My Quarter Century Celebration(s)

Well, my 25th birthday has come and gone already, but the party is just beginning.

This past weekend I was up in SLO for the Upsilon Class crossover (we welcomed four new sisters into the familia), and I did a little pre-partying with Mona and Jennifer. Can I tell you how much I adore Mona and Jenn? They are seriously my “roll-dawgs 4 life.” They are always down to party and get crazy. On Friday night, I met up with Mona and we kept it chill. We went to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop in Arroyo Grande and then spent the rest of the night watching TV at her house in Guadalupe. The next morning, Mona cooked me breakfast and then we ventured into Santa Maria to go shopping at our favorite spot, Fashion Max. It’s a Santa Maria staple where you can find inexpensive clothes for going out. Kinda like Forever 21, except more ghetto. I can always find something there and for not a lot of money. After the mall, we decided we needed to get our nails done, so we went to this nail place across the street. Mona got acrylic nails, but I opted for the simpler manicure. For only $11, you can’t say no. A little, old Asian man gave me my manicure. The arm/hand massage they give as part of the manicure is worth the $11 already, but the rest of the manicure was just as nice. I went with a red color that actually ended up matching my Blackberry almost exactly.

After we got out nails done, we stopped at Rite-Aid to grab some champagne to gift to Jennifer. Jennifer was in the process of moving out of her apartment and moving in with her boyfriend, Eric, on Saturday, and we felt bad that we weren’t helping her move. Champagne makes up for it, I think. So we made the drive up to SLO and met Jenn at her apartment in time to help her with the last stage of moving (packing up her car and putting stuff in her storage unit). Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at Mondeo’s (one of my favorite restaurants in SLO), and then starting getting ready for our night out. I wore the new shirt I picked up at Fashion Max earlier in the day. We met up at Eric’s apartment and cracked open the bottle of champagne. Seeing as Jenn was in the process of moving in to an apartment filled with boys, all we had to drink out of were Slurpee Cups. That’s right, we drank Korbel out of Slurpee cups. So classy. Just like Mona, Jenn, and myself. Then it was off to downtown. Our first stop was Downtown Brew (DTB), where Mona bought me a Tokyo Tea. It wasn’t too good, so I only drank about half of it. I think we were there for about half an hour dancing before we got a text message from Jenn’s friend, Q, to meet him at The Library (a bar). No matter how many times I go to “the bars” in SLO, we always end up at The Library. Jennifer bought me a beer at The Library for my birthday because I was already feeling the drink I had at DTB. I guess the pre-drinking of champagne caught up with me. Either way, by the end of the night, I was ready to go.

My Roll-Dawgs

My growing family

We stopped at Eric’s house to rest a bit before heading to Pismo Beach for the crossover. The ceremony went smoothly and it was cool to meet the newest generation of sisters. My family grew once again. One of Evelyn’s other little sisters gained a new little sister. It was cool to take pictures of the whole family—it’s rare that we all get together (because we’re so big!). The party afterward was pretty mild. The next morning, a bunch of us got together in SLO for breakfast at Margie’s Diner. Tasty food. Evelyn, myself, and Maria finally got on the road around 12:30pm to head back to So Cal. I was pretty tired from the trip back. I was relieved to get home. I took a hot shower, threw on my PJs, and spent the rest of the day on the couch with Fernando watching the Superbowl and the new episode of The Office afterwards. When The Office was over, I said goodnight to Fernando and I’m pretty sure I was asleep before 9pm!

This week has been okay. Things are still really slow at work, which makes doing the work of two people not that challenging. I’m trying not to stress out too much about the future of my company. I know the owner would be really devastated if we had to shut things down. The business is his brain child. Still—if they have to let another person go, I’m pretty sure I’ll be the next to go. Even though I’ve been here longer than our bookkeeper, no one can do what our bookkeeper does. My boss knows how to do all the things I do—and even though I know she’d be beyond busy doing my job, the administrative jobs, and her job, she’d be able to do it. Even though I hate my job—I need it for the health benefits, so please send good thoughts/vibes/prayers my way (or my company’s way).

So my birthday was yesterday and my Blackberry was blowing up with calls, texts, Myspace Comments, and Facebook comments. Thanks to any and all of you who wished me a happy birthday. I didn’t pressure myself into thinking I had to have fun on my birthday, so I wasn’t disappointed by the lack of fun. I worked, Fernando went to school, I tutored, I did a little shopping, and I watched LOST and Top Chef. Fernando came home with a tiny little container of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream with a candle in it, as well as a card, and my gift. All three seasons of Three Sheets on DVD. I’m so psyched about my gift. It was exactly what I wanted.

So now I’m just focusing on closing out the week. Neda is supposed to stop by for a visit on Friday to check out our new house. On Saturday, I will sleep in, then do a little bit of shopping (I have some birthday coupons to use), and then prepare for dinner with the family at Buca di Beppo. Sunday morning, Fernando and I will be waking up super early to pack and leave for San Francisco. Our flight leaves LAX around 9am, so we need to get to Van Nuys flyaway early enough to park, catch the tram, and check-in for our flight.

I’m so stoked for my birthday trip. Kenia has helped me plan a weekend full of fun activities. I can’t wait!!

~LOVE~

Feeling Great

So, I suppose it's time for a proper update. I've been feeling really good lately. It might have something to do with the new routine I've fallen into now that my tutoring has taken a dip in hours. I have more time in the afternoon to focus on myself--eating right, working out, reading, not watching as much television, etc. Fernando is currently taking a summer course and he doesn't get home until after 10pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays. He's already in the third week of the course and it's only six weeks long, so it's not as bad as it sounds. Without Fernando at home, I am not tempted as much to just sit on the couch and veg out, drink beer, and mindlessly snack. With the arrival of my Wii Fit two weeks ago, I have a renewed interest in doing exercise and actually losing some of the weight I've put on since graduation from Cal Poly. I have a goal of thirty pounds and I've already lost five. I haven't exactly seen results in the areas I'd like (upper arms, inner thighs), but my waist has definitly shrunken. Also, without Fernando at home, I have no one to cook me dinner, so my dinners are simple, healthy things like turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread or salads with a little tuna in them.

With the drop in tutoring hours, I've also been reading a lot more. I finished The Time Traveler's Wife on Saturday after a marathon four and half hour reading session. Now, I'm already thirteen chapters into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Once done with that, I have A Thousand Splendid Suns waiting in the wings. And after that . . . I suppose a trip to the bookstore is in order (unless somebody out there wants to let me borrow a good book they've recently read).

I've been watching a lot less television because most of my regular TV shows are on summer hiatus. The Top Chef finale is tonight, and after that, I don't have anything to watch until the next season of Project Runway starts in July.

Another reason I've been feeling good lately is because I have an honest-to-goodness job interview this Friday! The company is here in Santa Clarita and it is a non-public company that provides behavioral therapy to children and adults with Autism and other developmental disabilities along the Autism spectrum. The position I am applying for is Behavioral Therapist Level 1. It's an entry level job and it usually is reserved for people with Bachelor's degree in Psychology or a related field, but the woman I spoke to on the phone said that having experience working with children can compensate for the fact that my degree is in English. If hired, the company provides extensive paid training and I would be working under direct supervision for my first year. After a year of working for the company, they can promote you to Level 2, after two years, you can become a supervisor. The opportunity for growth and possibility of adding "work with persons with deveolpmental disabilities" to my skills set is definitely intriguing. The work would be traveling to different home or school sites and working directly with students. Milage and time between jobs is paid, and the company has health, dental, life, 401(k), and partial TUITION REIMBURSEMENT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION. This is possibly the most important incentive they could offer me since I do plan on pursuing a Master's degree.

My interview is on Friday at 11am. I have to fake a doctor's appointment to get some time off work to attend. Please send some positive thoughts/prayers/vibes my way on Friday. I'm going to be very nervous for this interview--I haven't gone to a job interview for almost two years! If hired, this will have some interesting reverberations in my current work life. I'll obviously need to put in my two weeks' notice here at ATM, but I will also have to quit tutoring for Xamaze. Both of the clients that I have lined up for summer school tutoring this summer are very clingy to me as their tutor. When they talk to me about tutoring, they talk as if I'm going to be a part of their children's lives until they graduate high school. I've spoken to these families many times about my limitations as a tutor (for example, I don't tutor math past Geometry), but they still seem to have a hard time imagining having another tutor other than me. I know if I cancel with them for the summer that they will indeed survive, but I still can't help but feel a little guilty for "leaving" them. Hopefully they'll want to keep me in their back pocket as their "emergency" tutors on weekends and such. I can make a lot more money per hour getting paid directly by my tutoring clients under the table.

All in all, there is a lot of promise for good things coming in the next couple of months. I'm looking forward to this weekend--my cousin (on my dad's side), Michael, is turning 40 and his wife is throwing him a Las Vegas themed party that we will be attending. I bought a new dress and shoes and earrings for the event. It should be a lot of fun. Oh, I almost forgot to mention--my mom and dad are flying up to Portland today to visit my mom's friend, Connie for a few days. We'll be house sitting from tonight until Friday when my parent's get back.

~LOVE~