New address!

Hello everyone!

I moved to a new apartment! The address is:

2406 I Street
Sacramento CA 95816

I hope this post finds everyone happy and healthy!

I will be home for Thanksgiving Nov 25-29 and then off to Disney with the Dobkins family the following week.

Phone Woes

My cell phone decided to go for a swim in some Sacramento river water on Saturday, so needless to say, it has passed on to Cellular Heaven. It's sad...and I'll let you know when I have a new one...or a new number. If you need to get a hold of me before then, email me at this address or call Kyle at 217-377-2802. He lives the closest and can get to me if need be. My work number is 916-554-1653.

Now, having lost EVERY number, I can get rid of the phone number of the mom of my elementary school boyfriend. : ) Okay, it probably wasn't that bad, but there were some on there that I know I never used or could possibly need.

If I had your number once, and you want me to possibly have it again, shoot me an email with it.

I feel so isolated and alone without the company of my celly...

Friends...

Making friends was very important to my 'survival' out here in CA. Fortunately, a couple girls that I work with found me to be fun and interesting, so they've agreed to hang out with me outside of work on the condition that I... Okay, just kidding. I do have friends and their friendship is unconditional. : )

You saw Meghan in a previous post...and here's Jenn (she's such a sweetheart!):

This was take at a wine bar in Midtown (trendy grid of lofts, shops, bars, and restaurants in Sacramento) called 58 Degrees.

Mac and Julian coming to vist!

MacKenzie and her boyfriend, Julian, will be visiting me next week. They get in on Tuesday night and leave the following Wednesday. I think we'll try to drive to Santa Cruz or Monterey for the weekend. : )

It'll be nice to have them around and I hope they enjoy the vacation!

13.1 miles?

Yes, as most of you are aware, I did something pretty crazy this past Sunday.



Back in March of this year, a few friends of mine from work signed up for the San Francisco Marathon, wanting to run the first half of it (13.1 miles). I thought this was insane, but decided to sign up, too. We had plenty of time to train becuase the race wasn't for another 5 months and managed to run at least 3-4 times a week, training...that is, until June when vacations started and running wasn't something we wanted to do while in, say, Costa Rica (which, I did run on the beach one of the 6 mornings!). After June, we lost most of what we had accomplished in the past months of training, but we managed to jump back on the wagon and we were up to almost 8-mile runs by a couple weeks prior to the race.



Grace, Meghan, Meghan's husband, Peter, and I all piled in the car on Saturday afternoon to head out for SF in order to pick up our 'packets' on the day prior to the race. We got hotel rooms and loaded up on some carbs that night--something that you're supposed to do, I guess.



The next morning, we got up at about 5am and were downstairs to catch a cab to the starting line by 5:20. Our start-time, according to how long we thought we would run the half-marathon in, was 6:25am.



It was still dark out at that time and the temperature was about 55degrees--cold to us at first, but we all knew that we didn't want to have too much clothing on because the sweat would start rolling very soon.



We started out very slowly--probably a 13-minute mile pace--knowing that 13.1 miles was a lot more than our 8 that we would run once in awhile just to see if we could. After a few miles, we picked it up a little and then the hills set in! Imagine that! Hills in SF! : )



Our path led us over the Golden Gate and back, which was 'hecka' cool! ('Hecka' and 'Hella' are a Nor-Cal thing..haha!) They shut down two lanes of traffic to accommodate the 12,000 people in the race. There were water stations scattered throughout and I think we only stopped at two of them...one was my excuse to walk a bit, as I was having trouble recovering from the last hill, which Meghan had to pull at my shirt one time to keep me from stopping. She couldn't say no to my plea (excuse) for water, though! Hehe...



Altogether, I think I only walked about 45 seconds of the full 13.1 miles! That still amazes me... After the bridge, we hit a huge downhill and did some catching up on our time. Thinking that this was great, we had no idea what was to come. Our last few miles were nothing but up-hill killers! It never really went flat enough or flat enough for long enough to allow for recovery, so I was dying and ready to throw-up at any minute. Oh!...just thinking about it now makes me cringe.



Anyhow, we made it and managed to get a time of 2 hours and 25 minutes. That was exactly what we thought it would be and turns out to be an 11:11 minute mile. That doesn't sound that great, but next time I'll do better! (Yes, I hope to run another in the coming months!)



After the race, they gave us space blankets, food (bread, bananas, gatorade), and a medal. : )



Here are some pics that Peter (the best cheerleader anyone could hope for!) captured of our fantastic, memorable experience:

This picture is of Grace (left), Meghan, and I the day before the race--getting our packets.

This was the morning of the race, putting on our numbers.

the Bay bridge in the background:

See me with my hand up in the air? This was at the very start of the race.

Of course, Peter couldn't be anywhere but the beginning and the end, so this was taken after 13 miles...exhausted! Notice that my feet are pretty much both touching the ground? Well, its weird, but EVERY picture shows the same--do I ever increase my stride? : ) I'm smiling, but its all for show...I was ready to be done after the hills I just encountered!

Here, we're finally done and freezing because we were drenched in sweat and the temp was still about 60degrees with a slight wind.

This picture is more like how we felt, but honestly, its probably a little worse. I was very, very sore and tired!

All in all, a good experience was had by all and I think that we will all keep running two or three times a week and maybe do some 10K's when we can.

If you want more pics, see the following link: http://www.marathonfoto.com/index.cfm?RaceOID=27892008M1&LastName=EDWARDS&BibNumber=17238&Mailing=16254

Don't forget to notice the feet--both on the ground...weird!

New Links

I added a couple new links to the "Links You Should Check Out" portion of this blog. One is called Spoofee, and it is a listing of really good deals in the online marketplace. For example, they have coupons for Joanne's, listings of hard drives that are on sale for a really good price. They have free offers, like one that I took advantage of was for a free razor (the kind you use to shave your legs...hehe). You should definitely check this one out if you are always looking for a 'good deal.'

Another one I added was a link to the Boston Globe's "Big Picture" blog. Every couple days, a new set of pictures is posted. They are amazing and likely the kind you see in National Geographic sometimes. It's just neat and one of the sites a visit on a daily basis--along with my bank account website in Missouri where I'm awaiting a fat deposit from the Dutch government of my tax overpayment from last year!

If you haven't been to the PostSecret site that I've listed there from the beginning of my blog, you should click on that one, as well. It is updated with new secrets every Sunday afternoon.

Check them out! You won't be disappointed! : )

Visit from parents and the sister...

My parents and sister came to visit me a few weeks ago in the big state of California. It was nice to see them and to be the host for the week in my apartment. This is the first time they had seen it.

They hung out at my apartment, laying by the pool and just relaxing, for a couple days while I worked. I got to take off Friday and although we didn't make it to San Francisco (it was cold and rainy), we had a good time One night we treked up to Tahoe for the evening. We did a little sightseeing, ate lots of crab legs at the Harrah's buffet, and gambled away our life savings. Okay, no losing of the life savings...and actually, I think we all came out about even.




Dadd and Mac had to leave on Monday morning, but Mom got to stay until Friday. : ) We had a good time just hanging out...and best of all, she had my house clean and my laundry done by the time I got home from work. hehe... Okay, just kidding again,...it was great having her around and I'm looking forward to everyone's next visit!

Speaking of next visit, MacKenzie and Julian are arriving in Sacramento a week from tomorrow! I think we will make one big trip to Monterray or Santa Cruz and then they might possibly go to SF for the day. Other than that, they are on their own! I, unfortunately, have to work. There's lots to do around here, so once I show them what there is, I'm sure they won't be bored. (hopefully!!)

I hope everyone is doing well and thanks for checking this blog for the updates. I know that I am not very good at it these days.

I have vistors!

I'm sooo excited that my family is coming to visit me. Mom, Dadd, and Mac are flying in on Wednesday and we're going to do a little sightseeing while they're here. Luckily, the smoke has cleared a bit and the temperature has gone down about 10degrees. That should make the experience a little more enjoyable. I'll post pics and details later.

Costa Rica!

To celebrate Kyle's sister's graduation (Masters), their parents arranged for a week for family and friends in Costa Rica!!!



We stayed at a house on the Playa del Coco beach that belonged to the parents of Kyle's cousin's husband. Follow that? : ) We also had another house a few doors down the beach for the rest of the gang. I think there were 15 of us altogether.


Armed with sunblock, bugspray, and our bathing suits, we enjoyed a fabulous week of sun, great food, and a few cervezas here and there!



Enjoy the pictures! I sure have.

This was the kitchen area of the house we stayed at. Notice the vibrant colors--I loved it! Kyle's cousin, Angie, and the maid, Doris, spent a ton of time in there cooking up some typical Costa Rican cuisine. One staple of every meal is Gallo pinto. It's just simply rice and black beans mixed together. I had it with every meal--yes, even for breakfast. Yummm..... I looked up the recipe and plan on making a big pot of it here in Cali!

This is a view from the house, into the backyard, and to the beach. We couldn't be any closer!

Another view from the backyard,...to the left. The plants there were gorgeous.

...and this is a view to the right. The tide was in pretty far when I took this picture. It goes down a lot farther in the morning.

Costa Rica is home to a lot of stray dogs that wander the streets and the beach. You see in the picture that this dog is all skin and bones. They all were.... It was sad to see the state they were in, but like I heard, "Hell, they live on the beach, lay in the sun, and swim in the ocean every day. How hard a life do you think they have?" This dog 'belonged' to the house's caretaker (I'm not sure what belong means...but...) and was around the house a lot.

I mentioned the maid earlier and the caretaker just now. If you make a decent living in Costa Rica, the first thing you do is get a maid. They are fairly cheap, I guess. The maid in our house would come there every day and make the beds, empty the trash cans, sweep and mop the floors, and cook if we wanted her to.

The caretaker lives in a very small house (one bedroom place) in the front of the house they take care of and watches over the place at all times. They open the gate whenever you come and go, take care of any alarms that go off, and do the outside yard and house maintenance...among other things.

One morning, we set out to see the active Arenal volcano and the surrounding Arenal lake. We all piled in a 15 passenger van and rode for almost 5 hours until we reached our gorgeous accomodations!

This is a view of the front...

...and this is a view from our sliding glass door that leads to the porch. Lovely, huh? The view was incredible!

We got this clear view at 6am one morning as we set out to go zip-lining. Riding as much as 600 meters above the jungle floor, we 'zipped' through the trees. It was a thrilling ride!

...and, my favorite picture of the week....

This was the sunset on the first night we were there at the house. Needless to say, I was very impressed! We had a few more great sunsets throughout the week, but this was the best.

After being around the spanish language for only a week, I truly fell in love with it. Right now, I have a true passion to throw myself into it and learn it fluently. It's hard to explain, but its filled me so seriously that I'm ready to enroll myself in some two-week, all-intensive course... : )

Thank you Kyle, Laura, and Dick for inviting me to spend time with you and your family and friends. I had such an amazing time relaxing, eating, drinking, and just hanging out!

Here is a link to Laura's pictures--she has a more comprehensive overview of the trip with little comments that go quite nicely: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaNmjJizaOGL2A&emid=sharview&linkid=link5

Here is a link to the pictures that Kyle and I took: http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=646111215841565601/l=402634185/g=29565321/cobrandOid=1000281/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Trips home!

I will be flying home for Lynsey's bridal shower and bachelorette party on April 19. Should be a good time!

Also, I will be flying home on May 12 for the week and the following weekend. Kyle will be joining me for the weekend.

Just a head's up to everyone as to when I will be gracing you with my presence!!!! : ) hehe...just kidding.

I hope all is well with everyone!

2 down, 2 to go!

I passed the Regulation section of the CPA exam!!!!!

For those of you who don't know about the CPA exam, I'll give you a little blurp about it. It consists of four parts and the new rules allow them to be taken separately. The parts tend to be anywhere from 3-5 hours long and are HELL to sit through!! It's just a ton of information to learn/memorize and school obviously didn't prepare me for 75% of it! I've heard people compare it to the Bar exam for lawyers. Auntie Angela, you probably could give your two cents on the exams and their difficulty....although, when you took it, you had to take all four parts in two consecutive days. Now that would be HELL!

Well, I've passed two of the parts and I'm studying for the third right now. On top of working 12-14 hours a day, I have to come home and attempt to get through my $3,000 prep program (Becker)! Yes, three thousand dollars, and yes, KPMG has reimbursed me for this--thank goodness!

Anyway, its one more thing off my shoulders!

Another exciting thing going on is the fact that I am moving into my apartment on Saturday. It's only 3 blocks away from Kyle's house--he just can't get rid of me! : )

Once I get the keys, I'll take some pictures of the empty dwelling. I will get furniture a little at a time and then take more pics to show you.

Busy, busy!

Monday is the start of busy-season for me at work. I have been told that the dreaded "Minimum 55-hour work week" email will be coming this week. Oh how I love being an accountant!

Also, my next CPA exam (Regulation section) is on the 28th. I'm supposed to be studying for it at the moment, but I decided to get in a quick post to everyone so that you will feel sorry for me. haha......No, really.... : )

Oh yeah, it's 70degrees here today. I'm going for a bike ride later with some friends so that I can enjoy it before the rain heads in next week!

I hope everyone is well and not working too hard.

I got flowers!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

FYI

I will be coming home to Buckner this coming weekend (Feb 1-Feb 4).

Work Life

I work at KPMG in downtown Sacramento as a Tax Associate and instead of driving in crazy traffic, I take the Lightrail train. It's a 45 minute ride and lets me off about 3 blocks from the office. So far, I don't mind it, but I would really enjoy driving myself. Unfortunately, my decision to forgo buying a hybrid and get the gas-guzzler V6 instead has left me with no choice. : )...but its such a pretty car, though, right?!

Anyway, its a really great job and I'm so glad that there are a ton of young people like myself there. I was just saying to Aunt Angela that KPMG should send Parker Swearngin a check for the knowledge I obtained from them that I'm utilizing at my new job. She agrees.

I've been assigned a 'buddy' to help my transition to working for the firm...and she is great! She also lives in Folsom, so we usually meet and ride together.

The only picture I have taken that I can contribute to this post is the following:

This is the cube of someone at work whose birthday happened to be known by all. See all the posti-its?...and the little confetti (from a hole-punch)?? I don't think this complies with the new 'going green' policy. Supposedly, this guy has to keep the decorations up until someone else has a birthday. Yikes. Fun, though!

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that I spent a week in Chicago attending Tax Fundamentals training. I will try to get some pictures from some colleagues.

The Big Move and The First Week

After deciding to fly to Sacramento instead of drive, I packed as many suitcases as Southwest would let my parents and I check. This is the result:

NINE SUITCASES!!!! Crazy, huh? Yes, and that's what Kyle thought when I finally showed him how many there were.

Getting the suitcases in the Explorer and then the rental car was an adventure in and of itself. Then, trying to get all of the clothing from the suitcases into Kyle's closet and the 4 drawers I had him clear for me was an uphill battle. After many hours and 120 hangers later, I'm finally settled in.

Mom, Dad, Kyle, and I hung out at Kyle's place over the next few days and did some 'move Courtney to CA' stuff. First on the list was: GET A CAR. Since we decided to fly, I didn't have a car here to use and was actually going to get a new one anyway. So, this way, Mac could have my red Saturn to use as her own (after a small payment from the 'rents).

We went to the Saturn dealership first.....and.....after 8 or 9 hours, we finally left. It was probably the longest day I've ever had. I was ready to pay whatever they wanted for the dang car! In the end, I got the perfect vehicle!!!! It's a 2008 black Saturn Vue AWD. Beautiful!

Next on my list was: Insurance. Geico. Done. : )

My first drive into the city to stop by work was quite eventful. The huge storms that rolled through California didn't suit very well with drivers here and all hell broke loose on the roads. On my 30 minute drive to the city, I saw 5 wrecks causing traffic problems. Here, it just rains, but the reaction is the same as snow in MO. So, while driving down the highway--going about 55mph--a truck lost control 3 lanes over from me and ended up flying in front of the car next to me, my car, and then slamming into the median. It was very scary and I think that the truck missed hitting my car by inches!

Because of all the rain, it didn't seem like cliche California--not so sunny. Mom and Dadd will have to come back soon to see the sun!

My work had an outing to Lake Tahoe to go skiing planned for my first day of work, so most everyone in the office would be gone...so my boss decided to invite me. Yeah! KPMG gave everyone a room for the night at Embassy Suites and also two ski lift tickets at Heavenly. Since mom and dadd were out to see me the week before, I convinced them to stay a couple more to go to Tahoe. I'm sure all of you have heard how this went. : ) Needless to say, we all (excluding Kyle) were a little out of shape and it took its toll on our bodies. I think Mom was sore for weeks.