Quick Update

It's been a long time! I have been so busy with school, work, friends and family that I haven't taken the time update my blog. For that I am sorry. Usually when I am slacking I have Marie asking me to update but I think she has been too busy to bug me haha. So since it is almost 1am I will just say a quick thing.

School: I love it. I had my practical finals this week and I have the written exams and the deep cleaning of the kitchens next week. I will post pictures and an update of how the quarter went soon.

Work: I hate the new gym I work at. I miss San Clemente, I miss the kids, I miss my co-workers. I am a little bitter of how I am being treated and I am about ready to just be done with the whole thing. I should be starting back at San Clemente a few days a week in a few weeks. I am still waiting to hear from the new owner.

Friends: You are all amazing. I have been so busy that I am very sorry if any of your think I am ignoring you or anything! I love you all so much. Hopefully after next week I can hang out a little before I start next quarter.

Family: I had so much fun with all of you guys here. The golf tournament went great (I will do a post about that), Disneyland was a blast (another post for that will come) and just seeing everyone was great. I can't wait to go up north next week for Kylie's 2nd birthday! YAY!!! My sister and I did a photo shoot a few weeks back and here are two photos from that:


Well that's it for now! Hopefully I will get time to put the rest up! Love you all!!!

Week 4

Well week 4 in school was one of my best and worsts. My Monday Baking class was...interesting. We changed groups sadly and AGAIN I was the only girl in my group. There was one boy that is also in his first quarter so that is one step away from being the odd man out. But he was....well an idiot. The other two guys in my group were interesting. One was nice, good at his work and a little bitter at the chef instructor lol. The other was a total ass! He was rude, condescending, and not helpful at all.

The idiot guy didn't know what he was doing AT ALL! I pretty much had to do all his work. Which means I was a little later to do my work and by the time I was ready to use a mixer there wasn't one available. Picture this: 5 tables, each table making 4 different recipes; only 4 mixers in the kitchen! Helpful? FAR FROM IT! Oh well we do what we have to do. So I was one of the last to use a mixer. So my bread dough didn't have enough time to ferment and proof. Because of this it wasn't perfect and we got a little lower of a grade. We got a 90%. I was bummed that it happened but we would have gotten like a 60% if I hadn't helped (done) the doughnuts for that other guy. The one guy who was nice in my group was like yes a 90%, way to go team. The jerk guy blamed it on me, asked what quarter I was in and when I said first he said oh that's why. Then asked if I have ever worked in a restaurant before, when I said no he said wow you are going to have a hard time in school. By this point I was just angry so I told him actually I hadn't had any issues until I was in his group since he wouldn't help when we asked for it before. Even though I helped him roll out the brioche. Whatever! I helped on 3 dishes and he barely did one. I hope that the next time we are in groups of 4 I at least have one more girl in my group!

Here are the pictures of what we made:

This is our brioche.
These are our cinnamon rolls.
Here is out challah bread.
Here are a few doughnuts and doughnut holes.

Then on Thursday and Friday I had my pastry class. I loved this week. We got to make a quiche, an apple pie, and a few fruit tarts. I really like the people in this class. They are really friendly and helpful. Most of the boys are savory students so they are just as lost as everyone else even though they are in their 3rd or 4th quarter. So they ask me for help just as much as I ask them. It's nice to start making friends. We can joke around with each other and we check to see how each other are doing. It makes a crazy class day go so much faster. I spend 10 hours a week in pastry class and 5 in baking and I feel like I am in baking WAY longer! It's totally the people!

Anyway here is what I made this week in pastry:

This is my quiche and my apple pie. I didn't fill the pie with apples because I didn't have enough time to do enough apples so the pie dough cover sank down to meet the apples that were in it. Oh well not the prettiest but it still tasted good. My quiche had bacon, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and spinach it in. My dad said it tasted good. I didn't get a chance to taste it.

My tarts turned out pretty...I think so at least. I was excited to come home after working on Saturday and eat the strawberry/kiwi one...but while I was at work my mom ate it. I think my parents are enjoying me being in culinary school. But I took one to my friend Garret, my dad had one, my mom had two, and I took my boss one. They all seemed to like them. The last one was left for me in the outside fridge and I forgot about it. So again something I didn't get to taste. I will tomorrow when I make one for my midterm though. (I made 4 tarts which I am showing but I brought 6 home. One girl couldn't take hers so she gave me two of hers.) There was a contest in class to see who could create the most perfect tarts that day and whoever did it would get a full letter grade higher on the midterm or final. Well I was disqualified because I forgot to put the glaze on top. A mistake I won't be making again. So I put the glaze on top and took my sad tarts home. I still like them...well all but the one in the top right! :-)
So week 5 is midterms! AHHH! I will have another post soon about how those went! LOL!

Painting Stripes

You may or may not know that I have been in the process of painting my room for months. I painted three walls a few months ago and never got around to the last wall because I wanted to do pink and brown stripes on the wall where my bed is. The colors match my bedding.

So I learned this weekend that painting stripes is more work than I thought. The painting part actually wasn't bad but the trying to figure out how big to make them and tape them off was a pain in the butt!!! A few people tried to tell me how to do it and I really appreciate all the help. But when it came down to it I had to do it my way because I ran out of pink paint. I would have had enough if I hadn't had a palm tree on my wall before hand. Being lazy and thinking the colors were dark enough I decided not to prime over it! BIG MISTAKE! It took me forever to cover the palm tree with the pink parts. In the end you can still see a little bit of the tree coming through the pink in certain parts if you really look but it wont bug me.

The first thing I did was figure out where the stripes would be and then I painted the pink. I forgot to take a picture before so you just have to use your imagination to see the tree. :-)

Then I taped the stripes and painted the brown. (This was the tricky part because I had to measure carefully and use a level.) The pink stripes look smaller right now.

Then I removed the tape after a little while so that i could see how it all turned out! It's not perfect but it's good enough for me. I mean I am pretty much the only one that sees it all the time!As soon as I put my room back together I will take a picture to show what it all looks like with my bedding. Hopefully it will look good!

Ending Week 3

So last week I got really sick and wasn't able to go to class on Thursday and Friday. So I knew I had to step it up this week to make up for it. And I think it went pretty well. We were in groups of 3 and my group was a girl who was in her 3rd quarter and another girl in her 1st quarter. The girl in her 1st quarter was very slow so we had to kinda step it up even more to make up for it. I hope she speeds up for her sake...she may not survive. But we did end up making some fun stuff.

On Thursday we made flourless chocolate cake, apricot gelee, chocolate ganache, and a high ratio yellow cake. We over filled our yellow cake pans so they were very tall and took forever to bake. But they turned out great. Then we took one sheet of flourless chocolate cake and covered it with the ganache, then another layer of cake, then a layer of apricot gelee, then another layer of flourless cake. We wrapped everything and froze the chocolate cake layers and refrigerated the high ratio cakes.

On Friday we took the flourless chocolate cake layers and cut it in half. Then stacked one half on top of another. We then cut that into 3 pieces, where you could see the layers on the side. We made a chocolate gelee and covered the top with the chocolate gelee. We made buttercream frosting then we took the high ratio yellow cake and cut it in half. Filled it with buttercream, and put the top layer back on. Then we crumb coated the cake with the buttercream. The crumb coat is just covering the cake with enough frosting to cover it and make sure there are no loose crumbs that will get into the final frosting. We were running out of time so we took cocoa powder and with parchment circles we made "snowflake" designs by folding and cutting the parchment. Laying it on the cake and then putting cocoa powder over it. Then taking off the parchment. We then put some chocolate circles on the sides. My cake tasted great, but didn't look perfect. But I figured it's a crumb coat that we weren't going to finish and the more I worked on it the unhappier I got with it. So I stopped working. LOL! And like I said we were running out of time.

So week 3 was a success and a lot of fun! Here are some pictures.

This is the flourless chocolate cake layers...when done called a Ruby Torte

Here is my cake...not perfect but it's ok for now!

This is the finished Ruby Torte!
At the end of class Chef Zamora plated some of the Ruby Torte...it's so pretty!!!

Week 3 Baking

So today was the first day of week 3. So far so good. We were making yeast breads. This week we had 5 new recipes to make. We made soft dinner rolls, black pepper cheddar bread, whole-wheat bread, hamburger and hot dog buns, and a pullman loaf.

I don't have much today say about today because we rocked!!! I worked with the same boys as last week. We work pretty good together, but next week the groups get switched up. We were the only table in the class to get 100% on our breads. Chef Kim said we worked efficiently, clean, and well. She tried the first 4 of the breads. Because the pullman loaf had to go in so late there wasn't time for her to taste it. Also it took FOREVER to bake because someone turned off the oven while there was 3 loaves in there! I guess they didn't look inside first. LAME! Luckily out of the 3 ours was the only one that didn't deflate so we turned the oven back on and continued to bake it. We had to take it out a little early also because class was over and we were the only 4 students left in the kitchen. But since we were so efficient and done before everyone else she also had our table grill up the Italian sausage for the class, for the hot dog buns. We had time for that, to do some extra cleaning for her, and to take a break. I am not sure how we did it. And our stuff came out great. I kinda wish the groups weren't switching.

Chef Kim also graded out journals. We have to type out all the recipes and on the opposite page of the recipe we put a picture of what we made and then we add comments about how we though it went and things like that. She said that I did great and it was perfect and to keep it up. That was a load off my mind because I still really wasn't sure how she wanted it done.

I am still getting to know everyone in the class. I still don't know most everyone's name. I know a few but that is pretty much it. But everyone is really nice and helpful. I can't wait for next week which is enriched yeast doughs.

Here are the things my table made today:

Theses are the soft rolls that I made.
These are the same thing as above but they are shaped in the "double knot"
These are our black pepper cheddar breads

These are our whole-wheat rolls

Here are the hamburger and hot dog buns

And finally here is our totured pullman loaf lol

Week 2

So today is Saturday, the official last day of the week (on my calendar at least). And I don't really have a lot to say about school because sadly I got sick on Wednesday night. I was running a low fever that night, Thursday morning it was gone so I went to work. By Thursday at like 11:00am it was back but no longer low... :-( I knew that I needed to at least go to school and talk to my chef instructor. So I went in and turned in my homework and told her I was running a temperature. I knew that I couldn't work with food with a temp and the way I was feeling. So did she and she marked that I had come in, graded my homework, and sent me home.

I don't remember driving home from school. I was so out of it. I felt like I was gunna pass out driving there. So I am just really glad I made it home safe. I pretty much stayed in bed all day. The fever would come and go.

On Friday I woke up with the fever again. It was so frustrating because I had class again. And again I was going to miss it. All day the fever was off and on. But I felt better. I had a little more energy.

Today I had to work. YAY! I love my job a lot but when you are not feeling 100% it can be rough. Luckily I work with amazing people who really try to help you out. Every time I checked today I did not have a fever. YAY!!!! But I have felt kinda crummy all day. Back to the feeling like I was going to pass out or throw up. Awesome. I would rather feel better but have a fever!

I work again tomorrow and I am just hoping that I feel better. I have this darn caugh that wont quit and when you have to talk a lot, it makes for a rough day.

First Day Baking

Well I survived the first week. A lot of book work, A LOT of homework, even more feeling lost and out of place. By Thursday I was thinking...what did I get my self into? I felt like I was in WAY over my head and wasn't sure how I was going to do. With a lot going through my mind dealing with other things as well I kinda broke down and while talking to my friend Thursday night, I started crying. It felt good to get it all out. Then when I went to class on Friday I knew I had done what I was supposed to do the night before and I had brought the right things. We had some more lecture and review and then we had a lab.

We had 5 minutes to get our mise en place (everything we need) and then we were going to start. And when Chef Zamora (my pastry chef instructor) said 5 minutes...she meant 5 and that was it, you better be ready. We were practicing a few basic knife skills. We grabbed a potato, a lime and an orange. With the potato we ended up doing dice cuts and diamond cuts. We zested the lime and orange. Then we peeled them with our paring knife. After they were peeled we had to cut out the wedges. They couldn't have any white on them from the peel. It wasn't hard but you definitely had to pay attention to what you were doing. Then at the end of the class she looked at our cuts and told us if we passed or not. If we didn't then we had to practice at home and take a picture and show her. If we did that she would give us full credit for the day.

She came around as I was cutting the lime wedges out and noticed that my lime was rotten. I knew that it was but I was running a little behind so I decided to try it with this lime anyway. I shouldn't have because by the time I got the wedges out, most of the lime had fallen apart. And when she did my grading she asked me to try the lime at home again because I didn't have enough pieces to grade. But that was the only cut that I didn't pass. I was very proud of myself...and guess what, I still have all 10 fingers. :-)

Here are my cuts from classAnd since I had to pracitce my lime cuts at home here is what came out
Today I had my Intro to Baking again and it was Quick Breads day. Quick Breads are breads that don't require fermentation time because they don't use yeast. So they are quick. :-)

After standing at my table a little lost for a few minutes the boys at my table helped we find everything I needed. Not only was I the only person at my table that was in their first quarter but I was also the only girl. Awesome. The boys really helped me out and I had a lot of fun today.
Here is a photo of what we made.

Going clockwise: The bread loaf that is cut into slices on the top left is banana bread; then we have a savory scone with scallions, pine nuts, and goat cheese; a few country biscuits; a few blueberry muffins; another savory scone; sour cream coffee cake is the bread looking thing cut into slices; another country biscuit; a cream scone; more blueberry muffins; more biscuits; and finally another cream scone.

The day for the most part was a success. Our blueberry muffins didn't turn out that great and when you squish them they rise right back up like nothing ever happened. We called them out "stress muffins" like the stress balls. Chef Kim (our chef intructor) thought it was funny and brought one of them to the kitchen next to our. The chef intructor thought it was very funny as well. We had fun, ate some pretty good food and got to bring some home. So today was a good day! Next week in baking is yeast breads...I can't wait!

First Day Jitters

Today was my first day in school. And I am not going to lie, I was VERY nervous! I was excited but most of my excitement was hidden under nerves. What if I fall flat on my face? I just didn't know what I was getting myself into. I felt like I might be getting in over my head and what if I couldn't figure a way out. But I knew that this is what I wanted to do so I went to class with a (nervous) smile on my face.

Today I had class from 12:30-5:30. It was my intro to baking class. Most of the day was paperwork, bookwork in groups, and then we got some bread dough to play with. There were 5 people at my table and one guy was able to do the double knot which is exactly as it sounds. It looks like bread in two knots. I was able to make balls (rolls) the correct way, and a single braid and a double braid! Might not make sense to anyone but Marie, but I was excited that I was able to do it. The guy next to me told me I was born to do it. That made me feel a lot better about school. Knowing that even though I was the only one at my table that was in my first quarter I was able to do something better than them. I know they will be able to do just about everything better than me but I hope that there will be one day that I will have all the skills I need! Here's to thinking positively.

Thanks to everyone for you constant support, good thoughts, and interest in how it's going!

Flying

Happiness #21: FLYING

Ever since I was little I have loved the thought of flying a plane. I would always play the flight simulators at my dad's work whenever I could. Even when the Air Force came to my high school I think I was the only girl who got in the trailer to do the flight simulator (and I kicked all the boys butt's, it was awesome). I have always loved flying anywhere and the best part is when there is turbulence.

Today my friend GT asked me if I would like to go flying with him. If you know me you know that the answer to that question will never be no!!! I was so excited. When I finally got out to the Long Beach airport where his plane was I got to meet Don. Before I knew it we were up in the air. GT sat in the back so that I could sit in front with Don. I had the best time. If I remember correctly we did a 2g circle and then another move that made me weightless. They were both awesome and really fun. Don asked if I wanted to fly. I got to fly for maybe 30 seconds but then we started talking about doing something else and he took the controls again. He never really let go which kinda made me happy! :-) GT took pictures and made fun of me from the backseat. I loved EVERY second of it!

I hope I get to go again! Thank you GT and Don! So much fun! It made my crappy week not matter anymore. You always know how to make things better!

Me enjoying the view!

I forgot to get a picture with GT so this is the best I have...his feet in the plane...still don't know why he took it though haha

We flew all over Long Beach and LA, here is the Hollywood sign

Here is me and Don flying...him more than me :-)

Frustration

Happiness #20: Good Frustration
There is some frustration that makes me want to beat my head against the wall. But there is some frustration that is good. It makes me smile...I feel challenged. I want to thank you for this frustration (you know who you are). For all the smiles...I might feel dumb sometimes but I can always laugh at myself. :-)

Finally Updating!

WOW! It's been a long time since I have blogged. One reason is that I have been out of town. I went up north to visit my family for a week. The day after I got back from that I went to Las Vegas for one of my close friend's birthdays! On both trips we had a great time. I loved being able to spend time with Haylie! And I hope GT had a great birthday even though we spent most of it in traffic! :-/ Then I had to do stuff for school all week since I start on Monday. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

So if this is your first time reading my blog you should know that I am starting at The Art Institute of California on Monday. I will be in the baking and pastry program. It has been a hard decision to make but I really think I am making the right one to switch career paths.

Today I had an 8 hour orientation. 8 HOURS!!! It was soooo long and sad to say boring. I was there for 8 hours and I got my kit (which is my uniforms, knives, books and everything), and learned where to park and where the other buildings are. Which I could have learned in 2 minutes after they gave us the map. At one point we were learning how to copy and paste on the computer and I wanted to hit my head against the wall. That was when I knew I was just done and needed to get out of there!

Thankfully I have fantastic people to keep me busy. Krystle thank you so much for entertaining me during my lunch. And thank you so much for working for me the past couple weeks for my vacation and orientation. And GT thanks so much for texting me all day. You kept me entertained no matter what I was not learning. :-)

Now that orientation is over, I have my uniforms and everything I am nervous/excited! I am so excited that I finally get to start. And I am so nervous that I am going to fall flat on my face. But all there is to do now is start...well I need to get my uniforms altered. I am so small that nothing fits right and my chef coats are way too big! And I need to find shoes...but then I get to start. I can't wait to learn all I am going to learn.

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive and encouraging to me, when even I was second guessing my decision. I can't wait to bake for all of you!

Pregnant...

No I am not pregnant. But today I learned that one of my oldest friends just found out she is. And as much as I love her and believe that everything happens for a reason, I am scared for her. Her situation is not ideal, but to be honest it isn't that bad either.
She is not married, but they had plans to get engaged soon. And when she told the father, her parents, and his parents, they all tried to be supportive. And the father seems very excited!
My friend is exploring options with adoption and keeping the baby. I am very proud of her and how responsible she is thinking. It can't be easy either way. This friend of mine had been through a lot and I hope everything will be ok. I can't stop thinking how her life is going to drastically change...either way. I will always be here for her, but there are just some things I can't help with.
I feel like when I was young I thought people that were 24 were old enough to get married and have babies. Now that I am that age...I don't feel old enough to do those things. Crazy how time flies.
Best of luck to my prego friend. I love you! And to anyone else with a bun in the oven!

Turning 24

I just had my 24th birthday. I never thought I would be the person that was worried about how old she was getting. But it was just weird to me that I am now in my mid twenties. I feel like I haven't done too much in my life but hopefully soon, around this time next year I can say differently.

But I had the BEST birthday! Almost everyone in my life has had week long or weekend long birthdays. They celebrate as long as possible. I have never done that. Until now.

On Wednesday I went with two friend to get pedicures and then we had a bonfire.
On Friday I went to Disneyland with my sister and another friend.
On Saturday (my actual birthday) I worked, got a manicure with my sister, went to dinner at Dave and Buster's, played games, and then went midnight bowling.
On Sunday a bunch of us went to dinner with my parents, 6 of us went wine tasting, and then I ended the weekend at church!

I had so much fun and it meant so much to be that all of you could be a part of it. Thank you Stacey and Krystle for working for me so that I could enjoy the weekend. It was amazing.

Ashley, Josh, Bob, GT, Meghan, Marie, Karina, Kelly, Wendy, Allison, Damien, Vince, Krystle, Jeffrey, and Seth for making my birthday AMAZING!!! You all ROCK!!!

Great Friends

Happiness # 19 My Friends
So I have the best friends. I trust them with anything. And I really want to thank them for always being there for me. You know a true friend when they have to tell you something bad, and no matter how hard or awkward it is for them to tell you they still do because they know you need to know. I love you all!!!!!!
Haylie, Ashley, Allison, Robin, Karina, Marie and Jessica...I don't know what I would do with out you especially!!!

Why would they do this to you?

Why is it that when you are sick you have to take gross medicine. I mean I get it...duh to get better. But you would think that they would be smarter about it. When I was little I hated taking medicine so much that I used to throw the pills away and pretend I took them. I see now that that wasn't the smartest but oh well. I got better. Now I realize that the more your throat hurts the bigger the pill you are given. What is that about? Oh you have strep throat, ok here is a huge horse pill. Try and get that down when your throat is swollen...NOT GUNNA HAPPEN!!! This may be just me because I am really bad at swallowing pills but I mean come on. Help a girl out sometime would ya?

Shopping for males

Is it just me or is it just no fun shopping for the males in your life? I can think of a million things that a girl needs/wants. But I don't have a brother so I am still not sure what they need/want. I have been mulling over trying to figure out what to get a certain male for his birthday. I have two days left and I am still at a loss. What am I going to do? What does a 29 year old man want for his birthday? And what do you get for the man who seems to have everything. AHHH! LOL! So frustrating. And why is it that whenever you ask any male what they want for their birthday they say NOTHING! That can't be true. There must be something, even if it's a book, dinner, a pack of gum...something. Oh well hopefully something will come to be in the next couple hours!

Sick...YUCK!

Being sick kinda sucks. But if there is someone there to take care of you it makes things a little better. I have been sick this past week with a sore throat and major constant headache. Now that the headache has gone away and I am starting to feel better I got very stuffy. I feel like there is no winning with this thing. I have to be better by tomorrow because it's a Disney day and a busy weekend. I already missed the airshow because of this thing. I refuse to miss anything else.
Thanks Josh for taking care of me at 3:45am. You are the best!

Being Treated The Way Every Girl Should

Happiness #18: Cloud 9
I always have a smile on my face, a dorky, goofy smile. And I love it. I am floating on cloud nine and nothing compares to the feeling I feel when I am around certain people. I can't thank you enough for the constant smile and the warmth in my heart!

Rock Harbor

I know what your thinking? Mallory went to church? Really? But yes I went to church. I haven't been to church in a long time. There are a few reasons for this. The first one is that when I moved when I was nine my old church was too far away. We didn't really know anyone in our new town so we didn't know where to go. When I got to high school I learned about Saddleback Church. My friends loved it and wanted me to go with them. So I went a few times. It just wasn't for me. I kept getting lost and I think it was too big for me. I have nothing against this church and for those of you who go there I think that is great. But like I said it wasn't for me.

Now the other reason that I haven't been to church in a long time is that I work on Sundays. I have always worked on Sundays so I haven't had time to go to church. I have felt like the smaller churches by me are filled with older people or families. I felt really out of place.

A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend at work about church and everything I just wrote above. She mentioned Rock Harbor and that a lot of people we know go there. I knew that a bunch of people that work with me go to this church but I didn't know which ones they were out of the thousands I work with.

Last week at my friend's birthday party she mentioned that she goes to Rock Harbor. I told her I was interesting in attending and she invited me to go with her. So tonight I went to the 9pm service. I really enjoyed it. It was big but nothing like Saddleback Church. It still felt like the church I was used to. There were a lot of people around my age. And I got to sit with my friend Erica and my new friend Josh. My sister also came with me to try it out. She said it was church. Haha. But it was exactly the church I was looking for. Now not only do I get to go to a church I feel more comfortable in, I get the opportunity to spend time with some friends.

I look forward to returning next week and getting to know my new friends better. Thank you Erica and Josh for including my sister and me. I really enjoyed it.

M * A * S * H

Happiness #17: M * A * S * H

I love watching Mash. The show is old I know and I probably have seen every episode 3 or 4 times if not more. But I can always watch it. I love that it is always on on at least one channel. Right now it is on two channels. I love it. Great acting, almost like real life. I love that they didn't glorify the war. In real life the good guys die too and that is how they told the story. Sad but true. AMAZING! One day I will get the box set of all the seasons!

Taxes

So my heart goes out to everyone who owes the government money after doing their taxes. I was very lucky and didn't owe. But I know plenty of people who do and they owe money that they just don't have. I feel so bad for them. These are hard times and I know it's hard enough to pay your bills, let alone pay extra money to the government when you feel like you will never see it or the fruits of it again. Stay strong to all those who owe. Everything will all work out! Love and best wishes to all!

Text Messages

Happiness #16: Text Messages

I love when I wake up and have a text message. Not exactly sure why but I do. It makes me happy. I woke up on Sunday with 2. One from my cousin and one from a new friend. :-) Makes me think they were thinking about me. YAY! LOL! I am a nerd. I can't help it.

Preliminary APPROVAL

Happiness #15: Approval

In my first post I mentioned that I have been accepted to culinary school. Since then I have been trying to get my loans and everything together to make sure I can afford it. I was denied a loan and without it I wasn't sure I would be able to attend. All I kept thinking was denied...denied...denied. Not knowing what to do I had to survey my options. After talking with my financial aid advisor I applied for a different loan. While waiting to see the word denied I got really nervous that this could be my last chance. When finally the answer came through it was preliminary approval. I am so happy. Now all I have to do is make sure everything in the loan is right and I should be all squared away. I know this doesn't mean that I am good for sure. But it is another step closer. YAY!

Being a girl in my 20's

So when I turned 21 my family and I went to Las Vegas. And when I say family I mean my whole family...grandpa, cousins, aunts, uncles, everyone. My cousin in about 3 weeks older than me so we made a huge weekend event out of it. It was really fun. It was the first time that I had ever been drunk. And until last night it was the last one as well.

Last night I went out with my friends for my friend Keely's birthday. We went to downtown Fullerton and went to 3 different bars. We had a blast. We got at least one drink in each bar and danced a lot. Of course we danced...everyone that went was a dancer. We had a fantastic night with little drama, which is always good.

The first place was really crowded and the music sucked so we didn't stay long. The second place was fun with good music and good drinks but it got really hot so we left. We only went into the last place for some water and to use the restroom. We kinda lost someone in our party at that point and by the time we found them all the girls were done walking in their shoes so we went back to Keely's and had some more cake.

I had never really been out like that. I never drink more than one drink at dinner sometimes and even then I usually don't finish it. I was proud of myself for keeping it together. I didn't want to be the dud that is always the sober one so I had a few drinks. I didn't go overboard so I still felt ok the next day. Thank you ladies and Cody for all the fun we had last night.

Thank you Marissa for asking every 5 minutes who drove us home. Even when we were in the cab! Love you all. Thanks for helping be a 23 year old girl once in awhile.

Happy Birthday Keely!!!!

Quote of the night..."Wait, we took a cab?" - Marissa

"Social Butterfly" strikes again

My family has always teased me about being a "social butterfly". No matter where I was or what I was doing I was able to make friends. Even if it was just while waiting in line somewhere. And because of this I see people I know "everywhere I go". My family's words not mine.

I however love this. I love being able to run into people I know at random places. It never fails that every once in awhile I will be walking somewhere and run into someone I know or have met before.

Today I was shopping with my friend Karina at the Irvine Spectrum. We were on our hunt for something chocolate when I ran into one of my favorite students from The Little Gym. Karina is not a huge fan of kids but because I love this kid and his family I had to stop and say hello. I said hi and introduced Karina to them and we had a short conversation and then we all went on out way. Karina thought he was cute and said that he has a lot of energy. If she only knew. Haha. That is half the reason I love this kid; his energy.

I love the fact that even though I work a lot nowadays I still can get out and see people I know randomly. I am not sure why this amuses me so much but it does.

Thanks "Angry" family for stopping to chat. I can't wait to see you next week!

Chocolate...

Happiness #14: Chocolate!

I LOVE chocolate. I will eat almost anything covered in it. My friend Karina and I went shopping today for a cocktail dress for her. While at the spectrum we decided to go find something covered in chocolate. Even if it was chocolate covered in chocolate. We went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got marshmallows, apples, peanut butter all covered in it. I was a very happy girl. It always makes me feel better...Yummy!

My favorite is chocolate covered strawberries!!! I would take these any day!

Marley And Me

Happiness # 13: Marley And Me

So before the movie came out I read the book. Loved the book. I laughed so hard and cried a lot! Then my mom and I went to see the movie together. It was very good. I cried even more than I did with the book. The puppies are adorable and the dogs are hilarious. If you haven't seen it...see it. Take a BOX of tissues. But see it. It's very good and you I think you will love it. I just bought it today and am watching it right now. I love it, even though I know I am about to cry!

NEW BABY!!!

Happiness #12: New Family Members

Welcome Maddie Rose! You are so adorable and I can't wait to meet you!

Linen Closet Pup

Happiness #11: Kirby Decorating Our Hallway

My dog Kirby is a 2.5 year old Chocolate Cocker. He is the sweetest dog you could ever meet and he is so smart. We ask is he wants to go get the mail and he looks at you, runs outside and waits for you to go to the mailbox. He then brings in a piece of mail. If we bring home groceries he wants to help so we have to give him a box of something to bring in. He won't go inside without something. He knows what a bone is so we have to spell it to each other. He loves a squeaky ball and lives to play. He likes to steal socks, towels...really anything so he can trade you for a bone. But he won't chew it up.

Apparently my mom was putting away towels and he wanted to take them. She wouldn't let him and she shut the linen closet tight. When my dad got up int he morning he didn't shut it all the way and the shelf we keep our wash cloths on is the perfect height for Kirby. So he must have nudged it open to take every single wash cloth off the shelf. I awoke to this...
He had decorated out hallway with the towels my mom wouldn't let him have. When I came out of my room which is on the far left behind the linen closet door he looked over at me and sunk into the ground. I had to walk by him to get my camera to take a picture in which time he never moved. I was laughing to hard. He is Denis the Menace! And we wouldn't have it any other way!

Thank you Kirby for your craziness. You are the class clown for sure!

Pin-Ups

Happiness # 10: Pin-Up Photography

I have always loved Pin-up stuff. The 40's and 50's have always been my favorite time. I would love to go back in time and spend some time in that era. A good friend of mine has recently started doing a lot of photography, mostly pin-ups and he is amazing. His name is Kevin and he is very professional. His work is very good and I love it. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

www.pinupunderground.com

My new Header

My friend Jessica made me a header for my blog. This was my gift for commenting on her blog post about giving. I have posted the same post. Please find it and read it. Comment and then add it to yours. This is a great way to spread love and give to people.

Thank you Jessica. I LOVE my new header. It is amazingly beautiful and very thoughtful! You are so sweet!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Happiness #9: Spinach Artichoke Dip

So good. Makes the perfect appetizer. My sister and I went to dinner today and had the as an appetizer, I love to snack on. I could eat it all the time. With bread or chip...YUMMY!!!

Not knowing what to do...

Today was the first day in a long time that something happened and i really didn't know what to do. Things happen all the time and I think ok, what options do we have. Which of these options should I pick to resolve the problem.

But today something happened that I really didn't know what to do. I had no idea. There were things flashing in my mind of what I could do but none of them were actually an option. I felt like I sat forever thinking...what do we do. The answer I think was so simple that it escaped me. I felt really dumb and useless. You never want to feel useless. I think the situation went as best as possible but I hope it never happens again.

I am so sorry to all that were involved during the time when my mind went blank. I love you Brittany!

Family Visits!!!

Happiness #8: Family Visits

I love when my family comes to visit. On Friday my cousin Haylie came down from up north to visit. The next day my aunt Shelly, uncle Delbert, and cousins Chad, Kelsey, and Brett came in from Arizona. We had a very fun couple days spending time together. Every time we get together we have a blast. We end up laughing hysterically and enjoying every second we get to be together. I wouldn't trade the time I have with my family for anything in the world. I can't wait to see them again. I love you all.

Here's to Disneyland, matching green sweatshirts, "food" we couldn't decide what it was...let alone eat it, Kelsey clearing the room and not letting Haylie escape, the "charming" orange room, the bowling alley not being there anymore, hilarious bowling once we finally found a bowling alley, crazy dancing, Crowded House and Shazam, "Ew, boys do that to themselves", shamrock toes, water in Haylie's purse, "I didn't have ANY questions", trying to get info out of Steve and Carmen, zebra boots, piggy tails, matching shirts, Sea World, lying to Haylie about Atlantis...sorry about that, going home soaking wet, and more Blond moments than anyone can count! This was a CRAZY, fun weekend and I am so glad that you all came out. I make a lot more sense when people meet my family. Someday everyone will understand. Haha. I love you all!

Here is to San Fran in June!

Giving

I got this from my friend Jessica. I think it is so cute. Let's keep the love going.

Here is the deal: The first four people to comment on this post will get something made by me.

My choice.

For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be photography, I may sew or paint something. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely creative.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same deal to 4 of your own lucky blog readers. So, the first 4 people to leave a comment telling me they are in, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it.

Mittens from BOLT

I never knew how cute Mittens was. I still haven't seen the movie BOLT, but now I think I need to. If I do say so myself, I think Mittens was especially cute on Friday, March 13th. Don't you agree?

Pretty Kitty!

Kisses for you!

Rawr!
MITTENS!

Cousins at Disneyland

Happiness #7: Going to Disneyland with my Cousins

My cousin Haylie is in town. Every time she comes in from up north I take her, my cousin Jessica, and my sister Ashley to Disneyland. The four of us are very close and we always have a blast together. Ashley was not able to come with us on our adventure this time but the three of us had fun. I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time!

This was us on the tram today. Jessica, Haylie, and Me

This was us last time on the Tea Cups. Jessica, Ashley, Me, and Haylie!

Friday The 13th

Happiness #6: Friday The 13th

I was born on June 13th. The year I was born it was a Thursday but every time my birthday lands on a Friday I have the BEST day. I think if it is your birthday you have he opposite of the superstition. It's not a bad day, it's a great one. Now I hate scary movies so I have never seen Friday The 13th but I still like the day! Happy Friday the 13th!!!

Too Excited To Sleep

It is almost 3am and I cannot sleep. I am way too excited to fall asleep. My other half comes out here today. My cousin Haylie lives up north and I don't get to see her all that often. I share everything with her though. She knows everything about me. She really is my other half. Without her I wouldn't make sense. We are about 3 weeks apart in age so I think that helps. Haha. Her flight lands around noon and I can't wait to see her. My other cousin Jessica, Haylie, and I are going to Disneyland as soon as I get off work. We always have the best time. I am a little bummed that my sister is not going to be coming but I know we will still have a blast. Then on Saturday, Jessica's immediate family comes out. We are going to get our nails done, go to Sea World, and hang out. We are a very close family and I can't wait to see them all! YAY! Just a few more hours. This will be a busy couple days and I am sure I will be exhausted afterwards but it will be worth every second! So I am lying in bed trying and failing to get to sleep. I feel like the little kid in the Disney commercial that says he's too excited to sleep!!!

Not Just Science...Now a T.V Show

Happiness #6: The Big Bang Theory

Need to laugh? This show will do it. My mom started us watching this show. She watched the pilot and told us we had to watch it. She was so right! I love this show now. I can't miss an episode. If you haven't seen it, watch just one episode and you will be hooked.

It's about these 2 physicists that live together. When a new young, hot neighbor moves in across the hall one of them is love struck. The socially awkward physicists and their other two just as awkward friends have an interesting relationship with this newcomer.
My sister put the first season on my iPod and even though I have seen every episode, I can watch them again and again...and I do. Great writers, amazing actors, and SO many laughs. I hope this show is here to stay awhile. Monday nights, 8pm on CBS...channel 2 for me.

The Spirit of Children

Happiness #5: Children

I love children. I have been around children all my life and I love the spirit and energy they have. I thrive on feeding off that energy. Working at The Little Gym has made my love for children grow. I have had the opportunity to become close with them and love them as my own family. I look forward to going in to work everyday and seeing their smiling faces and hearing the crazy stories they want to tell me. Just today I had one of my kids in a class of mine bring his pet to class. His pet was a snake and I am TERRIFIED of snakes. But he wanted me to pet him so bad. I declined but said hi to it.

After class we give all the children stamps, one on each hand, each foot,and then a belly stamp. They love that the color of the stamp pad changes sometimes and the stamp is different every week. The same little boy that so generously brought his snake to share also brought a stamp and stamp pad of his own. The stamp pad was bright green and the stamp was baby feet. After class he wanted to give everyone a stamp. He was so sweet to share. I let him stamp my hands and feet as well. I had a bright green smear on each hand and foot. As everyone was leaving I went outside to say hello to a mom that I don't get to see often. As we were chatting I picked up her daughter and we were being silly and playing. It wasn't until about 20 minutes later that I realized that all the extra ink thatwasn't completely dry from the little girls hands and my hands was now on my freshly clean, white work shirt. I had a few green smears and black smears now on my shirt.

There was no way to be mad. It made me laugh so hard to think of how the spirit and love of these children was now on my shirt looking like a painting. I love it.

March 10th

It's March 10th 2009. Today, it has been three years since my grandmother passed away from Ovarian Cancer. She fought this silent monster long and hard and after 8 years she lost the battle. My grandmother was a driving force for going to school, she always asked how it was going, she always made it seem important, and she always made it seem ok, no matter how I was doing. I learned a lot from her and after she died I didn't care about school anymore. I really hope she is up in heaven looking down on me and can be proud that I have made the decision to go to culinary school. She always wanted her family to be happy and to do what makes them happy. I really think that one of the main reasons my family is as close as we are is because she made it that way. My grandparents always had an open door for family and friends. Anyone could walk in the door to their house and be greeted with warmth, love, and know they were welcome to stay as long as they wanted. Besides dinner was going to be soon...so you might as well stay. After she passed away my family became very active in raising awareness for this silent killer. Ovarian Cancer is a serious deal, it cannot be detected on the normal tests that doctors do. Women are not normally diagnosed until it is very late, and symptoms are usually thought to be nothing. We have started a memorial golf tournament to raise money and awareness. I cannot wait for September 15th for this years golf tournament.

As hard as it has been losing her I know that she is now in a better place. I think it has also brought some of my family even closer. While it seems there are some pulling away from the family, everyone else seems to be closer than ever.I love my family and would do anything for them. I can't wait to see you guys this weekend!

Haylie...3 days! YAY!
Everyone else...4 days! YAY!

I love and miss you grandma! R.I.P Elizabeth Miller