Love Hiking.

Hannah and I had been talking about going on a hike for weeks before Spring Break and yesterday we finally did it! We picked up our friend Lance from Union Station in LA and headed back to the coast to Malibu.

We ended up at Escondido Falls in the Santa Monica Mountains.

I can't tell you how much fun of a hike this was.  It wasn't too difficult and the beginning and for most of the trail you're walking beside running water, which is one of my favorite sounds.  After jumping across a couple of small creeks, you get to the very bottom fall, which is beautiful.

Then came the hard but still fun part.  To get to the very top waterfall you had to climb a mountain...a little bit of an exaggeration, but still.  At one point you used a rope to help get yourself up this super steep incline.  After more rock jumping you got to the smallest, second waterfall (which sadly we didn't get a picture of).

When you finally reach the top, all of your physical exertion will be totally worth it!

The top waterfall is huge and the pool underneath it will make you scream cause it's so cold, but is deep enough for you to wade and swim (if you're crazy like Lance).

The three of us had packed lunch and we ate and talked to the other hikers that were up there before jumping in to take pictures.

I'm heading home to Salinas tomorrow!

I can't wait to see my family!

Dreaming of warmer weather

The sun is out and summer fever has set in.

Can I please be done with school already?

Spring

 

 

 

It's literally been overcast down South for a month...and I'm over it!

It's Spring Break time and I really want some sunshine and warm weather.

Today I was told by a member that I should never go out in the sun and I should be a model.

I could never give up my sunshine and my summer tan!

I really wish I was laying in the hammock in NC right now.

Have a wonderful week!

Q&As

Haven't done any of my little questions from my little questions book in awhile.

Here's the ones from this past week.

March 19, 2011: Describe your work ethic

I've always been told that I have an amazing work ethic.  Back when I was still working at Hollister, my managers constantly were thanking me for being such a hard and diligent employee.  I never left any task undone and was always looking for things I could fix to keep me busy.

Honestly, at LA Fitness it's been difficult to keep up a good work ethic lately.  I'm still always on time and do my work to the best of my ability, but I'm burned out and it's affecting my job....I need to work on that.

March 20, 2011: What was the last book you read?

The last book that I read/currently am reading is "The Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova.  I've mentioned her before on my blog and I think she's one of my favorite authors.

March 21, 2011: The first thing you ate today was....

Coffee! (I know it doesn't count but oh well!)

March 22, 2011: Jot down a news story from today:

Bummer! I'm a journalist, I shoulda been able to answer this one but I skipped this day.

March 23, 2011: Are you country or rock 'n' roll (or hip-hop, emo, folk, punk...)?

Well ya'll should already know the answer to that. I'm a country girl.

March 24, 2011: What did you daydream about today?

Spring break...North Carolina...poem ideas...getting tan...Summer vacation.

Mach 25, 2011: .......made you laugh.

Hannah came home last night from working an event at her job, where they taught women self defense and the first words out of her mouth were, "B*****s be crazyyy!"  I laughed super hard, because I hadn't even had a chance to ask her how it went.

March 26, 2011: Who do you inspire to be like?

I've said this on here before too, but inspire to be like my mother...a lot.

Just a picture/food for thought.

Have a good Sunday lovelies!

Boots, Boots, Boots

It's no secret that I'm a cowgirl at heart and every cowgirl needs her boots! 

I'm want some of these so bad!

This month needs to end.

Almost killed me

Growing Love

Since I was young I’ve liked only one boy.

People would say we were attached like gum.

He told me he’d take care of my bear, Vanilla

and build our future home with a blanket.

Our mom’s would call us inside to get sleep.

Dreaming of a night out by the water.

All summer we would play in cool water.

As he grinned, I chose to kiss that boy.

We’d lay out on the grass and catch some sleep.

My heart skipped a beat, when he offered gum.

Shy, I buried my face in the blanket.

Ice cream time came and we chose vanilla.

My first date perfume was Sweet Vanilla.

He held my hand as we walked on water.

Wind was cold so he gave me his blanket.

My dad wanted to talk to, “That dang boy.”

Sister wanted to know if we, “Swapped gum.”

I just wanted to get some happy sleep.

When we first got married there was no sleep.

Our first house always smelled like vanilla.

The snack drawer was forever filled with gum.

And our first married fight involved water.

He talked about our first being a boy,

snuggled into me under our blanket.

His kids are crying about their blanket.

They’re his kids when I haven’t got much sleep.

All the fuss and fight makes me say, “Oh boy.”

Our house smelled like playdough, not vanilla.

Learned a dirty kid’s enemy is water

and peanut butter’s the enemy of gum.

Dentures can’t handle his favorite gum.

We spend our days wrapped in a thick blanket.

He’ll wake me up and beg for some water.

I embrace the fact of eternal sleep.

He whispers I smell like warm vanilla,

my mind goes back to when he was a boy.

What I would give for some gum and good sleep,

on my blanket with ice cream . . . vanilla.

We’d play in the water, me and my boy.

PS! I'm totally indebted to my friend David for helping me with some revisions.

Dear Shuttle Driver...

Dear CSULB Shuttle Driver,

Thank you for blaring country music today in your bus.  This music makes me very happy and after the last week/weekend I've had, it really cheered me up.  It also made me smile when I could see you singing right along with the songs...and me.

Sincerely,

A fellow country music listener

For the single men in my life

Hey you!

Stop talking over me and

turn to listen to me.

Pretend you’re five and

you’ve been told to zip your lips

and throw away the key. Good.

Now, baby, I’m gonna let you in

on a secret, can you handle it?

When Harry met Sally, do you

think she fell for him ‘cause he

was the bad guy?

And after Sandy traded her pink skirts

for tight, black leather and cigarettes,

you don’t think Danny didn’t break her heart?

What I’m trying to get at, my point I’m trying to make…

Is that being called a nice guy

isn’t an insult. In fact, it’s far from it.

Being just friends with a girl doesn’t mean

hell’s freezing over and if you think

we all hate you, we can tell, and trust me darling,

it’s a turn off.  Be confident in who you are, without

a woman hangin’ on your arm.

Now unzip those lips and let’s hear your response.

If only I could talk like her

To say the least, this week has already not been a big ball of fun and I'm very sorry for my 

"poor, poor pitiful me" posts.  

I will try and work on that. 

 

I think what's made these events in my life even harder is the fact that the people I always run to when I have BIG problems, aren't really able to be around like normal.

 

Right now, I can't reach my boyfriend and best friend to vent to him about how I'm feeling and to get his perspective and opinions on things.  I value what he has to say, because a lot of the time he's one wise dude and knows exactly what to say to calm me down when I become irrational.  It's really killin' me this time that he can't be there for me like I know he would if things were like they usually are.

 

I want more than anything to be able to climb onto my parent's bed, like I'm back in grade school...or Jr. high...or high school for that matter...and talk to them about everything.  I've been constantly calling my mom, but it's really not the same.  I'd like nothing more than to lay next to her and have her play with my hair and hear what my dad, another wise dude in my life, has to say.  Right now, I wouldn't mind hearing what Candace or Rebecca or even Matthew thinks! Thank goodness spring break is coming up and I'm going to be able to go home for a weekend.

I just wish that all these people weren't so far away right now.

Just when I thought things were coming to a close.

Photos provided by www.pinterest.com

Graduating?

 

Tomorrow is my official appointment to fight this "3 Units Short" nonsense.

My thoughts are definitely getting to me.

I don't even feel like saying I'm graduating anymore because it literally feels like all the excitement has been robbed from me.

If it's not a mistake and I really do need to take this last class, walking on the 26th is going to feel fake.  I'll still be in school for at the very least another two weeks or at the most a month or two.

Then today I started playing the "what-if" game and my thoughts came up with this...

What if this is happening because finding out now that I'm not graduating right away, is a lot easier than finding out when grades are posted and I fail my Media Law class!!

I know...I'm overreacting.

Tonight I'll be telling myself, "Do not let the thoughts in your head get to you."

Two is Better Than One?

In the weeks following Spring Break, I'm gonna be required to create a whole new blog and write at least six entries that are specific to a topic that I chose.

I'm thinking that since the Academy of Country Music Awards are on April 3, the day before we get back from break, I'll do essentially a music review blog of the top six award winners of the night's albums.

It would be:

Entertainer of the Year

Top Male Vocalist

Top Female Vocalist

Top Vocal Duo

Top Vocal Group

Album of the Year

Thoughts? Do you think I've got a good idea going here?

I've already created a template for it and would love to get you following and hear your opinions on it....

so check it out!

My Front Porch to Yours

Lots of Pizza

Hi loves!

Photo provided by lifeissimplydelicious.wordpress.com

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, despite this horrible time change.

Yesterday after work, Hannah and I traipsed over to Old Town Pasadena for some art and fun.  

As an extra credit assignment for her Asian Art History class we went to the Norton Simon Museum for a little bit.  It was super interesting and I think it'd be a place that I'd go back to so I could look at all the other exhibits they have.  

After that we headed down the street and did some window shopping for awhile.  It was a lot of fun and I ended up coming home with a new-to-me pair of black cowgirl boots that cost me $15 dollars.  I love them, even if they're a little worn out. 

We ended the night by getting some super yummy pizza at Bella's Gourmet Pizza.

Today after I worked a very long opening shift at the gym, my sweet friend, Joni, came to Long Beach for the first time since she's moved down here.

Hannah and I took her down to Rainbow Harbor and the Pike and had a really good time walking around and talking.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and walking around the docks and piers really made me miss summer and made me really want a boat.

Photo provided by pbase.com

Once again we ended our night by heading over to a restaurant that Joni suggested in Huntington Beach, Oggi's Pizza and Brewery Company.  It was good food and great, cold beer, which are two of my favorite things!  Plus I love the girls I was with so it made it even better.

 I hope that ya'll had a good weekend too.

Here's to another week! 

Birthday

My mom and me on my 21st birthday.

Today is my momma's birthday!  I'm so sad that I can't be there to celebrate with her and all of our friends back home.  They're definitely celebrating because I called home tonight and it was so incredibly loud!

For those of you who don't know my mom, she's one of the most amazing people you will ever meet.  She's one of the wisest and most caring women I know.  I love that she loves my friends, almost like her own kids, and that no matter what she's always there for me and my brother and sisters.  She's a model wife and I hope that one day I'm able to be like her.

Happy Birthday Momma! I love you!

Stole this from Sue.  

My mom and my two other "moms" who I love so much!

 Just for kicks.

3 Units

I'm struggling.

Yesterday was just a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day".

A few days ago I got an email from my school saying that they see I petitioned to graduate, but "there are things missing from your degree progress report."  What??? I immediately made an appointment with my adviser for Thursday morning.  So yesterday rolls around and after a half an hour of trying to figure out what's going on, the results were in.  

According to CSULB, I'm 3 units short to graduate.  They're claiming that I need a Political Science class.

I was in a pile.  I was devastated. I was so angry.

I've been to a counselor at Long Beach three times and no one caught this.  The Degree Progress Report is hard to decipher and there's no way I could have caught this on my own.  I felt cheated.

However, this morning I woke up and felt a little better and decided to get to the bottom of this.

I think they made a mistake.  Unless Long Beach has a specific Political Science requirement, I fulfilled that part of my GE Breadth by taking two U.S. History classes, an Intro to Sociology, and a Journ. class back at Gavilan.

So now I'm going to another advisement appointment on Monday and I'm gonna go in swinging until they tell me what the heck is going on.  I hope that this is just one big mistake and I'll be able to graduate in May.  I don't want to walk and "pretend" I graduated in May when I have to go back to school for May Intersession or Summer school.

That's just an update on my life.  I'm trying to be calm and understanding of the situation but it's hard.  I thought that the quote above was super relevant to everything right now.  I love "Dear John".  

Have a good weekend loves! 

Blogging in Class

I'm blogging in my Journ. 340 class while we're learning about blogging.

This class is great and I love it, but right now I'm honestly tuning out.

I have no idea where this picture is from because I found it on the desktop of my school computer, but I really like it.  It makes me want to go back East for some reason.  Speaking about going back East, right now I can't wait for Spring Break and for Summer Vacation.

Spring break is in just a few short weeks even though I haven't really made set plans.  A close friend wants me to go to Vegas but I don't know if that'll happen because I'm poor.

I really just want to go home.

This summer is my family's NC summer! Hurray!

I've been there twice now without them and honestly it's still a little strange.

I guess I should go pay attention now, even though we're currently learning about how to create a post on Blogger.

A+ for the day!

I passed my first media law midterm...barely.

I'm so happy that I passed, don't get me wrong!

I just really wanted to pass by a lot though and give myself a little cushion for the rest of the semester.

 So even though I didn't fail, I found this quote super inspirational tonight.

How was your day?  It's my first day blogging without a prompt and with a whole new look.

I love it!

photo provided by fromupnorth.com

Same Blog, New Look

My sister's awesome boyfriend, Colin, designed my new header for me!

(He also designed her photography website.)

I think it's great!

I still want to play and tweak the rest of it, but right now it'll do just fine considering I need to write a paper before four today. 

Best picture of Colin ever!

30 Days of Blogging in Review

I'm sad that it's over!

The 30 Days of Blogging has been a great way to fill my blogging time.

Sometimes I wonder what the point of my blog is and most of the time I decide it's just a place for me to ramble.

It's also introduced me to other blogs through comments that readers left and I love that!

So, just in case you missed it, here are my 30 days in review.

day 1- recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
day 2- the meaning behind your blog name
day 3- a picture of you as a child
day 4- a habit that you wish you didn’t have
day 5- a picture of somewhere you've been
day 6- favorite super hero and why
day 7- a picture of someone/something that has had the biggest impact on you
day 8- short term goals for this month and why
day 9- something you're proud of in the past few days
days 10 and 11
day 12- write a poem to someone you love
day 13- your 5 favorite books and why
day 14- a picture of you and your family
days 15 and 16
day 17- someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
day 18- plans/dreams/goals you have
day 19- write about a sweet memory from your past
day 20- write a letter to someone
day 21 - a picture of something that makes you happy
day 22 and 23
day 24- post your favorite quote or verse of scripture and why
day 25 and 26
day 27- my day job verses my passion
day 28- cruise a thesaurus and pick out 10 words you like the sound of
day 29 - favorite tv shows and why you like them
day 30 - movies you can watch again and again.

The End:: Day 30

Day 30 - movies you can watch again and again.

Photo provided by en.wikipedia.org

 Photo provided by comingsoon.net

 Photo provided by moviegoods.com

 Photo provided by hollywoodjesus.com

 Photo provided by uweb.und.nodak.edu

There are SO many more movies I can add to this list! 

I love watching movies, especially my favorites. 

I've known some people, who don't like to watch the same movie twice,

which is fine for them, but if I know a movie is going to make me happy then why wouldn't I watch it again?

 

Day 29

Day 29 - favorite tv shows and why you like them

Photo provided by http://housemd6.com

This show is my all time favorite.  I've watched every episode more times than I can count.  

I love this show because of it's quirks and because of the mother-daughter relationship.

I also love this show because it's something that my sisters and I have in common and because I'll get a random GG's quote from Corinne and I'll know instantly what she's talking about.  I also love that it'll brighten any bad day that I'm having.

Photo provided by bscreview.com

Beautiful people, intense episodes, and a good plot.

All reasons why this is my #1 actually-currently-running-on-TV show.

Another reason why I love it is because my whole family loves it and because I got my boyfriend to watch it!

Photo provided by dvdsetshop.com

Ah! I'm so upset that we don't have cable and I missed the Season 5 premiere of "Army Wives" tonight.

This show makes me cry almost every episode and I can relate to a lot in it.

I also love the idea of having a solid support system of friends and family around you, especially when you're dealing with something like the military.

  Photo provided by http://gendruwo.info

Last but not least, there's Smallville.

At first I started watching this show on DVD because my grandparents were into it.

After I introduced it to my family, my sister Candace got obsessed and now we're all Clark Kent fans.

I haven't been able to keep up with the current and last season because of work, but I can't wait to watch it on DVD! 

Day 28

day 28- cruise a thesaurus and pick out 10 words you like the sound of

 Photo provided by pburt.wordpress.com

Avidity: Eagerness
 

Resplendence: Glitter

Jejunity: Youth

Hotchpotch: Mess, mix-up

Cuddlesome: Cuddly

Bossest: Boss

Figmental: Ficticious

Firebug: A person who sets fire

Orchestrina: Music box

Drinkery: Bar