New York Here We Come!

My roommate and I are leaving Thursday morning for New York City at the crack of dawn (our flight leaves at 6am!). This is my third time going to NY, and Kelsey's first. So if any of you guys have any suggestions on what to see that would be wonderful. New York here we come!

I'm Back!

I had the best time in Portland visiting friends and family! Below are a few pictures of all the fun. :)


Michelle my best friend and I in Seattle!Me and my 98 year old great grandma...she is amazing!
The Fam! :)
Brother-sister times!
Four Generations in order, I happen to be the youngest and the tallest. :)
The whole family...dad, aaron, mom, grandma, great-grandma, me, grandpa! (All my mom's side)
My sisters from another mother!
Marianne...my little sister :)

3 More Sleeps!

Only 3 more sleeps until I get to fly up to Portland and spend my birthday with my family! I haven't been to Portland in a little over 5 months. I am so excited to see all of my old friends. In particularly Michelle. She is more than a friend, she is my sister, and I haven't seen her since Christmas!!! That is 8 months ago...much to long. I have known Michelle since I was 7 years old in 1st grade. I remember it well, she was the new kid and I remember thinking, why is there a new person here? And why does she always where dresses? :) She now lives in Seattle working in fashion ,and I in Orange County, so we don't see each other as much as we would like to anymore. We always have the best time together going on random adventures, as well as having movie marathons while eating taco dip! So Michelle...this post is for you...see you in 4 days!

Let the Job Hunt Begin

I am currently looking for a new job, and not just any job, but a job that I might actually like. Oh and did I mention that this would be a job that I like AND pays well. I have experienced both, but never the combination. Maybe I am just an idealist, but I like to think that the two can somehow magically combine and I will actually be able to support myself by doing something that I enjoy. So far this has not been the case. I can either support myself while feeling like my soul is dying a tragic death in front of a computer screen, or I can live out my passion for music while begging on the streets for change.

My current job I love! I love my kiddos so much and hate the idea of not seeing them every week, however the whole being able to pay rent, put gas in my car and still manage to eat hasn't really been working out. My last job payed my bills, barely, but also at the same time just about gave me an ulcer from the 12 hour days and stressed out coworkers. And I think I might have actually lost some IQ points due to the monotony that took place every day. Pretty much a trained monkey could have done my job, wait...I take that back, just a regular monkey could have done it.

So here I am at a new and exciting crossroads (mixed in with a bit of fear...actually a lot of fear). I know what my ultimate career goal is, and that is to be a music and child therapist while teaching college part time. However, I have 3 years left until I complete the program and a year until I can even start. So in the meantime I need to find something to help pay the bills and put to good use the $100,000 piece of paper from APU that says I am a college grad. Let the job hunt begin!

Welcome to the Blogging World Alissa!

My wonderful, beautiful friend Alissa Yang (formally Tidwell) just started a blog! Welcome to the club Alissa!

Hollywood Bowl

This last weekend was so busy! I was barely home for more than a few minuted before I was leaving again. It started off by my taking a little trip up to north LA county to visit Alissa and Eric. They moved back from Oklahoma a few months ago and just recently moved into their new apartment in Newberry Park (its near Thousand Oaks). I love that they are "close" again. An hour drive is a lot better than a three hour flight! Alissa and I had a great time exploring the shopping scene even though window shopping is all we can afford. Im sure all of the sales people love to see us when all we do is look. :) All the shops near Alissa are beautiful! This one had a park.
On Saturday I went up to Pasadena to meet up with old friends for Jessica's 25th Birthday. Jessica and Jackie were two of my first friends when I transfered to APU. Its hard to believe that that was 6 years ago! Though we have all changed, and hardly ever see each other, it is nice to still be able to get together as if no time has passed.

To end the weekend off right I headed back up to LA to enjoy some smooth Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl. It was quite the experience! I stuck out like a sore thumb since I was one of the only white people there, along with Alissa. It was so fun! I loved ever minute of it! Oh and did I mention that everyone there was as high as a kite? We all left feeling a little fuzzy from the fumes.

Im a Horrible Blogger!!!

I'm such a horrible blogger! So much has been happening so get ready for one big long update! :)

First off two weekends ago on a whim I decided to drive out to Arizona to audition for American Idol! I was there for less than 36 hours, most of which was spent sleeping. So it all began with me driving to work on Wednesday morning and thinking to myself..."self...you are in a rut and are in dire need of an adventure." So I texted Ryan and asked how he would feel driving out in the middle of the night to Arizona, stand in long lines, get little to no sleep, for an experience of a lifetime. Needless to say he said yes and at 12am that night we drove for 4 and a half hours (yes, I speed, and lets just say I might have been going over 100...oops!) and got into phoenix and went straight to the jobbing arena to get bracelets to audition the next day.


The overall experience was so much fun and really interesting to see how the show is produced. Lets just say they use the word "reality" very loosely. :) Ryan and I waited the whole next day at the stadium to audition, much of the waiting involved sleeping. There were some very interesting contestants who I am very sure will be featured on the show, including a girl wearing nothing but a tiny little bikini, another girl wearing a pink cowgirl outfit from head to toe, and a dreadful singer who managed to get the whole crowd clapping with him. Ryan and I didn't make it through the first round, however he had the judges in stitches while he sang Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer...with full on choreography! It was a great experience, and definitely the adventure I was looking for! :) After the audition we got back in the car and drove the 5 1/2 hours back to CA, lets just say I'm ok not taking a long drive for awhile. :) And for those of my dear friends who live out that way I am so sorry that I didn't get to see any of you, next time I am there I will make sure to give you a call!

After my return from Phoenix, I jumped right into working at Summer Spectacular. Summer Spectacular is Saddleback's (Rick Warren's church) versions of vacation bible school. Its pretty much VBS on steroids! :) My wonderful friend Stacey (on the far right) works at Saddleback in the 3rd and 4th grade ministries, she asked me if I could help her out with over 400 3rd graders. There were 3,000 children ages K-6th. It was so much fun!


The kids had a blast and best of all through all of their fun they got to learn more about Jesus and how much he loves and cares for them. The Bible verse was Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's masterpiece He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

Sorry about the long update. Thanks for reading!