Twilight

I saw Twilight today. It was interesting. Lots of screaming girls in the theatre. More details to follow.

This Past Week

This past week was my first full week at my new job. Overall, I would say it went well. Monday and Wednesday I helped out in the accounting office. They were behind because they're moving all the companies accounting to this office and not separated to each of the other offices. I also spent 3 days doing my job as receptionist. Tuesday was a bit intimidating, but Thursday was great. I really felt on the ball with stuff and handled many different things at the same time. Friday, now that was just a bad day for everyone. There was a rude driver behind me on my way to work, Eric was at home not feeling well and then it just went downhill from there. For the most part I handled my job well, but it just wasn't happy. I'm still learning and I enjoy it, but we all have bad days at work. It's been a good weekend though so I'm ready to go back tomorrow and try at it again.

It was a pretty crazy week besides work too. Monday night we had F.H.E. at our friends place. So, we came home and made dinner then went to their place until about 10pm. When we got home it was time for bed. Tuesday we went to a special screening for the movie Slumdog Millionaire. It was a really good movie. We didn't find out until the next morning that it was going to be rated R. I think it's rated that because there is some violence, not too intense, but it was there. I think even with that it was a sweet movie with a good ending. It definitely leaves you with hope. Anyway, on Wednesday night I came home and prepared some dinner to go in the crock pot. After I got that ready I went and picked up Eric to go to a blood drive for our stake. His scheduled time was 7:30pm. We got there about 7:15 and he filled out his paperwork. (I can't give blood, but I was there to support him.) We had to wait about 2 hours before Eric was able to give blood. The line was just so long, but at least we had friends there so it didn't seem like it was really all that long. Eric pumped really fast, but near the end he got a little faint and so they put his gurney down and feet up. One of the ladies started giving him lots of juice while he was laying there. I finally stepped in to help him out too. It was so hard to see him like that. Every time he tried to sit up for the juice he would shake so much. I think he was just really weak. He finally felt well enough to leave. Thursday though was a different story. By the end of the day he just felt sick and faint. I picked him up from work and we got some dinner. We finally had a night to just be home. We watched The Office and 30 Rock. It was a good night. Since then we've just been enjoying our down time. I'm grateful to not have such a packed week coming up. It will be nice to have some breathing room for once.

Work!!!

Alright, since Eric and I got to California we knew that I would need a job since he would be interning, which would likely be unpaid. Right before we found our apartment I started looking for work. The day after we moved in I started a job that was temp to hire. It was alright, but I was never sure it was the right job for me. Turned out they needed an actual accountant and not an accounting assistant so I didn't get hired permanently. It really was for the best because I wouldn't have been totally satisfied there. For about the next 3 weeks I looked for a job. I went on several interviews, but nothing really came of it. I can't even begin to imagine how many of my resumes are floating around out there. Then, I was offered a job. I didn't want to do it and knew that I would hate it. However, we really needed the money so I did it. It was so lonely and frustrating. After I got home after my second day I actually cried to Eric. The next morning I got teary-eyed because I didn't want to go to work. Then, I cried at work. So, Eric told me I needed to quit. I went in the next day and after lunch (when the boss came in) I told him that I would work one more day and that would be it. He was pretty cool about it so that was nice. I kinda trained the girl he brought on after me. That made the day go a little bit better. I was just so relieved to be away from that job. Oh, during this week of hellish work I got a call about a job interview the next Monday. I was so excited about it and that only made me want to quit more. This Monday, I went to the interview. I decided that I either did a really good job or a horrible job at the interview. It was one of those interviews that could go either way. Later that day Juliette, the HR manager, called to do a phone interview with me since she wasn't able to meet with me earlier in the day. We had a nice chat and I was even more excited about the work, but I still wasn't sure. Yesterday, I received a call from the woman I interviewed with and she said that they were just waiting for my background check in Utah to come back and they'd offer me the job. I was very excited. This morning, she called and offered me the job. They are paying me more money than they planned to pay for this position and I will get full benefits. It's the perfect job and everything I need.

Oh, you might be wondering where it is and what I'll be doing. It's for a company called Creative Technology. They are an entertainment/technology company. They do staging for large events, check out the website. I will be the receptionist/administrative assistant in their LA office (which is in Panorama City, not LA). I won't even have to get on the freeway to get to work, so nice. I will do reception work and then any other overflow stuff that people around the office need done. I will be kept busy and that's the way I like it. It's kind of intimidating, but I'm really excited to do it too. Yay for work!

This is a huge blessing. I have had quite the interesting journey to find employment, but the beauty of it is that we've always had enough money to pay our bills and what not. Truly, this challenge has been fun and exciting, but a little scary too. Now, I get to work for real and have a routine. I'm so excited! Plus, now I get to go shopping for some work clothes. Yipee!

Prop 8 Passed!

It looks like Prop 8 has passed making it part of the California constitution to only recognize marriage between a man and a woman. It is quite a success for those of us who participated in the process. I'm happy to have helped to make a difference. I don't know that my life would have been very different if it failed, but I know that there would have been an impact on my children and the future of our society if the proposition failed. We did what was right before we could even fully know how right this decision could be. Congratulations to all the supporters of this proposition!

Addendum to Prop 8 Posting

This is just another thought from my previous post and the comments that were made. Please read!

A friend brought up a good point about how the supreme courts (state or federal) are part of the system of checks and balances in our government. He mentioned this to my complaint that 4 judges in California ignored the votes of Californians and said that gay marriage would be recognized in this state. Although I agree that the supreme courts are part of the checks and balances in our government, I do not believe it was ever intended to be a checks and balance for the voice of the people. They do not have the right to interpret the constitution just as they see it as a balance to the voice of the people. As Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address, "...government of the people, by the people, for the people..." This government was established to serve the people of this country. As public servants they should uphold the desires of the people. It is not a perfect system, but it does work. I suppose we will see what the voice of the people is when all the votes are counted.

Prop 8

Today is election day if you haven't heard, but I'm sure you have. Having just recently moved to California we weren't able to vote. However, that does not mean we couldn't participate in the political process. The cause we chose to support was Proposition 8 in California. This proposition will put into the state constitution that only marriage between a man and woman will be recognized. Just a couple things about that.

1. Domestic partnerships between same-sex couples will still be recognized and they have all the rights and responsibilities of married heterosexual couples.
2. This does not change the laws.
3. Californians have voted to prevent same-sex marriage before.
   
4. God has ordained marriage between a man and a woman, but not whoever else feels like it.
5. Marriage is not a right, definitely more of a responsibility. (Anyone who is married should know what I mean.)
6. I do not hate or dislike homosexuals. I am just standing up for what I believe in.

In our support of Voting Yes on Prop 8 Eric and I have spent some time at a call center. There, we made calls letting people know about Prop 8 and encouraging them to vote YES. This morning we went to a polling location with a list and crossed off everyone who had already voted. From there the list of those who haven't voted will go to a calling center where they will remind those who said they would vote YES to be sure they do so today.

I know that people don't agree on this issue, but that's the beauty of voting. We can all have our voices heard. At the end of the day we'll see what the people of California have decided. In the mean time let me know what you think. I would love to hear both sides!

California Weekend

So, this has been a very exciting weekend for Eric and I. I'll give you a run down from day to day.

Thursday

• I received a call from a job I interviewed for on Monday. He wants me to start tomorrow. This would appear to be good news, but I'm not so sure. I'm not really excited about the job and I'm not sure if I'll be happy there. However, we need the money and it's not a horrible job so I'm going to try it out for now. I think it will be fine and in this economy I'm very fortunate to have been able to find a job. It truly is a blessing regardless of my feelings for the work. I'll let you know how it goes.
• We cleaned and organized to prepare for Eric's brother's family to get here with our stuff. They left Utah in mid-afternoon. They arrived here around 1:30am. There was so much stuff packed in their truck. It was crazy, but we're so excited to have our stuff. There is more in Utah, but we'll get it eventually. Anyway, we got it all unloaded and finally went to bed between 3:30 and 4:00am.
  

Friday

• Eric and I slept in until about 11am. We were so out of it. Zach and Megan (Eric's brother and his wife) slept in as much as their baby would let them. They didn't fully get up until about 11am either. They had more interruptions than we did though.
• We all got ready and left around 2pm. We hit up an In-N-Out for lunch. As usual it was delicious. If you haven't had a Neapolitan shake you should try it. It's super delicious.
• After this we drove down the 405 to get to the beach. We thought it would be fun to go to Venice Beach, but while looking for parking Eric noticed that it looked kind of dirty. So finally, we decided to head up more toward the Santa Monica beaches. They are quite nice. We finally found a place and stopped. It was around 80-85 degrees outside. The guys got in the water first and then Megan and I went and changed. The water was so fun. It was cold at first, but it didn't last too long. We stayed until about 5:30 or 6:00. We were there when the sun went down. It was absolutely gorgeous and not crowded at all. Oh, the crazy thing that happened is that I saw a guy get totally naked changing into his bathing suit. I was just surprised that he would get naked in front of everyone. Fortunately I just saw the side of his leg and nothing else.

• Once we got home Eric and I quickly showered so we could head over to Eric's mentor's house. (I'm going to call him mentor because he's the one in the business who has really helped Eric out and put him in contact with a lot of really helpful people.) We arrived a little bit before 9:30. We had pizza and played Taboo. We didn't leave until 12:30am. We are so happy that we went even though we ended up tired.

Saturday

• We got up a little bit earlier on this day. We wanted to go down and see some Hollywood landmarks and hot spots. We took the long way though so we could drive down Mulholland Dr. to see Beverly Hills. It was cool and there are some ridiculous houses on those hills.
  
• Then we hit Hollywood Blvd. We really wanted to see Mann's Chinese Theatre. It's really cool, but not something to spend hours looking at. We did check out all the handprints and stuff. My favorite was the Harry Potter one.

• After that we walked up and down the street seeing what we could see and having lunch. We saw the Kodak theatre and Ripley's Believe It or Not! We got pretty tired though and went back to the car so that we could go see the Hollywood sign. We found a super cool look out and Zach took some good pictures of us. I'm glad we have this picture.
• After this we had them drive by Disney studios and the WB building that Eric interns at. That was cool for them to see how massive it all was.
• Once we got home Eric and I had to rush to the store to buy groceries for the chili cook-off for our ward Trunk or Treat. I didn't win. I think it was too salty, but Eric liked it. Anyway, we got back and quickly made that so we could hurry off to the Trunk or Treat.
• The activity was so much fun. Zach and Megan dressed their little girl like a lady bug. She was totally adorable. She loved our friend's dog. Megan also got excited when Bart Johnson who plays the dad in the HSM movies showed up. (He's in our ward.) She got her picture taken with him. It was super cool.
  
• Finally we came home and watched Toy Story and headed to bed.
  

Alright, so that's about it for our busy California weekend. There was never a dull moment and we are exhausted from it. We loved having them here and all that they did for us. It was nice to get out and enjoy what this great metropolis has to offer us. Anyway, we're ready for a new week to start tomorrow. I'll let you know about any other adventures that we have.