favorite foto friday

my poppa!

three things thursday

(In attempt to blog more reguarly, I am borrowing certain blogging patterns from other blogs that I have been reading.)

1) I have a hard time relaxing and not feeling guilty about it.
2) I think I am an adrenaline junkie. If I don't have a lot going on, I feel unmotivated to do anything.
3) I am thankful for my boyfriend who brings out the lighter side of me and helps me counter the above mentioned extreme thinking. I am extremely thankful for him.

what's kept me so busy

Today is the third day of Welcome Week. It's kinda of weird to be a part of Welcome Week for a school that I've been at for over a year and a half. Now I am "officially" a marriage and family therapist student and I'm getting acquainted with my new cohort and a new program. Today I am especially excited to attend sessions more specifically to my program. Tomorrow night will be a dinner specific for the marriage and family department and that will be a great time to get to know faculty and other students in my program. I attended a curriculum session yesterday and was a little overwhelmed at the requirements for practicum in terms of hours and what types of client contact equaled what types of hours towards graduation. I decided that it would make sense later on especially when we had our first official orientation to practicum, etc. I'll reserve my confusion for that time. Classes begin next week, Monday, September 25th. Woohoo!

I came back from Ohio a week ago today. James picked me up from the airport with pink flowers in hand. It was sooo good to see him. So good. We then went to the LA County Fair. It's been years since I've been to the fair. We had fun going in and out of shopping buildings, seeing the farm animals (in which he learned that I am still a little scared of them bigs animals!), and ate and ate yummy fair food. I think I was going to turn into a fried girl after all that fried food. It is a weird sensation to crave fruits and vegetables and water but I did after that eating frenzy.

Thursday was Disneyland day. That was a blast. I did pretty good from being sooo tired from flying, etc. We got there when the park opened at 10am and left as it closed at 8pm. The highlights were eating Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes, riding with the captain in the wheel house of the Mark Twain and getting on nearly every ride in California Adventure and Disneyland before we left. It was good too to have more time with James after being away for so long. We had sushi on the way home. That was yummy too.

Saturday was USC game day. That was fun to see my team beat Nebraska! Go boys!

Sunday was church, breakfast and to the cemetery to visit the grave of James' dad. Then we were off to a wonderful date. We got all dolled up. I wish I had a picture to post of us. We both were all in black and just looked good! We had lovely and fancy dinner at a Wolfgang Puck restuarant, attended "It's Magic" at the Kodak Theatre, where all of the world's top magicians come and show off their stuff, and then went to a party at the Magic Castle which is a club in Hollywood. It was very, very fun. The magicians were amazing and seeing many of the reasons why James loves magic so much was very special. It was a world I had only heard about from James. It was fascinating to see the variety of people attracted to magic. Siegfred was at the show and at the afterparty and we also saw Neil Patrick Harris from Doogie Howser who is a magician as well. There are actually many celebrities who dabble in the world of magic. I won't let James tell me any of the secrets of his tricks but I am catching on to a few and it was cool to see people swap magic secrets. Anyway, it was a very cool night. It was good to be with James and very fun to see a huge part of his life. I am a very fortunate, blessed and thankful to have him as a part of my life. He is a special, special man. He sees life as an adventure and brings out the lighter side of me.

It was all perfect fun. Now it's back to the day-to-day stuff but that stuff is fun too as I "officially" enter a chapter in my life that I've waited for a long time. The weekend holds an amateur wrestling match and James' high school reunion. More fun.

That's it for now...

been here 8 and 8 to go

Happy Labor Day! Weird phenomena in Ohio...everything closes early! 5pm. This would not happen in California.

It's been a full trip so far in the OH. Every day seems to fly by. Carrie and I went to take Step class today at the gym which was delightful. Emma Z took another long nap much to the delight of her parents. The girl doesn't sleep the way she should for her age. She doesn't want to miss anything. Sounds like someone else I know! ;) We ran a bunch of random errands and had an early dinner at the Chiptole. Carrie and I also played a few games of Phase 10. We've also been watching the US Open like you wouldn't believe. It sounds like a rather simple trip and it is and yet it feels very full. It is just right. I do look forward to going home because I do miss my bf a ton. Yep, I do. A lot. A lot.

the OH

I arrived Tuesday to the OH for a 2 week and one day trip. It is now the eve of day 4 and we are preparing to go to a Steely Dan & Michael McDonald concert. This at the influence of my brother-in-law who loves the smooth jazz. I had to buy a hoodie at the Target and pants at the Old Navy for the event because of course I forget that it is not SoCal everywhere!

We've been watching the US Open. John and I both stayed up until 1am to watch the Andre Agassi match. It was phenomenal. It was a piece of tennis history and it brought back memories of my days playing tennis in high school and ooh-ing and aah-ing over the much younger Andre. It was sweet. We've also hit the gym. Yet most of the time has been occupied loving on little Emma Z. She is just the sweetest girl ever. She makes the day fly by. It's been a good time with sister as well. She appreciates having an adult human to help and interact with throughout the day!

Tomorrow night is the first game for USC this season. 7:45pm. ESPN. TiVo. Carrie and John will be going out for a date night to a fav dining spot. Emma and I will watch the team coming out running and show the world we mean business. Oh, then she'll go to bed and I'll pick up where I left off. It should be golden!

Lastly, I miss the boyfriend (herein referred to as bf) very much. We talk, text message and everyday I've read on a little strip of paper the things he loves about me. He'll be getting little fun things in the mail in return. Yet it's just not the same without being with him. Absence does make the heart grow fonder and I look forward very much to seeing him when I get back. :) He is simply the best.

Until the next time...

me and him :)

call him "magic jimmy h"

he has stolen my heart. i put up a good fight but in the end i just didn't want to fight anymore. i'm in. his name is james.

so, yep, i got a boyfriend. he's pretty amazing. and i feel like a queen. he's so good to me.

the story. i've taken on the wide world of internet dating in this past year. a girl's gotta put herself out there. i had a few dates to the consistent dating relationship. after my more consistent dating relationship basically ended, i put myself out there yet again. i wanted to swear off dating until i finished school. i didn't. then one day i got winked at. a wink from a match.com boy. now i had been on this particular site for awhile but did nothing due to several reasons. mostly because i was winked at by 45 year old jewish men from the east coast whose profiles was in all caps. i mean no problem with that but just not my type. yet i was intrigued by this gent. we started emailing back and forth. from the first email that said he was up for anything except eating brussel sprouts to the end of our first phone call (the one the lastest about an hour and a half) where he said if he didn't get to bed he'd turn into a pumpkin. i HATE brussel sprouts and the rest of my family LOVES them. i thought i was the only one who said they'd turn into a pumpkin if they didn't get to bed. those were just the first things that made the fight to not be swept off my feet even harder.

our first date rolled around. i was all dolled up. he arrived promptly... with flowers! PINK flowers. first time boy has ever brought me flowers. PINK flowers. in one of our email conversations he asked me my favorites flowers and we talked about colors. he actually tried to get my favorite flowers for me. out of season. second best. lovely flowers that were PINK. fight. hard to get. slow. come on zoey. then we went to zankou chicken. local 'dena favorite. yum. and we just talked and talked. then we headed to the city of alhambra where we watched a beatles cover band called the fab four. it was a street festival kind of thing. it was great. i got a lovely pink bracelet. the band was great. very fun. we ran into someone i knew from school. oh, james is a magician. a very good magician. he's already amazed and wowed several of my friends and my family... oh, and me... anyway, this friend that we ran into was a magician as well. they exchanged magic stories, etc. it was fun. it was great to see james interact with people. amazing listener. very nice. genuine love and interest in people. polite, respectful, etc. after the concert, we stopped at a local starbuck's for coffee. talked some more. laughed.

thus began the whirlwind of trying not to fall head over heels and yet doing just that in the end. afterall it has happened so fast. it was in the heels of ending another relationship. yet i couldn't help how i felt. i couldn't get away from the things of who he was as a person, how easy it was to talk, how he was able to articulate what he liked about me, how he views life as a big playground... a big kid at heart... he brings out the lighter side of me... i just love it... and yet responsible, determined, motivated, a great work ethic... how he makes me laugh... amazingly honest and self-aware... how he cares for his family and those he loves... that he is crazy about me... that he shows it in so many ways... that i am crazy about him... that i could stare into his eyes and look upon his face forever... i love just being with him... in spite of our differences and the challenge that life is... it just WAS and IS...

i really did try to fight it. instances where i knew i was done for. he had been sending me an email around 8:30. the wednesday after our first date i didn't get an email. it was surprisingly sad. darn it! we had a date to meet up in the OC for downtown disney. that is all i thought of that day and i just couldn't get there fast enough. crap! package in the mail while he was out of town. poem, music cd filled with amazing songs. this man knows how to woo a girl. ok, fine, i'll stop fighting it.

anyway, i could go on. more flowers. cards. personalized magic trick just for me. bear. long, long talks. wee hours of the night. all that romance should be. i'll take it because well i can't get him off my mind.