In Good Company

I just realized that I have not updated my blog since I was sick. Well, I am all better (well, almost... I feel a lot better than I did last week) and things are going strong. This was my first full week of school and I am excited to be back into the swing of good classes. The week started out great with classes in the morning and Home group at night. I am really excited to be going to home group again. It's so amazing to just sit and share a meal with good friends! It helps to just be able to relax and laugh with great people! Tuesday I actually had some company on my way to my math class. My cousin lives in Hawaii with her boyfriend and they were out here visiting friends for a couple of months. Long story short, my cousin is already back in Hawaii and her boyfriend Chris was leaving their car at our house and needed a ride down to the Metro Station in Northridge. It was nice to have someone sitting in the car to chat with, despite it being somewhat awkward (I really have only met Chris once before for about 30 mins so it was interesting trying to find things to talk about. He is a photographer and takes photos of rock-climbing, kayaking, sky-diving, cliff-jumping... in Hawaii. Check out his website). The rest of the week has been great. I have been blown away by the amazing green around us and the snow on the mountains really make me happy! Work this weekend shouldn't be too bad as most of the kids are up at Mammoth Snowboarding for the weekend. I will try and post again soon (maybe with some pictures of the amazing scenery we seem to be having these days). Please pray for me as I am getting ready to fly out to Kandern to visit Delice and the rest of the crew out there (I leave a week from Monday and I am SO EXCITED!!!).

Sick of School, Already?

No I am not sick of school already, but I do find it ironic that my first two days back at school left me in bed for hours on end. I think it was a sort of 24-hour flu thing because I am beginning to feel better today, but yesterday was not the best day to start back at school. The classes were awesome and I am so excited for this semester! My first class of the day was American Government. I wasn't really excited about this class seeing how I had to take it in High School, but the professor was really enthusiastic and funny so this 8 am class shouldn't be that bad. My second class was Calculus 2. I am so excited to get back into math and I can' t wait to see how it goes. My third class was Marriage and Family Relations. The professor was really nice but very honest with us. The class will be hard, but I think it will be worth the work. The fourth class of the day was an Ethics class. It didn't really seem as exciting as I thought it would be, but that could have been because by that time I was ready to pass out from feeling so sick. I barely made it home after school and dumped myself into bed. Migraines suck, Throwing up sucks, and I hate being sick. I seriously haven't been this sick in a long, long time. I tend to avoid getting sick because I am such a baby when I am sick. Thank God I am feeling a little better today and I pray that I can make it to school tomorrow. Great way to start out a new Semester, Eh?

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun... In Knitted Bikinis?

This weekend was our Youth Group's annual trip up to Sierra Summit. It's a two day trip filled with snowboarding, fellowship, and a barrel of laughs! The kids all meet up at the church Saturday night (really late... usually around 10:30pm) and spend the night there. Then they wake up at 3:30am to be on the road by 4am Sunday morning. It's about a 5-6 hour drive up to Sierra Summit. The kids get there around 10 and snowboard all day Sunday. Then they spend the night in the lodge and snowboard all Monday and drive back home Monday night. I have gone the last couple of years but, because of work, I wasn't able to go up with them. Long story short (pretty much we don't remember who's idea it was... no one wanted to take the blame for it), Me, Amber, Cory and Kate all decided it would be super fun to barge up to the mountain to snowboard for the day.

Our day began bright (well... it was actually really dark) and early at around 3:30 (well... Kate got up the earliest I think... my alarm didn't go off so I got up at about 3:47 and got to Amber's house at about 3:55). We left Amber's house slightly after 4am and were all ready for a long but fun drive. Amber took the first leg of the trip and while the other two sat in the back sleeping, Amber and I chatted about school, work, family, friends, and my upcoming trip to Germany (yeah! 3 more weeks). We stopped for gas and food (and bathroom... four girls in a car for 2 and a half hours with no bathroom... yeah) about 2 and a half hours in and then Amber and I switched off driving. We finally made it up the mountain around 9 am. We got out to the lifts and the deck around 9:30 where we met up with Ryan, Alexa, and Freddy. I opted out of snowboarding this time around (I have tried it once and really sucked at it! I would be willing to try it again, but I think I need a couple of days to try it out... not just one barge...) so I held down the home-base on the deck and hung out with kids when they came down to rest.

The day went really well and Praise God there were no major injuries (4 years of doing this and God has kept us all intact!). The weather was starting to turn a little (clouds were sort of rolling in and it snowed on and off all day; the smartest comment of the day was probably "Hey, snowflakes really look like snowflakes!" Leave it to High School girls...), but it was really a beautiful day to be up at the snow! In the afternoon we had a stunt competition for a sweat Truth Soul Armor backpack that Cory donated to the church. The stunts made for some really Sick photos and you should definitely check them out! Amber and Alexa tried the box for the first time and totally rocked it! I should have taken more videos of the stunts, but I was able to catch one particular stunt that will leave us laughing for the next few months.

Freddy was trying to clear the barrel and well... it didn't exactly go as he had hoped...

The drive back was probably the most hilarious 5 hours I have spent in a long time! We were all so delirious from being up since 4 am that anything and everything was worth a painful belly laugh (probably the only example that I can share would be Cory's great grandmother knitted a bikini for her sister... We called Cory's sister to see if we could stop by on our way back and see this Knitted concoction, but she didn't know where it was... We seriously did not stop laughing!). Anyway, the day was an absolute blast and despite being way wiped out and starting school today (I will probably write about that tomorrow after I start the bulk of my classes. I only had Math today and that was so much fun! Maybe it's still lack of sleep or me starting to get sick, but I got so excited after my Calculus class that I was scared of myself... Math is so cool... and I am such a Nerd...), I have to say it was absolutely worth it! Thank you Amber for letting us drive your car up there and for listening to me always! Thank you Kate for coming along! I have really enjoyed getting to know you through all of our little trips together and you really make things special (Mendota? "It's cause Men-Dota go there" HAHAHA Classic!)! Thank you Cory for being you! Thank you for your stories about Knitted bikinis and for your openness and your brutal and sometimes disgusting honesty ("Hey Michaela you're doing great! Now don't kill us!", "I make no promises Cory!" SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!) Thanks for a great road trip girls! This one is definitely gonna be in my memories for years to come and I look forward to more in our future!

To France and Back... In One Night?

Last week marked the beginning of a new year of Home-group! After about a year's break, we all decided it was time to begin our weekly fellowship at the Smith's house. This year we are doing potluck style dinners with a theme. The first night was Italian (Amber had already made spaghetti and Tim brought garlic bread so we figured it was Italian night). We also played the 90's game which was probably THE hardest game we have ever played. I pretty just sat there the whole game... Well, until the Spongebob question came up and then I was on it! The girls ended up winning which was a nice change of pace from last year (the boys always won last year... But it will be different this time around).

Last night our theme was French foods. Each of us were assigned a different part of the meal (drinks, appetizer... and so on). Potlucks are always so funny because you never know what everyone is going to bring. For the appetizer, Cory brought hummus and pita bread (yes, it actually sounds a bit Mediterranean to me, but whatever... it was tasty). Tim made Lamb which was delicious! I finished up the evening with some homemade crepes for dessert. I think the highlight of the evening was Darren's contribution to the meal: French Toast, French Fries, and Escargot. None of which are actually French (well the escargot maybe, but it was still funny) but they were tasty! After two very confusing rounds of Cranium (we could not remember the rules and after reading them about 10 times, I still think we played it wrong), the boys took the victory for the night (I think we just had too many girls to keep the whole group focused but whatever...).

As random as this entry might seem, I really do enjoy Home-group. It's such a nice start to the week and with not being able to go to church, it's great to just sit and laugh with my friends on a regular basis. So I guess this is more of a thank you to everyone who makes home-group as fun and entertaining as it is! Thanks guys!

For now I am still on vacation. I actually start school a week from today so I am trying to relax as much as I can before diving into another crazy semester. Work started up again this last weekend so it will be nice to get a paycheck again. For now I am just trying to get back into the swing of things (including blogging on a more regular basis).

Mich's Movie Review

What do you do when it's raining, you are on vacation, and you are bored out of your mind? You go to the movies. It actually doesn't take all of those to make me go to the movies. It usually just takes someone to go with me. In the last couple of weeks I have gone to see two movies and I thought I would tell you what you think about them.

The first of the two was the incredible story of Sweeney Todd; The Demon Barber of Flint Street. Based off the fictional mid-19th century, Serial Killer, Barber, this Steven Sondheim musical was incredibly well done! This film had a very "old horror film" feel to it (ie; lots of very fake blood and throat slashing... LOTS OF IT!!!) making it a little uncomfortable to those with weak stomachs (at least 6 people walked out of the theater when I was there so know what you are going to see before you jump at this Johnny Depp classic). If the throat slashing doesn't get to you, the darkness that motivates Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) to "Never Forget. Never Forgive" (the tagline for the film) will turn your stomach for sure. Sondheim is a genius and Tim Burton's mind is so twisted that this film is definately a must see for musical lovers and horror film addicts alike.

The second movie that I was blessed to see was Atonement. Based solely off of hearsay, I decided this was a movie to see! After the first few minutes of the film, I was almost afraid I was in the wrong theater. This film was nothing what I expected as far as plot and story line, but at the same time, surpassed my expectations. This wasn't really a film but honestly a piece of art! The cinematography of it and the storyline of the whole thing made me feel like I was watching this beautiful masterpiece unfold before me. I wish I could begin to tell you the story of this film, but it is so intricate that the tiniest hint would ruin the entire affect of the film. You HAVE to see this movie! Know ahead of time that this is not your normal blockbuster hit. This is a raw, genuine piece of art that needs your patience and attention. Take a chance and go for it!

Now I have two more weeks before school starts so if anyone wants to go see a movie (I really want to see Juno and possibly a couple others) let me know. Looking ahead I am back to work this coming weekend. My next break is in February and I just bought a ticket to head out to Germany for a week! I am so excited to get out of town (OK the country, whatever)! But that's all for now! Have a great week my friends!

Rain, Rain, Go Away... Or not!

I happen to love the rain and even though I feel as if I might drown in the crazy flooding on the roads, I love sitting on the couch curled up in a blanket! Everything went great this morning with my mom and the doctors were really positive about the whole thing. Thanks for your prayers. Picking up Chris from the airport was an interesting experience. I have never picked anyone up from the airport (even though I have been dropped off and picked up from the airport several times) so that was a little confusing. Plus it didn't help that Chris' flight came in 45 mins early. I almost didn't recognize her, but we both made it home safe and sound. Back to Ratatouille!

Say a Little Prayer

Just a quick request for whomever happens to be reading blogs this morning. Please pray for my mom today. It has been about six months since her last colonoscopy when they found the cancer and she is having another one this morning to see how she is doing. Please pray for her. For now I am off to LAX to pick up Chris. I will write more later tonight when I get back! Thanks for you thoughts and prayers!

Happy New Year

I know it's sort of a day late but Happy New Year everyone! I have been trying to figure out how I wanted to approach this post for the last two days, but I figured it was time to power it out. New Years is always a really funny time I think. People get so excited to start another year with resolutions and parties and all that. I am usually content with hanging out at home and going to bed early. This year I went to Amber and Ryan's house for a small get together and had a really good time (despite being the only one under 21... whatever... 9 more months!). As far as New Years resolutions go, I don't really like them. They never really work out the way you want them to (or at least for me because a year is a long time to commit to something) and then I am way disappointed in myself when they don't work out so I usually don't make them. I did go for a new look this New Year. It actually wasn't on purpose this time. Chad re-took his Cosmetology Boards (he passed this time! YAY!) last week and I was his model. For the haircut portion of the test, he rushed and wasn't really thinking and gave me THE crappiest hair cut I have had in a long, LONG time! Thankfully he fixed it on Sunday (it's REALLY SHORT!!!). I like the cut and the new color... it's just REALLY short!!! Thankfully it's just hair and it will grow back faster than I probably would like. As far as the picture goes, my mom and I went for a bike ride up to Solamar the other day and it kicked my butt! But it did make for some sweet pictures!