Survived January! And sincerely enjoyed a lot of it.

All is well that ends well, and January ended on a very high note with my perfect new job. Tomorrow will be day number four on the job for me, and thus far it's going great! I'm even doing well getting up every morning at 5:45 a.m. (shocking, yes). I was lucky enough to shadow my replacement before her last day, so tomorrow will be my first day flying solo. The gal I'm replacing got hired by Scottsdale Hospital to head up their pediatrics scheduling--and they're paying for her MBA, an opportunity she couldn't pass up, thank goodness, so I could have her position at Moors! I've already submitted my approved request to HR in Boston for my study materials for series 7 and 63, so hopefully they'll get here soon so I can get to studying, take and pass my exams (the 7 only has a 50% pass rate, so I'll be studying lots), and get my pay bump! It's exciting seeing and learning so many new things at work. I told my dad on our date night Friday night (Mom was out of town, I was her stand-in), that I look forward to the day when I'll actually know what the blinking stocks, all red and green, constantly flashing, mean on my right computer screen. Right now? May as well be Greek.

Dad treated me to the Dragon Palace on Friday night (our family's favorite spot, 32nd Street & Thunderbird, yummy candied bananas, where Jeremy & Heidi had their wedding luncheon), and then he let me choose which movie to see. I, of course, chose When in Rome, and Dad was one of only like 10 men in the entire sold-out theatre. He's a trooper. We had fun, and he let me keep all the Chinese left-overs. Mom's in Utah visiting with her parents, since today Dad flew out to Indianapolis on business for the week. The movie was cute, not one I need to own or anything, but fun for the evening. I told my mom to wait for it to come out on DVD.

Speaking of movies, I'm so excited to be a member of Netflix! I researched and purchased an awesome Samsung blue ray DVD player that live streams Netflix movies and Pandora music. I love it! I'm on the $8.99/month plan with Netflix, which means that I get one dvd out at a time (unlimited) and unlimited live-streaming movies via the Internet. I was sick of watching the movies on my computer, so checked out the Internet-connected DVD players (http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyDevices?lnkctr=mf_nfrd&lnkce=nrd-ofm&lnkceData=17&lnkce=ftrlnk&trkid=921401) and took my list to Best Buy and wouldn't you know it? They had an open-box special, so what would have been a $250 unit cost me only $100. It was my treat to myself for getting $1100 back from the Feds on my taxes. The blessings of only working four months in 2009, haha. Turbotax.com, p.s., is awesome. Makes filing taxes a cakewalk. I was so proud of myself for setting my Netflix all up, I took a picture of my TV with my instant queue.

It's super easy. I recommend the blue ray live-streaming player to everybody.

I am loving my family ward. I was a member of it three years ago, for a mere two months. I left to join the single's ward because I hated being the Activity's Director. Wicked girl. I know. Well, that and all my mom wanted for Christmas was for me to once again join the ranks of LDS singles in the valley by transferring my records out of the family ward. Anyhow, now that I'm not the Activity's Director, I'm really enjoying the ward family. I've joined our ward choir, and I've made FRIENDS! I'm so lame, but I was really worried I wouldn't make any friends, since I'm unmarried and childless, why would people who frequent play group every week with their kids want to hang out for fun with me? I was so excited, therefore, when Mary Ann Mackey, SUPER cute girl, invited me to be part of her cool crowd. Once a month, she and a group of stellar gals in the ward eat out at a foreign restaurant. January's theme was Mediterranean, so we ate at the Gyro House on 32nd Street & Shea. February we'll be eating at the Black Forest Mill (right down the street from my house), a German restaurant I've been wanting to try but for some reason have never gotten around to it. My best friend from high school, Amber, married an honest-to-goodness German man (as in born and reared there), and they adore the Black Forest Mill. http://www.bfmrestaurant.com/ I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Anyhow, it means the world to me that these girls have accepted me and invite me to do things with them. One of the girls, Lianna, is single, my age, and lives on my street! I'm begging her to buy a bike so we can go on fun bike rides through the neighborhood and/or along the canal together. I haven't yet convinced her, but she's already invited me to go hiking with her. She's in my ward, is an ORANGE personality (i.e., crazy fun, game for anything exciting), and literally lives a two minute walk from my condo. She was driving by and saw me walking Angel today after Church and pulled over to say hey. I feel like I'm in the fourth grade again, with a new neighborhood friend to play with!

So yay for friends! And thank you to married women with children who actually want a twice-divorced, childless woman to associate with them outside of Church. I'm elated to be a part of the girls' night out dinner club.

Here we all are after eating at the Gyro House.

My friend Kiersten had her birthday last week. She invited me over for her family dinner & cake celebration, but I threw out my back so I couldn't go. (First-time ever throwing it out, how lame am I? Does this mean I'm getting old?) My dad went with me last Saturday to pick up a sweet Schwinn beach cruiser I found on Craigslist (I never go alone to pick stuff up, so I always make my Dad go with me for safety; not to be paranoid or anything, but my mom didn't raise idiots: personal safety first). Anyhow, it was POURING rain and I didn't want my new bike to be out in the torrential Phoenix downpour, so I carried it up my stairs to my condo. In the process, I literally threw out my back. As in I couldn't breathe, and it felt like daggers were lodged in my left lung. I majorly pulled something, goodness knows what. I even missed Church last week because of it; I couldn't get out of bed without wanting to scream in pain (which I didn't do, as that would have made my left lung hurt more). So, long story short, I felt so bad for missing Kiersten's celebratory birthday dinner that I invited myself over the next night to hang out with her (no shame, yes, I invited myself over to her house). So she had me help her tie a quilt; it was my first time ever tying, but it was fun. She made it for the Church Humanitarian effort. Yes, it made my back ever worse, so on Tuesday I was out all day again. Go figure, I get hurt, then I over-do it again the second I feel I'm on the mend (I get major cabin fever). I'm proud to report that my back is now 100%. And I'm proud of Kiersten for being so service-oriented. She's always doing things for other people. She owns a truck, so every other weekend (it seems) she's helping somebody move. She also makes like two quilts a month, and bakes up a storm all the time for others (literally, if she senses that you're even the least bit sad, she'll bake you a cake). She makes a wicked good chocolate cake. Thank you, Kiersten, for teaching me through your example what it is to serve selflessly. And Happy Birthday January 21!

Oops, the pictures are out of order. Here's Kiersten cutting the edges off.

Me tying.

Kiersten's so into quilting, she actually owns the quilt stand (whatever it's called). I'm very impressed.

Speaking of birthdays, Dad turned the big 61 on the 27th. To celebrate we went to Padre's on 10th Street & Camelback (yummmmm). Jason treated us all to the meal and dessert (fried ice cream and triple layer chocolate cake), and Dad was happy with his gifts: GI Joe from me, Terminator Salvation from the Horejs, complete with Oreo Cookies and Diet Dr. Pepper. We always get Dad boy movies for his birthday. It helps offset all the BBC classics we buy for Mom.

The end of our delicious meal. It STUNK that Heidi couldn't be there with us. She, unfortunately, had a paper due the next morning so was home typing away. We missed you Hides! Thanks, again, Jason & Carrie for treating us all to the delicious meal & dessert.

Mikell had a math night with her school on the 28th. Because Jason was at Art Walk, Carrie couldn't take Mikell, what with the other three kids, so Mikell suggested I stand-in as her mom for the evening. I was over-the-moon flattered that Mikell would want me to take her to her math night. We had a ton of fun. The event was held in her school's cafeteria, and Mikell was brilliant playing all the math games. She beat me every time! Isn't she precious? I can't believe she'll be turning double digits March 5. Ten years old already?! How is that possible? You can also see the "after" of her haircut in the math night pictures. When Carrie and Jason were in North Carolina, I took Maddy and Mikell to get their hair cut. Maddy, who's two, was such a good little girl. She didn't cry or move an inch while getting her hair cut. I adore my nieces and nephews. I'm so in love with them. And I'm very lucky and blessed that they all live right here in Phoenix so I can see them all the time. Mikell, by the way? Had an astounding eight inches chopped off her hair. She said she wanted it short and sassy, so short and sassy is what she got! Talk about a girl who knows what she wants.

Notice Mikell's paper says "WINNER!" She's wonderful.

This game was Mikell's favorite. We were making hexagons with blocks.

Mikell! She's so tiny and adorable. People thought she was in first grade, she's so small.

To celebrate Mikell's math wins, we went to McDonald's for Happy Meals. Here I am with the happy meal toy: a stuffed dog. Notice, ps, my non-bitten off finger nails. I'm doing super well. Haven't bitten them at all since December 31. New Year's Resolutions in action. Didn't Mikell do a super job taking this picture?

My little cutie with her chicken nuggets. And her short hair!

Mikell bravely getting her hair chopped off. She adores it, and so do I! It's stacked in the back, super cute.

Sweet little Maddy, so well-behaved.

Adorable.