Email from Grandpa
>> Friday, October 30, 2009
My grandpa sent me this email the other day and I finally just read it. I think its a great way to remember to stay young and lively. There is a mixture of humor and sincerity in it (a couple actually brought tears to my eyes because it touched on some things I have been trying to deal with lately.) Anyway I hope that it brings a smile to your day and reminds you to live life to the fullest and have fun doing it :)
George Carlin's Views on Aging
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.
You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.
'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life ! You become 21.. Even the words sound like a ceremony.YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!
But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling.. What's wrong? What's changed?
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone...
But! wait!! ! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!
So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and make it to 60.
You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!
You get into ! your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'IWas JUST 92.'
Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!
HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3.Keep learning. ! Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's family name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6... The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on.. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips.. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting 'what a ride!'
Sunrise
>> Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Date Night :)
>> Sunday, October 25, 2009
For date night this week, Tyler and I carved pumpkins!! We went to a local pumpkin patch by my apartment to pick out our lucky pieces of artwork. However, this pumpkin patch is not your everyday pumpkin patch. This place has HUGE blow up slides. Now, Tyler and I are both big kids at heart, and when we saw the slides we just looked at each other and immediately bought tickets. There were several different slides, but the one we had to go on was called the "Titantic." This was not just any blow up slide, it was a blow up obstacle course. And it was the most intense blow up obstacle course I have ever been on! Tyler and I enjoy being competitive so of course we raced through the obstacle course pulling each other down and trying to get ahead. First we had to climb up this rock-wall like mountain then slide down. After that we had to go through the tire course and jump into a crawl tunnel. Then we had to fight to get to the one ladder to climb 40 feet to the top of the slide. Once at the top we both threw ourselves down, acquiring some nasty burns on our elbows as we fell. It was so much fun! We did it twice and Tyler won both times, he's so fast! We got our pumpkins and headed back to his place to carve them and drink some wine :)
Here are some pictures of our pumpkins. The pictures are from Tyler's phone so they may not be the best quality:
Tyler Getting you the slimy pumpkin guts...
This is stencil I used for my pumpkin. I had never used a stencil before and I was so excited!!
Tyler working on his pumpkin...
Here is what my pumpkin looked like after I was done poking all the little holes in it. Those little holes took a long time! haha
Tyler's pretty much finished monster...
And her are the final products!!! This is by far the coolest pumpkin I have made and we had a blast making them :)
Now to see them lit up!

It was a fantastic night. We had great conversations about our future and just really enjoyed being with each other. Tyler is such an amazing guy. I love how much we can laugh with each other. He truly is my best friend and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us :)
7:55 am
>> Friday, October 23, 2009
7:55 am is not a good time to wake up at when I usually leave at 7 to get to work by 7:30. I woke up in a flustered mess Wednesday morning and ended up being and hour and a half late to work. Not the best way to start the day. Yet I had a feeling that regardless, it was going to be a great day. So I am driving to work, just kind of in shock of how late I am and how my day was not starting off at all how I had planned. I was almost to the freeway when a van decided to make a left turn right in front of me. I don’t know how they did not see me but I swerved and missed the van. It was actually a really scary moment. That was the closet I have ever been to a head on collision. Now I will admit normally I would have had a little road rage and honked my horn, waved my hand or something, but instead I was just like “Thank you Jesus! That could have been so bad!” I continue driving in shock and think about how God is always in control and how he constantly protects me. My time here is not done. Anyway, I finally get to work and its all laughs. My boss, co- workers and I all make a couple jokes and they totally eased my tension about being late. My allergies have been really acting up the past couple of days and so on top of being late I did not feel well at all. Well my boss must have heard me sniffling because he came out of his office and said “You need some coffee don’t you? You are having a rough morning, what can I get you?” For whatever reason, this small gesture really touched me. And I totally needed coffee! It reminded me of why I love my job so much and why I have been there for almost 3 years. The people I work for and work with are like a family. They care about what is going on in my life. When I was applying for grad school, my boss was fully supportive. She gave me tips and ideas for my essay, she wrote me an amazing letter of recommendation, and she was one of my biggest encouragers. I practiced my interview questions with her and she told me that I had a job with her if I want it when I graduate. I had forgotten why I loved my job so much. I am so blessed to work in a place where I am constantly learning new things about the field I am going into. And I have fun at my job! I feel like I could go on and on about my job, it has just been a wonderful, God given blessing in my life :)
Well after work on Wednesdays I babysit a 5 year old boy who is a little joy to watch, most days :) He really is a good kid, but he does like to test his boundaries with me. On Wednesday we had a great day together. His new thing that he loves to do is take off all the pillows and couch cushions and build things. Yesterday we built a haunted house with the pillows and he loved it. Then I helped him with his homework. He was learning how to write the number 6 and how to spell it. It was really cool to teach him and watch and see how he learned. He is a fast learner and loves to ask questions. After babysitting I had class, which was not exciting so I will not bore you with that. BUT afterwards I went to happy hour at Friday’s with two good friends. It was the perfect end to a day that totally did not start off happy.
Well that’s all for now, my posts will not always be this long. Wednesday was just an interesting day. A day I needed and appreciated.
First Blog
>> Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Well here is goes haha. I am not much of a writer but I am really excited to start a blog. Life has so many things to offer and I feel that having a blog will help me to reflect on those things. This blog is mainly to help me learn and grow, as well and laugh and love. I am definitely a fan of life and I hope to share my passion for it. Right now I am a first year graduate student at Chapman University studying to become a speech-language pathologist. This blog will likely follow my journey through the program over the next two years, however, I hope that is not all my blog captures :)
There is so much more that I want to say, and in time I know I will say a lot. So here is to this new adventure in chronicling my life, thoughts, dreams, ambitions, and musings. I have not a clue where this blog will take me, but I am excited for the journey.
