Because mom said so...

I'm pumping out a major update. I'll get some writing in here for things I don't have pictures for, but don't worry, you'll get your photo fix!

I finished up my first year of teaching at the end of May. It was a very eye-opening/stressful/fun/awful experience and I decided, "Hey, why not try it again?" And so (to the administration's relief) I signed on for another year. Everyone told me the first year is the hardest, and now that I'm in my second, I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm not sure if I'll stay on board here for another year, or move on. I'm still just going year to year. I was thinking it would be kind of neat though to see my first classes graduate (I had only freshmen last year)... so that's something in my head.

In June my parents and Ellen came to visit, which was awesome. I don't have those photos on this computer so you'll just have to trust me that we had a good time. I took them to the Pacific Ocean for the first time (Santa Monica) and we did a couple trips to educational (yes, I actually enjoy that stuff now) places like the Hearst Castle on the coast and the Getty Center in LA. I think they were kind of shocked at how hot it gets here, but hopefully they realize now what I mean by a "dry heat."

In July I was super busy traveling. For the 4th I went up to Huntington Lake with some friends and we rented boats and a cabin for the weekend. The only downfall of the trip was when I accidentally fell between the boat and the dock and got this HUGE bruise on my right thigh. About two days after this trip I came back to PA for about a week to take my parents to see Billy Joel in Hershey and to enjoy Arts Fest in State College with college buddies. My leg hurt SO MUCH on the plane ride and just sitting, walking, standing... It hurt to even wear pants. You can sort of see it in the picture of me playing Rock Band... EW!
When I returned from PA, my friend Tom came out and we took a week long road trip covering the coast from Laguna Beach to San Francisco. We stayed at places where I knew people and we also camped in a tent in Monterey (that's where Pebble Beach is, if you're a golf fan). We drove north on Route 1, which has very winding roads and cliffs at times but it was definitely worth it. I'll have to make another blog just for those pictures because they were absolutely breathtaking.
In San Franciso, we did a LOT of touristy things. Some I had done before, like Chinatown, and others I had not, such as walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. Again... amazing. Here's one of my photos from the bridge (sorry it's small, I don't have the original file on this computer).
After Tom left I decided to amp up my search for a dog. As you may or may not know, I have been wanting a dog my entire life, but I didn't want to rush into anything that needed a committment like that. Yes, dad, you taught me to be level-headed and not compulsive (thank you). Anywho, I traveled to Lancaster (no Amish there!) on a whim and fell in love with the most pitiful thing. I had seen a lot of dogs in many shelters around here, but he fit everything I was looking for. I went back the next day to adopt and finish the paperwork and it was all official Aug. 14th. He was in a sorry state with feces and urine caked in to his matted, dreadlocked fur. I took him to the vet the next day for a checkup and complete shave, and he looked like a brand new dog. I named him Marley and he's been a great addition to my life. FYI - He's not named "Marley" because of the book "Marley & Me" (also a movie coming out at Christmas). And now the pictures....in chronological order!
And since I'm on the topic of new things... in September I started seeing this guy, Andrew, who I met back in April. He's still working toward a computer science degree but he's also in the Army Reserves and has a part time job as a mechanic. Here's some photos of us and some friends at a grape stomp back in October...

Well I hope this is a good enough update for my mother... because I'm tired! Hopefully I can get my coast roadtrip pictures up in a blog for you all to check out. I really do want to share, I just get so caught up with other things!! Hope everyone is well. Sorry for my lack of updates...

- Carol

Cristina's Quinceañera

At the end of March, Lindsey and I were formally invited to a student's quinceañera (15th brithday). This is a HUGE deal in the Mexican culture and if you're invited, you pretty much have to go. We were pretty excited to be the only teachers asked to attend and we went out and bought dresses for the occasion. I was very grateful for my knowledge of Spanish since that was the language of choice that night. I was blown away at the amount of money and time put into this party. Cristina looked like she was getting married though she was absolutely drained from all of the preparations put into the event. After the traditional dances, Cristina had an outfit change and performed a dance for the party with her friends. After those formalities, everyone else was allowed to dance. Lindsey and I aren't big on salsa dancing, so we observed the scene and played with some of Cristina's cousins. I even saw another one of my students there, who demanded we get a photo together. haha.

Erica comes to visit!

From March 17 through March 24, one of my best friends from back home came to visit. I've known Erica since high school, and we became very close during senior year. After graduation, she went off to Temple while I went to Penn State. Even though we went to separate colleges, we have remained close and always try to see each other when one of us is in Allentown. We decided back in December (when I was home for 2 weeks, and spent a good deal of time with her) that she absolutely MUST come visit me out here. At the end of February, I started looking up tickets and we found an excellent trip deal so she snatched it up. Erica had never been to the west coast before, so I planned tons of things for us to do and places to visit. I was off for the entire week because of my school's spring break.

I picked Erica up on Monday at LAX around dinnertime. I took her over to Santa Monica to see the beach and also to stay away from the rush hour of LA. Santa Monica was the first west coast beach I had ever visited as well.
On Tuesday, we hung around Bakersfield and I took Erica to my favorite park, which I've talked about on this blog before. It was beautiful out and we had a nice time just walking around and talking.

Wednesday, we drove down to Anaheim and spent the day in Disneyland. We had SO much fun!! We even bought ears!








If you buy a hat, you can take it to the "Mad Hatter" where they will sew your name on...FREE!
Towards the end of the day, we began looking for a ride called Space Mountain. It's an indoor coaster that's mostly dark except for little lights all around, giving the illusion you're flying through space. We asked an employee where to find it and he looks at us with a smile and says, "How would you like it if I took you ladies to the front of that line?" We looked confused and he continued, "Have you heard of Disney's new promotion 'Year of a Million Dreams'?" He went on to tell us that he was a "dream maker" and all day long, his job was to grant wishes - whether it was getting a thirsty mouth a bottle of water, a new shirt for someone who ruined their own, or a replacement popcorn for one that had spilled. I asked him what we had to do in return and he responded, "How about a hug?" I jumped on him before he could manage to say "Just kidding!!" and he led us to the front of the line saving us over an hour wait. It was a great end to our day!
We stayed the night in Anaheim, and drove over to Huntington Beach the following morning. Huntington is known as "Surf City" and we had a relaxing time watching the surfers and walking around the pier, boardwalk, and beach.

In the afternoon, we began our drive back to Bakersfield and stopped in Hollywood to see the typical touristy things.

The following day, Friday, we drove east to Las Vegas. Erica was blown away by all the windmills (get the pun??).We stayed for a couple days with my friend Colin who works for The Flamingo (one of the big hotels on the strip) and the day after we got back, I had to finally say goodbye to Erica. It was awesome for her to stay for so long and it was really the charge I needed to get me through the last couple months of school!

- Carol

2.5 months in pictures

Well the New Year started off here:
And I saw a TON of friends and family including:
When I got back to Bakersfield I found out about this:
February was very busy. In the beginning of the month I traveled for the first time to Vail, CO for a quick weekend that included:

(Giants win Super bowl 42!!!!!!!!)

Then in the middle of February, Lindsey and I traveled north to San Francisco to visit my friend John from Penn State (who now goes to Berkeley for grad school):

(Union Square)(Chinatown)(above is Alcatraz)

At the end of the month, Marc finally made a visit out... even though it was only a couple of days:
That's pretty much my life summed up into pictures. Last weekend I went to a teaching conference in Anaheim with Lindsey. The 3rd grading quarter just ended on Friday and I put all of my grades in already. This week I am off for spring break - pretty nice having a whole week off, hm?? Erica is coming to visit tomorrow and she'll be staying until next Monday. I'm super excited. I've got lots of plans including Hollywood, LA, various beaches, Disneyland and Vegas. Hopefully I will be better with updating now that I've got a handle on school.

I miss everyone very much, but I'll definitely be back east in July!

~ Carol