Last Week

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! Mine was fun and a little stressful. Why you ask? Because I had a huge presentation I had to give to a group of people who are far more knowledgable than me. But it was a success and afterwards, I got to enjoy Halloween.

Pumpkin Carving Night!

My Ghoulish Pumpkin

I had to throw this scary picture in!

At work, the South Bay Medical Therapy Unit dressed as Skittles. Since I am the intern, my hazing was that I had to be the bag of Skittles (I also got to be the green Skittle). I may have put my Skittle bag costume on at the end of my presentation :)

Halloween was fun. I didn't go out, but I did help pass out candy and hang out with a lobster and "dogula"

On Saturday, to burn off all the candy I ate on Halloween, a couple of us took a hike in Orange County.

This is literally down the street from my house (well 30minutes down the street). But we ended up in this beautiful canyon. The hike was very scenic and just what I needed, but I think we ended going off path because at one point we had to slide down on our butts' because it was too steep to actually walk down. I kind of pictured us never making it out and being one of those stories of a group of friends went hiking and never made it out, but we did and here I am.

On Monday marks the last week of my internship at a Pediatric Therapy Unit. I learned a lot, but the more I learned, the more I realized how little I actually know. I had a great experience and even though the commute sucked, I am so happy I got placed in this unit.

I leave for Seattle on Friday night for 2 months, with a little event in the middle of my time off ;)

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Go Hawks!

A New Decade Approaching

On Tuesday I turn 30. Whoa, I remember turning 18 and thinking how old I was then. Although I do not have any reservations about the next decade of my life, it is still an age I have always thought I'd be an adult.

How I still think I look and how I still feel!

And I am far from being a real adult. I do not have a job, I am still in school, I party like I did in college (and by that I mean much less often, with fewer drinks, and much more hung over the next morning). I still call my parents if I need advice or a want to talk about my crappy day. But maybe I will never feel like an adult, even when I get a job, get married, and have children (gasp).

That all being said, I am also very grateful for my life. I have an amazing fiance, family, and friends. I am in school for a career that I know I will enjoy going to every day, and I have my health.

In one of my classes we are studying about physical therapy management for people who have tetraplegia (new term for quadriplegia). On Wednesday, we had a guest lecture come in to talk to us about working with people with C1-C4 tetraplegia. This population may require a respirator for the rest of their life and are completely dependent on someone else to perform activities of daily living. We were also fortunate to have two guests come talk to us who are people living with high tetraplegia. It was a very eye opening experience. These two people rely on a ventilator to breathe for them. If their nose itches, they can't just scratch it, and if they are thirsty, they can't just reach for water. As I mentioned in an early post, I did a project where one of our teammates was in a wheel chair but had full use of their arms and abdominal muscles. Getting around in that situation was difficult and took much more time than with someone who is not in a wheelchair.

It just made me realize that even though sometimes I look at my arms and wish they were more toned, or that I could run just a little faster I would be happier, but in reality, I am able to use my arms and legs without any problems. I went on a run today (procrastination technique to avoiding studying for my midterm tomorrow) and while I was running, enjoying the weather and the pavement under my feet, feeling my muscles burn, I was appreciative that I was able to run. It made studying easier (just a little easier). I know I will still have insecurities, be jealous of other people's lives (especially right now while I am in school), and not have everything I want, I have to remember everything I have.

Sheryl Crow has a quote in one of her songs that I live by "it is not having what you want, it is wanting what you've got."

So as in the words of Tim McGraw: In my next 30 years, I will try and live by these words. I will appreciate my loved ones, the body I am in, and everything that I have. That is a tall order, but I am going to try.

So as last Sunday started my 30th birthday celebration, the party continues until at least Tuesday (on my actual birthday). Cheers!

Here is to fun!

Anyone have words that they live by?

The Last Week in Photos

The past week was a fun one. On Friday, Feb 15th, Chris flew down to Orange to visit. Here is what we did.

Thanks to Josh and Melissa, on Saturday afternoon we were able to hang out on their boat in Newport. It was the first nice day in Southern Cali in a while. Perfect timing on Chris's part.

Sail boat race 

The boys enjoying the boat

Virgin/Google Explorer Boat

Romantic kiss on the boat

The next day, Christopher, Andrew, Pete and I went a nice Sunday Brunch.

The boys enjoying bottomless mimosas at Brunch.

Chris left on Tuesday, but on Wednesday night, Shelly arrived in LA. Since I have Thursday off, I headed up to Manhattan Beach to visit with her. It was a long day at work, so we stayed in and watched a movie.

I also got to visit with Lily (the cat). Isn't she adorable (or slightly scary)?

Sriracha Chips. We thought they were a legend till now. 

Our movie snack included Sriracha chips! Thank you Sam!

The next morning Shelly forced me out of bed at the crack of 10am. On my days off I have reverted back to college style and I usually don't get out of bed till at least noon if not later. We decided that we would take a walk from Manhattan Beach to Marina Del Ray. Shelly informed me that this would only be a 3 mile walk one way, we could stop for lunch and then walk back.

Well it turned out that from the place we were staying to Marina Del Ray it was a little more than 3 miles. Here was our route:

Notice the actual mileage that we walked. It was a beautiful day and we both had nothing to do, so we decided to walk the almost 10 miles.

Once we actually arrived in Marina Del Ray, we were starving, so we ate at Tony P's right on the water. We shared Ahi apps and a chicken salad. To get back, we called a cab. There was no way we could take another step.

Shelly and I met up with her friend Erin in Hollywood at a sushi place for happy hour. After a quick bite, it was getting late and I had work the next day, so I headed home.

This past weekend was not quite as eventful. I watched Scrubs, did a major clean around my place and ran 6 miles on Saturday and a slow 4 miles on Sunday.

At work today during lunch, I stepped outside and saw a Road Runner…Meep Meep

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Next weekend I have a fun event I will be attending. More on that later :)

It's a Small World

I got an email from a friend I haven't heard from in a while. He just joined a website called Reddit. I have no idea what this website is all about but he found this picture on it...

This is a picture of my siblings from 2006. When my sister graduated from high school, my mom got senior pictures of Shelly and decided that we should take family photos as well. As we were shooting this picture our neighbor kid decided to pee right behind us. The photographer caught our reaction on camera. Classic picture.

Anyways, so my friend sent me an email of this website

None of my siblings posted it and we have no idea who did, but it already has 25,000 views

If you know who posted this, let me know. I am curious.


Good night Ya'll