Now's As Good a Time As Any . . .

I'm a terrible blogger. Sorry. Grad school will do that to you.

At least that means I've been attentive to my school work. I should get all 'A's this semester--if I can find it in myself to finally bear down and finish my last two assignments for the semester. I have a take-home final and a 10-page paper about the application of counseling theories due in my Counseling Theory class on Thursday. I've begun working on the take-home final (about 1/3 done), but I've been having a hard time focusing lately. It's the holiday hustle and bustle, and my new job.

That's right, I got a job as a part-time nanny. 3 days a week, I watch a 2-year-old little girl named Chelsea. It's a lot of work, but I'm enjoying it. I'm also still tutoring privately. Oh, and I signed up for three classes next semester. I'm crazy.

After this coming Thursday, I will have over a month off from school. My first class of Spring semester isn't until January 21st. My brother and his wife will be driving out from Lubbock this year to visit. Ian and Shelley have asked to stay at our house, and we're really looking forward to hosting them. The other big news is that next week after his finals, Fernando will officially be done with school. Again, he won't be walking until May because CSUN doesn't have a Winter graduation ceremony, but he will officially be "graduated." We are celebrating by going to the George Lopez show this Friday. I'm thrilled!

Okay, so for my next post--it will be a bunch of pictures of the events that have elapsed since I last posted. Stay tuned!

~LOVE~

See How Much I Love You

I have a feeling that once my family members read this I'm going to get a mouthful, but I don't care. Mine and Fernando's 3-year anniversary is coming up soon, and we've decided what we're going to do to celebrate: We're getting matching tattoos. To commemorate how we met (he was looking for someone to accompany him to an Aquabats concert), we're getting the "Aquabomber" tattood on us.

Fernando is planning on getting this little guy tattoo'd exactly as he appears here on the inside of his left bicep. I'm getting mine on my left shoulderblade area (so yes, I can cover it easily so as to remain professional looking). I might make a small alteration to the design--I'm thinking of adding a little heart-on-fire at the top of the Aquabomber's stick. I was originally going to add a lyric from an Aquabat's song ("I knew that day, our love would never end"), but that will probably make the tattoo cost a lot more. The design is completely in black and whtie, which is in keeping with mine and Fernando's current trend (this will be my 3rd tattoo, his 4th).

I'm excited--it's been over 5 years since I last got a tattoo and I can't recall what it feels like anymore.

~LOVE~

School Nights

School has finally begun full swing. Fernando started classes almost a month ago, so he is out of the house Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights attending classes. This is his last semester. He is technically also doing an internship this semester, but his "intership" is "gaining management experience" at his current day job at Pacific Sales. This isn't requiring that much more work than Fernando was already doing--he was already on tract for management training. After his finals in Decemeber, Fernando will be an official college graduate--long time coming but worth the wait! CSUN doesn't have a ceremony for winter graduates, so Fernando won't be walking in his cap and gown until May 2010, but he will be walking. Hopefully we can throw a little party for him then. When I met Fernando over seven years ago, he wasn't serious about school. He'd been out of high school for three years and he only have a few COC credits to his name. I'm proud of all his hard work. I don't know if he went back to school just for me, but I know he now knows the importance of his education and appreciates all his hard work over the past five years to get his bachelor's degree.

I have finally attended at least one session of each of my three classes. My classes were slow to start because the first day of classes was the Thursday before Labor Day, and my Tuesday class only meets every other Tuesday. My current schedule seems very manageable-the only downer is the long commute to and from classes three nights a week.

Above: A picture of me being a dork and showing off my "back to school" look.

My Monday night class meets from 4:00-6:50pm on the main campus in Thousand Oaks. The name of the class is Programs and Functions in College Student Personnel. This class seems like it will be my most "fun" as it is most directly related to my specialization. Some of the assignments include attending a few student life events at a few different college campuses and reporting on them, interviewing student affairs professionals at a few campuses and reporting on them, and developing a new student affairs program in groups and doing a final paper/presentation to the class.

My Tuesday night class, which meets only 2 Tuesdays a month, meets from 7:00-9:50pm on the main campus. This class is called Tools for Research, Practice, and Professional Development. As far as I can tell, this class is going to mostly be a joke. The instructor is a recent graduate from the same program as me (although he is PPS, not CSP--which means he specializes in jr. high/high school students). The job of the class is to teach us APA style, how to search databases, how to use Excel, and how to use PowerPoint. Our projects are a short paper that synthesizes the findings of 2 or 3 peer reviewed articles, written in APA style, and then a PowerPoint presentation done in groups. The only new thing I'm learning is APA style, but the teacher is teaching us APA style by making us watch a 20 minute internet video about it. Also, this teacher told the class that magazine articles from "respected and trusted magazines like Time" count as peer-reviewed journal articles. Again. What . . . a joke. Well, at least it's an easy 'A'.

Finally, my Thursday class is called Counseling Theory and Practice and meets 7:00-9:50pm on the Woodland Hills Graduate Center. The building is really cute--a grouping of classrooms centered around a "lounge," which is a room with two tables, a microwave, a coffee maker, and a soda machine. I can bring my dinner with me and heat and eat there! Anyway--this will probably be my hardest class. It's mostly theory with a little practice thrown in. My instructor is a little cooky, but I've found that most psych instructors are. Our main assignments include a review of a journal article about a multi-cultural counseling issue, a short paper where we apply 14 different counseling theories to the same population of students, and finally, a large 8 page research paper about one of the theories from class, which also requires us to do a 15 minuite long PowerPoint presentation to the class about the theory and a demonstration of one the counseling techniques from that theory. I've been assigned "Feminist Theory." There is also going to be a take-home final which we'll have to write short written responses to a few prompts.

So that about wraps up what school is all about for the Vasquez clan. Other than school, life is going well for us. I'm tutoring like a mad woman and am actually in the middle of attempting to get a part-time nanny position. I've already had a successful phone-interview with the mother, and she wants to set up a time for me to meet her, her husband, and their daughter in person. The daughter is almost 2 years old, so if hired, I will probably be going through potty-training with her (fun!). I'd have to wake up super early and be in Castaic by 6:30AM three days a week. But, the benefits of a nanny position are it'll be fun, educational (at least for me), and I can use naptimes as study time. Also, more income that is tax free. Fernando is excited for fall because his beloved football has returned to TV, and Fernando spends several hours a week monitering his fantasy football league teams. That's right, I said teams, with an "s."

I took some pictures of the main Cal Lutheran campus the last tmie I was there, so maybe I'll share those with you soon. Until then . . .

~LOVE~

Changes

I've made some changes to the blog so that it is more of a "family blog," rather than just my blog. With all the big changes coming in mine and Fernando's life together, I want our blog to reflect them. Stay tuned for more stories and pictures from "La Vida de Los Vasquez."

~LOVE~

What I've Done (So Far) On My Summer Vacation

My life has been pretty eventful for the last month. Since I last posted, I've:

Put my two week notice in at work

Attended two No Doubt concerts--one with Mona, the other with Elena

Registered for classes at Cal Lutheran

Trained my ex-boss' husband how to do my job

Hosted my friend Danny (from SF) and his friend, Ester (from Spain) at my house while they visited LA

Had my last day at work, where I left in a blaze of glory (Company lunch of El Pollo Loco and lots of well wishes)

Traveled to San Diego with my husband to celebrate his 28th birthday--hit up Phil's BBQ, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and Stone Brewery

House-sat for my parents while they camped in Sequoia

Drove all the way to Glendale to get a haircut with Tanya

Spent a day with Alma and Gus at the pool--then Fernando joined us for a BBQ and a couple rounds of Loteria and Dominoes

Went out for a drink with Neda for her birthday

And here is some proof of my adventures:

We took Danny and Ester to a wine bar because Ester really wanted to try California wine

I had wine (of course), but Fernando had beer (of course)

Fernando and I at Phil's BBQ in San Diego for his birthday dinner

After dinner, we went for drinks with our host for the evening, Evy

My new haircut

Well, that's about all I can update you on for now. I promise to write again soon, hopefully after my first week of classes at Cal Lutheran. My first day is September 3rd!

~LOVE~

"Congratulations! . . ."

I got my official letter of acceptance from Cal Lutheran today! My new life as a grad school student will begin soon. I already broke the news to my boss that my last day of work will be August 14th. She was shocked and disappointed that I'm leaving, but happy for me. I'm going to be leaving this job on good terms with the company, which is good for future job searches.

I'm already getting anxious about the cost of private school. Oh, man! I'm gonna be in so much debt two years from now!

~LOVE~

Waiting

Just so you all know--my interview at CLU went well last Monday. Thank you for the prayers and positive vibes. I was super nervous for the first couple of minutes of the interview and I could tell I was talking a little too fast, but I eased into the interview and was a lot more "sure" of myself and spoke coherently for the remainder. I answered the questions honestly, and my advisor seemed interested in my background with multi-cultural issues, Ethnic Studies, Upward Bound, and English. She said my GPA was great and that all my letters of recommendation were good, so she said it would be hard for her to imagine me not getting into the program. The final decision is made by a committee and I have been told I would be notified within two weeks. I don't know if the notification comes via e-mail or snail-mail, so I've been jumping each time my Blackberry buzzes and anticipating an envelope from Cal Lutheran in my mailbox each afternoon. So far, nothing. But no news is good news at this point.

At the end of the interview, my advisor essentially told me what classes I'll be registering for in the Fall (with days and times of class meetings), which I take as a sign that I'm already in. Now I'm just waiting for notification to make it official. Once I am officially notified, I'll be putting in my notice at work. I want my last day to be August 14th (the day before Fernando and I leave for San Diego for his 28th birthday trip). Classes start September 2nd!

I'm getting pretty antsy as it has almost been two weeks already. I filled out my FAFSA already to keep myself busy in the meantime. Now, I'm just waiting . . .

~LOVE~

CLU Admissions Interview

Please send all your spare positive energy to me on Monday, July 13th at 4:30pm PST. A solid half-hour of good vibes should be sufficient. Thanks in advance!

~LOVE~

Cal Lutheran

I just got a call today from Cal Lutheran. I didn't hear it ring, but they left me a voicemail message. They want me to call back to arrange my admissions interview. One step closer to grad school. As soon as I know when the interview will be, I'll let you know. I'll need tons of prayers, wishes, and other forms of positive energy behind me that day.

~LOVE~

Scratch

Things that I am sick of:

The economy.

Bug bites.

Back pain.

Everyday at my work is an emergency. We're "running lean." This basically means there are too few people doing the work here, not enough product on our shelves to satisfy orders, not enough money in the bank to pay our vendors, not enough customers paying us money for the product we busted our asses to send out to them . . . and the cycle continues. Oh, and our bookkeeper (the smelly one I didn't care for too much) quit, leaving behind quite a mess (literally and figuratively). Also, my cousin just got laid off from his job and that sucks.

Everytime I go out in my backyard, I get bit by bugs. EVERYTIME. It's getting old.

I pulled a muslce in my back a couple weeks ago. The doctors gave me pain killers, but they don't do anything for me. I'm trying to wait it out, but if the pain doesn't go away soon, I have to go to physical therapy.

My brother-in-law, Gilbert, passed away on Memorial Day from a sudden stroke. Fernando and I went up to the funeral on Friday to pay our respects. My sister is now a widow. It breaks my heart. We will miss Gilbert a lot. Not much else to say about that.

The only good news I have to report is that Fernando go a promotion and a raise last week. He also is not taking any classes this summer, so hopefully I'll get to see him in the evenings more often. I'll still be tutoring during the summer, but the hours will be descreasing somewhat.

I hope you are doing well.

~LOVE~