Storm before the calm.

Ok, ok ok. Before you all start laughing, pointing fingers and yelling at me about how I never get my idioms right (because, let's face it, I really never do, just ask my close friends), let me explain!

I've found that in my life, the phrase, "calm before the storm", never applies to me. It's always, "storm before the calm."
Take for instance my major in college.  Actually that's a really long story in itself, so I won't delve into that, but basically what happened is that there was a lot of turmoil, tension, and tears before it got better and I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. If you really really want to know the story...you'll have to ask me later

Anyway, back to the story.

As you all know, or the ones that read about the beautiful week from hell (see post below), I was NOT having a good weekend (well, besides the fact that Kelsey and David got married and it was a beautiful wedding). It was a series of unfortunate events, really.

Well, needless to say, it got extremely better in a matter of a few days. And a few unexpected surprises came with it.

We must back up to a year ago when I was...well....figuring out my life. Ok, so I guess you'll hear at least part of my life story. Haha.

After my horrible, but life-changing summer, where I was compelled to change majors but was still not sure what was going to happen, Pastor Joedy Melashenko, the director of Youth Ministries at the Quiet Hour Ministries (wow, that's a mouthful), whom I was privileged to go on a mission trip with to Fiji the summer of '09, emailed a bunch of us inviting us to go to Tonga on a mission trip the next summer (Summer '12).
Ok. Tonga. Mission trip. I mean, who wouldn't want to go?
So I emailed Pastor Joedy back telling him I couldn't give him a definite "yes" yet b/c I wasn't sure where I was going to be in the summer, but that I would seriously consider it. About a month later I talked to him on the phone and told him I wanted to "step out in faith and say that I'm going to go regardless of my school situation b/c I feel I need to go on this trip." Ok, two things.
1. Because of my major at the time (Medical Laboratory Science), this summer I was supposed to be up at Andrews University doing my clinicals ALL summer long. 
2. I felt a really strong calling to go on this mission trip that I couldn't explain.

 So I signed up. Mind you, this is like...October of 2011. I was super excited to be going into the unknown. 

Fast forward a few months. 

My mom called me and told me that Auntie Beth and Baby were going to be staying with us for a good portion of the summer and wanted make sure I would be home to take them around. Yeah, of course I could take them around. Wait. But I'm going to be in Tonga. Houston, we have a problem. 
Long conversation short, I made a decision to forget about Tonga and stay at home to be with my relatives, b/c I love them and they've done so much for me. It just seemed fair and right for me to do so. It was a struggle, let me tell you. I prayed a lot about it, and asked for advice from a bunch of people too.
Well, truth be told, Tonga stayed in the back of my mind afterwards. I told God, "If You want me to go on that mission trip, make it happen. If not, I'll live."

A month or two later, my housemate, Shauna, was going through one of her mid-life crisis about what she was going to do with her life and such that summer. So I jokingly mentioned to her that we should go together to Tonga and she actually considered it. So much so that I started getting excited and called up Pastor Joedy. 
Yeah, false alarm. She ended up deciding to go to Japan and Korea with her family. Which, I kind of don't blame her for doing.(But, now I kinda do, so Shauna, I really really wish you weren't over there right now.)

Anyway. 

Plans kept on changing at the last minute for us (my family is REALLY good at doing that for some frustrating reason). We were supposed to go to Alaska after Hawaii, but there wasn't enough time to get Baby a visa from the time school ended for her to us leaving for Hawaii. So we decided to go after Kelsey's wedding. 

Side note: The three of us, Auntie Beth, Baby, and I all have passports from different countries.

Well, as you read (or didn't read) the fiasco about her not being able to get a visa at not only DC, but also NY as well (they told the last three people in line that they had to come back the next day b/c the embassy had reached its limit for the day and they were part of that last three), it ended up that there was no more availability for the Alaskan and Canadian land tour. Since we had had so much problem with that, we decided that we were NOT meant to go to Alaska and Canada at all!

So we had to look at other places to go. Baby voted for Europe, but that got nixed pretty quickly as we found out that Auntie Beth must get a visa to Europe in the country that she holds a passport in. Well, that was NOT happening since she would have to go to the other side of the world. 

Back to square one. 

I told my cousin (the one that has been acting as our travel agent of sorts) that we needed to find a country that we ALL could go to without a visa. 
The three countries she came up with were Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Peru. Ok, cool. DR didn't have any tours at the time, so she looked up Peru. There was a tour that included going to the Amazon in Brazil. Perfect. I've always wanted to go there. Oh, just kidding. I need a visa to go to Brazil. Seriously?!! 

Around this time we were all about to pull our hair out. Three countries and at least one of us needed a visa for that country. Something or Someone was working hard against us. I kept on praying, "God, if You want me to go on this mission trip, Your will be done...but they're leaving in a week, so You're going to have to work fast." I'm pretty sure God was chuckling at me at this point.
A good family friend of ours called that weekend and asked me what I was doing this summer and then asked me why I wasn't going on the mission trip when I told him I was going to be traveling with my family. He then asked me if I knew if that was what God wanted. At that point I wasn't so sure so I told him, "I think so." He said to me, " 'I think so' is NOT a good enough answer. You should know whether or not this is God's will." Hah. Food for thought.

So the last country that we were going to try was Costa Rica. So on Tuesday, my cousin requested availability for a tour there and we all waited. 
Meanwhile, the day before, on Monday, I had received an email from Quiet Hour saying:

Dear Tonga mission trip participants,

Just a few items before you go to Tonga this weekend in the attached letters and below....

I was super confused when I received it and decided to disregard the email. I must have been on an old list or something b/c I hadn't been planning on going. Shoot, I hadn't even paid a dime yet!!

 Ok, now fast forward to Wednesday. I get a package in the mail from Quiet Hour. Hmmm. What in the world could this be? Their magazines do NOT come in packages. I open it up and lo and behold, it contains two mission trip t-shirts saying that I am supposed to wear one during my travels in order to be able to find my group quickly. Ummmm?????
So I promptly call up Quiet Hour and ask them if they can explain this.Turns out I was on the list to go. So I asked if I had a ticket or not, b/c I would SO go if I did. So she told me she'd call back to verify with me if I did or not. Meanwhile, I had to go to the mall with the family to get stuff...yeah, the cell reception in the mall is NOT good at all. So I ended up missing her call, but the message stated that if I wanted to go, I could go, and they would hook me up with the travel agent and I could pay online! 
The next day, after discussing it with my parents, I was all ready to call up Quiet Hour to tell them I wanted to go when the travel agent, out of no where, called me to confirm my domestic flight from home to LAX. Ummm...I hadn't even told Quiet Hour I was going for sure and I'm already supposed to confirm my flight out? Whattt?????? Eventually I got everything settled, including more waiting for phone calls to verify things with little to no cell reception once again (I needed to talk to my cousin about when I should fly out and such to match up with Auntie Beth and Baby and she was NOT answering). 

By that night, Thursday, I was all set, everything paid, with tickets to go to Tonga. Except the next day, I realized I had never gotten my itinerary for LAX to Tonga and back. I hadn't the slightest clue as to what airlines I was flying, much less my confirmation number. I got quite worried and had to call/text/email/message people in hopes of contacting someone that would know. After a few tense hours of waiting (God has REALLY been teaching me patience and faith this summer!) I finally got to talk to our travel agent, Glenda, who forwarded my itinerary to me. Thank the Lord!!! I had also messaged a former participant, Betty, that I had gone to Fiji with, that I found out was going to Tonga as well and she helped me out. Thankful for friends!!

So....I'm going to Tonga. Tomorrow. It's still pretty surreal and won't hit me till I get there. But I'm super excited to say the least. Apparently God knew all along and wanted me to go on this trip!! And would you believe it, but as soon as I decided to go to Tonga, the Costa Rica trip worked out for my family. 

God has definitely been working in my life!!! This will be an adventure for sure!

I still have to pack. And I don't know if I'll have internet over there, so if you don't hear from me for awhile, you'll at least know where I am this time. Please pray for not only me, but our whole group of about 40 people. I have a feeling that we'll be roughing it over there b/c they asked us all to bring solar shower bags. Haha.
Here is my conversation with Niki about trying to find one.

Me: I need to find a solar shower bag. I can't find anywhere that sells it in store. I don't want to risk ordering it online b/c it might not get here in time.
Niki: Umm. Keri. We live in the United States. Why would anyone need one of those?
Me: Uh...campers?
Niki: Not even campers are that hard core. 

Lolol. I found one....they had some leftover at our Walmart, thank goodness. 
Anyway, I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to tell when I get back!

The beautiful week from hell.

No, seriously. It was. It was a weekend of much frustration, but at the same time it was amazing.

Let's start with Friday.

I took my aunt and Baby down to Washington D. C., which, usually, is not too bad of a drive. It should've taken almost 2 hours....but b/c my GPS is stupid [well, and b/c I am too], I ended up in Frederick, which is an hour west of where I needed to be. So instead of taking 2 hrs, it took 3. Ok. NBD. We survived and managed to find a parking spot on the streets. Mind you, I haven't been to DC in years!

I'd be more excited to see the Capitol building if I had been there to see it.

We find the Canadian Embassy just fine and go to the place where she needs to get her visa. It's closed. So I go around to the other door and ask the security guard where we need to go to get her a visa. He hands me a piece a paper and says as of last week they don't issue visas here in DC anymore. The closest embassy that does it now is New York. Wait, what? I just drove all this way just to find that out? Yeah, I was super frustrated. It didn't really help that my dad, while I was driving down, had mentioned something along the lines and refused to call them to verify it for me.

So I drove back. In awful traffic. B/c rush hour starts earlier on Fridays. Woot.

Ok, so bad days happen. I know this. It can only get better, right? Wrong.

Enter Saturday, stage right.

The day started pretty good actually, which gave me hope that all would be well.
The parental unit and I took separate cars up to campmeeting since I would have to separate from them in the afternoon to go do the wedding thing. So I left after them and was rushing around to gather my things. The drive up was super pretty and very uneventful. Sigh of relief.

In the afternoon, about an hour before I needed to leave for the wedding rehearsal, I get a text from my cousin.

Baby: I think you left your dress here.
Me: No I didn't.
Baby: Yeah, you did. It's hanging right here.
Me: Crap. I did. SHOOOOOT!!!

And thus began my next big frustration. I had stupidly left my dress hanging near the front door. Apparently as I was leaving, I had too many things in my hands, hung in near the door, and was supposed to pick it up on my way out the second time I went out...which obviously never happened. Go me.

Ok. Fine. I can deal with that. I had brilliantly packed a backup dress. Yes, I know you're probably wondering why in the world I had a backup dress.
Well, when Kelsey told us the requirements for the bridesmaid dresses, I knew I had one that exactly fit the bill. Except I had already worn it to another wedding and the shininess was fading. So I told myself I would find another dress and if all else failed, I'd just wear that one. Well I found a dress at Express, which I bought, my mother hated, and made me buy a new one. Go figure. But, for some reason, I packed the backup dress, I guess, just in case someone needed it. Little did I know that I would be the one needing it. Hahaha. Oh how the turn tables.

So I decided I would wear the backup dress for the pictures before the ceremony and then my parents, who were coming to the ceremony, would bring my other dress from home so I could change before the actual wedding started.
Crisis adverted. Phew.

So I go my merry way to the rehearsal. Except it wasn't so merry. My GPS (which, btw, needs its maps updated and my dad told me I might as well get a new GPS if I'm going to pay that much to get it updated. So who doesn't have updated maps? Oh, pick me!) was being stupid again and I couldn't find the exact road I needed to arrive on. This makes me nervous b/c remember what happened last time? I was an hour west of where I needed to be. So I was at a stop light and it had finally turned green. I let go of the brake...started rolling...was about to start pressing on the accelerator, started looking around for my phone just in case I needed to call someone...and lo and behold, the car in front of me had stopped. Slammed on my brakes. But it was too late, I had bumped them. Pulled over. The passenger, the wife, I assume, was super mad and yelling at me, but the drive, the husband, was super calm and reassuring. Checked the cars. Their car only had a small scratch on it. My license plate was a little bent, but that was all (thank goodness!). Gave them my insurance and diver license information while the wife called the cops. The cop sounded really amused when he talked to me. Apparently (or maybe obviously) they won't come down if everyone is ok, and there's just a scratch on the car. Hahaha. Before we all left I gave the driver my sob story of how I was late to the wedding rehearsal and I was lost. So he told me to relax and that everything would be ok. I still have a bit of faith left in humanity.

I had texted Kelsey that I would be a bit late b/c of the fender bender....apparently she told everyone b/c they were all asking if I was ok when I got there. Hahahaha. Thankfully I wasn't too late, although I really did get lost and couldn't find the place. I had to use the GPS on my phone to get me there. Sigh.

Rehearsal went well, got to reunite with my friends I hadn't seen in awhile, and after the rehearsal dinner, we all parted and left for the hotel.
So apparently you're not supposed to say what you do for the bachelorette party. So I won't. But don't worry. We were prefect angels. Haha.

Wedding day arrived!!
We all headed out to have our hair and makeup done. The salon was super cute and professional, but all the hairstylists and makeup artists were super nice and friendly. I've never had my makeup done by someone so this was a first. Towards the end, she didn't show me everything she was doing, so by the time I looked, it scared me...hahahaha. I've never had that much eyeshadow on me before. Apparently it was a "subtle" smokey eye look. Subtle, my foot! Hahaha. Got my hair done...and then felt super sleepy. So we all ran over to Wawa's to get a bite to eat. I didn't know Wawa had food like Sheetz...lol. You learn something new every day.

That girl in the TV is killing me. Check out the cute bridesmaid shirts she made for us!

After hair and makeup we all headed out to the venue which was super close. La Massaria at the Bella Vista Golf Course is beautiful!!! Perfect place to get married. They gave us a cute room on the upper floor of the restaurant, which was a little stone house right next to the venue. We basically chilled, got ready, walked around, waited, chilled some more, got ready some more, had a few freakouts (b/c what's a wedding if you don't have a few tense moments and freakouts), took pictures with the photographer, and waited some more before we were given the ok to walk down and line up. Oh, and yes, I changed into my other dress. =)

I was the first of the bridesmaids to walk out...which is really nerve-wracking actually. Thankfully I didn't trip and nothing happened. Phew.
The ceremony went beautifully!!! Kelsey looked gorgeous, the kids [almost] behaved, and no one passed out!!! Successful wedding, I say. And it was so good to hear Matty, Jonny, and Aaron perform again. I miss playing with them.
Had to wait around for more pictures, so the bridesmaids all chilled on the golf carts...like a BAWSE.
Our feet hurt SO BAD!! So we ended up changing to flats for the reception.
The reception area was so pretty! Aunt Jodi did amazing work with the flowers and decorations.
Hung out with all the friendsies which was nice b/c we were all able to catch up with each other. I can't believe it's been four years since we all graduated together.

Dress #1 and mommy.

The get-away car...idk if they ever actually used it. Haha.

The groomsmen.

Yay for Scotty!!!

DAWWWWW!!!! Trying to catch the first glimpse of the bride.

She mixed it up a bit and had the bridesmaids and groomsmen on either side.

Phantom tear.

Exchanging of the wedding rings and the mini-time capsule.

The boys, Matty, Jonny, Aaron. They're amazing.

THE KISS!!! (And Rusty's face. OMG. It's killing me.)

Hey look, it's Mr. and Mrs. McAuliffe!

'08!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For some reason, this picture of me talking to Ryan cracks me up.

He's a goof ball.

I managed to get a small smile out of him. Sigh.

Chilling on the golf carts like a BAWSE! Actually our feet just hurt a lot. Haha.

Reception area.

I look super Asian. And you will not find that much makeup on me for a long time. Haha.

'08 is so TASTY!!! WOOOTTT!!!

Oh, hey...it's my date that kept on leaving me all night. Haha. JK.

Cutting the awesome cake Katie made. =)

Asians gotta stick with each other. Bahaha.

 Towards the end of the night, we lit floating lanterns as a farewell to the couple. Tangle's "I See the Light" was appropriately playing in the background as some of the lanterns floated up to the sky, while others crashed and burned, and still others burnt their string and prayed that the lanterns wouldn't set anything on fire before they went out. Hahaha. It was starting to rain, so we were all trying to hurry since the lanterns are biodegradable...and degrade in water. Haha.

Floating lanterns!!

Every one started saying their goodbyes, and so we gathered all our stuff together. Poor Christine had to drive through the night back to Michigan b/c she had a test the next day! I got home (after driving in some sketchy towns) and discovered that I had - surprise, surprise - left my toiletry bag at the venue. Sigh. So I had to make a few phone calls. And it is now safely at Mrs. Abreu's house. Lol.

Oh man. It was a fun, frustrating, action-packed weekend. Good times for sure!

Home is always a good place to be.

I'm going to go through the boring part rapid fire.

Campmeeting.

You know you're old when the kids you used to babysit are all taller than you. SMH.

Shopping.

Shopping at the outlets.

Eating.

Found a new Korean restaurant!!

Shopping some more.

Eating some more.

Etc.

Things I love about home during the summer:

corn on the cob from local farmers

watermelon

tennis with dad

tax-free shopping

Rita's

reading as much as I want

my bed

mario kart wii

Philly Chinatown

mommy's cooking

blueberry picking

Ok, now on to the juicy stuff.

You would think that by being home it would be relaxing. But no. It's been another whirlwind of adventures. I'll delve in a bit more later...

I forgot...b/c I have a bad memory.

Did I mention that Jeremy and I saw a pod of dolphins on our way to the manta ray dive?? Cuz we did. And it was so pretty with the sun setting in the background. Sigh. 

 3D and 4D rides are the best!! Found this picture that I forgot to post. Haha.

West Coast Roadtrip = Complete!

Yes. I have neglected to post about the last half of our journey. So here goes!

We bid farewell to San Francisco Sunday morning after a quick brunch at a nearby diner...and the girl on the logo looked a lot like Lucy from I Love Lucy. Which I also had to educate Baby on who that was. SMH.

Anyway. Drove about an hour north to get to Sonoma Valley to visit my aunt and uncle with my GPS on my phone.

Ok. Back up.

Friday afternoon after all of our gallivanting around the city, we discovered, to my horror, that my GPS plug was broken and it had no way to charge. The tip of it had either came apart or it had gotten stuck in the car lighter outlet. Therefore I was forced to use my phone GPS (thank goodness for Verizon) to go to the airport to drop Shar off as well as go to my aunt's house.

So we got to their place in one piece and I had my uncle look at it. Did I mention he has an auto shop? Haha, so I wasn't too worried about the situation once I remembered that. We finally found the pieces to the charger scattered under both front seats of the car and he was able to put it back together. He then proceeded to tell me that the car lighter outlet was broken and to have Enterprise either fix it or give me a new car. But more on that later.

Ok. Back to Sonoma Valley.

Uncle Kelly and Auntie Vernie took us to see some of the vineyards and then they, meaning the two aunties and uncle, did a wine tasting. It was Auntie Beth's (and actually Uncle Kelly's, believe it or not) first time doing a wine tasting. Apparently Auntie Beth gets really sleepy when she's had too much. Hahaha. It was pretty hilarious watching her try to stay awake during lunch.

First wine.

Second wine.

We got bored by the third one so we went outside to wait. Lol.

Yay for wine tastings!

After lunch Auntie Vernie took us to the town plaza area and we walked all along the shops and went into a nifty kitchen store, fair trade-type store, a sock store!, more wine and cheese tasting store, ice cream shop, a cool thrift store, and many others! Such a quaint area!

Pretty sure that's some historical building in the plaza...

It was surprisingly warm in the valley that day so we all rested a bit - well I discovered my cousin Melia's bookshelf. Haha. I share my cousins' love for books...it runs in the family, I guess. Cracked open the book, "Around the World in 80 Dates." So intriguing! I need to go borrow it from the library this week so I can finish it. Lol. Anyway, we had a pizza dinner, which btw was amazing b/c my pizza actually had tons of flavor unlike other cheese-less pizzas. It was like bruschetta on crust. I'm almost drooling right now. Sigh.

I got to catch up with my auntie, since it's been forever since I've seen her, which was nice. =) Apparently hatred for talking on the phone runs in the family. Ok, I shouldn't say hatred...more like dislike.

We woke up early in the morning and headed out to see if we could get another car....the first place was too small and didn't have any extra cars. The second place told me I'd have to wait for 2 hours before they would have more cars!! I asked if there was another location b/c we were supposed to be on our way to Portland, which is 10 hours away. So the guy went to the back for a bit and brought out the keys to a Chevy Impala. (And everyone goes, "EWWWWWW!!") Mind you, the first car was a Toyota Yaris. So it has its pros and cons. I don't like American cars, but it was def a lot bigger for our longest leg of the trip. So I guess it was kind of a blessing in disguise? And it couldn't have happened at a better time either. Haha. Thank goodness for my aunt and uncle!
Stopped by at Starbucks to make a hotel reservation and grab something for the road. Did I mention that this whole trip I had been making hotel reservations the night before we would get to our next destination? It's really not a great idea b/c you spend like 2 hours staring at your computer not getting anywhere. It's quite frustrating and I don't recommend it. Haha.

We finally headed off to Portland and made the looonnngggg but pretty drive up. FYI Chevy Impala's do not handle well on winding roads. Mt. Shasta was with us for a good portion of the drive and Auntie Beth couldn't believe there was snow on it. Hahaha.

Mt. Shasta! And no, I did NOT take this pic while driving. Auntie Beth took it. =)

Made it to Portland in one piece and set out to find food. Is it just me or is everyone stoned in Portland?! Maybe b/c of all those hippies? Haha.We ended up at a random Lebanese place and it was GOOD!! We ordered way too much food b/c we were starving when we got there and had to bring half of it back with us. Haha. That was breakfast.

With the goods.

We left that rainy morning and headed out to visit Multnomah Falls about half an hour away. Did I mention it was rainy? B/c it was. And it was foggy too. Booo. But the falls was magnificent. Totes worth the drive!

I love this brat.

We then went our merry way to Seattle. Did I mention before that it was raining? =.=
Haha. When we arrived it had thankfully stopped raining and we were able to walk down to Pike's Place Market. Ok, that place is awesome! So many cool shops and restaurants! Unfortunately most of the stores close at 6pm and we got there just as many of them were starting to close up. But we did get to walk through some of the stores. Oh, and we ate at some Indian/Nepal restaurant that was pretty good. Actually, come to think of it, I've never really gone to a bad Indian restaurant. (Knock on wood!!)

Then we went downtown and discovered more stores...but of course. >_<

Oh, and we found these weird statues and blue trees.

 The next morning we went back to the Market and pretty much did a mini food tour of the place.

Baby was disappointed it didn't say One Direction. Haha. She's 1D cray cray.

GIANT POPSICLE!!!

They weren't as good as the ones in SF.

First Starbucks store EVER!! And cool musicians too.

Piroshkies being made fresh!

I love this place!! Piroshky Prioshky FTW!!

Tons of flowers, and it was pretty cheap too.

Fresh produce...we bought some apricots and white nectarines.

Seafood!

I think she was looking at a giant shoe...don't ask me why.

This is where they yell and throw fish!! It's so cool! Sadly I didn't get a good picture of it.

Dragon Well green tea and a buttered crumpet!!

Organic crumpets and tea...I wish I had tried some of the other crumpets! They were so good!

I wanna learn how to do that...

I was super full by the time we got around to this place...plus we went next door for watermelon juice too.

You can try all their different dipping oils and balsamic vinegars.

Making cheese!

Fresh cheese!

After we went back downtown and back to the Market to go get MORE piroshkies (for the next day, of course), we decided to take the monorail to the Space Needle.
Went up, walked around, took pictures, explored with the real-time cameras, and then proceeded to play cards for the next hour or two. Hahaha. Meh, might as well...we paid to go up there, right? Lol.

When we finally went back down I hadn't the slightest clue in which direction we were supposed to go in...so like a noob I had to go back inside and ask for a map. Yay for being tourists!

The Space Needle and its 502' of glory. Or something like that.

Hello Seattle.

She goes, "I can's see anything!!" And I go, "That's b/c you're pointing it at the sky!!" LOLOL.

She was so happy when she got that thing. Lol.

Playing cards!

We had to wake up at 4am, leave at 5am, in order to drop the car off at 5:30am, to make our flight at 7am. Looonnnggg day. Apparently LAX never transferred the car info to my reservation so the ppl at Seattle were super confused. Lol. Finally got it all taken care of, thank goodness! And the flight was super bumpy. But for some reason, I like a little turbulence...makes the trip more fun...I just don't like it at the end when they're trying to land b/c then I feel sick. Yuck. But that was probably a little TMI, no? Haha.

Home feels so good! Mommy's cooking is even better!! And gas prices that are less than $4 is the best!!!
WHOOHOOO!!!!

West cast roadtrip = CHECK.