T. LoRen Freeman

spring break!

2011-04-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Today has been my first true "day off" since spring break started. I woke up, Blake made us breakfast, I played angry birds for way too long and I took Bella on a 2.25 mile walk/run. We are both out of breath, but we're feelin' pretty good :) Next up: Dinner. I wonder what we'll do tomorrow!

...and I'm back.

2011-03-18T15:39:00.001-07:00

Hello :)

It has been roughly a year and a half since my last post. It has been a strange and eventful year, but sadly one with zero blog posts. I know that this is long overdue, but every time I sit down to write I get overwhelmed with all that there is to say. I won't be able to catch you up on everything that happened last year, but I will start from here and tell you about what's been going on the past month or so!

I've just begun my sixth month working at Pet Food Express. I'm finally starting to feel less like a new hire. I work with a great group of people and we have a lot of fun. I was recently asked if I'd like to be promoted, but it requires that I be bumped up to full-time hours. It is a tempting offer. This includes benefits, a slight raise in pay, and I'd have the authority to complete customer refunds and open/close the store. The most intriguing aspect is that I'd be a key holder. Our break-room doubles as an office, and since there is always money in there, the door is always locked. Anyone who knows me is aware that I am a major soda drinker. We have to keep all of our drinks and food in the office. The constantly locked office. The only way to get in is to be let in by a key holder. I feel too guilty asking managers to drop everything they're doing just so that they can walk across the store and open up the door to the office so that I can have a sip of soda. But if I could let myself in...

I want those keys. Bad.

But not bad enough to pick up 16 extra hours of work per week. I've sacrificed school for work for too many years. Who goes to Junior College for 6 years and still isn't finished? Not to mention that I have to be really careful not to spread myself too thin. I fail to notice, but it's those around me who suffer most when I overbook myself.

So, for now I'm just a part-time Sales Associate. A happy one, nonetheless.

In a few weeks it will be a year since Blake and I packed up the Dog, the Cat, and all our junk, and moved to Danville. Things are good! We're really getting to know the lay of the land, and we're surrounded by family. My second job as a babysitter for Blake's little cousins is really fun, not to mention much more profitable than my job at PFE (yet another reason NOT to accept a promotion). A Fresh&Easy opened up a few weeks ago right by our house. It is literally a 5-7 minute walk. We're loving it!!

After an epic (I know how overused this word is, but it's totally appropriate) burn-out last semester, I decided to be nice to myself and just take 2 classes this semester. I'm taking Psychology 122- Applying Psychology to Modern Life, and Philosophy 220- Comparative Religion. It's a total of 6 units, and I have an A in both classes :) I've got to say that it feels good to have a mind clear enough that I can actually USE it sometimes.

Hank and Bella seem to be thriving out here. It may have something to do with the awesome premium A+ food I have them on thanks to PFE :) Bella has been getting nice walks through the neighborhood, and Hank has been getting great sleep all day long, haha. My third animal, Blake is doing pretty well also (or should I call him my first animal?)

We went to Monster Jam last month at the Oakland Coliseum with Blake's Mom, Rhonda, her fiance, Travis, and and his two sons, Dane and Mason. What a blast that was! We got this video on my cool new iphone.

Next week I'm planning to make an appointment for a lesson with the new sewing machine that Blake's Mom and Grandma got me for my birthday. It is amazing, and I haven't even fully experienced it yet. I also recently renewed my gym membership. Come on, bikini body!!

More to come! -LoRen

(This is a picture from the Canada fishing trip in August of '10)

I can't drive 65

2009-08-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

everybody that i would tag has already been tagged by my sister, michele. looking forward to reading everybody's answers!

1. First thing you wash in the shower? my hair.

2. What color is your favorite hoodie? they are both blue.

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? for sure :)

4. Do you plan outfits? less and less.

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? relaxed.

6. Whats the closest thing to you that's red? my cell phone.

7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having? i was in a sand castle-building contest. but it was indoors.

8. Did you meet anybody new today? not yet :)

9. What are you craving right now? i'm actually fine, thanks.

10. Do you floss? mmhmm.

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage? Cabbages and Kings.

12. Are you emotional? certainly.

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000? no.

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? I lick it if it's in a cone. but i bite the cone.

15. Do you like your hair? I'm hating it right now. it's multi-tonal... but in a bad way.

16. Do you like yourself? Yes. I do.

17. Would you go out to eat with George W.Bush? Is dinner on him? I'll never turn down a free meal :)

18. What are you listening to right now? Wild Water Adventures commercial.

19. Were your parents strict? I'll say yes. I had much more rules and restrictions than many of my friends did.

20. Would you go sky diving? You might talk me into it. But I wouldn't be the one to suggest it.

21. Do you like cottage cheese? I love cottage cheese.

22. Have you met a celebrity? I met the man that was in The Transporter.It was in an airport and it was actually right before The Transporter came out. But he had played Turkish in Snatch. He wasn't exactly a celebrity at the time that I met him.

23. Do you rent movies often? Netflix

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in right now? nothing that catches my eye.

25. How many countries have you visited? I've been to Mexico and I've been to the Caribbean.

26. Have you made a prank phone call? sure have!

27. Ever been on a train? never. but i've smashed pennies under them.

28. Brown or white eggs? I buy white but sometimes Blake gets the brown.

29.Do you have a cell-phone? Yes.

30.Do you use chapstick? Yes.

31. Do you own a gun? nope.

32. Can you use chop sticks? Yes.

33. Who are you going to be with tonight? Blake.

34.Are you too forgiving? I'm forgiving. too much at times, too little at times.

35. Ever been in love? Yes I have

36. What are your best friend(s) doing tomorrow? who knows. it's gonna be friday!

37. Ever have cream puffs? um... probably.

38. Last time you cried? Just the other day I made the observation that I have not cried in a while. I think the last time I cried was the whole weekend before I had a root canal. I never knew such pain.

39. What was the last question you asked? "Bella, do you want breakfast today?"

40. Favorite time of the year? It's hard to say. I like most times of the year!

41. Do you have any tattoos? nope. and i wont.

42. Are you sarcastic? only towards people that understand i'm joking. i do try to avoid it.

43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect? on tv. that movie was no good.

44. Ever walked into a wall? probably. i'm clumsy a lot of the time.

45. Favorite color? i usually choose purple.

46. Have you ever slapped someone? Yep. but it was well deserved. and i only did it once.

47. Is your hair curly? not curly, not straight: wavy.

48. What was the last CD you bought? oh gosh. I think it was 'fischer spooner' and 'of montreal' when i bought them at the same time. That was at least 3 years ago.

49. Do looks matter? less and less to me. but still, yes.

50. Could you ever forgive a cheater? forgive, maybe. forget...never.

51. Is your phone bill sky high? nono

52 Do you like your life right now? my life is sweet right now.

53. Do you sleep with the T.V. on? that has never been a habit of mine. but Blake likes to watch tv before bed and I don't mind that.

54. Can you handle the truth? i think so.

55. Do you have good vision? my vision is terrible. and getting worse.

56. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people? i try hard not to let people bother me. but every once in a while there is someone who really gets my goat. usually not any 3 at the same time though.

57. How often do you talk on the phone? not even every day. well, every day if you count answering the phone at work.

58. The last person you held hands with? Blake I guess, but I can't remember when.

59. What are you wearing? Cookie Party t-shirt and pajama pants. comfers.

60.What is your favorite animal? Bella. Then Hank.

61. Where was your profile picture taken? In my old room in my old apartment.

62. Can you hula hoop? you betcha.

63. Do you have a job? I am a working woman.

64. What was the most recent thing you bought? The last thing I paid for was my DMV registration. The last thing I bought was groceries. Boring, I know.

65. Have you ever crawled through a window? yes. last week, infact.

2009-04-15T17:31:00.001-07:00

yesterday

I can't honesty say that I had just woken up when i recorded this. But I can say that I hadn't looked in a mirror yet, haha.

Oh yeah, and I figured out that this was a super easy way for you guys to see all of my videos! check 'em out!

2009-04-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well I just got back yesterday from my week-long cruise. We stopped in Cabo San Lucus, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. It was a blast. Here are a few pictures :)

This is me and Blake in the main dining hall on the formal dress night.

Blake's shirt did not match his tie, but you can't really tell in the picture :)

Here we are waiting for a taxi in Puerto Vallarta.
We got to spend the day in Puerto Vallarta at La Palapa bar and grille, which was so nice because we were seated on the beach :) we didn't even have to get up for shopping, they brought everything to us.
Me and Blake at La Palapa.
Here's a little monkey our stateroom attendant made for us :)

This is me and Blake in Mazatan.
This is a picture that I took from Blake's parents' balcony as we were sailing away from Cabo San Lucus
This is me and Blake's mom, Rhonda, going from Cabo to our ship.
This is Blake, his sister Emily, and me at Mango restaurant in Cabo San Lucus.
Here we are being transported from the ship to Cabo.
This is a picture that I took as we were getting out of the car in L.A., ready to hop on the ship!

paper bag

2009-03-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Here's a video of me singing one of my favorite Fiona Apple songs :)

The things I do to put off studying...

2009-01-27T21:16:00.000-08:00

school started again and i am dang tired. i noticed when i was visiting alex's blog that i haven't posted in over 5 weeks. here's my crazy acrobat. acrocat? have a good one!

2008-12-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

well, I had a very nice birthday this year. first I stopped by my old employer to say hi to everyone after they woke me up with a happy birthday call :)

After that stop I went down to see my mom. She showered me with gifts and then we went out and got some yummy mexican food. After I left her I went home to study for my last final, which I took at 4:30. After I got home from that I did this :)

This is a different day, but that is what I did. Hank was on my belly and then jealous Bella came up to snuggle too. You can't really tell but Bella was actually sitting on Hank's lower half.

My mom was nice enough to hold a birthday party for me at her house :) These are all the pictures I was able to take before everybody was gone. I'm still getting used to having a camera and I often forget to use it :(

One of my gifts was this cute cute elf costume for Hank :) He totally hates it, but these are the two best pictures I was able to get.
Merry Christmas everyone!

happy birthday to mee!

2008-12-16T22:20:00.000-08:00

so, I may be jumping the gun on this post by about an hour and a half, but I have such a great occasion that I simply can't wait!

below is a picture that i took of myself tonight on my new birthday present from blake!

he surprized me with a camera yesterday and I am super excited about it. the thing has a really cool setting that will automatically photograph when it detects smiles. the following three pictures are the result of my experimenting.

Blake gave me the gift in the cute bag . Everyone in our family had representation but hank, so blake drew him in for me :)
(notice the clipped ear, haha)
this is the camera that i now have.

this is the mixer that blake and i got for christmas from blake's mother :)
these are the gifts that i've wrapped.
and what entry would be complete without little hank and bella :)

Hank is getting very big. As you can see from this picture, he is almost the size of a full grown boxer! (just kidding, it's just the perspective. could you imagine?)
and this is a typical pose for bella :)

a kitten lost, a kitten found, and a sister in the hospital

2008-10-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Every night when it gets dark Hank likes to sit by the back door and meow until we let him into the backyard. He likes to explore in the jungly grass I suppose. He usually comes back to the door meowing to be let back in around 10 pm because he's either cold or hungry or wants water, but last night at about 11 i realized that Hank was still outside. Blake and I got a flashlight and searched all over our backyard, which is incredibly small. We even tried to jingle his favorite toy and shake up his cat food to see if he'd come running. I was in a crumby mood because earlier when I was taking out the trash the lid on the dumpster came down and smacked me on the bridge of my nose really hard. It still hurts a lot but no bruising. It was also past my bed time, so I called it quits on the cat and headed for bed. After not being able to fall asleep for about a half hour I decided to walk around the block and see if Hank was anywhere that I could see him. Just two houses over was probably the funniest sight I've seen in the pet world lately. It was Hank and two of the neighborhood cats sitting in a circle like a bunch of cool kids at recess or something. It was particularly funny because the neighborhood cats are fully grown, fat, super fluffy things and hank was about half as tall and stick skinny compared to those two. I guess cats need to socialize sometimes. When hank saw me he tried to creep under a bush, but he didn't run so I brought him inside and gave him a treat. My cat is a good boy, he just wanted to hang out with the older kids. hahha, I really wish I had a picture of it. Also, Michele is havin a baby today!

2008-10-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Somehow my blog got suspended and I couldn't use it until someone from blogger could review it and verify that it's not a spam blog. weird, huh? Anyway, here are just a few pictures of my pets. Bella is the boxer and Hank is the kitten.

Hank and Bella are actually great friends! Boxers and known for being very good and loving with other small animals and human babies. Sometimes Bella does try to show her love for Hank a little too strong and ends up smashing or smothering him somehow, but that's usually when their harmless "chasing game" starts. It's good fun and it keeps them in shape!
Here's hank just a few days after we got him. He has grown a lot in the past couple months, but he's still pretty cute :)

This is how Bella looks at you when you ask her a question and she doesn't recognize any of the words you used. Bella will be 3 years old in December.
Blake took this picture of Hank and me napping, or "hankin out"
Putting clothes on Bella is one of our favorite pastimes at home. Bella is usually a good sport about it.
I don't know what it is about a dog in a t-shirt that is so hysterical to me.

2008-09-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

My sister Michele provided me with enough pictures to make a second post. Unfortunately the picture upload program quit cooperating with me and I didn't get to put all the pictures I wanted in here. This is definitely most of them though. Aaron and Charlotte took these pictures, pretty good huh?

This is my boyfriend, Blake. We just ate hot dogs :)

This is the nicer version picture of the three of us.

This is the one where aaron successfully "jumped in" right before the flash.

This me and my cute cute niece Elsie.

And here's just a picture of me...

And just a picture of Blake. Mid-sentence.

2008-09-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

I don't have a digital camera, and i am usually reluctant to photograph, so it's nice to see a picture that i look decent in that i didn't take of myself in the bathroom mirror. (Seriously though, I've done that plenty of times) Even though I'm not the only one in this picture, it really feels like just a picture of me because both Nick and Desi's faces are covered by their hair. Plus I'm the only one that's not playing an instrument or texting someone. I started my new job about two weeks ago. It is great and I love it! I don't have as much money (booh) but I do have loads of free time and I get to be outside before the sun sets every day; that is until the sun starts setting before 6:00 pm. I live with my boyfriend, Blake and we have a dog (Bella) and a cat (Hank) who are very cute and entertaining. I'll post pictures of them when I can get them from Blake's iphone. I crashed my Integra a few weeks ago, which was a huge bummer, but now I'm driving a Ford Expedition. It's a big shift in car size, but I'm definitely getting used to it and I'm loving the perks of the Expedition that the Integra didn't offer such as air conditioning, radio, cd player, working power windows, etc. I know that it's not great on gas, but luckily i don't do a lot of driving on account of living so close to work and school. I guess that's all for now, but I will try to get back with those pictures!