The Grand Master Post

Hey everyone!

We got back from Disneyland a little over a week ago, and since then we have been extremely busy (but what else is new?). I flew home from Michigan on the 11th, I worked the 12th & 13th and then we left for Disneyland. The day after we got home, Patrick flew to Florida for work and stayed there until Saturday. That Saturday, we had a Rocky show to do, so really our moment of rest was Sunday... which was the day of my coworker's baby shower. We have both worked every day this week, so we really haven't had much down time, which brings me to my point: This post (as usual) is overdue. However, it is important. It's the most important post I will have written up until this point.

Valentine's Day was also our anniversary, which I badgered Patrick about until he booked a weekend for us in Disneyland (mostly because I wanted an opportunity to wear the "Happy Anniversary" pins that they hand out in the park). So that Thursday after I got off of work, we drove down to Anaheim and spent the evening resting up for our weekend in the park. Friday was mostly the usual Disneyland stuff, except the park was busting with couples celebrating, and the next day wasn't any less crowded because who would expect a mid-80's day in the middle of February? I even got a little bit sun burnt. Thursday night, we exchanged gifts. Patrick got me an adorable little statue of Minnie & Mickey that says "When my heart found you, it knew," and now it lives on my nightstand. For our anniversary, Patrick bought me an early present a few weeks ago, which was an N64 plus games. Awesome! And lastly, for my birthday, Patrick bought me the plane ticket home but also got me the second season of Criminal Minds. For Patrick's present, I made him a cool scrapbook of our first year together. It included pictures, plane tickets, cards, and little notes from random days together that I saved knowing I would make this scrapbook at some point. It took 4 months of planning, prepping, and creating to have the book ready for our anniversary weekend.

First day in the park

& first anniversary! It merited a heart picture.

Bob & Ellen! Oops, shhhh. I mean, Mr. Incredible & Elastigirl 

Pooh Bear!

Feeding the ducks :)

I asked Patrick to bring our last few pieces of bread to Disneyland with us so I could hand feed the ducks. It was one of my favorite parts because I just love ducks for whatever reason.

The next day, Patrick nearly broke my legs by making me run, not walk, to Princess Breakfast, where we would have breakfast together while the princesses came around for a meet and greet. We were the first ones in line. We walked down the spiral staircase into Ariel's Grotto, where Ariel met us at the bottom for a picture, which was when Patrick started talking.

No big deal, because I'm used to Patrick talking a lot, especially in Disneyland. At first it started out as him talking to Ariel, but it slowly shifted into speech mode towards me. When Patrick started making all sorts of Disney references in his speech, I knew something was up, and my heart caught in my throat. Up until that point, I had been paying attention but shifting my eyes because that was his conversation with Ariel, not with me. But from that point on, I never looked away from Patrick as he spoke to me about love, life, and finding Ohana.

By the time he got down on one knee, tears were streaming down my face and I was holding my breath.

And when he asked "Will you be my princess?", I said yes.

What started out as a normal day was now a mind-blowingly exciting one because now we were engaged. Still, I cannot stop staring at my ring and I cannot believe that we are one step closer to being married. I am so overjoyed and so in awe of how perfect Patrick made everything for that morning. All of the strings he pulled and all of the steps he had to take to make sure our engagement was flawless-- I couldn't be luckier.

First selfie with my fiancé

Snow White wanted to see my ring as soon as Patrick told her that he proposed that morning

 The statue Patrick had to have because it was our engagement weekend. It has 24kt. gold paint!

On Sunday we headed home early so that we could take care of things that we needed to do before he was going to be gone for a week. And now that he is home, sitting next to me playing The Lego Movie: The Game, I can't help but smile and be thankful for the wonderful man I've fallen in love with and the wonderful life he's giving me.

One week after we got engaged, we found out that our two wonderful friends, Mandy and Brook (yes, I've finally met a name twin!), are finally going to have a baby after what seems like ages of trying. I cannot think of two more wonderful people to be parents. That little one is going to be so spoiled!

Congrats you two! All the love in the world :)

I want to thank you all for the well-wishes and congratulations that we've received since our engagement. Everyone's support means the world to us!

First Home Visit

Hey everyone!

I know this post is extremely overdue. My last post was over two months ago. I glazed over Christmas, NYE, and so many other events that I could have posted about, but the absolute truth is that I'm exhausted. I have been working a lot and I have been avoiding my blog because I didn't want to let anyone on to the following information that many of you already know...

I GOT TO GO BACK TO MICHIGAN!

Patrick (the best boyfriend on the planet) bought me a round trip ticket back to the mitten surrounding my birthday. I wanted to surprise several people, so less than 8 or so people back in Michigan knew that I was coming back. I gave myself 1 week (from Tuesday, Feb. 4 to Tuesday, Feb 11) and did as much planning as I could to make sure that I got a chance to see as many people as I could that I miss so dearly. The trip was a complete blur. From sun up to sun down I was running around, seeing people and having lunches and dinners and whatnot. I got to see my closest family members and my very best friends, plus a few friends who were awesome enough to show up to the party I threw on Friday night to celebrate my 22nd birthday. Seeing my loved ones and getting a break from my crazy work schedule was just what I needed: right when I needed it. This was my first trip back to Michigan since I left home for my life-changing road trip on June 25th, 2013. Because I know that it would be extremely boring for me to recap every day of my trip home, I'll just give you a bunch of heart warming photos for your viewing pleasure!

Sisters: Ella (4 1/2), Brook (22), & Christina (8 3/4)

Grandma Bev :)

Pop :)

My mommy :)

Great Grandma aka Babcia (Busha). 94 at the end of this month and still able to kick your butt!

The girls playing with the sticker houses I bought them :)

Ella walking to school. I dropped her off and then picked her and her sister up when they were done and we went out for ice cream :)

 On Wednesdays, we wear pink. (Dropping Ella off at Pre School. This was unplanned and brilliant.)

She fell asleep waiting for Christina, though.

Erin, my best friend since we were just 4 & 5 years old. My very first sister <3

4 generations of tiny Polish women. Babcia, Grandma Bev, my mom, and myself. I am the tallest woman in my family at 5'4

Not even blood related to Erin and they're still all the same!

Zach and Austin, my very best guy friends!

Angel! We've been friends since we were 12. She was my very first friend I made in middle school!

Chels! I met her at Greenwood Acres when we were about 13!

 Megan and I have been friends since we were 12 :)

Zach at Hibachi, a Japanese Buffet that he and Austin and I traditionally go to. 

Austin and I with our chopstick-sushi-grape-pineapple-napkin sailboat. The waiter just loved us. 

 Austin has obvious chopstick skills. That's ice cream...

I MISSED VERNORS

AND NOODLES & CO.

AND CONEY ISLANDS.

Grandma Charlie!

Grandpa Gary!

 I forgot how close you could be to snow, deer, and trees at my grandparents' house :)

And my plane ride home (don't worry, the phone was on airplane mode).

It was so wonderful to see everyone. Next time I will take a longer amount of time to stay in town and I will let more people know that I'm there so that I can see more of everyone. I'm so grateful to have been able to get the time off of work and spend my birthday with so many people that I love and cherish. See you next time, Michigan! 

The First Holiday & Brook's Promotion

Hey everyone!

I'm so sorry for the picture quality-- they were taken with my crappy phone (but I'm getting a new one within a few days!) because our camera was broken at a Rocky show (someone stepped on it and blacked out the screen).

The first exciting thing that has happened to me recently is that I got a promotion at work! That's right-- I'm not even past my 3 month probationary period and I've already gotten promoted over everyone else (and, remember, I'm still the newest person working there)! I'm so excited about this opportunity. I also feel that it's going really well so far! I'm proud to have reached the point where someone recognizes that I don't hold back when it comes to work and that I will do what it takes to get the job done. I've gotten a raise with this promotion, so that is also super exciting! I started out as someone who just cleans out kennels (remember, I work at a cat hotel, so every morning we clean out the kennels so our kitties can have a fresh start each day). Now, I'm in charge of everyone who does that. In addition to cleaning out kennels, I'm the one who comes up with a game plan for the day and organizes the back, making sure everything is clean, accessible, and equally distributed. It's a lot of work, but I'm up for the challenge (and the increase in hours)!

On the second day your kitty stays with us, we take a picture of them to reassure you and show you how much fun they're having! For holidays, we have a small separate room that we clear out and decorate for the holiday accordingly. Here is the "Thanksgiving" setup that I did!

While that was more of an announcement, the next bit is more of a recap of the most recent event, Thanksgiving.

I knew moving away from my family would be difficult. I've never been very good at making friends, so while I had three or four friends back home that I would spend time with, I was always (and still am) extremely family oriented. Every day gets a little easier, but I never stop missing my loved ones back home. While technically Independence Day was my first holiday away from home, it's not one that I normally celebrate-- and Halloween isn't exactly family-ish, either-- so the first "family holiday" was Thanksgiving. In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I became increasingly sad. I have never spent a holiday away from my family, and there are staples in each holiday that I am so used to because they have become tradition, so there was a very sad overcast surrounding the upcoming holiday.

On Thursday, I ended up having to work (because the kitties need love and care, too!), so I woke up at my normal 6am and headed in to work an hour early so that I could try to get some of the base work done so that the rest of the employees could come in at our later holiday start time and just get started on their assigned tasks. The day was very long and dragging, but my boss made it so worth it when our manager sent us all on lunch and we found a gigantic Thanksgiving feast in the break room waiting for us. Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, spinach dip with crackers, stuffing, broccoli and cauliflower, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin pie, and sparkling cider, all laid out on the counter for the employees that worked on the holiday.

Let me quickly go off on a bit of a tangent here and tell you about my work experience. Since I turned 18, I have had five jobs (my current job makes six, keeping in mind that I mostly did not work while I was in college). Our of the five, my favorite was obviously the Han D Dip. Cathy and Dawn made our jobs so worth it and I was almost always excited to work. This was when I discovered my preference for Mom & Pop shops. Franchise companies or even companies that work contractually are very strict and, at least for those that I have worked for, tend to ignore/fail to notice when an employee is doing ANYTHING. Let me give you an example of what I mean when I say ANYTHING-- they fail to notice when you work hard, when you slack, when you need help, when you're doing extra to make up for someone else, and even that you're a human being that makes mistakes. My favorite thing about working for a small company is that you are noticed and treated like a person-- not something that is expendable. When I decided to move here, one of the hardest things I had to do was leave my job at the Han D Dip. Patrick was so patient with me as I looked for work here and waited for the right opportunity, and I cannot thank him enough for that. When I applied for my job, I was nervous, but even my interview felt intimate and friendly, so when I was offered the job I was so excited to take the deal. I have not regretted it. Working for a small company with such compassionate people in charge is the only way I ever want to work. A boss who brings you an elaborate feast on Thanksgiving is the kind of person that I will work for any day. It takes the sting of missing the holiday away, and that is so significant and heart warming.

If I can't spend the holiday with family until later, I think I'm okay spending it with this guy!

Sahib loves me. Really, he does.

After we finally got out of work (holidays are busy because while our clients go out of town, we get to house their kitties! So we had a very very full house this week-- we were booked full), I headed home and Patrick and I got ready to go to Shannon and Jared's house. Shannon and Jared are such incredible people. Patrick doesn't have much family except for an out of state sister and Jackie, so holidays aren't as important to him as they are to me because he didn't always have someone to spend them with. However, when he joined the Bawdy Caste, the directors pretty much adopted him (and me, too, when I got here), and then invited us so spend Thanksgiving with them and their family. To say that this meant a lot to me is an understatement. I was so afraid when I moved here that no one would like me, yet I've been adopted into a family that loves me and supports me in every way, no questions asked. It's more than I could ever ask for and I am so very grateful!

We spent most of the day at S&J's but I wore out quickly because I had been up all day and had worked beforehand, so we left around 9pm and headed home. The next day, I was a little bit sad that I didn't have some specific things during dinner (things that my family makes without fail every year), so that night Patrick and I made our own "Thanksgiving" feast: chicken breast (because I hate Turkey), green bean casserole (my standing favorite of all holiday dishes, even beating out pumpkin pie), mashed potatoes, and for dessert, oatmeal cookies.

Leftovers from Shannon and Jared's. Mmmm breakfast mashed potatoes

Our "makeup" Thanksgiving dinner (pretty much just so I could have an excuse to make green bean casserole and then eat all of it)

Overall, while I would have loved to spend the holiday with my family back home from Michigan, I had an incredible holiday this year because I got to spend it with my work family, my Rocky family, and Patrick. If I focus on that, everything else is just quite alright with me.



***For those of you who fail to read my Facebook posts but read my blog, here is the Facebook status I put up this week. It addresses the upcoming Christmas holiday:

"Hey everyone,
This is a quick message for anyone back home who is wondering about the upcoming holidays. Though I've been trying to save up for a plane ticket so that I can come home for Christmas, unfortunately I do still have bills to pay and right now it is about $1,000 for a halfway decent plane ticket back to the Mitten (meaning I do not have 8 hour layovers or a board time of 3:00am or flights spanning beyond one day's time). Therefore, I will not be able to make it home for Christmas even though that was my original plan. For anyone who suggests a bus ticket, please realize that I do have a job and that traveling for 3 days to get to Michigan and then 3 days to get back to California is just absurd and I cannot do that, especially with my recent promotion at work. While I miss everyone and tomorrow will be especially difficult for me since it will be my first holiday away from my family, I hope that everyone understands the situation that I am in and respects that I cannot make something like that happen. I love and miss everyone and hopefully next year will be different. 
Brook"