"Summer"

I had three weeks between Summer and Fall semester. Here is the short list of things I did in no particular order.

1. Hope's going away party - Yeehaw!
2. Outside Lands including seeing: Fitz and the Tantrums, Die Antwoord, Of Monsters and Men, Foo Fighters, Justice, Alabama Shakes, Explosions in the Sky, Big Boi, Passion Pit, Sigur Ros, Fun., Franz Ferdinand, Regina Spektor, Santigold, Stevie Wonder
3. Taco Tuesday with Christina and my favorite toddler
4. Lunch at the Ferry Building, walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, and Thai food in San Rafael with the seester
5. Meeting little Jameson, one of my sister's best friend's little baby boy
6. Beers and walks in downtown Santa Cruz with the roomie, Lisa Casagrande
7. Beers, Irish music, and Australian candies with camp friends in Berkeley
8. Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma with the family
9. Listening to Douglas Adams books while driving many miles
10. Partying with the 1st years while I mentally try to comprehend the fact that I am now in my second year of PT school and I kind of know what I'm doing

So there's that,
Jessie

Losing pounds, losing toe nails, and losing marbles

The three things I've been up to lately.

1. Losing pounds. So on May 1st I started eating well and moving at least 30 minutes a day. I've been following The Mayo Clinic Diet, for those of you interested. It's nothing fancy, no fads. Just the basics of how our bodies work and what the research shows are habits healthy people have. In 5 weeks I lost 12 pounds. So that's been a big part of my life recently and it still is. Keep on truckin'!

2. Losing toe nails. As I said, I've been moving at least 30 minutes a day. To be honest, it's mostly walking to Starbucks to get coffee or walking around Disneyland like some kind of mall walker. But hey, it's working. Well something bad started happening. I was getting infection in my toe nail so yadda yadda yadda, I had part of my toe nail taken off. I could explain more but I seem to not know when to stop with the yucky things so I won't even start. The moral of the story is my toe hurts when I walk (at toe off for you PT peeps reading).

3. Losing marbles. Class sucks. It's hard and stupid and poo poo pants. And as you can tell, I've lost my marbles.

BANGARANG!

"Spring Break: it's my favorite holiday."

P.S. That's a quote from the first season of Arrested Development. How excited are we for a Netflix season of Arrested Development?

Okay, onto the meat of the post. Two weeks ago I had my Spring Break/Summer in between my spring and summer semesters. I drove up to Livermore to spend some well deserved time in NorCal. I did a lot of driving around, both up to the bay and around the bay so I was able to listen to the first two Hunger Game audiobooks. Good stuff, but a book that gives me nightmares shouldn't also make me want to wake up with a boy to cuddle with and make the nightmares go away. Where is my Peeta?

Sunday I cut my bucket list in half by spending a Giants game on the bay in McCovey Cove on a kayak. Lauren (my sister), Jeff (my brother-in-law), Hope (my best friend), and I enjoyed beers and sandwiches while listening to the Giants on Hope's awesome radio. The Giants lost but we had an amazing time on the bay enjoying the glorious weather and meeting hilarious people who joined our kayak island tied to a buoy. After the game, we got some Philz coffee and said goodbye to the beautiful city.

Monday was a relaxing day of shopping, errands, and lunch with the seester at Tender Greens in Walnut Creek. Tuesday was similar, Mom and I got lunch at our favorite Chinese Restaurant where the waitress is always excited to see me.

Wednesday Mom and I got Japanese food and then I went to San Carlos to see another one of my best friends, Patrick! We met at his new apartment and walked downtown for dinner then we went to trivia at a bar in San Mateo. This was my first time doing a bar trivia night and I have been wanting to so it for a while so I was stoked. Our team was Patrick and I and a group of guys from Patrick's work that go every week. We got 8th out of about 15 teams, so we didn't do too well, but it was lots of fun. We did have a perfect round, the questions were about television, so I really didn't expect anything less from the two of us.

Thursday I met my roommate from last year, Lisa, in San Jose for dinner, a drink, and some much needed catch up. It was great to talk with her and her husband, Daren, joined us for dessert, too. I think they are one of my favorite couples. I love them both so much. After that I met another one of my favorite couples, Lauren and Jeff, for a drink at Handles in Pleasanton. They had Lagunitas' Cappacino Stout on tap!

Friday my mom, dad, and I got dinner at  Johhny Garlic's and to my surprise, they didn't mention Guy Fieri even once. However, his name is on more things than the name of the restaurant. Then Brendan and I drove to Davis for PICNIC DAY! It was 94 degree in Davis for their annual picnic day, basically an excuse for college students and recent grads to drink all day. I spent the day jumping around between different groups and trying not to be too hot. Somehow I lasted the whole spring break without getting a sunburn.

So there's that.
Jessie
(this is the winning sign off from a few posts back!)

Hello and Goodbye March

Wow. Where did that month go? Here's how I spent it:

To celebrate my quarter of a century anniversary, I had a party!

Friends and streamers

Drinks and an awesome cake my roommates made

Right: this is your gummy bear; Left: this is your gummy bear on vodka for 22 hours

The next weekend I home to NorCal. I went to camp for the Alumni Reunion Retreat, Christina's last Sunday at church, and had birthday dinner with the fam.

The young kids

After our hike to the cross

That Wednesday, I went to Malibu to visit CNCS at the Companions on the Inner Way.

Me and college roommate, Sarah

The last weekend of March, some friends from NorCal came down and we went to Disneyland. Why does it always rain when I spend the day at Disneyland?

Miles's bodyguards

Super happy fun times!

And now it's April. And next week is finals. Think happy thoughts for me!

A Little Life Update

Let’s see how successful I am at keeping the title honest.

Last year I was an apprentice at The Center for Nature and Christian Spirituality. We lived at Westminster Woods and also took classes at San Francisco Theological Seminary. I loved it! The year (technically 11 months) was life changing. I embraced my life as an adult and stepped into life of discernment. To learn more about the program, check out the website here http://www.westminsterwoods.org/cncs/ (PS It’s application time…think about it!)

The last thing we did during CNCS was summer camp. It felt like a final exam: putting to test the skills we learned and had been practicing together. Well like many tests, there was an unexpected aspect to my test. At the beginning of the program, I sent off my application for Physical Therapy programs to six schools. I wasn’t expecting anything but I was on the wait list to a program in SoCal. Being able to wait without knowing what was to come and trust God in the unknown was a huge challenge. One morning in July, I had a wonderful experience during our morning prayer and that evening, I found out that I was accepted to the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree program at Chapman University.

A little over a month later I was moving to Orange, California and starting my three year journey to Dr. J. So now I am living in an adorable house with two other girls and studying my Gluteus maximus off. My roommates are wonderful and I am sure God’s hand was at work when I found them. Classes are really hard. Anatomy killed me last semester but I was told I deserved a “Most Improved” trophy. This semester is more specific to physical therapy and I’m loving it. As overwhelming as the program is, I am committed to living as a renewable resource. I do my best to wake up in time to go to a wonderful church in Newport Beach called St. Mark Presbyterian Church. I also have been swing dancing at Atomic Ballroom when I’m not too exhausted. Not to mention, I live 13 minutes from Disneyland and have me a season pass! So come visit me and we’ll go!!!