We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! It's been awhile since I have blogged last (well, today's and yesterday's don't count). We have been having trouble with our internet lately and I have had to concede the use of wireless on my laptop to allow everyone to use internet on the desktop. Not using my laptop has been alright, but the last few days (ok, so the last week) have been hard. It's so convenient having all of my favorites and bookmarks right there in front of me. When I get on this computer I forget to check things that I normally check (including my friend's blogs so I am sorry if I have been slacking on the comments... I have been trying to catch up on reading them here and there but I haven't gotten around to commenting yet). And now the power chord for my laptop is broken and my battery is dead so I have to run down to Fry's tomorrow to pick one up. Then I get to attempt to back up all of my music and photos on my new external hard drive.

Things have been alright as you can tell from my last two posts. I have been trying to stay busy during this Christmas break. What I didn't get to post about yet was the awesome Christmas Cookie Decorating Party (wow what a mouthful!) that I had with Stephanie last week. Ok, so it wasn't really a "party" because it was only me and Steph. Pretty much what happened was we went to lunch (she had just gotten back from a trip to New York and was getting ready for a trip to Africa - she left today) and went back to her house to chill and have some Peppermint Ice Cream. We were both so full from lunch, we opted out of Ice Cream. After about 20 mins of hanging out Stephanie blurted out that she wanted to make and decorate Christmas cookies... Well, the rest you can probably figure out from the pictures I took.

Well, it is Christmas day and I hope you all had a fabulous time with your families. Christmas was alright this year. We went to my uncle's house last night for Christmas dinner. I guess it's just that we are getting older, but Christmas isn't the same as it used to be. It was nice but there wasn't any joy or real happiness and it sort of bummed me out. Anyway, this year I was attempting to be less of a Scrooge and I think I did better than years past. In an attempt to spend less this Christmas I made a few of my Christmas gifts. There is always a little bit of risk in making presents for people and I definitely felt the brunt of that this morning. The first four people who opened gifts that I had made loved them (or at least were really good at pretending and that made me happy at least). The last person didn't like the fabric I chose and let me know it by saying that what I made would probably not get used. That broke me down! I can be a very emotional person at times (understatement of the century) and this morning I lost it, but I am doing better. After breakfast with the family we drove down to Carpinteria beach and took Toby for a walk along the beach. It was a beautiful day and Toby loved being able to run and play at the beach. You gotta love a California Christmas!

I hope you all had a beautiful day full of love and compassion! Please pray for my friend Stephanie as she is currently on a plane to London and tomorrow to Africa (she is going on this Adventure Safari thing and she is super nervous about it). Please pray that she will have a great time and come back safely this February (yes... her Safari is about 40 days long and she won't be back to Ojai until February... She'll be back here for two weeks and then head back to Australia for school). Again Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm Gettin Nuttin' For Christmas...

Sunday, Community had the wonderful pleasure of riding on a horse drawn carriage (well, the truck had horse power so we called it our horse...) through town, singing carols at Convalescent homes around town. I have gone caroling around town before, usually visiting the convalescent homes, but I had never had the opportunity to drive 5 mph through town and wave at people wishing them a Merry Christmas. The only other times I have ridden on a trailer at 5 mph was probably on the 4th of July Parade, but that is a whole different story. Anyway, it was such a blessing to go to the homes and show compassion for those who are sometimes forgotten around the holidays. The kids were great and brought giant smiles to everyone's faces. Check out the pictures and they might even bring a smile to your face!

PS: as far as the title goes, it seemed to be a popular song on the trailer so I thought it would be funny.

Como La Flor

Most of the time I find myself identifying with my "American" half but there are a few times in the year that I take great pride in being a Mexican. The other day was definately one of those times. In Mexican culture, traditionally families will make tamales to celebrate the Christmas season. I have great memories of helping my mom and my abuela and now I find myself looking forward to making them every year. The only problem with making tamales is it can be rather time consuming and, if you are not careful, sort of expensive. Many of my friends have expressed interest in making tamales the last few years and this year I was able to invite Amber and Katie over to join in the fun. The day started out early when my mom and I drove down to Oxnard to buy the masa and other supplies for tamales making. Once we got home, I turned on some of the only Latin music I have (man you gotta love Selena and Jaci Velasquez) and started getting things ready for my friends to arrive. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I guess I got caught up and forgot. In addition to making tamales, my mom and I were busy in the kitchen making nopales, frijoles, and cutting up jícama and pepinos to put in some jugo de límon con sal y chile... So tasty!!! I am very proud of my Mexican heritage and I hope to explore that side of me more in the future. For now I am happy with dancing around the kitchen to Como La Flor and attempting to do the "washing machine."

Where Is The Love?

My first weekend off for this Christmas vacation is over and I have to say it was a lovely weekend. Saturday morning my mother and I had ambitious plans of going on a super long hike. Unfortunately once 11 am rolled around and we were still sitting by the fire in our PJs, we figured we should rain-check that idea. Janae was playing in the JV tournament (my Dad coaches the JV girl's soccer team at Nordhoff; Janae is on Varsity, but my Dad borrowed a couple of players for the Buena tournament) this weekend and had a game in Ventura at 3:30. The game was really aggressive and Janae fought hard (she learned from the best... just kidding, she's a great player without any of my help). The girls had to win to put them through to another game at 6:30. By the end of the second half the game was tied 1-1 and was sent to PKs (penalty kicks not pastors kids...). I have been helping my dad train his goalkeeper so I went over before the kicks and gave her a little pep-talk. She rocked the PKs and long story short we ended up winning. It was already freezing by the time this game was over (seriously the days have been amazingly beautiful and the skies have been so clear, but as soon as that sun goes down... it must drop like 15 to 20 degrees). By the second game you could tell the girls were tired. They played Oak Park (they are actually in their league and will be playing them two more times this season so it was good they got a chance to meet up with them before the season) and lost 2-0. The game was SUPER physical and Janae and her friend ended up getting yellow cards out of it (even though the other team was dishing it out much worse... we were the only ones being called for it so it sort of sucked... but what can you do? External factors are bummers in games like this...).

Sunday was another amazing day because I got to go to Community!!! Darren brought two guys from River Haven to share how they are doing and what needs they have for this winter and coming spring. For those of you who don't know, River Haven is a self-governing community of homeless men and women here in Ventura County trying to better their situations. The group started over 3 years ago in the River bottom (hence River Haven) and has been in their semi-permanent location in Ventura. I wish I could tell you their whole story, but that would take about ten entries. Instead here are a couple of articles about this group (Ventura County Star and the VC Repoter) of amazing individuals. Please keep them in your prayers during this cold and wet winter season.

Sunday evening we invited Melvin (Sarah's friend from High School) over for dinner. Melvin is currently attending UCLA and just finished his first quarter. Melvin is an amazing young man who has been through so much! He told us about some of the things he is getting involved in at school; one of which is the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act will allow qualified undocumented, high school students who wish to attend college or serve in the armed forces, an opportunity to obtain a documented status necessary to pursue these goals. Melvin, who is in this same situation, is not given any financial aid and must find a way to pay for his college. After graduating, he could be the top of his class, will not be able to use his degree or apply for medical school here in the US. This is a problem in the US that I am growing more and more uneasy with. Please pray for Melvin as he attends school. Pray for him and others as they continue to work hard to bring about change.

As far as the title goes, my sisters and I made cookies yesterday and we were rockin out to some music. In case you haven't noticed, most of my more recent blog entries have been song titles. I am of the belief that our lives are a musical and have incredible soundtracks. I am glad I get to share mine with all of you!

Deck The Halls... or Something Like That

Tonight was my work's Christmas Party and I have to say I don't think I have laughed so hard since my life-guard training last year. The evening started out with an astounding dinner of prime rib, salmon, potatoes, salad, and some funny goat cheese-vegetable bread looking thing. I sat with my parents, Rosa and her husband (Rosa used to work at Meiner's Oaks with my mom; they are good friends and she just came on this year as the Elementary Spanish teacher), April (one of the girl dorm parents and a killer soccer player), Beatrice (the newest girl's dorm parent and a super cool person I might add), and Morgan (one of the boy's dorm parents and a really nice guy). I bounced between conversations (I was in the middle of the two groups so I would pop in on both sides here and there) during dinner and then made my way into the library for the evening's festivities.

As I said in my previous post, this last week I participated in Secret Santa game with all of the staff members. I was given some lovely gifts and some funny hints throughout the week, but by Thursday's hint I was able to guess. My Secret Santa had no clue who I was all week (well, until today at lunch when my mom gave it all away... One of my clues was "I have survived traveling through Europe with no money and no clothes" and he asked my mom "Has your daughter been to Europe... being the terrible lier that she is, she said "I don't know where my daughter has been".... thanks mom!) and it turns out he really liked the gifts and said I did a great job with the clues (I guess that freak-out last Sunday was a real waste...). The rest of the night was hilarious! It's one thing to see coworkers with the kids and everything but it is a completely different ballgame when all the kids are gone and there are buckets and buckets of alcohol...

Anyway, it would be too much to recount all of the hilariousness of the night (one lady in particular kept cracking jokes about Mexicans while my Mom, Rosa, another Hispanic lady, and myself were sitting right next to her... she was joking of course but they kept on coming and anyone who didn't know her well enough would have thought she was the biggest racist alive) but I don't think I have laughed so hard since my life-guard training last April (this same lady that was cracking the Mexican jokes did the life-guard training with me and I seriously almost drowned because I was laughing so hard from all of her jokes and sarcastic remarks). The party was fun (even though it got a little tense at some moments... we were playing this trivia game with questions about the school and they wanted super specific answers... if someone gave a different answer that was correct but not the one on the paper, their answer was counted as wrong and they lost a point... it was supposed to be a fun thing, but some people got way too competitive... I thought there were going to be some blows thrown... I haven't heard the *F* word so many times in a row since High School) but I am so glad to be on vacation!!!

You're a Mean One, Mr (Ms?) Grinch

Anyone who knows me well enough knows how I get around Christmas time. I love the compassion behind Christmas and the enormous amount of love that God showed us by sending His Son. However... and this might sound ridiculously redundant to Ryan's blog, I hate how Christmas has turned into this huge drive for consumerism. The past few years my parents have deemed me the "Scrooge" in our family, but this year I have been trying to focus more on Jesus and compassion for others. Well like any new adventure, I was bound to have my moments and Sunday night was no exception. This is the last week at school (the school I work at... and my school) for the kids before Christmas break and every year the staff participate in a Secret Santa game. This game can be fun under certain condition (ie: you know the person you pick); unfortunately I was not blessed with these conditions.

Now, my secret Santa is a great person and I have had a good time working with him the last few months, but I still don't know what to get him for Christmas gifts (we have to give a small gift every day of the week with little hints as to who we are and then one final big gift at the Christmas party this Friday). So Sunday night I had a bit of a melt-down (if you ask my mom she will tell you I was acting like a two year old but whatever...). I wish I could recount the melt-down but it might be to painful. Pretty much I hated the gifts that I bought (I thought they were really stupid gifts and that I would look like a jerk for being such a crappy gift giver) and I started complaining and saying how much I hate this game... it went on for about an hour.

I have no idea where this came from and I am super embarrassed that it happened, but here's my point (maybe... I hope it makes sense): I got caught up in the gifts and not being good enough for other people and completely forgot what Christmas is all about. It took me until Monday afternoon to finally be reminded (unfortunately by a singing Christmas card...) of what Christmas is really about. It was a Charlie Brown Christmas Card with the part where Linus says what Christmas is really about. It was one of those "Crap! How incredibly stupid was I yesterday. This game isn't that big of a deal and it's not what Christmas is really about" moments. It's sort of a bummer (well, it's actually sort of lame and stupid on my part, but very creative on God's part) that it took a card to get me back on track to celebrating what Christmas is really about. God sure does have a sense of humor...

PS: If you are a fan of Scrubs (Ryan) then you might enjoy this video of Charlie Brown Christmas.

Hallelujah

After a long morning of studying for my Anatomy final tonight, I took a short break to get the mail out of the mailbox. I was more than pleasantly surprised to finally find a check in my name from Austrian Airlines! I only have two things to say: Finally and Thank God!!! For reals though, God is so good and totally faithful and I am glad that this whole deal is finally over.

As far as everything else goes, I am doing alright. I think am catching a cold so I am loading up on Emergen-C and Zicam to try and knock it out before it gets too bad. This semester's classes are officially over but I still have some finals to finish up. I have my Anatomy lab final tonight, my Physics final Tuesday morning, and my Anatomy lecture final Wednesday morning. My two online class finals are both due next Thursday so I probably should start those this weekend. Speaking of this weekend, it is my last one at work before a 3 week (4 weekend) break!!! Hallelujah!!

As far as next semester goes, I registered for my classes yesterday. Unfortunately I have class Monday-Friday morning. My calculus class is 5 units and every day of the week. My other classes will be on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8am to noon. A bummer of a schedule, but I am super excited about some of the classes I am taking and even more excited to be able to get into some math again (I am a nerd... I know).

Anyway, wish me luck on my finals. Right now I am off to the bank...

I'm Beginning to See the Light

I never thought it would come, but it has... this semester is almost over! This semester has really been a tough one for me. It hasn't been hard or overwhelming like other semesters I have had and probably will have. It's really been bothersome and somewhat irksome. I took a super light load (only 12 units; I started out with 18 but I dropped the classes that I really didn't need) of classes that were super interesting, but all stuff that I have taken before. It is so hard to get excited about a class that 1) you have learned all the material before and 2) the professor doesn't care if you are there or not. But all this complaining and apathetic behavior (how's that for Jr High reading level...) must come to an end as of Wednesday (well a week from tomorrow Wednesday). This will mark my last final exam of this ghastly semester (ok I'm done with the big words... they aren't even big words... and they don't make me look smart... they just make me look like a idiot).

I also have only one more weekend at work before a three week (four weekends for me) break! Last weekend we went ice skating and I was pretty hesitant to get out on the ice. It's been years since I broke my arms (oh, for those of you who didn't know, when I was younger, I broke both my arms and they are still pretty weak - I didn't break them at the same time, even though I heard a really funny question the other day about picking your nose and breaking both of your arms... it was so funny! Anyway I broke my left arm when I was 8 roller skating at church, and my right arm when I was 10 roller blading at Skating Plus) but I still get super nervous about skating. But I overcame my fears and strapped on some giant hockey skates (I never realized how big my feet are) and skated around to non-stop Christmas music. It was fun, but I am looking forward to a nice long vacation from work and, come next week, from school!

Hello, McFly!?

Ok, so Ryan did this on his blog and I was a little scared to try it with my blog, but here you are. Here is my blog readability level:

I think this might be a bad thing, but I will be the first to admit my vocabulary skills are somewhat non-existant these days. At least you don't have to think too much when you read my blog (again, that might be a bad thing, so I guess I will try and up the reading level to maybe High School level). Try it out on your blog and see what happens (PS, I plugged in some of your blogs and I must say I roll with some pretty smart people... why you are friends with me I have no idea...)