Angie's Move Day 2

I woke up this morning to find the following text message (sent at 7:57am): "Tons of purses and shoes to select. I am an ill person."

This text was from Angie. As she is moving, she is trying to get rid of a portion of the stuff she has accumulated over the 10 years she lived in her apartment. This meant that I (and a few other people) made out like bandits!

Here is the number of shoes Angie decided she didn't need. Some of them were brand new, others that she barely wore (all name-brand):
These are the shoes I decided to take. As I write this, I am wearing the fuzzy pink slippers...so cozy. :)
I was excited because I had been wanting (and looking for) new summery brown and beige shoes to wear to work, instead of my mary jane style shoes I've been wearing for winter. Now that my toes are done, I want to show them off!

I also got several shirts and a few other cloth items as well. Again, I had just recently ordered some more work clothes for the summer. As usual, my order starts out huge ($300-$500) but I tend to return about 75% of it. Thank goodness it's free postal return. :) I ended up keeping 4 items, but with the things Angie gave me (again most weren't really used) I have much more range in my work and casual attire with no additional expense. Whoo hoo!

In addition to that, I have 4 new purses, all great quality and in true Angie style, all high end brands. The gray and black one (coach) is replacing my extremely warn purse that I killed off from over use. I wear gray and black a lot so I needed a new one.

Angie also had other items that she wanted to get rid of like Christmas ornaments and decorations, as well as other holiday decor. She had two big boxes of clothes as well as some picture frames and things like wine racks, clock radios (brand new) and picture frames. Her neighbor, Joe, came by and offered to take 7 boxes off her hands for his Ebay business. That was a big help because it was my job to take the rest to Salvation Army!
Above is just a few things to be donated.

When I got home at about 4:30 I had to do laundry. While I was waiting for the wash to finish, I was inspired by Angie and decided to move my wintery/lesser worn clothes to my extra bedroom's closet. As some can attest, I have a lot of clothes. Part of the reason is I have a lot of (Boston) winter clothes like an ankle-length coat and sweaters, as well as my own little version of 27 Dresses. It was fun reminiscing when looking at my bridesmaids dresses from the weddings of my friends Lynn and Ginny! I also moved over my Halloween costumes and a few other miscellaneous dresses and other items.

Here is a picture of all the items I brought over (okay, there is more closet to the left that you can't see that is full):
Here is my new and improved closet:
The above is the center of the closet. Below is the right side (view is obstructed by a wall):
And this is the left of the closet (there is a sliding door that hides this side):
I also looked through my shoes and I will be donating a good amount of them as well. I love purging unused items, especially since someone else can get good use out of them. I know I didn't really purge the clothes, but I will. I still had to study tonight so moving them over was just the first step!

Angie's Move Day 1

My weekend started out with a fun dinner with Liz at The Counter in El Segundo on Friday night. We had a great time!

Saturday afternoon, I studied for about an hour before meeting Shelley for a movie (Just Wright) and dinner at Lazy Dog Cafe. I then went home and studied a little bit more, but no stress!

Sunday I was helping Angie move across the hall. I was able to study in the morning and then I headed over there. I had fun moving...I know, I know. Most people HATE moving, but I always have a good time. You get a workout, spend time with friends and you get to help someone. Gretchen (Angie's roommate) was out of town, so Gretchen's boss and her kids (Gretchen is a nanny) came over to help her move the stuff in her room. The kids also helped Angie and I move smaller things over to the new place.

The kids, Colin and Caitlin, were hard workers and you know what they say--"work hard, play hard!"
They had a great time trying out Angie's trampoline!

Instead of Hiking

The plan on Sunday was to go hiking with Alice. Instead, we went to Wal-Mart and then went to wash her car.



Here's Alice vacuuming out her car:We actually had a good time! We also went to Menchie's to get Alice some fro-yo and I got some Chicken Dijon, which happens to be right next door.

Although it would have been nice to go hiking, we had a good time! :)

Lip Gloss

The other day I bought a new lip gloss. Now, it's the same lip gloss color I had gotten previously. It took me about 2 minutes to make that lip gloss wand look like this:
Here's what the new lip gloss looks like:

How long do you think it will take me to transform this one? ;)

New Bedspread

I've been wanting to show off my new bedding. I love it! Especially since it was a great deal! I know, I know, it's the little things. :)

Catalina Restaurant

Friday night I met up with my fabulous gourmet foodies, Alice and Dyanelle. We went to Catalina Restaurant in South Redondo Beach. The restaurant was very cozy, even offering blankets for those patrons that were cold. Dyanelle is generally cold, so she took advantage of the perk. Here are a few of the delicacies we partook in. These are the crabcakes with avocado and mandarin oranges as garnishment. The red sauce the crabcakes are sitting in was a tad too spicy for my taste.

This was the Kyoto tuna. The tower was garnished with crisp persian cucumbers. The tuna didn't really have much of a taste, but if you ate it with a bit of the tortilla chip (which was lime flavored) it was delicious.

I didn't take any pictures of the main courses or dessert. I do remember that we had a "deconstructed s'more" and a toffee cake for dessert. It was all yummy. It was even better when Alice treated us!

Shelley's Birthday

Shelley's birthday was on Saturday! Erika went to a dinner at her in-laws, so I had about an hour before heading over to El Pollo Inka for dinner to celebrate Shelley's birthday. Welp, I was sitting on my bedroom floor picking out a pair of shoes and felt a wave of fatigue go over me, so I thought "I'll just lay back on the carpet and rest my eyes." Famous last words! Thankfully, I was only conked out for a half hour so I was able to get up, get my white strappy kitten heals on, paint my toes electric blue, freshen up my makeup and be on my way.

I met Angie and Gretchen in the parking lot and we walked in together. As usual, Angie's gift was marvelously presented.
El Pollo Inka is Shelley's favorite place (mainly because it is Peruvian). Shelley ordered a couple of appetizers for us to try and I ended up getting Papas Rellena, another appetizer that is basically mashed potatoes shaped like a baked potato with ground beef in the middle. The outer part was crispy and delicious and the beef was tasty.

Here's our group celebrating Shelley (sitting to the right of me):

Strawberry Festival

Saturday morning Erika, the kids and I drove to Oxnard, CA to experience the Strawberry Festival that is very well-known in these parts. The idea was actually my friend, Alice's. She was planning on going with her boyfriend, Mark, and she mentioned it to me. I had no idea it was going to be this weekend until she mentioned it!

We arrived right as it opened. It was really muddy where we parked and at the entrance, but there were paved areas in the festival so it wasn't too difficult to push that stroller!

The first thing we did was go on the Hydro Racer ride for the kids. Okay, I'll admit that I had fun on it, too! Poor Sebastian didn't have a fun time, however. Poor guy was crying most of the time. I was sitting with Lauren and trying to call out to him "It's okay, honey, it's okay!"
We ate lunch after the first ride because the dragon ride was closed for the moment. We ate yummy strawberry nachos, teryaki chicken and rice, and very delicious strawberry smoothies! Immediately after we ate the kids were chomping at the bit to go on the dragon ride. The ride had a huge line (as opposed to before lunch when we were first in line). There was a booth next to the ride that colored kids hair, so I took the older kids while Erika stood in line.

Rebecca got red and black stripes, Lauren got blue and pink stripes and Sebastian got a mo-hawk with orange and black. It sure passed the time and the kids loved it!
Sebastian looked like a rooster!

We did a little shopping on the way to the last ride, Lil Cricket Express.
This was a verrry slow train ride! :)
Kaylen was not happy on the dragon ride, but she still wanted to go on the Lil Cricket Express. Erika thought that her riding with Kaylen would ease Kaylen's fears, but no such luck.
Even though there was a little drama on the rides, the kids had a good time. We ended the day buying wands and wreath headdresses for the girls and marshmellow pop guns for Sebastian and Brian (his dad). Lauren also got a pop gun so they could play together.

The drive back was difficult--I felt like falling asleep most of the ride. I was grateful when Erika woke from her nap to talk to me!

Dinner with Jenn

Friday night Jenn Gunn came over for dinner. We enjoyed Daphne's Greek Cafe gyro plates together with Erika and the kids to start the evening. It is my favorite

I had gotten the girls hair ties, bows, and headbands which they were excited about. Kaylen really liked the bows I got her:
After we had dinner, we settled the kids down to watch a movie and eat cookies for dessert while Jenn, Erika and I went to work on Jenn's wedding invitations. After a few trials for coloring the background paper turquoise, I realized I wasn't well-suited for it, so I ended up cutting the RSVP cards and the face of the invitations.
We got a lot accomplished and we had a good time!

Dinner with Alice

My friend, Alice, came over on Tuesday to have dinner with me, my sister and the kids. We all had a great time chatting away and the kids were quite entertaining. Kaylen (2 years old) had to go potty, but before she did her pull-ups were droopy and she started doing the "butt crack dance" where she says "butt crack, butt crack" and shakes her tush! It was hilarious! I bet Alice never expected that!

Dinner at the Smith's

After the visit we went back to the Steips (Erika's in-laws) before driving over to the Smith's in Palos Verdes Estates.
Here is Scotti reading Rebecca and Lauren a story:
The Smith's are long-time friends of Scotti and Rich and are a very nice New Zealand transplanted couple (they've been in the U.S. over 25 years). Andy (my sister's brother-in-law) and Jenn (his fiancee) and Katie (my sister's sister-in-law) were also there. We had hors d'ouvres and chatted for a bit and then the kids were let loose outside! They had a great time running around, sitting on the swing and doing cartwheels and just getting out the pent up energy they couldn't release during their long drive!
The Smith's estate is gorgeous! They have a luxurious city view, a lavishly landscaped property, including a rose arbor that led to a trail below and a gazebo. Gazebos are my favorite! :)

Here's Erika and I enjoying the beautiful views!

The kids really loved being able to do gymnastics!

Dinner was delicious, as was dessert! After dinner, the funniest thing happened. Rebecca came into the living room and saw that Andy and Jenn were cuddling. Rebecca demanded to know what they were doing. Jenn said they were cudding and Rebecca's response was "ILLEGAL!" I couldn't help but giggle! :)

Freeze Tag

Besides the aforementioned drama, I am happy to see my sister and her kids! They arrived on Saturday afternoon tired from a two days car ride. We decided to go up to Palos Verdes to surprise the kid's grandparents. Boy were Scotti (Grandma) and Rich (Grandpa) were really surprised!

The next day was Mother's day, so I took Erika and the kids out to Coco's (my apparently new favorite place) for breakfast. It was delicious and amazingly not packed with people (for Mother's Day it was down right dead). We had a lovely breakfast and had enough strenght to drive to my dad's.

After the argument, I went outside and Erika let all the kids come outside too (to cheer me up). They were very sweet. I suggested we play freeze tag, which the kids seemed to enjoy.







We also played "Red Light, Green Light" before the kids were called into my dad's house by their mom. Erika and the kids went out to the backyard with my dad. It was apparent that Rebecca was not happy and she even said "I feel like a lonely prisoner." I tried not to laugh, but she was so adorable!

Parental Struggles

The past 3 years have been very difficult for me in regards to having a relationship with my dad. Many can tell you that, even growing up, my dad and I fought like cats and dogs. This dynamic has not changed much, apparently.

Three years ago, when my mom was really sick, it was extremely stressful for me and my sister, Erika because we are the executors of our parents wills and we have a responsibility to make sure they are well taken care of. I, for God's own reason, happened to be there when my mom got horrifically sick for the first time after she was diagnosed with lung cancer. There was the time my mom and I were waiting for everyone to meet us at Buca di Beppo's and she got so hypoglycemic that the color ran out of her usually blue eyes and she slumped over and was unresponsive. It reminded me of the scene in Steel Magnolia's when Julia Roberts' character goes into a diabetic fit. After the whole ordeal was over and my mom had something to eat and the color in her cheeks and her eyes had returned, I remained catatonic while everyone ate their dinner. That was the first time I realized my mom didn't have much time left.

I drove my mom to a regular doctor's appointment, not realizing she had been sick with a bad flu for days. After the appointment she continued to get sick and I had to take her straight to the ER to get treated. Thank the Lord the nearest hospital was just down the street! There was also the time that my mom was hospitalized for pneumonia and the doctor's discovered that her lung cancer had spread to her brain. This was a week before my mom and I went on the Hawaiian cruise she had wanted and was determined to go on. All the while I was afraid out of my mind that she would pass away while we were traveling. She didn't however, but the fear haunted me as my mom wasn't herself most of the time and it turned out she did get sick--her blood pressure dipped really low--that she was in the cabin a good amount of the time.

Suffice to say, I was traumatized. So, going back to the matter at hand. The last 3 years has been difficult for me because I am the only executor close by. I try to visit my dad at least every month. Originally, I would go more often, but I could tell that my dad didn't really want me there. No matter what I said or didn't say, he felt that I was intruding on his life. So, I came by less often.

The last visit I gave him was mainly due to my sister, Samara, calling me to tell me that my dad wasn't answering his phone and he also didn't call her on her birthday which he did every year (I'm pretty sure my dad has no idea when my birthday is and not only that, I am the only one in the family that does not receive a gift, although it's not the gift that matters). Anyway, I happened to be going to the same town to visit my niece who had just had a baby. I came by and he was there sitting on the couch, seemingly fine.

I invited him to come with me to see his great-grand daughter. It was evident that he has declined quite a bit. He's lost at least 15 lbs and he had a hard time keeping his balance. Even Todd noticed and tried to give my dad pointers on how to hold his cane (which he didn't listen to).

I realized that night that it is difficult for me to separate my fear of going through the same thing with my dad that I had to go through with my dad. I tried to get my dad to go to the doctor but he just got upset at me and lied and said he had an appointment in two weeks.

I called Erika because I was upset but I didn't talk to her until the next day. She called my dad and of course he wants to be independent (which I want too). Well, Erika checked and found out that Dad didn't have an appointment and he hasn't been to the doctor in 5 months. He is supposed to go back every 3 for a med check, so basically he hasn't been taking his medications as he should.

Erika decided to drive down from Washington to check on Dad since I am so ineffective (my words, not hers!). She is worried and she knows how to handle him better than I can. She arrived on Saturday, but we decided to go see my dad on Sunday. I wanted to apologize and let him know that I only want his good health and independence and to explain how I was feeling. It didn't go so well.

I apologized and explained how I was feeling and my dad got irate and said, "Why should I worry about what you are worrying about. I have enough to think about." He basically didn't want to concern himself with me at all. Then he said I was repetitive! I had talked to him about this one other time (I had gotten really upset about a month ago). I couldn't believe he was accusing me of being repetitive, so I told him so--he is the one that repeats himself every time I visit and I have never said anything.

I then told him that he wouldn't have to worry about what I was thinking because I wouldn't "bother" him by coming over. I decided that I had endured a lot stress and frustration over the years (more than just this one situation) and it is obviously not appreciated. My dad doesn't want me around or if he did he has no way of showing it...he just knows how to show me contempt and how to disregard my feelings. I have had enough of that this last year from plenty of other poeple and I just can't surround myself with that kind of negativity.

Even though I know it's right for my emotional health, I feel it's not really a "me" thing to write people off like that. I've had to distance myself from people who have hurt me to perserve myself and even though I know it's right for me, that doesn't mean I don't want a relationship but I know it just causes more pain.

BEC class

Last night was my last BEC (i.e. Business) class. Man, was it difficult to sit through! The instructor was REALLY boring and did not make the subject matter fun. Of course, we are talking about cost accounting, which is difficult to make exciting. :)

I have two weeks off before I have to start the final class, FARE (i.e. Financial). Originally, I was going to do the homework for BEC and then try and cram for an exam at the end of May, but I don't want to burn myself out. I already feel a little burned out as it is.

FARE is the most difficult part, so I decided to take a break from studying until the start of the FARE class and then go full boar! Then I'll take the FARE test in late July and then take the BEC exam in August.

That's the plan, anyway! :)

Planned Visit

Tuesday night I drove straight from work to my hometown. The plan was to visit my niece, Samantha, and her new baby, Ruby. I drove to my dad's and we went together only to find that Samantha had taken her 6-day old out for a walk! I was flabbergasted, as I thought everyone knew you do not take a newborn anywhere. Not only that, but she knew I was coming over.

We did get to catch up with my nephew, Thomas (Samantha's brother) and my brother, Todd. After awhile, we went out to my brother's backyard which is really nice. He has three Greek statues, a pond (with moving water) and a nice white picket fence. Welp, we waited until 9pm and then we had to leave. I was really disappointed that I didn't get to see my niece or my great-niece. :(

2 down 2 to Go

Saturday I took the second of 4 CPA exams. This was the Regulation section, which is basically individual and corporate taxes and business law (contract law, UCC law, Estates and Trusts, and Bankruptcy). I was really nervous about this exam because I have been kind of burnt out on studying. I finished the final review software (it had about 6 hours of lecture and refresher questions) on Friday night, thinking I should have reviewed more than I did.

When I arrived at the testing center, I was surprised that the waiting room was completely packed! Most everyone was taking one of the 4 CPA sections, too! I was finally brought in, my picture taken and my fingerprint scanned. I felt like I was being booked! The test went better than I expected. I was more confident in the subject matter in the multiple choice section and I think I did okay on the simulation section, but I'll see how it went when I get my score!

I decided that retail therapy was in order to destress from the test! I ended up buying 3 pairs of shoes (trust me, I restrained myself!). Here's one of the pairs:

I ended up running a few errands, running home to drop off everything and then getting dressed to meet Shelley and Carolina at the Catalina Coffee Company in Redondo Beach. I wore the pink sparkly shoes I just bought--love 'em!! Shelley, Carolina and I had a great time--we closed the place down!

Sunday morning I went to church at the 9am service. Then I drove to Coco's in Manhattan Beach to meet up with Alice and her friend, Rachel, who was visiting from Houston. We all had a fun time! Afterwards, Alice drove Rachel to the airport and then met up with me at Whole Foods to shop. Alice beat me by getting more things and spending a HECK of a lot less! It was fun hanging out with Alice even though she beat me! I need to learn her MAD shopping skills!

All-in-all it was a great weekend! :)