Memories

Tonight when I got home, I decided to look for this tennis bracelet I got for college graduation that I had mentioned to Jenn. She was thinking she might borrow it for her wedding.

While I was looking for it (so far to no avail) I found so many things I had forgotten about! I found this little plastic lizard I had gotten back in college to commorrate Henry, my first college roommates and my lizard. We somehow received this Lizard and I named him Henry. He died tragically from dehydration. He is now buried in an Avon earring box in the flower beds in the dorms at CSUF. Sniff.

In my search for the bracelet, I looked through the boxes of cards I've collected over the years. I have every card I've ever received. One that I found was the little thank you card that my sister placed on the table setting as part of her wedding. Erika had individually thanked all of her wedding party and had also put a general thank you note on each person's place for her wedding. Way too much work for me to ever attempt, but it looked nice at her wedding.

I also found a cupie doll and an ex-boyfriend's gift to me (it was a plastic thing that had two roses etched in them with "Love" and his name after it. I also found a clay rendering of a giraffe made by my niece who is now 23! I found a ceramic "A" that my old college roommate, Lynn, made me in pottery class in college. Ah, the memories.

Another thing I found, was this poem I wrote. As you may know (and will know after reading this) is that I am no poet. I am much better at limerick writing.

The One for Me

I've looked all my life for the one
Who could look into my eyes and see
A dreamer and lover who is young and carefree
Yes, that really is me.

I've wanted someone to lean on to and laugh with
To share all my joys and my tears with
An understanding heart and caring eyes
Someone who loves me for me.

When you smile I can see in your soul;
When you're sad I can see all the pain
And through thick and thin
The love never grows thin
'Cause you are the one for me.

Every time I see you, the foundation gets stronger
A hug from you is like a bridge:
Supportive and strong to support all the love and
Carry me through the hard times.

You listen to me and remember what's said
You ask me what's wrong when I'm sad
You reach out to me with the love in your heart
Yes, you are the one for me.
You are the one for me.

Liz's Birthday

Today was a full day for me. I ran errands in the morning and then went to Coffee Bean to study and then meet up with my friend, Jenn. We had a great time catching up. I used to see her weekly at church and bible study, but since I've been studying for the CPA I only go to bible study in between class sections and I've been going to church at different times.

After that, I changed quickly and met up with my friend, Liz. We met at Del Cerro Park to begin a birthday hike that Liz wanted to go on. I am all for hiking! While I was sitting on a curb and changing my shoes, I thought the sight of one foot in a hiking boot and one foot in flip flops was representative of me in away. Born and raised in the beach cities but yearning for the more outdoorsy/hiking life. We had a great hike. Here we are at the beginning of our hike:
The sky was really blue, with very little clouds. Because we started out at about 4:45, the temperature wasn't too hot. There were a lot of lizards out. Liz (ha!) almost stepped on two! Here's one of the little guys:
On the way up the hike (it's a reverse hike where you walk down and then back up) it sounded like their were cicadas in the brush. Liz was not happy about that or the sounds of other wildlife rustling in the brush.

After the hike we drove to the Red Onion to meet Colleen, Gretchen and Shelley for a birthday dinner. I looked like a wreck after the hike, but nothing baby powder, a different top and jeans and a brush couldn't cure. :)

Dinner was delicious. Shelley and I shared a chimicanga which ended up being a perfect portion for each of us. Shelley brought a delicious chocolate cake to properly celebrate Liz's birthday.


Liz is a big burst of sunshine! She is such a positive, upbeat gal who's observations are not only funny but astute. It was so nice to honor her tonight.

Celebration Dinners

Friday night I was invited to a graduation dinner. Abhay Maniar, a previous coworker of mine, graduated with his MBA from Anderson School of Business, UCLA. I wasn't able to attend the ceremony because I had to work, but I was able to go to the dinner at El Torito Grille in Long Beach.
I had a really great time catching up with a few of my old coworkers, Patrice and Karishma, as well as talking with Abhay, his wife, Isabel and his sister, Shruti. The rest of the party was too far away to really talk to.

Saturday night I went to church and the sermon was again exactly what I needed to hear. It was about how God is always faithful, even when we are not faithful to Him.

After service, a group of my friends wanted to take me out to Sammy's Woodfired Pizza as a belated celebration of my birthday. It was very sweet of them. I wasn't raised with any type of birthday celebration, so when I get a dinner and presents it's almost too much for me. I feel blessed and overwhelmed.
Jenn (left) got a hold of my camera and had a little fun with Nicole:
Jenn also encouraged Heather, Lisa and Angie to be silly for the camera:
Here's Nicole really enjoying the sundae that was served as the birthday treat:

I got so many presents! Jenn gave me some cucumber scented toilettries, Lisa got me several wonderfully scented candles and lip glosses. Heather and Leslie got me a beautiful heart and key necklace. Angie, the supreme gift presenter, got me this amazing gift basket filled with Williams-Sonoma cooking items including a heart-shaped oven mitt, spatulas, a scrubber, a happy birthday martini glass (with 4 personally wrapped tin foil and flower stickered chocolate-covered oreo cookies). She also included chocolate pasta (that will be interesting once I have someone to cook it for), dish towels and pink measuring spoons and cups. Angie is amazingly gifted. I keep telling her to go into business!
My weekend ended with a yoga class and then at about noon I met my friend, Liz, at the nailspa that is right next to my apartment building. I got a mani & pedi while Liz got a pedi. Afterwards we went to Open Sesame for lunch. I always have a great time with Liz because she is a very positive and upbeat person! But my fun had to end because I needed to study! Ugh. :)

Proverbs 22: 24-25

I was reading through scriptures and I found this, which speaks to me these days.

Proverbs 22:24-25 "Do not associate with a man given to anger; or go with a hot-tempered man, lest you learn his ways, and find a snare for yourself."

Than I read Proverbs 29:20,22 "Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him." "An angry man stirs up strife, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgressions."

I also have underlined Proverbs 30: 11-12: "There is a kind of man who curses his father, and does not bless his mother. There is akind who is pure in his own eyes, yet is not washed from his filthiness.

As I told my sister, I underline the "good stuff." May I never be this angry!

Best Birthday Gift This Year

I begrudgingly woke up at the crack of dawn on the morning of my birthday. I had to be at work at 7am so that I could leave at 4pm to endure the 2 hour drive to my class in Long Beach. I got there at 7:15am but I figured I would just take a shorter lunch.

To my surprise, I got a call from the Becker review to notify me that class for this week is cancelled! I was so happy that after I got off the phone I did a fist pump and exclaimed, "Yes!" I promptly called my friend, Alice, to see if she wanted to meet me for dinner. Originally we were going to go to dinner on Thursday, but since I was free we decided to meet after my yoga class.

We had dinner at Salt Creek Grille because it is close to my yoga class and they have the best sliders, and Alice knew that I loved them!

Our dinner was a time of indecision, which allowed us to get to know our server, David Spooner, much better! His nicknames are Spooner, Spoony, D. Spoons and he is a struggling actor...or a wanna be actor because he really hasn't started looking officially yet. I mentioned my blog (I jokingly compared my blog--that has 4 followers after 2 years--to my friend, Seller's, month-old blog--that has about 4,500people following him from 9 different countries. I think I should have a goal to double my following population by the end of the year--to a whopping 8. It is my favorite number, didn't you know?


Anyhoo, the sliders we shared were delicious, as was the house salad I had. D. Spoons brought over a lemon cake with raspberry frosting with a candle in it. It was pretty moist for lemon cake (I'm not a big fan of lemon cake but this was good.).


The raspberry frosting reminded me of my first ever birthday cake when I was 8 years old (for those of you that don't know, my parents didn't celebrate birthdays). My sister, Tanya, made the raspberry cake and also brought over flowers. I didn't have another birthday cake until I was in college, I don't think.

I remember that the flowers had Statice in them. Even though they are purple I still like Statice. Here is a picture of Statice, just in case you don't recognize the name (photo courtesy of http://www.fiftyflowers.com/) :

Dinner, Movie and Barbie Cake

Today I met up with my friends, Liz and Dyanelle. We went to see "Killers" at the Del Amo AMC. It was a cute romantic comedy although the ending was a bit anti-climactic. It was still funny so I enjoyed it.

We headed to Lazy Dog Cafe for dinner. I had my usual wedge salad and spaghetti bolognese. Since my birthday is tomorrow, Dyanelle convinced me to have a drink in the new birthday wine glass she got me as one of the gifts she brought! I had a peach bellini which is basically peach wine. It was good, but I don't hold my liquor very well so my head was swimming!

We had a great time chatting and reminiscing about growing up and how we used to play as kids.

Then the staff brought out my birthday cake--it was a barbie cake that Dyanelle had made!

I didn't tell Dyanelle this, but a few years ago my sister made a similar cake for my niece's birthday and I remember telling her "I want a Barbie cake!" So funny that I got my wish!

Tomorrow is my actual birthday which will be spent working, driving and going to class. But at least now I can have a piece of birthday cake on my birthday!