Good Morning!

Woke up bright and early...D has this annoying habit of always waking up @ 7ish...even on weekends or days that we COULD sleep in. We're going whale watching today and I'm pretty excited about it! I just hope none of us get sea sick! Our tour leaves @ 12.05, but we're supposed to get there a little early. We aren't quite sure where the place is located so we'll probably leave here around 10.45 or 11am. I hope that we have fun and see a whale! D's boss had told him a couple days ago that there is supposedly some big whale migration going on, so maybe we'll see a bunch of them!

So here are a few photos from the past week, hopefully they will upload this time around.

Monday 12/26  D, M&D, and I went to the trails by Trump Golf Course

It was gorgeous out!

Tuesday 12/27  Korean Bell in San Pedro---Jennica snapping a photo

Me, mom, and Jennica @ Korean Bell

Posing by the wooden figures

Trail by the water

Dad and i went down by the water

It was a bit of a hike down a billion stairs

We spotted some dolphins...

Carrying Jennica's fancy camera

Tuesday 12/27  Mom & Dad @ Wayfarer's Chapel

The plants were alive! And they were trying to get Mom!

There was a wedding going on while we were there...there's always a wedding going on there it seems...

Okay, well that's it for now. More photos later! Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! :)

Update on Familia Visiting

Just stopping in to say a quick hello. It's been a good week or so since I last updated, but it's been extremely busy around here. Last Saturday we spent Christmas Eve w/ D's family. Went to a candlight service, played games, had a White Elephant gift exchange and opened presents at midnight. It was pretty fun.

Tree w/ lots of presents!

D's mom holding the jello cake that Rachel made

White Elephant Gift Exchange

Opening presents...I was Silvia's secret santa

Jessie opening his gift from Diego

Larry got Alicia a puppy for Christmas!

My parents and sister got here on Sunday and we've been so busy!




.......Well, I tried to upload some pictures, but internet is being crazy right now, so maybe next time!

Had a good night. Went to dinner @ Gladstone's in Long Beach. Walked to the Seashore Village. Just missed the chocolate factory. It closed @ nine. :(  But we got some delicious warm churros that were fresh out of the fryer! Yuuum! It's sooo foggy out tonight...so we couldn't see the Queen Mary from shore. It was also foggy last night, dunno what's been up.

Stopped by the waterfront in San Pedro on way back to the apartment. They have this beautiful water show/fountain that is just amazing! It's somewhat similar to the one @ the Bellagio in Las Vegas. In fact, I think it was created by the same company.

Well, sorry I don't have a lot of photos in this entry. I will try to add more later. But right now I need to head to bed. We're supposed to go whale watching in the morning! Night everyone!

Holiday season....

Aren't these Christmas cookies just the cutest!?  Only three more days until Christmas! And so much to do! D's mom called @ 7 this morning asking if I will be coming over to help make tamales....I really don't have the time, but I will probably go over and help for at least a couple hours. A few minutes after that, Larry texted Diego asking him some question about acne medicine and then one of D's old coworkers texted him telling him that her husband (D had worked with him also) had been killed in a car accident. :( 

D got up for work and had the lights on while rummaging around looking for clean work clothes. He never did find any--oops, that's why the hamper has been overflowing I guess. haha :P  After all the commotion, there was no way I could get back to sleep( and I tried, let me tell you!) haha so I decided to get up and do some early morning laundry. Unfortunately, by the time I got down to the laundry room, all the washers were filled. I'm pretty sure only one person was using all FIVE machines. Grrrr....How annoying!

So here I am, trying to figure out what to work on next. Should I run over to Walmart to shop early and try to beat the crowds? Or wait around for an open washing machine? I still have 4 gifts to work on also. Not including the wood project, which I'm beginning to doubt will ever be finished. Ah, the joys of the holidays.  I keep going back to D's coworker though and how tragedy can strike out of nowhere. It kind of helps me get my priorities straightened out.  It's so easy to get caught up in the holiday rush and forget about the things that are really important.
 
So yesterday I had a two hour home session with my client. Found out that his mom is cancelling home sessions, so I will only be working @ school with him.  It kind of stinks because I could use those four hours a week, but it's also great because now I don't have to worry about those shifts next week when mi familia is here!  :)

I was so annoyed with myself yesterday because I lost a $20 bill. :(  I had it in my pocket and kept thinking to myself that I needed to be careful otherwise it would fall out since I kept taking my keys and phone out of my pocket. Well, after leaving the store I realized that the money was gone. :(  Unfortunately, I was quite a ways away before I realized it and figured it was probably long gone. Don't you just hate that kind of thing? $20 isn't a fortune, but it sure adds up. i was going to use it to buy one of D's Christmas presents. :sigh: I consoled myself by saying that maybe someone else really needed that $20 and God used me to help them out. D said the exact same thing when I told him, so yeah. It was strange really, almost like I knew that I was going to lose that money, yet I still put it in my pocket. I kept checking to make sure it was still there and was so conscious of it being there, yet it still disappeared. I think it was meant to be. :P

When I got home yesterday, D's coworker Martha gave us a bunch of free food that was left over from the Christmas party, so maybe that evened out to $20 worth! haha :)

Beans, rice, and tamales left over from the party

Anyways, I think I'm going to run to the store! I want to get this out of the way and hopefully beat all the giant crowds of shoppers!

Just popping in...

Just popping in to write a quick entry. Hard to believe that it's less than a week until Christmas!

I've been cleaning and organizing up a storm and the apartment is slowing looking better! Saturday I did some major work in the living room/kitchen. Yesterday I worked in the bedroom and it's looking a ton better! Today I have been deep cleaning the bathroom and still need to clean out the refrigerator. I also want to clean out my car today, but we'll see if I can get that accomplished. It seems like I clean a lot, but I am a slob by nature and D is even worse and of course he never cleans, let alone organizes, so i'm left doing the work for both of us. :P  He doesn't mind wallowing in a pig pen, haha, but I actually love to have things neat and organized. It's just a TREMENDOUS effort for me to maintain the neatness. However, I've found that I feel and think so much better when I'm in a nice, clean, organized environment. When my surroundings are cluttered, my mind feels cluttered as well.

We still have a couple more tasks to finish this week:

• Hang pictures/photos on walls
• D put together bookcase that we bought for our board games
• Work on a Christmas project that we're attempting
• Finish  some Christmas shopping
• Go Christmas food shopping
• Possibly go w/ D's bro to find a puppy for his gf

My to-do list also includes:

• Finish 2 gifts for Jennica (time consuming)
• Finish D's homemade gift (also time consuming)
• Work tomorrow for two hours
• Make Christmas dessert (to give to D's co-workers)
• Laundry
• Make tamales w/ D's mom and sisters ( on Thursday)
• Basic cleaning/upkeep
• Wrap presents
• Run Errands
• Bake sugar cookies w/ D's mom
• Paperwork for my job

Anyways, here are a couple pics:

Our service on Sunday basically consisted of singing and their music is SO professional! It's amazing! We're hoping to go to the Christmas Eve service this weekend and take some of D's familia.

@ Home Depot...looking for some wood for a project we're working on...

Found it!

Having it cut into smaller pieces...

Berenice was pushing D on the cart. haha

I was watching the Hollywood Christmas parade on TV and saw the band from Jefferson High School in Lafayette, IN! How weird!

Bookcase that Larry and Alicia gave us...they brought it over on Sunday night...

Bookcase that we bought for our board games...

Gigantic box of board games...

Lots of brightly colored gifts...courtesy of mi familia!

My foot is feeling better, thank goodness! But the antibiotic that I'm on has been making me feel kind of sick. Also my arm was swollen and red in the spot where I received my tetanus shot. Then on Sunday I was freaked out because I had this red rash that appeared on my shoulder/arm near the place where I received my shot. So I'm not sure if it was from the shot or maybe an allergic reaction to this giant pomegranate that I had eaten. Thankfully, it went away. So yeah, my stomach has been hurting and sick and i've had a headache and I'm pretty certain that it's from the antibiotic (they are listed as possible side effects.) Also, it is a strain of penicillin or something like that and in the past I have had an allergic reaction to penicillin so who knows.

Anyways, well I need to get busy! I need to jump in the shower and then run some errands! Happy Tuesday everyone!

A Productive Saturday ( hopefully)

I'm sitting here listening to Christmas music on Pandora while I should really be busy cleaning. haha. But I wanted to take a break and update since it's been almost a week since I've written. My plan for today is to clean/organize the apartment and also work on Christmas gifts.  D's work party is this afternoon and he didn't want to go so in order to avoid it, he headed over to his fam's house, which is fine by me because honestly he would just get in the way of my cleaning. haha  :P I have the apartment all to my self, so hopefully I will get something accomplished!!

This past week has FLOWN by and has been kind of crazy! My week in review:

On Monday I had an interview up in Culver City and then did some shopping.

Yuuumy!

I LOVE peppermint hot chocolate! So delicious!

Ate @ Popey's Chicken for the first time in probably 20 years. Unfortunately, we went to a ghetto store and were NOT impressed. I would choose KFC over Popeye's any day of the week!

There have been a bunch of open teaching positions! These are some that I've applied for recently. Unfortunately, I haven't heard back from anyone yet.

Package that I mailed to my parents. They received it on Friday!

I sent Mom a couple snowman ornaments...

By the way, My phone was being crazy so I did not receive any texts from Monday night through Wednesday evening. So if you texted me and didn't respond, that's why! Anyways, back to the week in review.

On Wednesday, I stepped full force on to a sharp pointy object and had to pull it out of my foot.

From the drain in the bath tub. D had removed it and it somehow ended up on the bathroom floor.

I had two different punctures on the bottom of my right foot. I was hoping that they would be okay, but they were pretty red, swollen, warm, and painful so I decided that I should probably see a doctor to get a tetanus shot and make sure there was no infection.  I had to work on Thursday morning, but luckily my afternoon session was cancelled so I was able to spend that time trying to find a doctor. I tried the free health clinic, but they don't give tetanus shots. The walk-in clinic down the right was going to charge $200 that we had to pay up front. I called several doctor's offices. One couldn't guarantee an appointment time and would charge approx $100. Another was going to charge $250! Yikes! However, when I said I couldn't afford that price, the nurse gave me the name of a walk-in clinic in Hawthorne that only charges $60 (that includes the doctor visit AND the shot). So that's where we went and it was a great place! Everyone was super friendly and helpful.

My blood pressure was up when we were there 140/90 and the doctor said that he was a little concerned because it's near borderline and that I could go back for a follow up consultation for only $25. It really worried me that it was so high because it rarely is like that, but I think I was just stressed. I could feel the stress because I had a horrible headache and my ears felt like they were on fire.

Anyways, the doctor prescribed an antibiotic because he said my foot was starting to get infected. He also gave me a tetanus shot. 

So we spent all Thursday night at the doctor's office and then running around to different pharmacies checking out prices for antibiotics.

Friday was the last day of school sessions for the next three weeks! yay! I have to say that I'm very excited! The day went by pretty quickly. We did a lot of fun holiday art activities and had a holiday party at the end of the day.

Tissue paper wreath that my client made....

I had an eye appointment @ 5.30. One really negative thing about living in a new place is trying to find new a new doctor/eye doctor/dentist/hair stylist etc. I had called around to different eye doctors, but ended up making an appointment @ Sears Optical in Carson.

Waiting in the office...

The doctor (and his office) were like a time warp from the 60's. haha...but he seemed to know what he was doing and gave me a $20 discount! Yay!

D couldn't quit reading this book in the waiting room...

The mall decorated for Christmas...After my appointment, Chicho and Crystal met us for dinner @ Five Guys. Then we went over to visit Alicia and Larry.

Before heading home, we stopped by Target. I convinced D to guy me this picture as an early Christmas present! Isn't it pretty?!

Well, this has taken much longer than planned. I suppose I should get busy! Christmas is only a week away!!!

Only 2 Weeks...

Until Christmas! yay!!! I'm super excited, mostly because mi familia will be here! yay!!! But I also have a TON to do before then haha. I can't believe that there are only two weeks left...it doesn't really feel like Christmas time. Well, I guess it's beginning to, but it's just so strange because it's so warm out and it's sunny and so I guess maybe the weather is really affecting my Christmas spirit.

It's been a few days since I last wrote, so I'll update you:

On Thursday, I worked all day. Ran to Target, Goodwill, and Trader Joe's.

Full moon! View from Goodwill parking lot...

These are amazing!

Not quite as good...

So cute! Chocolates from all over the world!

cranberry orange bread...not the best...

I made turkey sloppy joes...yuuum!

On Friday, I worked until 2.  The day really flew by because we had a going away party for the classroom aid, Diana because it was her last day. (She's starting nursing school.)  So it was a big party! I felt a little awkward because they had invited my client's old therapist. She has worked w/ J( my client) for three years and knows everyone really well. So she came in and they were all saying how they missed her and saying " you should come back!" I mean, it's fine that they miss her, but it was just a little awkward for me because in order for her to come back I would have to leave. lol. So I was feeling kind of like an outsider and after hearing all of that, I just felt super uncomfortable. Plus, she was hanging onto my client and I just kind of felt like she was watching my every move. Kind of uncomfortable! Ah well, it was over quickly I guess.

When D got out of work we delivered a mirror and dresser to his co-worker's house. Martha showed me around the house and it was so gorgeous! She had it decorated for Christmas and it was just amazing! She had like a million beautiful poinsettas on the front porch. Literally a sea of flowers! And it was just so gorgeous! I wish I would have taken a picture! So we ended up staying there for three hours just talking. haha. It was nice though!

Saturday:

D and I watched a lot of "Mythbusters" episodes and then we got busy working on things around the apartment.

the shelves that d built for me!

First layer of paint

After fixing the towel rod in the bathroom, hanging the curtains in the living room, building the shelves in the kitchen and painting them...D earned a nap on the couch!

Making room for the Christmas tree...

Time to unpack it!

Time for decorations!

I was very happy to see that all the ornaments had survived the move and were in one piece!

D woke up in time to put the star on the tree...haha

perty!

I look really corny here...haha

moi...

Overall a great evening! Had lots of fun decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music on Pandora!

D adding the second coat of paint...

Christmas cards are ready to mail...just need to add a couple addys...

Around 10 pm, D and I decided to go get some dinner. haha

Yum!!!

D wanted to go for a drive so we ended up driving about an hour or so south down by Santa Ana. It was fun to just randomly drive around. We didn't get home until after 1 am!


Sunday:

Got a bunch of things accomplished around the house! Was really happy to use the shelves that D built! They gave me soooo much more storage space!!!

Well, that's it folks. I'm off to bed! Nighty night!