Tonight was our last night working out with Todd...it's sad. Hopefully I can reach my goals without him.

We got home tonight and went into the garage and found that our hot water heater was leaking majorly...there is water from the back of the garage where our the water heater is all the way to the front garage door and about four feet wide. Not good.

On a better note, I went to Josh and Jacob's preschool graduation today! The pic below is of the graduates with their big sis Kassidy.

This is Josh receiving his "diploma" (and a special necklace from his teachers). Too bad his eyes are closed... Jacob is in the middle of this pic...his class had little caps and gowns!! It was so adorable!

Basically I can't believe how old they are...they will be FIVE tomorrow! They each have such great individual personalities that come out more and more everyday. I can't wait to see them grow up, but I still cherish every moment I have with them now that they're young and they still hug and kiss me without being forced! I love my nephews and neice more than anything! They bring a smile to my face no matter what else is going on in my life. They'e amazing!

A few books on my summer reading list (in no particular order):

• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (a true story about a boy in Africa forced be a soldier...much like the movie Blood Diamond)
• Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson (chic-lit)
• The Virgin Suicides by Jeffret Eugenides (never seen the movie...thought the book looked interesting)
• Saving the World by Julia Alvarez (LOVE her...I've read two other books by her- How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and Yo!)
• The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (Read Ethan Frome by Wharton and it's one of my favorite books)
• The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence that Points Toward God by Lee Strobel (Interesting... I also want to read the Bible because I never have, but more because I think it's an important historical piece and referred to very often in different contexts...not so much because of religion. )
• Something Borrowed by Emily Griffith (more chic-lit)
• The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver (started it awhile ago, but never finished it. It's very very long and hard to follow, but for some reason I have to finish every book I start no matter how boring it is)

These will probably last me through about the end of June, depending on how often I get to read at my job. I love bookstores. I think it'd be so much fun to work in a small bookstore where you can sit around and read all the time. I don't get to read books I actually want to read during school, so I have to catch up over the summer. Although my pile is not nearly as large as Amy's !!!

So this is the tattoo I'm going to get....

The only problem is that I don't know anyone who can read Japanese. I found it on Google, and according to the site it means "Inner peace, Inner strength" but I want to know 100% for sure before I go putting something permanent on my body. For all I know it says something really obscene.

Hey Kev- do you have any linguist friends who know Japanese???

you know what the best feeling in the world is?

when the guy you loved and trusted and depended on for 4 years calls you up out of nowhere and accuses you of cheating on him because some random s**thead told him that I was. And this guy chooses to believe said s**thead said over you.

yup-it's amazing.

The End

So for many people that read this, what I'm about to say will come as a complete and utter surprise....if you don't want to know than don't read on.

Davis and I are no longer together.

We have been having problems for months now and trying to make it work. I realized after thinking about it for many, many sleepless nights that the only way to make it better would be to end it. So I did.

I just want both of us to be truly, utterly happy and I realized that wouldn't happen while we were together. In the four years we were together we became different people, and the people we are now aren't right for eachother.

I never thought it would happen, but it has. I am ok. He will be. I hope that one day we can be friends again because that is what I will most about him. I will never stop caring about him.

So for the family members who read this...feel free to pass along this news. I don't really have the desire to talk about it, so I figure this will get around by word of mouth eventually.

Once again...Grey's Anatomy as it applies to real life...

"Some people believe that without history, our lives amount to nothing. At somepoint we all have to choose: do we fall back on what we know, or do we stepforward to something new? It's hard not to be haunted by our past. Our history is what shapes us... what guides us. Our history resurfaces time after time after time. So we have to remember sometimes the most important history is the history we're making today." -Meredith on Grey's Anatomy

I'm stressed, I'm stressed, I'm very very stressed. (Sing to the tune of "I'm late, I'm late, I'm very very late" from Alice in Wonderland.)

At least the due dates for one of my papers got pushed back! yay!

Finally!!!

It may seem odd, but the tragedy that happened yesterday at Virginia Tech is taking a profound toll on me and the way I view the supposed sanctuary I am in everyday at school.

School is supposed to be a safe place, a place we go to to get away from our other problems, to absorb knowledge and learn about problems that are happening around the world. But when those problems come home, we don't know how to react.

The mass murder at Virginia Tech is situation where everyone says "that will never happen at my school". But why could it happen there and not right here at ASU West? There are disgruntled people everywhere, people who don't know how to handle their rage any way other than violently.

I was listening to NPR on the way to school yesterday (as I usually do), but yesterday was different. They had the President of Arizona PIRG, which is a student organization at ASU. He was saying that one of the problems at Virginia Tech was that the students were not notified immediately after the first shooting happened. (Who knows how many students may have stayed in their dorm if they had known there was a shooter on campus?) There is no system in place at ASU, other then email, to notify students if there is a problem on campus. And what about commuter students like me? How would they get the word out if something happened on campus to students who don't watch the news?

I was walking up to campus yesterday after hearing the news all day and listening to information that was coming in, and all I could think of was what if that happened today, at ASU West? There is no way of knowing. There was alot of talk about the 1966 UT Austin shooting, which before yesterday was the deadliest campus shooting in history. In that case, a man was on top of a building and shot down at students walking to class. I walked up to campus yesterday and on one of the buildings was a person standing on a high balcony looking down at students. This was not someone suspicious, it was just a girl probably waiting for her next class to start. But it made, well, freak out a little bit. And right now I am in the library. I keep thinking "what if someone comes in and starts shooting" like the kids at Columbine did? What would I do?

I guess the point of this is to vent my fears and to realize that I can't live my life in fear. I didn't know the kids who died yesterday at Virginia Tech, but my heart goes out to them and their families. They are kids like me, just students wanting to make some difference in the world by getting a higher education. It has made me realize the importance of just...living. Living day to day and living like you have 100 years still on Earth, even if you may die tomorrow.

Unfortunatley, a tragedy like this also has political implications. Already there is talk of gun control issues, and campus security problems across the country. Why did it take President Bush a week to go to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina where hundreds were killed, but he is already in Virginia the day after the shooting? Honestly, who cares? It sickens me that after 32 young, intelligent people were murdered the media and politicians have to turn this into a political issue? Yes-gun control and security are important issues, I am not saying they aren't. But can't we, as a country, unite under this tragedy and mourn for the studrents who died? Is that really so hard? Apparently it is, and that makes me so sad.

My prayers go out to everyone affected by the Virginia Tech shootings, and I pray to God that even after this our schools can become sanctuaries yet again.

I just met author Tania Katan. She is by far the coolest person/author I have ever met. I got my picture taken with her and a book signed...I will post pictures later, but right now I am in my Social Statistics class and I should probably pay attention.

Today is a good day.

omigosh

I just babysat for the President of Capital Groups investment firm in his $6.8 million mansion that he bought from Dan Majerle.

It was amazing.

And to top it off his kids are the sweetest little boys and he and his wife are both very, very nice people.

And I get to sit for them again in 2 weeks.

I had a great night...

Happy Easter tomorrow everyone (all two of you who read this...)

I want to cut my hair...

either like this...

or like this....

any thoughts?

San An-tone

Last weekend my mom and I went to visit my dad in San Antonio. I was only there from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon. My dad has a lovely little apartment we stayed in.

On Friday, we went to the Alamo and the Riverwalk. The Alamo was very cool and historical... too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside.

The picture above is supposedly the line that Liutenant (Forgot his name...) drew in the sand and said "Anyone who wants to stay and fight for freedom, cross this line". Of course it is probably just someone's idea of where it happened...considering a major battle took place there after he drew the line and chances are it wasn't there when it was over. :)

The Riverwalk was so pretty....it's what I think New Orleans and Venice would look like if they were smashed together. The river runs strait through downtown San Antonio, and they Riverwalk is lined with great shops and restaurants. It was St.Patricks day weekend while we were there so there was some great Irish bands and festivities going on (and some really good green margaritas!!!). Texas is surprisingly gre as you can tell by the picture. I really thought it was a big desert...kinda like Arizona!

On Saturday we drove to Houston to visit my cousins Bobbie and Travis. I forgot to take pictures while we were at dinner with them, but I got one of their house. It is such a pretty neighborhood-very unique and green and tons of trees. All the house are made out of either brick or stone...none of the stucco cookie cutter houses you see here. You can kinda see my cousin Travis on the far left in the picture.

All in all it was a very fun weekend. I'm glad I got to go see my dad and see Texas! My mom loves it and wants to convince everyone in my family to move over there!

Now I am am sitting in the living room with all the doors open, listening to and smelling the rain. I love Arizona. It's amazing that it was 99 degrees outside a week ago, and now it is stormy and probably in the 70s. Sorry mom, I don't think I'll ever move (no matter how hot it gets!)

Oh and I tried to make homemade chocolate chip cookies earlier. And they are bad. Very Very bad. Oh well-it was my first attempt at homemade cookies and I will try again.

Now I have to do homework. Bah.

I got a job with a great company called Sitters and Company . It is basically a baby/pet/house sitting service. The premise of this company is that clients pay a $50 membership fee and than get to search for qualified reliable sitters in the area (me!). It allows people who may not have family or friends in the area to have access to good sitters (me!). Clients can search for specific dates they need a sitter, then a request is sent out to all available sitters. So if I were to get a request, I could either accept or decline depending on my availability. It works perfectly with my school schedule because I can be so flexible.

The company was started by two men (amazing right?) who were both in the military. They are both married and have kids and were frustrated by the fact that every time they were relocated thay had to build a brand new network of sitters. So they thought of the idea for this website and bam! here it it. The website just went live today, so I got to setup my sitter profile and whatnot.

I really hope that this job will bring in enough money so that I don't have to look for a job this summer. It would be great if I could build a clientale of 6-8 families to sit for on a regular basis, or even one family who needs a full time summer nanny. We shall see.

So if you know anyone who needs a sitter, tell them about the site. Actually, tell them about the site and then tell them to search for me so I can start making money! Sits cost anywhere between $10-$15 per hour, depending on the number of children, etc. The guys who run it are so nice and professional. All of the sitters have to have a certain amount of experience and we all had to provide references who were called to verify that we aren't insane :)

Or if anyone needs a job, I believe they are still looking for sitters and you can apply on the website.

I am pretty excited! Yay for me! Yay for jobs! Yay for money!

oh yea...I have also been watching Grey's Anatomy almost nonstop since Thursday night. My mom got Season 1 for Christmas, but lost it for awhile and just found it recently. After watching Season 1 I decided I ahd to watch Season 2. SO I went out and bought it...and finished the entire season in less than 2 days. It is such an amazing show. Anyone who wants to watch it is more than welcome to come over...or borrow it...but not until I watch the second season again (like I am right now instead of doing homework).

I am not dead...just stressed out. Whenever I sat down to write the past few weeks a wave of stress would hit me and I realized I had more important things to do. Of course now I have a million things to write about and still not much time to do it.

First, I got a job. It's with this company called "Sitters and Company". In essence it is like "The Babysitters Club" books from way back when, but more professional and actually a real business. Basically people can pay a fee to go on this website and search for qualified sitters (baby, house and pet sitters). They can then request a sitter for a particular day, and the sitter (me!) can either accept or decline the request. It is not exactly my dream job, but it pays well and allows me to be flexible with hours during the school year. Hopefully it will be something I can do full time over the summer also so I don't have to stress out about finding a job.

I was elected to be the student coordinator for this food drive on campus. It is pretty exciting, very stressful though. I have to coordinate different activites to get students involved, talk with clubs on campus, and many many many more things. I swear I have been spending at least an hours or more just answering emails dealing with the drive. It's fun though...definately something I am considering as a career (on a much larger scale of course...)

Spring break is next week and I am so ready for it. No big plans really-doing homework alot probably. But my mom and I are going to San Antonio for a few days to see my dad which should be fun. We get to go to the Alamo and the Riverwalk (and see the river dyed green in honor or St.Patty's Day). I've never been to Texas so I wonder if it will be like I expect it to be.

I also have an informational interview next week with the volunteer coordinator for the Arizona's Children Association, which is a group that helps place foster children into permanent homes. It's an assignment for a class, but it should be interesting at least. It'll give me an idea about what being a volunteer coordinator actually entails.

Probably very boring, but it is all I have time for right now. Amy was talking about how she makes lists all the time, and so did Kevin. This is something our Grandma Jaye does basically everyday. It really must be something hereditary, because I do it all the time also. ALthough my mom doesn't...so maybe it skips a generation. Anyways, blogging was on my list for today, but not for any other day this week. Check! OK-time to do homework.

Academy Award Nominations

I know they were announced like two weeks ago, but oh well.

I would really like to see all the movies for Best Actor and Actress too, but I don't think that will happen in 3 weeks.

I really need to go to movies more often...

I saw Little Miss Sunshine tonight for the first time....

It was amazing...

My goal this year is to see all the movies nominated for Best Picture before the Oscars. So far I've seen The Queen and now Little Miss Sunshine. Still have to see Babel, The Departed, and Letters From Iwo-Jima.

Good Stuff...

I have been tagged to talk about my 6 unusual things...

This will take me awhile to think about so I'll get around to it soon...

Woo-hoo!

Colts won the Superbowl!!!

And Peyton Manning won MVP (of course) I'm definately a Manning fan...

This is the first year ever that I actually watched the entire game. Although I don't like football, it was still very fun. Good food and good company too.

Gotta love the commercials...