Just When You Think It's Safe!

Here I was, innocently reading my friend Emily's back posts on her blog (I've been bad about keeping up) when suddenly I was reading my name and discovering that I have been "tagged" and must now answer questions!! Just when you think it's safe to stalk a blog....

Name 5 things you were doing 10 years ago:
1. I was a Junior at City High School in good ol' IC.
2. I was driving a tan Pontiac 6000 with vinyl interior!!
3. I was working part-time at Mercer Park Pool!!
4. Singing in Show Choir.
5. Hanging with friends


Name 5 things you were doing 5 years ago:
1. Living on South Dodge.
2. Going to Iowa.
3. Dating Justin!
4. Hanging with the Davenport boys.
5. Managing the Iowa City Pools.


Name 5 things you were doing 1 year ago:
1. Teaching in Union City!!
2. Singing songs about Turkeys!!
3. Preparing to go HOME for Thanksgiving....sniff...
4. Helping Justin apply for PhD programs.
5. Enjoying being a newlywed!!

Name 5 jobs you've held:
1. Lifeguard/pool manager/lesson coordinator for IC Parks and Rec
2. Choral Director
3. Teacher
4. Nanny
5. Wife :)


Name 5 of your favorite snacks:
1. Diet Dr. Pepper!!
2. Grapes
3. Grapple's
4. Granola bars
5. Peanut butter filled pretzels!!


Name 5 things you did yesterday:
1. Worked at Softshare.
2. Read.
3. Worked with the Children's Choir.
4. Had a deep conversation with my husband about what happens when you cut brains in half and put them in other bodies.
5.Got promoted to FULL TIME at Softshare.

Name 5 things you'd do with a million dollars:
1. Pay off our school loans!
2. Help pay off our siblings/family's loans.
3. Give it away to those who need.
4. Buy lots of round-trip plane tickets for trips to Iowa and back!!
5. Buy the season's of Gilmore Girls that I don't have!!! :) (Justin suggested that one!)

Name 5 shows I like:
1. Gilmore Girls
2. Heroes
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Brothers and Sisters
5. Private Practice

Name my 5 biggest joys in life:
1.Worshiping an all-powerful, almighty God!
2. My husband
3. My family
4. My friends
5. Working with kids.

Welcome to the 60 hour week!!

That's what Steve (the other director of the Santa Barbara Children's Chorus) said when I told him that I was offered full-time at Softshare. My DAD said "Welcome to the REAL WORLD!" He's referring to the fact that I had three and a half months of vacation and when I DID go back to work I was only working about 33 hours a week. It won't be 60 now- more like 50- but definately a shock to the system. It's a GOOD thing though. More cash, insurance benefits, paid time off....insurance benefits....insurance benefits....

Today I realized just how badly I need health insurance when I tripped and fell TWICE during my run this afternoon. Yes, fell to the ground (that was Justin's clarification). Yes TWICE. I went for a run after work at Softshare downtown- between work and Spanish class*. The first fall went unnoticed but the second time a guy was running towards me when I hit the deck (I would have been embarrassed if I wasn't so busy being confounded as to how I managed to fall TWICE). One of those times it felt like I jammed my arms up into my shoulder sockets....I'm probably going to be sore tomorrow. When do those benefits kick in??!!

*Softshare has set up a once-a-week Spanish class for any interested employees to attend. Hay muchas personas que hablan espanol en California y yo quiero hablan con ellos y entonces yo fui a la clase de espanol este dia.

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Haven't blogged in awhile because not much blog-worthy has been happening.... that is until last Friday! I went over to my friend Joanne's after work. Joanne cut my hair and then we enjoyed some wine and cheese (Trader Joe's, one of the grcocery stores out here, has an organic, sulfite-free red wine that doesn't give me hives!!) We were relaxing and chatting when all of the sudden the apartment shook! We stopped and stared at each other for a good 5 seconds after it stopped shaking and then we both started screaming- "Omygoshanearthquake!!!" It was a bit on the dramatic side (surprised?!) and we screamed and carried on for a good minute. I then suggested that we go outside and see if anyone else was reacting to the earthquake. Alas, no one had quite the reaction that we did, so we proceeded to turn on the radio to confirm that we had experienced our first earthquake, and then we proceeded to call everyone we knew who we thought might be impressed by our earthquake experience.

It was, in fact, a 3.4 and the epicenter was located 3 miles southwest of Santa Barbara. An aftershock occured minutes after, but it was weaker and we didn't feel it (probably because we were busy jumping around, celebrating our first earthquake!)

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do??

My husband has been holding out on me. We just returned from a walk down on the beach and as we were entering our apartment we passed our neighbor from upstairs. I made a comment to my husband about said neighbor leaving his laundry in the laundry room for an unusually long period of time. My husband responded by asking me if I'd like to hear a "funny story" and of course, I said yes, and am now sharing it with YOU:

Justin was sitting on the couch in our living room with his back to the open window- blinds closed, window opened. He heard some noise outside and pulled the blinds back a bit to see three police officers heading up the stairs. They made there way to Apartment X (I'll leave the number out to protect the not-so-innocent) and knocked on his door. Our neighbor answered (after a little while) and the following conversation ensued:

Officer: Sir, there have been a number of complaints here in the neighborhood about you walking back and forth in front of your window NAKED.

Neighbor: Oh really? I guess I didn't realize there was a problem.

Officer: Yeah, there have been MULTIPLE complaints. If you're going to continue to do that, you're going to have to keep your blinds closed.

Neighbor: Oh, well I'm sorry. It won't happen again.

The officers then came back down the stairs chuckling and saw Justin watching the scene, also chuckling and said: "Did YOU call?" Luckily for Justin, the answer was no. Justin thinks maybe the reason it took the neighbor so long to answer the door when they knocked was that he had to get dressed first.