FRIENDS :)

May is the month for friends!! Brad will be here next week, I get to see lots of friends and family at Julie's wedding in a week and a half, two college friends are hopefully staying a night with me the next week as they drive through Oregon and there is a possibility of seeing another friend at the end of May. Like most other things in life, I never fully appreciated friends my age until I had ZERO that I see on a daily basis.

Oh Biggest Loser--how I LOVE you! This week was so emotional with the make-overs. The guys looked so great! The girls didn't really look much different, but it's still incredible to see their tiny little waists after 16 weeks. I really really want Daris and Ashley to make the top 4 and then to start dating! I think they'd be so cute together. On the other hand, I am NOT ok with Sam and Stephanie. I never liked her--I think she whined too much. I love Sam and they don't make a cute couple at all.

I didn't watch American Idol last night because I was watching BL and Parenthood. However, I did have a fantastic dream about Casey James...we were definitely in love :) I listen to Kidd Kraddick on the way to work, however, and this morning they were all saying they think Casey is getting kicked off tonight. My dream was obviously an omen that he will be heart-broken today and need my love to comfort him. I prefer to watch the singing and results show the same night and fast forward through everything but the contestant performances, judges comments (unless they're annoying) and the actual results. The quality of contestants on AI this year is definitely down from previous years. If Casey gets kicked off, I will lose a lot of interest in the show...as will many other females I presume.

Last weekend was a very productive time for me! I got my apartment REALLY clean...like dusting and sweeping and beating the rugs and the stuff I don't do very often at all. It feels so nice to come home to a very clean apt. I also cleaned out a lot of junk and have quite a bit of stuff to donate to the youth group rummage sale later this month.

I can't believe I will be in Artesia in 10 days. I haven't seen anyone from there since Christmas. It's weird that I'm at a place in my life where I might see my parents a couple times a year! On that note, I can't really explain why but I have really started to feel more like a young adult lately and less like a college student. I actually like the feeling...it helps a lot at work to feel like I'm not some kid hanging out with the grown-ups.

This Friday, I have an interview for a permanent position at work. It would be the exact same thing I'm doing now, but without an ending date for the position. The only other person in our office who is a Limited Duration also is my closest friend here, so that really stinks that we have to compete against each other for the job. As long as one of us gets it, I'll be happy. I'm hoping to retire by 2011 anyway, so it's ok if my job ends :)

Warm February Days! :)

I don't remember if I ever posted that I got the new position at my office! Hooray!! It took over a month, but everything finally fell into place and I started almost 2 weeks ago. I haven't been very good about blogging lately. I wanted to post some pictures of our Sweetheart Banquet that we held at church last weekend, but my camera went missing at that event. Hopefully it will show up soon!

We are doing a lot of fundraisers at work for the Governor's Food Drive. It's an annual event that state workers participate in to raise money and collect food for the less fortunate people in Oregon. One of the events we're currently doing in our office is a silent auction. My co-workers have bought in a ton of junk! It's unbelievable. They're all getting so excited about it too! Granted, there are a couple of nice items, but I'm just really perplexed by this whole line of thinking. Why is it exciting to get junk if you get it for cheap and the money goes to a good cause? I'm all for getting a good deal, but I am so opposed to storing up junk in my house that I'll never use.

I'll be returning to New Mexico in May for Julie's wedding and I'm really excited about that! I got my plane tickets today and will be in Artesia May 14-17. I wish I could stay longer but I won't be eligible to use my vacation pay until August 5, so I can only miss a couple days of work. I think this might be the last time I'm ever a bridesmaid. That makes me kind of sad because I really do love weddings and being a part of them. I guess all my friends who got married will start having babies soon though and that is fun too!

Financial Peace (Dave Ramsey class) is still going well. We're supposed to make a full budget this week, so I'll probably tackle that this weekend. I also need to do my taxes, prepare for Bible study and get everything together so I can teach the High School class this Sunday morning since Kory is preaching. AND I am in the process of trying to get my insurance stuff together since I get benefits with my new job. It's super confusing for me to try and figure out which plan I want to choose from...but I'm VERY grateful to finally have health insurance!

George Bush visits Artesia

My parents and I attended a scholarship reception yesterday for the Artesia High School graduating class of 2009. The Chase's are a VERY generous family in Artesia that gives away a ton of scholarships each year for Artesia students to attend college.

It was held in the Bulldog Pit, which is the AHS basketball stadium. The students who received the scholarships in 2007, 2008 and 2009 were seated on the floor.

I stole these next few pictures off Facebook, but they were better than the ones I got on my camera. The keynote speaker was former President George W. Bush.

Artesia made National News because this is only the 2nd time Bush has made a public appearance since he left office (the other time was in Canada).

Moving from Europe back to Artesia, NM is quite a culture shock! If you don't know the area, it is a small town, Republican, conservative, predominantly Christian town in SE New Mexico with a population of about 15-20,000. I was looking at one of my friend's pictures on FB today and she had a picture of her with Mr. Bush. The caption to her picture was "He is the most amazing and intelligent man!" When I saw that, I just chuckled to myself because I thought of what people in Europe would say if they read that comment...or most people in America besides Texas and Southern New Mexico.

He mentioned at the beginning of his speech that is so good to be out of Washington. I can only imagine how glad he is to be visiting places where he is supported and thanked and encouraged more than he is hated and criticized.

So many people were living out their biggest dream by meeting him yesterday. People cried through his whole speech, waited in line for hours to see him and went CRAZY when he walked into the room. Kids were shaking and had sweaty palms as they nervously prepared to shake his hand. He really is a rock star around here :)