Eat and Be Merry

This weekend has been a good one! Friday night, Juli, Karissa & I went to a pie social. Everyone brings pie and then there's a little vespers. Here's a picture of the table at one point.. people just kept pouring in with more and more pies.

We were a little disappointed that more of them weren't homemade. It's just not as much fun.. or as good! But we had fun seeing people and catching up with friends.

After church yesterday, Kar, Juli and I had a little family Sabbath lunch. I was so excited, I got to use my birthday plates from Elizabeth for the first time! I love them :)

I'm so blessed to live with two of my best friends! 

We had haystacks, of course.

Last night, Riki and I went to a Halloween party!

You can just call me Kate Middleton..

This was the only picture we had of both of us.. She went as a Wii "Just Dance" character! Halloween costumes are her favorite-- this girl always goes all out! We had a really fun weekend :) 

One Picture

This is the last of the 10 day blog challenge! One picture.. Haven't taken many pictures lately but Karissa and I have been all about faceinhole.com and this one's my favorite. I think it really reflects who I am.. ;)

Two Songs

Tonight Juli and I embraced the cold weather. We drank hot tea and watched the Little Mermaid :) (The movie post made me wanna watch it..) So, I got in a Disney movie mood and was watching, basically all the songs on YouTube. I smile all the way through them!

So for my Two Songs, it involved too much thinking and strategizing to pick two songs that reflect me or that I love or hate or whatever. I just picked the first two that came to mind. Anastasia's "Once Upon a December," since I had just watched it and remembered how great that movie is, and Chris Brown's "Don't Wake Me Up." It's been stuck in my head for the last 5 hours, that's how good it is ;)

Three Films

1) Dirty Dancing. All time favorite!

2) Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney movie. When I was a little girl, I wanted to switch lives with her and live under the sea!

3) Pitch Perfect. I've seen it twice already... The music is awesome, so funny and I'm a sucker for the ending!

From this collection, I look like a total girl.. I actually really like action/adventure and suspense movies! Just not as much :)

Four Books

1) Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul. Its an amazing book by John & Stasi Eldredge. I haven't finished it yet but I've loved it so far. I would like to read the one for men, Wild at Heart, too.

2) The Notebook. It was one of the first books that I read for fun. I couldn't put it down. 

3) To Kill a Mockingbird. I haven't read it in years but I remember loving it! So many wonderful messages in that book.

4) My Bible. Most important book of all :)

Five Foods

1) Sandwiches. Favorite food hands down. If I have a sandwich, I'm a happy girl!

2) Fresh fruit. I can't just pick one.. but grapefruit, peaches and strawberries are tied for first.

there aren't any pictures with all three..

3) Taco Bell. I'm always up for a TB run :)

4) Salad. Especially on hot days like today! With tons of tomatoes, cause there's never too many tomatoes! I'm not a big dressing fan so I just season it and add a little olive oil. I can never seem to make enough though..

5) Godiva cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory.. I'm not even willing to try and order anything else. 

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Six Places

1) Tulsa, Oklahoma: My heart will forever be there :)

Little bit of city, little bit of country!

2) Alaska: I want to see the Northern Lights. Melissa and I have a plan that if we're both single in two years, we're moving there.

3) London: I love all the old buildings and historical sites. Plus, I would really like to see Kate Middleton..

4) Lake Ouachita, Arkansas: Best sunsets in the world happen at CYB!

5) New York: I especially want to go at Christmas time with all the pretty lights and that big tree :) 

And the pile of big red ornaments!!

6) My House: I'm a big homebody.. its just really hard to beat a relaxing day at home!

Seven Wants

I forgot to post my Seven Wants last night. I had my first day of temping and was completely beat! I was in bed at 9:30-10.. Work takes it out of you, who knew?? But I'll do my "Six Places" post tonight so I don't get behind!

1) I want to learn to sew.

2) I want a job.. first day of temping went awesome though!!

3) I want a new computer.. I currently have two but they're both broken in different ways. My Mac has burnt out bulbs so everything that is supposed to be black appears red. My Dell has broken hinges so the screen can't stay up. Its like it has a broken neck.. so I put a head band around it to give it a little bit more support.

4) I want a goldendoodle :) Sweetest most loyal dogs in the world!

5) I want to run a half-marathon. Thinking the Nike Woman's Marathon next year-- you get a Tiffany's necklace at the end :)

6) I want airfare to be free! 

7) I want Fall to be here.. Summer's over stayed its welcome. It's the middle of October and 95 degrees out side!

Eight Fears

1) Breaking/losing a tooth! In hygiene school, these were recurring nightmares.. my favorite of the teeth dreams was my teeth dissolving!

2) I fear change. Its so scary doing something new... Good and wonderful things come of it and I'm thankful for all the good that happens with the new, I just hate saying goodbye.

3) I fear being abducted in a parking lot. I always have my keys laced in between my fingers so I'm ready to strike if it were to ever come to that. I also never park by vans.

4) I fear animals. Horses, frogs, opossums...Their unpredictability puts me on edge.

5) Germs.. a little. I'm just very aware of them.

6) I fear hurting my wrists. I've already had surgery on one.. but I can't afford to let them get hurt again!

7) I fear getting sick.. as I shared earlier, I'm a bit of a hypochondriac.

8) I'm naturally a worrier. Last night and this morning, I was particularly fearing my interview with the dental hygiene temping agency. What if there's no work available? What if I don't make a good enough impression? I've been fearing looking for work for awhile now. My two fellow dental hygiene friends have found work. Now its my turn. The job market out here is tough though. There's just not much work available for hygienists. I fear rejection, failing, and feeling lost. As I read an email I received from an instructor replying that she would be honored to be a reference on my resume, tears came to my eyes as I remembered having all the same fears going into dental hygiene school. I didn't know anyone, I was afraid of failing and I felt lost. But dental hygiene school was the best thing that ever happened to me-- I learned a lot about myself, I gained confidence, I met so many wonderful people, and made some of my very best friends. None of that would have happened without change. I miss hygiene school terribly but I'm learning change can lead to good things too. God's never left my side before, why would He now? I am so thankful for where God has led me.  So, I gave my stress to God. He can handle it; and He will if I let Him. As I went to my interview this morning, I had this peace. The interview went so great! And I have my first temping position on Monday! It had JUST opened up :) God is so good. I love Him. I feel like it was His way of saying, "See? I gotcha!"

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” 

-Jeremiah 29: 11-13

Nine Loves

1) I love my God. No matter what.. I can always trust He's there. :)

Romans 8:28

2) People. I'm a huge people person.. my family and friends mean the world to me.

I am so blessed to have them!

These are the best friends a girl can ask for :)

3) I love 90's love songs. I can't get enough. 

This CD could play on repeat in my house..

4) The smell after rain.. well at home in Oklahoma. After it rains here in California, it just smells like pollution.

5) The movie Dirty Dancing (you have no idea how many times I've Googled about the remake.. I'm so excited!)

6) SURPRISES!! love those..

7) Getting dressed up

8) A bargain. I love sales and coupons! I can hardly bring myself to buy clothes marked at full price... I feel cheated when I do. 

9) I absolutely love corny, pun-filled dental jokes!! Here are some of my favorites :)

Ten Secrets

1) Last week I went on a date with a guy I met at Food for Less. (It didn't go so well.. shocking, huh?)

2) I love that I will have a uniform for work for the rest of my life!

3) I have terrible vision but refuse to wear my glasses because I don't feel pretty in them.

4) I'm currently following 11 TV shows.. this is what no job and no money does for you! Right now, my favorite is Secret Princes.

5) I've had Sweet Brown's "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That" auto-tune remix stuck in my head for the last three days. (And I'm obsessed with all the funny posters on Pinterest and Tumblr that are related to it.)

6) In high school, I ate a pint of ice cream in 4 minutes. No rush, no contest, it just happened to be gone that fast. Such a piggy-secret..

7) I complain but I actually love coming home from a vacation.

8) I don't tell my dental hygiene friends but I hate flossing.

9) I'm a bit of a hypochondriac.. I have currently self-diagnosed myself with 4 illnesses.

10) I have enough clothes in my closet to clothe 10 people. I seriously love clothes!

10 Days of Blogging

Karissa and I decided to do the blogging challenge together. We found quite a few but this one was our favorite. We're easing into the commitment with just a 10 day challenge..

If a Picture Says a Thousand Words..

I've been slacking on updating this since graduation so I thought the best way to fill ya in would be through some pictures from my phone.

At our dental hygiene pinning ceremony -- Juli and Deb were awarded for their outstanding research, Juli was also awarded Student of the Year! I snagged the Klooster Humanitarian Award :)

Graduation Day!

Bought some new running shoes graduation weekend.. that night I broke 'em in with 8 miles. Talk about blisters!

Went to a Dodgers game with Ash, Riki, Randi, Kevin and Dustin!

Had boards, PASSED, and said goodbye to Dental Hygiene school. Kinda miss it now..

Juli and I moved out of the dorm. (We like our new place much better!)

GOT MY BRACES OFF! (longest 7 months ever..)

Went to Chico for our girl Randi's wedding!! This was at her cowboy themed bachelorette party.

We stayed at the Unterseher's (Randi & Riki's parents) while we were there. It was so much fun us girls being all together :) I loved every second of it! 

WEDDING DAY! 

Our bridesmaid dresses were so pretty. Randi did good!

Randi & Kevin's photo booth: Lindsey, Juli, Ashley and me. The wedding was beautiful, elegant and fun! We had such a great time :) Randi and Kevin were so happy.. you could just feel the love in this wedding!

Once we got back from the wedding, we moved into Riki, Danae and Drew's house for the summer. We made homemade pizza our first night as roomies!

Received my DIPLOMA from Loma Linda University!

Went to a few free lawn concerts and plays at the Redlands Bowl! It's one of Redlands oldest summer traditions :)

We saw Oliver Twist that day.

It was a full house for the opening of Oliver Twist!

Pretty sure this one was a Mariachi band.

Jazz band.

Jeanne and Juli thoroughly enjoying themselves some Jazz :)

There was always the most beautiful sunsets! This picture does no justice to it.

This was The Secret Garden! It was a ballet. We had watched The Secret Garden the day before to prepare. It was so beautiful!! Definitely my favorite from the summer.

Another tree/sunset picture.. I just couldn't get enough.

Went to the US Surf Opens with Alex!! So cool..

Rented this great townhouse, with this great kitchen! (pictures of our place to come.. the walls are still a little too bare.)

Once I got home for a little vacation time, Karissa and I basically went straight into cooking/project mode! These blueberry muffins from Joy the Baker were literally to die for.

I made some map coasters. Karissa made a blanket out of hand-crafted flowers! I made a headboard out of a huge frame. And Karissa made curtains.. our dining room looked like we bought Hobby Lobby.

It was just the best thing in the world to be with my sister, again. :) I really missed her while she was in Ebeye.

Once I got back to California, it was only a week before Karissa and my Dad drove out here to bring her to school. They drove a 16' truck to bring some furniture for our new little townhouse.. They weren't big fans of the trucker life and were happy to have made it safely. My dad is such a trooper for driving that huge thing all the way here!! 

Once Mom finished work, she flew in to join us and help move into our new place. They helped so much with getting settled. I don't know what I'd do without them-- They give me so much support and love. I am so blessed :)

And just about a week and a half ago, us 4 girls went with a church group to an orphanage in Tijuana to clean their teeth. Most rewarding thing.. we had so much fun with the kids! (Juli and I debated adopting one..) But it was just so neat to see how God coordinated us to get together with this church group who had been praying for a hygienist to join them. And God gave them 4. :) We were so happy to be apart of this. I can't wait to go back!!

So now that we're sufficiently caught up... I'm planning on continuing to update more regularly. I'm even debating a blogging challenge :) 

-A