Seattle University School of Law - Graduation 2008

This Saturday, my friend Michelle graduated from Seattle University's Law School. I have know Michelle for ten years now, whoa how time passes us by. Michelle and I first met at Cal State Fullerton, in Southern California. We met at a new student orientation for SU Freshman from California. We ended up living on the same floor our freshman year in college and were roommates our Sophomore year in college. We lost touch for a while, but managed to find each other last year on, you guessed it, Myspace!

We were both living in Seattle again, and met up for dinner. It was like we never lost touch. Congrats Michelle! It was great sharing this special moment with you!

Update

I haven't blogged in a really long time, and I apologize. I have lots of catching up to do. I have been doing really well. I love my job and really love where I live.

This year has been pretty eventful so far, some good and some not so good. In January I celebrated my 28th birthday. I cannot believe that I am 28, where has the time gone. It feels like only yesterday that I was getting ready to graduate from high school and go off to college. It is so hard to believe that it was ten years ago.

In January, I traveled to Orlando, FL. for a week to attend a conference for work. I had never been to Orlando before, and I was a little disappointed. It was nothing like I expected. I have been to Miami before and absolutely love it there. The beaches are beautiful, the people are beautiful and the scenery is beautiful. Orlando was the total opposite. In Orlando everything is really spread out. We stayed at a beautiful golf resort, but we were in the middle of nowhere. You could not even see another hotel or shopping center in the distance. I imagined it being like Miami without the beach. The conference was great, I got to meet a lot of wonderful talented people in the industry, and cannot wait for our next conference in July. The July conference is going to be in Las Vegas! I love Vegas.

February was a emotional month for myself and my family. My uncle passed away at the young age of 54. He was an incredible and giving person. I have never met anyone more caring and giving than my Uncle Ronnie. I flew home to California to be with my family during our difficult time. My uncle holds a very special place in my heart and will never be forgotten.

In February, I also traveled to Las Vegas for work. I was there for a couple of days for another conference and had a wonderful time. I even won a little money playing blackjack :)

My parents came to visit us in March and we had a great visit with them. I love when my parents come up to Seattle. We went to some great restaurants and went to a comedy show at the Paramount Theatre. It your ever in Seattle and have an opportunity to go to the Paramount, I highly recommend it. It is beautiful in there!

Since I have lived in Washington, I have never been to the coast. R and I traveled to Ocean Shores and it was beautiful. It was not Newport Beach, but it was beautiful.

Well, that's all for now, I will post more this week. It feels good to be back!

Face Lift

I decided to change the layout to my blog. I felt it needed a change. I like change, I think change is good. Call me crazy but I don't think I would be happy if everything was the same every day. I also added a couple new links to my blog as well.

Better Late, Than Never

Wow, it has been a really long time since my last post. I could list a entire laundry list why I haven't posted, but who wants to read excuses. So here is a crash course of what I have been up to the last month and a half.

September Re-cap:
Raymond and I made it to Seattle safe and sound. We got all moved in a settled into our new apartment. It is really cute, not too much bigger than our last apartment in Seattle but definitely better. We are only a couple of blocks from Pike Place Market and one block away from Elliott Bay. We have a fantastic view from our balcony. I will post pictures soon, I promise. I really love living in Belltown. There are so many great restaurants and bars that I never knew about.

October Re-cap:
I started my new job and I absolutely love it!!! I could not have asked for a better job. I started on October 1st and it has been non stop since then. I also started my first MBA class in Seattle that week as well. I have only had about one day off a week.

In the middle of the month I traveled to Minneapolis on a work related trip. I have never been there, it was a really quick trip. We got there on Sunday afternoon and were back in Seattle at 11pm on Monday night. There were around 15 of us that went to Minneapolis. We toured the AVEDA Headquarters in Blaine, Minnesota. It was a really great experience, it was a great way to start off my first month at my new job.

In October, we also carved pumpkins with Bret and Alyssa, which was so much fun. I can't wait to do it again next year. If you want to see pictures of our pumpkins check out Alyssa's blog.

November:
We are going to be joining my family on Stockton, CA for Thanksgiving this year. My aunt lives there so we are all meeting up there. We are going into San Francisco for the weekend and I can't wait.

I promise I will write more often. There is no excuse for all my slacking. Oh, and I will post pics of our new apartment.

Driving

Raymond and I started our journey to Seattle this morning around 10am. When we moved to California in June we brought both of our cars. R drove his and I drove mine. We wanted to try and just bring my car up to Seattle and then get his car during the holidays. That did not work out too well. There was no way that we were able to fit even half of our stuff in one car. We did not bring any furniture or anything from Seattle, we only brought clothes, golf clubs and bikes.

We left this morning and drove six hours until we got to Stockton, where my Aunt lives. She made us a wonderful dinner and my cousin is making us strawberry shortcakes (Yummy)! We are going to leave Stockton tomorrow morning at 4am because it takes 12 hours to get to Seattle from here. We have a long day of driving ahead of us.

I really dislike driving long distances by myself. Good thing I have Sirius and an iPod with me, or else I would be really bored.

Seattle, here I come!

As some of you may know, I was in Seattle last week for a job interview. I got into Seattle on Wednesday night, and had my interview on Thursday. I had an interview with Gary Manuel Salon for their Human Resource Manager. I stayed with my college roommate Alyssa on the east side. I left Redmond at 9:00 am so I would not get stuck in traffic on 520. My interview was scheduled for 11:00am, and I made it there with plenty of time to spare. It is better to be early than running late and frazzled.

I met with the salon manager and we had talked for two hours. She gave me a tour of the salon, advanced training salon and corporate center, she also gave me directions to their school so that I could take a look at it on the way out of Seattle.

The interview went really well that she asked me to come back the next day to interview with the owner of the company. I had my interview with him at 10:00am on Friday. He is an awesome person, and our interview lasted two hours as well. He then invited me to lunch and formally offered me the job. I accepted, of course and I start on October 2.

What happened to my other job in California, you might ask??????? Well, I wasn't supposed to start there until 9/10/07 and I never formally signed an offer letter, so I called them and let them know that I was not going to be able to accept the position. My new job in Seattle is going to pay me over double and I don't have to sit in traffic for 2 hours to get there and back.

I am so excited, this is my dream job. I get to travel all over the world and do something that I love. It is going to be a challenge, but if you know me, you know that I live for challenges. I am planning to live in Belltown, that is where my job is located as well.

Seattle here I come, and I am here to stay!

Thank you

Thank you to every one who has been praying for my grandfather. My grandpa or Ta-Ta as my cousins and I call him, passed away this afternoon around 3:00pm. He is with the Lord now, and is in a better place. Thanks again for all the calls, emails and condolences that have been sent to us. We are truly Blessed to have had such a wonderful Dad, Ta-Ta, brother, and friend.

Please Pray

My grandfather is in ICU in a coma with a blood hemorrhage in his brain. It has been a very difficult couple of days for my family and I. I would appreciate it, if every one could say a prayer that he gets wells soon and comes out of the coma. Thank you and God Bless.