Happy 4th!

It's hard to believe that it's already the 4th of July! Craziness! Time is flying by so quickly. I've actually been thinking a lot about time lately and how it is so very precious.  Back when I was younger, I remember hearing people talk about how time flies and I recall hearing stories about all the people who had sought after the Fountain of Youth. Back then, I simply could not understand it. Growing up and getting old seemed so very far off. Endowed with youthfulness, I didn't get why aging was all so bad. But now, I see.  I understand it. I'm 28, next year I will be 29. Those numbers don't sound tooooo bad, I'll agree, but it's time, it honestly just keeps slipping away. Five years have passed in a blink of an eye. I now have gray hairs and I fear the day that I start to get wrinkles. I've noticed my hands are looking older. A strange thing to notice maybe, but I looked down and they aren't as youthful looking as they once were. I"ll be honest, getting old scares me, a lot. I feel like I have so much to accomplish in life, but I'm running out of time. It's like I'm racing the clock. lol. As time passes, things continue to change. Family and friends grow older, they pass on, and a new group of youth arise. It's exciting, but sad at the same time. sigh.

Well, this is depressing talk for a 4th of July celebration. lol. We're having a cookout. Inviting some family over to grill out and perhaps go swimming. So we have been cleaning and cooking since yesterday. Parties are fun, but why do they have to be so much work? haha :p

Have gotten quite a few things accomplished this week. I spent Monday and Tuesday out at the shop answering phones and helping with the front desk. Tammy and Corey were gone and things have been busy out there, so Dad needed the help. It was pretty fun. I don't mind the whole receptionist thing, I find it semi-interesting and fun. On Wednesday, I had to drive over to Wateseka, IL to Dr. Martin/Rose to get my retainer fixed. It's been cracked since last Fall, but I'm just now getting over there. Jennica rode with me, so that made it more interesting! We stopped by this quaint little DQ that looked like it belonged in the state of Kentucky. haha. They had really good ice cream though! The drive was a killer...uuuugh. It made me kind of dread the road trip! I hate driving/riding for long lengths of time, it can get soooo boring. But at least we will be making quite a few stops along the way to look at different attractions. Jennica and I have been looking over the map and trying to plan our route. I think we're going to slightly modify the route, but we'll see. I'll try to post the finalized route once we figure it out! haha Which actually needs to be pretty soon so that we can try to book our hotel rooms.


We leave on July 19--TWO weeks from tomorrow. It's soooo surreal! And it's really starting to get to me. I have known that I'm leaving for a long time now, but it's really starting to feel like reality now. I am beginning to feel very emotionally unstable! haha Ok, maybe not unstable, but I've been feeling really sad and upset. Yesterday I was trying to rearrange my room and box up some stuff. ( I just have junk EVERYWHERE! Seriously, my poor mom and dad. My stuff has been spread out all over the house and the garage.) I just was overwhelmed and didn't know quite what to do with it all. So poor Jennica, I think I began to take out my anger and frustration on her; but then, I just started crying. haha. Like big sobs and a flood of tears. I was like, oh crap, where did that come from? I surprised even myself. lol. but it felt kind of good. lol. I yelled and threw some papers and then just sobbed out my sorrows. haha. What a release! ;)  Of course, right before that I had scraped my leg, dropped a bedframe on my toe ( I thought for sure it was goign to be broken) and pulled a muscle in my back when I tried to move this big, heavy bookcase. So, I don't think I was in the best of humor to begin with. haha...But yeah, I'm getting very, very sad. This will be the first time being away from Indiana and ALL my family. Over 2,000 miles away. That's a looong way. I'm sure everything will go ok, or I hope it will, but it's just making me so very sad. :(

Anyways, on Thursday I drove down to Lebanon to meet with my mentor teacher (from student teaching). I was supposed to get my recc. letter from her (and she also had the one from the vice principal) and she needed help with some project she's been working on. Anyways, we met up just long enough for me to get my letters and give her some cupcakes that I made. So it looks like we will be meeting again next week sometime. On Tuesday the 12th I think. She's actually driving up here to Rensl. with her daughter, kind of a road trip. My schedule is so jam packed, it's crazy! Too many things to do, and not enough time.

So yeah, on Wednesday I made some cupcakes. I had wanted to take Ms. Avery some and I had promised Ryan that I would make him some cupcakes with orange cream cheese frosting (his fave) before I leave. So I eended up making two batches. Chocolate with almond vanilla buttercream frosting and then dark chocolate with orange cream cheese frosting. They both turned out pretty well, i think. Everyone had a lot of great things to say about them, so I was pretty happy. :) I love it when people enjoy the food that I prepare. It's such a great feeling! I mean, that's the whole point in cooking/baking right? For people to enjoy your food. And when they actually DO, it's so great! So yeah, I made cupcakes. And then last week, I made a cake for Bryan and Kristina's engagement party (6/25). It was my first two-tiered cake and I was sooo nervous about it! I think it turned out fairly well though! Mom and I went and bought some fresh flowers from Pat's to put on the cake. It wasn't quite the color I was wanting, but it worked. I had originally wanted to go with a deep purple, but the flowers were more of a pinkish/purple, so I ran out to Walmart and found some new ribbon and it turned out ok! Mom and Jennica helped me put the ribbon on and it was quite a task! There has to be an easier way! haha I'll have to do some research!

On Saturday, we went over to Grandma's house to make a homemade butterscotch pie. She used to make them ALL the time and she's famous for them. They're the absolute BEST! So Jennica, Courtney, and I went over there and videotaped the whole process. And what a process it was. haha! Our meringue just wasn't turning out very well and we ended up making it three, yes THREE, times. And then it STILL wasn't exactly right. haha. I don't know what in the world we were doing wrong, but something just wasn't right. The first time, Grandma had forgotten that we needed cream of tarter and we didn't even have any with us, so we had to run to the store, which was quite a process in itself. We went to three different stores before we found it. haha. So yeah, it was a fun day! And the pie is absolutely to die for! Whenever I open my store/bakery/restaurant I am definitely going to have grandma's pie on the menu. I know it will be a hit! :)  After the pie baking experience, we headed home and grilled out. Courtney came over for dinner and it was a fun time!

So yeah, I think that's been my week. I'll go ahead and end by posting a few photos from the past week or so.

Bryan and Kristina's Engagement Party on June 25, 2011. The happy couple with their cake!

Cupcakes that I made on 6/29. These are chocolate with vanilla almond buttercream frosting. My first time piping on the frosting instead of frosting by hand. I liked the results.

Dark chocolate cupcakes with orange cream cheese frosting.

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It was a gorgeous evening, so I went and snapped a couple photos around the yard sometime this past week. I thought the lighting was really pretty.

I currently have an obsession with chocolate covered bananas! They are soooo good! :)

And here's a picture of the butterscotch pie we made. The crust is kind of burnt and it's a bit lopsided, but man did it taste SOOO good!:)


Well, Happy 4th everyone! Enjoy your day with family and friends! :)

Catch Up

Well, I told you last time that I would try to catch up on the events of the past couple weeks so here we go. We'll see what I can remember. haha

Our things made it out to Cali and are currently in a storage unit somewhere near Diego's family's home. (FYI: Storage is more expensive out there than it is in Indiana).

Diego went to tons of interviews and finally accepted a job last week.  His first day was last Thursday. It's not exactly what we had hoped for, but we'll take what we can get. He is now the maintenance supervisor at a Senior living community called Bayside Terrace in San Pedro, California.  The position includes an apartment as part of the deal, which he just got yesterday.  I've only seen a couple pics that I found online, but it looks ok I guess. I think it's only like 550 sq. feet though, so pretty small.  Hopefully, we'll be able to fit all our things in.  So far, he seems to like it well enough. Definitely a lot less stressful than his last crazy job, so that's good. Unfortunately, there are no pets allowed and also no benefits. :( So that stinks!  But I'm thankful that he has a job.

So I guess that means I will be heading out there soon. Jennica is going to ride out with me and we're going to make a few stops along the way. It should be fun! As of right now, we're planning on leaving July 19th. It should take us about six days to get out there, so we'll probably get to Cali the last week of July.

Almost finished with my crazy online class. I've been working on my speeches the past week or so. I have to present it to an audience of at least 5 people and videotape it. I tried to present it last night, but it didn't work out because Ryan was sick. So I will try again Thursday night. I'll turn this lesson in this week and hopefully Lesson 9. Then my final next week and I will be finished!!! Yay! :D Hopefully, I will get to semi-enjoy my last three weeks here.  I think it's going to be a busy next four weeks though! Jennica just signed a lease for a new apartment, so we're going to be busy moving her in. I need to meet with Ms. Avery sometime. I have a couple appointments, I need to hang out with Kendra one or two more times, and we need to video tape Grandma. Plus, I have to finish sorting through things and packing.

I ended up inheriting Mom's mini cooper since she got her new one.  I hadn't even really planned on taking it, but we had a buyer for my old blue car and they bought it right away. As much as I disliked how that car drove, I was sad to see it go since it was a wedding gift. :(  It will definitely be nice to drive in Cali since it's so small! However, we're definitely going to have a space issue on our road trip out there. I'm going to have to ship a lot of things now instead of packing them in my car. Oh well, whatever works.

We had our garage sale on Friday and Saturday. It went pretty well! We were actually busier on Friday than Saturday, which I found surprising. We had things marked down soooo low. It kind of made me sick to my stomach. Especially towards the end when we had most things marked to 5 or 10 cents. We were practically giving things away! But at least we made some money and got rid of a bunch of junk! The garage looked barren afterwards! I was happy to get rid of everything! :)

So they finally finished the driveway @ the house and it looks really nice! We got a lot of compliments on it during the garage sale. And Brown's FINALLY got Mom's flowers planted. They look super nice! I'll have to add some pictures!

Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks:

Jennica and I went up to baseball game with Courtney in Gary.

This is Kendra and me. We (plus jennica) went to see the movie "Super 8" and then went to eat at Qdoba. It was a lot of fun!

 I finally got my wedding dress cleaned! lol I took it in when we went dress shopping with Kristina last month. Just now got it back.

I've been making a lot of baked chicken and roasted veggies! yuuuum!

Snicky's new toy that Mom got her...Mr. Chicken! isn't it cute? hehe

Yes, we have a slight Popchips addiction! ;) But have you tried them? They're sooooo good! :D

Getting ready for the garage sale...it was sooo much work organizing and marking everything! couldn't have done it with out Jennica's help! And Dad's--he helped with all the tables, signs, etc.

My old rollerblades from when I was younger. I used to use these things ALL the time. Jennica and I would skate around the circle in the back subdivision. Good times. I decided not to sell them. They still fit, so why not keep them?  ;)

I found this while I was sorting through garage sale stuff. A trip down memory lane. A shirt that I bought Diego during his first trip out here.

 Jennica and I found these when we were sorting through garage sale things. Mom used to make make sugar cookies and frost them with orange frosting and stick a piece of candy corn in the middle. Then she would stick them in these treat bags and we would take them to school. As soon as I saw these bags, I could practically taste the cookies. hehe. Ah, memories. I love it when my memories are triggered like that!

 The finished driveway! isn't it nice?! I love it!

Gorgeous daisies in the flower box that we got Mom for Mother's Day! Aren't they perty? ;)

Getting ready for the garage sale....

Snick wanted to help! hehe

The flowers in the backyard.

I LOVE this back porch! It's sooo nice and peaceful! I'm going to miss it so much. :(

Snick chilaxin in the back yard. Btw, that's the shed(used to be playhouse lol) that my grandpa helped us build when Jennica and I were little. We used to play in it ALL the time when we were young. We'd play house, school, and just hang out. It used to be at our old house, but brought it with us when we moved here ( I think i was about 9 at the time. ) It later became the dog's house and now it's the shed for the mower, bikes, etc.  It was right next to this big tree at the old house and I remember climbing the tree and getting on the roof. Then we (the cuzs and neighbor kids) would jump off the room onto this little trampoline. haha Fun times! I was such a tomboy. ;)

An old photo that I saw over at Grandma's house. I think it might be Aunt Vi? I can't remember. I'll have to ask her!

Beering Fountain @ Purdue. This is where Kara (Kohlhagen) and I met for lunch last week. I never did make a fountain run in all my years there at Purdue. haha It looks like it would be fun though! :)


Well, that's about it. Oh, Monday was Grandma's 84th birthday. Aunt mary,Becky, Mom, Jennica, and I took her to lunch at Pizza Hut. Between Becky's stories and the screaming baby sitting behind us, it was quite a lunch! haha. Then Jennica and I drove grandma out to Bazz's for ice cream. Wanda makes the most amazing cookie dough avalanches! yum! I must get another one or two of those before I leave for Cali. haha :P
Well, I suppose I should get busy. I have lots of things to accomplish today. Happy Wednesday everyone! :)

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! I am so, so thankful for my amazing dad! It's strange how your perspective changes as you grow older. I've always known that I have a great dad, but with each passing year, I realize it even more.  There are so many men out there who are fathers in name only, but I have been blessed with a father who is really a DAD. He is kind and compassionate, is tender-hearted and will help any one in need,he takes time out of his busy schedule for me, he has worked hard his whole life to provide for his family, he cares about the little things, he is patient and understanding, he is dependable and I know he will always be there for me.  He gives the best hugs and he shows love in everything that he does.  Thanks, Dad for everything! You are the best dad EVER! I love you!!!

The best Father's Day gift ever. Dad has his garage back! haha He was grinning from ear to ear yesterday. The garage has been jam packed with garage sale stuff and furniture from my apt and jennica's apt for the past year. We finished up our garage sale yesterday and this was the most barren the garage has EVER looked! haha

So we got up and made french toast for breakfast this morning.  Then Dad opened his cards and gifts.  We're going to head up to Merrillville for lunch with the whole extended family to celebrate my grandma's birthday, which is tomorrow.  It should be fun!

Well, that's it for the moment. I will try to write more in a bit. It's been almost 2 wks since I last wrote, so I have a lot to catch up on!

More Storms...

Wow, I really need to update this thing more often! I've been trying to write @ least once a week, but maybe I'll try for at least twice a week. So we just had a bad storm here this evening. It was seriously dark and windy out.  It  had been nice and sunny all day and then around 5 the tornado weather rolled in.  It blew down a giant tree in our back yard.  The tree fell on top of our neighbor's house.  Thankfully, the roof seems ok so far, but the neighbors are going to spend the night in a hotel for at least tonight.  The tree guys are coming early in the morning to take it down.  Supposedly, it's going to take at least 5 or 6 hours. I'm just thankful that no one was injured! Here are a couple pictures...

So yeah, that's the third really bad storm that we've had in three weeks.  I hope we don't get any more. I'm sick of this weather.

Anyways, so last Saturday was my graduation party.  Of course, it rained. haha. Stupid weather.  But it turned out to be a good party in spite of the rain.  Here are some pics of the decorations, I might add some more later on:

Oh, and here's the cake that I made:

Frosting the cake w whipped cream...

With the berries....

I think it might have looked better without all the whipped cream on top.

So Monday was Memorial Day. We went down and cleaned the apartment and then on Tuesday I drove down and finished loading everything up and turned in the keys. :( Sadness! They delivered everything to California on Friday.  Diego went and rented a storage unit since we don't have an apartment yet.  He's had a bunch of different job interviews, but no offer yet.  The Beverly Hills job didn't work out. :( But he had two interviews that he thought went fairly well.  One was at some film school in L.A. The other one was for some company in Malibu, doing maintenance on a bunch of different mansions.  So hopefully he will get something soon!

Mom got her new Mini Cooper on Thursday! It's really nice! Here are some pics:

Well, that's it for now. Night all!