May Flowers...

The snow has melted -- finally! There is green grass everywhere except my front yard which is full of dirt. The skies are blue and its gonna be a high of 75 this next week! I am so excited! My dad is coming up to Tahoe and visiting me at the end of June with the girls. We are going to go out onto the lake and go up on the mountain, maybe do some hiking. Also one night we are going to see one of his friends open for Robert Plant and Allison Krause at Harrah's. Before that happens though I have to go back down to SoCal for a wedding on June 5th. This wedding is going to be really expensive. Between gas, hotel rooms, dress & tux, food, and the wedding present Ryan and I are going broke! But it is going to be a beautiful wedding!

That's all for now. Maybe I will post something funny later

This Is How I Feel About Coffee...

Coffee is a godsend. I swear. Every morning I have to be at work at 7am. Therefore I wake up around 6 or 6:30 depending on if I have to shower. I am a crabby mess in the mornings and anyone who has ever spent the night at my house or has lived with me knows that I do not wake up on the good side of the bed -- ever. I whine and bitch about everything - I'm tired, I don't want to wake up, my hair is ugly, the shower isn't warm enough, I can't find my sock, I'm hungry, I don't want to go to work. I say all of these things every morning. I'm surprised Ryan puts up with me.

Anyways the second I stumble into work I start my coffee. The aroma fills the air and it smells so good, plus breakfast is being served on the second floor - so that smells pretty good too. But as soon as I pour my first cup and put some Hazelnut creamers and have one sip I am a completley different person. I am chipper and happy and the fog in my brain starts to clear out.

I love all kinds of coffee. I love frappicinos from Starbucks, I love my regular coffee with hazelnut at work, I love iced caramel macciahtos from Starbucks, I love white chocolate mochas from Starbucks... mmmmmmm coffee coffee coffee. The only thing is, I don't like plain black coffee, something about it doesn't do it for me. Maybe the caffiene isn't enough and I need the extra sugar too.

So coffee count for today is 3 cups.

Caitlin Got Braces?!?!!?!?!?!?!

So I call my dad yesterday to let him know that I had my 90-day review at work, and it went over very well! (I got a 3% raise!! YIPPPEEE!) And we were catching up and then he gave the phone to Evann and we were talking about how much extra homework she is getting to prepare her for 6th grade, her 4/4 on her Science test and how she trims Sara-Bella's nails. Next thing i know she tells me that Caitlin got her braces on today. And I was shocked! No one had told me ANYTHING about Caitlin thinking about getting braces, let alone actually getting them put on. I don't have a problem with braces - granted I am a little jealous because her smile is going to be SO beautiful, and mine needs some work. But I was just shocked that I didn't know. I talk to my dad everyother day, and text Caitlin all the time. And it just came out of no where. She sent me a picture though and I have it right here.

I am definetly jealous. She's gonna be so gorgeous! I can't wait. She's gonna keep them on for 2 years and then after she gets them off she is going to have a upper retainer and a wire on the back of her bottom teeth. I love my sisters!

Summertime is Approaching!

Summer is definetly right around the corner. It's been getting warm up here. Our high last weekend was 70. When I spoke to my dad he said that he was in Moorpark for Cait's soccer game and it was in the upper 90's. Holy Smokes!! The high 90's in April?!?!? This is proof of global warming. It never got that hot in April, maybe only once, but he said its been crazy hot the entire week.

I know we all wish that we could have more money. But I wish that I could have more money to go see concerts... I recently found out that Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick are playing at Harvey's (across the street from where I work). Heart is one of my favorite bands - ever. My mom got me really turned on to them when I was younger, and I have been singing their music ever since. It would be awesome to see Journey too since the only Journey songs I have ever heard live were from a Journey cover band my friend Garrett use to play in. I really wish I could go but tickets are so damn expensive. Its like $49.99 for one ticket and then you add on all the taxes and it comes out to over $150.00!! And I don't have $150.00 to spare.

The other concert that I am really interested in seeing is Death Cab For Cutie. They are kind of an unknown Indie band. They have had one or two hits on the radio, but for the most part people haven't heard of them. I saw them perform in New York when I went with my choir during my senior year, and they were AMAZING!! I was checking on ticketmaster for their upcoming tour and noticed all of the shows were sold out. So I checked on E-Bay to see how much tickets were selling on there - it was close to $200 per ticket!!! So then I go to work a few days later and sure enough sitting right on the counter is a print out of Death Cab's NEW dates... I go onto Ticketmaster to see how much tickets are - and for 2 tickets with all the stupid taxes it comes out to 108.19. Ugh. I guess that this summer will not be the summer of concerts.

Otherwise - I talked to Aunt Heather on Skype for the first time a few nights ago, and that was tons of FUN! It was so crazy to have her in my computer! Hahaaaa. She looks nice and tan! I also won a free nights stay at the Hilton in San Jose at my work party! Yay for work parties - free food, free drinks, free night stays! Gotta love corporations!

Cheapest Dessert Ever...

For those of you who believe Tahoe has expensive dining, you are mistaken. I shall now present to you the cheapest dessert ever. It was only 99cents. Amazing...

These Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Swirl cookies were only ninety-nine cents. So yummy in my tummy. Hahahahaa.

I have been lazy lately, and work has been SUPER busy so I haven't had too much time to blog. I will soon post about my trip down to Castaic, and about my first time snowboarding.

Anyways, I had a great day today because Ryan and I had the day off and we spend it just hanging out and had an awesome Hamburger Helper dinner. :]

much love
-m

My First Day of Snowboarding... Before 36 Hours in Castaic.

Yep, that's right 36 hours in Casteezy. It was one hell of a trip, let me tell you. But before I start on that let me tell you about my First Day Snowboarding!

Ryan and I both had Monday off (consequently St. Patty's Day). The season is almost over and Ryan really wanted me to go up on the mountain and try snowboarding again... this time with his 'experienced' help. I rented my snowboard at work and I took it home and practiced flipping over and standing up. I felt more comfortable this time than I did last time I attempted (might I remind you I only lasted about 5 minutes) Anyways, I made it on to the first ski lift just fine... but getting off the ski lift was a different story. I fell everytime until the 5th (and last) time. I did pretty well on the first green run called Patsy's. I mean there was definelty a lot of standing up, falling down - standing up, falling down. and any time that I felt that I was going too fast I would just fall anyways... because I was scared. I had some really good wipe-outs! After I was done with Patsy's I took another chair lift to a bigger blue run. As soon as I got up to the top of that chair lift I forgot EVERYTHING I learned on Patsy's. I could barely stand up and I kept falling down but there was a small cliff with a bunch of trees on the left side of the run. And everytime I stood up I kept going to the left straight into the trees. It was so scary!! After that I got overly discouraged and started walking. Yes, walking.

Ryan and I trekked about 2 miles across 5 runs to get to his lodge. The views during the walk/hike were amazing!!

The view from up top!

Ryan leading the way to East Peak Lodge

Using my camera to take a panoramic picture!

See!! There is me all the way in the back!

When we finally got there we had lunch from the barbeque, for FREE - if we would have bought the food it would have been close to $45. Can you believe that? We had a great time with his friends and co-workers. Ryan's boss Albert dressed up as a leprechaun. It was the funniest site I have seen in a while.

After we were done with the lodge we took one more lift and got back onto the gondola and headed home. On our way home is when we got the call about a check waiting for Ryan at our community college in Valencia. The check was left over money from his financial aid for last semester and it was a big chunk of money. And that is when we decided to make a little mission back to SoCal.

My Own Opinion On American Idol

I'm bored... and before I sit down and write about my 36 hour trip spent Castaic I wanted to share some of my favorite american Idol performances so far this year.

First I will start with Brooke White's "Love is a Battlefield"

I love the fact that she went the completely opposite way of the traditional version. And it was one of my mom's favorite songs... ever.

Next is Carly Smithson... she's from Ireland... and basically, I love her. She is amazing. Here is Carly singing "Come Together"

She has the strongest voice of all the other competitors, and she has this charm when she's on stage, I truly hope she wins...

Here is Carly singing "Crazy on You" by Heart... one of my favorite bands... ever.

Might I add... she was out of breath at the end of that performance. Her tone and strength of her voice just blows me away... Everytime.

Lastly my other favorite is Jason Castro's version of "If I Fell", I don't know what it is, his voice is so soothing and delicate. It's a beautiful song...

I will definetly keep updating what I think about all the different performances.