Reading for Fun

I had some books checked out from the library that I wanted to take to Hawaii with me, but of course they were due during the middle of our trip and for some reason I felt like I didn't want to have them be overdue (in hindsight, it would have been cheaper to be charge .25 for a few days than buy 3 brand-new books, but oh well) so I returned them and headed to Target to see what they had.

I read the Twilight series awhile ago and actually enjoyed it, though I don't usually like sci-fi or vampire books.  However, there has been a lot of talk about the series, Hunger Games, and I decided that a trip to Hawaii, where I'd have a lot of time to read on the plane and the beach, would be the perfect place to start in on this series.

Before we left, Danny was reading the back cover of this book and I was suddenly worried that it would be too sci-fi for me.  It's about the future and how North America doesn't exist anymore except for 13 districts.  It had a slight feel of that book, The Giver, where everything is super controlled by the government or people in charge.

However, a few pages in and I was hooked.  It's about these games where these kids are selected and have to fight to the death - with only one winner.  Pretty intense for kids who are at danger of being chosen - I think anyone between 12-18 can be picked to participate.  

I was really glad that there were sequels to the book because there was so much read and so many stories to keep up with.

Finished the last book yesterday - definitely a must-read if anyone has the time to give 3 books.  They go really quickly and are very entertaining.  I give these a thumbs up :)

Gearing Up

Today is my first day off in 6 weeks.  (I did have one day off to go home for Brandon's funeral, but I don't feel like that counts as a fun day off) - I have worked 8 days straight at Kincaids between the last week and this week, and if I'm not at Kincaids, I've been doing the Summer Bridge program at Dominguez.  Since it has been such a crazy 6 weeks without any real time off for myself, I have seriously been so looking forward to Hawaii.

Finally, the day has come!  Tomorrow we leave for Maui and I can NOT wait.  But, before I can go to Maui, I have to tie up some loose ends and run some errands.

This morning I did my final weigh-in at weight watchers and was happy to discover that I met my goal - I lost 22.6 pounds since I started in January (though the last three months I haven't been going to meetings or really participating), then I met up with my friend Somer and her boyfriend Jason for breakfast in Marina del Rey.

Somer, Jason and me

They are moving next weekend to Boston for the year so Somer can go to graduate school there.  I am so excited for them so they can experience a new city, a new state and lots of new adventures.

Som Som and Jason

Pi Love forever!

Somer and I have been friends since I moved into the dorms at UCSB and joined the same sorority, Alpha Delta Pi.  She is the reason we even moved to Redondo because she was already living here and showed us around and then we fell in love with it.  

I can't wait to visit them - I'm hoping to visit Carrie and Jamie in NY and then make a side trip over to Boston.

After that I raced over and got my hair done near my friend Jessie's house, visiting her briefly after my appointment.

Jessie and Ayden :)

After that I raced over to the chiropractor and had a massage then adjustment.  By that point Brooks had arrived in Redondo and him and Kev were waiting for me so we could start packing and get excited about tomorrow.  

1 day until Hawaii!!!!

Summer Bridge, etc.

Let me just preface all of this by saying that this has been an extremely long summer.  I knew it was going to turn crazy if I got this Summer Bridge program, but I had no idea how crazy it would get.

Throughout all of this 6-week program, I also somehow got a job this Fall semester at the local community college, El Camino, as an in-class tutor.  This is my parking pass:

Then during the Summer Bridge we went to our new art gallery on campus and saw some art:

It was actually a great experience and a really neat place.  I hope to come here more often when I'm a student.  

Kevin has this plan that he's going to buy a ukulele in Hawaii and learn to play.  In the meantime he bought an app for it on the iPad lol and he's practicing.  

Last week was a little rough and I actually threw three students out because they didn't bring the reading.  These are photos of the rest of the students behaving beautifully after I threw the other three out :)

Final class, today.  Some of my students that I have grown attached to.  I will miss them, even though I wasn't so sure in the beginning :)

And this is the mess Danny left in our spare room the morning he left for more training in San Luis.  

2 days until Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!

JJ's birthday!

Sherri's boyfriend, Jim Joe, had his birthday this past Thursday on August 4th (same day Lincoln Triplett was just born) but Kev and I both had to work until tonight, Sunday, so we met up with Sherri and her friends and had a little mini-celebration for JJ.

When we got there, Jim Joe was taking a nap

But, he woke up and played UNO with us

Mickey, Jared and Marisa

Kev and me playing

Danny with his 1 card - UNO!

Celebrating - Sherri, Marisa, Jim Joe, Danny, Mickey, Kevin, Jared and me

We had a good time (though it wasn't for that long since we all have to work tomorrow morning) but it was nice to celebrate with Jim Joe for a little.

It was also my friend Kristie's birthday today and I met up with her shortly at the beach right after work so I could say hi and happy birthday.  Lots of birthday's this month :)

Happy Birthday Jim Joe and Kristie - and my friend Jessie tomorrow . . . and then to my cousin Matt and to myself later this month.  

New toys

So, we are heading to Hawaii in one week and of what happens?  Of course, my video camera dies.  Brooks had just been visiting us two weeks ago and we were using it to look back at our Europe videos and reminiscing on how much fun we had.  Then I had it with me to take into the camera shop because it had been making a lot of error messages on it - like when I would try to record something it would say cassette error and make me re-insert the cassette and then it would work until I paused it or stopped recording and then tried to record again.  This was especially annoying when I was trying to film my friend Bryan's wedding and that message kept popping up.

But, when I took it in to the shop to be looked at, for the first time ever the part where the cassette goes into wouldn't close back into the camera.  It was stuck open and wouldn't budge at all.  And then when I told the guy at the store that it as the first time it had done this but I also explained the message that was popping up and he was just like, um, that's not a good message.  Basically it would have cost over $200 for them to look at it and attempt to fix it.

Soo . . . we of course decided to just buy a new one because it isn't worth it anymore to fix anything (the camera is 6 years old - we bought it to go to Europe in 2005).  This also "counts" as part of my birthday present haha.

So, now this camera uses flash drives instead of tapes and Martin and Ash got almost the same kind for Christmas so they could video Emilie.  I can't wait to use it in Hawaii, for our September Verissimo party and when we visit Bryan, Erika and the boys.  Can't wait :)

Lincoln Triplett :)

On Thursday, August 4th, Bryan and Erika welcomed Lincoln Triplett into the world.  

Erika and Lincoln

Proud father - Bryan and Lincoln

So cute :)

Carter, Erika, Bryan and Lincoln

We are so excited for their new addition to their family and can't wait to make the trip to Washington to go visit them.  Hopefully we will be able to go see them in either September or October.  

Welcome to the family, Lincoln! :)