First Stop: Aruba

Vacation: finally here. This year we are taking a series of small trips again, including a couple of long weekends. The first leg of our vacation took us to Aruba. We arrived on Thursday and left Monday afternoon. I can't even believe how amazing our weekend was!! To begin, the more we travel the more we realize how the local people can really make it or break it for us. Going to Bermuda last year, we had a real distaste in our mouth after several experiences where people seem to see you as an inconvenience or worse. (when in reality they wouldn't have the economy they do without tourists) Even just a friendly "So how are you doing today?" in the bus would seem like you were bothering them. Forget about asking for directions or advice. So coming to Aruba was so refreshing, a total 180.
Stepping out of the airport, we are immediately hit by two things: the humidity and the beauty of the ocean. Those two things never changed over the course of our time there. The beaches (especially Eagle Beach which was right across the street from our hotel) were amazing, the best in the world in my humble opinion. We would wake up every morning and go for a nice long walk, jog and then swim to cool off.

Pictures don't even do it justice, and I know that phrase is over-used oftentimes, but in this case it's truer than ever.


The heavy Dutch influence was pretty apparent in a lot of their architecture.

The lizards were all over the place! Most likely their national animal. They varied in all kinds of sizes and colors.

This green kind was the most common one. We saw several run over on the road. =(


Ok, so don't think less of us now that you read this, but we just had to try the Ostrich egg omelet. This is Teddy with his egg ready to dive in:

This is Teddy a few bites in:

Ok and for the record, I only had two bites!! It wasn't that gross, but it wasn't great either. Once in a lifetime experience, really, no need to try it twice.
This old fort was pretty neat, right behind it (you can kinda see a car in the foreground) I locked the keys to our rental car inside. Ugh.
Even though everything is shut down on Sundays, our rental company sent a guy out to unlock it for us with their spare. And didn't charge a dime! Time and time again we were impressed with the kindness and yes, even generosity of the people there.
While there we happened to have a conversation with a local about the whole Natalee Holloway deal. It's really sad how one or two people can really ruin a country's reputation, it seems the locals have paid dearly for the actions of a couple crazy people.
One night we had this crazy loud thunder and lighting storm! I really miss those, living in California you're lucky to get a few days of rain here and there.

The thunder was so loud, cars' alarm systems would sound every time it went off because of the ground shaking. Pretty amazing.
Here is the beach at night. Calm, peaceful, and ooooh I just want to go back!

This restaurant by the beach was delightful. It was 100% outdoors, right on the white-sand beach with an amazing view.

One of these days we'll have to go back. So far, of all the beaches we've been to (sorry Hawaii, Maui, Bermuda, Mazatlan, California, Florida, etc.) this one takes the prize.

Up next: St. Lucia

On being husbandless

Well, today my teacher let us out a whole hour and 15 min. early, isn't he a dear? So, instead of being 'productive' I decided to sit down and write a little blog update.
I am on day 6 of being husbandless, that is, of Teddy being away and off the grid. Whatever possessed me to let him plan an 11 day getaway so soon after the summer program, I can only imagine. I hope he is REALLY enjoying himself because I doubt I'm gonna let this happen again...fishing/canoeing/camping trip, to Canada, with no cell phone reception, WITHOUT ME! lol Yes I'm sounding like a bitter old wife, but in all honesty I'm actually just now starting to miss him. Seriously, I have had a house full of wonderful friends the last few days, and it's been so refreshing and entertaining I haven't had time to think about being alone. Not to mention having my sisters Diana and Sara over for close to a week, which was oodles of fun. Last night was girls sleepover night. I had three friends over and we hung out, made a couple Mediterranean Pizzas, (and ate them both) and watched an old movie. Needless to say I'm a little short on sleep. (I think Amy, Aleesa and Sara are probably in the same boat)
On other news, something really exciting is just around the corner: vacation!! This year's travel plans are SO exciting, I can hardly wait to get on that plane and fly off into the sunset. Let's just say this year, our trip will involve alot of beach time...alot of beach time. I need to wait until Teddy gets back to finalize the plan, so I can't spill the beans quite yet, but from the looks of it I'll be able to add a couple more countries to my list! Hooray for vacay! Lol
All this excitement is wearing me out, I think I'll head to an early bedtime. Nite nite.

Have you ever...

held a grudge for a very, very long time against someone that had caused you alot of pain? And a long time passes, and it still hurts, and you hope you never have to see them again. Yet, in the bottom of your heart, you know you're eventually going to see them?

But you don't want to. Because you are sure it will mean re-living all the pain, all the bad memories, all the hurt. For weeks before you know you're going to cross paths, you become more and more angry. Angry because this person has so much control over you still. Angry because you thought you were over it, but you're not. Angry because...anger is a secondary emotion, and really you know you have to face the music. Have you ever felt that way?

Finally the day comes. You see the person approach you. You exchange small talk. "Is this really happening?" You wonder. "Because I'm not feeling anything right now. I'm not feeling angry, or sad, or hurt, or any other emotion for that matter." As time passes, you realize they had become something in your head that was very far from reality. You actually sincerely feel absolutely nothing where there used to be pain. You're not angry at them anymore, because all of a sudden it hits you: you can't hate a person that you feel so utterly and completely sorry for.

It's amazingly liberating. Emancipating. Divine.

Fan or Fanatic?

Ok, so I have to admit, I'm an iPhone fanatic. Now, mind you, I wouldn't have admitted this last week, if you had asked me on Wednesday or even Thursday morning. I would have told you that I like iPhones, I may even have admitted that I loved them, and probably also would have admitted that I was a fan of iPhones, but I would have definitely argued having been labeled an iPhone fanatic. So why the change from last week to this week?
It all started when I saw the upcoming features and release date for the new iPhone4. Being due for an upgrade, I decided to sell my iPhone 3G and see if I could subsidize the hefty $200-300 price tag. On June 15, after believing I had pre-ordered my iPhone 4, I happily placed an ad on craigslist to see what I could get for my iPhone. It was sold by the following morning. I got $200 for it. Since I only paid $99 for it originally, I actually made money on my iPhone. Nice. I never had a phone be a good investment before. Apparently the guy who bought it was planning on jailbreaking it to use on another network, so I hope it works out for him.
So, having pre-ordered my iPhone4, and having sold my old iPhone to pay for my new one, I thought I was all set. I would just have to pick up my new phone the following Thursday.
A couple of days later, I heard news reports of all the glitches the pre-order system had, so I called in to make sure I was all set. Unfortunately, I got the bad news: my pre-order hadn't gone through. If I wanted an iPhone before mid-July, I'd have to wait in line to see if I could snag a phone. So began the longest day of my life.
Thursday morning, I arrived at the store at 4:30am, dismayed to find 250 people ahead of me in the non-preorder line. (Luckily for him, Teddy was in San Diego that night, otherwise I would have dragged him along with me!) The store opened at 7am and by 9am people from our line were getting let through. 3-4 every half hour, and I had 250 people in front of me, so you do the math. Because we were moving up every half hour or so, (3-5 ft and a time) it kept you thinking that the line was going to break through at any point. At 11am, the people in line around me and I were sure we'd be out by 2pm. I kept thinking, I can stay till then, but only until then. At 1:30, when I finally realized 2pm was never going to happen, we were calculating 5pm. I thought, "Ok, 5pm but that's it. I've come this far, why give up now? But I'll definitely have to leave by 5:30 so I can make it to class." Right. By 6pm, and still no phone, and about 15 ft. from the Apple Store entrance, I had to make the tough decision to- skip class. Those last 15 ft. took another 2 1/2 hours, when I finally made it inside the store. 16 hours of waiting in line, and I was now the weary, slightly bitter, but proud iPhone4 owner.
There can be no doubt in anyone's mind including my own; I am an iPhone fanatic.
Honestly though? I'm pretty sure it's going to take me about 2 years to want to try that again.

Back to school

I can't believe I'm writing that. Really? Back to school? It feels like I just got done...but it's actually been almost four months since I finished my last class. After getting my BS in Business Management, I've been doing some research as to what to do for graduate school. I had seriously given up on the whole idea of it, since it is just so expensive, at least the major I wanted (Masters in Accounting). Well, God has opened some serious doors, and I'm just walking right through them. I'm actually not doing my masters, that's been ruled out. Instead, I've decided to take a few extra classes in order to sit for the CPA exam. I didn't have enough accounting credits with my degree, so after I take about 6 1/2 classes or so, I'll be able to do that. My first 4 credit class starts tonight, (can't believe they let me register a day before class started) and I have another one starting next Wednesday. Because all the classes I need are available at night, it won't be affecting my work schedule hardly. I'm so thrilled! And the place I'll be taking my classes at, University of CA-Riverside (UCR) is only 2 miles from my house! Right next to one of my favorite frozen yogurt places in the world! ;o) I'm scared in a way, because I know it's back to no free evenings or weekends, back to a more messy house, backlogged laundry, and a myriad of other things that crop up when I'm focused on school, but I hope to be finished by the end of this year. After that I think it'd take me a few months to pass all 4 sections of the exam, but overall I'm excited about the new direction in my life. Wish me luck!

Help Needed

Does anyone have a suggestion for what I should do with my sliding glass door and kitchen window? Preferably I'd like them to match or coordinate somehow, and the only thing I've ruled out for the sliding glass door is vertical blinds! I'm at my wits end though, with these two. We've been in our house for almost two years now and I just can't figure out what I want to do with these! And it's not just a looks issue, it's a privacy/safety issue too! I don't like that anyone can look in our house at any time of the day or especially night. All suggestions welcome!

Happy Sabbath!

It's been a long time since I've written, and I have no real excuse. Well, I might have a small one. A couple of weeks after the superbowl I decided to go on an all out media fast. I mean no radio, no music, no TV, movies, internet (unless it was work-related like emails) and no facebook or blogging either. I feel like I gained alot from it. I don't know exactly how to put it into words, exactly what I may have gained, but it had something to do with clarity, peace and more time on my hands. Alot more time. The hardest thing, believe it or not, was when I was in the car. I always listen to music or NPR, always! So instead I took the time to listen to the Bible on audio or pray aloud.

After it was over, I've been out of habit with FB and this blog, so it seems. Or maybe not too many interesting things are going on? Life keeps ho-humming along, work, work and some play, and then more work. I love my job(s). I love my husband. I love spending time with him. That time will get more scarce as the summer comes along. One thing that is coming up is gardening. Yay! Although our tiny plot is nothing to brag about, I do look forward to the meager provisions that will be springing forth soon.

This time, we aren't planting one single tomato plant! They were a real disappointment last summer, and they were 90% of our crop. This time we're going to stick with what really worked, corn and green beans. And maybe lettuce and onions. We didn't really eat the beets... :-/