I met a man.

Seriously, I think I'm in love. He opens pickle jars for me, doesn't make me kill spiders, and humors me when I'm silly. Check out my tall, handsome and brawny man.

there is a substantial lack of

VALERIE! Where did you go?

I hope you are still reading this anyway. At least I know you are there. Nothing much is happening. it is officially 100 DAYS until graduation! and only 98 until my pinning ceremony. We've been doing a ton of work on it and I am very glad to be involved in the committee. I like having a say. plus, we HAD to sample the desserts we'll be serving there, so that meant carmel turtle cheesecake, brownie bars, etce etc. mmmmmm, benefits!

Valentine's Day was sweet, nothing HUGE, but lots of little touches. I had class all day, and again at 6 pm. But while I was at class, matt had planned a suprise dinner with kashelle and jeff. when i came home, he made me close my eyes, go sit in the bathroom with a magazine till he was ready. then he brought me a singel rose and a kiss. a few minutes later, he led me out and then kashelle and jeff came up and we laughed, cuz it was a suprise for her too. matt made a lovely dinner of chicken fett. alfredo, salad, and french bread. we both had roses on our plates with a candied apple. after dinner, we watched house (yay) and then k and j left. matt then brought out chilled wine glasses and a bottle of wine for dessert (along with reses bites). he also made this heart of rose petals and wrote me a poem of sorts. it was very very cute.

He and i have been really busy. its been a little tense, since he is getting home after 6, sometimes almost 7 o'clock at night, so we don't get much time together. plus, its hard to time dinner to be hot and ready when i never know what time to expect him. but we areworking on it. i am just home earlier than i used to be, so i notice him being gone more i think.

School is just fine. i don't really get excited about community health, but its not hard. we got to watch the movie Outbreak and Courage Under Fire, which was fun. I am also working as a school nurse in Whittier. Cute, huh?? I did scoliosis checks for little 5th grade girls on Thursday. it was really fun. my preceptor is pretty cool and she has tons of stuff lined up for us. plust i'm working with katie peterson, who is really fun.

well, i really miss you guys. i just journaled last night how i feel like i haven't kept up with you guys very well lately. i hope to call everyone soon. but i'm prayin in the meantime.

michelle, how is your church doing? any good pastors yet?

Diz, sorry to hear about the dogs. i might have cried to. but i'm glad your sister took one...dogs are very important to the growth of young boys. = )

Val, I can't say i know what to ask! how is school/work? family?

Me again.

I said I'm come back and be more cheerful. :) I am. Mostly. But sleepy.

We ended up giving the other puppy to my sister, which makes me feel far less betrayed for his sake, as he now has three brothers to play with. And the boy who took the other one home is sleeping with the dog every night, so I'm sure he'll be well taken care of, too.

Happier on that note, anyway. :)

I have Monday off and I can't wait! This weekend is going to be crazy busy. Lots of stuff with church/high school this weekend, and Micah (my nephew's!) six year old bday. Yes, Val, I'll tell your boyfriend happy birthday for you. ;) jk.

Well, I'm unbelievably sleepy. Actually, seeing as how it's two hours later than my usual bedtime I guess it's not unbelievable.

I love ya girls.

How is everything with ya'll? It seems like it's been a really really long time since I've heard anything substantial from most of you. What have you been thinking about lately?

Well, I was going to sign on here to whine about how annoying it is that logic can't overcome silly things my heart wants to think. I should be able to use logic to reason my way out of anything unreasonable, shouldn't I?

But now I have to vent about something else. Last weekend two puppies showed up at my house. They're brothers who absolutely love each other. They are constantly playing on each other, etc. Every where one goes the other goes. Well, we knew we couldn't keep them both (they're gonna grow to be 50 lb dogs--bigger than our house could handle), so we were looking for a place to send the pair. Well, I got home tonight from youth group to find my parents had given away ONE of the puppies--to a family with an apartment, so he'll have even less space. I am ridiculously upset by this. I got home an hour ago and I'm totally still crying. I know they're just dogs, but I feel betrayed for the sake of both of them--for the one who's still here because they took away his brother and for the one they took for being stuck into a small apartment, without a yard and without his brother. It just seems so mean to me. And so unneccessary--we've only had them for a few days. I just wish they would have given the whole thing more time. I was working on a couple of people; my sister was almost ready to take them, and all of a sudden, one's gone.

I know that this is dumb; that they are just dogs, but I'm terribly upset by it nonetheless. And then I get more angry when I think about how I'm not going to be able to sleep now... ugh.

Sorry for being totally whiny and lame tonight. I love you girls and I'm sure I'll be more cheerful next time around.

for grins n gigles

"tub baby" (ps, thats me)

Danielle is the COOLEST...

....cuz she posted a buncha cool pictures!!

Here's my share...

okay, maybe not. Diz? it won't upload...any ideas?

More :)

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

Us on Gwendolyn. She's gotten more beautiful in her old age...




Gotta love the hats...




Hey girls! Here we are--oh-so-beautiful--in the first place we ever talked about boys. :) Oh, and here we are again...Memories... :)

Another from ME!

Hi guys.
My deepest apologies for not posting on here in weeks. Things have been insanely busy...still kind of are, but not as bad. It's the start of the new semester, and I'm completely winging everything. I have NO CLUE yet what I'm covering next week. It makes me feel like a bad teacher. I'm glad I learned enough about bsing my way through presentations to be able to do it everyday. And I'm pretty good at telling what the students get and don't get, so I adjust my lesson every day per class anyway. But I would be much more effective if I took time to PLAN.

Weekends have been crazy lately. First I had that GROSS flu that so many folks had. I was totally knocked out. I missed work for the first time ever, and after sleeping in felt great and thought I'd do some shopping. When I was halfway to the mall, it hit me again. I almost turned around because I felt so bad. Fortunately, it was a fairly quick flu, and by Sunday I was 100% again...and behind on grades that were do the next day.

Since then, it's been about the same story each weekend. I'm still following up with some girls about some convos that I had with them at camp. It's fun, but time consuming. I'm trying to take as many of 'em out as I can, just to hang and talk. There are two high school girls that I really get along with--it's more like they've become my little sisters than anything. Their names are Marisa and Ashley. It reminds me of how silly I thought Donna was for hanging out so much with her high schooler friends--but it really is great, and not weird at all to be in that place. Of course, they aren't my friend-friends, but they are lots of fun and encouraging and I enjoy being with them and building into them (at least I hope I'm doing that!)

In other news, we've just started hardcore planning for this summer's trip to Romania. I'm pretty excited about that. The funny thing is that I'm actually more excited about the meetings right now than the trip. I love planning big things, especially when I get to do it with friends. It gives me a rush, better than caffeine even. :) Speaking of, this week I'm back up to two MD's a day. I feel like Bridget Jones, tracking her weight and cigarette smoking.

I'm nervous about mentioning names on here, at least names involved in sensitive matters, but wanted to update you on the whole thing with J. My heart still flutters when he enters the room and my stomach flip-flops when he smiles at me, but I really don't want to like him. (I know, I said a long time ago that I didn't...) And I guess it's not that I really like him...it's more like I think he's Michael Vartan or George Clooney. It's a teeny-bopper crush on a member of a boyband. And, rumor has it, that many girls in our age group have the hots for him (he's pretty darn good looking). That makes me feel more silly, though, like I really am a teeny-bopper, liking the idol of the minute. And I act like I'm not interested, because I don't want to be that teeny-bopper, but then I think about things like the fact that I'll see lots of him before and during summer, and wonder what could happen; and I compare my appearance to the single friends I have here, to see who would most likely catch his eye. And then, completely contrary thoughts continue: I do NOT want to be the one who "catches" a guy. I want a guy who is totally into me, and not one that I have to convince I'm better than the other girls. And apparently he's made "comments" to some of his female friends that have led them on...of course, I have no clue what that means; it could just be girls being the dumb girls we often are, but it could also mean that he's cruel and heartless. A week or so ago (2 weeks?) I was really upset about the whole thing. I had tried really hard to look cute before a thing where I saw him, and he didn't even say hi. Not that I should be upset with him for that--there we lots of people there, and he was under no obligation to greet me. But it was more of a self thing...like it just made me question my value as a woman and go through the whole "why don't boys like me? what's wrong with me?" thing that I'm sure you've all done, too. It was a pretty miserable feeling. And it's not intense right now, but I don't know what to do to grow up out of this sort of overeager desire for recognition from men.

Anyway, that said, life has been looking promising. I've spent some more time with friends Mary Beth, Kallie and Courtney. (It looks like moving out with Mary Beth has been nixed though...so I'm on the prowl for a likely roomie for next year...!) Kallie and I are going to host an Un-Super Bowl Party on Sunday. We're gonna watch girly movies and do fun girl stuff while her hubby and the boys watch football elsewhere. I'm really looking forward to it. :) Girl power! JK.

Ummm...well, only a few minutes before the end of break and I have to go to the restroom still.

Val, I'm glad you liked the card. :) We wanted to send a "real" gift, but the way time worked out thought it would be quicker to get the gift card to you. Plus, you have more freedom that way. We love you and are glad that you were born. :) I can't wait to catch up with ya! And talk plane tickets. :) (oh, and did you know your post didn't publish? I only read it cuz Hannah referenced it, so I checked the drafts!)

Michelle, when do you find out about student teaching? Keep us updated!

Hannah, I'm still gonna try to post pics on here tonight. I'm hanging with my sis and then should be able to spend some time figure pics out. I don't remember how to post!!

I love you all way hecka much. :)
-Danielle

a quickie

i don't really have a ton of time, nor a ton of things to say. i started school again on monday and have been doing a ton of reading (like 20 chapters in the first week) plus a math test (which i pased with 0 wrong!). yesterday we took our nursing graduation pictures. i am trying to upload it, but i don't think its working. i'll try and remember to do it from home. its so exciting!!!

val, i'm glad you liked our card. yes, of course we got together to sign it! boy, i wish we had thought of mailing it! = ) jk...i wish we could give you hugs too...its fun to do stuff like the card, but funner to give hugs and laugh together!

okay, here is the deelio on gradiation...I have my pinning ceremony on the 25th and graduation on the 27th. however, as much as i WANT you guys to be there and celebrate with me, it will be very difficult to enjoy your presence. Most of my family on both sides are coming and i am sure my obligations will be tied up with them. i'd feel so terrible b/c i'd want to be making the most of our time together, but need to be with my family too. So, in talking with Danielle, i thought it would mabye be better for you guys to trying coming out the weekend before or even a couple weekends after graduation. I hope you know how MUCH i want you guys to be there, but it really would not be the most practical use of our limited time together. well, at least for me...you guys would be able to hang out, i'm sure.

let me know what you guys think about this.