Writers Block

Do you ever have a moment where you feel like you are completely and utterly stupid? Where you mind goes completely blank and is in disarray all at the same time? I seem to be having one of those days.

You see, Brett and I were asked to speak in church tomorrow, but I can't manage to make my talk make sense. No matter how hard I try, it just gets more and more scattered. And I am getting more and more frustrated...

How is it that all my years spent in school becoming an English major are forgotten? Sigh...I have a feeling I will be very sick tomorrow. Problem solved!!

Birthday Weekend!!!

Last Friday was my 24th birthday, and boy oh boy was it a fun one!  I have had some great birthdays over the years, but this one was awesome!  I have Brett, my family and friends to thank for that!!

The fun started on Wednesday.  I came home from work to find a new laptop waiting for me!!  My old computer had been dying for quite some time…and now I have a brand new one that works perfectly!!  I am now the proud owner of a Sony Vaio (sp) and I am loving it!  I haven’t quite figured out all the great things it does just yet, so I’m constantly amazed at some of the stuff I can do.

Brett’s parents were in town for the week, so we all went out to dinner on Thursday night. We ate at a small Italian place in Santa Monica.  “La Botte” was the perfect place to spend a birthday dinner.  The food was great, and the service was even better! 

On Friday, I was supposed to meet up with Amanda for a mani/pedi then lunch…after a little spill of green nail polish at the salon, we decided to skip the nails and go straight to lunch…

Friday night Brett and I headed down to Laguna Beach to stay at the St. Regis.  Words cannot express how amazing the hotel was.  It reminded me of our time spent in Hawaii for our honeymoon.  Ok, Hawaii has one up on Laguna…but still, it was beautiful! 

Saturday, Brett and I spent the day lounging at the beach.  We explored tide pools, got a little sun and rewarded ourselves with some yummy gelato.  Then, that night we had dinner with friends at El Cholo (one of my favorite Mexican restaurants here…).

I am so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life!  Definitely one of my best birthdays yet! 

No, Dad...

Yesterday, Brett and I decided to go to Venice Beach to play a little basketball. Now when I say “play basketball,” I really mean just shoot around…and when I say “shoot around,” I really mean Brett shoots and I rebound, watch, and sometimes…if I’m feeling courageous…shoot.

Anyway, we were at Venice shooting around, and this little boy comes and stands on the court with us. Brett stops, and asks him if he wants to shoot with “us.” The boy, of course, says yes, and they started taking turns shooting. This went on for a while, until a man (we assume it was the boy’s father) came over and started talking to the little boy.

While the boy was distracted by his father, Brett kept shooting. He had moved out to the 3-point line and was sinking 3 pointers one after another. Every single shot he put up went in. It was like magic! The little boy, his father and I all stood there watching Brett shoot. Suddenly, the little boy yelled out, “Wow! He must play for the NBA!!” The boy’s dad laughed a little, and told his son, “This man (Brett) didn’t play for the NBA, but he did spend a lot of time practicing to get that good.” I couldn’t help but smile as the little boy argued with his dad about whether or not Brett played for the NBA. He kept insisting that no one, except a NBA player, could make that many shots in a row.

It was cute watching that boy admire Brett for his talent, and I am sure Brett will forever be thankful to that little boy for letting him fulfill his lifelong dream of playing in the NBA.

Loud Music and Screaming Fans

Last Thursday, Amanda and I went to the Taylor Swift concert at the Staples Center. Amanda, being the awesome friend she is, bought the tickets months ago, and I had been looking forward to the concert ever since...and it was awesome!

Right away, we had a little celebrity sighting. We passed right in front of Lisa Rinna...she was on Dancing with the Stars, Days of our Lives and a few others back in the day...I was super excited to have recognized her.

Anyway, the night only got better from there. Between our celebrity sighting, nachos, pretzel, Zebra popcorn (which is amazing)and all of Taylor Swifts costume changes, crazy backdrops(her flame backdrop is pictured above...this was during 'Picture to Burn') and random appearances in the crowd...the concert rocked! We didn't have the closest seats, but T-Swift did an amazing job at making sure everyone in the Staples Center had the chance to see her up close and personal at least once. Oh, and what? Taylor managed to make it rain in the Staples Center? Like actual water...It RAINED! And the rain had words in it...CARAZY! Oh, and did I mention that Katy Perry stopped by to sing a song with her?

I think it goes without saying...T-Swift rocks!

Girls Night Gone Wrong...

Wow, life in L.A. has been crazy busy! I was lucky enough to get a job quickly, and I am now working as a personal assistant. I love my job, and the woman I work for is great! Working as a personal assistant has given me the opportunity to become familiar with many different areas of Los Angeles, and I am very thankful for that!

Amanda and I haven’t really had much luck making girl friends since we moved here, but one of Brett’s friend’s girlfriend (is that right??) named Kjerstin (yes it is spelled correctly) has kind of become one of our friends. Anyway, last Friday night, we decided to have a girls night where we would meet up and go to dinner and a movie. Kjerstin, Mallory, Caitlyn, Amanda and I all met at the Landmark(I think) and had a great dinner at this little bar called Bourbon Street…fyi, their chicken sandwiches are great! We ended up making friends at this bar and dinner took longer than we had planned, so we decided to see our movie at Century City (another mall).

We all split up into our separate cars and headed over to Century City. Now for those of you who don’t know, parking in California is crazy! Luckily, the mall has a huge parking garage…only Amanda and I parked in the farthest parking spot from the movie theater…without knowing it. By the time Amanda and I figured out how far we were from the theater, our movie had already started. We started hurrying through the mall trying to figure out which way the movie was and finally found it! We were so close! We only had to go up one set of escalators to get there.

Amanda and I hopped up on the escalator and decided to walk up the stairs to get there faster. Things were going well…We were going to make our movie…until I caught my toe on a stair and fell down. The sound of fabric ripping caught my attention as my knee started to throb. At the top of the escalator, I pulled up the leg of my pants to find a small hole in my knee.

After running around looking for bandages, talking with the security guards (who were no help) and realizing that Kjerstin had an intense earthquake kit in her car that was better than the first-aid kit the mall had (seriously...it was ridiculous), we finally decided to take me to the ER to get my knee checked out. I was hoping that I the doctor would take one look at my knee and tell me that I was simply being dramatic (as I often am) and then send me home. Sadly, I was mistaken…Two child-like doctors, a funny nurse, millions of phone calls to my parents, sister and Brett...and eight stitches later…I was able to leave the ER and head home for the night.

Our fun little girls night had started out so great, but unfortunately the fun didn't last all night. I guess next time I need to make sure I’m on time for the movie…or learn to walk…whatev :)

I'm Engaged!!!

Hello all! So, it is official! I’m engaged!! Exciting, right? I wish I could tell you all about it in person, but I guess blogging about it is just going to have to work this time…

Last Thursday, Briana and I had planned on having one last sister’s night before I moved to California. I had to work until five, and she planned on being at my apartment around then. Right before Briana showed up, my Dad called and asked if I could home to Soda to meet some guy about the Van Gina. Feeling a little annoyed, I agreed to go to Soda and made sure Briana went with me. The drive was going well when all of a sudden I had a need to stop and use a bathroom. (For those of you who don’t know…I have a very small bladder…) Anyway, Briana and I made the stop in Lava and then continued on to Soda.

As we were driving up to the house, I saw that the garage door was open. I was a little confused and asked Briana about it, but she didn’t seem to care, so I brushed it off as well. We parked the car, grabbed the key to the house and opened the door. As soon as the door swung open, my heart stopped. Slowly, my purse slid off my shoulder and landed on the floor as I stared in disbelief at the decorations in front of me.

The house was lit with candles, and a path of rose petals and pictures of Brett and I scattered the floor. Looking down, I saw two posters with pictures of California and Idaho on each side, an ipod and a letter. The posters instructed me to 1) Compose myself 2) Put on the earphones and select the playlist “I have a question” and 3) Read the letter. Excited about what was happening, I tore open the envelope, put on the headphones and sat down to read the letter. (Brett and I met years ago through a letter, so it was fitting that he wrote me one). After finishing the letter, I followed the path of rose petals through the house and out to the deck.

Christmas lights illuminated the railing on the upper deck, but Brett was nowhere to be found. I kept walking, and as I headed down the stairs, there he was…dressed in a suit. Next to him was a table with two place settings, but instead of real food, he had brought my favorite candy, cookies and gum. (He knows me all too well!) I met Brett on the lower deck where he proceeded to get down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I felt my eyes start to tear up, (yes, I am NOT dead inside!!) and I, of course, said yes!

So, there you have it! My engagement! (Which wouldn’t have been possible without all the lies and betrayals from my sister and Dad…haha) Brett did such a great job at decorating the house, and he picked the perfect way to do it. I have been telling him that our house in Soda is my favorite place to be in the entire world and getting engaged there was the icing on the cake. It was great, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

In search of answers...

This blog posting is going to be a bit different from others that I have posted. I usually enjoy making simple situations extremely dramatic, but this week, I have a more serious mentality…

I have reached that point in my life where summer is coming to a close, and I must make a decision about where I am going from here. I have officially decided against law school, so I won’t be returning to school this fall. As a backup plan, I applied to be a nanny through TSN months ago. I went the whole summer with hardly any communication from TSN, so I had figured that they just weren’t interested in me anymore.

About a week ago, a family from Connecticut contacted me. Throughout the process of interviewing with this family, I came to realize that they are wonderful people. Their children are extremely polite, active and smart. The parents are caring individuals who strive to be involved in their children’s lives. My roommate had already interviewed with two different families and didn’t end up being chosen for their nanny positions, so I didn’t think much of my interview. I didn’t want to get my hopes up about something that wasn’t a sure thing. But, it turns out that they like me and want me to work for them. This all sounds great, right?

Well, it is great. I finally have a plan…something to do for the next year. The only problem is that recent events have helped me realize that I don’t want to be moving to the east coast. Moving away would be considered a setback in certain areas…but how do I just tell this family that I changed my mind? How do I tell them that they spent countless amounts of time looking for their next nanny, found her…and now I don’t want to work for them? How do I do it?