Theme:

"The Stillness of Christmas"



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I am so excited! After a little over a month long interviewing/hiring process, I've finally got the Teller position at Wells Fargo! I start tomorrow, 8/24/11. I'm incredibly excited to start working, but I am pretty nervous. I start my training classes next week, at the same time as my college classes! Yikes! I have teller training from 8am-5pm Mon-Thurs & Tues-Thurs the next week! I have quite a bit of things to work out before then, but I really hope this job isn't too stressful, and I really hope my classes this semester aren't too difficult. I'm staying positive and hoping for the best!

UPDATE:

It is now 8/28. I guess I forgot to actually post this! I worked on Thursday, Friday, & Saturday! It feels really good to be back in the working world! Man, I'm going to be so busy in the next couple weeks. But I am already loving this job! It's pretty simple and I've only dealt with really nice and patient customers during my training so far!

Yeah yeah yeah, I know, it's almost the end of August and I'm FINALLY writing about the Fourth of July. I've been slacking on my blog posts lately. I take all the pictures, but I just don't feel like actually putting them up. Well, I figure I should do so now while I have the time, before I start school and my new job. More on that in another post, though.

For the fourth, Dawson and I were invited to his grandparent's annual Fourth of July party, only this time, it was at their new house! I made dessert and my mom & I made salads. Dawson had fun, swimming and visiting with the other side of his family. He looked dashing in his fourth themed American flag jumper and flip-flops.



I bought a huge tray of strawberries at Costco because I was planning on making a whole bunch of strawberry things for the 4th. I made strawberry cheesecake, which was absolutely delicious, as well as white chocolate covered strawberries.



The biggest strawberry I've ever seen in my life!



Normal strawberry, and the HUGE one!



Cheesecake ingredients.



Mix mix mix.



Pre-baked.



Baked.



Strawberried.



Strawberry-glazed.



Sliced.



What was left after Dawson's grandparent's party and my family dug in.



White chocolate covered strawberry ingredients.



Decorated. Cute, right?



Pasta salad.



Potato salad with crab.



Dawson being cute.

On my 21st birthday, I didn't really do anything extraordinary. Many of my closest friends don't turn 21 until after me, so I pretty much wasn't able to go out, because who goes out alone? So, I ended up going to dinner at Sugar Factory, which was so yummy! And then I just walked the strip, leading to my first legal drink being a pina colada at Mandalay Bay.



My silly face & first legal drink.

Then, that weekend, my family took me out to a birthday lunch at Red Robin.







Mai Tai!



My fave! Spinach & artichoke dip!



Dawson's chicken fingers.



My burger. MMM provolone cheese!



I swear, the lighting makes it look pinker than it actually was..





Dawson loved the crayon.

Dawson had his first "big boy bath" a couple of weeks ago. He misses the duckie tub, but he loves the spacious big tub. He hasn't quite grasped the concept that bubbles aren't edible yet, as you can see.

In this past week, I've applied to 25 different jobs. I'm hoping that I get a call back from at least one of them by the end of next week! I need to start working soon. Dawson is (hopefully) starting daycare/preschool next or the following week. I really need to get that figured out.

My 21st birthday is on Tuesday the 28th! I wasn't too excited a few months ago, and now that it's crept up pretty quickly, I am really stoked. I've planned a small dinner with a few of my closest friends at the Sugar Factory restaurant. The menu looks delicious! Plus, I've heard their alcoholic beverages are to die for! I really want to take my big camera with me and get pictures of the meals & drinks, but I am so paranoid something will happen to it, so I'll just take my smaller, more portable (not quite as amazing quality) Canon Powershot. Unfortunately, I'm one of the first in my group of friends to turn 21, so we can't really all "celebrate" by clubbing until everyone is legally 21. I can't wait for the last one in the group's birthday (RYAN)! I wish we could throw a big, giant "WE'RE 21!" party for everyone near the end of the year.. that'd be fun!

Anyway, I'm out of words, so have a sleeping baby:

Last week, I was craving some chocolate! Instead of snacking on a Snickers or Hershey's bar, I decided to at least attempt at staying healthy.. so I covered some strawberries in chocolate, haha!





(I also covered some oreos, per my brother's request)

And here is my even healthier alternative which I use for quick snacking

Mochi (Japanese sweet rice cake) is something I've loved since I was a kid growing up in Hawaii. Luckily, my mom has a yummy recipe so I won't be missing it like all the other local foods I had growing up in Hawaii.



The ingredients. (& I love that I got our rice cooker in the shot.. hahaha)



It's a really thin, white mixture.



First layer, HOT PINK!



Second layer, (Barney) Purple!



Third layer, pretty blue!



Fresh out of the oven.



Three layers



Sooo pretty.





MMMMM.



Dawson loved 'em! Can you see the powder all over his mouth? haha :)