Our Year in San Diego

After a several month hiatus, I am back with a blog post. Although I cannot be sure when my next update will be :)

In three short weeks we are moving to Chicago! This past year has flown by and it was been a really great year. I finished cosmetology school and got licensed, yay. I am two classes away from completing my undergraduate degree and will be finished by October 4th. Chris had a great experience working with Ranch Capital and is excited for school to start. 

Some highlights:

Back in December we went on a really fun cruise to the Mexican Riviera with David and Bonnie

Chris turned 30 in January, can you believe it? I turned 26 in July, but I still feel like I am 21.

We participated in a little 5k mud run in March.

• In June my parents' house was broken into and they stole my laptop, Chris's new laptop he had just bought for school, my dad's laptop, and my favorite necklaces. The necklaces were hardly worth anything but for some reason it made me so mad that they would steal that. 
• We have enjoyed loads of time with family
• Sadly, Chris's aunt, Monica passed away in June of cancer. The memorial was beautiful. It still doesn't feel real that she is gone. 

There are things I am forgetting, I know because I have been cursed with a horrible memory. We are grateful for the friends we have made in San Diego and excited for the next chapter. Bring it on Chicago. 

Another Brief Update

Just to let you know we are alive and well. Chris is still working at the Private Equity firm in Del Mar and I am still in cosmetology school. I hit over 1,000 hours today which means I have less than 600 hours to go. My expected grad-date is June 20th.

We are basically busy with school and work. We never take pictures so I have nothing to show you BUT we are happy and enjoying our time in San Diego. To all my friends: if you ever want to come stay in San Diego you are welcome to stay with us. We would love to see you!

We are getting more and more excited for Chicago, I think the only thing that I am nervous about/not looking forward to is the housing situation but it is what it is and it's only 2 years. We have been stocking up on our winter gear. I have done some serious research about what we should wear during a Chicago winter because I do not want to hate this experience.

Thanks for checking in :)

Brief Update

I apologize for not having pictures, I rarely read blogs that don't include pictures so if you won't read this, it's cool. Apparently I am similar to a six year old in my need to read things with pictures included.

I am averaging one blog post per month so this may just be it for September. I just wanted to write a few things we have done recently since they will inevitably be forgotten by me and my terrible memory.

The main thing that has changed for me is that I started hair school, or cosmetology to be exact. I have wanted to do this for a couple years but we haven't lived in the same place long enough for me to start. It is about a ten-month program if I go full time and since we are here for a year it works out great. I have a picture of me on my first day of school on my phone but since I don't have internet on my phone I don't know how to get it onto the computer. That will have to be a task for another day. School is from 8-4:30 Tuesday through Saturday and it has been quite the change since I spent the last 2 years basically just hanging out while Chris brought home the bacon. I have really enjoyed it so far.

We were able to spend some time with some of Chris's family up in Santa Barbara. The agenda was jammed packed with activities like going to the beach, the zoo, visiting Lanshe friends from Santa Maria, a beach BBQ, games, and Fiesta. It never seems like we have enough time with Chris's side. You Lanshes should just relocate to one place, preferably in the states, so we can get more face time with everyone.

We started attending the Olivenhain Ward, the ward I grew up in. Which is great and weird at the same time. Great in that I know quite a few people already, but weird that I am now interacting with these people as a married adult instead of as an angsty teenager. I wish i could say that people remember me as a happy and friendly child and teenager, unfortunately I was in a pretty grumpy mood for my four years of high school. When I was growing up in this ward I can't ever remember there being young married couples, however, there are now several couples close to our ages and we have already made friends with a few.

Ummmmm, if I think of anything else I will edit this post but that is all I can think of right now.

PSYCH! (Not the TV Show)

So remember how three weeks ago we thought we would be spending the next two years in Berkeley for business school? And remember how two weeks ago we thought we would be spending the next two years in Chicago for business school? Well, plans have changed again my friends. We are now going to spend the next year in San Diego and go to Chicago next fall. That is right. Let me tell you how our plans changed so dramatically in such a short time.

We moved in with my parents in June so Chris could start an internship with a private equity firm down here. He planned on just staying for the summer and hoped the few months of experience would be a good addition to his resume (any experience you can get in PE before business school is very helpful). All the while, we were making plans to move to Berkeley in August but Chris was still hoping to be accepted to Wharton or Booth. Two Mondays ago he was rejected from Wharton but the very next day he got in at Booth.

I spent a couple hours mourning over the things I was looking forward to in Berkeley: friends, warm weather, a nice town, San Francisco, and being closer to family. However, it quickly became clear that Chicago was the better choice for Chris so we accepted their invitation.

While this was happening, the bosses at Chris’s internship asked him if he would consider deferring school for a year to continue working for them as a full-time employee. It seemed easy and harmless to fantasize about staying here for a year because the chances of getting a deferral are very slim. Shockingly, Booth agreed to allow the deferral! Before, when I thought there was no way we would actually stay it seemed so perfect, but once they agreed we actually had to really consider if this was a good decision.

You would think since I am the one from San Diego and I am the one with family here I would be the one that was really pushing to stay. Au contraire. My mind was spinning! Mainly, I just wanted to be sure that Chris would be happy at this company for a year and he would not regret putting school off another year. Chris seemed cool as a cucumber through this process and assured me that both options were good, it is not as if we were choosing between bad and good here. In my opinion, the fact that both decisions are good made it that much harder. After Chris reassured me many times that he thought staying here would be beneficial and he would be just as happy going to school next year, my mind was at ease, mostly.

I know some of you might think this decision is crazy since Chris has worked so hard to get into school for two years now, but we have been very prayerful about it and feel this door was opened to us for a reason.

So I will be spending the next year stocking up on my winter gear and enjoying this wonderful weather and time with my family before we head to Chicago next year. If only we could convince my little sister and her husband to live here for a year too!

At the beginning of the year I told Chris my motto for 2011 was going to be, “good things come to those who wait,” and I feel like that has definitely be true in our lives. I also feel like this sudden and extreme change of plans might be a foreshadowing of the rest of our lives. Yikes.

Birthday Time

Holla! I am 25 now. I had a great birthday this year, especially compared to last year when we had been in Shanghai for about 8 days and...I'll just leave it at that. This time I got to celebrate a few days early with my family, and my bff Shelly, in a combined party with my brother (he turned 29). Chris surprised me with a Kindle! I have been reading books using the Kindle app on my ipod for a while, which has been fine, it just means turning the page much more often so the Kindle has been a great improvement.

On my actual birthday Chris treated me to a fine Italian dinner in downtown Encinitas. After dinner we walked a few blocks to the beach to watch the gorgeous sunset.

This summer has been wonderful. I don't think I'll ever get the chance to spend the summer with my family (unemployed and without kids of my own) again. The days have been filled with swimming, games, food, a little golf, and lots of fun, and there are only a few weeks left before we head off to business school. I don't ever want to leave.

We're Moving! Again.

In our three and a half years of marriage we have moved four times and in the next few months we will add two more moves to the list. We will move to Encinitas for the summer and move again in the fall for business school.

Details:

Chris's last day at LEK is this Friday. Holla! He just landed a summer internship at a private equity firm in San Diego so we will be living with my parents for two months. Chris got accepted to Haas (Berkeley) for his MBA and is wait-listed at Booth (Chicago) and Wharton (Philadelphia). We are pretty sure we'll be headed to Berkeley for the next two years and I am really excited.

The summer internship starts on Monday, one week. The move will be a gradual one since we are still paying for this apartment and one week is not enough time for me to pack everything.

After our experience in China I have learned to like LA a lot more and I will really miss the friends we have made here. But starting in the fall, if you ever need a place to stay in the San Francisco area give us a call.

Can You Tell?

That I have lost my enthusiasm for blogging? Truthfully, I just don't feel like I have anything worth putting up here. No kids, I am not doing anything crafty, and I think I have taken a total of 5 pictures since we have been back in the states.

We do have some good news though. Chris got accepted to Berkeley for his MBA! After being wait-listed at Chicago and Wharton we were beginning to think that business school was not meant for us. The idea of not being two hundred thousand dollars in debt starting to become very appealing though.

Even though I haven't been taking pictures we have been doing fun things.

Back in February:

• We went to a murder mystery party. It was my first one and I had a great time. Both Chris and I were guilty in the murder. I actually did takes a couple pictures there!
• I got called to be the head of the Enrichment committee and Chris is the Ward Speech Festival Specialist. He thought they made up the calling just for him because he likes giving talks so much.

March:

• I went to a couple baby showers and we also attended a concert of classical music with my parents.
• Our only friends with a house hosted a great barbecue and game night. Thanks Smiths!

April:

• I went to some more baby showers
• We drove up to Berkeley for Chris's interview and spent the weekend there
• Saw the new Jane Eyre movie
• Another great barbecue
• And we spent Easter weekend with my family. It was the first time everyone was together since we've been back from China and it was fantastic.

We've also had friends over to play Just Dance 2, enjoyed dinner with friends, family has come up to spend time with us, and we've done other things I didn't write down in my calendar.

I am so glad we are back in the states!

Back in the USA and Vietnam in Pictures

I am really happy to be back! Not that I hated China but we had a layover in Vancouver and when I heard people speaking English in the airport I realized how much I missed home.

We are pretty much unpacked in our new place, though I am not unpacking any of our picture frames or other decorations because I am hoping that this is our year for an MBA and that means we will only be here for 6 months. If Chris gets into school I will be sad to leave here since we have family so close and we have made wonderful friends but I will not miss LEK and I am really looking forward to seeing Chris more often.

This post is actually about our Christmas and New Year's trip to Vietnam with Chris's family. so here it goes.

Here we are in the Ho Chi Minh airport just minutes past midnight on Christmas day.

After a few hours of sleep we piled back into the van to drive to the Cu Chi tunnels (Vietnam War site). Thanks Julie for making it feel at least a little bit like Christmas!

If you don't know about the Cu Chi Tunnels (I had no idea what they were) you should look it up. You will find some pretty wild tunnel pictures and learn the history. We all took turns getting into one of the old entrances to the tunnels...Chris decided he needed to mix things up and go in headfirst.

The kids in another old tunnel entrance.

After the tunnels we drove to Cat Tien National Park where we spent two nights. On one of the days we took a really lovely walk through the forest, complete with leech socks. The surroundings in Cat Tien were beautiful but when you find spiders the size or your hand, lizards, snakes, and scorpions in your room I feel like we invaded Nature's space a little.

Also in Cat Tien we visited a primate rehabilitation center and a bear rehabilitation center.

After Cat Tien we headed to Dalat, this was my favorite place. The city is in the hills and was built up by the French years ago so you get this unique France meets Vietnam environment.

What a hunk! Yes, a hunk.

One of the themes of this trip seemed to be the tour guide telling us how easy our next activity was going to be and then 15k through the mountains later you're thinking I really should have worn something different. We did a bike ride, river rafting, and hiking and all three were significantly more difficult then we were led to believe. BTW, that trip was my first and LAST time river rafting.

On our way from Dalat to Nha Trang we did a downhill bike ride which was amazing! I wish we had time to do a few more of those kind of rides.

Our last city was Nha Trang. Our guide told us they had some of the most beautiful beaches in the world...I think the beaches in southern California are prettier than what we saw, but it was still a good time. We got biked around town, Chris and Josh did Zorbing (one of the funniest things to watch), celebrated New Years by playing board games, and went to Monkey Island. Those monkeys can be terrifying but we befriended this one fellow and he would do some fun tricks for some treats.

PS - I don't know why most of the pictures won't allow you to open and enlarge them, sorry!

Homeward Bound

We leave for the US in less than 24 hours. Picture us singing "The Final Countdown" from the Rocky soundtrack.

Belated Holiday Greetings

We spent the holidays with Chris's family in Vietnam. It was a great trip and I'll post more about it soon.

This is us on Christmas day opening our stockings on our van driving from Ho Chi Minh to the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! We are excited to go home in just a few short weeks.

Thank you for commenting! That post was my second most commented-on post, sweet. It's always nice to see that friends are still reading my blog.

As I said, if I decide to do this haircut it will wait until we are home (January 17) but I'm feeling like chickening out again! We'll just have to see.

On an unrelated note, I can't believe Christmas is next week and I will be in Vietnam for it. Wild! It hasn't felt much like Christmas but then it decided to snow today in Shanghai and I am suddenly in the mood for hot chocolate.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Years!

For Your Consideration

A couple months ago I got the itch to cut my hair real short but I chickened out. This was largely due to the fact that I do not trust anyone here to do this cut but also just because I am nervous about it. I am getting the itch again. If I decide to go through with this it will have to wait until I am home which will give me ample time to chicken out again.

I am considering something like this. Not the color, just the cut. Could I pull off a do like this? I will take your silence as a "no."

Here's to Three Years

It has been three blissful years since I married Chris. I often say, "marrying Chris was the easiest decision I ever made," and it was also the best.

Happy anniversary babe, and if you ever wonder how much I love you just remember that I moved to China for you and you'll know it's a lot.

You are THE BEST!

The Philippines, Finally

The Philippines were wonderful and I am finally making time to document just how wonderful. For your viewing pleasure I have created some picture collages to illustrate to fabulousness that is the Philippines.

In Transit:

-Plane to Manila (a dump of a place) and spent a day there

-Went to see Legend of the Guardians in 3D

-Took a tiny plane to a tiny airport in Palawan

-Took a tiny boat to our resort: Club Paradise

Club Paradise (4 days):

-I got certified for diving

-Island hopping

-Lots of relaxing, snorkeling, and diving

-We were also serenaded every night at dinner by the resort band

Scuba Diving:

-Coolest thing = Cuttlefish (look them up)

-Sea turtles

-Amazing tropical fish

El Rio Y Mar (3 days):

-More amazing island hopping, snorkeling, and diving

-Some seriously huge geckos in our room

Both resorts we stayed at were on very small islands and the resort was the only thing on them. It was an incredible trip filled with sun, swimming, relaxing, and family.

Karaoke in the Park

When my parents were here we took a walk in one of the parks here and were lucky enough to hear the local talent belting out some tunes. My favorite part is the guy's friend in the background trying to help him keep time.



This is just a short clip of what lasted several minutes.

My Mom is a Winner

Here in Shanghai when you buy something you can ask for the official receipt, it's called the fapiao. On this fapiao there is a little area you can scratch off and potentially win some cash-money. I get really excited to scratch off the silver coating but I have never won anything but my mom has the magic touch! We went out to dinner and she won 20 RMB off the receipt. The owner of the place said he had never seen anyone win in his four years of owning the place.

Way to go mom!

20 RMB = $2.99 USD

Picture of the Day

My mom snagged this picture while we were at one of the markets in Shanghai. I was bargaining with the shop owner and this was my dad's response to his asking price.

Philippines Teaser

I realize we have been home from the Philippines for several weeks now and I haven't blogged about it. I am in the process of getting all the pictures together but just to get you excited here is a little taste of what to expect.


This is my lovely husband trying out a special snorkel mask with ear cups to keep the water out of his poor infected ears.

He is irresistible.

Wish List

Every few months I get a bad case of the "I hate everything I own" blues. I can't shop to my heart's content and remedy the situation so I just have to wait it out until the storm passes. I typically end up surfing the web and making wish lists of things I like; this may just fuel the fire but I also feel a little better afterward.

I've adopted the belief that my wardrobe can be way more interesting if I just invest in accessories instead of entirely new ensembles IE jewelry, scarves, belts, and hats. So here are some things I've been wishing for.





These next two aren't really accessories but I am still wishing I had some.





I know this has nothing to do with Shanghai but I promise I will have something interesting to post soon as we are going to the Philippines with some of Chris's family in a couple days!

Callings and The Bund

Quickly, I just want to say that Chris and I both got callings in our branch here and guess what? They are the exact same callings we had in our LA ward. I am teaching Sunbeams and Chris is teaching the Young Men and we are really happy about it.

A couple weekends ago we went to The Bund. FYI: Shanghai is split in two parts by the Yellow River and The Bund is the street that faces the river on our side of town. It's a fun place to walk around for the cool colonial architecture and fabulous view across the river (Pudong).

Pudong


The Bund

Did you know there are A LOT of people in China? Yeah, well there are and it is really fun when you get to walk in a river of Chinese people (see below). The roads to get back to the subway were packed with people and, to make it even more exciting, there were buses and cars trying to drive on the same road. It's also really hot and humid, yummy.

Here is a picture of me just in case you miss my face.

I've adopted the Chinese ways and like to throw up a peace sign for pictures.

And here is a picture of Chris just because he is cute.

PS - Can everyone see my blog header ok?