Friday, April 18, 2008

Are you down with APO?

In the week I’ve participated in two Alpha Phi Omega events. That’s more than I usually commit to. This semester’s Pledge Educators contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would give a speech to the kids that are pledging (Mu Pledge Class). The topic I was given was Change.
Being busy with work and the new house, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to give to writing my speech, but I did my best. On Friday night, I went over to Leilani’s house in Signal Hill. We didn’t find out until we got there, but we were “surprise guests”.

I was the first to arrive and next was David Le. He had been the Membership Vice President while I was President. After a while, more people started showing up. It was really good to see everyone.

When we were “revealed” to the pledges, they were able to guess who David was right away, but I think the Dressler/Nguyen thing through them off with me. LOL

I ended up staying at Lani’s house until about 11:00pm and everyone still gave me crap for leaving early.

The very next day, the Long Beach (Rho Gamma) chapter was hosting Sectionals. This consists of inviting all of the schools in your Section to partake in a retreat type environment. There are seminars planned, lunch, activities, and finally a banquet dinner. This was the first time the chapter had hosted Sectionals. Members from UCI, UCR, UCLA, CSULA, USC, Cal Ply SLO, etc. made the trip to Long Beach. There were about 100 people who attended.


I was happy that I got to reunite with the people who are still active in the chapter, along with the large group of Alumni who attended. It was good to see my friend Michelle who I hadn't seen in a little while...she just got into the Doctorate program at USC!!


Next up with Alpha Phi Omega, they’re having me host their Graduation Ceremony. Phew!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Snake!!!

We had our first encounter with wildlife OTHER than cute, fuzzy bunnies yesterday. I left work early to meet my friend George at the house to do some drywall repair. George used to work for Warmington, but is now doing drywall with his brother. (They do an excellent job, by the way)
He was running in and out of the front door to grab tools from his truck. On his way back in he said, ”Do you have a pet snake? There’s one in you front yard!” AHHHH!

He was sitting at the edge of the planter closest to the house, right near the front door! I watched him for about a ½ hour. George had an air compressor in his truck and he had to run a tube from there, through the front door and up the stairs in order to spray the texture….which meant the door was propped open about an inch.


You better believe I kept an eye on that snake. I called Cuong to tell him about it. He told me to take pictures and email him the pictures. While I was upstairs emailing the pictures….I lost track of the snake. I went back out and I couldn’t find him!


He didn’t have a rattler or a diamond shaped head, so he was probably just a garden variety of snake…but I definitely wouldn’t want to run into him while trimming the plants! Eeeek!
I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that I won’t have to deal with him again!


Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Anxiously Planning...

We have our drywall guy coming to the house today to patch a few more holes and to texture the fireplace area that was replaced.
We took the mirrors off the way that were in the old owner’s work out room, now my scrapbook room. Those suckers were so heavy! They’re about 6 ft. tall.

In the meantime, I’m trying to figure out how I want to set up my room. I’ve been looking at pictures of people’s scrap rooms on Two Peas in a Bucket to get ideas. I know I want a desk with a good amount of work space. I like to do journaling on my computer, so I’ll need to have that near by. I also want to allow enough space to set up a table for when people come over to scrap. I’m really into having everything organized, I just need to figure out how I want it put together.

P.S. – I love my Clip It Up! I haven’t been able to use it yet, but you bet I’ve clipped things up. I think I’m going to organize them by theme. It will be so cool to have them all hanging there out in the open, reminding me to use them. (I'll have to post a picture!)

P.S. 2 – I really need to start the wedding album already. I’ve just been scared to start! I have a 12 x 12 album all ready to go and I’ll probably need all of that space, but I’m not totally comfortable with that much room!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Maui 2008

Our Maui trip was definitely too short!! We landed on Thursday at noon and then headed to get our rental car. From there we headed off to our hotel, the Wailea Beach Marriott. It was a nice hotel. Paul & Yolanda were only a few rooms down from us, so it was convenient to hang out or leave together at the same time.

Our first stop after checking into the hotel was Cheeseburger in Paradise (or whatever they’re called now). Yum yum!! After we digested our food a little, it was off to the pool of course! The “adult” pool was beautiful…and quiet. It was an infinity pool that looked off at the ocean. There were little cabanas that you could rent that looked like little floating islands in the pool. It wasn’t as warm as we expected, but I guess you can’t complain too much when you’re in Maui.

We probably ate WAY too much on this trip. We had decadent dinners every night. The first night we went to a restaurant that something had recommended to me called Capische at the Diamond Resort. We probably should have gone at sunset, but our reservations were for 8:30pm. You sit out on a lanai overlooking the golf course and ocean.

On Friday we did the Road to Hana. Paul was able to borrow a cd that would play while you were driving and tell you what you were seeing. We stopped in Pa'ia for breakfast at Charlie’s. I got ONE pancake since it was the size of the entire plate! Needless to say, I didn’t finish it all. It was a really good breakfast though. We left the restaurant to start up the road at about 8:00am. Along the way we took hikes, saw roosters, had beautiful views, and went down one lane winding roads! It took about 4 hours to get to Hana….and then were was nothing there! I guess that’s why it’s the road to Hana. Since we were hungry by then, we stopped in a guy’s front yard that had a sign saying “Hawaiian BBQ”. We had some teriyaki chicken and steak. It was delicious Hawaiian home style food. On the way back it only took about 2 hours to get back since we didn’t make any stops.

Friday night we went to Ruth Chris Steak house. You’re pretty much always guaranteed a good steak there!

On Saturday we headed to Lahaina since Yolanda had never been there before. We walked up and down the main road a few times until we settled on eating at the Lahaina Fish Co. It had some really yummy coconut shrimp. Cuong had the seafood sampler, Yolanda had calamari and chips and Paul went for the Ahi tacos. It was all really good.

Saturday night we weren’t really sure where to go for dinner. Another restaurant that was recommended was about 40 minutes away, and we just didn’t feel like driving for that long just to get to dinner. Instead, we made reservations for the restaurant at the hotel next door, the Grand Wailea. It was breath taking!! The hotel grounds were beautiful and the restaurant itself was amazing. It looked like it was sitting on stilts over a lagoon with fish and lobster. The dinner was expensive, but very good. We all got the filet mingon and lobster.

Sunday morning we left the hotel and headed to the airport. They were asking for volunteers to not go on the flight and wait until Monday morning’s flight. We volunteered since they were giving a good package, and we just didn’t want to leave yet! Unfortunately they ended up not needing us! Darn!
All in all, it was a good trip and a nice little get away. I wish it were warmer while we were there, but it was good enough! Next time we need to stay longer though!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Maui....Here we come!

We’re heading off to Maui on Thursday morning! It’s a short trip, but it’s much needed! We’re staying at the Wailea Beach Marriott. It should be really nice. While we’re there, we plan on doing the Road to Hana. We and Paul & Yolanda have never made that trip before. Paul was able to get a cd that tells you where to go and where to stop to see the highlights.
I’m looking forward to just relaxing and not having to worry about anything.

We’ll be home late Sunday night.

Here’s an aerial view of our hotel.