going on in my life.  I'll try to be more proactive about posting, but I can't promise anything.

Until next time!

Spaghetti Squash and a Water Bottle

 

Last weekend I decided to try making spaghetti squash.  I don't think that I fully understood that the meat of the squash was stringy like spaghetti, I thought it was the middle with the seeds in it.  Thankfully it wasn't, there isn't anything in the middle anyways.  It was so delicious!  I sauteed diced tomatoes with garlic and onion on the stove to put on top.  Then I topped it off with feta cheese, I love it!  I would definitely make it again.

 

Last week, I got a new water bottle to test out for my advertising class.  We are suppose to get the feel and spirit of it so we can understand what it is.  At the end of the trimester, our two ad "agencies" are to pitch ideas to the owner and try to get his business.  It's an awesome way to get some real life practice on what we are learning!  It's a cool water bottle, it filters just about everything and can be used on any fresh water source.  It makes even the gross water from water fountains taste good.

I had a midterm last week in my financial policy class and a take home test in my other class (which I prefer).  Take homes are so much easier, I can focus on the concepts more than names and definitions.
It shows too, now that I have gotten my exam score back: 75% :(  If I do well on everything else, I will get a B in the class.  Forget getting all As...  Oh well, I can at least get a B in the class, that's good.

That's all for now.

Scallops and Scents

Today I decided to try a new recipe, seared scallops with white beans.  It had bacon and baby spinach along with half a red onion and a garlic clove.  I had never cooked scallops, so I as unsure of how they would turn out.  It was actually a fantastic dish.

I added an extra piece of bacon, two didn't seem enough.  I also only bought half a pound of scallops, those things are expensive, but delicious!  The beans were the main ingredient, besides the scallops.  It was sautéed with red onions, garlic, bacon, and baby spinach.

I would definently make this dish again, though the scallops were kind of pricy. Next time, I'll make the bean part of the dish and use a different kind of meat or seafood to serve with it.

I went to Bath and Body Works to get wallflower scents for my room along with a few other items.  It was 6 items for $24.  I got these because sometimes my room can smell stiff even though I leave the door open.  Also, because it's awesome and smells great!  It's tropical spice, it smelled so wonderful that I just had to get it along with two others.

I bought two scentportables, one for my car and one for my gym bag.  My car doesn't smell bad, but my gym bag does.  The one for my car is a pineapple scented sunshine, while the one below for my gym bag is Caribbean escape.  They smell awesome.

That makes up the 6 items, but I also wanted some antibacterial hand sanitizer, not the small ones (which I have several of), but the larger bottles.  I grabbed a travel sized lotion that is suppose to help you fall asleep before checking out.  It was nice to treat myself to some awesome stuff today.  Bath and Body Works keeps me and my environment smelling awesome!

February 2012 Update!

So it's been a while since I've done any blogging.  I'm not very good about keeping it up constantly, but I'll keep trying.

I finished my first trimester well with As in both classes!  My goal is to get As in all of my classes, seeing that it's all about getting the work done and understanding the concepts.

I had December off of school, which was nice.  I was able to focus on Christmas budgeting and writing all those Christmas cards.  My parents came down for the Biola Christmas tree lighting the first weekend of December.  It was pretty awesome, coming together as Biola students/alumni to Biola's Christmas program.

I also went to Disneyland a few times to see their Christmas decorations, they were amazing!  I loved the parade and wanted to dance the whole time.  We saw a Christmas program going on just inside the gate to leave the main park.  It was on the birth of Jesus, narrated by Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor from CSI: NY) and sung by a huge choir that filled the inside gates.  There were also trumpeters on top of the gates dressed like those old fashion ones that announce the entrance of Disney kings.

My mom sent down my Christmas decorations, thanks so much!  It was awesome to be able to put up a small tree and manger scene in my room.

My favorite part was flying up to WA to see my whole family: my parents, brother, grandma, sister, and her family.  I don't get to see Jen and her family too often now that I'm down in CA, so it was fun to see her and see how her little girls have grown.  Ady is now talking away and Sierra is just the happiest girl in the world with her big smile.  I look forward to seeing them all again.

I started my second trimester at Biola on January 3rd.  I'm taking Organizational Financial Policy on Monday nights and Advertising & Social Media Strategy on Tuesday nights.  I love having Prof Mobley for my advertising class, she's an awesome prof!  Sometimes we look at different ads and talk about what made it great or awful.  She split our class in two groups of 6 or 7 to make an ad agency.  Ours is called "You Me & That Guy."  You being the client, me being the agency, and that guy being the target audience for the client.  Our motto is "start a conversation, build a brand."  The guys did an awesome job with the logo, I don't have it to show, though.

Work has been going well.  I've learned how to scan the checks after they are processed and ready to go.  I feel like I am actually growing here, whereas before I felt like I learned how to be a teller and that was it.  Everything about this job is better, though I do appreciate the experience that I got from my previous job.

I still love to cook.  It's amazing what moving out will do to you.  Before, I didn't know how someone could cook a good meal after a long day at work, but now I know.  I don't even have to have all these extensive recipes, I have learned enough from my mom to have a good idea of what to make (though cook books do help).  I made an awesome Cajun shrimp dish with a bottle of Cajun sauce I got for Christmas.  It was so good, reminded me of the days when we would put on Mardi Gras parties.

Oh, one big thing I did was dye my hair dark (and I cut it).  I've been wanting to dye it for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it.  It's weird when I brush my hair or wash it because it is 4 inches shorter, wow!  I love it all!  I got it done in Palm Desert with my mom.  She was really shocked, but I think she'll get over it soon :)

Baby shower and visitors :)

So, it's been a while since I posted.  A few things have happened since then.

Last Friday I kept pretty busy.  I began with a choir rehearsal for a Christmas concert at church at 9:30.  I'm trying to connect with people in my life stage, but they are hard to find.  Honestly, I'm just trying to connect, which is why I went to coir practice.  At noon, I went to a baby shower for a coworker whose last day was Monday (she's due next Wednesday).  I made her a baby sweater and a turtle hat, she loves turtles.  After a few hours, I ran over to Richie's place to see him and our cousins.  I've never seen any of the Harry Potter films, but I've now seen the very last one...

My parents came down for ten days in the end of October.  First stop, Disneyland.  I also went shopping with them at the mall just half a mile away from my place.  Then we celebrated Richie's birthday the next night.  On Richie's actual birthday, I was able to have lunch with them at Chick-fil-a.  The next weekend my parents took me to Palm Desert while Richie was at a retreat.  I got some brown work pants, so now I don't have just black!  It was so much fun and I enjoyed spending every penny...and there were a lot of pennies :)

I've gone to Disneyland a few times with Richie, Ashley (cousin), and a few of her friends.  Its been so much fun, I love exploring everything without being pressed for time.   That's the beauty of the annual pass!  I saw it during the Halloween season and can't wait to see it during Christmas (though apparently I've seen it then before...).

I have a few weeks left of class, my last day is Dec 1st!  I then have the whole month of December off before starting up class again on Jan 3rd.  I'm coming home for a few days for Christmas, Friday night to Monday afternoon (tried to get a later flight).  I'm excited to some up, yet sad that it is so short (thank goodness its on a weekend).

I'm still waiting for the vacation schedule to plan out my time off next year.  I'm taking a week of in October to spend time with my family when they bring the nieces down to Disneyland for the first time!  I know that they will love it.  I've decided that if they dress up as the Disney princesses, I will dress up as Tinkerbell.  I don't know what I'm going to do with my other 2 1/2 weeks of vacation.  Since I'm the last one to choose my time, I'll just have to pick times that aren't chosen.

All I have left are two presentations.  Almost done with my first trimester!

Update: BBQ, cook-off, and pumpkins!

This post is a bit long since I haven't blogged in a while...

I'm more than halfway done with my first trimester of grad school!  I love my Thursday night marketing class, it's so interesting.  I have two papers and a group presentation in that class.  I'm so excited that I've done most of my book report and the other paper is only one page...single spaced.  My group presentation will be difficult, but we'll do it together.  I have my operations class on Tuesdays, but I don't really care for it.  I have homework and one test that I didn't like.  Writing papers is easier, because I actually take time to learn instead of trying to cram everything in my head and on the page of notes we got to use.  Oh well, I should still get an A.  I'm going to try for it, but who knows how long that will last.

Every Tuesday after work I go over to the food trucks by my place and get dinner.  I've had a baked potato (delicious), a smurf burger, nacho fries, and a sandwich.  It's great and fun!

I started working out regularly at my work's gym, which I'm happy about.  Not very many people go, but the other day I saw more than I usually see.  It's small, but all I need is a cardio machine, and some space for weights.  I'm following my mentor's advice and being realistic.  I have been doing two days a week.

Last week was the Santa Maria BBQ.  Every year our CEO put on this amazing BBQ of rib-eye steak, baked beans, potato salad, rolls, iced tea, and pie.  The grassy area in the middle of the 4 buildings was decorated western.  They were so cleaver!  The center pieces were old fashion lanterns with flowers.  My coworker, who wants to someday get married in a barn, LOVED it.  She just had a hay day, pun definitely intended.  It was incredibly good and I was stuffed afterwards.

Yesterday was the chili cook-off.  There were six different chili dishes, but my favorite part was the deserts.  I did love entry #6, but the pumpkin pie tarts (which needed a bit of work, but still good) and and cheesecake cupcakes were awesome!  Who would have thought, bite sized cheesecake.  It was a bit too frozen, though.

This week I learned more about the pumpkin contest in our section of ECCU, BPS.  No, we don't carve them, but we create a scene around them.  Since this contest started, a few years ago, the tellers were the champions.  Yesterday we got our pumpkin.  We had already started planning our idea and delegating the work.  Well, someone thought it would be funny (and it was) to put a moldy pumpkin where all of BPS would see it, with a note saying that it was moldy and for tellers.  Well, we wrote back...something and got a response, "why so serious?"  Apparently an inside joke between my coworker and the prankster.  It was a hilarious day trying to figure out who it was.  My other coworker kept taking about sending all of BPS an e-mail talking smack, "Dear BPS all...you know who you are..."  All day she was talking like this, we loved it!  This morning we found a poster (no, it wasn't written on the wall):

Our supervisor eventually admitted to making it with another coworker the night before.  We hung it up where BPS would see it when they came into our area, but the vandalized it writing pee-yew with an arrow pointing to the pumpkin.  What they don't know is that we are going to wipe out the competition with out awesome project.  I'll post pictures when the contest is over.  Apparently secrecy is key.

I've jumped back into knitting.  I'm making a sweater, the stuffed elephant again, and maybe a turtle-looking baby hat all for my coworker's baby shower next month.  I'll give to her whatever I am able to finish.  I still have homework to get done, though.

Well, I'm heading off to another weekend.  I'll be in D-land Sunday with Richie and Ashley, so tomorrow I need to get everything done, which isn't too bad.

Church Searching

I wasn't meeting anyone at EvFree Fullerton down the street, so I went to Grace EvFree where Richie is.  I enjoyed it and talked with a young woman who encouraged me to check out their grace groups.  I would love to meet people and have some friends down here.  It's very discouraging, but I trust that God will lead me to the right church.

I got to meet with my mentor on Monday evening for dinner.  We talked about what we expect from the program (I have no idea what to expect since I've never had a mentor) and scheduling.  She told me that when I make a list of stuff to get done, I need to define exactly what I want to accomplish.  I can't write a paper in one sitting, so my goal could be to write 4 pages or spend 2 hours writing it.  Even though I didn't finish the paper, I feel accomplished.  Also, I need to make realistic to do lists.

Not too many exciting things this week.  I got more curry, yellow this time, for dinner.  Oh, and I found the hummus variety pack.  I rip up tortillas that I have and dip them in, yum!  I love Trader Joes.  I love to do my grocery shopping at Ralphs and Trader Joes, they are close and have just what I need.  I have been taking turns going to each of them, though it depends on what I need.

Classes are going well.  I can't believe that in a little over a week I have a midterm in my operations class!  It's creeping up on me, so I had better start studying.  Hm, I might want to remind my study group today when we meet.

My marketing class is going very well.  We now have some actual homework, not just reading chapters from "Blue Ocean" (which was actually quite interesting).  I got my book for my book report two weeks ago, "Purple Cow."  It's about standing out and not relying only on marketing ads.  It's not due until November, but I want to start on it.  I don't want to wait until the day before, no more procrastination!  Well, that's my goal.

My room: I got a white board this weekend to put on my wall.  It's very helpful, I put my homework on it so I don't forget to do it (hasn't been a problem yet).  I also got some computer paper, though it was hard to chose form the FIVE different kind of paper...I have no idea what the difference was.

Oh, I want to say "hello" to all my friends in Washington.  I miss you!