gee whiz, i have a lot to catch you up on! :)

I think I realized today that life is going to be a lot crazier now that I don't have countless hours to spend writing a blog. I'm going to breeze through some parts since I have a list of things to catch you up on. I promise I'll hit the high notes, but some things aren't worth toooo much detail. So fasten your seat belts. This blog is going to have a LOT of information.

First, Dustyn and I tried a new church yesterday. It's called Existence Church. Yes, the name sounds a little cultish, which is why we made sure to double check their beliefs. To be quite honest, it reminded me 100% of New Community Church (from now on referred to as "NC" and to those of you who aren't aware, it's the first church Dustyn and I went to as a married couple). The music was definitely louder and harder; we didn't recognize many of the songs. The sermon was good; they're going through the book of James, but to be honest, it just sort of skimmed the surface. We were beginning the 2nd chapter of James, and I felt like the pastor's (Josh) thoughts weren't well formulated and put together. I couldn't give you a very good summary right now without having to look at James and reverberate what the verses say. Josh has a good sense of humor, is extremely personable, and the church seems to be doing a lot of really great things (in particular, they really care about helping the homeless here). I should mention that they aren't completely like NC; this church is several years old and has two services. Wanna know the interesting part? They meet in a storage shed; you know the storage places you see that have tons of garage style places for the things that can't fit into your house? Well, the service was in one of those, but big, with folding chairs, and a few build in areas (like the stage, coffee area, bathrooms, etc.). It didn't really feel like a storage place, but it definitely was.

Our thoughts on the churches at this point, comparing Kaleo and Existence church:

• We felt like we wished we had heard David's sermon from Kaleo after we'd been to Existence on Sunday
• Dustyn said that Existence seemed a little too "new age", whereas Kaleo was still really into the scriptures, hymns (we sang Amazing Grace the Sunday before), and made us feel super comfortable and welcomed
• Kaleo wasn't trying to have a super awesome band; the worship was personal and meaningful. We knew all but one song, and Dustyn had me write it down because he liked it so much.
• Existence church seemed to be a place for single people. There were not a lot of married couples in our service.

Overall, we both agree that Kaleo felt right. So, as of right now, I think we might be trying out the Bible Study with Kaleo (if it's still on since Jenny and Eugene are on vacation...we're not sure since we didn't hear their announcements at church on Sunday).

Next topic: U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition at Imperial Beach. We got there, technically at 1:30 just as the building was coming to a cease. It took us 30 minutes to find parking, and ultimately had to park almost 10 blocks away from the beach. That's pretty far when you consider how many cars can park around an entire square block. We were really frustrated with how many people were there; Dustyn started feeling pretty claustrophobic as we were trying to make our way through the crowds of people. For those of you who are familiar: if you've ever been to the kolache festival in Caldwell, multiply the crowd by 10 and there you go. The streets were lined with shops, vendors, musicians, snow cones, lemonade, etc. Fun...if you remember you should bring cash to these things. :)

The actual sandcastles, well, most of them, were pretty amazing. They had different categories and the people entering had to submit a drawing of what their plan was for the competition. Some people brought their hand drawings, which I must comment were pretty amazing too. I've posted pictures to the side and below for you to check out. Some of them were political statements, some were a play on words (not necessarily a good thing), and others were done by professional sandcastle makers. Yes, in SD, they do have businesses that are dedicated to making YOUR dream sandcastle come true.

Last topic: I STARTED MY JOB! :) I woke up at 6:15 this morning to make sure that I would have plenty of time to get ready, take my time, and make my way to the trolley with time to spare so I wouldn't be late on my first day. I picked out a pretty turquoise blue shirt to wear with a black satin skirt. I bought a big black belt that fit through the loops on the skirt. I matched it with a simple black pair of summer heels that I bought with Anna at Rack Room Shoes in Austin. I felt cute and comfortable, and it was super sweet when Dustyn said that I looked really great. (I'm sorry, I failed and I didn't take a picture of my first day outfit...and I'm already in my PJ's, so there will be no first day picture.)

Dustyn drove me to the trolley station and I bought my four day pass (for some unknown reason, they don't sell a 5 day pass...guess work weeks are only 4 days long here?). I waited for about 15 minutes before it showed up, which is kind of long because they're supposed to show up every 7.5 minutes that early in the morning. Oh well. I board the trolley and become consumed with looking things up on my phone and checking emails. I felt pretty convicted when I glanced up and saw a woman reading her Bible. What better time to have quiet time? This trip was pretty uneventful, no crazy stories about people on this ride. I do learn, however, that almost everyone riding the trolley reads. Yay!

The trolley ran a little late at the Old Town station stop. Sadness. Whatever was going on ended up putting me behind, which made me five minutes late for work. Geez, what is it with me and time? Well, I thought I was supposed to be there at 8:30, but it turns out my day started at 9. We have two really cool guys in fancy suits that open the doors for us at the NBC building. It makes me feel special (and important). I did feel a little silly though because I was wearing flip flops to the building, instead of walking around in my heels. Four other people get into the elevator with me, so I quickly change my shoes because I'm one of the last stops since I'm on the 16th floor.

I inhale deeeeply and walk off the elevator. It turns out that Stephen, the guy that mans the fort at the front desk, is on vacation. (I dare not call him a receptionist because he does a lot of work pertaining to marketing, etc.) I walk around the corner and I see Kelley, whom I met when I interviewed in March. She takes me to my desk and I have the *greatest* surprise. So, I work for a firm called Gensler. Their main marketing color is red. They made an extremely large, red "G" and put it on my desk with a yellow sticky note that read "Big "G" is watching you". I loved it. In addition to the big "G" that gets to be my buddy for my first week of work, I also had an itinerary for the first day ready for me to look over. How awesome. I felt so special that my day had been planned out (by amazing aforementioned Stephen) although he was on vacation. Everyone knew when their time was with me, what they were supposed to talk to me about, and what I needed to get out of the day.

I then met with my buddy, Nicole. Gensler pairs newbies with a buddy so you have a go-to person when you have a question. I guess this helps for people who don't feel comfortable enough to ask a question. I had met Nicole in March and she made me fall so unbelievably in love with Gensler; she has sooo much enthusiasm and excitement for her work. She told me she genuinely loves going to work every day. Who doesn't want that? She took me on an office tour, and I got to meet everybody (that was there) in the office. I can't honestly say that I remember everyone's names. That's okay...I'll make a point to know them by the end of the week. After the office tour, we walked to a Starbucks (OH...I should mention that the NBC building is surrounded by Horton Plaza, which has almost every shop you can imagine...Aeropostale, Norstroms, Macy's, Jamba Juice, Starbucks....there's basically a mall outside my work).

When we returned, it was time for our 9:30 meeting, where everyone kidded me that I was the reason for the meeting and they were all going to stare at me until I was uncomfortable. That wasn't really the case, but I loved how automatically, they embraced me, joked with me, and I became part of the gang. We had a brief meeting about what was ahead and planned for the week. After dismissal, I had a conference call with an HR lady, Laurie, who is located in the Newport Beach office. We talked about all the "boring" things, like benefits, W-4 forms, etc. Laurie is super sweet. I was a little worried about wanting to take the trolley since every now and then, I will have work meetings to drive to. I found out that they're completely supportive of me choosing the more sustainable way to get to work. And, the pass for the trolley costs $60 a month...but Gensler will reimburse me for $60 a month (because parking in the garage of the NBC building costs $120/month and they help pay $60), but even though I wouldn't do the garage, they'd still reimburse me. Yippie!

After the conference call, I completed the mile of paperwork I had to have sent to Laurie before the end of the day. By the end of it, I was wishing I had invested in a stamp that had my address on it. Nicole and I left for lunch shortly after I finished all of the paperwork.

On our way to the restaurant, this lady handed me a yellow flier. It said something along the lines of "Ever Wonder?" and it had four pictures of obese people, with things like "Thyroid" underneath. I saw another lady with a yellow flier, and she too, was not on the skinny side. I mean, come on. I know that I'm no size 2 or even 6, but really? They didn't hand Nicole one and she was so upset and bothered by the audacity of the woman for even handing the papers out. I really appreciated her concern about the whole thing. It was pretty obvious that they were targeting people who might have a problem with their weight. Nice.

We ate at a really great place called "Sammy's"...they serve great salads, pizzas, pastas, soups, etc. It was super nice and relaxing to be able to talk about life, work, what to expect, and just get to know Nicole. When I worked at Studio 8, I NEVER went out to eat with any of my co-workers. They all hated me, so I felt so overwhelmed with gratefulness for Nicole befriending me so easily. She told me on our way back something along the lines of looking at her more as a friend than an "assigned buddy". YaY for a friend!

When we got back to the office, it was back to business, meeting with different people about time cards, the intranet, autocad training, marketing, etc. In the meantime, while I waited for people to be ready to meet with me (lots of deadlines were today), I helped Nicole with little things; they kind of piled a lot on her today, so I did simple things like pick out new finishes for her project. I was standing by a table, trying to pick out a new base color, when all of a sudden, I realized that I was no longer standing level. I looked down, and my right heel had BROKEN. I mentioned before that I was wearing a pair of shoes I bought in Austin, right before we left, and to add fuel to the fire, I had NEVER WORN THEM. GO me. Thank goodness for the back up flip flops I had brought.

The day went on pretty well; I was supposed to meet with the office manager, Jeff. He had been in a meeting all afternoon, and just as I was getting ready to head out for the day (around 6), he walked around the corner and asked to talk to me. I (nervously) went into his office, and we talked about a project I will be working on tomorrow. He then asked me about how my day had gone, where we decided to live, and he asked what the most unexpected part of my day had been. I was honest with him and told him how much I appreciated their accepting me and welcoming me. Most of the places I have worked have completely forgotten my start day and I show up "unexpectedly". He seemed really glad that my day had gone so well. Thank goodness for such a caring, compassionate manager.

He then told me some pretty awesome news. Next week, they *might* be sending me to Las Vegas for three days. We've been working on the MGM and have added 5000 hotel rooms to their existing megaplex. The rooms are almost complete, so they need someone to go through them and do a punch list of things that need to be fixed by the contractors. It's a pretty cool, exciting opportunity because they'll pay for my flight, hotel, and food for the time I'm there. It's a pretty fun responsibility to have, I think. I should know within the next couple of days if it's a sure deal, and when I do, you'll know too.

Okay, it's nearing midnight, and unfortunately, I cannot stay up all that much longer. My legs are exhausted (from standing in heels) and I'm looking forward to the comfort of the bed. I had an absolutely amazing first day of work; I am so excited to be with this firm, love the people, and am actually excited about going to work again tomorrow.

One other thing - I haven't posted pictures yet (of the sandcastles). I'll get to that soon. Promise.