Back on that So Ill grind

Howdy y'all!

I'm back in my home-for-now state of Illinois! Yay!

Gag.

No it's not THAT bad but I did leave beautiful, sunny, warm California for negative temperatures. I'm not even joking a little bit.

My last week of break was simply superb too. Made getting on that plane really hard and then landing in a snow tundra and hearing the pilot say it was a whopping 3 degrees outside made me want to stay on it.

I'm running back to Cali!

Why was it so fantastic? Let me count the ways…the quick version since it's been awhile.

I went back to Davis! YAY!
I saw some college friends.
Went shopping with said college friends.
Went out with said college friends.
Gossiped and caught up with said college friends.
Learned how to drive a stick shift in the city. (yikes!)
Saw my best friend and her family.
Went furniture shopping with best friend and family.
My best friend made fun of me for having the nickname Cali.
Went to Disneyland!
Rode all of the rides and ate all of the mickey mouse shaped food I could find.
Went to California Adventure park!
Rode all of the rides (Cars is by far the COOLEST one! Lightening McQueen is my favorite!)
Went to the Rose Bowl Parade!
Saw Vin Scully, he was the parade marshall (the play-by-play announcer for the LA Dodgers) and yelled "Go Giants!" and kinda feared for my life as all the Dodger fans boo-ed and laughed. Worth it.
Hung out in LA and Pasadena.
Wore shorts on the first day of 2014. No one in the rest of the US can say that. Thanks polar vortex.
Spent time with my family, aunt, soon-to-be uncle and Polly the boston terrier.

It was the best week to end my winter vacation.

And I came back to a sub-zero winter wasteland…some one check me into an insane asylum, why on earth would anyone leave this…

No ice to be found.

for this…

Chicago literally covered in ice. LITERALLY COVERED.

I MUST be crazy.

But I'm back. And it was cold. Super super cold. Like I can't even describe it. Never ever have I felt NEGATIVE degrees before. Sure, it would be cold at home, I think the lowest I saw was 8. Yeah ok brrr. Nah. I'd take that 8 over -13 any day.

Needless to say, I stayed in my little apartment and only ventured out to get my over flowing mail and I regretted that decision immediately. They shouldn't have negatives, just after a certain point the weather man should just say 'Sorry folks, it's cold enough to freeze hell over and that's all you need to know.'

Geezzusss. I take back every thing I said about being cold before. Nothing can compare.

But today was a lovely 50. Wait. It went from -10 to 50 in a matter of a week???

Yep. Makes sense.

And now we just finished our 'Welcome Back' training for the rec and school starts tomorrow.

Oh boy. The fun just never stops.

To be continued!

Here are some random photos from my winter vacay. Enjoy!

One of many bike circles in Davis. You'd think after all my bike crashes I wouldn't miss riding a bike all the time but I really really do.

FRIENDS! Oh how I have missed you!! xoxo

Palm trees and Blue skies? Happy New Year indeed.

Take 1…

Take 2..

Get it TOGETHER people!

Splash Mountain Yeeeahhh!!

Fake snow in 70 degree SoCal. Ha.

Happiest place on earth to wait in lines….

My baby brother is almost a foot taller than me and I only kind of look like I'm from a 90's grunge boy band. Greaaaatt...

Whipped Dole…Heaven on Earth. 

'It's A Small World' but the line is so big you can make 4 trips to the ice cream vendor and still have your fam waiting in relatively the same spot. That song is going to be stuck in your head for hours too, it's almost not worth it.

Ok. I lied. It's worth it.

My future house.

Finally!! A decent photo of all of us!