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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Good ole' Fountain Valley!

Yesterday was the big traveling day - 6 hour drive to California from Arizona.

Sarah and I met our friend Caleb at Wildflower for breakfast in Goodyear, AZ...

He was so excited to give us some movie tickets so Sarah and I could catch a movie together, so I gave him a korean CRUNKY bar in return!!

We had 2 more stops before we got on the road! Rue 21 was our 1st stop. It's a clothing store for high schoolers, but we love it! Who says we have to dress old because we're pushing 30?!

Before we headed out of AZ, we met Kevin's dad for lunch in Surprise at Chili's!

Then, when our tummy's were full, we packed Bella (Sarah's dog), and all our luggage in the car and headed out!

I love this girl!

I've always wanted a picture by the "Welcome to California" sign! Call it cliche... whatever! I still like it! :)

I got into Fountain Valley around 8pm and spent the evening laughing and catching up with my mom, dad, and sister! We don't get to be together hardly enough! It feels really good to be home again, all 4 of us together!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Go Green, Burn a Dress!

This blog is a nice little encouragement to all you married and or divorced women to get rid of that wedding dress that's taking up all that room in your closet! There's really no reason to keep it. Your daughter isn't gonna want to wear it, and no one is going to want to borrow it! I think Sarah and I figured this out today, and decided, we would burn them. Not in a malicious manner, but just simply because throwing it in the trash is just plain going to take up too much space in the local landfill...

Before we burned the dresses though, we decided to do a fun little last horrah fashion photo shoot with them! FYI: Can you believe they still fit us, 6 1/2 years later?! AMAZING!!! Enjoy!













 

Back to School

I spent the day at 3 schools, 1 district office, 1 cafe, 2 friend's houses, and Macayos (the greatest Mexican restaurant around town!)

I drove Sarah to work this morning (She's a HS teacher!) and decided to hang out in her classroom for a couple minutes to meet her students and see her in action!

I headed over to my favorite cafe for a chocolate chip bagel (one of my favs) and some local wifi, so I could post yesterday's blog!

Then, I drove over to Agua Fria High School, where I used to substitute teach and saw some of my favorite people:

Matt (The current principal) I worked with him at Millennium High School when he was an assistant principal. He's an awesome friend and it was fun to see him in action as a principal!

Then, it was off to see my VERY pregnant friend April, who's due in 5 weeks! Matt and I crashed in on her classroom, and I ended up being guest speaker for the last 1/2 hour! I happened to have some dried squid, from Korea, in my purse and wipped it out for all of them to try! Their reactions were hilarious!
Speaking of hilarious reactions... When class was over, April grabbed a snickers bar from her desk and pealed open the wrapper, only to find that a huge bite had been taken out of it before it was sealed! What the heck! Come on candy inspectors!!!

One of my greatest friends, Amanda, came all the way out from downtown Phoenix to have lunch with me and brought her newest addition, Sebastian!

Matt, Amanda, April, and Kristen (below) were all able to have lunch together in Matt's office! It was so good to be back with such great friends!

Kristen is one of the pickiest eaters I know, so making her eat this dried squid was a sight to see!

Me and Andrea in he attendance office!

After lunch, I drove over to Millenium, my old stomping grounds, and was able to catch up with so many old friends! We all congregated in the front office while I told funny stories about life in Korea and laughed together! It was definitely bitter sweet to be there and see everyone...

Jill, one of my best friends from Millennium, planned a little happy hour for whoever wanted to come see me at Macayos. People came and went throughout the night, and I was able to give lots of hugs, which I love!

Sarah, Jill, Me, and Andrea

I found this shirt for Katie, because she loves cats!

Kathy Gross (Head Counselor), Me, and Jill (Teacher Mentor)

When our tummy's were full, Sarah and I drove over to Julie and Kyle's house for some desert!

Great friends from my old church in Goodyear, Nick and Gay, were there too! I love these people! We used to meet at their house with Julie and Kyle once a week for years! They are extremely special to me, so getting to see the 4 of them was such a great feeling!


Sarah and I left their house around 11:15pm, and are now at her place... It's 1:00am. She's packing, and I'm about to fall asleep! Tomorrow we head over to Cali! Can't wait. :)

Monday, February 22, 2010

What a day!

I started my day out with a full dose of family time! Kevin's dad drove me over to Kirstin and Jay's to have breakfast with them and the boys! Jay, the master breakfast cook made us french toast, eggs, and crispy bacon (just the way Kirstin and I love it!)

Caeden is such a ham!

After breakfast together, we moved over into the family room so Caeden could show me his newest dance moves, which were an interesting mix between star wars style fighting, hop scotch, and river dance!! This kid's got some serious moves! Someone sign him up for a dance class!


Caleb was content stacking blocks when Jay and I weren't trying to get him to walk on his own, which was a no-go by the way. So sad. :(


Then it was time for some "animal games" as Caeden calls them! As a side note... Only a cool aunt would wear a crown while tossing stuffed animals into red plastic baskets! Can I get a little credit here?!!




This was literally the look on this kids face all day long! He's incredible!



We topped off the morning with an awesome drum recital!


My friend Cassie came and picked me up, and off we went to Jamba Juice for a Razzmatazz, my favorite! It was so good to catch up with her and talk travels, school, marriage, family, etc... We hadn't seen each other since her wedding 2 years ago and our visit was long overdue!


Then... it was off to see the Nivyabandi's! It was such a treat to get to see their new apartment in Phoenix, and to see how the boys English had improved so much in just one year!


Julienne did some good old African cooking for us, and we all sat at the kitchen table, chatting and catching up on the year!


This was their adorable tribute to Korea! (Julienne, Dadier, Me, Augustin, Jules, and Pamphile)


At 4:30pm (just like clockwork) Tiffany knocked on the door to pick me up for dinner! She took me to La Grande Orange, which is one of my favorite pizzerias in Phoenix!

Getting to have Tiff as my dinner date was perfect! She has lived in Prague for the last 2 years, so we were able to talk about traveling, life living abroad, and just about everything under the sun! The 2 of us could have talked all night if there weren't places to go and people to see!

We did, however, stop at her parents house to see their new puppy, Minnie, who is adorable and loved me like crazy before we headed back to the Murphys!


I was so sad to say goodbye to Tiffany, but so excited to get to see Sarah, Caleb, Kirstin, Caeden, Kelsers, and Jameson who were all at Kirstin's!


This was the shirt I found for Sarah! "Havea chew as heart?"


Sisters, together for the 1st time in a year...

2 more months, and these two will be newleyweds!!!


After it got late, Sarah and I headed over to the west side to settle in for the night at her place. When I walked in, I saw this note on her refrigerator "YAY JILLERS!" made from scrabble pieces she had turned into magnets! She's my creative friend for sure!! (You too Jess)

I'm literally running off of adrenaline today (and a little bit of diet coke caffeine) after sleeping only 4 hours last night!!! I'm hoping tonight is a different story, but knowing Sarah and I, we'll never be able to stop talking! Not that I'm complaining! :)