The Best Dog in the World

For those of you who do not know, i have a dog. His name is Kuma and he is the most adorable thing in the world! He's always been a super playful, chase after the ball until its dripping with slobber kind of dog. Recently though he's becoming more mellow and silly in his old age. He does so many things that just make me laugh. My favorite thing is to come home and scream KUMA!!! and see him running towards me with his tail wagging ready with his little puppy kisses!

Anyways, whether it's because he's getting old or because he's lonely since all of us girls have moved out, he's become much more cuddly and cute. He follows me around everywhere, especially when mom's not home. The other day he came down to check on me while I did my laundry. But when mom's home, he follows her around instead. He even sleeps up in her room these days, and for awhile was sleeping on the bed between mom and dad. Silly dog!

Well, Kuma had a silly moment today that deserves a blog post.

I just got back from New York and have my rollerboard of luggage laid out on my floor. I've been meaning to put everything away, but it's just been laying open on the floor with some of the contents scattered around it on the ground. Well, I just went up to the kitchen to have lunch and looked out at Kuma on the porch. He was licking something on the snow, so I said, "Kuma, what are you licking?" Well, I went over and noticed he had pulled a ziplock bag containing hot chocolate mix from my bag in my room and had taken it out and laid it in the snow!! Kuma! So I walked outside to grab it and my mom said "What is it?" and I told her, "Kuma took this from my suitcase in my room!" Well, mom burst out laughing. Apparently just the other day my mom's trail mix had gone missing from her bag. A day later she found it in the snow. Exactly where Kuma had taken my hot chocolate! You sneaky dog! Hahaha. Love him to death.

My Life as a Flight Attendant

So I wish I had a particular story to tell, but all I can say is that the life of a flight attendant is literally up in the air. There's always something strange, weird, or crazy happening - ridiculous work hours, delays, crazy passengers, hurricanes...

I've had some interesting experiences to say the least as well as some really neat opportunities. Here are some of the things I've encountered so far.

1. My very first trip they sent me to Myrtle Beach. Of course it was a beautiful day at the beach...and I didn't have a swim suit. Arg! That didn't stop me from walking down the beach and laying out to get a cute little farmer tan :)

2. Since I'm pretty low on the flight attendant totem pole, most of my trips are out of Newark Airport in New Jersey. I usually have an hour and a half to a two hour shuttle ride through Queens and Manhattan that leaves at 4:10am. Delightful, no? I do have to say though that you get a FANTASTIC view of the Manhattan skyline. I like it best at nighttime, but it's not too bad to see at sunrise either :)

3. On my layover in Milwaukee, I decided to walk around the city with one of the other flight attendants. The buildings were old and really neat architecturally. But the most amusing thing was that I saw some pirates floating down the river!!! Yes, pirates! They saw me laughing on the bridge and looked over and said "Arrrg matee!" So what did I do? I said "arrrg" right back.

4. One layover that I really enjoyed was my trip to Vancouver! I got to go to the YSA ward there and meet up with Pres. Iwaasa (my mission president). Not only that, but I felt like I was a missionary all over again. A senior couple who served with me in Fukuoka was serving in the YSA ward in Vancouver and the missionaries had a Japanese investigator that needed translating, so I had the honors of helping out. It brought back memories of the joy and fulfillment that come from being a missionary! What a great day!

5. Being in New York, I spent my day off walking around time square. Something about being in midtown Manhattan just makes me all giddy and excited inside! Kind of like the feeling you get when you're walking down main street in Disneyland...speaking of which, I saw Elmo and Cookie Monster along with Mickey and Minnie while I walking down Fashion Ave. Hmmm...

6. Look at the McDonald's in Charlotte NC! You don't see something like that every day.

So not too bad for starters eh? I still have absolutely no control over where I fly to, but hopefully I'll figure out how to tweak the system soon and get myself on a flight to Narita!!! Until then, I'll just enjoy the spontaneous opportunities that are thrown my way :)

Don't worry, I am still alive and well!

Hey all,

So, as you can all tell, I took a little break from blogging. No good excuse really, I just got kind of lazy :) So, as a quick reminder, i am currently in Atlanta going through initial training with Delta to become a flight attendant! The days are long, but not as hard as people make it sound. Just really, really long hours. We've gotten to do some pretty cool stuff here though. Evacuating planes, doing CPR, trying out the escape slides and life vests... I've been having a blast!

Anyways, I'll have to catch everybody up on the details of training later, cause today I have to tell y'all about an amazing experience I had this weekend.

So, every Sunday I jump on the MARTA (the metro) and take a 45 min ride up to church. Usually I'm accompanied by my dear friend Oliver, but since his girlfriend was in town visiting this weekend, I made the trip up by myself. I've heard a lot of stories about the MARTA and how sketchy it is, so needless to say I was a tiny bit nervous. It was the middle of the day and I've taken the MARTA so many times now, I can say that I wasn't too nervous, but I made sure to be very aware of my surroundings. The ride up was perfectly fine, but it was the ride back that got interesting.

So while I was sitting at the station waiting for the train, a hispanic guy comes and sits next to me and mumbles "hola, como esta." Being the dummy I am, I replied "Bien gracias." Oops! Yeah, I know. So he seems like a nice person and all, but not really the type of person you want to have a long conversation with. Well, now he thinks I speak spanish and won't stop trying to talk to me. I tried to be nice about it, making sure to keep all my answers nice and short and not encourage anymore conversation. But then he started asking, (in spanish of course) "Are you working tonight?"," Where do you live?" So I started fibbing a little bit. I was like "Yes, I work tonight." and "I live in this general area" (This was a total lie. I was nowhere near the dorm area). Just then, the MARTA pulls up and I deliberately go to the train car away from where I was sitting so I could separate myself from this guy...and then he follows me on. All this time I am thinking, how am I going to get away from this person?! I mean, I don't think he would have done anything, but the whole situation just made me feel super uncomfortable. Well, I walk on to the MARTA and who is there but the two elders I had just met at church!!!! Hallelujah!!!

The moment I saw them sitting there, I instantly said "Hey! Elders! Fancy seeing you here!" and went and sat near them. Mr. Hispanic saw this and decided to go sit on the other end of the train car. Phew...

This was a definate tender mercy from Heavenly Father! The fact that they were on the exact same train in the exact same train car that I had decided to divert to was not just a coincidence. I know it's kind of a dumb story cause it's not like I was in trouble or anything, I just felt uncomfortable, but even still Heavenly Father was looking out for me. It's these small experiences that let us know that there really is a God, and he really is looking out for us. Some may say it was luck or just coincidental, but I know it was more than that.

Anyway, that's my little story for the day. Atlanta's great! Training's fun! Days 'till i report to base...twenty-one!

Six Years Ago

Six Years Ago

Last Thursday

This year has been graduation mania for my family. First I graduated in April , then Mari graduated in May, and now little baby Misa has graduated too! (Don't worry, she just graduated from High School. If I had graduated from college at the same time as Misa...well, that would just be embarassing) Anyway, it was really weird going to her graduation. It seems like only yesterday that I was going through the exact same thing. I don't feel like I've changed at all since then...and it's been 6 years!!! I mean I still love kids' movies, I still act like a complete goof, and I still don't know what I want to do with my life.

Six Years Ago

Last Thursday

I guess looking back though, a lot has happened since graduation - college, study abroad to Japan, mission, study abroad around the world, friends' weddings, friends' baby showers. Yeah. A lot has changed. Sometimes I miss the "good old days". I miss using a locker to store all my heavy books, I miss eating lunch out on the lawn on a sunny spring day, I miss bashing around New York City on choir tour, I miss always hanging out with my best friends. But I guess that's when you have to just be grateful for the priceless experiences you had and look forward to the adventures that await you. I really got lucky with some incredible friends during high school. They're the type of friends that you know will always be there for you no matter how long you've been out of touch.

Tomorrow morning marks the beginning of a new adventure for me. Tomorrow I fly out to Atlanta to get my wings! I don't know what lies ahead, but I'm excited for all the new experiences I'm going to have and all the new friends I'm going to make! Wish me luck.

Croquet

I have discovered a wonderful sport!! I was at our ward activity this week and played croquet for the first time in a long time. Who knew hitting a ball through hoops with a mallet could be so entertaining! I must admit, I'm not the best at the game, but had the sun stayed out a little longer, I totally would have been up for a second game. I remember about a year ago my cousins started a croquet league...or something of that nature. Now I understand why. All I need to perfect the experience is the appropriate outfit...


That's one thing I'm really going to miss when I move out to Atlanta - all the spring/summer ward activities. Who am I supposed to do fun things with? All my friends are back here in Utah. I mean cummon, it's the summer! Am I going to be able to enjoy it at all? Will it really be study all day and all night? Spring/Summer in Provo is the best because all of the sudden the mood changes and there are activities being planned right and left: sports nights, barbeques, baseball games, hikes. Well, at least I got to enjoy it for a little while right? Now I've got a hot summer in Georgia to look forward to. Well, I guess it's not everyday that you get to spend a summer in the south land, so I'll have to live it up!

The Joys of Driving a Car

Yesterday, as I drove my usual 50 minute route from Sandy to my apartment in Provo I thought to myself, "I love driving my car." Why do I love it so? Well, it is the one place that I get to sing at the top of my lungs...and no one can hear me. I didn't really realize it until yesterday, but whenever I am in the car alone, I am always singing...the ENTIRE time! Love it! It is so therapeutic. If I'm having a bad day, I can always change my mood by hopping in my cute CRV and going for a drive.

This scene epitomizes my love for car singing.



The more I thought about this, the more I started to worry. What will I do if I end up living somewhere where I don't need a car? Where am I going to let out my musical urges? What if I can't sing anywhere...and I explode?! Well, if I can't sing in the car, I just hope whoever I'll be living with doesn't mind random outbursts into song...because I can almost guarantee it will happen. Maybe even something like this...

Will Winter Ever End??

It's almost the end of May and it's still feels like February!! Now that I've got a bit of a break from work I was hoping to soak up some vitamin D. But what do I get? Rain. Instead of lying by the pool, I'm bundled up in a hoodie with some blankets. 48 degrees. Really?