Sarah, I accept your tag!

My cousin, Sarah, had this "tag" up on her blog, and it looked like fun! I loved reading her blog and definitely learned a thing or two in the process (all good things...I think we'd make some serious trouble together!). So, here it goes:

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was finishing up my time at American River College, studying for my American Chemical Society final, and getting ready to transfer to UCD. Boy, those were scary times! I was getting ready to move out of my parents' house and on my own for the very first time. I was getting ready to say "good bye" to all of the wonderful friends I had made in the cauldron that was the chemistry program at ARC. Good times, good times!

5 things on my to do list...

1. Take Paul out driving tonight. Yes, my husband (the Bay Area boy) is getting his driver's license. He's never had a need for one, but the time has come. He has a job on the horizon that requires it, and I told him that I'm not driving myself to the hospital when I go into labor!

2. Laundry. Isn't this one ALWAYS on the list?!

3. Start my new cross stitch project. I'm making a new cross stitch at my husband's request. He saw Lilo and Stitch (the Disney movie) for the first time the other day (it was time 245 for me...I love that movie!), and he requested that I put the word "ohana" and a saying about it's meaning into a cross stitch that we could keep on our wall, as a family, for years to come. I'm stoked because I've always loved that word and the rich and layered meaning that Hawaiian words seem to carry and that the English tends to negate. Like in the movie, I plan to cross stitch (along with several traditional Hawaiian quilt flower motifs that I've transcribed): "Ohana...means family...and family means that no one gets left behind...or forgotten." You've gotta see he movie - bring tissue.

4. Yard work...the recent winds have gleaned all the old growth from our 5 redwood trees and the fruitless mulberry in the front yard. Our yard appears to have been returned to nature! I should mow and rake before the neighbors complain!

5. Reserve a storage unit and moving truck for our move in September. Yep, Paul and I are moving back to Davis into an awesome apartment with Melissa and her animal menagerie. Very excited...more details to come.

5 Snacks...

1. mozzarella string cheese sticks

2. pretzels...almost any kind will do

3. pickles...the more sour the more better

4. nectarines and the rest of the stone fruit family

5. my husband's popcorn...he pops corn in a little oil over the stove...scrumptious!

If I were suddenly a millionaire...

Yes, Sarah, I've actually thought about this one before, too! I would pay off all of our debts and the debts of our family members. I'd put just enough away such that we could live off the annual interest. Paul would quit his job immediately...forget the two week notice. We'd buy a chunk of land (at least 100 acres) in Hawaii or Montana or the northern coast of California, build a modest house (one that I could clean from top to bottom in one day), and start a small dairy ranch where we would make artisan cheeses. I'd buy my sister the truck of her dreams, and then take our family on the most amazing tour of Italy. I'd probably buy a villa in the Tuscan hills while I was there - a summer home, you know? Yeah...I better start playing the lottery.

3 bad habits...

1. I am a worry wort, but with some very special grace that I have recently been bestowed, I am beating this ugly one.

2. I, too, hate to fold laundry and have a tendency to let the clean clothes sit in the basket until they are worn. Bad, bad, bad. I've switched to hanging darn-near everything to avoid the whole folding thing.

3. Procrastination. I thought it was just with school, but NOPE...I am a world class procrastinator.

5 places I have lived...

1. Bakersfield, California

2. Davis, California

3. Sacramento, California

4. Woodland, California

5. Carmichael, California

5 jobs I have had...

1. snack bar attendant at a skating rink

2. chemistry stockroom worker at a junior college

3. chemistry tutor at a junior college

4. medical researcher at UCD

5. housewife for my beautiful husband

5 things people don't know about me...

1. I love to eat cheddar cheese with pretzels. I take a bite of cheese and then nibble a pretzel...one heck of a combination. Definitely not the same as the cheese-filled pretzels you see on the market...gross!

2. I hate to see water pooled on counter tops. Bathroom or kitchen, I need to wipe it up. Compulsive, I know.

3. I pierced my nose when I was 23. My parents told me that I couldn't pierce or tattoo a thing until I was paying for my own health insurance. So, the day before college graduation and three days before the commencement of my first, full-time, health insurance paying job I pierced my nostril. If I had pictures, I'd prove it. There are times when I miss that thing.

4. When I was a kid, my dad planted several pine trees in our back yard. There were large trees, and he dug huge holes in the ground in which to plant them. Each night, he'd fill the hole with water in an attempt to soften the dirt for removal the next day. My sister and I wanted a pool so badly that we filled two of the holes with water one day and sat in each...like little organic jacuzzis. I was a filthy kid!

5. I have a photographic memory. I can look at a page of notes, a license plate, a photograph, or a scene and regurgitate every detail. In school, it came in handy for test cramming but didn't work so well for long-term storage of information.

Wow. I'm a strange bird!

Pharmacy school applications, Part III

Well, I just registered to take the Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT) for this fall's round of school applications. Pursuant to my previous post, I'm not planning on reapplying to UCSF. They had their chance, and I now know that we weren't meant to live in that city or to attend that school.

So, over the past month or so, I've been doing quite a bit of searching for schools that may better fit my educational goals, our finances, and our preferences of geographic location. Between testing fees, application fees, and secondary application fees, applying to professional school can be very expensive (I had a friend who once dumped $5000 in one year's application cycle...and she didn't get into a single school), so I've narrowed the choices down to the following three (all of which have had 100% or nearly 100% student passing rates for the national licensing exam):

I have one class (U.S. History...darn U.C. let me satisfy that requirement with Women's History...leave it to California!) that I need to take in order to be eligible for University of Georgia admission (here we come, Uncle Phil!!!). I'll be taking that this fall at Woodland Junior College. My PCAT test is scheduled for October 18, in Berkeley. I'm gonna be a busy bee over the next few months, but I'm truly looking forward to studying again (that was the biggest bummer about not getting into school this past year...not being able to throw myself into academia once more).

Wish me luck, folks, and I'll keep you updated on the progress!

Our 1st Anniversary Lake Tahoe Trip

Paul and I took a four-day weekend and made our way to Lake Tahoe in celebration of our first wedding anniversary. Fallen Leak Lake, just southwest of the big lake, was the site of our first, big out-of-town date. We hiked through Desolation Wilderness and had a picnic lunch (one I toiled over for days in an attempt to impress my then-boyfriend with my wife-worthy culinary skills). He did say that is was the best cold fried chicken he'd ever had! Anyway, Tahoe and the area have now become a bit a of an annual ritual for us. We chose our wedding date (May 19) while vacationing there, and we love the seclusion of Fallen Leaf Lake and the adjacent Stanford Sierra Camp.

This year, we drove up Saturday morning and spent the day hiking up to Lily Lake and Desolation Wilderness. The weather was cool and invigorating, quite a welcome change from the 100+ degree weather we left in Woodland. We gazed at waterfalls, watched birds of prey, and came to appreciate the effect of elevation upon one's breathing capacity (7200 feet at Tahoe is quite humbling to us flatlanders). Once we had tired ourselves, we retreated to our favorite little hotel, The Royal Valhalla Motorlodge. It doesn't sound terribly glamorous (though "Valhalla" is the Norwegian Viking heaven), but it's situated at the stateline, right across the street from the big lake. Each evening, Paul and I were able to sit out on our balcony or on the private beach across the street and watch the sun set. How magnificent!

Lily Lake, Desolation Wilderness, CA

Sunday, we decided to take a trip to Virginia City. Situated only about 40 miles east of Tahoe, Virginia City is an old mining town and was once home to Mark Twain. It is also the home of Saint Mary's of the Mountains, the oldest active Catholic church in Nevada. It was built in 1869 by Father Monague who later became the first bishop of Sacramento. It's a beautiful church that has survived fires, earthquakes, mad monks, and other perils. I had been to Virginia City before and was hoping to show Paul the church's interior. Low and behold, much to our delight, not only was the church open but we were just in time for the one and only Sunday mass. The congregation is so small at St. Mary's that the Reno diocese has a priest that covers St. Mary's as well as 18 other rural parishes in the state. The priest, from Nigeria, had the sweetest demeanor and gave quite a moving homily. Mass was the best part of our day!

St. Mary's in the Mountains

Sunday evening, Paul and I got dressed up and walked up the street, from California into Nevada, and spent the night on "the strip." Neither of us are big gamblers, but we had some awesome luck that night! To us, "gambling" is spending $40 on the nickel slots and enjoying the aspiring songstresses in the casino lounge acts. However, luck was on our side that night, and after winning some major moo-lah on the penny slots (sense the sarcasm!), we stumbled home just as the sun started to rise. Boy, we're getting too old for that kind of thing! We went to bed just as the birds were waking and slept-in to enjoy the beginning of our one year anniversary.

Oh! That morning, we opened a little goodie box that my sweet mom had sent for us. She had kept some of the items used on our wedding day, all of which she created. She took the "lunch box" from which our picnic lunch reception was served and filled it with our Save-the-Date card, wedding and reception invitations, wedding favor bubbles, and an anniversary card. It was a beautiful reminder of our special day and really helped to bring back some wonderful memories of the days and months of preparation leading up to May 19th. Thank you so much, Mom, for the sweet surprise!

Mementos from our wedding day...thanks, Mom!!!

May 19th proper was spent sleeping in, sitting on the beach, and watching bad cable. (Yep, we don't have cable television at home, so hotel cable programming is a treat when we travel). It was a lazy and relaxing day, one we both have needed for a while and one that allowed us to sit and be still with one another, marveling in the year that had been. We had a quiet dinner together at Chevy's (mmmm, fresh guacamole!) and then retired to our comfy bed with a pint of Haagen Daz cookie dough ice cream. Already an old married couple!

The view from our beach

We had a great trip! We took in some amazing sights, indulged our "wild side" (sense the sarcasm, once more), and truly enjoyed being on vacation with our best friend! Now, back to reality.

Wait, I can start planning our Kauai trip!!!

Our first anniversary

Wow! It's already been a year! The time has flown by, but Paul and I have definitely learned so very much in that short period of time. I have truly come to appreciate marriage as the greatest, most challenging, yet most rewarding vocation that I will ever undertake (that is, until we are blessed with children). We've had some incredible highs and a few difficult lows. But, through it all, we've been each other's best friend and we've never forgotten to make the other person, our God, and our love for one another our priority. My mom and grandmothers gave me some wonderful advice, years ago: Never go to bed angry. The words have served me well.

There is so much hype surrounding weddings and getting married today. It's become quite an industry (I can't even count the number of wedding movies out in theatres now and in recent months). Most people (brides in particular) LIVE for the wedding day. Months of time and preparation are put into every detail of, what you are told should be, the "greatest day of your life." I've seen some pretty horrendous bride and wedding moments at the nuptials of friends and coworkers. Somehow, people allowed themselves to be shoved into forgetting what the day and the commitment was really all about. Stress turned loving people about to pledge their lives to another into obsessed, self-indulged "bridezillas" (pardon me, I normally hate that term). People tried to tell me that I was "entitled" to my way...that I was the bride and it was MY day...and that mindless traditions should supersede meaningful ceremony and things being done in accordance with our personal beliefs and personalities.

I'm glad that I didn't listen and that other voices were louder.

Paul and I were quite fortunate to participate in a Catholic Engaged Encounter retreat in Sacramento, 7 months before our wedding. While mandated for a Catholic wedding, the retreat was fantastic, and I have ever since been incredibly impressed by the Catholic church's belief that marriage is a vocation. The point was made that a "wedding is a day...but a marriage is a lifetime." Those words really stuck in my head and made preparations of flowers and dresses and food and invitations secondary, always, to Paul and my spiritual preparation (as individuals and a couple) for our wedding.

Every day since my wedding, each one after the next, has been "the greatest day of my life." Over this past year, we have never forgotten that our marriage really has three partners: Paul, Keira, and God. He has been our strength and guidance from the very beginning, since our wedding day, when He and His blessings were the focus, not flowers and bride's maid dresses. Paul and I have also been incredibly blessed to have many examples of loving, committed, and hard-working couples, both close to home and far away. They have been people who exemplify love, patience, and temperance. Paul and I both have wonderful parents, close to home, and loving families near and far. I've especially loved reading the blogs of my cousins, Kristen and Sarah. One newly married with a new baby and the other long-married with two beautiful princesses and one on the way...these ladies have been distant examples of loving wives, partners, and pretty cool moms. I hope that I continue to have more in common with them as the years go by (and OH, how I wish that we lived closer to one another!).

Well, here's to another year! It's shaping up to be a pretty exciting one. We've decided that our second anniversary should be spent in Kauai (flowers and birds and hiking and beaches...oh, my!). We figured that, if we start saving now, we should be good to go by May of 2009! We'll keep you updated...

Cowboy Paul

Paul has been on the lookout for a new job these past few months. He's worked in the library for years and would really like a change of pace. When he was younger, he used to do quite a bit of outdoor maintenance for Saint Rita's church in Fairfax and loved being outside and going home physically exhausted after work. We both have been quite fortunate to have had pretty low-impact, white-collar jobs. However, the machine that is the university has a way of beating you up mentally, and we've both been looking for a respite.

Recently, the second milker position at the UCD dairy has opened up. Paul loves the cows and has long been in awe of Melissa and the work that she does. A while back, she mentioned to her boss that Paul might be interested in the soon-vacant milker position. A couple of weeks ago, Melissa's boss phoned her and asked if Paul was serious about applying for the job. HECK YES!!! So the last few weeks have been centered around the cow, the dairy, and getting Paul ready to apply for the job.

Paul has never worked with any animal larger than a German Shepherd (neither had Melissa before coming to the dairy), so he needed to get some hands-on cow experience. So, Paul is a part-time UCD student again, taking Animal Science 49C...Dairy Management Experience. The class meets once a week to discuss issues of dairy management, bovine health, and the science of bovine nutrition and milk quality. The second component of the class, a lab section, is done once a week from 5AM to 8AM, pairing the student with one of the milkers for one of their morning milking shifts. Luckily, by the time Paul registered for the class, the only section remaining open was a Saturday AM lab shift milking with Melissa. Yay!


Melissa has generously and emphatically offered to help show Paul the ropes, the "ins" and "outs" of milking, and how to operate the equipment in the milking parlor. She has gone above and beyond her job as instructor for the course and has taken Paul under her dairy wing. Instead of meeting for lab at 5AM on Saturday, Melissa has Paul meeting her Saturday AND Sunday, from 3AM to 8AM, in order to intensively learn how to run the series of pumps and valves and tanks that are involved in the milk collection process. He also spends Sunday morning, 9AM to noon, working on the dairy yard. He works alongside the dairy's assistant manager, learning how to drench cows, give IVs, chalk cow backsides, and a plethora of other management duties.

He's loving his time on the dairy, and I've seen a wonderful improvement in his mental and physical well-being since he started working there. This change of venue would be so good for him. He's happier when he's at his full-time job, he sleeps better, and he's getting some good, quality time in with my sister. Paul and Melissa are two of the most loyal, respectful, and hard-working people I know, and it's awesome to see them working together as a team.

The job listing was recently posted and the application is due May 16. Between now and then, Melissa hopes to get Paul (literally) running the parlor by himself so that, at the interview, he can confidently say that he can run the parlor without further training. If our wonderful friends and family would be so kind as to remember him and his desire for this new opportunity in their prayers, we would be most grateful (Thank you!).

We've discussed the possibility that he may not get the job, and while disappointing, I know that he was given this opportunity for more that just that reason alone. He really enjoys physical labor, and his body does as well. This may just be a springboard for us, and I'm sure excited to see where the current takes us

And, a finale...Paul in the parlor!