Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!! Feliz Año!!! I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with your loved ones and friends.

I'm not one for making new year's resolutions really, but this year, I have made a list of resolutions to improve upon or work towards. Most are common resolutions that most Americans make: "Eat healthier," "Exercise more," "Drink more water," etc. I make these because I am becoming more aware of my health and that I need to take care of myself more. I don't think I eat really unhealthily to be honest. I avoid fried foods. Not just to be healthy, but I just don't like it! It makes me feel gross, and it just doesn't taste good. So I'm probably not your typical Southerner. (Despite what my friend Tara says, I do not have a southern accent!) I don't really like chips, whipped cream, alfredo sauce, cheese, most Starbucks drinks as I'm not a coffee drinker, I hate bacon, etc. I don't like to think of myself as a picky person, but I think sometimes I can be. But I do like to try new things!

Despite all of that, I still want to eat healthier. Eating more vegetables and fruit. I love my desserts and I love sweet food. So typically in the evenings when I'm wanting a snack after dinner, it's something sweet, and I'll usually go for dessert. Oreos are my go-to dessert if there is nothing else in the house. Obviously, over the holidays, there are more desserts than normal. So I've been eating banana pudding (one of my favorites!) and pumpkin pie. Eating healthier includes drinking more water. I am horrible at this. At home, I prefer to drink juice or sweet tea. Too much sugar! When I'm away, at work or driving around, I'll drink water, but I should drink more at home too.

Another resolution will be to blog more. I don't consider myself a good writer by any means. I don't expect to get any praise because I tend to ramble in my posts and repeat myself, and they'll get too long. It's something I'm going to work on (but obviously not in this post!). I'm thinking of creating a new blog where it'll focus more on one audience and keep this one as a personal one, or just combine the two. I'm not sure. I know for sure I want a better blog template. This one isn't very good. I'll work on this on a day off.

I have many others (which I'll probably have a hard time keeping but I'll try to do it!), but I'll share one last one. This last one most people know about, but I'm really hoping to make it back to Peru this year. Whether to stay longer term or visit, I'm not going to say just yet. It's all in the works. But I definitely will come to Peru at some point whether that's as soon as one month away or 5 months away, I won't say. But I'm looking forward to that day when I can jump back on the plane to Peru.

This is getting long enough. Without further ado, I bid you farewell. I hope you've had a great start to the new year!

Life Lately

I would post more but my life is pretty boring right now. All it consists of is going to work at the clinic during the week and then to Olive Garden on the weekends. I don't have much of a social life, except random outings with the twenties group at church. Usually when I get home from work, I'm too tired to do anything, especially on the weekends. My weekends are never restful and never fun.

For the end of October and most of November, I was busy working at the front desk. This consists of verifying health insurance, calling the insurance company (not fun!), talking to the patients about their bills and answering those questions, scheduling patients, etc. I would also try to do my other job which was what I was hired for in the first place, rehab aide. I still helped with the patients and cleaned the tables, and did laundry when I could. It was a lot of work. And I wasn't even doing the full front desk job, only enough of it to keep the clinic going. I didn't know what I was doing most of the time but it seemed to work out (more or less). The reason I was working at the front desk is because our front desk person had to leave because her husband's job was transferred to another city. But this has ended for me now! Another front desk person (they're really called Patient Services Manager) from another clinic in the area has transfered to ours and works for us. So now I am back to my old job! A lot less stress. :)

Work at the restaurant is much of the same. Nothing of interest to report there. Just looking forward to the day I can quit.

And as a side note, I miss Peru every single day. I don't think there has been a single day since I left Peru that I don't think about it and how much I miss it. I miss Nestor and my friends. Nestor tried to come visit me here in the States but his visa was denied for ridiculous reasons of not having enough "ties" to Peru to show that he wouldn't stay in the states forever. I'm not going to dwell on it or comment about the US's immigration policy. He'll come to the states one day, whether to visit or study or both if he wishes.

And I'll leave you with two pictures of my dog, Harpo. The first one is a little funny as he looks like he is sticking his tongue out at me.

And the last one is just a fall picture of him in our backyard. He doesn't really look like an 11 year old dog, does he??

Rita's Wedding!

Another one of my cousin's got married this year (in the same family)! This was the last wedding of the year for me to attend and the farthest one away. We drove from Memphis to Houston, Texas in one day, and the drive was just over 11 hours. It felt so long. I would have gladly helped with the driving but we had rented a car, and according to silly insurance rules, if you are under the age of 25 you are not allowed to rent or drive a rented vehicle. I don't understand this part of the rules but so be it. Besides, my dad probably wouldn't have let me drive as he prefers to drive himself or my mother.

The was a short trip for such a long drive as many of us had to get back to work or school. We left on Thursday, spent all day Friday and Saturday in Houston, and left on Sunday. To say we weren't all tired at the beginning of the work/school week was an understatement.

I have always thought of Rita (I've never actually told her this, but if she is reading this, what I am saying is out of admiration for you and your family since childhood! :) ) as one of those perfect people as I saw her as very intelligent (she finished undergraduate college in 3 years versus 4 because of taking college classes in high school if I remember correctly and because of her intelligence as well), beautiful, fashionable, artistic (she's a great artist!), sociable, etc. I've thought similar things about the rest of her family. Elizabeth is beautiful as well, smart, and kind, and their brother Ryan is the lead singer in his own band which I have always thought was really cool.

Eric, her now husband, seemed like a very kind and good guy. They looked very happy and seemed to fit together well. Their wedding was beautiful, and it was fun to be able to help out at the beginning of the wedding. The bracelets were really pretty and pearls are my favorite.

My sister was able to capture this photo of Rita and Eric. Love it!

My Mom and Dad at the reception.

My sister and I taking our silly pictures.

 

 

Now for a normal picture. 



 

I wish them both a lifetime of joy and happiness. I know they will have many more happy days to come.

 

Good Point

Li Yin's Wedding

When I first started college and talked to upper classmen or friends who had graduated from college, they always talked about how strange it was that all of their friends were getting married. They told me that once I graduate college, I'll most likely be attending a lot of weddings. I had wondered if they were right about that, but they certainly were! This summer was full of them.

In the middle of August, I got to attend my best friend Li Yin's wedding and participate in it. It was so fun to help her prepare a little for the wedding and see the ideas come to fruition. I arrived a couple days before the wedding to help prepare for the wedding. The friday before the wedding we went to the farm to help set up the reception with the tables and set up the lights. Her wedding was on a farm of a friend of her husband's, and it was an absolutely beautiful setting. The weather could not have been more perfect for the set up and for the wedding.

The rehearsal dinner that night was great! It was at Jon's father's house. There were a lot of people there, and almost every one of them told a story about Li Yin and Jon, including me! I'm not much for public speaking so I was pretty nervous. But it wasn't too bad. The stories were all great and so sweet. You could definitely see how many people loved Li Yin and Jon. :)

The next day was the wedding! It was amazing! One of the best weddings I have ever been to. Below are a couple of pictures of the set-up. Jon made those doors standing there in the field so that Li Yin would still have the effect of the opening doors like in the church and the surprise of seeing the bride for the first time. It was a great idea.

 

 

Li Yin's wedding ceremony was set up in a circle around the altar made by Jon. I loved the set-up.



 

 

The wedding included lots of dancing, fun, laughter, and even surprise fireworks! I had so much fun and I know Li Yin and Jon enjoyed every second of it. The groomsmen gave great speeches during the reception. It was hilarious and I was laughing to the point of tears.

 

Li Yin and I before the wedding:

 

 

I wish Li Yin and Jon many years of happiness together! You both deserve the best. :)

Por fin!!!

After searching for computers all summer, I realized within the past month how little I actually know about computers. What I thought the memory was was actually the hard drive, and what I thought was the hard drive was the memory. So I had those two totally mixed up. It turns out that I didn't know anything about processors, the operating system, etc. So I went to different computer stores and asked the opinions of the employees there, and they taught me the basic stuff that I needed and wanted to know in order to get the kind of computer that I wanted. I also tried getting opinions of friends on facebook, but that only confused me more because every one had such a different opinion.

So after a year of not having a personal computer, I finally have one! :) I decided to get an HP because I am familiar with it and it seems like a decent enough of a computer for me. It's an HP ProBook, and it's really nice so far. I am busy setting it up and personalizing it by adding some pictures and music, etc. So far, so good. Now I have a web camera instead of having to attach a separate one which makes me happy. One less thing to worry about.

Now, I'm happy to know this big purchase is behind me. *Sighs in relief*

Success!

After two months of searching for jobs, and being stubborn about not going back to Olive Garden, it is time to be realistic. Since I am not looking for a long-term job or too permanent job, it narrowed my search quite a lot. I wanted to be able to experience something other than the restaurant work, and I thought I was going to get it with a staffing agency that placed temporary workers in offices. But that didn't work out for me, and I couldn't wait for that any longer. So I decided to go back to Olive Garden. Lo and behold, they do not allow you to work there full-time any more. Which is okay now, because I was thinking of only working part-time and finding a job for the day time. Working there will give me quick money and I'll get a little bit of exercise running around the restaurant like crazy.

After waiting so long, I finally was able to interview with another physical therapy company on Tuesday. I hadn't expected the phone call because I was under the impression they weren't in any hurry to hire and I didn't want to get my hopes up. I received the phone call right when I was about to apply to other part-time jobs that I knew I wouldn't like. I had the interview on Tuesday and earlier today I received the phone call telling me I received the job! I'm so happy about it. And everything just fell into place this week. I'll be able to go to Li Yin's wedding with no conflicts on both jobs. And I'll be able to go to my cousin's wedding too. Such a blessing from God. :)

Although these past two months have not been easy, I think having two jobs will make it easier (although there will be stress added as goes with any new job, especially the juggling act of two jobs). It'll make it easier in the fact that time will pass by quicker and I will be doing something (and earning money at that!).

It's been a good day despite over-sleeping and being late to work this morning. Haha.