For 2 Days We Walk As 1

This weekend we will walk 39.3 miles in two days. We are doing the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in San Francisco. While I have crewed several years in the past and will again in September, this will be the first year I have walked. My bags are packed; hopefully, nothing has been forgotten. Tonight, after class, we will head out. I am both nervous and excited.

The Valley Girl Generation

Have you ever counted the number of filler words you use? It can be scary. My Finance professor counted our filler words during a presentation. We knew ahead of time he intended to do it. He counted any "umm," "okay," or any other filler word and then let you know. When discussing this with him before my presentation, he let me know my problem is not "umm," but "like." Anyone who has ever had a casual conversation with me knows my preference for this word. Actually, I don't think it is a preference as much as an uncontrollable urge. My mother would be proud to know that during my presentation I did not use one "like" though.

This led to a discussion about our generations affinity for the words "like" and "dude." Have you noticed children these days don't have a problem with those two words? I blame our love of 80s movies like "Valley Girls," "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," and the Bill and Ted movies. They created a generation, of mostly girls, incapable of talking without using extraneous words. I am an educated professional who in comfortable casual speak still sounds like a Valley Girl.

I'd Rather Be...

I am sitting in class...Summer school sucks. We are currently debating education policy and No Child Left Behind (NCLB). I love my finance class on Thursday night (odd I know), but this topic is so over done its killing me.

Things I'd Rather Be Doing...
-reading
-playing with my cats
-watching TV
-riding my bike
-learning to SUP
-having coffee/drinks with a friend
-hanging with my honey
-planning my wedding
-cooking dinner
-baking cookies
-sewing
-working at the pool
-almost anything it seems :(

Home Sweet Home

So just as we finished our remodel and got the house all put together and presentable, disaster struck. I woke up this morning to a horribly loud sound which reminded me vaguely of a machine running through the downstairs. Chicken that I am, I went back to the bedroom and woke Rob to send him down to investigate. As I trailed him down the stairs, in the dark (because heaven forbid we turn on the light and see whatever was the problem), I began imagining windows broken or the washing machine gone crazy. When Rob entered the mud room and slipped, almost falling into me, I realized our house was a lake. A hose under the kitchen sink was blasting water and we were wading through 2 inch deep Lake Ancia. Why is that just when you think you have life under control, something comes out of left field to remind you, you're really not in charge? Ah home ownership is such a joy...

I Suck at Blogging...

Really I know it is no surprise to most people that I suck at blogging. I am really bad at keeping in touch with people, reaching out to people, and keeping up any form of communication. Since I last got on this thing a lot has happened. We are mostly settled in our new house. In fact we felt so settled we decided to expand our little family. This August we brought home a little brother for Kobe. Enter Tiger the most precocious and persistent kitten to ever be born.

Since bringing Tiger home he has turned our whole world upside down. We are all happy to have him, but Rob and I totally forgot what it was like to have a baby. He is on everything, in everything, and doing it at all hours. The saving grace is that he is absolutely adorable and has the ability to purr and snuggle his way out of any problem.

I love Carpet!

Yay! We have carpet. I never realized how exciteing carpet can be. Having new carpet to walk on when you get out of bed is totally awesome. Kobe loves the new carpet too. He really loves it since he can run around the whole house because there isn't any exposed carpet tack. Kobe is really enjoying his new house. He loves running around and chasing toys on the wood floors downstairs.

BAMS

So I officially, as of Saturday, I have letter soup of my very own. I am now Danielle M. Valencia B.A. M.S., or as Rob fondly refers to me, BAMS. I passed my master's exam and my official graduation date was Saturday. It is weird and sort of anticlimactic. I don't really feel smarter or more official. It is cool to get to say it, but beyond that, I don't feel like there is anything different.