Trip to South Dakota (whip-crack-a-way, whip-crack-a-way, whip-crack-a-way!)

Jeff and I went to visit the Deals in South Dakota last weekend. We had so much fun, it was really hard to leave! I like to call this the "Spa Getaway in the Black Hills" trip, because Sarah spoiled us rotten! Jeff and I scored haircuts, pedicures, hair coloring and multiple tanning sessions. We definitely came home from vacation well rested and beautified!

Since this was my first trip to South Dakota, I wanted to make sure we snuck in a couple touristy things while we were up there. We got to spend a lot of time at Wall Drug, playing around and taking pictures:



The jackalope, my childhood obsession...

At the waterbench...


T-Rex

We spent a lot of time at Sarah's salon, The Polished Pinky. I tell ya, if she had the same salon, but in San Diego, I would go to it...It felt so nice and home-y.



Harper getting her nails done:


We also drove through the Badlands and ate Indian Tacos...



However, the climax of the trip came Saturday evening, when we celebrated Jeff and Sarah's 31st birthday. They haven't been together on their birthday for about 13 years, so Craig and I wanted to make it special. A week or so before our trip, he e-mailed me and said that he ordered a banner and a cake - he wanted to make this the cheesiest birthday ever. So I decided that noting is cheesier than shirts with pictures on them, so I make a couple for us to wear:


Jeff and Sarah's shirts say "Together since the womb" with a baby picture of them on it, and mine and Craig's say "Look who's 31 today!" with silly pictures of Jeff and Sarah on them. They turned out excellent...




On Sunday, we played tourist and went to Mount Rushmore. I am usually very disappointed when I finally get to see national landmarks. They always seem so much smaller than expected. However, I thought that Mount Rushmore was VERY cool! I really liked it. I was very impressed.


That evening, we went to Deadwood, played a couple penny slots and ate at Kevin Costner's restaurant. It was really neat being in Deadwood...One of my favorite movies growing up was "Calamity Jane" staring Doris Day, which is set in Deadwood. Infact, this picture was taken outside of the saloon that Wild Bill Hickok got killed at.


I actually have come to realize that I can sing a musical song about almost anything. When we were in Iowa visiting Jon and Anne Marie, I kept singing "De Butte, Des Moines, Davenport, Marshall Town, Mason City, Keokook, Ames, CLEARLAKE! Got to give Iowa, a try!" ... And now in South Dakota, I can't stop singing "Take me back to the black hills...the black hills of Dakota." (nerd alert!)

Anyway, it was a really good trip, wish we could go and travel to see family more!

Update for July

Hello...

So, I got all of my school and work problems worked out. I am going to be working for an MD in La Jolla, doing FLT for her, which will be a lot of fun. It will only be a couple hours a week, so I am going to try to start a "errand running/meal planning/pre-cooked meals" business, that I can do from home, on the weekend, etc. It will be exciting if it takes off.

Last week, Jeff's brother Ben and his wife Brooke came to visit us in San Diego. Well, they were actually coming to go see a concert in LA, but they stayed with us for a couple nights. It was SO much fun having them down here. We went to the beach one day, and Jeff, Ben and Brooke played in the waves while I was lame and studied on the beach. We also watched Coraline and The Life Aquatic...however I fell asleep in both of them (as did everyone else. No reflection on the movies of course, just that we were all exhausted when we started them). We also ate at this really awesome hole-in-the-wall italian deli in La Mesa called BMH (http://www.bmhitalian.com/). Pretty good! We also took them to go eat at Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop (http://www.tacosmackdown.com), which is slowly becoming me favorite in San Diego. The whole theme of the restaurant is mexican wrestler, and it is painted bright pink and blue. There is an amazing salsa bar, and amazing and cheap food. Next time anyone comes to visit...we have to go get Queso Tacos... yummy...

Here are some beach pics with Ben and Brooke:








In other news, this weekend, Jeff and I were going to see Public Enemies...and on the way there, I had a blow out in the middle of the freeway. It was pretty scary for me. When I was 16, I got in a major accident and totaled my first car all from having a blowout on the freeway. My friend had to go to the hospital, it was pretty bad. After that happened, I often had panic attacks whenever I drove at night, or on the freeway. I obviously got over it, but getting a blow out really freaked me out. Luckily, Jeff was there to coach me through what to do. We changed the tire, and went to Costco to get new tires put on. That was a large chunk of money down the drain, but I am so glad that we are both safe and my car is in good shape. We eventually went to go see Public Enemies and it was AWEsome!

This week is rather busy. Tomorrow is our anniversary (Two years!) and we are going to dinner at The Godfather. It is kind of our tradition, because that is where we had our rehearsal dinner. Golden Spoon also has sent us a coupon for two free yogurts on our anniversary...I think they sent it to me because I am their #1 customer...

Thursday, I take my final in Biochem...which shouldn't be too bad. I need to get 70 points on the test to get an A in the course...so I can technically bomb the final and still get an A...pretty good situation to be in I would say.

Friday, we fly out to South Dakota to visit with Sarah and Craig for a couple days. It is going to be lots of fun, because A) Sturgis is going on...the #1 party in all of America. B) It is Sarah and Jeff's birthday on Saturday. C) I finally get to go to Wall Drug!!

Hopefully I will be able to capture the next couple weeks on film to post here.

That's it...Bye!

Thanks!

Thank you everyone for your positive comments and attitudes. I am kind of getting over the school schedule thing. Misery loves company, (and I have a lot of company on this one) so some friends of mine who are on the same boat planned around it and are taking other classes together. It should be a good semester. One class that I get to take this semester that I otherwise wouldn't be able to is called 'Plants, Drugs and Medicine"... and its a biology class, not a chemistry class... so we'll be looking at what they do once they are inside the body, as opposed to looking at the chemical structures and what gets hydrolyzed and what gets added when inside. I am really excited :-)

OTher than that, things have been going really well. My Biochem class is almost over, it ends August 6th (and I still have two exams, a final, two reading assignments and a research paper due..no biggie :-/ ) and the day after it ends, Jeff and I are going to get on a plane and go see Jeff's sister Sarah in South Dakota. It will be SUCH a fun trip, I can't wait! Sturgess will still be going on, and I will have to go take lots of pictures of that, and bring home a bunch of memorabilia for my dad!

Other than that, I am looking for another job. I am going to try to get one in the weight loss counseling/diet therapy realm. I have put my resume in to various places, I will let you all know if anything exciting happens. I figure if I don't get anything by mid August, then I will try to find a serving job again. And if I can't find a serving job anywhere, I can always go back to Marie Callenders :-)

Vent about School

Okay...apology in advance for complaining...

California's state budget is embarassing...They can't get it together, and we have no money. The State school system is suffering for it, big time. I enjoy being organized and having things planned out, and so my schedule for the fall was all picked out at the end of last spring semester.

Then they took the schedule off line, Played around with it and rerranged everything. I adapted... Then they rearranged it again, so I would have to be at school from Monday -Thursday from around 8-3 everyday. That wouldn't fly with my job, so I was told that I can't work there in the fall...Great.

SO NOW...I go on to discover that the class that I need to take this fall is full/closed, because you have to take the lab with it, and they aren't offering enough lab sections. Did I mention this is a prerequisite for the classes i have to take the following semesters?

So now, I have to take classes that are for my major, but aren't a pre-requisite (which means, I can take them at any point...as in...not this semester because there are more important classes to take). ..Oh, and this class that I can't get into is the class that I am taking biochem this summer for (because biochem is a pre-rec for it...If I would have known that I couldn't get into that class this fall, then I could have had a summer off and worked all summer to make extra money and not have to cram biochem in my brain in 8 weeks...)

SO NOW...I had to re-do my schedule, and it looks like I will only be at school Monday and Wednesday from 10-7...

Can I have my job back?

This is just so frustrating. It makes me want to cry, or scream, or a little bit of both. I have worked so hard to get to this point. I have been working full time and going to school full time for the last three years, and I have a 3.7 GPA. You would think that I would get some kind of priority with registration...But I don't. And it might even push me back another semester, making me (yes) 27 when I graduate.

As you can tell, I don't handle it well when things don't go my way...

Top Ten Random Thoughts About Lost (so far)

We're on episode 8 of season 5...and here are some of my random thoughts about the series so far:

1. Crazy that Ben killed Locke...he is SO EVIL! I trust Charles Whitmore so much more than Ben. It is kind of funny because when I first started watching Lost (about 6 months ago), I told my mom that I thought that Locke was going to be a bad guy during the second episode. Woah, was I way off!

2. I think that the island is "pergatory" (I know, not an original theory...but it makes sense) and the war that is coming is going to be the war that ends the world...and then maybe it will be the second coming...woah, crazy...

3. What happened to Claire?

4. I think one of my least favorite episodes was the one where it showed Michael's really depressing life after he got back from the island, and the guy with the beard came and had a gay lover, and Michael kept trying to kill himself. It was very sad...the whole thing.

5. I think my favorite episodes so far were (in no particular order): in the second season with Hurley's imaginary friend, who you gets him to eat...The one where locke's dad pushes him out of the window...the one where we first learn about hurley's number fixation, and then see that it is written outside of the hatch...The one where Charlie dies and writes his best life memories.

6. Speaking of the numbers, what happened to that whole theme? It kind of disappeared after the hatch was blown up.

7. My favorite quote form the series is "See you in another life Brotha'"

8. I liked Sawyer much much much better when he was a tough guy who called everyone mean nick names.

9. What happened to the "Expose" couple who were barried alive?

10. How did Kate really get away with saying Aaron was her baby??

Top 3 Favorite Characters:
Sajid
Sawyer
Desmond

***NOTE - This blog post is dedicated to Anna and Phil Dutson, who were nice enough to get us a copy of season five...THANKS!***

***NOTE - I feel like a twelve year old after re-reading this...Oh well!***

Pictoral Essay of Katie and David's wedding

We have been up in Logan, UT since Tuesday this week. We came up for Katie and David's wedding (and Tyson and Gentry's wedding)! So much fun packed into a couple days trip. So far we have gone hiking (twice) and I got to go running with Melissa (twice!!) We ate at Costa Vida and had a little BBQ. It has been a really nice trip. I will post pictures from our hike next...but here are some pictures of Katie and David's wedding:

Katie and David, the happy couple! Got married at the Logan temple



The Hibshman Family



Katie with her brothers - Jon, Jeff and Ben

Katie and her sisters - Sarah, Anna and Jennie

Jeff and me (and Brooklyn)


Taking a break between the wedding and luncheon at Bed Bath and beyond...Snuck a quick massage!

The one picture from the luncheon. Food was really good!!

Katie and David at the reception
At the reception, Katie and David with Carole and Dave

Jeff being silly at the reception


Me being completely normal at the reception


Here are some cute/funny pictures of the nieces and nephews that we snapped throughout the day:
Double Buckle - Logan and Harper

Harper - exhausted from the day

Bradley, Brooklyn and Julianne

Ethan at the reception

Kile with a bit of brownie hanging off his nose

Mason in a tired daze...he didn't even know we were taking pictures of him!

Jeff with Sammy - he is SO CUTE!


All the cousins with their Aunt Katie and Uncle David

The post for the month of June

Hey!

I just wanted to first thank everyone for doing such a good job with their blogs. I enjoy reading everyone's blog posts so much, I seriously check every day, and read everyone's blog all the time.

Secondly, I would like to apologize for being such a bad blogger. I try to start a new post, but then stop because I don't have anything to write about. I guess the trivia things that go on in life are interesting enough to blog about, so I guess that is what I will have to start writing about...

SO - With that being said...

Jeff left for Japan last Sunday for a week long trip with the band. This trip wasn't being paid for and planned by their label, so it will be a different experience. When their label pays, they get nice hotel rooms and cash for food every day, however this time...the only thing that was paid for were their plane tickets and budget hotel rooms. However, it doesn't seem to matter much, he was still really excited about the trip! (I would be too...a free plane ticket to Japan is more than generous). The band also got a new member who is playing the guitar and keyboard, so they are not longer playing to tracks. Last night was their first show with the new member (and Jeff has a new set up and different things to play) and he said that it went fairly well. They have three more shows while they are out there, so I am sure they will come back sounding perfect!

Last nigh was my first night of my summer school class, Biochemistry. I was a little nervous about it because I took Organic Chemistry last summer...and like every class you take, you forget a lot of it if you don't use it. So I kind of forgot most of what happened in O-Chem. The teacher is really cool though. He is a total hippie and is the department chair of chemistry, so he is a great teacher and has a passion for the subject. The class is at a community college (60 dollars for one class Vs 760 dollars for one class at the university...) and so I didn't think I would know anyone, but funny enough...the class is full of SDSU nutrition majors. Kind of good, but it is also kind of lame because there are some really annoying girls in that major. I have come to grips with the fact that I am at least 4 years older than everyone else in all of my classes, however I am now dealing with not being annoyed at people who talk all the time (you know...the ones who's voices are at a register that just grate your eardrums and talk every chance they get...not about the subject you're learning). I am very regimental when it comes to lecture classes. I like to sit in the same place every class and not talk to anyone, and when we get a break, I stay in class and read...very nerdy, but it is what I do, and it works for me.

Anyway, aside from that, I saw The Hangover with my mom this past weekend, and then on Monday, my friend Kellie came over and we watched Twilight (twice) and Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist (not good). I have also been working on a special present for Jeff for his birthday. I am hesitant to talk about it here, just incase he reads this (which only happens when I say "Hey Jeff, look at so-and-so's blog"). Tonight is craft night...well, that's the plan. Sydney and Stephanie from work are planning on coming over to work on crafts. it will probably end up being more like "make cards night". I know I said that my resolution for 2009 was to send out birthday cards, but it hasn't really happened yet...so if I get prepared now, then I can FOR SURE send out birthday cards for 2010...

When Jeff gets back, we will immediately turn around and go out to Katie's wedding. We're really excited to spend a little time in Utah. I wish we were going to be there a couple days before the wedding, but it will be a great trip regardless!

Okay, talk to you all later...Keep those blogs a commin'!

Amanda