The last few weeks...

Here's a few pictures of what I have been up to since my last post....

Steph and I found an amazing hiking trail, Iron Mountain Trail, last Sunday...it was beautiful! 

Chris Tomlin! (at The Rock Church in San Diego)

Mom, dad, and I on the Oceanside Pier 

Me and mom by the aircraft carrier in downtown San Diego

the past few days went waaaaaay too fast!

The past few days have been GREAT and went way too fast! My parents were here visiting from friday night till today and I think I saw more of San Diego in the past few days with them than I have the entire past 6 months of living here! It was soooooo great to see them and spend time with them and I loved being able to show them all of the great places I have told them about! 

Snow chains required

Yesterday was an adventure!! And not always in a good way, but fortunately the good easily makes up for all the bad things that happened along the way. 

Stephanie and I planned on going snowboarding at Mountain High Resort, which is supposed to be about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from Julian. So, we left at 6:30am to get there in time for a free lesson that started at 11. Plenty of time, right? Not when you get on a freeway with thousands of Californians who don't know how to drive in the rain! 

We got stuck in traffic for over an hour, and around 11, we were about 7 miles away from the resort. It was getting kind of snowy up in the mountains, but no big deal, I'm from Michigan and Steph is from PA. And then we saw it...a huge sign saying "snow chains required". Every car except us had pulled over to put on their snow chains, which I don't have, so we tried to keep driving. We got about another mile down the barely snowy road, when there was a checkpoint with an officer turning people back who didn't have chains. I tried to convince him that I would be fine because I have driven in snow for 7 years, but he didn't buy it. 

So, Steph and I could either turn around and drive home, or search for a place in the middle of nowhere to buy snow chains (which cost $40-100). 

Deciding that we were going to snowboard no matter what, we finally found a place with snow chains for only $40, but then realized we had NO idea how to put them on. Fortunately, the first thing of the day wen right when a man stopped and put them on for us! And we were back on the road to the ski resort. And then....when we got back to the checkpoint, it was gone and so were the chains required signs! WHAT?!?! in 45 minutes, I guess enough snow and ice had melted. Ugh! 

We were very frustrated, to say the least, but once we started boarding, it was alllllll worth it and we had an amazing day of snowboarding on the most beautiful mountain with tons of fresh powder all day :) 

Until it was time to go home...

We thought taking the chains off would be way easier than putting them on, right? WRONG! They got completely tangled in my tires and I was basically laying on my back in an icy parking lot with my head under my car trying to untangle to dumb chains. It seemed hopeless, but fortunately I eventually untangled them and threw the chains in my trunk and never ever want to see them again! 

But let me reiterate, the fact that the part where we went snowboarding for 7 hours was completely amazing and worth all the stress and money it took to get there and back! 

After months of making everyone in Michigan jealous of the beautiful San Diego weather and rubbing it in their faces, I am finally getting the payback I deserve in the form of lots of snow, rain, and cold. Winter finally decided to come to the San Diego mountains in mid-February....just in time for my parents to visit this coming weekend! :( Bummer. I am really praying and hoping that it clears up just a little bit so that I can show them all the beautiful places that I love to spend time at. San Diego just isn't the same place in the cold and rain :(. But, no matter what the weather is, I am really looking forward to spending some time with my parents and showing them around my home for the past 6 months.  6 months, can you believe it??? I can't! Part of me feels like I just left Michigan yesterday. And then the other part of me feels like its been forever and that I am ready to come home and get started on nursing school...

Oh, and in other news, last night at The Rock Church (http://www.therocksandiego.org) where I go, Jon Kitna, from the Detroit Lions, spoke. I guess the pastor of my church (miles mcpherson, an ex San Diego Charger) and he go way back so Miles kind of interviewed Kitna about what it is like to be a Christian in the NFL. I don't really follow the Lions anymore considering their AWFUL record but according to my little brother, he isn't very good at football (or in his words when i told him Kitna was their: "tell him he sucks"), but his testimony was pretty cool and it was fun to watch two NFL players talk together about what being a Christian means for them in that culture. 

SEA WORLD!

This week I am on night shift, meaning that my work hours are from 9:30PM-7:30AM. Each of the girls on my shift rotate through this, so I am usually on nights every 5 weeks or so. The shift basically consists of hanging out in a room with security monitors and making sure the girls aren't doing anything they aren't supposed to. We usually have to do "bed checks" 4-ish times a night, but the rest of the time, I get to sleep and get paid for it! And the best part is...I have the whole day free afterwards!

So...this gave me the opportunity to meet up with an old friend of mine to go to Sea World in San Diego yesterday. Mike is a friend of mine who I met a few years ago when I worked at Frontier Ranch camp in Santa Cruz for the summer. He is now working at a church in Santa Barbara, a few hours north of San Diego. It was really great to spend some time with someone out here who I have known for more than just 5 months!

Speaking of spending time with people who I have known for a long time...my parents are coming out here the end of February!!! I can't wait to show them all over California and spend some time with them!!!

i love sundays

Sundays are becoming one of my favorite days here in California. I have settled into a routine of sleeping in, then exploring a new place somewhere in San Diego during the afternoon, spending a few hours reading or journaling somewhere, and then going to church at The Rock in San Diego (http://www.therocksandiego.org) at night. Its a really cool church full of young people and energy. And the Pastor, Miles McPherson, is an amazing teacher with tons of energy and passion. (Not to mention, he's also an ex San Diego Chargers player!) And after church, I usually stop by my favorite health food store, Trader Joe's, for a few groceries to get me through my next 2 days off from work. 

This past Sunday I was able to check another place off my list of places to visit in San Diego, Balboa Park. Its a huge park in the middle of San Diego. It has tons of mueseums, mostly free, gardens, a greenhouse, and is filled with interesting people. And although i have never been to Europe myself, it sort of has the feel of what I would expect a little town in Europe, maybe Spain, to feel like. I didn't spend as much time there yesterday as I would like, so I plan on going back and exploring more sometime soon. 

another place to add to my ever growing list of favorite places....la jolla.

Even before I came out here, I heard from a few people that I just HAD to check out La Jolla when I got a chance, and I finally got a chance to do that last weekend and immediatley fell in love with it! La Jolla is a very relaxing and peaceful place. There is a beautiful little cove in la jolla with seals and cliffs, tide pools full of little fish and sea creatures, jogging trails through a park right on the water, and beautiful palm trees and tropical flowers. There are also surfers and kayakers all over the place. basically, its perfect.