Week in Review...

Time for another blog entry! Once again, it's been a week since I've written. I always mean to write more often, but usually end up writing about once a week. Nothing new really. I didn't get that teaching job. They sent me an email on Thursday night. I guess it wasn't meant to be. It was definitely a good experience though.

Have been getting things accomplished around the apartment. I still haven't been able to get Diego to help me hang things or fix some things that need to be fixed. I started hanging some pictures up last week. I guess I'll gradually try to get the rest of them hung up. He keeps talking about maybe switching to a different apartment, so that we can be facing the ocean and get a nice breeze; however, I doubt that will happen. :P

We ended up taking our old AC back to Home Depot because it wasn't really cooling the apartment very well and it was also extremely loud! We got a different one @ Costco. This one is a lot quieter and cools the place better. However, I guess you have to empty the water, so I'm not sure if we'll keep it or not.

I've been checking into grad programs. I'm really, really wanting to get my Masters. I'm looking into Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, TESOL, and school counseling. I'm not sure which area would be best. I'm kind of leaning towards MFT or school counseling. But before that, I really need to get my ESL certification so that I can teach non-native speakers in a secondary setting. I found an online program @ Azusa Pacific University. It would consist of four classes, so I could probably get it finished up in two semesters. Now I just need the money for the actual classes. I think this would definitely help me in my job search for a teaching job. I also need to work on learning Spanish.

So I've been cooking quite a bit the past week or two. Nothing fancy, just things like chicken, turkey burgers, tacos, etc. Here are a few pics of some things that I've made.

Turkey burger with avocado, cilantro, onion, tomato, mayo, and mustard. Yum!!!

Chicken! yuuum!

Breakfast burrito and real pineapple! ;)

My first attempt @ stir fry! I was pretty happy w/ the results! :)

I like taking pictures of food for some reason! haha Oh, here's another pic of some food. ;) This is actually a vegan recipe for a healthy ice cream alternative. Click here to get the link for the recipe.

So basically you cut up bananas and stick them in the freezer. Then you mix them up in a blender/food processor and stick them in the freezer again. I definitely don't think it's as good as ice cream, haha, but it's really healthy and tastes fairly good. I'll definitely be making it again! I melted a TB of pb and drizzled it over the "ice cream" It was pretty good! :)

So on Saturday we hung out with D's familia. Went to shopping with Diego and his mom. We went to a couple clothing stores and then to Costco. D and I were looking for an AC and his mom needed some groceries.

Unloading our groceries. The pie, spinach, and bread were ours ;)

One of the shops we went to...

We went shopping in Montebello which is more inland. Quite a view of the mountains!

Shoes that I bought @ Ross for a pretty cheap price. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep them or not though...

Trying on clothes @ Avenue

I ended up buying this for like $4. It was 75% off.

Diego trying on crazy accessories. :P

When we got back to D's house, we washed the car. Then ended up going back to Seashore Village in Long Beach to go fishing. Well, the guys were fishing. The girls (me, Crystal, Berenice, Alicia) walked around the gift shops. Then we went back to the pier and just hung out with the guys. No one caught anything, so it wasn't overly exciting :P haha I dont think they'll be going back to that fishing spot. But everyone had fun just hanging out.

Washing the car in the driveway @ D's house...

Sunday: We tried a different church. Went to some church that Diego found: Victory Chapel in Montebello. They actually have a bunch of different branches in the area, but we went to the one in Montebello because it was close to the Costco that we were going to shop at. It was a large church and when we got there it was actually filled to it's limit (550 or so) so they sent us to the overflow room. haha. I had never heard of anything like that before, but yeah, just a few steps away they had this other room set up with a large screen so that we were able to watch the service live. That room filled up quickly as well with about 300 or so people. I wasn't a big fan of the topic, so I dunno....It was a different experience for sure.

We went back to Costco to buy the AC, but they were all gone! We ended up finding one @ the Hawthorne Costco, thank goodness! It's weird having so many options. haha. Back home the stores are more spread out and they can be hours apart. Here there are tons of Costcos withing a 20 minute radius. It's crazy.
Anyways, everyone was bored and wanting to do something inside because it's been so hot out. It was really funny because they were all saying, "let's go somewhere that we can get free air conditioning" AC is a given back home because it gets so hot. Here it is a luxury and a large majority of people don't have AC unless they live inland. So when it gets really hot, people tend to flock to places like movie theaters, bowling alleys, etc. where there is air conditioning.

So we ended up going bowling @ this  mall over in Torrance.  It was a really nice bowling alley. I was reluctant to bowl, but it ended up being fun. There were 10 of us: Crystal and Chicho, Crystal's brother Tim, Jessie, me and Diego, Joel and Silvia, and Larry and Alicia. It was guys vs. girls. Since there were 6 guys and only 4 girls, chicho was on our team. Of course the guys won, but it was still a lot of fun. My score was only 58 or so. We all pretty much sucked @ the game though haha so i didn't feel too bad.

Eating @ El Pollo Locco after church

My tostada salad! It was sooo good!

Sparkling fruit juice in a can. Addicting!

The mall in Torrance where we went bowling.

Fountain in the outside courtyard.

D talking to his bro trying to figure out where to meet.

@ Starbucks waiting for our frappuccino.

Jessie waiting in line. (he's in the white tshirt)

@ the bowling alley. It's a bowling ball face w/hat and smile. So cute!

diego enjoying our yummy white chocolate  mocha frappuccino.

The bar/food area @ the bowling alley.

Waiting for a lane to open.

After waiting a good 30 minutes, we finally got to bowl!

It was guys vs. girls + chicho (there was an uneven number of guys and girls)

That's me. I really need to practice my bowling skills. I kinda sucked at it. haha

Alicia giving me some tips.

So it was dark out when we finished.

Alicia, chicho, Larry, Crystal, Jessie, Diego.

Headed to our cars...

The fountain was all lit up and looked really pretty...

Crystal's brother Tim talking with Diego and Jessie

The burger place we went to after bowling...

Diego in the front lobby with our new AC

Our yummy pumpkin pie that we bought @ Costco for only $5.99! ;)

Oh, so I have a job interview @ Costco scheduled for tomorrow. I was reluctant to apply there because it seems almost like a desperate move. I was really hoping to get a different type of job. I really do not look forward to working in the world of retail again. But we do need the money. At least i would have a job and could bring in some money while I continue to look for a different one. Plus, if it would turn into a long term gig, i could get some health insurance! I've heard it's not a bad company to work for and there would be potential for growth. I just don't want to cashier again! That was torturous! The lady that I talked to said that there are a bunch of different positions available. She also asked if I would be available to work early (4am) so maybe it's a stocking position or something like that. It would be kind of cool to work in the bakery so I could get some official experience with cake decorating/baking! :)

Ok, well that's it for now. Nighty night everyone! :)