Last chance to enjoy 2008

And also, for those of you who live in California, savor your last *legal* day of texting while driving.

The new driving laws in 2009 are going to make my life a little more difficult. But breaking the law can be cool....

....I mean, I have no idea what that feels like. Happy 2009, everyone!

Things to look forward to in the New Year

1.) Another semester of my first year at Pacific! For some reason, after this long break I've been having, I'm really looking forward to working the second half of the year. I'm pretty excited to go back to.... Stockton. Who knew....? I'm really enjoying basketball season and I have a feeling baseball/softball will be along those same lines. And I'm going to get a 4.0 this semester. My 3.9 in the fall was pretty lame, so I'm going to improve on that ;)

2.) Playing with my new Sony Reader! Yep, got it for Christmas :) Thanks Mom and Dad, I mean, Santa.

3.) MLB Opening Day!! Which in many stadiums, also happens to be my 24th birthday. The Chicago White Sox have a countdown at the top of their page: only 98 days left! Yeah, I realize there's still the Super Bowl standing in my way. But I don't care, I will always be a baseball girl!!

4.) Only taking day classes means I'll finally have my nights free (after any baseball/softball games are over). So I can get my homework done earlier, eat dinner earlier, and have more time to go running or hit up the gym! I will lose weight and get my blood sugars down and get back to my October 2007 (pre-France) size. It's actually less than a two size difference, so I think it's an attainable goal. Only 10 lbs!

6.) Wedding plans! No, not mine. Everyone knows I'm single. But for the first time ever, I'm going to be a maid of honor. And we already tried on and ordered dresses. So I'm getting really excited to fly up to Oregon in August and be in Jen's wedding. Maybe I'll meet a cute boy....

Which brings me to.....

7.) Me being boy crazy. Which is always true. Developing a few crushes? Maybe? Well, I'll need a date in August ;) so I'm going to work on that one as well.

Oh well, Happy 2009 everyone.

The Night Before Christmas & Visions of Summer Dance Through My Head

Only six months until summer! With the winter equinox already behind us, the days are slowly starting to get longer (shortest day of the year is Dec. 21) and what better way to plan for it, than thinking ahead to the summer?

Once my collegiate baseball season ends, along with grad classes, I can start thinking about fun quick trips. And ever since I graduated from high school, my dad and I keep talking about doing a U.S. baseball park road trip. Six years after the fact, it might actually start to come true....

Obviously I'm not in a financial position to roadtrip to all 30 major league stadiums, but lucky for me I've already been to: the Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles stadiums. So that leaves me 22 more to go....

So, we brainstormed a few different routes to take, and after consulting the A's travel schedule in June and July, decided on the northern route.

I propose five ballparks in nine days.

July 2009:

July 3- Fly from San Francisco to Cleveland
July 4- Oakland Athletics at Cleveland Indians (fireworks night!)
July 5- Drive from Cleveland to Detroit (2.5 hours)
July 6- Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers
July 7- Drive from Detroit to Chicago (4ish hours)
July 8- Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs
July 9- Cleveland Indians at Chicago White Sox
July 10- Drive from Chicago to Milwaukee (1.5 hours), and Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers
July 11- Fly from Milwaukee to San Francisco

Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio (Indians)

Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan (Tigers)

Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois (Cubs) U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois (White Sox)

Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Brewers)

I'm really looking forward to this! Mom and Dad, you better be serious about this happening :) How about a late birthday present then, since I won't be able to go to MLB Spring Training with you in Phoenix this March/April??

"What is UC Santa Barbara?"

Ummmm did anyone see Jeopardy! tonight?!

More specifically the Christmas-themed category, "Let's Go To Santa"? The $800 question, I believe was, "It is one of two University of California campuses that begins with the word Santa."

I would have owned that question and the Final Jeopardy question; I keep getting those bad boys right. I might consider trying out someday in my life I think.

Oh how I loved my undergrad.

You've heard of BART, so get ready for PRT

Well, I assume most people reading know that BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit, which is like our own little subway-ish system we've got out here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Watching the news tonight, I sort of learned about a new system in the works with 18 enthusiastic companies in the San Jose and Santa Cruz areas called PRT: Personal Rapit Transit. Essentially several cities in the United States have already signed on to implement this new transportation system by 2030, which would really bring the United States up to speed with the world view of the future embodied by the Jetsons' creators, by having a network of rails high above city streets, teeming with personal podcars.

Past meets future. Bit of a stretch, maybe? Though, I haven't seen that dress come into style yet. I'm still holding out.

The podcar is kind of an interesting skyway transportation system. Supposedly it's not going to make BART obsolete, yet work in a complimentary manner. The PRT is as the name suggests, personal, and is not tied to predetermined schedules or anything like that. It is a roadway like most freeways and supposedly will only cost around 4 cents a mile to ride. The idea is something like this will free up some of our dependence on foreign oil and reduce our current pollution rates.

Currently the only existing system in the world similar to this is at the West Virginia University campus. Though as I type this, London's Heathrow Airport is already constructing such a network. The only other country besides the United States and England proposing this system is Dubai.... shocking. In fact, Madagascar City in Dubai is proposing to ban all cars once the PRT system is complete. Just something to think about.

But check out the simulated street view for San Jose after the PRT system:

Because I'm done with finals and don't feel like thinking anymore

....Another photo of the day! Hard to think a year ago we were prancing around and making plans to go to Switzerland for Christmas and Paris for New Year's Eve. There is no possible way I'm going to top that this year. Maybe next...

Enjoy Bormes-les-Mimosas, France. December 24, 2007.

These are a few of my favorite things

Since it's holiday time and all, I want to share a couple of things I think are neat on the market right now.

The hp TouchSmart:




And the recycled Apple MacBook Air:

I'm thinking I might purchase a new computer in the next year (my current computer's from 2005! wow it's still working great).... these might be on my list of considerations for when the switch time comes!

It's almost 1 a.m., yay!

Brief update as to why I've been so busy lately. (And you know you're a full-time employee and grad student when the only time you have to yourself is this late into the night/early morning.)

But we did have our women's intramural basketball championship play off game tonight, which we won handily actually. That was a nice little study break.

However, most of my time is being eaten up with two major projects, though one I'arguably finished a few weeks ago. They are my current 23-page marketing and promotions proposal for a newly-created, hardly-existent summer baseball team. I'm in the process of compiling a binder that's nearly full to capacity of information. It includes 57 research surveys I asked people to fill out, detailing their thoughts on baseball marketing and how they would respond to hypothetical situations. It also includes three interviews with minor league baseball employees and the coach of the team I'm marketing for. Then there are several scholarly articles on what has worked for other minor/major league baseball teams, and finally, my 23+ page proposal on what has worked for other teams, what potential fans want to see, and what I think will work for this baseball team.

Almost there. It's due on Monday and I'd say I'm about 3/4 done. The other "project" is my research thesis. We're supposed to create a power point and present that to the Sport Sciences staff next Wednesday. I'm done with my proposal, so all I need to do is pull together a few slides, get over my fear of public speaking, and own that presentation.

And then I have a few sporadic days off throughout December to enjoy my winter break! It's going to be a lot of work here in the final push, but I say bring it on. (Oh, and I enrolled in my courses for next semester, I'm finally in my fifth year of higher education going to take a communications class. I've avoided it like the plague as much as I can, but I'm super open to this class on Public Relations because a.) it's my job so I think I have a fairly good idea about it and b.) it's cross-listed as an undergrad class, so lectures will be easy I forsee.)

More photo du jour

Chamonix/Mont Blanc, during our first real winter visit to the snow since.... gosh, high school? December 2007.

....and oh yeah, HAPPY DECEMBER everyone! This easily my favorite month :) Can't wait! We put up our Christmas tree at my parents' house, and then three days later I put up a beautiful tree with my roommates. My presents are wrapped and I'm patiently waiting for finals to be over so we can start the celebrating!

The Book Club Blogs

The image is a link, click on it to see the rules if you want in!

Book club.... how about a book blog?

So I just had this interesting idea this morning. Whether or not people latch on to it will be a different story.

But everyone knows how much I love to read, right? I know some of you enjoy reading as well. So, why not start an international, online book club??! (This is so dorky, I know, but bear with me.)

Here's my idea: We get a group of people willing to read the same book each month, pick a date every month, and then we all blog our thoughts on the book, or comment on each other's book blog entries.

I sort of searched the Internet for something like this, but came up empty-handed. So if you already know of something like this, maybe you could guide me to those sites and we could latch on to an existing blog?

Or what the hell, enough people should (hint, hint) respond to this..... then we could start our own! (I'm a big dreamer, aren't I?)

UPDATE: I'm going to try and start a webring... if I can figure it out :) Spread the word!

Celebratory Post

I just wanted to put in writing that this was the first year I did not go nuts at a family celebration. Only had three orderves, none of which had any starch. And held off on all the wine, bread, potatoes and sweets that passed me by along its route down the table.

That's really sad. But really promising. If I can hold off on Thanksgiving, I think I'm on the right track to succeeding (after about a week of falling off my diet to get my heart/blood sugar back on track)

And it sounds like everyone had a good Thanksgiving! Now there's nothing in the way to stop the Christmas madness that's just around the corner. I'm so excited!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, whether you're in the States or abroad!

This is going to be my first "English" major holiday this year. I'm kind of looking forward to it, even though I can't really eat anything. Pray for me to stay strong, hah. Because dessert and cranberry sauce are my weaknesses.

Oh and, don't let me find out that any of you woke up at 4 a.m. to go shopping tomorrow. Or I'll make fun of you for the rest of my life :)

My turn for six things!

I'm a big fan of group blogging, or tag blogging, or anything that really involves me. I like being involved.

That's why today, as requested by Andromeda, I bring you my answer to six random things you might not know about me.

Which means I am now, in turn, requesting three other people I want to hear from! So you're on deck: Michelle, Nick and Megan.

1.) In 2003, I was voted Dublin High's prom queen! That same year, I also was voted the biggest klutz in the senior mosts section. Big year for Monique!

2.) I have a boy's middle name. That's right, even though I'm French and all, I've lived in France, my dad's parents were born in France, my middle name somehow slipped through the cracks. Real quick French lesson for those of you who don't speak it: masculine words in the past tense that end in é only have one E. Feminine words end in ée. Which is why my sister's name is Aimée (French for loved). But my middle name is René (boy for reborn). Sweet!

3.) I am terribly afraid of fish. That's my biggest fear. Not like fish in a tank, because we've had fish for as long as I can remember. But fish, flopping around in the ocean. When I was at my cousins' in Boston one summer -- they live near a fishing harbor -- stunned fish that had been caught and released would kind of float to the shore every now and then. And I almost stepped on one, with huge snappers. It scared the shit out of me. I also hate the idea of accidentally slipping on one, as it swims away all scaly and gross. And just seeing a fish out of water, sucking in its last living breath through the gills, also terrifies me. So gross.

4.) I'm pretty sure that I'm double jointed in the elbows. I can flip them inside out and make it look like they're attached to my body backwards. If that's not double jointed, then I guess I'm just a freak.

5.) My life goal is to marry a baseball player. Professional I'd hope. I'm pretty boy crazy and I think baseball players (usually pitchers for some reason) are so dang attractive. Most sports don't do it for me, has to be baseball. Hopefully my boss isn't reading this and decides to fire me from working for our baseball team this year.... just kidding :)

6.) I want to travel the world, everyone knows that. But I want to do sure with fluency in several languages. It's my hope/goal (it fluctuates depending on how much effort I want to put into it) to learn Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic and/or Russian. Good luck with that.

That's it. Now you know a little more about me :)

Pas surprenant

Every now and then, I remember that I can watch the journal télévisé online. Whenever I can remember, I watch the news shows to keep practicing my French listening skills and my trivial knowledge about what's going on in Europe.

Shocking that today they're talking about the huge educational strike, resulting one absence out of every two primaire (elementary school teacher) and one of four séconde (middle-high school teacher).

That's no surprise to me whatsoever, that most French schools are closed today due to the strike. (Or I guess that was yesterday since it's 3 a.m. in France right now)

Dollars and centimes

I'm actually a little surprised at how quickly this worked.

But now that my dad is back in the States, I no longer have any need for my French bank account. Since I still have the checkbook (but somehow lost my CA ATM card), I wrote myself a check for almost the entire remaining balance. I left a little bit in there to pay the monthly assurance for my ATM card, which is lost anyways.

When I first tried to deposit the check at Bank of America, it was after work just before closing. I was told that the latest they'll do international check deposits is before 3 p.m., which sucks because I never get off work that early. But I can come in late....

So this morning I went to my bank and deposited the check. I didn't have to walk past any glass doors, didn't have to go through a security check. I didn't need to provide any proof of who I am, where I live, anything.

Yet, somehow the Euro always screws me. When I was in France, the Dollar had reached an all-time low against the Euro, so I was getting horrible USD-EUR exchange rates. Now that our economy is affecting everyone else, the Euro is dropping meaning the Dollar is getting a little stronger in the world economy. So while I could have milked it for all it was worth back in May when I was back from France, I only made 1.2 percent off my deposit today.

Now I'll need to email Credit Agricole and explain how I no longer live in France and would like to stop the monthly charges on my ATM card insurance. Thanks to logical French banking, it actually would cost me money to close out an account, but if I stop my insurance charges, I don't have to pay anything to keep it open....

New hair!

I think I go through hair cycles in my life. I don't know what to do with it and then I get bored. For the longest time, I'd straighten and fry it and that was that. Then I cut long side bangs, then it was short, middle bangs. And now I've finally been able to recreate what they do for me at the salon! It's layered in such a way that I can curl it with nothing but a hairdryer and round brush. Finally.

Chaînes françaises

So I was flipping through my parents' digital cable channels and realized that we have the capabilities to receive German, Italian and FRENCH channels! Such as TV5Monde.


And this has inspired me. It says until Nov. 30 you can get three months free.... I might have to check that out with our Comcast package here in Stockton. But if not, then perhaps I'll wait until I have my own place and order the international package!

Point A to Point B

After car browsing with my parents a few weeks ago, I've made up my mind. I want to buy the two-door Saturn Astra Xr 3:

It's pretty neat for a Saturn! And I definitely want that sweet blue color. But that's because it's not an American car at all.... Nope, it's made by the European company, Opel.

I believe this is what the German version looks like, note the emblem on the front.

sort of insomnia...

I haven't been sleeping much lately. And I haven't really been tired.

But remember how I was talking about still wanting to travel? I just found an organized school trip to Israel for the summer of 2009. It sounds really interesting and is something I know nothing about. It'd be outside of my comfort level, not a romance-langue European country (oops, just realized I wrote "language" in French. Think I'll keep it that way), and it's a language I don't even know a thing about. I've always been afraid of languages I can't figure out (i.e. Arabic, Japanese, Russian... etc.)



There are some informational meetings and I'll keep updating as I figure it out. But I've been saying for so long that I want to expand my reach and travel to foreign places. This would really classify as such a trip.

Let's hope it's not going to cost too much. However, since I'm on an "athletic scholarship" equivalent as a graduate student employee, I wonder if it could be funded for me...

You can still eat without sugar and starches

...It's just very hard. And testing my willpower.

In any event, here's a look at the menus I've been creating lately without bread, pasta, potatoes, fruit and sugar (though Splenda and sugar substitutes are allowed, or else how would I survive?!). See, they're not all just salads! And I have cheated once or twice, but for the most part I'm going strong.

Egg frittata with eggplant, squash, turkey lunch meat, broccoli and cheese

Tilapia in balsamic sauce with olives/onions, served with lentils and artichoke

Lowfat-crustless artichoke, asparagus and shrimp quiche (the difference is this is baked in the oven while the frittata is fried on the stove)

Chicken salad (minus the sandwich) “spread” with vegetable chips

Peanut butter/vanilla soy powder protein balls

Baked eggplant shells stuffed with mixed vegetables and ground turkey, topped with parmesan cheese

High-protein chili served with home-made baked “cheese crisps”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So I'm trying. And if you want any of the recipes, don't be shy!

Photo du soir

**I would have said du jour, but the day's nearly over. So photo of the evening it is!

This one comes to you from Basel, Switzerland. Taken March 21, 2008 during Easter weekend.

What a weekend!

This was one of those weekends that seemed to keep going, no matter what day it was. Friday seemed like a Saturday, and yesterday a Sunday, so today's lazy and exciting.

But I worked for the Kings on Friday night and had such a great time! I ended up keeping stats for the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves radio announcers, and they mentioned my name on the radio as the "official statistician" a number of times. However, no one really heard it, because it was broadcast in Minnesota, but whatever. Hopefully I'm developing contacts now and I can for sure put the NBA on my resume as an employer. I believe more opportunities like this are going to come up in the future, so I'll get other chances to go work for them.

My cousins live up in that area, so they were able to see me on tv often! I guess every time the camera would pan to the visiting bench, coaches, referees, I'd be on it. I was essentially sitting at the end of the visitors' bench, so I got to meet a few players and listen in on all their group huddles, etc.

(That's my very concentrated, stretched out widescreen face down in the left corner! Photo thanks to my cousin.)

One player's famous uncle, Mike Love of the BEACH BOYS! was actually sitting near me to watch his nephew play. So that was a whole range of excitement, possibly too much for one lone weekend.

Then I got to visit some friends and family from the area, all of whom I haven't seen for over a month, so that was all really relaxing and enjoyable.

Yesterday I worked our Pacific basketball games in the evening, then went out with a bunch of coworkers and assistant coaches into the early morning hours. This was a really fun weekend for me, one I've been hoping to have for a long time.

I haven't always been so sure that Stockton is the place for me to be, but little glimpses like this are making me glad I've ended up here for now. I know I won't stay long term, but I'm really starting to come into my own here. Hopefully, this continues to happen and wasn't just a one-time-accidental thing.

Only time will tell :)

Big day!

Even though I'm crazy busy (wow, I'm going to try and blog just one time without saying anything about how busy I am), work is getting better by the day!

I'm slowly collecting more and more responsibilities as time goes on. For example, today I was told I'm going to be the primary contact for baseball! Meaning I get to be in charge of the media guide. Which, really won't change that much because I was already working on baseball anyways, just not as the official SID. But now it's mine.

So that means I get men's and women's swimming, men's tennis, women's water polo and baseball all to myself.

Apparently I'll get to do some radio for women's volleyball in the near future, so I'm hoping I get better at calming my nerves on the radio. I don't know why, but it makes me so nervous!

And finally, remember how when they came to play at Pacific, I got to work for the Sacramento Kings? Well, they're playing the Minnesota Timberwolves tomorrow night and guess who will be working at ARCO Arena?

That's right, I'll be back on the Kings' media team. I would not be opposed to this becoming a regular occurrence.

On to politics (because everyone seems to have an opinion right now). I heard a lot of people saying that if Obama won the election, gas would finally start to drop. Here in Stockton it's been steadily doing so over the past month, little by little.

Today, I almost died of shock when I filled my entire gas tank for under $35!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gas here has almost fallen below the $2 threshold. I say give it another week or so and we'll be back in the $1-range.

Now that is a welcomed change. I don't know if you had anything to do with it or not, Obama, but thanks and I'm looking forward to the next four years with you.

I shouldn't be doing this...

Every now and then, I delight in travel novels. I really enjoy other peoples' writing about their travels and adventures.

Except this time, it's really getting to me. I'm currently reading Eat, Pray, Love and even though I'm only in the "eat" section, I'm reallllly getting the desire to travel. Nevermind that she left her husband and then went on this crazy life journey, I'm not even close to that level.


But I would absolutely love to work up for a few years (have to get promoted first, because it's not happening on my stipend) and save loads of money. Then, instead of buying property like most normal "adults," I want to travel for a year. Maybe more. Just living with a camera, clothes and money. I don't care where -- South America, Africa, Europe, it really doesn't matter to me.

Reflecting back on my (two) time(s) in France, my absolute favorite parts involved my significant travels. I think if it had all worked out with my roommate/living situation, maybe I'd still be over there, really coming into my own.

But before any of this happens, I need to continue learning Spanish and maybe pick up another language. That's it, I'm deciding when I'm not taking master's classes (be it summer, or when I finish), I WILL take more language classes.

And one day, I will travel. I'm going to live like a nomad and see the world.


...Anyone want in with me?

Last-minute thoughts

Today (and I only say that because it's past midnight), America goes to the polls.

If you haven't by the time you're reading this, go out there and cast your vote! Get a free Starbucks if nothing else.

But as usual, I was rather amused with the SNL Presidential Bash '08, even if I only saw the first half before leaving for my intramural basketball game at 11 p.m.

Along with many Californians, I'm really nervous about tomorrow. This is a huge potential turning point in our country I'd hate to see go to waste. But I guess even if all goes according to plan, it still might not work out how everyone wants. Nonetheless, I'm still interested to possibly witness history in the making. Wow, Stockton is turning me liberal. (Hmm, I guess it would suffice to say I've always been conservatively moderate on some things and liberal on basic human rights and other issues).

It's interesting though to see what kind of effect SNL is going to have on the polls, with McCain on last Saturday and Palin tonight (technically that was last night).

I don't know. I guess time will write the pages of this story, as always.

And that is about as political as I get. Thanks for listening and go vote!

Part 1:

Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Part 5:

Les souvenirs

On days when I have no motivation to blog (read: nothing exciting happening in my life), I'm thinking about brining back some of my favorite pictures from my year abroad. One picture a day.

So on with the show!

My arrival in Antibes, France, home for one year. View of La Baie des Anges (across from the city of Nice) at the base of Le Musée Picasso. Photo taken: 10/02/07

P.S. Work is extremely busy as always, but unusually exciting now that basketball season started today! So I'm going to be even busier and more excited/crazy. Oh and, happy daylight savings time -- enjoy today's extra hour! I sure did.

Happy Halloween!

I really can't believe one year ago I was teaching my kids about Halloween and having them simulate trick-or-treating. After four years in Santa Barbara/Isla Vista, you'd think I'd be super excited about coming back to a country that celebrates the holiday...

Well, for now I have a volleyball match to work tonight at 7 p.m., which could until as long as 10. And then who knows...

Hopefully people will be in the mood to go out after! If nothing else, my roommates are going to a frat party (goodness, I can't believe after not going ever in college, I'll be making two Greek appearances post-college), so if they're in the spirit and dressing up, I may just meet them there. I miss Halloween parties and fun spooky treats :) But I guess we can't be kids forever, huh?

Happy Halloween, everyone!

This time I'm serious.

If you've been following this blog since I was living in France, then you probably know a little about my weight and health struggles.

My big flaw -- and this has been quite cyclical over the past three years -- is a.) I lose a good amount of weight and get back to my happy high school/freshman year of college size, then b.) I live abroad and go nuts and weigh much more than I ever have before. But the food in France was so wonderful....

Neither here nor there.

Diabetes is something that runs in my family, and it's something I don't ever want to have. I've always known that I've had high triglycerides (blood sugar levels) and cholesterol. But does that stop me from making poor eating decisions? No. Knowing this, I've tried (half-heartedly) to eat better and lose weight, but that generally lasts about a week before I get bored and go back to my sugar-eating ways.

After my mom listed off to me some precursors to diabetes, all of which I had, she mentioned some concern about it. And I don't know if I'll ever get it, but I am quite at risk for the disease. This prompted me to see a doctor and get all of this checked out. Yes, in fact I am getting closer than they would like with my "out of whack" cholesterol and triglyceride levels (like you see in all those commercials). I saw a nutritionist.

What this means is that I need to very closely monitor what I am eating for a transitional period of time. Basically, I have to cut out everything bad for a few weeks and wean my body off synthetic foods and starches. When I can physically stand that and don't have thousands of nagging cravings, then I can get back into moderate levels of sugars and starches in very, very small doses.

That's where Lance Armstrong comes in. I've been tracking all of my eating habits on The Daily Plate which is part of the LIVESTRONG.com Health Network. It's really neat what you can find there.

On The Daily Plate, I can track ANY food I eat, as specific as the guiltless salmon dinner from Chilis, to a grande skim, no whip frappuccino from, you guessed it, Starbucks. There are also networks of other users in encouragement groups, recipes, health/beauty tips, you name it!

And I think it's starting to work. The difference this time is that I keep thinking, if I fall back into my old habits, there's a chance I could be priming my body for a disease later in life that could possibly be something irreversible. But I'm taking control and trying to stop that from happening.

Granted it's only been three days at this point, but I'm noticing some changes. Other than the sugar-withdrawl headaches I'm suffering through, I'm losing some weight, my clothes are a little more loose than before and overall, I just feel more energized without sugars.

Here's to keeping it up!

Blast from the past

The other day I was at home and I have NO IDEA where this came from, but I suddenly remembered the Doritos Halloween campaign from years ago.

Anyone else remember how they would put dollar halves in each of the bags with either a werewolf's, Dracula's, Frankenstein's or a mummy's face? And each dollar was assigned a specific amount, where if you found two matching halves you could win the amount marked on it??

Absolutely everyone I've spoken with about this memory has shot me down, saying I'm either crazy or on drugs.

Well, neither of those are correct. Behold:

P.S. How old does that Pepsi logo look?! Wow that takes me back. And if you'll see the fine print at the end, it was in 1991. Awesome I can remember that far back, seeing as how I was only six years old.

And all I got was this stupid sticker...

Actually, I didn't (get the sticker that is).

Ever sine I turned that magical age of 18 and have had the right to vote, I've lived beyond the realm of the Contra Costa County. So I go absentee every voting year.

I voted today. And my decisions on the ballot this year might surprise some people :)

P.S. Mom and Dad, I still want the red Sony Reader Digital Book with 100 free titles and the sweet carrying case to simulate holding an actual book, as well as protect the device. That is all.

Feelin' good

I think that the best way to blog is two glasses of red wine into the night. I think that's it for me tonight, but other than the wine party I went to with my parents on Sunday, I really haven't drank in a long time. It's so weird to be in the United States, not sipping wine in October as one year ago I was stressfully teaching and planning course lessons.

Anyways, for my first autumn back in the States, I'm getting overly excited about the array of seasonal foods. A few days ago I purchased a decent-sized butternut squash and finally got down to cooking it today.

I looked up nice fall recipes and found something for a marshmallow pecan acorn squash dish. Well, I have butternut which probably would have tasted as similar (like it matters because the whole thing was drenched in brown sugar, butter and marshmallows anyways!). I also substituted slivered almonds for pecans because that's the only nut I have in my cupboard currently. Essentially I made a rip-off Thanksgiving dinner with roasted garlic chicken, green beans and my 'mallow squash!

I have my days in the kitchen :)

And speaking of holidays.... I'm starting to get super jazzed for Christmas. Target already is loading up on Christmas decorations. So Mom and Dad if you're reading, here's what I want this year:

The Sony Reader Digital Book:

It's pretty sweet and comes with a subscription for a bunch of free titles. Though it is slightly pricey.

Which is why my only other request is a new pair of Rainbow Sandals. Size 7-8 please :) I'm kind of a fan of the chocolate brown with the thick (not skinny) straps!

Promise I'll be good this year!

<3,

Monique

Obsessed.

This is definitely my new favorite song. I've been playing it nonstop, which could pose to be problematic in the next few days.

Whatever, it's an awesome song (and I'm starting to discover/love Rise Against's new cd, Appeal to Reason):

My apologies if there's an intro commercial before the song. Push through anyways.

In the mood!!

I don't know what it is about the holiday season that tickles me so, but I'm already raring to go this year!

Maybe I'm overcompensating for the fact that I missed out on nearly every American holiday last year by living in France. Though, I am quite bummed I won't be spending my winter vacation running throughout Europe again. Tant pis!

Well Halloween is almost here and my roommates and I are going political this year. I guess because I have brown hair and the glasses, I was told I should go as Sarah Palin. Plus all my roommates are democrats, so I guess I should bring in some conservative flavor (even if I don't know who I'm voting for.... please let's not take the conversation in this direction).

And that's as political as I'm gonna get here.

Though I'm not exactly sure how much of an opportunity I'm going to have to dress up and go out this year. We have a volleyball match Friday, Oct. 31, so I'll be working until at least 10 p.m. Maybe later.

And as jumping the gun as this is, I'm ALREADY prepping myself for Christmas music! I can't wait!!! And Thanksgiving (again, volleyball tournament the next day, so it'll be a short-lived holiday), with its yummy overload and football in the background.

Christmas is just around the corner :) You can't stop it.

And we turned on our heater for the first time this morning! It was 41º this morning (nevermind that it almost hit 70 in the afternoon). But morning and night are turning in to quite the autumn affair.... I'm ready for mittens, sweaters and scarves!

SUPER exciting prospects

So thanks to a late-night email from Michelle tonight, I learned about a REALLY cool summer job prospect. I've been kind of stressing about Summer '09, because my grad assistantship is two years, but only covers the academic year. That means I kind of need to find some summer cash flow. Or be a complete mooch and have my parents pay my rent/bills -- yeah, right.

Well, the prospect is with Major League Baseball, so fingers crossed that actually works out!!! I'd die and be in heaven. Honestly.

But in other news, I'm helping out with the men's basketball media guide -- essentially I'm doing all the layout/design and player biographies. I'm really pleased with how it's turning out and this is a huge deal because men's basketball is our biggest sport here. So that's kind of a major responsibility; hopefully I'll get my name mentioned in the credits section for the design so I can show it off to future employees.

And I can tell it's fall because good old Northern California wind is howling, like it usually does. I'm actually sort of nervous about parking my car in the street, because our neighborhood is lined on both sides of the sidewalk with very large trees.

One of those trees lost about three enormous branches a few houses down thanks to gale force winds. They landed right in front of the house, off the sidewalk where someone would normally park a car. Knock on wood (ha, get it?) branches don't start launching off trees in front of my house anytime soon.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot!! I get to work an NBA GAME next week!


The Sacramento Kings are taking on the Los Angeles Clippers in our campus arena, and I'll be working media for the event. Super excited! Let's hope that I'm paying my dues now being worked to the bone so that way I can have it better off in a few short years....

Most exciting person you know...

I am that person.

Every day I wake up. Go to work. Stay late, or head out to class after work two nights a week. Some days I partake in intramural sports, but that season's almost over now. Most nights I frequent the gym. Come home by 8 or 9 p.m., make dinner with a little extra leftovers for the next day's lunch. Try to get my homework done at least four days before I have to turn it in (usually reading assignments, thesis research). If it's not too late, I'll turn on some t.v., followed by a long shower.

Then I go to bed and do it all again the next morning. And if it's a Friday-Saturday-Sunday, you can bet I'm on campus working athletic events and/or going to the gym.

My life is exhausting. And boring. So yeah, I'm still in some sort of transitionary mode right now. Hopefully it gets better :)

Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up

It was an interesting trip this weekend to say the least.

I'm not talking about from a work standpoint or anything to that nature, but more so as a trip down memory lane if you will.

Other than for Aimée's graduation in June, this was the first time I went back on campus in Santa Barbara. Then, we only hung out on the University Center grass by the lagoon. This time, I went into buildings to meet up with friends and hung around Isla Vista where all the college students live.


Classes just started two weeks ago so there was a frenzy of activity throughout the campus, with new freshmen racing their bikes throughout the bike trail to get back to their dorms and eat in the dining halls. Our volleyball match was held inside the Thunderdome and that was the first time I'd been in there since my graduation two and a half years ago!

So weird.

Especially eating lunch in IV, while my friends got pitchers and tried to recreate what once was. We all kept saying how weird it was to be there, even though all of them still live in Santa Barbara.

Now I can finally understand all the parents -- and former alumni -- who would accompany their children on the campus tours I used to give. Unless you're still a student, Santa Barbara just doesn't have the same magic it used to in my nostalgic memories.

Does that make me old?!

My job ADD continues!

You know how I'm always changing my mind about what I want to do in my future??

Well, I think I'm sort of figuring it out.

After my mini-lecture this morning, I'm getting super jazzed about the possibility of teaching/doing research at the university level. Teaching in elementary school was neat and all, especially in France, but I'm 100 percent sure it's nor for me.

And all day I've been researching post-doctoral programs online, and I'm pretty sure I've picked something that seems extremely interesting. (Warning, I may change my mind in three days on this). UC Irvine has a pretty quality-looking comparative literature program and it's kind of sweet because UCI was in my top three when I made my final decision to go to college based on my acceptance letters.

The program requires competency in two foreign languages -- hi excuse to study another language! -- and actually is more of an interdisciplinary study than anything else really. You can opt to do translation, comparing literature in different languages, MEDIA, etc. All subjects I've studied/tampered with at some point or another.

And the best part.... nearly all students can receive some sort of fellowship, tuition remission, or TAship. (Or simultaneously work in athletics???)

On verra!

P.S. I've been doing really well with the gym lately! I'm making myself get all my homework (essentially reading/research) assignments done a little early - unlike my undergraduate years! - so that I have nothing but free time when I finish work. Though that's getting later and later. Anyways, this leaves a good chunk of time for me to hit up the gym, and yesterday I forced 5 miles out of myself and ran 4 today.

It's looking good! I feel good too, so this shall continue for a while.

Where'd Monique go?

I know, I know.... sorry I haven't been posting much (Mom).

Life is getting pretty busy, what with grad school, fall and winter sports starting up and weekend tournaments/games! I've been working, going to class, eating and exercising. That's about it.

But I do get to do a mini lecture presentation to Prof. Schroeder's undergrad sports marketing class tomorrow, as one of my first big projects for his graduate-level sports marketing class. I'm kind of looking forward to it! But this is actually a neat indicator for me, because I'm still tossing around the idea of one day getting a Ph.D. and lecturing/researching at the university level. Who knows if it'd be in sport sciences, French or English lit. All sound equally exciting. Though, if I found a way to get my master's education completely funded, I'm not even thinking about post-doctoral unless I can pull off the same deal again.

Oh and, I get to travel on the team bus this weekend for my first away game road trip! The women's volleyball team is traveling to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. So I get to go back to my alma mater and do my first radio broadcast of the year! Can't wait, we leave on Thursday. So don't expect any updates on my end anytime this weekend, I'm warning you in advance.

(Click on the UCSB "listen live" link if you wanna hear me on Friday and Saturday!)

I'm getting the itch again!

Well, after the family wedding extravaganza weekend I can say that I'm back in French-speaking mode. For two straight days I found four different people who wanted to hear me speak French (because they all are native speakers).It was fun and is making me nostalgic again! But I think I keep realizing, I don't necessarily want to live in France all alone. I'd like to travel with people I know and enjoy all the world has to offer, while still coming back to California from time to time!

So this is where my revalation kicked in: My six trips to and from California/France over the past three years has racked up quite a few skymiles with Delta.

So I'm doing some research and trying to decide where I'd tentatively lik

e to go over Christmas break (maybe after Christmas until New Years-ish?).

Anyone wanna join me in .... ____________???

Haiti:

Martinique:

Costa Rica:

Brazil:

I would travel to any of these destinations in a heartbeat! So I think before I travel back to France again, I'm making it my goal to have already seen these four locations!

Hunt for the post-season

I find it very interesting that every geographical division in Major League Baseball is separated along the same lines.

For example, with only one month to go (though this could all change before then), the Chicago Cubs are sitting in first place in the National League Central Division. Their counterparts in the American League Central? How about the Chicago White Sox.

The Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim [f-ers, I still hate this classification]) have already secured a post-season berth in the AL West Division, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are not too far behind in the NL West.

But here's where things get a bit hairy. The New York Mets are in solid shape to take first place in the NL East, but the New York Yankees might actually miss out on their first post-season in as long as anyone can remember. Though, the Yanks are still in third and only a few games out of the Wild Card race.... so as much as I hate to say it, they could still make it.

But tied for first are the Boston Red Sox. Even though the Yankees-Red Sox rivarly is one of the biggest in sport, they're pretty much in a very similar geographical location.

...And I haven't watched a baseball game since before the Olympics. Maybe even the All-Star break. See how much I care?

It's about dang time!

After two years of inactivity, I'm now back in the softball world.

I joined a team with other members of our athletics staff (think, assistant coaches and alumni players) and our first game is on Tuesday.

I'm so excited and ready to get back into "semi-competitive" softball, and I've brought all my old gear (along with some new stuff) back to Stockton in preparation for what's to come.

...hopefully I'm not too rusty!

C'est le moment de vous prendre le mur

"Now's the time for you to face the wall."

Those were probably my eight favorite words when I was living in France. I'm talking about the bizarely amazing show, Le Mur Infernal. Almost as good as French Wheel of Fortune.

Anyways, a bunch of my coworkers were talking over this new Fox show earlier at work, and I thought their conversation sounded vaguely familiar. Then I realized, LE MUR INFERNAL has come to America! And my mom reminded me about it tonight. So I got to watch it for myself.

Except it's called Hole in the Wall here. And "It's time for you to face the hole," just sounds a bit more raunchy than the French version. Yikes.

Either way, they've kept most of the game intact, minus the hideously amazing French host. So watch the show for yourself. And for those of you who haven't yet been blessed by the French host, here's a little visual treat for you all. C'est parti:

Newest Design

It's still a work in progress, but here's my mental canvas (digitally realized).

Now I just need to figure out where it's going to go (and which font I like better)....