Do Not Eat McDonald's Eggs!

On Tuesdsay night, when Jenn, Natalia, and I were at McDonalds, I saw something disturbing. One of the workers had a few boxes with different items in it...cups, biscuits, and some unidentifiable items. One of the boxes fell over, and a package that contained about 20 yellow, frozen squares fell out. I just looked at it, trying to figure out what it was, when Jenn asked "Are those eggs?" to which the worker replied "yes".

In all reality I knew that McDonalds didn't crack the eggs open and cook it there, but seeing it, in that square shape, did something to me. This was disturbing for several reasons...1) the way it was packaged 2) the fact that it was square 3) there was no white part to it...just yellow 4) and it is just weird! Thank goodness it was frozen. In all reality, I know that the eggs are cracked before hand, put in a square shape, freezed, and then shipped....but still!

When I do eat McDonald's breakfast, I never get the egg anyways, but even if I did, I would not anymore.

Last day in DC

My last full day in DC was on Tuesday. It was absolutley beautiful out...about 80 degrees.

I got off at Farragut North, which put me 2 blocks north of the White House and right in the middle of the business district in DC. I walked around for a little bit, looking for a Cosi to eat at. There were 2 places that I really wanted to eat at while I was in DC, and Cosi was one of them. There is one on every corner, it seems, much like Starbucks. I found one just when I was starting to get hungry...funny how that works sometimes :)

After I ate, I began walking south towards the monuments. The plan for the day was to read, journal, people watch, walk around, and sit in some of my favorite spots. The night before I left my journal and Bible in Jenn's car, so I had Lesley's Bible and some paper.

There is a lake that is just north of the reflecting pool (the one by the Lincoln Memorial) with grass all around it. I sat there for awhile, pondering different things. I read a little bit, and was going to journal some, but wasn't inspired to do so...the sheets of paper weren't doing it for me. I decided that I was going to walk around some.

This led me to the Lincoln Memorial. With my ipod on, I sat on the steps of the memorial, and took it all in. There is something about sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, being able to see the WWII Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol all in one view. There is so much history that the Lincoln Memorial alone holds, let alone those other places. After sitting there for awhile, I decided to continue on walking. Somehow I ended up sitting on a bench by the Potomac River, near the Jefferson Memorial. After walking by the Jefferson Memorial, I ended up sitting in front of the Washington Monument, directly facing east towards the WWII memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. The White House was my next stop, both the South and North sides. (Oh, and on my way to the North side of the White House a nice guy named Jerry tried to get me to sign up for Green Peace...beware, they are always there. The funny thing is that I am just as good a talker as he is, so he didn't get to say much, and before he got to make his point (after references to Anchor Man, made by me), I let him know I was not interested. Better luck next time Jerry.) The man who runs our country lives in that place...now it may seem trivial to you, but everytime I walk by the place I can't help but think of all that he endures everyday and then feel a deep respect for the man.

I ended up getting back on the metro at Farragut North and made my way to Dupont Circle. I went to the Starbucks, which faces the circle and is made of glass windows, so you can see everything. I sat there drinking by caramel macchiato, read some, and then people watched. After giving my feet a rest (I had worn old navy flip flops all day, thinking that I wouldn't be walking around that much...I had blisters that night), I went to a bookstore, and then headed back to Lesley's.

Tuesday night is small group night, so the girls that I had not gotten to see yet I would get to see. It was so good to be in that setting again, with those women who I love and respect deeply. I was able to catch up with those that I had not previously had a chance, and we laughed quite a bit before we began the study. Jenn, Linda, and I were on the couch...it is never a good combo when the three of us are next to each other. It felt like I had not missed a study, that I was jumping back into the normal routine.

I was staying with Jenn that night, since she was taking me to the airport the next morning. I said bye to everyone, both sad and excited, assured that the place that I was suppose to be was Cali. Jenn, Natalia, and I talked outside for about an hour and a half, mostly laughing, and discussed the lotion test again. I hadn't eaten anything, so we decided to find a place that was open. Turns out the only thing open at 10:40 at night is McDonalds. I am sure that was good for my body. :)

I got on the plane yesterday, with mixed emotions. I am glad to be home, to sleep in my own bed, to be with my friends and family again, but am sad that DC has to be so far away. Thank goodness I have friends back there who don't mind me staying with them. I am sure that I am going to be back across the country visiting before I know it.

Back in Cali

I am once again on the West Coast. I am really excited to sleep in my own bed. It is only 10, but my body is telling me it is much later than that. Details on my last day in DC and an experience at McDonald's to come...

I Love DC!

Today I was able to venture into DC. The first excitement of the day was riding on the Metro. Public transportation rocks for several reasons...1 I don't have to pay attention to where I am going, I hop on the metro and when I get to my stop, I get off, simple; 2 I can read the newspaper, my Bible, read a book, study vocab for the GRE, for about 20 or so minutes...awesome; 3 I can people watch; 4 the unselfish reason, it is good for the environment.

The next exciting thing that I was able to do is WALK. I forgot how much I love to walk. I walked to the metro, once I got off the metro, walked to find something to eat, and then walked around the National Mall and around some of the monuments. I had my ipod on and walked around...it was glorious.

I realized, with more certainty, how much I love this place. There is something so unique about it.

After strolling around for the better part of the afternoon, I headed to the Financial Services Roundtable. This is the place I did my internship at and then was hired on with. I ended up being there for about 3 hours, talking to different people and catching up. It was so good to see them and to be that office again...such a familiarity to it.

I met up with Jenn for dinner. We went to a place that I frequented often with my friend Ashley called Capitol City Brewing Co. They have a killer happy hour and give you free hot soft pretzels. Plus, they brew their own rootbeer. After dinner, we went bowling at Lucky Strikes. Our friends Linda and Phil were suppose to meet up with us, but they each had stuff come up. It didn't matter that it was only the 2 of us, there were many moments of laughter and fun. Lucky Strikes Lanes is an upscale bowling alley and lounge. It was really cool. There is one in Hollywood that my sister has gone to, so the next time I go down I am makin sure we go. Cedar Lanes has nothin on Lucky Strikes.

After we went bowling, we went into CVS. We grabbed some magazines, sat down in some chairs, and caught up on the latest celebrity gossip. It was really funny...it reminded me of a time when Ashley, Shannon, and I went to Wal Mart and sat in the furniture department and talked for hours. Before long I had to get back on the Metro to get to Grosvenor in time for Lesley to pick me up on the way home (as much as I love walking, I wasn't too keen on walking in the dark in a neighborhood I don't know that well for about 20 min).

I am going to head back into the city tomorrow. There are a few spots that I love to go sit, people watch, read, and journal. I have all day to do whatever I wish. I have a lot of thinking and praying to do about future opportunities, and figure that tomorrow is just as good a day as any to seek the Lord in what He wants for me. It will be nice to ponder such things is such a great place.

For those of you that know me, do not worry, I am coming back to California. One thing that is clear to me, at least for now, is that I am not suppose to be in DC. There are certain things that I still need to learn before thrown back into a life here in DC, things that I don't even know about.

Chillin in the DC Metro Area...

I got into Dulles Airport Friday night at 10 pm (east coast time). It was raining and muggy...which was not a good start to the trip. I was excited to see Jenn, who was waiting out on the street for me. Now, what you all need to know is that when Jenn and I get together, something always happens, and there is always a lot of laughing. It was no different this time.

Jenn called me right after I got off the plane. She let me know she was at door 3 at the departure area...and her gas light came on. Now Dulles is kind of in the middle of nowhere, so this presented an interesting obstacle. I told her there was never a dull moment and she agreed. I walked down to baggage...and as I was picking up my luggage, I received another call. A cop had told her she couldn't stay there, so she had to start moving...and she did...at 2 mph. I grabbed my bag and hustled to the street. I saw her a few doors down...literally going 2 mph, breaking every second or so. I was on the phone with her, telling her to stop moving, laughing hysterically. She finally stopped and I was able to get in the car.

The next obstacle we had to face was finding a gas station. We were on the freeway, and she took some random exit, with no gas station in sight. We drove around a little bit before I reminded her she had a GPS that would tell us where the nearest station was. We pulled out the GPS and found a gas station right before we ran out of gas. She filled up the car with gas and now it was time to get me some food.

Airlines no longer give you food on the flight. American Airlines doesn't even give you pretzels! I couldn't believe it. It was close to 11 now, but in my mind it was only 8. I grabbed her GPS and looked at food places. We decided to stop at a KFC (since they do chicken right!) which was about 2 miles away. We followed the directions the lady gave us in the machine, but what the GPS doesn't take into account is road construction. Somehow we ended up going on some random freeway, in no way the correct direction to her house. The KFC was now going to be 5 miles away, and since we were coming up on a McDonalds, I decided that was as good as anything at this point. We pulled up and could barely understand the gentlemen helping us. We decided to order a 20 piece chicken nugget (Jenn said she wasn't hungry but I convinced her to eat with me) and a large fry. With more effort than it should have taken, we took off about 10 minutes later. I was hungry and didn't want to wait to eat at her house, since she said we were about 30 min away. I gave her a chicken nugget without any sauce...mine tasted fine but apparently hers tasted like cinnamon. We got the sauce out immediately after that (good ol' sweet and sour).

We ate, we laughed, she convinced my mom to buy us John Mayer tickets for June 6th, we laughed some more, we listened to some ghetto music...it seemed like we were driving forever. Dulles is in Virginia and she lives in southern Maryland...Dunkirk to be exact. (see map for distance) Dunkirk, I soon realized, is kind of out in the middle of nowhere. I kept asking her if we were almost there, like I was a little kid on a road trip. We finally made it to her house...at 12:30.

We decided to watch a movie. I am not sure why, since we were both exhausted. In the room downstairs, they use the playstation 2 as a dvd player. We put the dvd in, put couldn't get it to start. She had a remote for the cable and a remote for the tv, but no remote for the playstation (they do make a dvd remote for the playstation). After trying many different methods, we grabbed the wireless game remotes. We were both standing in front of the tv, each with a different remote, and we began pushing all of the buttons. After about 10 seconds of this, we looked at each other and started busting up laughing. I asked her how many college graduates does it take to figure out how to work the dvd player? She said apparently more than 2. Low and behold my education at Fresno State beat out her education at the University of Maryland because I figured out how to work it. There are sensors that have to be plugged in so the wireless remotes can work...duh!

After about 15 min of the movie, Jenn was out cold. I decided to try to watch it for a little bit longer, but soon decided it was time to hit the hay.

Day 2 with Jenn consisted of more laughs before she dropped me off at Lesley's place. Once I got to Lesley's, Lesley and I had a chance to hang out and catch up on each others lives, and take my boxes to Fed Ex (I will have my stuff in Fresno next Monday April 2...yay!). I went to a fucntion at our church (Mclean Bible Church or Frontline) regarding the children in Burundi. This was put on by the International Poverty and Justice Mission chapter of Frontline. There will be a blog later about all that I learned (I know you can't wait!)

Today, I went to brunch with Lesley, Jenn, and Natalia. We had a really great time. We went to a restaurant call Eggspectations. Once again, the conversatin left all of us laughing hysterically. One such conversation consisted of Jenn telling us she doesn't put lotion on because it takes 10 minutes....who in their right mind thinks it takes 10 minutes to put lotion on their arms and legs? Lesley and I were cracking up. When Natalia came back, she agreed with Jenn on the length of time. We had Jenn show us how she would put lotion on her arms...and the way she was doing it would take way more than ten minutes. To settle how long it takes, the two of them (Jenn and Natalia) are suppose to time themsleves Monday morning to see how long it takes and then let us know. The crazy things we talk about. I promise we do have intelligent conversations...sometimes. :)

By the time brunch was over, it was nap time for me. I crashed for 2 hours, and could have slept longer but Lesley woke me up. We went to Panera so she could do some homework and I read my bible and journaled some. Before we knew it was time to go to church...Frontline.

I was so excited to be able to worship there and to hear Todd speak. Right away, everything felt right. It was so good to be back worshipping in such a familiar setting. The message was great, as always. After church, I had the chance to hang out with my friend Linda. Lesley, Linda and I went and ate at Panera. We were able to catch up on our lives...jobs, missions, trips, boys...it was so good to talk with Linda. After dinner I went with Linda to get a few more of my boxes. We hung out for a bit at her place and talked some more. Then off to Fed Ex we went (again).

I have enjoyed being back here so much. Seeing all of my friends back here and catching up has been great. I forgot how much I loved this place, the people, the church. I haven't been to Downtown DC yet. That is the plan for tomorrow and Tuesday. I am looking forward to riding the Metro (yay for public transportation), walking around, people watching at the National Mall, going into my old place of work...and just being for a few days. I love Downtown DC!

Being back here has also made me excited for what God has next in my life. I know that what comes next is in Fresno, or at least California, but after that, only God knows, and that makes me really excited.

Government and our Freedom

Tuesday night I had dinner at my Grandma's house. Besides my parents being there, my cousin Andy was there too. Before dinner, we started talking politics, which always makes me happy. We covered a multitude of topics...from the recent Gonzalez and DOJ scandel, to the Iraq war, to sending more troops...then I brought up the question "How much freedom are you willing to give up to be protected by our government?" He wasn't quite sure.

My junior year of college, I took a public policy class at Fresno State. I didn't learn a whole lot about public policy per say...in how it is developed. In the class, we discussed current events and the latest public policy. During that time, the Patriot Act was the hot topic. We discussed this Act extensively, and the question I asked my cousin was a question that was posed to us.

The Patriot Act broadened the authority of American law enforcement in terms of fighting terrorism. What most people do not know, is that it covers so much more than just fighting terrorism.

I believe that the government continues to infringe upon the rights of its citizens. Directly after 9/11, it seemed that every citizen would do whatever was necessary for the government to "protect" us. If you polled Americans now, I don't believe that would be the case. There have been too many instances where the government has used the Act illegally to obtain information on US citizens. Part of the Act allows the government to bug your house, phones, etc., if there is any suspicion that you may be a terrorist or helping a terrorist...they can do this without a search warrant, on their own accord...for national safety. We all know how far the government took such acts directly following 9/11. In fact, some parts of the original Act were considered unconstitutional because they infringed upon our civil liberties. Other laws and Acts have been amended due to the Patriot Act, including laws on immigration and previous Acts such as the Foreign Intelligence Service Act (FISA) and the USA Act, which became a part of the Patriot Act.

The Patriot Act was renewed in 2006. It was passed in the Senate on March 2, in the House on March 7, and President Bush signed the renewal on March 9th.

The day after I had this discussion with my cousin, I received an email from Christianity Today titled Life, Liberty, and Terrorism. The timing on recieving it was interesting.

How much freedom are you willing to give up so the government can protect you?

Erin Go Bragh!

For those of you living in a cave or under a rock...or something like that...St Patty's day was this past Saturday (that would be March 17th). I hope all of you wore green and joined in the festivities of the day. If you were in downtown Fresno on Saturday night, MezCal was hopin. I didn't go there, but we drove by. One thing that is true, is that people of hispanic ethnicity know how to party, even on an Irish holiday.

Gia, Amada, Sarah Brady, and I decided to go out for this great holiday. Now, Sarah is the only one of us that is Irish. Amada is Mexican and Gia is Italian. We went to TGI Fridays and ate a little dinner. We were going to go to the only Irish pub in the Fresno area, Groggs, since Fagan's shut down. But I got a lovely call from my sister saying that they weren't letting anybody in. With this information, there was a change in plans. We ended up going back down to Tower (we met at Gia's, and they live in the Tower area) to Vinnie Vidi Vici's. It was 10:45, and the festivities hadn't started yet. We hung around for about 15 minutes and then decided to go to Full Circle Brewing Co.

We arrived right as the music was finishing...boooo! We decided to stay and check out the place. This place is really cool. They brew their own beers and root beer. We sat around, drank a little bit, and talked in these old beauty salon chairs. The aestitics of the place is great...I am not even sure how to describe it. We laughed a lot, which is easy to do when it is with the people that I was with.

All this to say...we had a great time, but next year I wan't some corn beef, cabage, and some good music. :)

Alpaca Farm!!!!

My sister was in town this weekend, which meant that we got to see a lot of my family. My sister wanted to see my cousin and her twins. I haven't seen the twins in awhile, and the rest of my family was going, and they have alpacas...so I decided to go. One of my best friends, Sarah, has wanted to go out to the alpaca farm for a long time. She got to see them when she was in Peru and I would say is somewhat fascinated by them (or something like that). So I gave her a call, and she came with.

The twins are now 2 1/2, and are so much fun to play with! Not only did I get to play with the twins, I got to pet the alpacas. My cousin and her husband actually have an alpaca farm...Sunny Acres Alpaca. They breed alpacas, so they have a lot of them. They actually have literature, stuff made out from alpaca fiber, etc. Sarah got the royal treatment...she was basically in heaven. She was so funny. She is going to be teacher, and loves to learn new stuff. My cousin told her all about the alpacas, the baby alpacas, gestation period, their fiber, etc...Sarah even got to feed the alpacas and feel how thick their fiber is.

Because she visited the farm, she go a teddy bear made out of alpaca fiber. I asked where my alpaca teddy bear was...apparently I don't get one because I am family. That's ok, a couple of years ago I got socks made out of alpaca fiber...I don't know where they are at the current moment, but when I find them I'm going to wear them everyday.

Weekend in Pasadena

I went down to So Cal this weekend. I went to a concert on Thursday night in Ventura...which was interesting. The opening act was horrible. He couldn't sing and he was sort of a spas. He moved his arm and leg around...if you know me, the next time you see me ask me to do an imitation of this guy. The second girl, Kimberly Jean, was decent. She could actually sing, but she was bad at introducing the next song. When she sang a song called Banana in my Drive Way, I lost all respect for her. When Eric Church finally came on, I was more than ready for him. He didn't come on until 10:00, and I was really tired, but he was really good. He definitely was worth listening to those other two and worth waiting for. I didn't get to my sisters place until 12:30, which I am not too sure she was happy about considering she had to get up around 5 to continue studying for a test.

Anyways, after my sister got done with her test Friday morning, the fun began. We hung out with two of her friends and went shopping. Her and I got to eat lunch together, which was really nice. The day included watching a movie and trying to take a nap. That night we went to a pre-spring break party with the 07's, 08's, and 09's in the Physicians Assistant program at USC. I had a blast. I forgot how much I love to meet new people.

Saturday consisted of going to Universal City Walk to eat lunch and hang out. Then I took a nap and my sister went to Ikea with two of her friends from Fresno that were visiting. That night we hung out at the apartment and went to 21 Choices, which is the best frozen yogurt shop that I have ever been to. They have six different flavors every day, and then you have the opportunity to mix in different items (kind of like Coldstones but with yogurt). I received a coupon for a free yogurt for the next time I am in Pasadena. :)

On Sunday I had the opportunity to meet up with some friends who moved down there for grad school. It was great to catch up with them. Stacey and I went to lunch at the Corner Bakery. I love this place. There was one in Virginia that I was able to go to. So now every time I go down to Pasadena I make my sister go there. It was great to hang out with my sister. I love hanging out with her and just being able to talk about whatever. I know that there aren't going to be many times in the future where that will happen, at least while she is still in grad school and especially when she starts her rotations. I ended up coming home around 2 or so.

The consensus is that I love Pasadena. The town has such history to it. Downtown Pasadena reminds me so much of Georgetown in Washington DC...if I can't be in DC the next best place is Pasadena.

Concert Tonight!!!

I am going to a concert tonight in Ventura...and I am really excited. I am going to see Eric Church. If you like country music, you will like him. He has a song that is out on country radio called How 'bout You. He is kind of like Dierks Bentley, similar style. I suggest that you go to his website and listen to his music if you like country. :)

Addicted to Cell Phones

I was pondering the issue of anwering calls and texts messages today. I have realized that I am "addicted" to my cell phone. If I am at home, I usually have it with me, no matter what room I am in. If I am leaving the house, there are three things I make sure I have, one of those things is my cell phone. If I forget my phone, or realize some thirty minutes after I have left the house that I forgot my phone, I freak out. When my sister was living in town and I was still in school/working, there was one time that I forgot my phone, and since I was having lunch with her and my mom, I called her before she had to go to work and asked her to stop by the house and get my phone. I couldn't even go half a day without having it in my possesion.

When did I get to the point of needing to have a phone on me at all times? Fifteen years ago, even ten years ago the majority of people did not have cell phones. If they were driving or out, if you wanted to reach them, you had to leave a message in hopes that your call would be returned. Now, most everyone has a cell phone. When I was a jr high leader at my church it amazed me how many of the kids had cell phones.

We have become a nation addicted to cell phones. Today, I was driving to an appointment, of course on the phone with my sister, and I looked over to the cars that were next to me, and the drivers in both cars next to me were on their phones. I laughed out loud, which kind of confused my sister, since nothing funny was being said. Part of me was laughing because I realized that if I am in my car driving, at least half of the time I will be talking on the phone.

Out in public, I try to keep my phone conversations to a minimum and try to speak quietly...unlike the girl at Starbucks tonight. She was talking so loud, that I could hear her above my ipod, which wasn't quiet. I could care less about her ex-boyfriend, but now I know all about him.

We are becoming a nation that can't stand silence. It is amazing when you actually stop and look around at the number of people talking on a phone or listening to an ipod. This was even more evident to me when I was living in DC and walking to and from the metro from home and work. Any kind of noise will do.

There have been times when I have deliberately not answered a call or turned my phone off. As much as I like being able to get ahold of people when I want to, I don't always want to be available to everyone. I decided this is kind of healthy. I wonder if there will ever be a day when I could go without my cell phone without freaking out all day because I don't have it with me.

Psalm 23:1

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want"

Psalm 23 is a psalm that is known inside and outside the Christian community. It is one of the most well known scriptures in the Hebrew Bible. I was pondering and meditating over this scripture today. The psalm shows God as protector, provider, and comforter.

The very first part of the verse is "The Lord is my shepherd..." This is a statement, a fact, a promise. A shepherd was one who protected and looked after the sheep. The shepherd provided all that the sheep needed. A sheherd leads and guides the sheep. The second part of the verse "I shall not be in want" is a consequence to the first statement. Because God is our shepherd, we have all that we need. Period. There is no question about it. The New Living Translation puts the second part of verse one this way, "I have all that I need".

As Christians, do we truly, deep down believe this? I do believe that the Lord is my shepherd, my protector and my provider, but how often do I think I need more. More of what, I am not sure. I know that I have all that I need. I do believe this scripture with all of my being. God has provided above and beyond what I could have ever asked for, and he continues to. When my mind is dwelling on eternal things, I know without a doubt that not only do I have all that I need, I most likely have more than I need.

I would be lying if I said that there were not things that I wanted. But a want is different than a need. According to the original Hebrew, the word used here for want is rox, which is translated as a need and means to lack or be without...a need is something necessary to live. Since it says that I shall not be in need, God will provide all that I need, so that I am not without that which is necessary to live. A want, according to merriam-webster dictionary, is a desire. I don't have to have certain things to survive, I may think I do, but I don't. Just as it says in Matthew 6, if the Lord provides for the birds of the air who do not reap or sow or store away in barns, how much more valuable am I than the birds of the air to God, since I am made in His image, and how much more will He provide for my needs.


Since I do believe that all scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), I believe that the Lord is my shepherd, and He has given me all that I need, at the present time, to live an abundant life for Him.

The GRE

I took the GRE on Wednesday afternoon. I ended up studying, a little bit? Actually, I really didn't study at all. I had surgery 8 days before the test and therefore didn't feel like studying. I can sum up in one word what the test is like, it...sucks. It is computer based, which makes it interesting. You can't move onto the next question until you answer the question you are on. Once you have answered a question, you can't go back to it, even if you have time at the end of the test. This is because the next question that you get is based upon the answer you gave for the question you are on.

For example, if I get the question right, it is going to give me a question with greater difficulty. If I get the answer wrong, then I am given a question with less difficulty than the question that I just answered. Basically, you know if you got the question right or wrong right away. Or at least I did. I knew that I wasn't doing so well when one of the comparative questions that came up was larvae:adult as...and the answer was tadpole:frog.

The plan was to take the GRE once in Febraury and once in March. I was just going to take it to see what the test was like in February. In all honesty, I was hoping that I would get the score that I needed the first time I took it. I knew this was unlikely, seeing as how I felt horrible while taking the test, but I was hoping.

I am going to study for the GRE this time around. I really don't want to, I hate standardized tests, but if I want to go to grad school, then I have to take it again. I need to find some internal discipline to study.

Starbucks is my Second Home

It is official, I have become one of those people that is at Starbucks for hours upon hours. Really, they have everything I need. And what they don't have, I bring with me. I usually have my laptop (what better place to blog than Starbucks), my bible, a book, my journal, one of my many starbucks gift cards (thank you parents), and in return they make the coffee, and there is a bathroom. Sometimes, I don't even get anything to drink but water...I haven't figured out if this bothers them or not, but so far I haven't gotten any dirty looks.

I either put my ipod or listen to itunes on the computer while I am reading or playing on my computer. Really, as interesting as the conversation next to me could be to listen to, most of the time it isn't anything good and I don't care.

In all honesty, if Borders were closer to where I lived, I would go there. I think their coffee is better, considering 80% of the time the barista at starbucks burns the coffee and it tastes gross. Borders has a raspberry mocha that is delicious. Since Borders is about 10-15 minutes away, there is a starbucks on every corner now in the Fresno/Clovis area, and I have gift cards for Starbucks, it looks like I'll be spending quite a bit of time there, that is until I get a job.

I am becoming my mom....

I love my mom. We get along great, and unlike my sister, I tell her just about everything. As great as my mom (or Myrna) is, she is crazy. Not in a bad way, but in a funny, quirky way. I am definitely a product of both of my parents. My mom is very outgoing. She is the person that will talk to you when you are in a line at the store. When my friends first meet my dad, they think he is the quiet one, but he isn't, trust me. My dad has one of the funniest sense of humors. There are times at the dinner table when the two of us are craking up and my mom just doesn't get it (or she isn't laughing because the joke is at her expense). My dad and I are very similar. When I was younger, I swore I would never be as crazy as my mom. Well it turns out that I may not be as crazy as her, but I have definitely picked up some of her tendancies. I guess it has to do with the whole nurture vs nature thing. I am finding that being like my mom isn't a bad thing. I have some of the best parents that any child could ask for.

For example, not too long ago I was exiting my bedroom and i knew my mom was about to pass in the hallway, and at the same time, we both tried to, not scare each other, but make this noise at each other. It was so funny, we both laughed hysterically. There are other times when I am by myself, and I do something, and I realize that what I did was something my mom would do or say. For instance, when we were little, my mom could never remember if she unplugged her curling iron or she would like to just "make sure" that she did unplug it. I now find myself "just making sure" i unplugged my straightener even though I know without a doubt that I have unplugged it...thanks mom.

All that to say I am so glad that I have a mother who likes to have fun and is a little quirky. It has definitely made my life that much more fun. :)