So Cal Photos

Baby Elm Tree Lawn

This is a picture that I've taken every time I've visited Scripps - interview, first day on campus, graduation and various visits. It's Scripps through the years. I'm not sure what I'm looking at.

So Cal (pictures to follow)

I got back from my trip to California this morning. We had to get up uber early to make our flight out of Long Beach at 7am. Sara lives in Burbank and we left her house a little before 5:00am to get to the airport, return the rental car and check in on time. We didn't get to sit together on our return flight and I was sitting between two chatty kathy's. I was clearly interested in my book and they wanted to know what i was reading, was it good, what was it about. If I had headphones I would have put them on. It was far to early for me to be conversational. The trip was a lot of fun. Sunday we got up early and went into Claremont to walk around Scripps. I love it there. Every time I go I am always amazed at how beautiful the campus is and how lucky I was to have gone there for four years. It was, and still is in may ways, my home. It felt great to walk around and look at the graffiti wall. I think they restored some of the older classes murals. It was cool to look at the murals from classes that graduated as far back as 1933. You could almost trace the history of the US through the murals. We were going to stop by Patty's (the most amazing hole in the wall mexican restaurant ever) but sadly, they were closed. That evening we went to a BBQ at Sara's parent's home in Tarzana. We swam in the pool, Lisa tried to take on a huge inflatable duck and lost, we ate wonderful food, sat in the hot tub. I love Sara's parents. They are such kind and generous people.

Monday was a little more relaxed. We didn't have anywhere we needed to be. We tried to go to the Getty Museum but it is closed on Monday's...go figure. We decided to go to the beach. The ocean was beautiful and freezing. We hadn't planned on going to the beach so we didn't have our bathing suits but we walked for a bit and put our toes in. Somehow Lisa stepped in some tar and had to use Comet to scour it off. We cooked dinner at home, talked, played a game of Celebrity (SO much fun!!) and turned in semi early. I love california and I love visiting but i don't think i could ever actually live there. I hate driving in LA. I can't even remember how many times we got on the wrong freeway or went in the wrong direction and had to get off and turn around. We were followed by two yahoo's in a black mitsubishi SUV. They were smiling and waving and trying to get our attention. Traffic was pretty busy and they were cutting people off trying to catch up to us. I don't know what they expected us to do. Shout our number to them and the other thirty or forty people within hearing. I am glad to be home. I got some sun...I am determined to have something of a tan this summer. I'm trying to get a base tan going so when I go to Mexico in August I won't be completely and totally crispy the first day there and I have to say I'm off to a pretty good start.

Interesting

I love how Elisabeth Hasselbeck is the only Republican on this show. She is always arguing with all the guests.

Great news

I am not wasting any time in getting started on my teacher credential. I spoke with an Enrollment Counselor last night about enrolling in WGU's Post Bacc teaching program. I actually decided to go for a BA in Special Education (mild/moderate). Most, if not all, of my lower division courses will transfer because I already have a BA. I decided to go with Special Ed because it's more marketable, it would mean working with fewer students and I can also get my Elementary Education credential at the same time so it will give me more options. I am so excited to get started. I was going to wait until September to start because I wanted to wait until after my cruise in August but after talking with the Enrollment Counselor, who is also a WGU student, I decided to start in July. So I'm heading back to school July 1st. It will definitely be different and challenging in different ways but I am excited. If I work really hard, I could be done in two years, including my student teaching and I'll come out at the end with another BA. The plan is to work for a while after graduation and then go back for a MA in Education (emphasis to be determined later). And the best part is, since I am a WGU employee I get 75% off my tuition. Yes, you read that right. I will only have to pay $700 per 6 month term. Books will be extra but a lot of the texts are e-texts or have an e-text option. I'll still be using financial aid but I won't have to take out as much. For the first time in a very long time I am excited about my future. I won't be making a ton of money but I'll love what I'm doing.

Growing Up

So I wasn't ready to talk about it before but today I made the first step towards a grown up adult profession. I've had time to think and I took my sister's advice. It was good for me to get past all the emotion of it all and look at all my options. Up until now I have been considering a rather limited scope of possibility and opportunity. Shortly after I got my rejection letter I was having dinner with my mother. She told me to think about all my options and maybe consider something that I haven't thought about before. So I took her advice...(these Buie women are smart)...I have thought long and hard about what I love and what I am passionate about and I realized it wasn't as important that I get my Master's right this very second, eventually absolutely, but right now - not so much. What was important was that I continue my education in some way and further my career in the educational field. SO I set up an appointment with an Enrollment Counselor (EC) at WGU. I'm going to enroll in a Teacher Licensure program. I'm excited about it. If I work really hard I could be done in about 18 months. Unfortunately, I can't really hurry up the Demonstration Teaching (DT) portion of the program but really, 18 months, two years isn't that long.

So there you have it. The cat is out of the bag. I'm going to be a teacher.

Going to the Chapel...er Temple...

Vince and Brynna got married yesterday morning in the Manti Temple. Their reception was at Talon's Cove in Saratoga Springs. Yesterday was entirely devoted to wedding activities. Lauren and I got our hair done by Frank (seriously love him!) at 11. We then came back to my apartment got a few last minute items together and then headed south. We had to stop at South Town Mall to get jewelry. We had a difficult time deciding what we wanted. I really didn't care too much but Lauren really wanted pearls and couldn't find anything that she really liked. We went to Macy's, JC Penny, bought some earrings at Dillards then went back to Macy's to buy different necklaces. We weren't matchy matchy they way Lauren wanted but we were both happy with out purchases. My necklace was $40 but i paid $9! Love sales! We then grabbed some lunch at the food court and then headed out to Talon's Cove to get the reception ready.

When we got to the reception site the tables were set up with chairs but that was it. We had to put all the rented table clothes, runners, chair covers, bows, centerpieces, candles, gift table, sign in etc. in a couple of hours. It turned out pretty well actually. I was pretty proud of us. Brynna and Vince were late to the reception, which i was pretty sure would happen. But they were happy and loved how everything looked so it all worked out in the end. I spent most of my evening making sure the bride and groom were happy and had everything they needed and making sure everything went smoothly. I surprisingly had a very good time. I didn't know many people there but I hung out with Lauren and a guy name Dru. He used to be in our ward but has since moved on. AND my sister's sister-in-law was there too. Random, no? She was there with a guy that knew Brynna. We did the bouquet toss (Lauren literally shoved me out of the way) and after Lindsey came up and said hi. So random. Nicki was there too. It was good to see her.

All in all it was a good night. Probably because I was sort of in charge...if i hadn't had something to do I probably would have been pretty bored. I even got asked to dance and really, what girl doesn't like that? I'm happy for the couple and I'm glad that it went as well as it did. Everything looked good, even if the cake didn't really match anything else. It was still a beautiful event. CONGRATS Brynna and Vince!

Lauren and I tied each of those bows. 10 tables, 8 chairs plus the 6 at the head table...oi.

My hair...Frank is the master.


This is the back of Lauren's hair...Frank strikes again!

Happy Birthday To Me

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. I had wanted to do something fun and exciting for my 25th. I mean, a quarter of a century...halfway through my 20's. Seemed like the sort of thing to commemorate, hence the cruise. Despite wanting it to be exciting, was a bit anticlimactic. I had been planning on being on a cruise up until last week. For months I was anticipating this fun and exciting adventure and then the swine flu hit...it turned out to be more of a blip on the radar but that blip happened to coincide with my cruise. I could have gone on a 7 day cruise to Jamaica and the Grand Cayman Islands but I'm in a wedding tomorrow. Right now I could have been laying on a deck chair, soaking up the sun.

Last minute I went to dinner with Lisa and Lauren and we ate brownies after. There was supposed to be home made ice cream but it didn't work. It didn't thicken and after about 40 minutes of churning it was still a liquid. The girls at work got me a cake and some flowers and had lunch with my family. It was nice. There was nothing wrong about yesterday...I guess it just seemed to pale in comparison with what I had planned. So...all in all, not one of my better birthdays. I am one year older, supposedly wiser and yet not that different from yesterday.