Graduation Day

Had a great experience cheering on my little brother at his college graduation over the weekend. Its such a memorable time in a person's life. Exciting and scary all at once. The speaker at my brother's commencement said something profound. He said that in his many years teaching and mentoring, he's known too many new college grads who have passed up jobs that they didn't think were "good enough" or that they were "too qualified for" and as a result, they missed out on career growth.
When I graduated it was the dead of winter (and we had to walk up hill both ways, lol) but I was so anxious to start my new life. Although I didn't have a job yet I was ready to go and find one. After a month of searching and about 50 resumes I got a job and it WAS NOT what I expected. But God taught me how to be grateful for that job and to work hard at it. Some parts of it I did enjoy too. I got dressed up each day in fancy clothes and I had somewhere to go. Not to mention a paycheck too. I then got a second job that the wise professor above would say I was "overqualified for". Again, God taught me to work hard and take what I could from that job.
From that job, I got to spend time with someone that filled the grandfather void I had since I lost my grandpa at age 4. Job number 3: AWESOME. I am challenged, I get to wear fancy clothes I get a paycheck. Took a long time to get here but looking back, I am sure I wouldn't like it as much as I do had I gotten this job right after college.
I guess what I learned from all this is that my life, as I expect it, will not go the way I expect it to. And based on this experience I can live with that.

Colbert Report

Funny Thing, Colbert report was commenting how no one uses their English Essay writing after college. I sure told them. "Write" is in my job title. I write essays for a living! hehe!

Living in the Valley

So, although I am not technically a "valley girl" by "Clueless" standards I live in a valley. And no, despite the name, it is not made of silicon. It is made of dirt which is good for trees and flowers of spring. However with each pretty flower I pass on the side of the walk or in my backyard comes POLLEN. My arch enemy. And POLLEN is winning the battle. Although I have a inhaler, a nose spray and old reliable--Claritin D, I am now taking Benedryl before I sleep so then my nose doesn't run into my pillowcase. So today, my mouth is so dry I can hardly speak! Which, if you're married to me may be a good thing for a short while. ha. (That one's for you hun). Hopefully spring will be over soon and summer will come. Looking forward to the beach and no more Benedryl.

Google Street View Car

Sometimes I just take a look at my life in CA and laugh because the things that we see here are truly unique. We crossed paths with the Street View Car on our way to San Francisco on Friday afternoon. We followed it for like 10 minutes in hopes that we'd be on Street View! One of us---no names, mooned it!

Praising in the Storm

Have you ever heard of praising God through the storm? I always thought that was kinda of weird since God could easily make the storm go away. Well today, I figured out what it meant to praise through the storm.

As you know we are closing this loan for our first home purchase next week and today we were blindsided with last minute, unexpected, loan contingencies that required we stop our lives to send the Lender all the documents they wanted. Now, that'd be just fine if we had any assurance that our hard work would actually result in meeting our closing date, but it didn't.

Frustrated as I was, it dawned on me that this obstacle was to strengthen me as a woman of character, gentleness, and perseverance. And it dawned on me that at no time in this process was God not on my side. So I just started praising him by listening to worship music at my desk because I KNOW that we need to fight to make this thing happen and luckily, we're not fighting it alone. That in itself is why I can praise. And to top it off he's favored me with my JOB--if you didn't know...I close loans for a living.

Its the end of the day and I'm no longer frustrated, no longer angry---I'm empowered.

Here's a good song in case this happens to you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHdcyue0bSw

The boxes are everywhere

This sight you see here is of my living room. We are surrounded by the boxes that hold our life's accumulation of stuff.

In preparation for the big move my husband has so smartly begun packing. Although I too should help with this, I am having a hard time. For me, the sorting and the throwing away of so many items has been difficult. During the packing process I encounter physical markers from the days when that t-shirt from the 9th grade or that country/rap/mixed CD take me back to school day memories. And then I laugh, tell my husband the story related to that particular item which reminded me of the days when my friends and I tried to fit 5 people into my 4 seater Integra on the way to the mall or when we decided to take a road trip to Nashville, TN just because. Sometimes too, I find myself sniffling back a tear from the memories of my dad or long lost friends. But I guess that's the purpose of keeping things--so then you can take them along with you as you move.

City living

I love working downtown because on occasion there's a protest or rally of some sort. And really,  isn't it an honor to see your fellow citizens giving a darn about something? In many countries people aren't even allowed to disagree with the powers that be so I say since we (Americans) can do it, we should!

Today we have the tea party protest. My husband said they're protesting taxes all over the country so I want give a shout out to those  San Jose residents that are actually using this Constitutional right that the rest of us are too lazy or complacent to use.

Location : Downtown, San Jose, CA 95136,




Normal citizen or revolutionary?

Location : San Jose, CA 95138,

the train is late

I really don't understand how a train could be 15 mins late. I mean where did my train go? And why doesn't anyone ever apologize? If I'm ever late for the train you can bet that the operator will not wait for me despite my frantic arm waving and running. So really, why am I waiting 15 mins past scheduled arrival time for it? I really don't like waiting. Maybe that's why I am late 50% of the time. Ha! Got me.

APPLIANCES

Believe it or not, it is quite the task to pick out appliances. French door, bottom freezer, front load washers, warranties. So many options, so little time. PLUS this stuff is not cheap!
When we were planning our wedding we decided to make executive decisions and choose items quickly versus pondering over options for days only to choose the same thing we saw on day one. So we went for simplicity. Fridge: Black. Washer and Dryer: working. Two down two more to go---lawnmower and shed. Any thoughts?

White Picket Fence

We had been preparing to buy for the past year --we've prayed, watched our finances and voila! It happened. Ok so it doesn't have the coveted white picket fence but it sure is pretty!


We've been walking the neighborhood and we met one of the neighbors. She seemed pleased that we (a nice young couple) had bought the house. Oh, little does she know.



Here's the front room. We're trying to convince the sellers to leave this furniture because it's nice and I'm kinda lazy. It's not looking promising so I guess we'll be off to FURNITURE (the place on the east side that you should really only go to during the day) to try to replicate the look.

Seriously, the nicest room in the house. I went home and watched "Julie and Julia" and imagined myself cooking like the pros in this place. I don't have an apron but I can wear workout clothes instead.

There are orange, grapefruit, lemon, peach, avocado, and date trees in our backyard. Maybe I can bake something with all this fruit.

Finally

Finally I am going to blog. Not sure about what, but I figure I will "learn as I go." Ha. Last time I tried a blog I was too lazy to write more than twice so this time I will commit to writing at least three posts!