i have so much to say

but unfortunately it's all going to have to wait until tomorrow. i'm pooped.

haha...that word makes me laugh.

um...we eat a lot

one of my favorite things to do is eat at my wita's (grandma's) house. i've grown up with mexican food-authentic mexican food. i get the real thing, not this fake stuff they try to pass off as mexican food at some restaurants. it's why i order chicken tenders when i go to mexican restaurants; nothing compares to my wita's cooking.

jealous much?

anyway, occasionally on sunday nights after church our whole family will go to my wita's house to have breakfast for dinner. you know: eggs, papas (potatoes-hers are the baist!), beans, bacon, and tortillas. last night was one of those nights. there's nothing like eating around the table, talking and laughing with your family. love it. as we were enjoying our meal, wita turned from the stove and began telling us how much food we went through:

1 1/2 dozen eggs
5 lbs. potatoes
3 pkg. bacon

(and that's because we were missing about 7 other people from the family.)

we were quiet for a second. someone said, "that's a lot of food."

then we all went back to eating.

i'm sick...again

trust me, you don't want the details.

but on the bright side, me being sick brings out the sweet side of my sister. she's at the store getting me crackers and gatorade. and this is the second time she's taken care of me while i'm sick.

wonders never cease, huh?

it appears...

that i am a fan of late-night blogging.

whatever am i going to do when school starts back up?

jobs

it occurred to me yesterday afternoon that i'm incredibly blessed when it comes to jobs. i have had four jobs in my lifetime. they have all been great, and they have one really cool thing in common: they all came to me; i never sought them out. when i filled out the applications, it was with the knowledge that i was already hired. pretty cool, huh?

1. i didn't work through high school, but i started my first job a week after i graduated. the mom of one of my friends asked me to work at her montessori. i worked at that job for a year and a half until i realized that i needed to be concentrating on my schoolwork (being a music major means that you have no life...sort of like teaching).
   
2. soon after i had changed my major from music to education, i went into the art & music office to get a book that someone had left for me. as jaxine handed me my book, she asked if i was looking for a job. turns out that her work study was about to student teach, and somebody had passed on my name. i was hired within the week. it was in that office that the "office princess" first came to be.
3. in 2006, lennon asked me to work for him. it was a much harder decision than i let on, because it meant leaving a job that i loved and could do in my sleep for another one that would take much more out of me. this job was ministry. i knew what i was getting myself into, which was probably why i hesitated a little. but like the jobs before, God blessed me. that year is one that i will always cherish. i would have worked for lennon until i graduated; unfortunately, i had to quit working so i could student teach.
4. when i had about three weeks of student teaching left, my current principal offered me the job i now have. i graduated on a saturday, and started my job the following monday.

blessed? i think so.

a nice surprise

on my way home from work, i got a really nice surprise.

i had just cranked up the radio when my phone rang. it was one of my best friends, amanda. we have been friends since the third grade and since she got married last september i haven't talked to her much. um, since like september. yikes! she knew all the important stuff, like i graduated and got a job.

anyway, it was so great catching up. i'm so, so bad at keeping up with my friends (i really hope they still consider me their friend) but with amanda it's never mattered. we even talked about how months will go by without us talking, but when we do it's like time hasn't even passed.

but honestly, i do need to get better about keeping in touch with my friends.

so all this time that we haven't talked resulted in an hour and 17 minutes of talking. that's really not a long time considering that we used to spend every day together in school and still talked 2 hours on the phone after school. i've never been one to run out of things to say =)

i feel so blessed to have a friend like amanda. since we've known each other since the third grade, you could say that we're pretty close. she's set me straight when i needed it. called me on my incredibly stupid mistakes. encouraged me and reminded me of God's amazing forgiveness when those mistakes came back to bite me. even now, with miles separating us, our friendship is still strong. i love you, amanda!

wanna win a prize?

you could win a prize just by remembering the best meal you've ever had.

go ahead, do it...you know you want to!

so sad

when i woke up this morning, i thought it was saturday.

SATURDAY!!!

i am, however, having a great time at my old job. it hasn't been without its hilarities (the dolly and i aren't getting along) but overall things are good. i've surprised myself with how much of the little details i remember. i only had to ask what one account number was, but that's it so far. i'm not holding my breath, though.

here's hoping that tomorrow morning i won't get my hopes up again.

return of the office princess

i'm going back to work!

my old boss called me and asked me to help her with some stuff, so i'm going back to my old stomping grounds. did i mention that i'm known as the office princess there? yes, it's true.

the office princess is back.

i'm home!!

last night my bed was the most comfortable it's ever been! i went to bed a little earlier than i usually do, but for the first time in a week i had no trouble falling or staying asleep. roddick was happy to see me, but i think he was more happy to see my mom. little brat.

anyway, i came home to find that the internet on the desktop was not working again. *sigh* stupid computer. i hope it's not a really big problem.

that's all for now. toodles!

another day, another $0

technically, i got paid today.

unfortunately, that check hasn't made its way to the bank yet. darn it.

this is our last night in dallas. district council, which ended yesterday at noon, was so much fun. i had a blast. then we came to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins here in coppell. we went to kohls, mardel and grapevine mills mall. we even ate at steak and shake, which made me happy because i love their chili. yummy!

tomorrow we go back home, which i'll admit makes me very happy. i've had a good time on this trip, but i feel like i haven't been home in such a long time. i think it's because i haven't been out of town for an extended period of time that a week feels like a month to me. plus, kelli and joey weren't able to come on this trip because they were working, so i really miss them (and roddick!). but tomorrow will be a good day because tomorrow night, i get to sleep in my own bed. woo hoo!

i have to say

that a whole week without my sister is no fun. i miss her.

i had to go shopping today to lift my spirits. i feel a little better-just a little. i need more shopping therapy apparently.

swimming

i love to swim.

if there was only one physical activity i could do for the rest of my life, it would be swimming. when i was in jr. high and part of high school, i would spend my summers swimming at central high. i was on the angelo aquatics team and that's where we swam. i loved it. but when i started college, i quit swimming. instead i spent my summers working and in school. not that that's bad; it's just that it didn't leave a lot of time for much else. i literally cannot remember that last time i swam.

until today, that is!

lexie and i went swimming (at one of the three pools in this hotel, mind you) and we had a blast. i forgot how much i love getting in the water. i'm going to be needing a pool every day now. the only thing is that we went late this afternoon, which left just enough time to go back to the room and get ready for the service. i was fighting sleep big time during the service. maybe if i could understand spanish better i wouldn't have been so tired. oh well.

i love to swim!

this post

this post is about nothing.

i just wanted to beat my dad in how many posts i have so far.

boo-ya!

missions

when mom and dad started our church, they were adamant that it be a missions-minded church. because of that, we have all grown up with an awareness that there were people all over the world who needed to hear the gospel. now that i'm older, i appreciate how much my parents made us aware that others are not as fortunate as we are and that as christians, we need to tell others about Christ. about two years ago, kelli and i traveled with some other people from chi alpha to kentucky for the world missions summit. it was a wonderful opportunity, and my favorite part was when we ate lunch with different missionaries. it was there that we met alton garrison and his wife. i enjoyed visiting with them and hearing their stories from the mission field. if i remember correctly, he has been in charge of the u. s. missions department in our denomination, and currently serves as assistant general assistant of the Assemblies of God. here's a post that he wrote last year.

last night was the missions service, and guess who spoke? alton garrison. it was a great service, and i especially was challenged by his sermon. he spoke about how if everyone did their part, the God would be able to do even greater things. he mentioned the donkey on which Jesus rode on during palm sunday. the donkey's only job was to lift Jesus up, and he did his job. just as the donkey was covered with robes, some people who are called to the ministry or to the mission field hesitate because they think they will be covered up. they think that they will never be recognized for what they do and others won't be able to appreciate them (a very timely sermon considering the day's prior events). i admit that i'm guilty of just that. i sometimes wonder if anyone appreciates or even notices my feeble attempts to bring others to Christ. but you know what?

it doesn't matter. it's not about me; it's about those who have never even heard the name of Jesus. it's about those who are hurting or are dead spiritually and need someone to guide them to the One who can heal them. it's about everyone doing their part to lift Jesus up. no, i haven't been doing my part. but alton garrison's sermon spoke to me and challenged me to do just that.

tip of the iceberg

so it turns out that our room number was only the beginning of weird things happening on this trip. i'm compiling a list of everything so i can blog about it later. but all of these adventures are reminding me about past district councils where the unexpected happened.

• one year when d.c. was in lubbock, we ate supper very late the first night (actually we eat late every night because the services are so long). we had to eat fast food because they're the only restaurants that are open late. mom and dad picked up taco bell and i had my very first supreme taco that night. my stomach wasn't a fan. i threw it all up while in a very long line at furrs the next day. i spent the next day and a half in bed, unable to keep anything down. to this day, i cannot eat at furrs, but for some reason the supreme tacos don't bother me anymore.
  
• in corpus, kelli, cheli, and i were a part of the youth council. they had planned many activities for us during the day, one of which was miniature golf. unfortunately they didn't expect so many youth to be interested in going, and they didn't have enough transportation. being the mexicans we are, a rather large group (much more than 15) crammed into a 15-passenger van and drove across town. yes, we broke the law. we were at a church conference, and we broke the law. someone announced to the adults in the business session what had happened, and my aunt made my uncle come get the three of us. there was no way her nieces were coming back on that van!
• while in lubbock (not the same time as the first incident), we were supposed to go to a water park and a small amusement park. i forget which one we had been to that particular day, but afterwards we ate a pizza place. we were there for a long time and so two friends and i decided to go to the restroom before we got back on the bus. apparently that was when the leaders decided to leave. everyone except us got on the bus (and yes, the bus was extremely packed...surprise, surprise) and the bus started rolling out. kelli yelled from the back of the bus, "WAIT! MY SISTER IS STILL IN THERE!!!" when we came out of the restroom and found everyone on the bus, everyone clapped as we walked to the back. talk about embarrassment.

and then there's this year. today was a weird day all by itself. i'm curious to see what tomorrow brings!

yes, it's true

we're at district council. a church event, for pete's sake. and we're staying in room 666.

yes, you read right - 666!

ay chihuahua....

room number...sheesh


view from our door-across the atrium

view from our door looking down

it's 10:58 p.m.

and i just finished eating supper from wendy's.

district council has officially begun.

we have arrived

i'm in dallas!

for the first time since i graduated from high school, i have a free summer. i'm not working. i'm not going to school. I AM ON VACATION!

as the school year was winding down, people kept asking me what i planned to do this summer. my response was, "everything i haven't been able to the past few summers because i was working and had to go to school." one of those things included coming to district council. this is a big deal, guys. i have very fond memories of district council when i was younger. we went as a family (the whole hernandez family, not just our immediate family), so i was with my cousins. as i got older, the whole family quit going, but of course i went with my parents and siblings. i think the last time i went to district council was in '02. it's been a while.

when my dad mentioned district council this year, i said, "i'm there!" so here i sit in our incredibly luxurious hotel (the hilton anatole...niiiiiiice) blogging on my beloved laptop, sipping on coffee. the coffee maker makes the coffee directly into the coffee mug. it's delicious.

the view right outside our door is so pretty, so i'll post pictures soon. the oh-so-comfy bed is calling my name.

i could so get used to this.

well...

nothing new in this neighborhood.

just a whole lot a nothin'.

gotta love summer.

roddick gets a haircut

yes, today was roddick's visit to the vet. he had to get a shot, so kelli decided to have them go ahead and give him a "summer cut."

he looks so handsome! he was very scraggly looking, but now he looks so much better. i'd put a picture up here, but well, you know...

destruction

currently one of the bathrooms in my parent's house is under destruction, i mean construction.

my handy dandy, albeit incredibly overprotective, older cousin edward is seeing to this nifty project. i should have taken "before" pictures, but i didn't realize that the demolition was supposed to start on saturday. thus, i only have pictures of the "during" phase so far. this is interesting!

since the desktop doesn't have a memory card reader, i need to figure out how to put pictures on here. i've done it before, but i don't really remember how. until then, no pictures. sowwy!

on a no-way-related note, i actually have a busy day tomorrow. i don't know how i feel about that. maybe i should go to bed now since i have to be up early.

yeah right.

how did i miss this?

chi alpha girl is now a year old.

no, not me, the blog! i've been reading through my old posts and even made myself laugh at some of them. like this one from student teaching. or this one about roddick (some things never change). and how can we forget chick-fil-a (again, some things never change)?

i did notice, however, that i was a lot better at blogging last year than i have been lately. maybe it's because i had a more exciting life back then, no?

no.

guess what?

i'm blogging from my old computer! yes, the one that has been out of commission for several months now. after much frustration, tears (like the night it quit working), and multiple phone calls, we now have the internet again.

bad news: when it was getting fixed, we lost everything. pictures, papers, EVERYTHING. plus, now kelli and have to pay for wireless because we now have the laptop and the desktop working.

good news: WE NOW HAVE THE LAPTOP AND THE DESKTOP WORKING! that means that kelli can use the desktop and i can use the laptop. i bet she's happy because i admit that i'm the computer hog. it's true...

:(

my aunt left this morning.

i'm feeling a little blue.

there's blonde, and then there's platinum

kelli and i have been busy lately...having blonde moments of our own. i'll let you decide who gets the prize:

me:
sunday night a group of us went to eat at sunset grill after church. after i ordered, i put the receipt in my wallet and sat down. when i realized that i needed to listen to my number, i took my wallet out to look at the receipt. i couldn't find the number anywhere and just continued to stare at the receipt until i finally said, "i can't find my number! why can't i find my number?!" kelli leaned across the table, glanced at my receipt, and calmly replied, "that's because that's the receipt to wok and rice." oh.

kelli:
as kelli and i were driving to pick up my aunt from work yesterday, i (very randomly) turned to kelli and said, "hey! wouldn't it be cool if our husbands were brothers?" kelli looked at me with a look nothing short of disgust and said, "ew! that means we would be related...oh wait..." too late. i was already laughing hysterically.

imagine that, sisters who are related. who woulda thunk it?!

i got it!

that's right! today my dad took me to sprint to get the phone i wanted. now remember, this is the phone that i have been wanting since january, and the wait is over! the reason that i wanted this particular phone was because it uses the palm software, which i would use. and of course i loooove having a full keyboard for texting! i've been playing with it for a couple of hours, and only took this time to post because i have to download the software on my laptop.

happy, happy, joy, joy!!!!

it's june!!!!!!!!!!!!

and you know what that means?

i finally get my new phone this month!!!!!

(unfortunately, i didn't do as good a job saving my money as i should have, so i have to wait until payday to get it. but that's okay, i only have to wait a few more days.)

woo hoo!!!!! i'm excited!!!!! i'm getting a new phone!!!!!!!!!!!!