The Need For...Sleep?

The transition from college to a career has been a challenging one in many facets but one in particular: I have to get up before 8am every day. I have never been much of a morning person and even the last year at school have really discovered that I am losing my ability to just skip out on sleep. The years of my freshman and sophomore roommates convincing me to stay up all night at the beach and then survive a whole day of classes ceased to be feasible by the time graduation rolled around.

This makes things particularly difficult when one MUST now be up early and yet one LOVES being out late! I think eventually I will learn just the perfect balance but this week I stayed out a little too late once or twice and then Andrew paid for it on our Friday night date...I was asleep by 11pm. So much for a movie that night!

The highlights of this week's late night adventures included a return trip to my all-time favorite coffee shop, McClain's.

Located in downtown Fullerton and open 'til 4am it was a refuge for all late-night study sessions while at Biola. Now it is a little too far to visit frequently but when a dear friend from Biola suggested a coffee date I un-hesitatingly agreed to drive down to her neighborhood for a visit to my favorite little spot. It was the scene of a wonderful girl chat and female bonding time which was much-needed considering I do not work with ANYONE my age and a lot of my local friends go to a grad school near where I am living and working but are home on summer vacation. So I have been a little friendless.

The second late-night highlight included my best friend Becky who was in town visiting from San Francisco, Disneyland 'til midnight, and a ride on the new Star Tours!

I suppose the trick is a lot of coffee and dedication to getting up with the FIRST alarm but I'm still working on the latter of those...ah well, the quest for a well-balanced and well-examined life continues!

My Red Jetta

This last week has been full of a mission. Just one goal consuming all of my attention: I needed a new car. I have been driving a 1992 Lexus SC400 for almost three years now. It has been a very reliable little car up until a few months ago when it started costing a few hundred dollars a month just to keep it running. Then last month it was a $700 bill for a tune-up and a starter and this month totaled a little less than $600. In addition to that, I had heard from a few reliable sources that my transmission was nearing the end of its days. Well no wonder, the car had over 176,000 miles on it!

Thus, I came to the decision that I must get a new car. I researched used cars and gas mileage and types and brands and insurance ratings and financing and all of the mess that is involved in making a decision about a new car. After five whole days of dealers and car lots and phone calls and research I found myself at the Volkswagen dealership of Pasadena. And I found the one. A 2011 Volkswagen Jetta SE with 13 miles on it, great gas mileage, good insurance ratings, and a really affordable monthly payment for a 3-year lease! Three days and 12 hours in the dealership later, she is mine and her name is Vicki.

So now I would like to introduce her to you! A 5-cylender engine, bright red exterior (obviously), black leatherette interior, satellite radio, blue tooth, “butt warmers”, lots of trunk space and just the cutest little fit for me you ever could find! I could not be more pleased and have been loving every second of driving her around. I also am officially a car-lease expert, thanks to the head of my marketing department who took it upon himself personally to oversee the “help poor little inexperienced Melissa not get duped” process. So call me if you want to lease a car!

Bug Bites & BBQs

So far this week has been a whirlwind of work and after-work activities that have kept me up way to late every night. Tonight will be no different because I have a date with a girlfriend! We are going to explore "The Americana" which is an outdoor shopping mall with a lot of restaurants and such.

Despite being so excited to move into my new condo next weekend, I have really been enjoying living in the Pasadena area. The house is right up against the Los Angeles National Forest (Did you know there was such a thing?) so not only does that mean the occasional bear sighting but also that there are great hiking trails right down the road! My friend Ben and I spent about an hour blazing a trail and the mosquitos spent the majority of that time feasting on my ankles.

(Please excuse the poor photo quality, my camera is in a box...somewhere)

The next night we avoided the pesky beasts and broke in the boys' new grill. The result was quite tasty.

Well, back to work for me! (Even though I am dreaming of a nap...)

Date Night

1,000 miles of travel, and four and a half days away is not all that big of a deal but no matter how long the journey – getting home always evokes a big sigh of relief. This time around it included a squeal of joy as well.

Why? Well first you need a little bit of background information on my love life. Andrew and I met at the end of our freshman year of college and were almost immediately completely (totally, head-over-heels) into each other. Before we actually started dating Andrew would chew “5” gum and doodle on the back of the wrappers. Song lyrics or notes or pictures covered endless numbers of wrappers and (of course) I saved all of them. So tonight, I got home to find a gum wrapper waiting for me with a message asking for a date on Friday night!

The note was absolutely adorable, of course I said yes, and now I just have to decide to give him the mug I got him tonight or on our date on Friday! He loves black and bold coffee so I really just couldn’t resist.

And just to avoid accusations, I would like to state that I do NOT purchase everything that I am tempted to. For example, the most perfect kitchen towel containing an explanation for my entire life.

So goodnight world, hello workweek, and date night…hurry up and get here!

Skip Graham, The “Money Man”

(I actually wrote this yesterday around 4pm, completely unaware that it would take me until midnight to get home due to a door malfunction on the plane but hey, I made it! So please enjoy.)

I am sitting in LAX going over my travel Checklist:

- Laptop loaded with the latest episode of the Bachelorette? Check.
- Cell phone and headphones loaded with the newest music? Check.
- Down blanket rolled up into the smallest ball it can achieve and shoved into my purse? Check.
- Latte? Check.
- Flight on time? Well, not so much but I’ll get there!

I am heading right into the little airport in Santa Rosa, California where my dad will be impatiently waiting and then drive me the ten minutes between the airport and our house.

This particular trip is a little more significant and solemn than others. My grandpa, Harvard Eugene Graham, Jr. passed away a few weeks ago. Not that we called him that though. No, he was Grandpa Skip and one of the most wonderful men I will ever have the privilege of knowing and loving. Tomorrow we are holding a “Celebration of Life” in his honor and, if you had had the pleasure of knowing him, you would understand just how appropriate that is.

Grandpa Skip loved. He loved golf, pistachio nuts, Kahlua and cream, red zinfandel wine, my grandma, all of his (very large) family, and me. I am very fond of dancing and no wonder when some of my very earliest memories are of Grandpa singing out square dance calls even if no one was dancing or, when I was a little taller, holding me tight up against his wonderfully round belly and dancing me around the living room. As I got older he taught me many more wonderful lessons like, always return his things on time if you borrowed them (or he would charge you interest), men are out to conquer the world, and every day that he has known his Savior has been a blessing. I also learned to warn any boyfriend I brought home that he could bet his life on Grandpa Skip cornering him for an hour to find out who he is was, where he’s from, who his parents are, what he wants to do with his life and does he know the Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal Savior.

Seeing Grandpa Skip was always a lot of fun. Ask him how he was and he would promptly inform you, “Well, I woke up this morning and the good Lord gave me another day!” or wish him goodbye and he would hug you just to say, “I’m glad you got to see me.” Grandpa and Grandma owned a financial planning company (two huge influences towards my desire to study business) and he started out at a large insurance firm where he was dubbed “Skip Graham, The Money Man” since he was the top producer for many years. It was almost like growing up famous because everywhere I went and everyone I met either knew personally or had heard of my grandparents! I loved it. But mainly just because I loved them.

So despite the significant and solemn occasion to be traveling home, I am greatly looking forward to spending the weekend celebrating the life of such a wonderful man who was always full of a passion for life and the people around him.

Book Club, Anyone?

Someday I would like to be a part of an actual book club. One where you get a whole bunch of people to all sit down and take the time to read through, think about, and then discuss a book. Nothing intense, maybe once a month? I mean I've read 4 books and am working on my 5th since the end of May so that sounds incredibly do-able.

Funny thing, the topic came up tonight. So now I am thinking who would want to be involved? How many people would actually come? What should we read? The possibilities really are endless. Plus, there is something just so wonderful about someone who is well-read and something so sexy about bookshelves (Ok well maybe that's just me).

So if anyone has any suggestions on books or structures or anything I am all ears! For now I shall rummage up that long list of "Books to read" I've been building my entire way through college and begin putting some feelers out for who may want to join.

Party Animal

Not that I am a party animal, but I now fully believe I can handle anything any party has to throw at me. At least form the "hosting" perspective. Andrew and I threw his best friend Ben a party last night for his 22nd birthday. We have all been looking forward to it for quite sometime but little did I know it would take over my whole weekend.

Saturday began with cleaning and organizing and the moving of all of my stuff into the garage (instead of the middle of their living room). Then we spent about 4 hours of the afternoon grocery shopping at Target, Vons, and Dots Cupcakes to pick up all of the essentials: Ice, drinks, ping pong balls, frozen finger foods, chips, and of course a Starbucks latte. Now this is not a type of party I am used to throwing (I tend towards the wine and cheese evenings full of social conversation and candles). Thus you can understand my need to clean everything and make the house fully presentable, much to Andrew's dismay. Now we did come to a nice compromise and we were ready on time and did not run out of food or drinks or fun until the ungodly hour of 3:30am.

Now comes the fun part. The whole house woke up at noon the next day. The guests peaced out and Andrew and Ben headed off for a day at the Apple store in Pasadena where they both work. That just leaves me. Me and more empty bottles and beer cans than I have ever seen in my entire life. Of course I handled it like a champ and a mere 4 hours later was showered and dressed for an evening to myself. Needless to say, they owe me one.

So after all is said and done I will keep two things in mind:

1. Never clean the whole house for a night that involves beer pong.
2. NEVER be the last and only one left in the house.

(I am also left wondering how my mom has managed to not go crazy with so many birthday parties to throw every year!)