Day in San Francisco

Eriks and I have been wanting to spend the day in San Francisco for a while now. We saw that it was suppose to be 65-70 degrees yesterday so we thought it would be the perfect day to take a trip.
Around noon, Eriks and I took the train into the city. I always enjoy riding the train, there are always so many interesting people to watch.
By the time we got to the city, I was hungry. We walked to Whole Foods so that I could get a salad. From there, we went to this really cute area. It had the Children's Museum, a mary-go-round, and a little park with grass and a playground. I was kind of surprised that there was such a kid friendly place in the middle of the big city. We sat in the courtyard and basked in the the sun while I ate my salad. We also sat for a bit and watched the children run around and play. We decided to walk down to Pier 39 which was several miles from were we were.
The city was just beautiful! It was not too hot and not too cold. As we were walking, we saw this and I just had to jump in for a pic!

On our way to the pier, we stopped and saw an exhibit of old Hollywood's clothes. Some of my favorite were Dorthy's dress from the Wizard of Oz, Marylin Monroe's lingerie, and several of Lucile O'Ball's dresses. We also walked through this area where there was a bunch of street vendors. It was fun to look at all of the crafts for sale. When finally got to the bay, we took a little break at the Ferry Building. We sat on a dock and talked for a half and hour or so. By this time we were both getting hungry so we finished the long walk to Pier 39 to get a late lunch. We decided decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. I have never been to The Hard Rock Cafe before, and it was an experience to say the least. For lunch I ordered a burger and Eriks had a pulled pork sandwich.

The food was FABULOUS! We were sitting at the table with the Elvis display. My favorite part about it was the sun glasses that were worn by Him:

After lunch, I went around the restaurant to look at all of the other displays. These were my favorite:




After lunch, we did some of the touristy stuff. I bought some salt water taffy and we went to a lookout area and watched the bay for a while. It was beautiful. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and only the slightest bit of fog hovering over the water.


After hanging out around Pier 39 we decided to head back. But... before we did, of course we had to get some ice cream! We sat on a bench and watched the bay as we ate.


On our way back, we saw this bike. I wanted to share it with all of you. It was just too funny not to:

By the time we got back to the train station, we were both exhausted. The train ride home was fun. Eriks and I were able to find 2 seats together which was really nice. When we got home I went straight to bed and passed out. It was so nice to have a day for just the two of us.

St Patricks Day

As per my tradition, St. Patty's Day breakfast was 100% green. We had green milk, green yogurt, and green shamrock pancakes. Eriks and I had a lot of fun making and eating our green breakfast!

For the fun day, I made matching shirts for the two of us:

For St Patrick's Day dinner, we had a little family get together. Aivars and his girlfriend Amy, Indra and her boyfriend Ron, Me and Eriks, Lauma and Peter all got together. We had green beer and corned beef and cabbage. It was a great dinner and evening together!

YEA!

I am soooooo excited! I start training at the gym next Thursday! I have training next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Then, on April 1, 2010 the gym opens up, and I will be there at 5am! Yes, 5am! I work Monday through Friday at 5am with various end times. I will get about 28 hours a week. It will be difficult at first because I will have to leave the house no later than 4:30 am every morning. I think it will be okay though because I can work that in very well with a school schedule, a second job or really any other plan. Wish me luck in my new job!

Sunday with Aivars

Sunday Eriks and I went and spent the day with Aivars. Aivars wanted to install a new sink counter top for his bathroom. So, we went to Home Depot to pick up the supplies. After that, we went home and the boys started working on the counter top. I wasn't much help, so I opened the back door laid on the couch, and read in the sun. It was magical! I have a fantastic afternoon! I was reading a book called "Dewey". It is a book about a library cat. It was a really fun read. Around 5pm, I decided that I wanted to make dinner. I went to the store and got chicken, zucchini, onions and peppers for BBQ. When I came home, the boys had finally gotten the old counter top off:

While the boys finished up preparing the cupboard for the new counter top, I cooked dinner:

After dinner was cooked, all three of us sat down and ate dinner together. I have so much fun hanging out with Aivars. We had a great time together and had a fabulous dinner if I do say so myself. After dinner, it was time to put the new counter top in!
The boys carrying it to the bathroom:

Still needs a few more finishing touches, bit I think it looks pretty good so far!

After all the work was done, we had dessert. I made us a yummy treat of strawberries and bananas!

The three of us always have fun together and today was no exception!

Carmel Mission

So, Saturday morning, Lauma decided that we needed to go on a field trip. Of course I was excited! We decided on going to Carmel Mission. We tried to go two years ago, but they were closed so we didn't get to go in and take the tour. For those of you that don't know, there are missions up and down the coast of California from the catholic priests who were trying to convert the locals. The missions are very famous in this area because of the impact they made on the Californian history.
It took us almost two hours to get there, but it was TOTALLY worth it! The tour is self-guided which is nice because you can take your time and look at the things you want to look at and skip the things you don't want to look at. The fist thing you see when you start the tour was this beautiful garden:

Then, directly to your left was a big church:

It was very beautiful from the outside, but when I went in, it just took my breath way.

There was one room in the church that had a plaque telling how the Pope came in the 80's (I think) and took a tour and prayed in that very room. It was very cool. There was also another room in the church that held all of the robes from the priests of the mission for the past two hundred years. They were so amazing! (Sorry the lighting is not so good, but trust me when I say they were BEAUTIFUL!)

After leaving the church, there was an actual cork tree to the right:

After passing the cork tree, we came across the cemetery. It was really neat to see. I know this is going to make me a nerd for saying this, but I was really excited because it reminded me of a bones episode where they found a body in a church cemetery. :)
View on the right side:

View on the left side:

The cemetery was located on the right side of the church. The tour winds around to the back of the church where there is another building. This building is dedicated to the "California's Princess". She was a very prominent woman from a very prominent family, and she was the person who made the mission what it is today. For several years, the mission became abandoned and fell down. She was the one that got it into gear to restore the mission.
Eriks and I sitting and watching a short movie about "California's Princess"

Some of "California's Princess"'s hair things, jewelry and clothing

After leaving that building, we followed the tour along the left side of the church into a giant courtyard:

There was a little prayer garden to the immediate with this statue of Father Junipero Serra who was the founder of all of the missions.

The prayer garden also had this cute water fountain

The court yard was HUGE, and in the middle of it was this very large water fountain. Eriks and I just couldn't resist the photo opp. (more like I couldn't miss it! ) :)

To the left of the courtyard, and to the right of the church was a room dedicated to Father Junipero Serra. This is also the place where he was put to rest. This was the entrance to the room :

And then this is his final resting place:

The tour took us into other rooms within the mission. The first room we entered was all about Father Junipero Serra. It had his confessional, some of his clothes, several artifacts and lots of information on him.
The next room we went into was the actual first library in California! I thought this was really cool! It was actually one of my favorite parts of the whole day. They have the small library behind glass but I still think I got a good picture:

We then went into a section of the mission that was kept just as it was when it was in use. This was the kitchen area. This is a picture of the oven:

Then this was their way to have "running water". I am not sure how it works, but I have a feeling from looking at it that is was like a fountain. What is really cool about this, is that the room adjacent to this wall was the dining room, and exactly where his fountain is on the other side of the wall was another fountain much like the kind in school so you could get fresh water in the dining room. Cool Huh!?

Down the hall from the cooking room was Father Junipero Serra's original room and furniture etc. It was behind a gate so we couldn't go in, but I think the picture turned out well:

Father Junipero Serra's room was the end of our tour. By this time, we were all very hungry so we decided to go into the city of Carmel to have dinner. Carmel is right by the sea, and let me tell you... It gets cold at night. I only had on a sun dress because it was warm all day. I was FREEZING! But anywho... We went to a really nice dinner. First we sat at the bar and got a drink. I had my first ever martini! It was a house specialty with Malibu, pineapple juice, Blue Electric, and something else I can't remember. It was very good. And wow was the bar tender generous with the alcohol. Man, one drink and I was way past done! Once they had our table ready, we ordered. We had these shrimp that were very similar to crawdads. I thought they would come out shelled and everything. Oh No! They come out shell, head, eyes and all! I was a little turned off by it, so Eriks helped a little by shelling them. The waitress tried to get us to suck the brains out of the head, but I just couldn't do it. If I was in a culture where everyone ate like that, I think I could but in the restaurant setting, I just couldn't muster up the courage. After the shrimp, I had a wonderful salad and a big bowl of Minestrone soup. It was AMAZING.
By the time dinner was over, we were all ready to go home. Let me tell you, I thought I was cold before dinner, I was way more cold after. I wanted to run all the way to the care. Once we got in the car, I passed out and slept until we got home.
It was a fabulous day! I learned a lot and had a great time with Eriks and Lauma.

Great News!

I got all three jobs I applied for! I accepted the job working with MediFit Corporate Services as a Courtesy Desk Representative in the San Mateo Athletic Club. I am going to also try to work for Ross, but it all depends on whether or not I can fit it in with the Athletic Club. I am really excited! Most likely I will start next week. I cannot wait to start!

Hike

Today was a great day. After my interview at the gym, Eriks and I decided to go on a hike and have a picnic. When we came home, we packed a picnic lunch, changed and headed out. We went to my favorite hiking spots. I love it because the very first part of the trail is very dark and cold. The trees engulf everything,and it is very lush and green. It is literally one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. A creek runs along side of the trail and there are three places where you have to cross a little bridge.
We took the part of the path that took us up the mountain towards all of the rocks. If we had taken the other trail, it would have taken us down the mountain to a beautiful waterfall, but we had already been that way.
The rocks are amazing! Here I am in one of them. (And this is not even close to the coolest rocks there!)

After this, we found this rock with water running over it. This picture doesn't do it justice, but you can get the idea.

After this, the trail became a little tougher. There was a rock that Eriks wanted to show me. We practically had to rock climb to get to it, but it was totally worth it. Once we climbed all the way up, we had a picnic with a gorgeous view! The sun was shinning and warming our skin. The rock was perfectly formed! There was two spots right next to each other that took the shape of a chair (with backrests and everything). It was wonderful. We ate our picnic, basked in the sun and enjoyed a breathtaking view.
This was our view from our rock

Us of course

After our picnic, we decided to take the trail a little further. We kept hearing water trickling as we walked. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from until we got to this part of the trail. Now it is kinda hard to see but the trail becomes a waterfall. It was really beautiful! The rocks created steps which make walking up the waterfall easy and fun.

The water was low enough that surprisingly, we really didn't get that wet. Farther up the trail, we came to a rock formation that is a very popular place for rock climbers. I was really glad that there was stairs going up the side of the rock formation. It made getting to the top a lot easier. When we go to the top, this is the view that we saw:

If you look closely at the to of the picture you can see our picnic location! I circled it and have an arrow pointing to it saying "this is our picnic location". I didn't realize how high up we were until I saw it from that angle! Well, after that we headed back down the trail towards our car.
Total, it was about a three hour hike. I am very tired, but I had a wonderful day!

Do Hard Things

Do Hard things. I don't know where I heard it, I think it was probably from my dad. Lately I have really been chewing on that statement. A lot of you might not know, but in the past year or so I have struggled with a lot of things. Severe depression, not knowing what was wrong with me and then finding out it was IBS, trying to figure out how to live with my disease, being bed ridden, an emergency room visit, working on overcoming my fear of needles, dealing with a horrible and stressful job, confronting my childhood abusers and letting go of my past, losing the 60 lbs I gained while depressed and bed ridden, trying different meds for my PTSD , finally accepting the fact that I have a family who loves me and who is not going to hurt me or leave me, going to therapy to deal with my issues from a difficult childhood and last but not least leaving the family I love so dearly to pursue my dreams by moving to California. To say the least, it has been a very hard year. One of the hardest to date. Since moving here, I am really focusing on improving myself. I have finally dealt with most of the big and really hard stuff. Now, I am working on the smaller things like learning how to take suggestions and not stressing over everything.
Today while sitting with Eriks, the quote "Do Hard Things" came to mind. Eriks and I talked for a while about what it really means to do hard things. How overcoming fears, doing things that might be uncomfortable and striving hard for what you want is really what we individually and we as a couple want for our lives.
I don't want to look back on my life and see all of these things I had never done or places that I never went just because it was hard. I want to push myself to do things I never thought I could do. I want to show others that no matter what background you come from, you can achieve great things.
So, from now on, Eriks and I have decided that "Do Hard Things" is now our family motto. I hope that for the rest of my life I can strive to do hard things.

Interviews

Alright, so, for those of you who don't know, this week has been a week of interviews. On Sunday, I had a phone interview for a gym that I applied for. The interview went really well. I was excited when she told me it was one of the most refreshing interviews she has had in a long time. So, she scheduled a second interview for today with the local contact. The gym hasn't opened up yet, so I would help open the location. The interview went really well. I really hope that I get the position. I just feel like it is the perfect job for me.
On Tuesday, I had two interviews. The first on was for a local breakfast restaurant called Stacks. I think the interview went well also. I should hear by Friday whether or not I got the position. My second interview that day was for Ross. I went for that interview, and she immediately wanted to schedule a second interview. The second interview for Ross was yesterday. I was told that I would get a call to officially offer me the position later this week, so I think that means that I have the job but I am not sure so we will see.
With all of these interviews out of the way, now all I have to do is play the waiting game... Of course I will let you know if I hear anything!