Sunday, November 21, 2010

Oak Glen

At what point do we become our parents? I remember growing up being forced to help weed the garden, pick green beans every morning and being dragged to Oak Glen every year. I think I enjoyed it as a younger child, but when you are the oldest child, I think you grow out of activities that your younger siblings still enjoy. So you suffer.

But guess who had the urge to go to Oak Glen this fall? Me. Guess who wants a space for a garden? Me. Guess who likes to make weekly menus and grocery lists just like my mom? Me. When does the switch happen? I don't know, but I'm on my way to becoming my parents.

What is Oak Glen? Basically, its a ton of apple orchards east of Redlands, CA. That's it. Apples. Stores with pies, apple butter, apple cider, apple blossom honey, apple patterned aprons...you get the idea. I begged Lukie to take me there for a romantic fall getaway.



Friday night we headed up to Riley's Farm for a theatrical dinner production of Sleepy Hollow. (The video is totally worth the watch! )
















The food was great, there was dancing, a seed spitting and pie eating contest. Cheesy, yes. But it was a great night!

Saturday was spent picking apples straight from the orchard. Perhaps you'll notice in the picture, a sign that says, "No Stealing Apples" meaning you are not allowed to eat apples in the orchard. Apparently Luke did not read the rules and I caught him eating apples and rejecting apples after he'd picked them and tossing them on the ground. He pretty much broke the 10 commandments of apple picking. I would say we narrowly escaped confrontation with the apple police.

It was a wonderful trip! I'm just sad we didn't buy 3 dozen caramel apples. I'm pretty sure this will become one of our yearly traditions.

News just in....! (sort of)

Well, for months and months, I've had to be slightly secretive about my eduational plans. But now that I've let my employer know that I'll be leaving soon, I can FINALLY let the cat out of the bag.

I got accepted to 2 nursing programs!! (after starting pre-reqs in 2008, I feel like its a been a huge battle to get this far, so I'm pretty stoked.)

Originally, I got my letter to Drexel University (located right in Philadelphia.) We went and check out the school, looked for apartments, paid the deposit and were ready to move to Philly. While I was very excited for this plan, I could never get over the fact that this program was $40k for a one year program. We'd worked it out, but it always bothered me.

Just a few weeks ago, a second option presented itself. Ventura College accepted me to start in January. At first, I was really angry when I opened the letter, but after praying we know this is the right choice. While this is a 2 year program, the $5,000 tuition seems much more reasonable. And Luke gets to keep his job. 10 points to Gryffindor!

Thank you everyone for your support and for listening to me rattle of pros and cons of my options. I just hope to survive the next two years!