Trying something out...

So first off, yay to me for actually updating my blog. I think I posted twice last year, so maybe I'll post more and make that number go up.

Anyway, so the girls and I have decided to try and keep a constant workout going and eat better. We are cutting down on any eating out and doing this P90X workout. It's super intense! We started last night doing chest & back and the ab ripper. How do you work out chest and back? PUSH-UPS! All different types. Definitely felt the burn. Then the ab ripper was tough. As if we weren't already sore enough we had to do intense crunches that required good balance. I gotta say, today when I woke up, I couldn't sit up in bed very well, so I ended up laying there for an hour before deciding I had to get up. I spent my day feeling sore, then tonight we did the plyometrics workout, which works out your legs and butt. Lots of jumping and lunges and running in place. I had to rest a bit more today because I gave blood earlier in the day, so I was at a loss for blood. In fact, it even says not to exercise after giving blood. So much for that suggestion. But what I did do, made me sweat and I tried and did as much as I can, which is better than not doing it. That's why we girls decided to do it together, because we could motivate each other by doing it together, but we understand if we need to modify it and encourage each other. When I was having problems with the push ups because of lack of arm strength, Jamie kept telling me, "If you can only do one, then do the one and next time this rep comes around, do two." So I felt better being reassured I don't have to keep up with the DVD because they aren't matching how many the workout people are doing either.

Wish me luck in this endeavor. Hopefully I'll be able to get some results towards the goals in my head and share them with you!

A Year in Review: 2009

Ah yes, it's time for my, what, bi-annual post? Haha. I should say that my New Year's Resolution to be to blog more, but life is busy and it's only going to be busier for the next few months. Maybe after I graduate in May I'll have some time. But anyway time to focus on the here and now. So to kill time this New Year's Eve, I'll recap my year for all those out of the loop on my life.

January 2009
Took a first attempt at a driver's license, and failed. Went back to school and started a semester of taking 7 classes. Why I did that is still beyond me. But it kept me busy.

February 2009
Nothing really happened that I can recall...guess if something did it wasn't significant enough.

March 2009
I TURNED 21!!!!!! Whooo!!! That was fun. The day before I went with Cyndi and Mom to see 'Rent' which was amazing! It was on their last tour with Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp. On my actual birthday, I had champagne brunch with the family then was picked up by my roommates and whisked me back to San Diego, where I had a nice dinner out at BJ's and a night downtown with my friends Leslie, Laura, and 2 guys from our major Steve & Mario who met us down there. I also went on the 2nd annual trip to Las Vegas with HTM. Vegas is a lot more fun when you are legal. Fun fact for you there haha. The weekend I was there happened to be the weekend Bradley was there for his bachelor party, so I met up with my brothers for our first (and actually our only) sibling drink. I also forgot to pack flats other than flip flops, so I spent 27 hours in heels. Not something I recommend. Trust me. It's just a bad idea.

Sibling Drink

April 2009
Had some interviews at various hotels for a summer job, got none of them.

May 2009
Bradley got married! After finishing my semester, I went home to help Mom as we prepared for East Coast relatives to stay with us. May 30th, Bradley married Christie in a beautiful ceremony and reception. The day after the wedding, a group of us went to Disneyland & California Adventure. Fun times were had by all (I assume..I had fun at least). Also during this month I attempted a driver's license again. I got the same woman I had the first time and she still didn't think I should have a license. Oh and I moved again. During finals this time. I don't recommend moving during finals. We are now in a house with 2 guys as roommates.



June 2009
I was back in San Diego for the summer. Jamie, one of my oldest friends, moved into the house with us. I tried again for a license and had a panic attack before taking the test, so needless to say, that didn't lead to a successful test. Also during this month, I auditioned for 'Family Feud' with Paul, Bradley, Cyndi, and Mom. We ruled! The question we got we got all the answers without getting buzzed for a wrong one once. We didn't get a callback, however, because we only assume we were too good for them to want us.

July 2009
Spent 4th of July (Dad's birthday) up in Santa Cruz, thanks to Bradley, Christie and Cheryl for driving me up there and Paul & Cyndi for getting me back down to San Diego. Grandma Hutchins (Dad's mom) was with us to celebrate as well. We went to the Shadowbrook restaurant to celebrate the big birthdays of the summer months, Dad at 60, Bradley at 30, Jeanie at 80, and Glenn at 90. After getting back from Santa Cruz, Jamie and I took an impulse drive up to Fresno to visit Hannah. It was a great time catching up together because it had been probably 4 or 5 years since we had all been together. Also during this month I had a week of having an interview for everyday for 3 days in a row, none of which I got. I also got to go to The Fray concert in San Diego with Jamie, thanks to my friend Eric. He worked at Cricket Amphitheater and got us $6 lawn seats, which really got us 300 level seats (they weren't doing lawn) and then as Jack's Mannequin started as the opening act, a guy that worked there upgraded our seats to 100 level for free. Also in this month, my computer died. It got a virus and died and my backup hard drive didn't save anything I wanted (pictures and music) despite the fact that I had checked to have those be saved. One of my guy roommates was able to fix it and re-do my hard drive and such, but I am down pictures other than what's on Facebook, the ones I still had on my camera's sd card (prom pics luckily) and a few I could save on a hard drive.

August 2009
Went to a Toby Keith concert and tailgated (first tailgate ever!) with my friends. Also started school. Not fun. Took 6 classes this time around.

September 2009
Went to Vegas for Cayla's 21st birthday. Had one interview and got nothing out of it (as usual).

October 2009
Went to a Brad Paisley concert, for $6 tickets from Eric again. Kept busy in school with site visits, group projects, and tests.

November 2009
Took a stand and signed up for driving lessons because not having a license sucks. Kept busy with more site visits and group projects. Took a impromptu visit to Fresno once again with Jamie to see Hannah and her new house. We went the weekend 'New Moon' opened and we went and saw that, as the two of them are big 'Twilight' fans. This month was good because due to holidays and furlough days, I hardly had school.

December 2009
Crunch time for school. I had lots of presentation and finals of course. But the bigger news was that I PASSED MY DRIVER'S TEST!!!!!! In the pouring rain I might add. I missed 3 points, the guy giving me the test was joking with me beforehand, said I asked good questions and I got props just for trying in the rain to begin with. Also this month, I GOT A JOB!!!! On the 13th, I had a hands on interview for the Fantail Cafe on the USS Midway, serving dinner for 600 people for the Parade of Lights. That Wednesday, the 16th, I went down and had an interview. Then on the 18th, as I was on my way to Ikea with Evelyn, Sterling, and Joey, my friend that currently works there called to let me know that I was being hired on as a part time on call position. Sure it took me all year, and it's not the hotel job I still need, but it will count for my events internship this semester. On the 22nd, I went with Sterling, Evelyn, and Joey to see a taping of 'The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien' which was so much fun! We got dropped off at Union Station and took the subway to Universal City, got our wristbands and tickets, then went to lunch at a bar nearby. We went back, were seated in the second row behind Andy Richter's podium. And Conan's desk faced us, and we were by the door everyone went out of at the end, so Conan looked me in the eye and waved. The 23rd, was a Marguerita Reunion because Jonathan was visiting from Georgia, with 13 of us meeting at Dave & Buster's for drinks and games. Then some of us went and got late night dinner after we left. The 24th was Christmas Eve at our place, then Christmas Day was spent lounging around the house in pjs. The rest of break has been spent seeing lots of friends from high school, and spending another night out with Marguerita people.

That's all for 2009! Hope the new year brings everyone nothing but good things! Thanks for reading!

Injured!

So I haven't blogged in a while...Ok since 2008 if you want to get technical, though it was only like 2 hours before it became 2009 in my time zone, so for all you East coast readers, it was 2009. But anyway, a lot has happened. I turned 21! Whoo! That was fun. May I just say that Las Vegas is a lot more fun when you are legal to do things. (By the way, I was there for a school trip, touring hotels and nightclubs, and I wasn't smart enough to pack flats because I woke up like 15 minutes before I was supposed to get picked up, so I spent about 27 hours total in heels over 3 days...yeah my feet were dead for the rest of the week).

But anyway back to the reason for this post. I have injured myself. It hurts real bad. I slipped and fell off the curb by the basketball court in my complex when I was walking home from the trolley. I fell on my knees and ripped the left knee of my favorite/best fitting pair of jeans. Of coure it has to be the favorite pair that rip...Anywho. So I come back and Ebony is on the couch and says that at least ripped jeans look is in so I can keep wearing them. But I rolled up my pant leg to see the damage. It was pretty bloody so I got in the shower and cleaned it off. When I got out I borrowed Bactine and hydrogen peroxide from Ebony and cleaned the wound a few times more. It just looked really dirty and nasty no matter what. So I put on a band-aid and went to run errands. That night I took the band aid off and, whilst interviewing potential roommates(yes moving again, to a house!), one of them commented that it looked pretty bad, but that it looked cool because it was shaped like a heart. We all looked at it and Ebony said that was probably why she wasn't so grossed out by it.

The last few days have been somewhat difficult to walk, as it is on the knee where it bends. But it has retained it's heart shape. So for the wedding I'm either going to have a massive heart shaped scab or a heart shaped scar. Either way it's appropriate for a wedding. haha. It still stings, more than I think it should at this point, but I haven't hurt myself in a while so maybe it should hurt still. I'm not really sure, it's probably just because of where it's located. Below are two pictures of it. Pictures don't do it's ugliness justice and these were taking earlier today, so this is 4 days later too.

Spring Semester 2009

So I got to register today. And may I just comment that SDSU fails at classes. With majors being in high demand, like business and htm, why is it that they choose to only offer a few sections of necessary classes, making it nearly impossible to get any classes? It just causes so much stress for students, and a lot of times they end up opening a few more sections. If they offered them in the first place, they'd probably save themselves a lot of time and complaints from students. Just a suggestion. Nonetheless, I got classes I wanted, though having one class on Friday is kind of lame, what can you do right? So here's my plan for the semester (as of now...I might drop something later, you never know):

MWF: 9-9:50am IDS 302 Intro to Operations Mgt
M: 4-4:50pm HTM 336 Site Selection and Negotiation
5:30-8:10pm HTM 301 Service Leadership Development
W: 4-5:50pm HTM 431 Convention Services-Hotels

TTh: 8-9:15am HTM 250 Hospitality Law
2-3:15pm MGT 350 Management & Organization Behavior
3:30-4:45pm RELS390B Religion & American Institutions

7 classes....17 units. It's going to be busy and intense. Wish me luck!

Looking Back on 2008

What a year it has been. Big things happened in my life and the world. So here are the highlights of the year for me.



February: Every day had something planned. It was a crazy month. I was going to info sessions and interviewing for some hotel company or another almost every week. Sure, I didn't get the jobs, but I got interviewing experience, which is just as valuable. This month also brought new life into this world. Emilie Taniguchi was born on the
24th. She's my "brother" Ryan and his wife Janet's bundle of joy. I have been lucky enough to see her when I come home for breaks. She's a dear little baby and so cute!

Me and Emi in August

March: I turned 20. Two decades of life. Not much happened on the actual day, but my friend (and now roommates) threw me a birthday party to make up for the lack of events on the actual day. I went to Las Vegas for the first annual Vegas trip with HTMSA. It was fun and I'm looking forward to this year's trip when I'm actually of age to do things.

May: Finished off my best semester at SDSU thus far, finishing with 4 As and 1 C. I think the As counteract the C. Haha. This month Mom and I went off to Tennessee to visit Robbie and Paul. I found the Knoxville Airport to be entertaining as it has rocking chairs of various sizes all over in front of the windows. I also got to see Dollywood. In said park I saw some interesting characters and their even more interesting dental work. It was a fun trip though, and we got to play with her new puppy, Goldie. And I got to see the cat that in all the years she had her and we went to their house we never saw, yet this trip I got this cat to sit on my lap and pet her and made her purr.

The Knoxville Airport

Goldie

June: Took care of Mom after she opted to break her foot. Took it as a sign that I wasn't supposed to get a job and earn money because I was going to be needed to care for Mom. Went and did archery for the first time. For future reference, it's fun, but I had some issues. Let's just say the chest got in the way a time or two and whipped me. I also lack aim and depth perception, so never entrust me with a bow and arrow and ask me to like aim for something. I won't make it. Unless you want me to hit the ground. Then I'm your girl.

July: Stepped into a bridal shop for the first time in my life to go with Hannah for a dress fitting. Fun moment I was happy to share with her. Found out the cream cheese wontons I thought were amazing had crab in them. That was a rude awakening. I moved again! From the huge, empty, somewhat ghetto apartment on Montezuma to a nicer, furniture filled, apartment in Mission Valley that gave me three roommates and a dog.

Hanging out in the new apt. before Cayla and I moved our stuff in

August: The month of Michael Phelps and ABBA. Quite the combination, I know. But as we all know, the Summer Olympics in Beijing happened this month nad reintroduced me to Michael Phelps. I remembered him from his previous Olympic appearances, but he made more of an impact on me (and like millions of other people as well) this time around as he set world records and had the most intense races I have ever seen in my life thus far, and maybe the most intense I will ever see. I spent my afternoons watching soap operas and random sporting events on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, etc. and my evenings cheering on Michael and others in the big events. I stayed up watching replays of the big races and obscure events like Speed Walking until 3 or 4am. How does ABBA fit into all of this? The movie release of "Mamma Mia!" put the songs of ABBA into my head daily. I'd listen to the cd my parents have, watched illegal clips of the movie on Youtube, all things to hear the songs the way they were in the movie. It also just made me want to go to Greece more, and dance to 'Dancing Queen' all through a bar or club or something. The end of August brought me back to school. I usually go back the day before school starts, but this time around I went back a week before and had time to unpack and bond with the roomies.

September: I started school the Tuesday after Labor Day, which was a change as we usually start before Labor Day. One of my classes this past semester was only 2 days a week on Monday and Wednesday. So I went to the first class on that Wednesday, but I missed the next Monday. Why? Well I made the awesome decision to skip class, hop a one way train to Los Angeles, where Evelyn met me at Union Station, and we went to see a taping of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" because Michael Phelps was the guest. It was a lot of fun. Bradley's friend had gotten me two tickets and had me on the list to get in. So we went and got there pretty early, so had a yummy lunch at Porto's a few blocks away. Then we went and got right in and saw the taping. It was so much fun and so worth it.

October: Here is a big month in my life. I was a big girl and took a flight by myself from San Diego to Fresno for Hannah's bachelorette party. This is definitely a big step for me. I get nervous enough taking the bus from LA to Fresno and also the train from San Diego to LA, so to fly was a huge deal. I flew from San Diego to Vegas to Fresno. Then Hannah, her bridesmaids and I headed to Santa Cruz where we got her wedding dress and shoes and jewelry for the wedding, hung out downtown, and visited the reception site. It was a fun time and I was really glad I went. My flight home was strictly on those little 25 person airplanes, flying from Fresno to LA and LA to San Diego. It was a whole day of traveling for not that great of a distance. I also pierced my left ear again up top on the cartilege. It was all in the name of roommate bonding night. Haha. My regular piercings are doing well, lasting longer than the other times I pierced them when I was younger.

November: Not too much this month. It was nice and short when you think about it with Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving. Of course the biggest news this month was that Barack Obama was elected President. I got to vote in this election, which was really exciting. I'm part of history that was made.

December: Another big month. Took my finals and had my first overnight guests ever in all three years of school. Evelyn and Sterling took a train down and saw my apartment and school and met my roommates. It was fun and I hope they come down again. We came back on the 20th. Then came Christmas, which was a lot of fun and relaxing. The day after Christmas, Mom and I hit the road and drove to Santa Cruz for Hannah and Ryan's wedding. I was the wedding coordinator so I ran the rehersal on Friday night and then did the ceremony and reception on Saturday. It was a really beautiful wedding. I cried a little and was so happy that I was able to be there. We came back on Sunday. Then Monday I went to dinner with some of the Las Moras girls for a reunion dinner. We moved from restaurant to Starbucks to Cha for Tea, talking about everything and still leaving feeling like we weren't done. I really miss those girls and had a lovely evening with them.

Roomies and I celebrating Christmas

Newlyweds and I at the reception

2008 Quiz

You Remember 80% of 2008

You were paying attention during 2008. And you remember what happened really well. You'll be able to talk about 2008 for years to come... Even when most people have forgotten what went down.

How Much Do You Remember 2008?

Nope, still alive

Shocking I know. The lack of posting would indicate my death. But no, I am still alive. Just busy with life. My summer was basically uneventful other than my trip to TN, so nothing to blog about there. Except the Olympics, which I didn't blog about. (Note to any readers out there, if you know Michael Phelps, or any of the other Olympic swimmers, it'd be great if you could get me in contact with them. Haha) Then there was moving back to San Diego. New apartment and roomies again. I'm great at moving. I mean really, I think it's like a calling or something for me. It keeps happening. Then school started. And school makes things crazy. Then there was the day I went and saw Michael Phelps at Jay Leno. That was pretty awesome. But the last few months have been crazy between school and roommate bonding activities.

I realize that November has started and while the last two years I have participated in the blog every day thing. Not so much this time around. I failed on the first day because I went over to a friend's apartment with the roomies to hang out. And I'm forgetful, so it just wasn't going to work out this time around because it's more unpredictable for me this year as to whether or not my computer is even on on a given day. So that's my life. Sort of. The most general overview of it. Haha. But that's all you get for now.

Post TN trip

Following my trip to Tennessee, I looked for work. Despite applying places, I never got a call back from anyone. In the grand scheme of things, my not having a job was a good thing, because the day after Father's Day, Mom fell at work and broke her right foot, also known as her driving foot. Therefore I took over as Mom, and we upgraded the animals so that Abby got upgraded to daughter, Honey got upgraded to dog, toaster got upgraded to cat and Mom got demoted to toaster. So I would get up when she did in the morning, take the dog out, get them both breakfast, then I usually went back to sleep for a little bit and got up like an hour or so later. We watched, and I became addicted to, "Jon and Kate Plus 8" on TLC. The kids are way cute and Jon and Kate are funny in their commentary of things going on. Then I'd make lunch and we'd watch "As the World Turns" and "Guiding Light." Later on I'd make dinner and set up and clean up after it. I learned how to cook for more than one, which I guess will be a good thing later on. I also got plenty of driving practice in, as I took her to the store, doctor's appointments, anywhere she needed to go. I guess I wasn't meant to have a job for that reason this summer, but that's a hard sell of a reason to people. Haha. And it has allowed me to read a lot. Currently I have just started my 9th book of the summer. That's nice since I expect a lot of reading this semester and know I'm not going to have time for leisure books.

Tennessee

Days after finishing school, Mom and I headed back to Tennessee to visit Robbie and Paul. We had a very early flight on Wednesday, May 21st and thus had to leave for the airport in the 5am hour. Sadly, hours before around 1:30am, I had done something to my ipod which then erased the music from the ipod, though they all still appeared on itunes and played on there just fine. That was annoying. What would I listen to during the flight? So I dug out my old CD player and some CDs. Old school. Haha. So we flew to Atlanta, GA and had a bit of a layover, which left us enough time to grab some lunch. We arrived in Knoxville, TN at like 6ish I think it was. It was a very small airport, especially in comparison with LAX. We met Robbie in the little hallway leading from the terminal out into the real world. We drove to the house and sat and talked a while before ordering pizza for dinner. Robbie and Paul had just Monday gotten a new yellow lab puppy named Goldie, as in Goldie Hawn, so we played with her as well.
New puppy


The next morning, Paul had off from work, so we decided to go to...wait for it...wait for it...Dollywood! That's right. Dollywood.

We walked around, Paul rode some rollar coasters, ate funnel cake and rode a rapids ride. At night we went to Hooters for dinner, which naturally makes sense, kind of like a boob themed day with Dollywood and Hooters. Friday-Sunday we went to malls and shopping centers and spent lots of money on clothes and shoes.

On Monday, we had planned to go out onto the boat for the afternoon, but it was very windy and thus would not make for a good boat trip. Instead, we headed over to the Knoxville Zoo, where Robbie and Paul had never been to either. We wanderd around and saw animals (obviously haha) but I felt kind of bad for some of the animals since they were in their enclosures all alone. I feel like they should at least have a friend in there with them. After the zoo, we drove around and saw some historical homes and such. Then when we went to dinner, we were noticing the dark clouds in the sky. By the time we left for dinner, it was raining and in the short car ride to the restaurant, it was pouring. Luckily by the time we left it sort of lightened up.

Tuesday, Robbie and Paul both had work so Mom and I were puppy-sitting and packing up our stuff to go. We only had to send one box home of stuff that wouldn't fit, and it was just a pair of hot pink with white polka dots on the heels and bow, peep toe heels that I deemed to be quite "Sex and the City." We left around 4:30pm and flew back to Atlanta. We had a delay there, so got on our plane about 40 minutes after our set departure time. Then had to wait quite some time on the runway waiting our turn.

Knoxville airport...There are rocking chairs all over but the whole window of them made me laugh.

All in all it was a very fun trip. It's really pretty and green back there. And I love all the big historic homes. Even the non historic ones. But the split level homes are kind of weird...The windows are like right on the ground and you walk in and go downstairs and up and eh. Not my cup of tea, but I'm sure the people living in them like them just fine.

Finally getting around to posting....

I know, I know. I promised that I was going to try and post more about my trips and stuff. But you know how it is. You get busy doing nothing. Haha. So here we go, I'm going to post, and unless I get tired of it, I am going to massively post about things. So happy reading!