University of Dreams

Hey y’all … as you may or may not know, my sister, Ashley, is participating in a summer internship in Los Angeles, CA, through the University of Dreams.

This internship allows her to partner with a company and pursue her dream of working in the film industry. She is working for 8 weeks with a company called In The Mo. They go around and find the latest greatest places to eat, party, etc and it’s shown on local L.A. television. She’s hoping to build some good connections while out there so please think good thoughts, pray, whatever you feel compelled to do.

Their site isn’t fully up and running yet but they are getting ready to launch. If you want to check it out here’s the link. http://inthemo.com/ If you would like her address to send her best wishes, etc. please let me know...

today

Today is hump day ... I'm halfway through the week and already can't wait for it to be over. I found out through a friend that St. John's County had too many applicants and were only interviewing those with experience. That seems to be the trend right now ... but seriously ... how am I supposed to get the experience they're looking for if no one will hire me!?! So, for now I'm here ... frustrated as all hell with the staff at UNF. I really need to branch out a bit I guess. Maybe start applying for positions in corporate America ... we'll see. Until then ... I'll keep on keeping on.

So ... bottom line is ... continue to keep me in your prayers and hopefully I'll also have some time this weekend to get some recent pics on here! Much love to you all :-)

wow how time flies ...

So, not sure if anyone still reads this thing ... but I just realized I haven't posted anything since April of 2007. Good golly! So, it feels to me like not much really happens in my life anymore which is why I hadn't posted anything ... but then when I talk to people they say, you've done this and this and this, etc. SO, I'm going to start blogging again. Mostly to keep up with my friend, Shay, who just created her own blog and I know she'll be much more faithful than I am ... which is a powerful motivator!

So, let us see now ...

First, they opened a new bar downtown called Mavericks. It's a "rockin honkey tonk" according to their website. It's like Crazy Horse but cleaner, less smokey, and with better looking bartenders. Hee hee. It's super fun! And me and the girls have been trying to go every other weekend. I even purchased a pair of boots at Western World in Orange Park. They're fantastic!

Second, most recently I went on a cruise with some girlfriends a few weeks ago. We went on a Carnival "booze cruise" ... I'm not going to lie ... parts of it were hella ghetto ... but overall it was super fun! We left on a Thursday afternoon out of Port Canaveral, went down to Nassau, and back early Sunday morning. Right away we found a bar on ship with an amazing band and became their groupies. They are a group of Asian men who sing classic rock. One minute they're on stage talking with Asian accents and the next they're singing Lynard Skynard and you can't even hear the accent. They rocked! We had so much fun although I think we're all planning on going Royal Caribbean next time.

Let's see ... I finished up my teacher's certification coursework and am now fully certified with no job in sight. Gotta love the budget crisis. YAY for Amendment 1 ... I swear, people really don't realize what happens when you cut taxes from one area it affects another. Now, I'm not saying we should be like France and fork over 60% of our incomes ... because I don't trust that our gov't will use the money correctly ... however, things like education, our national park service, etc. are grossly underfunded. It's pathetic. Anyway, I'll keep y'all posted on all of that should something change. For now I'm continuing to work at UNF.

This past year in 2007 I went to France in September with my good friend, Jeannie. We spent 7 days (including travel time) and visited Paris and southern France for my cousin Matthew's wedding. It was quite a trip. Very whirlwind ... but fun! We spent a few days in Paris, toured around, and took the train down to Brignoles. Matthew was married in a beautiful monastery and the reception was at an old chateau. It was absolutely beautiful! We went down to the coast and put our feet in the Mediterranean. I wish I had more time but it was so worth it!

In November we took a family trip to the southern Caribbean on the Holland America Cruise line. It was a week long. We visited their private island, Grand Turk, St. Thomas, and Tortuga. I loved the little port area created for the cruise boats in Grand Turk ... even had a Margaritaville! We walked around St. Thomas and took a taxi van to Mountain Top, had a banana daiquiri, and took lots of pictures. The British Virgin Islands are hella scary. It was dirty and disgusting and unfortunately we quickly decided never to go there again. The ship's stabilizers were broken and crossing the gulf stream put quite a many guests into awful seasickness. I would say that Holland America is not really worth the price and is also full of the elderly. But, overall it was a great vacation!

For Christmas, the family rented a cabin in Blowing Rock, NC. It was super cute but super run down unfortunately. It was nice and cold and we even got to play in the snow a bit! I drove my car and she got to experience the cold and snow for the first time ever! I took pictures, don't you worry ... ;-)

I know there are things I'm forgetting but I'll try and post more later. I'll be sure to post some pics of all my trips as soon as I get a chance. Now that I'm not working full time and taking courses at night I should have much more time to keep up with this thing!