My name is Tierra…

This post is dedicated to the commenter “Mike”. I know who you are. It’s no secret. I know you feel left out because I have recognized other people in this blog and not you. So Mike, this blog is for you. Queue music.

This weekend DC experienced a gnarly blizzard. Some 30 inches of snow over 24 hours was enough for Luis and I to build a snowman! His name is Sam and he stands a little over 5 feet tall.

I also thought it would be fun to run, jump, and then land in soft powdery snow. Well it wasn’t so soft or powdery. But I made an impression, nonetheless.

To put in perspective how much snow we received, it went up to above my knee. Nearly impossible to walk through.

All in all, I’m a little tired of all this snow business. My last two kickball games have been cancelled and it’s starting to bug me! More snow is expected this week. But I’m happy to report that next weekend Luis and I will be traveling to Durham, North Carolina to play with Chris Walker. Yeehaw!

Today is Ronald Reagan’s 99th birthday. Happy Birthday to the Gipper. We miss you and could certainly use your leadership!

Back in the day, I used to be tan. In fact, I would tan every so often just to keep a base. Tanning, for me, makes me feel good about myself. It’s one of those little things you do to spoil yourself. Kinda like getting a manicure. Well I stopped tanning back in November because it is SO BAD for you.. I started spray tanning instead and while it acts as a decent substitute, it just isn’t the same. Spray tanning requires more maintenance and costs more. I miss tanning. I swear, once summer rolls around I am going to lay out every weekend. Below, notice untan Tierra versus tan Tierra.

Comment as necessary.

I hate wordpress for iPhone. I type out this long blog talking about Chris Walker coming to DC to play this weekend and the app doesn’t save the post. Grr.

Sorry Chris. You almost had an entire blog post about you.

So it has snowed like 6 or 7 inches so we went outside to play in it. Didn’t play very long because Chris Walker was crying about how cold it was. I also made a snow angel!

I’m getting really bad about updating this thing. I used to have time to casually bitch on my blog but between work and school, I am quite the busy gal! Let me bitch about SOTU speech made last night.

I mainly want to bitch about that “tax cut” we all got that “helped us”. Obama’s tax cut gave me $4 more on my paycheck. Multiplied by 26 payments and that’s a whole $96 more a year. I mean, really? I’m almost tempted to write the Govt a check for $96 with the following note attached: “No, thanks. Please apply this towards the deficit that my grandkids are going to be paying off.”

What else?

OH! The GOP is up 1 seat in the Senate! Woohoo! Realistically, I think we will gain maybe 5 or 6 seats in the Senate. We won’t take back the House, maybe gain 20 -30 seats. But those are my estimates.

I need to get back to work (KERIN). So there’s my update. I’ll try to be more regular. lol

Back to the daily grind. I left sunny southern California for a very cold DC. I went from 65 degree weather to 8 degree weather.

Why do people live where it’s cold? I mean, seriously? How do you cope with seasons? This would be a good thesis topic for psych grad students. Money aside, why do people live where it is MISERABLE 4-6 months out of the year? Clearly there are warmer parts of the country with similar economic demographics so what drives them to tolerating cold weather? Comments are welcomed.

I would just like to take a moment and reflect…rather maybe even rant just a little bit. Having lived in several places not only in the United States but also overseas, I consider myself a fairly traveled person. With this type of lifestyle, I have observed two things that I feel are worth sharing.

There is nothing like the United States.

- I feel like people often take advantage of the country we live in. We truly are lucky to have the technology that we do that makes our lives so efficient. I lived in Italy for a few months and while it is no longer a backward country, it is still 30 years behind the U.S. Even our neighbors to the South don’t even come close to rivaling anything we do. We have access to the greatest medicines and are able to detect and cure simple diseases that are problems in other parts of the world. The American people are philanthropists at heart. Our nonprofit section is one of a kind. Nonprofits don’t exist around the world. We are so lucky to live in the truly the greatest country in the world. The American dream is not something to take lightly. Millions of people want the same thing we take for granted.

There is nothing like California.

- Let me tell you friends who live in California, you live in PARADISE. There is NOTHING that compares to California. You have awesome weather year round, awesome people, and overall an awesome state. While it has it’s draw backs with unemployment and a state deficit, what can you expect from the world’s 7th largest economy? Having been on the East Coast for two years, where there are SEASONS, and overall grouchy people, I wish every day to be back in California. Not to mention, the food here is just so much better. Be thankful that you can call California home. Especially southern California.

Side note: I’m not sure if Californians have seen this commercial because it wouldn’t really make sense to show it in your own state unless you’re promoting intrastate commerce or something, but there is a California tourism commercial that I love. It’s not the best quality video but you get the point. Watch here. It’s only 30 seconds.

While my analysis may not be scientific or consist of any true substance, it doesn’t have to because this is my blog. I do recommend an awesome Time Magazine article written a couple of months ago. This person could not have summed it up best. Since ready this article, I long to be home in California everyday. Read here.

I don’t even know where to begin…