Desert Rain

I went bowling tonight and had a lot of fun. I need to get out more...I end up getting bored then moping because of it.

My new apartment has a very pretty view of the city of Las Cruces and the (desert) mountains in the background. The other night it was raining really hard, and the sun was just beginning to go behind the mountains, so all of outside was yellow-tinted, with sun, and rain. It was so beautiful :) When I stepped outside to take it all in, I saw an amazing double rainbow. Here are some pictures.Double rainbow

You can't see the rain in this one but...


You can in this one!! Actually I don't think you can on blogger. Normally you can :( If you click on the picture it will show it bigger, and you can see the streaks of rain.

El Futuro (otra vez)

Jake and I went and saw 500 Days of Summer yesterday. I liked it. It was a romantic comedy, but it wasn't a cliche happily-ever after movie, and that's part of why I liked it. I think you may also have to have a particular sense of humor to enjoy it, and I was giggling almost the whole time.

Today I started tennis. Well, the first class was on Monday but all we did was talk about the class for about 15 minutes. I bought a tennis racket this morning at Wal-Mart. It's pink, which I wasn't that thrilled about, but it was specially built for a weaker female (like me) and was comfortable, and only pink was available for this type. So I decided that comfort was more important than looks in this case. Even though it should be in every case...But anyway the class today was fun; we just did basic stuff like swing and hitting the ball back and forth. I'm not a very coordinated person to begin with, so I'll have to work on that :)

As I have begun my final year of college, I ponder what I might do after graduation in May. To be quite honest, I have no idea. Well, I have some ideas of what I could see myself doing, but I have yet to have that epiphany of "Oh my goodness, that's my calling!" I started college as a biology major, wanting to be a vet, but soon realized that science wasn't my thing. I still love animals and would like to involve animals in my life somehow, but not as a career I suppose. Eventually I declared my major in Communication Studies. I really like the classes and concepts of this major, but I really don't know where it will take me. I've worked on and off for the YMCA child care department, and have been a counselor at Sonlight, and I could see myself working with kids somehow. Not as teaching though, can't see myself in a classroom. Perhaps some kind of youth development coordinator. I wouldn't mind just working for the Y again for a while after I graduate. I would also enjoy doing some youth development abroad, in developing/third world countries. I like kids, I like nature, I like traveling...... entonces, Kids+Traveling+Nature= perfect career for me. But what career that is, I have yet to learn.

2 years ago....

Jake and I became an item :)

For those of you who read this, I apologize for the sappiness. I won't be offended if you roll your eyes :P

Thank you for loving me.
Thanks for always being my friend, and not leaving when friendship was all I wanted.
Thank you for always being there, and always supporting me.
Thanks for putting up with my flaws.
Thank you for for making me feel important and significant, and as an equal.
Thank you for making me fall head-over-heels for you.
Thank you for never giving up on me.
Thanks for all your help and understanding.
Thank you for taking care of me.
Thank you for making me see what love can really be all about.

I LOVE YOU!!!

Sunday laziness

It's hard to believe that only three weeks ago I left for Costa Rica. Time flies. It seems like a long time ago, but at the same time, it seems like just yesterday.
I was not very productive today. It's always a task for me to get motivated at the beginning of each semester. I sat around watching TV all morning, then did nothing important on the computer. Finally I got myself to leave the apartment and I went and spent the rest of my Kohl's gift card and got a desk lamp at Lowe's. Once I got back, however, I wasted away on the computer for a couple more hours, once again doing nothing meaningful. I hope this doesn't become a habit. It just doesn't feel like school has started yet. Just now I somewhat organized my binder in which I keep all my class syllabi, assignments, schedules, etc. for the semester.

That was my day.

Aaaaaand....we're back

I got back from Costa Rica on Sunday, and I had such a wonderful time. I did very well with my Spanish and am determined to keep speaking it so I don't lose it. Jake and I did some really fun things. Went ziplining through one of the best canopy tour companies in the world, and horseback riding through the rainforest. We also took an all-day tour of the rainforest in Sarapiqui, where we took a riverboat and saw crocodiles, iguanas, monkeys, bats, birds, and a sloth. We also took a short hike through the rainforest on this tour and saw two types of poison-dart frogs. Later in the day we took a sky tram, which went through and up above the rainforest, which was absolutely beautiful, and went to the frog/snake/butterfly farm. How could it get any better? The second week we were in Monteverde, which is about 4 hours from the capitol, San Jose, where the airport is. Since our flight from San Jose to Denver left at 6:30 in the morning, we had to be there at 4 AM, which mean we had to stay at a Bed and Breakfast Saturday so that we could get up at 3 AM, which is why we were in the B&B. Anyway, that night I could barely sleep, because the city of Heredia is quite noisy, and there was a church nearby that kept shooting off canons (at least the noise of canons) and people were yelling, music was playing, dogs were barking, car alarms were honking...so I barely slept, and didn't sleep again til Sunday night at about 11 PM (didn't even sleep on the plane or car ride with my dad to Las Cruces) so I essentially didn't actually sleep for 48 hours. Yeah, I had to go straight from the airport in Albuquerque to Las Cruces. So the above description is why I loved Monteverde so much more than Heredia. It was much prettier, more rural, the houses weren't right next to each other, it was MUCH quieter, the air fresher...and so on.
I could write all about my trip, but I'm tired, and it's late, and there's just too much to tell, frankly!
I am all settled into my new (and my own!) apartment. I love it. I can already tell that it might get a bit lonely sometimes, but it's still better than OCD roommate from last year. It's the perfect size for me :)
Well I think I shall go snooze now.
Good night.

Weddings and Lately

As you know I've been home for a while now (about a month and a half), and I've slept SO good, with no neighbors stomping around at all hours above me, no bass thumping obnoxiously below me, no lovers making whoopy in the room next to me, and no obsessive-compulsive, power-hungry, control-freak, high-maintenance roommate. And........

I GOT THE APARTMENT I WANTED!!! A couple weeks ago they called and said they have a one-bedroom available to me for the fall. I am SO excited to have my own place. My prayers worked :-)

My sister's and Brian's wedding was absolutely fantastic. The ceremony was beautiful and sweet, I didn't fall walking down the aisle, the pictures Jake took are absolutely amazing and better than many professional wedding photos, the reception was extremely fun with everyone (kids, teens, young adults, middle-aged adults, and seniors) ALL dancing, the DJ played great music, the food was DELISH, my mom's cake was beautiful, everyone liked my toast, and everyone just had a great time all around. The party finally ended around 11:30 pm, and we got back home around 12:30 am. It was hard to go back to work last Monday after such an incredible weekend.

I'm on a lunch break from work right now. I like my job a lot. It can be challenging at times, like with fighting children, sensitive children who cry about everything, and children who want to run away. But I like it nonetheless. Tomorrow we take them on a bowling field trip which will likely be MADNESS. And interesting...5 and 6 year olds trying to bowl. My dad's 50th birthday is on Friday! I have to work, but I think I'm taking him to lunch and we're throwing him a surprise party on Sunday. We're pretty sure he knows about it though...
The YMCA is practically the only office/organization/whatever open on Friday, because many places are recognizing that Friday for July 4th. Oh well.

I'll blog more later, but I have to get back to work soon. Have a happy week!

Been awhile...

I guess being home makes me less susceptible to much time on the internet. I have greatly enjoyed being home these past several weeks, am enjoying my job with the YMCA summer camp as the 1st grade head counselor, been busy preparing for my sister's wedding, watching my little brother graduate high school, and more (as a brief update). Last night was my sister's bachelorette party, and it was very fun, and, um...well, I won't get into details. Today we started decorating the reception area, and it was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The first practice processional, I got super red because I walk down the aisle alone, and I got really embarrassed. Sigh. At the rehearsal dinner, my sister handed out her gifts to her bridesmaids and flower girl. All us bridesmaids got a very pretty silver necklace with the first letter of our names as the pendant. Since I'm the maid of honor, she gave me something extra. I opened the box to this extra something, and tears streamed down my face before I even realized how emotional I was getting. Seriously, I've never been that suddenly emotional. It was a silver picture frame with the word "Sisters" at the top, and at the bottom were our engraved names, "Shanda & Erika". The picture in the frame was one from when she was probably four years old, and I two years old. We're sitting on our yellow and orange plastic table at our old house, and my sister is hugging my face and has her face nuzzled against mine, and my face is all squished, but I look pleasantly surprised. As soon as I saw the picture, I didn't even feel the tears coming until they were streaming down my face. I think I surprised everyone at the table (including myself), and I got up and quickly went to the bathroom to sob. I was so stunned. After a couple minutes, my sister and mom came in (someone told them that her gift made me cry and that I had run to the bathroom in tears), and the three of us hugged in there, and cried a little, and giggled a little. It reminded me of that episode of Friends, the one at Monica and Chandler's wedding reception, and Phoebe, Rachel, and Monica lock themselves in the bathroom and soon are crying and hugging because of Rachel's pregnancy. Anyway, I seriously don't ever remember being that immediately emotional. Like I said, it was like the tears were streaming down my face before I knew I was about to cry. When I came out of the bathroom, several people were looking at me and smiling sweetly because they'd heard what happened. I was so embarrassed. Then everyone wanted me to show them the picture, so I kept getting choked up over and over. Christina, Brian's sister, wanted to see it, and got choked up too, just seeing the picture that made me so happy and sad at the same time.
I love my sister. I'm so happy she's happy. And I wish her and Brian the best in life.
<3