Viva Mexico!!

Well, it has been a long and crazy week!! I woke up last Monday morning knowing that I had to move that day but not knowing exactly where I was going to be moving to! Luckily, I got a call from my agency around 9:00 before things got into full swing. Turns out that I was able to come to Salem and do all my classroom orientation (three days! ugh!!). I still don't have a license, but we're hoping it will be active by the end of this week...just in time for me to leave for Mexico! Whatever, I had pretty much decided that I was going to be totally out of work for three weeks anyway, so I was glad to get some hours in and I also got the boring orientation out of my hair. I was fortunate enough (please note the sarcasm here) to live in a Super 8 motel until my housing was ready on Wednesday. What an experience! I have to say, I am so very thankful that my dad was here. Not only did he help me keep things in perspective and prevent an inevitable meltdown, but when my computer died in the middle of all this (great timing!!) I was able to use his to keep in touch with the real world and keep in contact with my agency. Once I got settled into the plush and fabulous Super 8, he helped me pick out and purchase a brand new laptop. Not to mention all the grilling and cleaning and everything he did while I was at work and to help me get ready to move. Honestly, I don't know what I would have done without him! I know he will probably never read this, but I don't think I can ever repay him and I am beyond grateful to him! Not to mention the rest of my fabulous family and friends!! Everyone was very supportive and I had many offers of places to stay if I ended up homeless. So thanks to everyone! :)

So...here I am in Salem! I have almost got all of my crap put away. I even signed up for my GRE finally! I am taking it on Thursday in Las Vegas. I haven't studied AT ALL for it, so everyone please wish me luck. I am planning on doing some studying once I get my place all clean. I can't stand a mess! I'm leaving for Portland on Tuesday to hang out with my cousin and then going to Vegas on Wednesday. GRE Thursday, then heading to my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary in Southern Utah Friday night, then back to Vegas Saturday night so I can catch a flight to LA for the cruise first thing Sunday morning! It's sure to be a busy week! I downloaded pictures from my dad's camera from our trip to Canada...onto my other computer! Fortunately it is just the screen that went out so I will probably be able to retrieve all the stuff off my hard drive and get it transferred onto the new computer....someday! Needless to say, I don't have many good pictures, but I do have a few from my camera.

This is the cute Christmas tree that my dad got and put up in my apartment! I loved it!

This is the Empress Hotel...quite a landmark in Victoria, apparently.

We went to the Seattle Aquarium and the Seattle Underground (look it up on google, it's a really cool story!) tour on the Saturday before I left Tacoma. I took this picture of Seattle from the aquarium. Pretty cool, huh?

Can I just say that I just uploaded those pictures and it was about 10,000 times faster than on my other computer! Awesome! Anyway, I hope everyone is having a fantastic January! When it seems like things can't get any worse.....they do! But for me, everything has fallen very nicely into place and I couldn't be happier! It has been a stressful couple of weeks and I am definitely ready for a vacation! Can't wait for Mexico! I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to share!