The Finish Line is in Sight

So let us hop into our time machine for what will hopefully be the last time for a while. We are returning to August 7th, just after my plane lands in San Jose. I have finally made it home after the first two legs of my marathon vacation. Kevin picked me up at the airport and we headed back to our apartment. Kevin was already packed so we just relaxed and caught up on some TV shows. We went to bed, because in less than 10 hours we were going to be on the road to Mammoth.

At 8am Sunday morning, we headed out, we had packed up 2 suitcases, 2 sets of golf clubs and our 2 mountain bikes. It is quite amazing what can fit in the back of a fit. We headed out for what we thought would be a 4.5 hour drive and even laughed at googles estimate of 5 hours. Needless to say we were wrong; it ended up taking nearly 6.5 hours to get there. We drove behind every slow car known to man all of which were red trucks. Needless to say we were quite glad to get to the condo in Mammoth and get out of the car for a while.

Vista Point at Yosemite - Pictures do not g

We unloaded the car and after a short rest we headed out to hike up to Mc Leod Lake. Needless to say we all know how out of shape I am, I don't deny it, but I felt even more out of shape on this hike. I thought it was just my body failing me, but then Kevin's dad reminded me that we were at about 9000 feet elevation which means thinner air. It made me feel a little better, and the seeing the beauty of the lake made it all worth while. We hiked around the lake and Kevin tried to skip rocks with a boulder. It was a great start to our Mammoth vacation.

We made it to the lake!

Monday arrived and we had lots of fun things to do. We started off by going to the fish hatchery. It was awesome to see all of the trout, but it was even more fun to toss in the fish food and watch the fish go crazy. The fish were jumping out of the water and splashing about trying to get the few pieces of food. Definitely my idea of a good time.

Look at those fish! They were so excited about the fish food.

The good times continued when we headed up to see the earthquake fault. It is kind of funny that they call it an earthquake fault since they have signs that explain it was caused by fission and not an earthquake. Regardless of this fact, it was still amazing to see this huge chasm into the earth.

I was super excited to see the fault. :-)

We couldn't stay at the fault too long because we had to head over to the driving range and get some practice time in before we played golf that evening. It was the first time I had golfed on a real golf course with longer holes, and it kind of showed off how bad I was, but I still had a great time. I even got to drive the golf cart which is kind of addicting. In the end I came in last out of our group, but I was well under my goal of 100 with a score of 86. Pretty proud of myself, and I will just blame my high score on being distracted by the beautiful scenery around the golf course. It clearly distracted me and hurt my game. Regardless of how we all did, we had a wonderful time playing golf.

The view was so beautiful.....clearly it would distract any golfer :-)

Tuesday arrived and we had the morning to spend together before Libby and Akeel arrived. We all loaded into the car and headed out to Rock Creek Lake. It was quite a drive up a windy road. It seemed like there was no one around, until we reached the parking areas. Every spot was taking and after circling around waiting for a spot we just decided to head down the hill to another lake we had passed. While there we were able to see a truck from the fish hatchery stocking up the lake. We sat and enjoyed the view for a little while before heading back to the condo. We arrived at the condo at the same time as Libby and Akeel. We helped them unload their car and we headed out to go on a mini hike around the creek near the condo.

Group picture (minus Kevin's dad) on our creek hike.

We finished up our fun creek hike and then headed to Lee Vining for dinner to celebrate Kevin's parents 30th wedding anniversary. While you might expect it to be a fancy dinner to celebrate we in fact ate a restaurant called Whoa Nelly! Deli. It is a fun little restaurant in a Mobil gas station. They make amazing gourmet food in a very casual setting. Everyone had a wonderful night and enjoyed the delicious food. We ended up back at the condo that night playing boggle. All of the youngens teamed up against Kevin's parents and we shockingly won the boggle game; a rare feat considering they are boggle masters.

After a fun filled vacation, Wednesday arrived and it was time for Kevin and me to head back to Campbell. We went out for a delicious BBQ lunch and then hit the road. It was a great vacation, but it was definitely good to be home and get back into my normal routine.

Here's to hoping that we all have fun adventures with those we love. :-)

2nd Leg of Triathlon Vacation - Los Angeles

Adrienne and I successful made it from Dallas to Los Angeles, arriving at 11:45pm. We were so glad that we didn't have to spend the night in an airport. We made it home and promptly fell asleep. I got to sleep on the couch in the family room because my room has been turned into a storage unit, so it would a hop, skip and a jump to get onto the bed and probably result in a broken leg.

After a wonderful nights sleep, I spent the week relaxing with my dad. We had planned to do some work around the house but ended up taking advantage of the vacation idea and just relaxed.

Tuesday we headed out to Palmdale to be there for the home inspection of the house Adrienne is purchasing. The house is GIGANTIC. We drove around Palmdale a little and after the home inspection we made a quick trip to Ikea followed by a delicious lunch at Islands. Overall a fun and delicious day.

Wednesday night we did have Candy, Rich and Julie over for dinner. We cooked up Tony Roma ribs and chicken and a few other BBQ treats. I, of course, baked cookies. It was a nice evening to catch up with them since I had not seen them in about 10 months.

The Museum had a beautiful building.....simple yet elegant

Thursday arrived quickly and it was the day for our tour at the Nethercutt Museum in Sylmar. My dad and I headed over to Calabasas to pick up Candy and we then headed to the Van Nuys airport. Uncle Sid had flown his plane from San Diego up for the day to spend time with us. We then headed over to the museum where we met up with Tom and Deb.

I loved the paint job on this car :-)

This was my favorite car at the museum.....if only I had about $12 million dollars :-)

The tour was amazing. The cars were beautifully restored, but my favorite part was the music room with the orchestrians. It was so wonderful to sit and relax and listen to the beautiful music. We followed up the wonderful trip to the museum with lunch at Tally Rand in Burbank. We all enjoyed the delicious food and ended watching a car chase on the TV at the restaurant.
After a wonderful day, we dropped Uncle Sid off at the airport and headed home. It was a wonderful day and it was great to see everybody.

Uncle Sid headed back to his plane

Friday was yet another relaxing day. I was left home alone since my dad had to go into work. I ended up spending the morning sorting and completing an inventory of all of Adrienne's Mary Kay products, and then just lounged around. I did bake more chocolate chip cookies since Rob and Deena were coming over for dessert.

Inventory of Mary Kay products....it's amazing I didn't drown in make-up

After a relaxing week, it was finally Saturday. My last day in Los Angeles was spent having a "makeover" by my sister where she showed me all of her Mary Kay products and took some pictures to use with other clients. I packed up all of my clothes and headed off to the airport that evening. My flight was delayed about 45 minutes, but thankfully it wasn't full. I made it back home to Campbell about 10pm that night and slept for a few hours before headed off to Mammoth the next morning.

The second leg of my vacation was definitely relaxing and as usual it was great to spend time with my dad. Here's to hoping that everyone is able to spend time with there family and thoroughly enjoy every moment. :-)

Another Trip in the Time Machine

So let's hop back into my fancy time machine and go back about a month to Wednesday July 28. It was 7am and Kevin was helping me load my luggage into the car and we headed off to the San Jose airport. Kevin dropped me off and so began my marathon vacation. It was actually more of a triathlon since there were three legs, but we'll only talk about one for now.

I stood in the security line for a while and finally made it through and headed to the gate to wait for my flight to Dallas, or should I say my flight to San Diego, El Paso and then Dallas. Yes, my flight had 3 stops, but thankfully I stayed on the plane, so no running to catch a connection. After leaving at 10am Pacific time I arrived in Dallas at about 6pm Central time safe and sound. Shayna picked me up at the Dallas Love Field Airport and we headed over to her parents house. It was a beautiful home that would become my lovely accommodations for the next 5 days.

The Beautiful Isenberg Home in Plano Texas

That night Shayna, Ilene and I went out for some Mexican food. It was delicious. After dinner we headed home and just sat on the couch and talked for hours. It was great to catch up considering we all had not been together for about 6 years. The following day Shayna had to go to work at her internship so I was lucky enough to spend the day with Ilene. We spent the day running errands and going grocery shopping. It was so much fun to see all of the different markets in Dallas, and there are a lot of different stores. The prices also amazed me; strawberries were 79 cents as opposed to $3 in California. It was enjoyable to be able to help Ilene out. That night Shayna went out with her coworkers so Ilene and I had a simple homemade dinner. It was a nice end to the day.

On our way to the Casino, we stopped at the Oklahoma state line :-)

That night was a little less enjoyable since I ended up getting sick. For some reason dinner did not sit right with me, but nevertheless I survived because it was now Friday and it was my 24th birthday. Ilene, Shayna and I got in the car and headed to Oklahoma to gamble at the new Choctaw Casino that had just been built. It was great fun stopping at the Oklahoma welcome center. We then gambled the afternoon away; the casino even gave me $10 to gamble with since it was my birthday. My gambling skills were not up to par so I lost $15, but it was a fun way to celebrate my birthday. I don't remember what we had for dinner that night, but I'm sure it was delicious. Shayna and I ended the day with frozen yogurt and hours of conversation.

On the way back to Plano we stopped at the Texas state line....that was one big star

Saturday we all headed over to the Embassy Suites near the Convention Center to pick up Adrienne from her Mary Kay convention. We then headed over to get some ice cream. The rest of the day consisted of relaxing and chatting. We then headed out to dinner with Kristal, her boyfriend Kevin and Shayna's cousin and followed it up with bowling. It was a great night.

Adrienne and I at Braum's Ice Cream....delicious :-)

Shayna and I watching Karaoke in the bowling alley bar....it was quite

Sunday was a jam packed day. Ilene had planned a family barbecue which we prepped for most of the day. I was glad I could help out so much. Everyone came over around 3pm and we enjoyed a delicious homemade meal before Adrienne and I had to head back to the airport to catch our flight to L.A..

We actually ended up having our flight delayed and jumped onto an earlier flight so we could make our connection in Houston. We ran through both airports and of course everything worked out and we actually had time to rest before each flight. We had a relaxing flight to LAX and successfully ended our exciting Texas vacation.

Here's to hoping that everyone has the ability to travel and see all of the wondrous states in this country. It is truly amazing to see how people live throughout the country. :-)

Girlified :-/

So I am a bit behind with my blogs, so what better time than now to start catching up.

Let's hop in our fancy time machine and go back in time to July 9th. It was a beautiful Friday here in the Silicon Valley and I had the pleasure of spending the day in Los Gatos with Suzie.

We headed to Los Gatos and made a quick stop at the bakery. It was definitely interesting being on the other side of the counter. Suzie of course snacked on a banana cupcake and we then headed to lunch at Willow Street. Suzie and I were excited to pretend that we were some of the fancy Los Gatos wives that shop and eat out all day every day.

After lunch we headed over to the pedicure place. I was a bit nervous, but Suzie being the wonderful friend she was made me feel extremely comfortable. Needless to say, I now understand why pedicures are amazing. I received a wonderful massage and my toes looked beautiful. It was a wonderful day with a wonderful friend.

My Pretty Toes After the Pedicure :-)

The pedicure was not totally just for fun, because just a couple of days later was Kerri's wedding. Back in the time machine, it is now Sunday July 11th. Kevin and I got dressed up, or should I say Kevin got dressed up and then helped me safety pin my dress back together because the seam at the waist decided to self destruct minutes before leaving the house.

Kevin and me all dressed up....Photo Booth fun times at the wedding :-)

The wedding was beautiful out on a golf course in Gilroy and it was great to see everyone from the bakery again. It was a fun filled couple of days at the beginning of July in which Lindsey was girlified. Although it was fun, it was definitely a bit labor intensive for my style. Needless to say I have quickly returned to my t-shirt and capri lazy style which suits me quite nicely.

Myself and the Beautiful Bride Kerri :-)

Here's to hoping that we all have wonderful friends to spend time with and that we all have our moments of stepping out of our comfort zone and finding that it is more comfortable out there than we expected.

One Month Down....

So I have been officially unemployed for just over a month now. I have finally reached the point where I don't think about the bakery and what I would be doing if I was there at each hour of the day. I have finally adjusted to being able to do whatever I want, finish my "To Do List", and work on new hobbies.

Although I have adjusted it hasn't been easy. It is difficult to feel that not working is acceptable. I still have moments of panic where I feel like nothing is going to work out, I won't get into school, I'll never find a job, and that life will just fall apart. Normally at that point I go and find Kevin and he reminds me that everything will be okay.

I'm still not sure what my plans are come September. I have registered for the court reporting class at the community college and I have to see if I can get into any math classes at San Jose State. Not sure what will happen which is a little nerve wracking, but it is comforting to know that I do have the court reporting class guaranteed, assuming I can't get in to any math classes. It is all so complicated, except thankfully SJSU classes start the week before West Valley so I will know if I am able to attend the court reporting class in the end.

At this point I must keep reminding myself that there is no point in worrying about something you can't control. I don't know if the math classes will fill up, I don't know if I'll get my master's degree, I just don't know what is going to happen, but in the end everything will be okay because Kevin and I will go through it together.

Here's to hoping that whatever does happen come September makes me immensely happy and leads me down the most awesomely fun road on my journey through life.

Eagle, Birdie, Par, Bogey......no words to describe me

So recently.....well maybe a few months ago Kevin convinced me to go to the driving range with him and his friends. I was nervous considering I had not held a golf club since 8th grade, and even then I had no idea what I was doing. Teaching me any sport never went well and P.E. in 8th grade and golf did not go together. I was horribly out of shape, not that I'm in great shape now, and I was horribly uncoordinated. So needless to say I did not learn much of anything about golf then and I was terrified to start again.

The first time at the driving range was actually quite fun. Kevin explained pretty well how to hold the club and hit the ball. I did my best considering my shoulder is a little abnormal. I could hit the ball kind of consistently and hit it maybe 50 yards with a driver that is supposed to go much more.

Anyways, over the past few months we have been going to the driving range and I have been progressively improving, which means I can now hit the ball maybe 80% of the time and get it to move forward. I am not a professional golfer and have no desire to be; instead, I like hitting the balls. Thinking, analyzing, planning....all overrated topics for me. I simply put a ball down and swing the club.

Kevin and I decided a month or so ago that we would go to Mammoth with Kevin's parents in August, and while there they usually go golfing....real golfing. I barely knew how to hit a ball, let alone aim and get a ball into a hole. So we have been working on improving my skills.

This past weekend I had the chance to go golfing for real for the first time. It is called the Short Course at Santa Teresa Golf Club. It is just 9 holes all of which are par 3, meaning that a score of 27 is par. Awesome, I could totally do that....yeah right.

Me getting ready to hit the ball on the first hole on the first real golf course ever :-)

We played with Lionel and Jillian (it was her first time too). What a day it was. Needless to say I have a lot of room for improvement. Make that massive room for improvement. Kevin scored a 34 which averages out to Bogey golf. I scored 70 (remember 27 is par), twice as much as Kevin. Unfortunately golf does not have names for this score, so I will say that my score averages out to Lindsey golf. Lets just call any score as bad as mine Lindsey. Kevin got a birdie, Lionel got a par, Jillian got a Bogey and Lindsey got a Lindsey.

So next time I go real golfing, I will be able to name my score. When Kevin asks my score I will say I got a Lindsey, which averages out to about 5-8 above par. That is how good I am at real golf, or should I say how bad I am at it, that I can name my level of golf. Not many people can do that. Graeme McDowell, winner of the PGA tournament at Pebble Beach, (he has the same birthday as me) can't name his moves, he simply says par or what not. I plan on becoming famous in golf now, for how awesomely bad I play. My style of golf takes a lot of focus and effort, not just anyone can play like me.

Here's to hoping I improve slightly with golf, but not so much that I have to start using official terms to describe how I play....how unoriginal is it to say Bogey. I am unique and clearly must play the game that way and keep up my record.....don't want to let anyone down. :-D

FUNemployment

Well it has been about 3 1/2 weeks since I stopped working. The first week didn't feel different because I was busy traveling and hanging out with friends. It has finally start to hit me that I am unemployed and can do anything I want to. It is a bit overwhelming at times. So many projects to do, but where to start.

Yes, only I could be overwhelmed by having too many FUN projects to do. I'm working on finding more recipes to cook and bake, working on stained glass projects, and trying to get rid of stuff. All things I love, but with so much time to do them, I don't know where to start. I have more than 12 stained glass projects going, more than 200 new recipes and boxes of stuff I have collected over the years.

Other than being overwhelmed by fun things to do, I have dealt with being sick again. About a week ago I ended up back in the emergency room with the same stomach pain I had in January. It was the worst experience I had ever had at a hospital. The doctor was awful. She tried to discharge me twice without actually getting rid of the pain I came in with. Thankfully my two nurses were looking out for me and wanted me to feel better. Anyways, I still have to file my formal complaint against the doctor for her inability to actually treat me for my pain. In the end I did get morphine and the pain disappeared.

Me in the E.R.. I look excited because it was just after I receive the morphine, so no pain. I'm also pointing at my IV that says Baxter. Thanks Adrienne, your company makes the best things in the world. :-)

After a few day I was back to normal. Yesterday I saw my personal doctor and learned that I had gallstones that are all gone now, so my gallbladder is completely empty and normal. Hopefully it stays that way and I don't end up in the hospital again. I did learn that I also have kidney stones, yay. Random finding when doing the ultrasound in the E.R.. Thankfully the kidney stones shouldn't affect me at all. This is all just proof that I am my parents daughter; kidney stones from my father and gallstones from my mother. I love them more and more for all of the wonderful traits they have passed on to me.

Other than that, my few weeks of time off have been wonderful. Lots of relaxing and enjoying life. I'm looking forward to the next couple months: Kerri's wedding, visiting Shayna in Texas, visiting my family in L.A., and visiting Kevin's family in Mammoth. Should be an exciting time before I attempt to return to school.

With school, I have to wait for the first day of classes to try and crash classes. If I can't get into any of the necessary classes, it will delay my application to the master's program. I will cross that bridge when it comes because there is no need to worry about it now. No need worrying over things I can't change, I'm slowly learning this and putting it into practice.

Here's to hoping that this summer will be amazingly fun and that the rest of my life will be even more fun. :-)