updates

I flew home last Thursday and had a delightful weekend with Mariana and the rest of my family. My air travel experience was quite pleasant and smooth both ways, thanks US Airways! Mom picked me up at the airport and we picked up Evan. He was SOOOO excited to see me!! He gave me great squeezes. :) Thursday night Mariana and Morgan came over for dinner.

Friday Manana and I saw Julie & Julia (very cute and funny!!) and then everyone in Fresno went to the Boise State game except those in my house. :-p I got to see her mom and sister before they left town, which was great! Love those Palomo women!!!

Saturday morning Tia Tess came over and dyed my hair. It is a little darker than I thought it would be, but I like it. She did a great job and we had a nice visit. Then Steph, Evan, and I met Alex, Uncle Jim, Dad & Cathy for lunch. It was a nice get together, though we had a lot of Tide pen going around...Evan + Mexican Rice + my khaki pants = stains :( Mom, John, and I went to the luggage store that fixed my suitcase this summer to drop it off since the new handle broke!! Then they dropped me off at Manana's house and we went to Office Max and Borders. Then we met Morgan at Applebee's for dinner. After that we rushed off to Alex's improv show at Clovis North. He did great and some of the kids from Clovis North were quite talented! At one point, Mike asked the audience about something unpleasant they do. I think the group ended up going with final exams, but mom whispered "colonoscopy" to us and we all burst out laughing...in the silent auditorium. Oops!! It was soooo funny! Alex was embarrassed, I'm sure. After the show I packed my suitcases and then Manana and I watched Enchanted. It was a great best friend weekend.

Sunday morning Dad picked me up and dropped me off at the airport. He pulled my two 50 pound suitcases while I toted the 40 pound carry-on and my backpack, which probably weighed about 25 pounds. :) I filled the suitcases with our books and movies!! So now we have home entertainment! The flight home was smooth as well, but I was so tired that I wasn't very productive on homework like I had been on the way over. I was so jetlagged and time-zone confused!

Jesse was there to pick me up at the airport and it was so nice to have such a handsome man to kiss when I got off the airplane!! I'm the luckiest girl!!

Monday I met with my professor and, after 3 weeks of no work, he gave me two pages worth of tasks!! Only two were high priority, so that wasn't too bad, but they weren't small things. One of them was, write IRB protocol for the new study; and another was design and develop a health promotion program for teens in a group home! Oh sure, no problem! What?!?!! Talk about having my work cut out for me!

Classes are going well. There is a group study session tomorrow, which hopefully will prove helpful. Today my office mate told me she was glad they put me up in the office with her. :) That made me feel good.

Thursday and Friday I'll work on my GA task list and review all my notes to make sure I'm understanding the materials. This weekend I'll read, and hopefully we'll do something fun and touristy. :) Martin Dam, a friend from the Davis Newman Center, moved out here for pharmacy school and lives about 30 minutes away, so he is going to pick us up on Saturday and we'll have lunch. It'll be a nice taste of home.

Jesse was bored and lonely while I was gone since he doesn't know anyone here, but today was a great day for him!! He had an interview with Amazon as an onsite medical/health provider for their distribution center and has a follow-up interview on Friday. He said it went well and we both think it would be an amazing opportunity. He also got a call inviting him to an AMR orientation tomorrow!!! He had his interview there last Friday. The dilemma now is which has the better schedule, better pay, etc. Amazon is part-time and seasonal, with the potential to become full-time. AMR is full-time, but only 36 hours. He wants to start taking his prereqs for nursing school next semester, so that's a factor as well. But if he could do both jobs we could make some good money and then once the seasonal one is over he can go to school and we will have more of a cushion. We finally got our loan money yesterday, so that has helped us rest easy. I paid my credit card bill. My first stipend check comes next week! :)

What has been bothering me and causing me to wonder is why so many people I know have recently become seriously ill or died? Three people I know died last week and two of my uncles are very ill. This morning I woke up to a text message from my friend telling me that her brother's nephew, whom I have met and is an adorable 5-year old, was hit by a car and was airlifted to Fresno from San Jose. Last I heard they took him off life support because he had no brain activity. :( I am praying for all of those affected by all of these terrible events. It does make me wonder about the timing, however. Is there something horrible going around California? Did me leaving suddenly cause this?

It makes me miss home a lot more. I love you super lots!!!! Please pray for my uncles and all those who lost loved ones. Love, me.