I am on a boat!

Seems hard to believe to me that a week ago I was in sunny California. Carl, Tami's husband, paddles with the Lanakila outrigger canoe team on Tuesday, Thursday & Saturdays. One of the guys that paddles with him has a boat (a yacht actually that sleeps 17!) and he hosted the 3rd birthday party for Al, a member of the team, that was celebrating his 70th birthday that week. Let me tell you the Lanakila group really knows how to party! The yacht was incredible and I am pretty sure it was bigger than my house! We had a lot of fun on it and here are 2 pictures... I told you I didn't take many pictures.

Mike, Ty, me & Chris in the kitchen eating area having fun. Notice how "sunkissed" I am :) That is what happens when you fall asleep on the beach, even if it is overcast...
This was a shot of the yacht from where we ate breakfast Sunday morning in Santa Barbara, it was going back to South Bay. The thing is HUGE! Notice the smaller boat on the back of it... Ridiculous...

Best 11 days ever!

I officially started work yesterday, drawing a doctor's paycheck... I wanted to have my last big vacation so where did I go? Tami & Carl's of course. I always have the BEST time there, even if I don't go anywhere but the beach, what is better than the beach?? I do not have many pictures to share so I am going to ration them. The first is of Tami & Carl during happy hour at Sharkeez. Thank you so much for the time of my life. Seems like a dream. Can't wait to visit soon.

While on vacation

While on vacation I have been able to catch up on some movies, I only have 13 tv's to chose from here, anyways, here is a clip of a great movie and a great song.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :)

Time flies

So I realize that I have not posted a new blog in a while, sorry for that :)  I am currently on vacation in Hermosa Beach, CA with my double cousin Tami & her husband Carl.  I am so lucky to have such great family that opens their home to me no matter what.  My vacation is a bit like my last bit of fun before the REAL world.  I start work as Dr. Christina Heptig on July 27, up until now I have been working but not drawing the big paycheck.  I will have lots of pictures to share later and lots of stories I am sure.  I love it so much out here and can't believe my time is half over almost!  

Blast from the past

Last Sunday night I got together with friends in Aggieville, first time since I have moved here and way overdue.

Here we are - Meg, Kate, Tara & me
We all lived in Ford Hall our freshman year at K-State and now Kate, Tara & I all are back living in Manhattan. Meg lives in San Fransisco now and was back for the 4th and her class reunion. It was great getting to see these girls and re-connect.

4th of July

Not so sure what my problem is, I have not been taking pictures like normal, aka paparazzi style :) But here are a few pictures from the 4th of July in Wamego with my family. It was a good time, pretty low key and WAY too much food.

There were 2 new babies there, Bennett who was only 6 weeks old & Sydnee who was just 2 weeks old.

Here is my mom getting in some baby time (she has to be a surrogate grandma since she never gets to see her granddaughter). Olivia is holding Sydnee, what a couple cuties!

Here is Olivia again and her dad. We were getting ready to go to the parade & these horses that were in the parade went by.

It amazed me how many people showed up for the parade in little Wamego, KS!
Can you tell I loved taking pictures of Olivia, she was a ham in front of the camera :)Here we are watching the paradeMe and my mommaMy mom and her sisters, I waited too long to take this b/c her sister Viola had already left
- Diana, Brenda, Peggy, Carolyn (my mom) & Evelyn

Movie time!

Here are 2 videos of cutie little Lydia. The first is when she was enjoying her cheese dip at Carlos O'Kelly's, how can you blame her it is so good! The second is of her on the carousel.

First visitors

The last weekend in June I had my first visitors at my place, Audra, Kane & Lydia. I had only been moved in for a week so I wasn't completely settled in but enough to make my guests comfortable, I hope.

The first night Lydia had fun exploring my place and she found the perfect little seat on my steps.
That same night we went to dinner with Jeff, Angie & Segen - they are mutual friends. The two girls had fun together after they warmed up to each other.

The next day we hit the mall. Word to the wise, save the carousel for just before you leave the mall in case of a meltdown :)Lydia had fun throwing pennies into the fountainAnd then we went to the park Lydia loves to swing!And down the slideWe even found more water to play inAnd of course Lydia had to stop and smell the flowers

Facebookers beware...

I was minding my own business today, preparing for my Kansas State Optometry boards when an instant message popped up on facebook from a friend's sister. Here is how it went down.

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Erin: hi how are you?

Me: good! how are you?


Erin: not too good

Me: why? what's wrong?

Erin: i am in a mess right now and need your urgent help

Me: lay it on me

Erin: I am stranded in London with Lynn & the kids (Lynn is her huz)

Me: What?! You are lying

Erin: i am dead serious. We got mugged at gun point last night. cash, credit cards & cell phones got stolen

Me: i am calling Meg right now (this is Erin's sister and my friend). Are you guys okay?

Erin: it was a brutal experience but we are ok and we still have our passports

Me: hmmm... what do you want me to do

(By this point I was on the phone with Megan and had told her the situation and she said Erin was at home in Kansas, she then called her to verify)

Erin: i need you to wire some $$ to us right now and i'll pay you back tomorrow we need to pay off the hotel bills and also get a cab to take us to the airport

(Megan called me back and let me know that Erin was at home and NOT messaging me so I knew it was a scam, so I asked a question that I knew the hacker would not know off the top of his head)

Me: what is your brother in laws name again? I forget

(No reply for a few minutes... So I left them a little message of my own)

Me: who ever this is you are insane! I know this is not Erin and I AM NOT WIRING YOU MONEY, you idiot! What makes you think it is right to steal from others? Didn't your momma raise you right? Get off this fb account and grow up!

(They immediately got off line, go figure)
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Did you know to just SAY NO??!!

This is really going to sadden Audra but I wanted to remind everyone just how dangerous fireworks are, even sparklers...

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 9,000 fireworks related injuries happen each year. Of these, nearly half are head related injuries, with nearly 30% of these injuries to the eye. One-fourth of fireworks eye injuries result in permanent vision loss or blindness. Children are the most common victims of firework abuse, with those 15-years old or younger accounting for 50% of fireworks eye injuries in the United States. Injuries range from mild irritation of the eye to total disruption of the eyeball with permanent blindness. About 40% of patients with eye injuries will have some permanent damage to the eye.

Even fireworks that many people consider safe represent a threat to the eyes. For children under the age of five, apparently harmless sparklers account for ONE-THIRD of all fireworks injuries. Sparklers can burn at nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit). A hot spark from a sparkler can cause a serious injury to the eyelid or cornea of the eye.

A sparkler's intense heat can burn not only skin, but also the eyes which can burn the cornea (the major seeing part of your eye) and produce deep scars and lead to permanent vision loss, aka blindness.

I know there are a lot of numbers thrown out at you just now but basically just be careful this weekend, keep the kids away from each other when they have the sparklers in hand and for goodness sakes don't say you weren't warned...