Visitors!

This past weekend, Erin came to visit! Erin is another Mercy Volunteer who Meghan and I met during orientation. Ironically, Erin also went to Villanova and graduated the same year but we had never met until volunteering. She got in Thursday night and left Sunday morning but it was a lot of fun having her here. She got to see where Meghan and I both work on Friday and meet the JVs that we hang out with. We went to Joe's crab shack on Friday night and then to an outside concert (for about 5 minutes) then to the JV house. Saturday, we went to McKinley Park for a while and then to a cookout at the JV house. Then she left Sunday morning, which was sad but it was great having her here.

The rest of May is also looking very busy. Meghan has a lot of visitors coming, including her parents, sister and friend and then I go home at the end of May. It should be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to meeting new people.

and done.

So the raw diet lasted for about two days. Last night, I went to a dinner where they had restaurants all around the area serving foods. As soon as I walked in, the diet was over. I just like food too much to only eat raw stuff. I may consider being a partial rawist but all that means is that I'll be eating more fruits and vegetables and less of the other stuff...basically just healthier. Maybe one day in the future I'll try again but I don't anticipate it happening soon.

Raw Diet

Meghan and I have decided to try a raw diet out. This involves eating only raw food, including fruit, veges, grains (uncooked), legumes, beans and other such things and the goal is to do this for a week. It's supposed to be very healthy, all the research I've done so far says that your energy increases and stabilizes, you can lose weight and it's healthier overall. This is the second day we've been doing it and I must say, it's not very much fun. I'm tired (and this may or may not be because of what I'm eating) and I really want to eat some real food. I love fruits and veges and can see making them a greater part of my diet but there's no way that I could do a totally raw food diet for more than a week. Last night for dinner, we ate rice that had been soaking in water for 12 hours. It was supposed to be softer but it wasn't at all like rice is when it's cooked. This will either be a very rough week or I'll be ending this diet a little early.

Yosemite

Last weekend, my parents came to visit! They flew in Saturday night and Sunday morning, we left for Yosemite. It was an interesting 5 hour drive and we got there around 5ish. We drove around the valley and then headed to our hotel to get checked in. We stayed at the Wawona the first night which was very cute. It was old fashioned and very pretty but the walls were very thin and our neighbors weren't exactly quiet. Our room was also pretty cold so after an interesting night, we ended up switching to the Tenaya lodge for the second night. Monday, we took a bus tour through Yosemite Valley and then walked around a bit and did some hiking. It was beautiful. It wasn't too crowded because it's still cold but the waterfalls were flowing so our timing was perfect. We ate dinner at the Tenaya lodge restaurant that night and it was very good then we got a good night sleep in a warmer hotel room. Tuesday morning we went to Mariposa Grove to see the Sequoias and this turned out to be quite the walk. The road was still closed because of the snow so we ended up walking 2 miles on the road to the trail and then another mile or so on the trail. The trees were really cool and absolutely huge. We headed back to Sacramento after seeing the trees and the rest of the visit was very nice. We walked around Old Sac and they got to see where I work. It was so nice to have visitors out here, more people should come out! Here's one of the trees, that's me inside the trunk.

Spring's here!

This past weekend, the weather was absolutely beautiful. Friday night I went to the JV house and hung out. It was a lot of fun. I hadn't seen many of the JVs in a while so it was a long overdue visit. Saturday, I went to the park with a few of the JVs and Jenny and I laid out in the sun while two others played tennis. It was well over 80 which was great for a while but after getting too hot, we went to the store, got Popsicles and then headed to the JV house for a cookout and some tape ball (like baseball but with a ball made of newspaper and tape due to limited space). Sunday, I was outside all day again, playing softball in the morning with work and then going on a nice bike ride and short swim in the river later on. This weather is most certainly motivating me to stay out here a little longer although we'll see how fun it is in July and August.

Advice?

I am right now trying to figure out what I want to do next year and I'm having a rather difficult time. I know it's a decision that I ultimately have to make but I thought that maybe some input from others might help. I could volunteer again (most likely the same place because I've come to really like it out here, plus I'm already trained), I could get a job in mental health out here, which I could get pretty easily, or I could move back East and work on finding a job out there. There are pros and cons for each decision which is why it is so difficult right now. Any help out there?

Parade

Today, as I was laying on my couch watching a movie, I heard all this music outside. I looked out the window to see a bunch of cop cars and my interest piqued, I got up to check it out. There was a parade that went right by my house for Caesar Chavez day. Here's a picture taken from my front porch, pretty cool that I didn't even need to go anywhere to see this.