Cruise blog! Navigator of the Seas!!

Day 1: December 23, 2006, Saturday
Well, this is my first day of my first cruise!!  Getting on board wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  There were a lot of people, but the place was so well organized that there were no lines.  There were a lot of security checks, but those were nothing really.  We settled into our rooms and walked around a bit looking for others from the Hanson clan.  ^_^   We had lunch at a buffet place, then it was back to our room to see if our luggage had arrived yet.

I decided to take a nap for an hour and Nick spent time with the family at the Schooner Bar.  We then met up with Nick's parents and brother and sister-in-law for dinner in the Nutcracker room dinner area.  We took another walk around the boat to see more of the activities offered and even stopped by Casino Royale to see who was at the tables. 

So far, this first day was good.  I enjoyed the food and our room is pretty nice with a balcony.  I'm just kind of sad that it had to be my first day of "that time of the month" so I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I wanted to.  Tomorrow is going to be a bit of a challenge for me in that department, but I did bring some medicine along to help me with cramps.  ^_^ 

Day 2: December 24, 2006, Sunday
I slept in this morning; we were at sea, so we're stuck on a boat…I thought it was a good idea to sleep in.  Then, when I finally felt like it, Nick and I went to the Promenade to do some shopping and then we met Eric and Shannon for lunch.  After lunch, it was off to climb a wall.  I was absolutely horrible at it!  Ugh!  I wasn't embarrassed, but I didn't even make it half way up.  We're going to climb the wall again sometime this week and the next time, I'm going to make it up to the top!  Next up was wine tasting.  Yep, I had a few sips of the four wines given to us and gave the rest to either Nick or Eric.  Later that night, we met up with the other Hanson family and exchanged gifts.  It was the Naughty and Nice gift exchange.  Nick ended up with $50 to Best Buy and I got $30 American Express card and some other "naughty" things.  *winks*  I did not go to dinner that night because I had a throbbing headache and it felt like the ship was rocking a bit more than usual.  Nope, I wasn't getting sick, it was the wine!!  Yep, I had to think about what was causing my head problems and came up with "Oh yeah!  I had about 4 different wines today! Duh!"  I went to bed early that night after watching A Christmas Story.  ^_^

Day 3: December 25, 2006, Monday
Merry Christmas!!!  This was a really fun Christmas Day!  We landed on Labadee, Haiti.  Woke up at 7am to get ready for a facial and massage at 8am.  It was wonderful!  I was so relaxed afterwards.  Next came the really fun part…RIDING ON WAVERUNNERS!!!!  OMG!!  I want one of those things!  It was so incredibly fun.  It was my first time to drive one of those things, but I had and awesome time for my first time!  We had lunch on the island where I had some really good ribs; I went back for seconds.  ^_^  Then, it was back to the boat for some relaxation and a nap before dinner. 

Dinner was at the Nutcracker dining room.  There was a lot of Christmas music and the waiters did a little dance around the room to music and ended up lined up on the middle staircase to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and thank everyone for choosing to spend their holidays on the cruise…yeah…very heart warming moment.  =P

Nick and I went to the casino after dinner; I played slots and he checked out the black jack tables.  I did manage to get ahead $60 on my gambling and that's when I stopped for the night.  The rest of the night was spent at the Schooner Bar with the many other of the Hanson family.  Wow…a lot of drinking and dancing, but it was all good and fun.

Day 4: December 26, 2006, Tuesday
The ship landed in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  The only thing we did off island was go to the shops in the morning.  I personally didn't find anything interesting to do.  Sure, there was Margaritaville, but I don't drink so that wouldn't be much fun to me.  ^_^  I did manage to buy a souvenir for my mom, so that was good. 

We went back to the boat around 11am and spent the rest of the morning in the pool and getting some sun and free soft serve ice cream.  I had two cones.  ^_^   Lunch came and went.  Eric, Nick and I decided to play some putt-putt while Shannon went back to the pool.  The clouds had rolled in at this point and by the time we got to the fourth hole, it was pouring rain.  These rain drops were big and cold.  It didn't last very long, though.  We then finished up our game and went to check on Shannon; she found shelter during the brief rain.  Then back to the room for a nap.

Before we headed out for dinner, we went to the Cosmopolitan Bar, which is on the top floor of the ship with a wonderful view of the pool area.  We had dinner at Chops Grille steakhouse on the ship.  The food was wonderful and our waiters were awesome!

Off to the casino again where I lost all the money I had won the day before…down $40 now.  I went to see what Nick and Eric were up to and found them at the roulette table.  They weren't having much luck either.  Off to the black jack table then where Eric played and Nick and I watched.  He did well for a while, but not so well soon after.  We all decided just to go back to our rooms for the rest of the evening.

Day 5: December 27, 2006, Wednesday
Grand Cayman, British West Indies.  Today did not start off as planned at all.  The ship was still at sea and was kind of hanging out at sea.  Apparently, the weather wasn't cooperating and the ports were closed, not allowing ships to dock.  The Hanson family had plans of taking a small boat to go snorkeling with the sting rays early in the morning, but it seemed plans were changing.  We had several announcements with updates throughout the morning.  I believe we did get permission to enter port and we did so at about 10am…I think the original time was sometime before 8am.  Eric, Shannon, Nick and I decided not to join the rest of the family for snorkeling because from the view we had from the ship, the waters were pretty rocky.  Knowing me, I would have probably gotten sea sick and been miserable for the rest of the day.  So, instead, we decided to go shopping! 

A lot of jewelry stores and I think we went to almost all of them.  ^_^   I did get a new watch, but that was it.  There were a lot of things I thought were very pretty, but nothing really that stood out so much that I wanted to say, "I really want that!".  We had lunch at the Hard Rock Café.  Let's just say, it was very nice to have a real burger with french fries and onion rings.   ^_^  Looked at a few more stores and went back to the boat.

ICE CREAM…is all I have to say.  ^_^  I did manage to sneak in a nap before having some sushi and a formal dinner.  After dinner, it was back to the room.  I stayed in my room to relax and Nick decided to check out the midnight buffet with his brother and sister-in-law.  Now, you can look at the buffet and take pictures at 11pm, but it doesn't open till midnight…at least that's what Nick told me…

Day 6: December 28, 2006, Thursday
Cozumel, Mexico.  We were planning on doing some snuba diving, but there wasn't anymore room in the reservation.  Instead, we went around the shopping areas with Nick's parents and his brother and wife.  The only thing I bought was a sweatshirt.  =/ 

Back on the boat, (ice cream!) it was back to the pool area…well, not really, it was more above the pool area.  The clouds decided to pay us a visit here as well, so we had to go on the top deck to get some sun.  It was a bit too cool for me to go into the pool.  So, I read my book under the sun and managed to finish it.  ^_^

Sushi time!  I had so much to eat that I didn't want second dinner that night.  Hey, I know it's a cruise, but my stomach really was full.  I decided to spend the rest of my night reading my book while Nick had his second dinner…which he regretted the next day.  Oh for the record, I did have a lot of ice cream this day, but I just don't exactly remember when.  ^_^

Day 7: December 29, 2006, Friday
At sea.  Well, this is the last day on the cruise ship.  Since we were at sea, Nick and I slept in till about 10am.  We lazily woke up and took our time getting ready to go to lunch.  After lunch we checked out the pool area to see if family were there, and they were!  There was a volleyball tournament-thingy in the pool and the Hanson family was beaten…very badly…12-1…  =(

Next up was some packing.  It was finally the time to organize all our stuff we brought and all the stuff we bought to see what would fit where.    It turned out a lot better than I thought it would.  ^_^  We decided to take our own luggage out ourselves tomorrow and not let the porter take it our tonight.  This way, we would have the cars ready when the rest of the family would exit the ship so we can just load and leave. 

Dinner time!  We had one last dinner at the Nutcracker dining room.  The food was the best for this night!  LOBSTER AND SHRIMP!!!!!  Wow, the shrimp was soooooo gooooood!!!!   I ended my meal with orange sherbet. ^_^

The Schooner Bar was the last thing we did.  I had a virgin strawberry daiquiri, but I also had a couple of gulps of an alcoholic-hazelnut drink.  I was actually ok for the rest of the night and didn't really feel the alcohol at all.  I don't think I'm getting used to it, but the drink did seem a little watered down with all the ice in it.  ^_^  1230am came and it was time I called it a night.

In Conclusion:
I can honestly say that there really is a lot of food to be eaten on a cruise.  I don't think I've ever eaten so much and so consistently in my life.  You seriously can eat all the food you want on a cruise, since it's included in the package.

I didn't see any shows while on board; I didn't really want to see any in the first place.  My book was entertaining enough for me and relaxing on the balcony or on the pool was plenty enough for me.  I think I even got a bit darker with all the sun I got on this trip.  Anyway, most of the shows were played the next day on TV, so I got to watch snippets of stuff.  ^_^

I had a lot of fun on my first cruise and I really wouldn't mind doing this again.  I didn't get to do a second wall climbing to redeem myself, though, so I feel like I wimped out of that.  =/  I also wish the weather had been a bit better the day we were supposed to go snorkeling because I had never snorkeled before, but I'm so glad I was able to do the wave running.  I so want one of those things!

Florida Condo!!

Well, Nick and I are at the condo in Florida relaxing and enjoying the warm weather. We arrived here on Sunday and have had the place to ourselves. We've gone swimming in the pool, rented a couple of bikes for a day, and taken a small walk on the beach looking for shells. Wow, it's really wonderful here. The weather is just great!

Nick's parents are going to arrive tomorrow and his older brother and wife on Friday. I believe we leave for our cruise on Saturday.

Here are some pictures of the beach from the condo and a dramatic video of the lanai.

Part 3...well, sort of...

Ok, as for my final few days in California, I really don't remember much, so probably not much happened...

I don't remember Friday, Saturday or Sunday very much at all, except that we went to Mass at 530pm on Saturday.  No wait, I remember something else.  Sunday evening, Nick and I went to Korean BBQ with Dan, Aaron, Sarah and Jennifer.  That was totally fun!  I miss that place right now...good food...

Nick flew back to Virginia on Monday out of LAX.  It was quite early in the morning and I drove him there.  Let's just say, I'm not a morning person, but I survived.  ^_^  After I dropped him off, I went back home and took a nap for a couple of hours.  Then it was back to Concordia where I helped move and decorate the bell tables for the Christmas Concerts. 

Tuesday was my day to leave and I left out of Long Beach.  I was almost late for my flight, but my flight decided to be a few minutes late for me.  ^_^  *lucky!*

And there you have it.  It's not much of a Part 3, but it is my blog, so anything goes!

What does the future have in store for me this Christmas?  A cruise!!!  Nick and I are going on a cruise for Christmas with his family!  I'm very excited because I've never been on a cruise before.  ^_^  I hope I have fun!

Part 2

Well, because Maple Story seems to be going through a server check, I have some time to type up Part 2 of my blog.  The only problem is if I can remember what happened my second week in California.  *scratches head*  Here we go...

Sunday...honestly, I don't remember much.  I think I went to The Coffee Bean for internet use, but that's about it.  I think my mom and I went shopping a bit that day as well.  For the most part, though, I do remember reading and finishing my book, Eragon, and wanting to buy the second book, Eldest.  Oh yes, my mom and I went to Borders at about 8pm because I wanted to get that book.  =P  She got some books as well and coffee,so it was a good trip.  ^_^

Monday, I spent cleaning up the house, for the most part.  Since my mom went to work, I cleaned.  I only vaccuumed, though, but it took a long time becuase of all the dog hair.  The tank of the vaccuum constantly filled up with hair and so it had to be emptied several times.

Tuesday...read my book for a very good part of that day.  Then it was time to pick Nick up from the airport at LAX.  Ugh...I hate driving to the LA area...but it must be done!  After I picked up Nick, we went to St. John's so Nick could say hi to all the happy people.  ^_^  Then, it was a very late dinner at Denny's with Aaron, Sarah and Jennifer (Koala). 

Wednseday, relaxing and reading books...I think that was just about it, actually...

Turkey Day!!  The first part of the day was watching Babe on TV.  Nick and my mom had never seen it, so it was fun watching it.  ^_^  Then, it was off to Long Beach!  I was very sad to see that there was no crab this year...and I was sooooooo looking forward to eating crab this year!!  *sniff*  Oh well, there was fish and lechon (a whole pig that was roasted over an open fire).  Man, I love that stuff!  It was really good to see all my cousins again and catch up on times and teasings.  ^_^

Part 3 to come...

WAH!! I've been back for a week and I'm just now typing this blog...

Well, yeah, it took me quite a while to put something in here about my trip to Cali.  Let's just say that a certain computer game *coughs MapleStory* has occupied a lot of my time ever since I came back to VA.  I did start typing up a blog when I was in Cali, so I was prepared.  ^_^  Here's the first part of it.  I don't know when the second part will be... 

My trip to Califormnia:

Well, I flew in to Cali  on Saturday and it was a very uneventful trip…well, there was a screaming baby at take off from NY, but that happens more often than not.  Landed in Long Beach and picked up a rental car from Budget, a Buick.  Then I drove home to Anaheim!  It was REALLY good to see my mom again.  I missed her.  ^_^  I think Ringo missed me too, but I don't know.  =/   We went to the 530pm mass that day and I finally got to see the newly renovated church.  (A couple of years ago, someone had set three fires on the grounds and one was in the narthex.  It's the same church Nick and I were married in.)  The church totally looks great and it needed to be updated.  After mass, it was dinner then sleep.

Sunday was spent shopping at the 99 cent store!  Wow, I really like that place!  So many things that are pretty cool for 99 cents.  I gotta find one around here as well as The Dollar Tree.  (I love that place too.  ^_^)  Later that day, I had dinner with Dan, Sarah and Aaron at The Olive Garden in Irvine.  Sarah and Aaron were picking up Dan at the airport and asked if I wanted to have dinner with them.  Of course, I said yes!!  Dan was in Wisconsin for the weekend.  After dinner, it was off to their apartment to hang out for a while and see the damage those stupid burglar people did.  >.<  Most of the activity at the apartment consisted of tickling Sarah and throwing balls at each other.  O.o

Monday was spent at Concordia!  I hung out at my usual hang out, the handbell office!  I stayed to watch Spirit Bells rehearse and the last 15 minutes of Concert Handbells.  It felt good to be back in familiar territory and it was awesome to see everyone again.

Tuesday, I shopped for the first part of the day.  I went to Target, Borders, The Dollar Store and got coffee at The Coffee Bean!! (check)  Then, I went to the cemetery to visit my dad.  I had bought a small stone-thing at The Dollar Store for my dad's headstone.  Well, apparently, we're not supposed to put anything except flowers and potted plants around the headstones…oh well…I saw balloons on other headstones and they're not allowed, so I left my stone of "Peace".  =P  That night, I went to St. Jonh's to visit Ramona and Cathedral bells.  I got to play finger cymbals for one of the pieces. *go me*

Wednesday, I went back to Concordia and this time I watched Concert Handbells rehearse with Cyndi Tully directing because Herb had left for a Hawaii trip.  It was the first time I had seen her direct and I think she did a pretty darn good job.  Afterwards, I helped Timothy polish some bells…they really needed it. 

Thursday, it was Concordia again to continue polishing bells with Timothy; we finished polishing ALL of the Schulmerichs!  *yay for us!!*  Then, we went to Ebisu for dinner.  (check) Finally, it was off to SCHE rehearsal in Huntington Beach.  It was totally awesome to see everyone in the group again.  (I think I put Susan in high spirits that night.  ^_^) 

Friday was mostly a cleaning day.  I went to the condo in Garden Grove and cleaned the fridge and microwave.  For the most part, it's the kitchen that needs the cleaning; I cleaned the upstairs before our move.  Then I went back to my mom's house, vacuumed and cleaning up at bit as well.  That night, I went to the SCHE concert.  It was a very good concert.  After the concert, I said my good-byes to people and went home to a cup of tea and a book.  ^_^

Second part still yet to come...

Leaving on a jetplane (once again)...tomorrow for California!

I'll be back in sunny California tomorrow!...well, it's pretty sunny here in Virginia too so... *shrugs*

I don't have much of a busy schedule when I'm over there, at least not for the first week; the week of Thanksgiving is pretty much full for me. I do plan on going to Concordia a couple of days to see what's up in the Music department. ^_^ I'm definitely going to get our place in Garden Grove ready for the market (yes, we still own it), which means cleaning and talking with my pal Francis, who sold it to us in the first place. I already have plans with a couple of friends and sort of a plan with another.

As for the rest of the time, well, here's what I would like to accomplish:
-Disneyland (my pass expires on the 25th ^_^)
-Korean BBQ (gotta wait for Nick to arrive in Cali)
-Ebisu (A Japanese restaurant serving the best ramen!)
-Banana's Fosters at the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney ($14 for fire right at your table!)
-Dave and Busters (a possibility, if I can find my card =/)
-Dim Sum (I'm pretty sure I'm doing that on Sunday! ^_^)
...
There are some others, but I can't think of anymore at the moment.

Nick will be come to Cali the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. He's got the place and the dog all to himself for a little over the week. =P

Well, off to do some packing and shopping for my mom. ^_^

CARDINALS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!

Enough said...

My life right now...

Yeah, I'm overdue for an update on life here in VA, so here it is:

The weather here is really getting cold, well, at least, by my standards. It's about 900pm and the temp outside is around 45. The high today was only around 52. I really don't like taking Chobi out for her final walks at night, so I've been making Nick do it. (I love you, honey!! ^_^) There's no snow in this here parts of the east coast, but I'll let you guys know when it does start snowing around here...I may even have pics when that happens.

Nick and I are pretty happy with the fact that the Cardinals made it to the World Series. We're cheering them on right now in Game 3 of the series. *Go Cards*

Nick is doing well. He likes his groups at The Potomac School. Here is a link to pics and videos I took. The pics are only of two of his groups and I didn't do anything special to them. I just uploaded the pics on a site...I got lazy to label any of them. ^_^
Pictures of two of Nick's groups

Going to Cali update: I will be going back home to Anaheim for about two weeks in November around Thanksgiving. I'm scheduled to arrive on the 11th and leaving the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. With the holiday season, those were the cheapest plane tickets for the time period I wanted. =/ Nick will only be joining me during the week of Thanksgiving and probably heading back to VA on the weekend.

Hurricane Ernesto...well, it's a tropical depression now...

Yeah, my luck with storms this year...yeah...

First the typhoon in Taiwan, now the ex-hurricane here on the east coast. *shrugs* Go fig!

Well, just to let people know, if anyone is curious, everything is fine here. The winds aren't so bad, so far, and it's just been raining all day. I like the rain, so I'm actually enjoying the weather right now. ^_^

Home is where the heart is...

Well, after lots of paint and unpacking of boxes we've finally just about settled into our new home.  I didn't realize unpacking boxes can be a very painful task! I don't know how many scrapes and bruises I obtained, but my legs were black and blue by the time we unpacked all we could for a while.

I've taken pics of our new place with the added paint. As you are about to see, there's still quite a few stuff that needs to be unpacked and a bit more painting as well. It really sucks to be lazy sometimes.  BUT, we have cable and internet!!! Oh and both TVs are out so we can play video games too.

And now, picture sharing time!!! I put the new pics in the previous album of the when we were first looking for places, so you can see what we've done to the place.
Our new home! ^_^

Final Destination!

We've finally arrived in Virginia. Tuesday is the big day when we do the final stuff and move into our new home on the east coast. Now, I just hope the truck will get here safely as well.

Here is a link to pics we've taken along the way:
Trip across the US of A.

*waves farewell*

Well, the day has finally arrived! Nick and I are heading out to our new home in Virginia. Sarah D. has wonderfully volunteered her time to come along with us, as well. After long hours of packing our stupid moving truck, we finally got almost everything in; we had to leave a couple of dining chairs for the moment.

I just wanted to to sotally thank everyone for helping us and supporting us on this sudden location change. I know that many will miss us here, and we both will miss all of you as well. I'm pretty sure both Nick and I have had our share of good times, bad times and also the just-plain-weird times with every one of you people out there. ^_^ Please know that this is not a good bye message, it's more of a good luck and take care message because I am very sure we will see all of you some time in the future, just not as often. ^_^

God bless all of you and please pray for our safe journey across the US.

The adventure still continues... Stay tuned for the next exciting saga of Nick and Geebeeh as they bravely trek across the great unknown, explore new territories and meet new and interesting people just to get to their new home in Falls Church, VA. What awaits them, no one knows...*dum dum dum*

Oh and their sidekick, Sarah, will be there as well. *winks* =P

YAY!! We're back home...but only for just a few weeks. O.o

It feels so good to be back home for more than just a day.

We seem to bring bad weather with where ever we go. First the typoon in Taiwan, then we were in the midwest and driving to the east coast, we ran into some major storms. We got a lot of rain, wind and thunder and lightning all throughout our trip. When we flew back on Sunday, there was a thunderstorm in the area. O.O I know we get these in Southern California on occasion, but what was the chance that there would be one at the same time we would be flying back, especially with what Nick and I have been through. But it's all cool...I like rain. ^_^

Nick and I are now busy with cleaning up and packing and getting ready for Summer Ring this week. *sniff* This is going to be our last thing at Concordia. I'm a little sad about it.

Back from Taiwan, but the trip aint over just yet...

Ok, so Nick and I are back from Taiwan, but we're not done with our travelings just yet. We arrived on Sunday at LAX about 200pm. We are leaving for the midwest area on Tuesday to visit Nick's family. Then we pick up Nick's car in Wisconsin, drive over to Virginia to leave it somewhere there and then fly back from DC back to CA on Sunday.

...the adventure continues...*sigh*

Extended stay...

Nancy has us for a few more days. ^_^ She had planned to leave on Sunday while we were supposed to fly out today on Thursday, but I guess we'll be in Taiwan till Sunday, as well. There's a typhoon in the area and practically all flights have been cancelled for the next couple of days. The earliest flight back to the states we could get is Sunday evening. It's all good, though.

The weather here is getting worse each hour and the wind is totally blowing, but it's still nothing too serious. Not to worry. ^_^

Here are the links again to the pics I've taken during this trip. ^_^
1. Taiwan Seminar Pictures
2. Sight-seeing!

Sight-seeing day of historic places!!

So on Monday, the three of us actually went on a sight-seeing tour around the historical places of Tainan! We went with the son of the pastors of the church and the mayor's son. I've put the pictures of our tour in a separate album so here's a new link!

Sight-seeing!

Happy birthday to me!!

Spending my birthday in Tainan, Taiwan! They got me a cake! ^_^ Yay!!!!

Taiwan Seminar Pictures

Handbell videos!!

So, I took some videos of the seminar and I thought I'd share them with y'all. ^_^ Enjoy!


The beginning group playing a processional for handbells and chimes


The Infamous Three-Bell Drill
Yes, for those who play handbells...do you remember your first time?

Taiwan Seminar Pictures - There are pictures with me in them this time!!!! ^_^

Happy 4th everyone!!

It's already the 5th here, but it's still the 4th in the US. Hope everyone had a relatively good independence day. ^_^

Everyone has been treating us very well here. The church has been very accomodating and the facilities are great! The beginning session in the morning has come a long way and are doing an excellent job on their third and final day for this first part of the seminar. The advanced session in the morning have learned so much as well. They are playing beautifully and are understanding what is needed to be done to help them play the music with feeling. Both Nancy and Nick are doing an awesome job relaying their ideas and teachings to everyone more by their actions than by their words being translated by a translator. ^_^ Everyone seems to understand what the both of them want them to do for every piece.

They really are a great group of people to work with.

Taiwan Seminar Pics

Hi everbody, I'm in Taiwan in the city of Tainan! Everything is going very well so far. The weather is hot and humid, but it was expected. I've been in the Asia-Pacific area enough times to not be bothered by it, so I'm doing fine. ^_^

All three of us have been busy with seminars in the morning from 9am-12pm and in the evening from 7pm-10pm. The afternoons have been for practicing solos and our trio and a short nap after lunch. Nancy's afternoon's have been busy with private lessons so she doesn't really have time for a nap. =(

Here are some pics I've taken so far. Keep this link in mind because I'm going to add more pics as I go along this trip. ^_^
Taiwan Seminar Pics

Edit: I am the one taking the pictures, so don't expect to see me in them. ^_^ Someone had e-mailed me with that concern...*coughs*Suds*coughs*...

Edit (again): One of the ringers gave me her camera memory card for me to upload on my computer, so now there I have pictures with me in them! O.O

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Taiwan with Nancy to do some handbell workshop there. I'm quite excited about this, I just hope I can perform my solo with not much of a problem. ..

We should be back around July 13/14th. I don't know if I will have much access to internet, but if I do, I'll keep everyone updated overseas. ^_^ I do plan on taking pics so I'm going to try to post those as they come provided I have decent connection. But I will definitely post them when I get back. *winks*

For those with myspace, keep in touch by leaving me comments and stuff. *waves*

Stay tuned.

There's a chance...

So, there's a chance that we may actually get the condo we really like with the bold colors. ^_^ We're going through the offers and counter-offers process right now.

So far, the owner has agreed to sell it at a lower price than what she originally had posted. *YAY* It's still a lot, but it is better than what it was before.

Stay tuned...

For pics of the place, there's a link in the previous blog.

We really like this place...

Well, our house (condo) hunting went well. There is one place both Nick and I really like. It's a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo. It's definitely smaller than our current townhome. =( Every room has wood flooring and there's an awesome view of the lake in the back!

Check out the condo we like!

Now, the colors are very bold but we honestly don't plan on keeping certain rooms those colors...especially the master bedroom and the outside bathroom. O.o

Question, concerns, comments?

Holy crap what a flight!!!!

I typed this in an e-mail and decided to post it here as well because this is totally a poster!

So, it's 5am here...yeah, that's the time I finally get settled in after leaving Long Beach.

The flight out of Long Beach was no problem...well...I had to check in a luggage because of my Swiss Army knife...yeah, got caught this time...but my lighter still went through security. ^_^ Anyway, they said the flight was going to be about 5 hours long because we had to fly along the southern route of the US due to some thunderstorms. I was ok with that; no problem. Well, it seems we flew along those path of thunderstorms because as the sun went down, I can see a lot of lightning action in the distance, and I mean a lot. It was very pretty to watch, mind you, but it was kinda weird that it didn't stop when we got closer to DC. I decided to watch the Weather Channel for a while...thunderstorms in DC. O.O We're about 80 miles south of DC when the pilot announces that Dulles International is not accepting any arriving flights due to the weather and that we were going to circle the area for a while to see if the weather changes. We circle around southern Virginia about 4 times when the pilot comes on again this time saying we are going to land in Richmond to refuel the plane. O.o Yeah, all the passengers loved that one. Luckily, we had priority to land and refuel and we were the first to land once Dulles was "safe". We landed in Richmond and refueled. We stayed there for probably a good hour. =/ Then we got the OK to land in Dulles. YAY!...there were still some thunder left over. Let's just say our landing was bumpy with a few drops, but we were well "lighted" along the way. O.o We landed at about 2:15am!!! Our flight was supposed to arrive at midnight.

Next stop, the rental car place, Alamo. The dude at the counter had the heaviest accent of God-knows-what! Got through the check-in with no problem...finding a car was. He told me to go to the right and pick out a full-size car. I'm thinking, "Ok, I can do that"... Yeah, right... It took me a while to figure out what he meant by "right". I went in several times to ask (I felt so stupid, I really did, but at this point I didn't really care). There were 4 PT Cruisers and some other car. The PT Cruisers did not have any keys and the other car was boxed in. I went inside and explained and all he said was "Yeah, go ahead and choose any car." WTF?!!! I just went outside frustrated at this guy and started to put my stuff in the car that was not a PT Cruiser. Luckily, I found another employee to move the car in front of me so I can get the heck out of there! It's about 300am when I finally leave Alamo.

Next adventure...driving to the hotel. I had asked the dude at the counter for directions...big mistake!!!!! >.< He gave me a map, but his explanation was CRAP! I don't know how many u-turns I made along the way and it's not like there was a gas station at every corner to stop and ask for directions. I finally found an Exxon and asked a man who was at the pump. He told me to just keep going the direction I was driving for about another 20 miles. Thank goodness I was going in the right direction, but it would have been nice if there were signs to tell me that. >.< I swear I only saw one sign for my destination and no other until I was 9 miles away. So, I get to the "general" are of where the hotel is supposed to be, but all I have now is the number of the building but no numbers on the buildings themselves! O.o I figured it wouldn't be difficult to find Marriott, but it doesn't help when the name of the hotel is on the other side of the building. It's about 445am when I enter the hotel and check in. I check in, but there is something wrong with their computer so I don't have a key to my room just yet. They said they are going to slip one under my door sometime this morning, but I haven't seen anything just yet.

I'm so hungry right now that I can't sleep, so I've ordered room service for breakfast. ^_^ Yummy in my tummy!!!

Off to find a place to live!!

So, tomorrow I will be leaving for Virginia to look at a few houses. I really hope we find a place to live this weekend; it would be a total load off my shoulders and a big check off the list of things needed to be done this summer.

I'll be back on Sunday, so don't worry, I'm not leaving the state just yet. *winks*

Wish us luck this weekend! ^_^

It's official! We're moving to the East Coast!

Just wanted to say that it's official. Nick and I are moving to Viriginia in August. He accepted a job at The Potomac School in Mclean, Virginia. It's a city right outside DC and right down the street from CIA headquarters. O.o

It's going to be a very busy summer for me. I just got back from an East Coast tour with the Concordia handbell group and in July I'll be going off to Taiwan for more handbells, then back to Irvine for even more handbells... Ahh...I have no idea when I'm going to find the time to pack things away for the big move!!

No summer vacation for me... =/

SNOWBOARDING!!!http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3421500494944224635#

Snowboarding is fun!
Snowboarding is cool!
Everyone should go snowboarding!
I did! ^_^