The Death Star

Today I went to my hospital orientation at IMC aka the Death Star. I can see why it is named that now... I mean I always knew that it was big, but it is a HUGE mass of confusing building. It took me 15 minutes to figure out where I needed to go, but I eventually found it. There was this one point when a group of us went down to HR to find where to get our badges. When we got back, we took a detour up the wrong stairs and we accidentally walked into a doctors office. It was so strange! We had to walk through the office to get to where we needed to go. I can't believe that the stairs actually lead us there. Pretty weird.

Later, I went to the cafeteria. The food is actually really good. I had their chicken wrap. Yum! I'm sure over the next 2 months I will get acquainted pretty well with the hospital... at least the women's center and floors 8-12 of the patient tower.

California

So last week I went on my first road trip...unsupervised. I know, I know. Is the world really ready for Katherine to be unattended to?? It better! It was one of the best experiences I've had so far. I'm glad I took the time to go.

It was just me and my friend Dixie and we drove to Los Angeles. I know at first my mom was really scared of me going because she's heard about things in LA, but I finally convinced her that I would be okay...even though I know she probably was still worried (Mothers...always worrying, I think it is a part of the job description). It was about a 10 hour drive.

Our first day we went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and I met Yoda, Flash, and Freddy. Jason was too busy being a creeper in the corner staring menacingly at everyone. We walked around to all of the different places to shop around there and then we left and went to the Santa Monica beach. One of the reasons I choose to go on a road trip to California was because of the beach. I LOVE the beach. I fell in love with it last year in the Philippines and I really wish that I lived by a beach, but I guess the scenic mountain views will have to do for now. :)

The next day, we went to Universal Studios. It was better than I expected it to be. We got to go on all of the rides! I didn't think that we would be able to. I thought we would have to wait for at least 30 minutes for every ride, but I guess we came at a good time because it's not summertime yet. My favorite rides were the Mummy and Jurassic park. We also went on the tour ride of the studios they give. It was really awesome to see the sets of Psycho, Jaws, and Desperate Housewives.

The next day we went to Knott's Berry farm. It was so exciting. There were not huge lines. Actually the lines were even shorter than Lagoon. I was really surprised. Their rides were so intense. You go backwards, forwards, upside down...everywhere! I enjoyed it. I kind of got nauseous which is something that I usually don't get at amusement parks, but it was still a great experience.

Our last day, we met up with Dixie's cousins and drove to Oxnard to go shopping and eat crabs. Man those crabs were tasty! The restaurant is right next to a dock and they really have the freshest seafood. The crabs were alive. You go and pick whichever crab you want to eat and they cook it for you. My crab was only $9. Can't get that at the Red Lobster here! It was delicious and met every expectation. It was definitely one of the highlights from the trip.

One thing that I noticed (how could I not?) was the way Californians drive. Aggressive. I mean you have to be or you will never get anywhere. If you want to change lanes, you have to cut the person off. You force them to let you in, otherwise you will miss your exit! Also, with Utah there are basically set gridlock hours like 7am-9am and 5pm-6pm. In LA, there is traffic all of the time! I guess except at night around 9pm-6am. It seemed that anytime we drove during the day, the roads were always congested at some point. If I have one piece of advice (it's kind of a common sense piece of advice, but I will give it anyway) DO NOT drive on the LA freeways at 5pm. Don't do it!! We did it (of course). When we were finished with Knott's, it was about 5 and we weren't really thinking, so we drove back to our hotel. It literally took us 2 hours. 2! And I was the unlucky one that had to drive. It was horrible. Being back in Utah, I am eternally grateful for the relatively empty roads. The traffic here really isn't that bad. There might be a 10 minute delay, but it's better than an hour and a half delay. Now when I'm stuck in traffic, I'll think back to LA and just keep my lips shut.

I enjoyed California and hope to go back soon, but I'm also glad to be back home with everyone I love, the Utah traffic, and even the Wasatch Mountains. So I guess it's back to the drawing board to plan my next road trip! Where will I go next?

There are also more pictures on my Facebook if you want to check em out

Lush

I found this really awesome store when I went to California. It's called Lush. It's this really cool place that uses organic ingredients in all of their products. Their products are mainly soaps, shampoos, and lotions. I remember first going into the store and they have this soap and it looks seriously like a bar of dark delicious chocolate. Another product they have looks like they stole a honey comb and put it into their display window.

I've been looking for a good facial mask to use. I bought mask of Magnaminty, so I'm trying it out. I actually just bought some more products over the internet, because Utah is LAME and doesn't have many stores. ha.

I'll admit, this isn't the first time I have seen a Lush store. I think when I went to Vancouver a few years ago there was one. But I was naive then and didn't really care about my skin, so pssh. So now I've been trying to use organic or natural stuff for my face because my face cries when I use chemicals. I want to try to solve my dry skin and acne problems the natural way. And because Aurora is an advocate for the organic. She works at Whole Foods so she's legit! For months she has been talking about organic stuff and how it's better for you. It's really true, so I'm starting out with facial cleansers and moisturizers. We'll see how it goes!

Paramore/Relient K

Last Monday me, Tyler, Hudson, Jill, Travis, and Jordan went to the long awaited Paramore/Relient K concert. We were literally THE first people to purchase our tickets. We bought the tickets in February as soon as they were available. Me and Tyler have always wanted to go to a Paramore and Relient K concert, so the combo was perfect. This was my first concert with floor tickets and it was AMAZING. The band Fun opened. They were pretty good. Tyler put it the best way in saying that it was classic rockish. My favorite band in the world is Relient K. They played my favorite song (Be My Escape). Matt (the lead singer) had long curly hair. On of of Fun's songs, he played the trumpet for them. Paramore was great! Hailey interacted really well with the crowd. She tried to get everyone to stand up because some people are lame and sit down at rock concerts. They played all of my favorite songs like CrushCrushCrush and Ignorance. Of course they played The Only Exception and everyone had their cell phones out. It's kind of their only love song I've noticed.

I love floor seats. They are so fun. Everyone is jumping around. It gets really hot and I did have some sweat drip down my face. I think that I did lose some of my hearing that night, but it was worth it!

Anyway, it was better than the Blink 182 concert last year. At least if I ever bring up this concert to Tyler, he won't complain about it....