Reunion Accomplished!

I've been really bad with my updates in life that this new post is two months old now. I will be better from now on. Anyways....

The time finally came when I got to reunite with my bestests from school. Matt flew in from Canada to Phili to Ryan's and Jess came from NY to Phili and then the 3 of them all traveled down to NOVA.

It was so amazing to see them all after a year that I couldn't contain myself when they arrived at my front door that I jumped them all at the front door. Ryan in the past had given me a hard time for never sharing Korean food during the time that we were neighbors at school so his only request was that mom cook up some Korean food for dinner upon their arrival. Mom was gracious and delighted to fulfill the request and the boys and Jess were thoroughly excited.

We spent the evening watching TV, catching up on all that we've missed out on over the year and the boys were nothing less than shy to spit out Asian jokes my way to what seemed suppressed for a year that they couldn't help themselves when they saw my face. All in good fun, it was actually entertaining and I would never share it with them, but it was comforting in a way in knowing that things hadn't changed at all. Mom took advantage of having two strong guys in the house that she put them to work with helping move the heavy stuff around the house :)

I had a surprise for the guys and Jess that Friday before we headed down to Lynchburg but they had absolutely no idea what I had in store for them. So, typically while we were all talking about our plans for the weekend ahead, their curiosity caught up with them and left them playing the guessing game for their surprise. Ryan inevitably guessed that I was taking them to the NRA to go shooting at the range and they were all so excited. The boys had never been shooting so they obviously got all giddy and started playing guns with their fingers in my living room in excitement.

Friday came along and we arrived at the NRA. I took the guys and Jess on a tour at the NRA museum first to kill some time before meeting up with my co-workers at the range.

Bang, Bang

Putting the guns away after we were done shooting

Immediately after the range, we started out road trip down to Lynchburg for our reunion with other friends. What seemed instantaneously was Ryan and Matt wanting to do "power hour" for our last hour in the car before entering the burg. We all switched seating arrangements in the car, boys in the back and girls now up front with Jess driving while the boys were pounding away their drinks.

Matt found Ryan's new Bose (?) headphones and was jamming out to himself during "power hour.'

Now, just imagine a Dodge SUV and a 5'2 (ish) girl driving it... Jess was so funny driving this huge car that she could hardly see over the steering wheel without sitting right up close to it!

The boys in the midst of their "power hour" in high anticipation of entering the burg and going to La Caretta. La Caretta is this amazing mexican restaurant all over Lynchburg that we have all always gone to together for great food and amazing drinks :)

The infamous Mexican Flag shot. There is a story behind this! Mario, who was Ryan and Matt's other roommate at school, had once taken this shot for the first time for what I believe was his birthday. This shot is in a double shot shot glass with alcohol in three layers of the color of the Mexican Flag which is then lit on fire and given to you with a straw to intake. Super smart Mario upon his first attempt years ago didn't know what to do with this shot which he drunkenly took his straw and blew air across the flamed shot which then splattered alcohol across the table that was still on fire. With this memory still in mind, it was only suitable that the Mexican Flag shot make its round around our table that night for our reunion dinner. If only I had Mario in this picture taking the shot properly haha.

Matt's younger sister, Amanda is still in school at Liberty and we HAD to go see her! You can see here that Matt was so excited for the photo opp with his sweet sister haha. They love each other :)

Game day! Part of our reunion was to attend the last football home game. All these boys minus Joel (tall skinny guy) played football at Liberty so it was a must for them to watch the game, too! Wouldn't be a proper game day without a tailgate and the boys were all about making that happen. Mister fix-it Nick here was persistent about setting up the grill by himself that all we could do was gather around and watch until we started getting really hungry that the other guys went in with helping hands to finish the job quicker.

                                            Some of the boys- Matt, Joel, Ryan and Nick  :)

They missed each other haha. But really.... haha. No- this was Ry and Jess's air mattress that occupied the very middle of Mario's loft that it didn't leave much room for the rest of us. And the fact that these boys really did miss each other that I caught evidence of their spooning lol.

I'm a little bummed I didn't take more pictures from the weekend. I tend to forget I carry a camera sometime, especially when I'm having fun with those I'm with. Next reunion TBD -- thinking cruise?! :)

Fall Festivities

Pumpkin Carving and Corn Mazes --

Fall festivities got a kick off with pumpkin carving with my best friend, Adriana. I couldn't tell you the last time I actually carved a pumpkin (it's been that long.) I snagged some pumpkins that our Field Reps from work brought in to share with us and had a mini pumpkin carving extravaganza with my bestie.

                                                          Adriana and her pumpkin

                                                                    My Pumpkin :)

                                                                Adriana's final product
Adriana felt spontaneous to free-hand her carving while I was trusting my awesome stencil that did me well :) We were watching Hocus Pocus being very festive in our Halloween mood and then a Shrek commercial appeared for the new dvd and then *lightbulb* I had an idea to carve Shrek in my pumpkin. However, i had already carved my pumpkins face and when I attempted Shrek it was an epic fail... maybe next year. Adriana's free-handed spider web carving turned out awesome with her amazing artistic ability. It was a very successful pumpkin carving mini party with the two of us and next year we just might venture even further with our awesome mad skills.

Corn Maze Madness --

In getting with the Halloween spirit of things, Kara, Connie and I went with our church to a corn maze out in Leesburg. This place was amazing and had far more than I thought a corn maze place would have. There were people everywhere and they had what seemed like a moon bounce attached to the ground for adults and kids, play grounds, and caramel apples, apple cider and funnel cakes to polish the complete atmosphere of the corn maze. It was a good time getting lost in the maze even if we didn't follow to laid out path. Kara was pure entertainment being her fun loveable self tripping, snorting, and hugging corn stalks all throughout the maze :) I wish I made a video of her hugging the corn stalk then toppling over when she lost her balanced realizing the stalk was not sturdy haha.

                              Part of the group on the hay stacks after completing the maze

                                Kara, Connie and I next to the ground matted moon bounce

                                                  Kara and Chris on the moon bounce

Sissi's birthday --

My sister turned 26! It's so weird in this phase of life -- getting older. It's hard to fathom my sister in her late 20's along with me tracking through my 20's right along with her. I can still recall when we were in grade school as if they were yesterday.

Even though we're getting older doesn't mean we still can't act like kids :)

Anyways, we went to Angel's favorite restaurant, Bonefish, to celebrate. It was a much enjoyable time with fellow friends along with amazing food!

Baltimore Bound

Last weekend my best friend Adriana and I headed up north to Baltimore, MD for the weekend to visit her family. It was a much needed get away for the two of us from a hectic work week.

To avoid typical Friday bumper to bumper traffic, we started our adventure by shopping around in the Fairfax area. I had completely forgotten that Nordstrom Rack had come to Fairfax and was very excited to spend some time in their. Now, for large stores such as Nordstrom Rack, Ross and Forever 21, I just don't have the patience to dig around racks of clothes; however, my bestest, Adriana has the patience and eye for this atmosphere of shopping which I can only do with her by my side. We were successful with our shopping time slate and headed back to her house to pick up Sophie (her friends dog) to bring with us to Baltimore.

Now, Sophie is no ordinary dog... she is less than a year old and is twice as big as I am and slobbers and drools allll over you. She's even too big to big in the back seat comfortably. Sophie is sweet but is udderly attached to Adriana like a mama's girl and I had to fight her for the passenger seat.

                               Sophie in the backseat - too big to even capture on the camera

                                                                   Adri and Sophie :)

With avoiding Friday night traffic, we were aware that we'd be eating a late dinner once we arrived in Baltimore, BUT I was so excited for our feast that was waiting for us! Adriana's dad is an amazing cook and the last time I was around for his cooking was about 4 years ago. He had made the most wonderful and delicious turkey burgers I have ever had in my entire life and was making them as a special treat for my arrival :) I could not wait!

Once we arrived and said our hellos we went straight to eating the delicious meal that was prepared. I kid you not - I ate like 4 turkey burgers. BUT, before you judge me on my eating consumption, they were the size of sliders so I technically ate what would add up to about 2 regular size burgers :)

We called it an early night with just relaxing and watching movies to fall asleep to. We woke up early to go to the gym and take a Body Pump class with Adriana's step mom, Margie. Adriana and I go to the gym all the time and have taken Body Pump numerous times; however, by the end of this particular class I was about to keel over. I was in so much pain and had worked muscles I didn't know could hurt! I ended up being sore for 4 days after the weekend was over and could hardly sit down.

After Body Pump, we went back to the house and got ready for an afternoon of apple picking! We researched an assortment of places to go to and settled on Larriland Farm. It's a beautiful place especially this time of year with pumpkin picking, picnic area, local folk band, kettle corn and funnel cake vendors, hay rides and a country store with vegetables, apple butter, apple cider and other amazing things! It was such a neat place to spend our afternoon. Families swarmed the fun-filled farm with acres of apple trees in sight for our apple picking needs.

                                Larriland Farms from the back where the apple trees were

Adriana found it unacceptable to be at an apple farm with rows and rows of multiple kinds of apples and not climb a tree.. she just had to!

We climbed this tree even though it looks like a bush

Mmmm.. apples!

We left Larriland Farms with bags full of apples and headed back to the house. We took the dogs for a looong walk around the quarry and visited Adriana's sister to see her baby, Mia then went to pick up a pumpkin to make a pie that evening. I've never made pumpkin pie from scratch and was actually pretty excited to learn how.

That evening we had delicious Thai food for dinner (love) and ventured back to the house for the pumpkin pie extravaganza!

It was a very eventful weekend with one exciting activity after another. I'm so happy that my best friend is in the area now and that we get to take on these adventures with each other. More to come! :)

                                  

Albuquerque, NM

Part of my job entails me to travel 3 times a year and for my last trip of the year we were off to Albuquerque, NM ! If you've never been to Albuquerque, it's such an amazing place to be. Surprisingly, it wasn't as hot or humid as I initially thought it would be - it was perfect the entire weekend!

When getting closer to landing at the airport in NM, you would see nothing but beautiful mountains and desert land. You wouldn't think that we were landing in nearby civilization until the airplane took a quick turn around the mountain and then - TA DA the city of Albuquerque appears! From the plane, you would just see the town of Albuquerque and no other nearby town was in sight (kind of strange, but nice)

                                                             View from our hotel room

Albuquerque really adheres to it's culture. Right from the airport to houses; everything gave the New Mexico vibe in its presence with its architecture. It made you feel like you were at a vacation resort with everything being so themed- it was neat!

Our hotel was beautiful and also themed to the culture of the surrounding area. Though it was under renovation, it wasn't a burden to its customers at all. Everything was pretty much brand new. I shared my room with a fellow co-worker and our room was amazing; different from any other layout and design I've seen thus far. Now, if you don't already know me I'm a bit of a germaphobe- germs freak me out and hotels don't add to this annoying phobia that I have haha. I informed my manager the day before leaving that I should have informed my roommate about my weird germaphobic ways. He obviously teased me for my weirdness for I don't lay on hotel bedding or sheets. I always have to lay out the big towels they provide you with and always have to call up for more. I lay the towels on the bed and pillows and don't allow myself to touch anything. I've already admitted that I'm weird and know it so no making fun, please :) hah Well to my much surprise, I arrived in my room and there they were, towels already laid out for me with a note (from my manager) that read "You're Welcome" and I was a happy camper.

Our first nights on our trips always entail a very nice dinner with everyone from work, including a favorite board member who always attends these weekend events. We went to this amazing restaurant with an awesome location - at the top of the Sandia Mountain! You had to take a tram up the mountain and you could see all of Albuquerque on the trek up. The restaurant has a beautiful view of the city and we went up right at sundown and saw the sunset over the mountains in the distance. My awesome nice manager knew I have a little bit of a fear of heights and decides to attempt to rock the tram on the way up to give me a good scare but luckily was unsuccessful due to the sturdiness of the tram- thank you God!

                                          The view on the way up the mountain on the tram

After taking a million pictures once we arrive at the top of the mountain, we walked to the restaurant for our reservations at 7:30pm. Little did we know that we would be waiting another hour before being seated - it was ridiculous. However, we were just happy to finally be seated and our stomachs were ready for some GOOD food! I had the pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon, sweet mashed potatoes and asparagus with a turtle cheesecake that Sarah and I shared -- yummo! Fun fact for the day: did you know that asparagus makes your pee smell? I was informed of this once again from my awesome manager :) haha He knows everything. After our delicious dinner we trecked down the mountain on the tram and boy do the temperatures DROP at night time in Albuquerque. So cold.

The next day entailed of our event and sole reason of our visit out to NM. I was the first to present in our day long seminar and I completely flopped this time around. I don't know what happened but I completely let me nerves get the best of me and I stumbled with my words a lot. Luckily, I was the first and then soon forgotten by the other speakers who went after me and I was fine. We all met a lot of nice people who attended and I'll tell you, Albuquerque residents are so proud of where they hale from! They loved to share stories of their childhood growing up and what they did in the area- it was awesome though, I love hearing stories like that!

After our eventful day we all were able to rest for a few hours before dinner that night. Sarah and I chose to relax by the pool and read our new books and catch some sun.

                                                                            Sarah!

My only request for this trip was to eat somewhere with authentic New Mexican food - and my manager did not fail me. We went to Sadie's where we were dined with sangria's and delicious food. Now, New Mexico is known for their chili's; they're everywhere and I mean everywhere. They hang outside from houses, shops and restaurants all over - it's pretty crazy. My biggest fear was that I'd eat something that was too spicy that I wouldn't enjoy but gratefully received mild enchiladas with yummy green sauce. New Mexican food is a lot different from regular Mexican food, so I highly suggest you venture out and try some if you can. The atmosphere at Sadie's was really neat and they even had a man present to sing and play his guitar. With songs by Elvis, George Strait and others playing in the background of our delicious feast, Sadie's was a great choice for us to dine.

Now, some may say I was a party pooper after dinner but I was so exhausted as I usually am from these weekend events plus now the added time change. After dinner, I decided to go back to the hotel, relax, shower and pack since I had to be at the airport at 6am the next morning. A few of the others went to go out and enjoy the town for night life (even though there is hardly anything to do in Albuquerque) and I went to my room for the night.

As the end of this eventful weekend concluded, I left with some good memories and experiences in Albuquerque and would love to go back to experience more of the authentic, quaint town in the future.

This post goes out to my awesome friend ANIBSHO :)

Heritage Alum

It's officially been one year since I've interned at The Heritage Foundation and I was ecstatic to be invited to their annual Heritage Alumni event. Last night was an amazing time full of reuniting with former colleagues and most importantly the oh so wonderful food and drinks Heritage is known to always have present at their events!

The event took place on the rooftop of the Heritage building located in NW D.C. and has a beautiful view of the Capital and Washington Monument. The town was glowing from the rooftop at night and I wish I had taken a picture to share.

I was greeted by my fellow colleagues from my department from when I was at Heritage. My supervisor, Becky and Matt were a few of the first I ran in to and it was filled with silly little school girl screams and hugs - it was awesome lol. I could not get over Matt who's hair was longer than I was use to and he resembled Clark Kent for the entire night minus the glasses that I had to tease him a little here and there. :)

Ed Feulner, the founder of the Heritage Foundation was in my elevator going up to the rooftop which immediatley had me think of my first week as an intern and how in awe I was to be in the same elevator with the founder as an intern.

Other interns from my class were also present at the event and everyone had new things to fill me in on. One individual had just recently gotten engaged, another recently married, others had gone on to Heritage's new building closer to the Capital, those who had jobs at the conclusion of our internship had switched jobs - everyone had something new going on in their life.

It was a great night that had me reminiscing on my times with Heritage and missing the environment I once had. I cannot wait to return for the next alumni event next year :)

The Wee Ones

During my freshman year at college, I can recall the start of my career plan. It all began with the internship program that my school offers called Washington Fellowship which entails of a semester interning in our nations capital, Washington, DC. I started planning my entire college career around this semester in Washington and it all worked out for the very best. I planned to finish school a semester early and to take part of this program my last semester of school - all in hopes to land a job immediately after completing school and beating the May rush of graduates searching for jobs. Graciously, everything fell in to place and worked out perfectly - I got an amazing internship with the Heritage Foundation and was able to experience DC in all its glory, meet amazing people from all over the country, networked like crazy, was part of an awesome organization, and intently received the job that I currently have.

Upon completing my semester with the internship program, I was one of a handful of interns in the program to immediately be offered a job following the program. Having been one of the few success stories from the program, I along with others, were invited to speak to the current class of interns with feedback of our experience and the typical yay's and nay's to how to make yourself stand out in your internship. I was excited for the opportunity to reach out to my fellow LU students and share my great journey and success with the program. However, I was somewhat disappointed in the group. Right upon entering and meeting with the intern coordinator, I was informed that this group of students was the most immature group the program has had. With their many complaints and poor attitudes, I could even see it in their faces upon entering the room. Myself and two other speakers who attended were informed of the situation and tried to really emphasize and highlight our experience in DC and through our internship and what a great opportunity it is for them to be here. Unfortunately, I feel that we only made it click with some of the students. I can relate and understand that things they were hearing may have seemed repetitive at this point, BUT you would think that we (the speakers) who are only a year or two older than them would strike a wow factor with them being so close in age and the success that we had from being in the same position as them - it could be them very shortly!

My overall impression from this group was that they don't realize that life isn't always going to be happy go lucky- where others are going to spoon feed you everything and look after you all the time. The one point I truly wanted to touch base on that I completely forgot to was this: Liberty (the school) is its own bubble. It's a great bubble to be in but that bubble doesn't expand with you when you venture out in to the working world after college is over. Liberty is a fantastic school in the south with kind, laid back and polite people, Christian atmosphere where majority of the people in the town share the same views as you, however, the real world is far different from that bubble. You're not always going to have these same people surrounding you each and everyday as the students do get accustomed to. I know I personally struggled with getting acclimated with moving back to my hometown and leaving the Liberty bubble that I was so comfortable with. These students need to buckle up and grow up and take the professional realm seriously or they're going to get chewed up and spit out.

Getting a job in this economy, we've been told is hard to find and very competitive- which it is! I don't think that these interns fully grasp the reality to that quite yet. I was very surprised with the group when time permitted for mingling after our speeches to the group. Don't ask me why, but I have always thought girls are more assertive than boys when it comes to these kinds of events, however, it was the complete opposite. The girls simply only heard us briefly discuss the importance of getting business cards.. so what do they do-- they ask each of us for our business cards and then left. They didn't listen to us at all with how to be professional and personable with others. The guys got it and for most part found their connection with us and strike up conversations, shared things with us and allowed for time to permit for a business card to be exchanged.

I'm really all frazzled by the groups efforts but do condone those who took the time to listen to us and follow up with us personally afterwards. I would love to continue to be invited and attend these events in the future, however, these little wee ones need a reality check and quick before they get a harsh reality kick in the butt.

T-Minus 2 Months

Everyone has there set of good friends from college and I am no exception to that. My last year at school, I lived off campus in a brand new apartment complex just 5 miles down the road from school. For the most part, my entire building went to the same school as me but most were not moving in until closer to when school would start. I was the first to move in out of my other 2 roommates the summer of 2008. With little furniture and not a lot of friends in the area yet, I spent my time simply going to summer school and spending time in the apartment organizing things. One night while watching tv, I was beginning to get annoyed with my new neighbors above me who seemed to be wrestling. Knowing that men have a fascination with wrestling, I could tell I had some big boys living above me and tried not to let it bother me until BOOM someone got slammed to the ground and my ceiling fan just about fell from the ceiling. I was frustrated at this point and went upstairs to knock on their door and that's when I met my new found neighbors and friends to be. However, that night of knocking on their door and telling them to cut it out didn't strike a new friendship off the bat. I felt so bad about that night that I actually made them cookies to apologize the next day which enabled friendly conversation and the start to our beautiful friendship, drawn out pranks and memorable times with one another. Since that night, the boys had always teased me that whenever we got in some sort of tiff with eachother, they knew they could expect me to show up with fresh baked cookies the next day so some times they would stir arguments for cookies sake - typical lol.

Since the departure of my beloved neighbors upon graduation in the Spring of 2009, we've managed to reunite once (fall of 2009) and now are preparing for reunion #2 !! I cannot even begin to explain the excitement I have for reuniting with them. Just take a look at them.. who would't have fun with these guys ?! lol

                                                                     Ryan and Matt

Ryan and Matt have previously been busy with their professional football careers since graduating and now have settled back in their hometowns with a season under each of their belts. With their new career paths intact and all of us able to take time off work, we've been able to plan our reunion for November. Ryan fortunatley lives close by near Philly, however, Matty might as well live in Siberia for he's from Canada on the westcoast.

Simply put, I'm thoroughly excited to see these two and cannot wait to reunite once again and for the mayhem and new memories that are in store- it's been too long this time! Little did I know that those rowdy neighbors of mine would become such good friends of mine from that one night; but boy am I glad God blessed me with them both. So let the countdown begin, it's T-minus 2 months!! :)