I swear I have a job

...we work really hard actually. We just figured we'd take advantage of the last week of short lines at the amusement parks before all the children get out of school, so today we hit up Six Flags! It was a lot of fun.

My roomie Kainoa and I went with another intern Ashley & her husband Kyle. We were there when the park opened at 10:30 and rode roller coasters until it closed at 6. It was nice that it didn't close at midnight or we probably would have made ourselves stay the whole time.


Kai & I on the tram..ready for a day full o' roller coasters..even though I felt like a dog because I got sick at Disneyland. Oh well, nothing a little dayquil couldn't help


the marrieds Ashley & Kyle

our couple

turkey legs, turkey legs, turkey legs @ lunch!


we were on the carousel twice...my all-time fav

GOLIATH... this one is wild because you do about 15 turns and flips and are only held in by a wimpy lap band! All the other ones you're locked and chained in...I guess it's nice "free" feeling


one of the highlights of the day ( I don't have a pic from it) was Rushing Rapids or something like that...we all got completely soaked- nothing like a giant wall of water coming at you when you're not wearing your swimming suit~

loved the motto on all the trash cans & employee shirts


this Southern California thing suits me quite well.

Oh, just to prove that I do work I just got an email telling us that in addition to working Saturday, we're to work on MEMORIAL DAY at 5:30 a.m. We're being volunteered to work the LA Marathon. Told ya so.

first taste of CA~

I've arrived in LA safe & sound! We were up in Sacramento for a few days for training and we've been down here in LA for a week now. So far so good! We went to the beach in Santa Monica for a day, cleaned the LA River (our boss signed us up to do it at 7am on a Saturday- not cool), went to a stake dance, have had frozen yogurt everyday and overall just gotten used to our job and life in LA. One thing I've already learned? traffic in LA is really all it's cracked up to be- it's horrible! But nothing a little planning can't fix.

The intern situation is as follows: there's 7 of us total, all working for Porter Novelli. 2 married people who live downtown, a single guy Brady who lives by the beach and 4 single girls (Emilie, Betty, Kainoa & me) in Glendale. The 4 of us girls share 1 car and 1 bathroom and all have strong personalities, but I think it'll be a really good summer~

Emilie & I on Cinco de Mayo.. going to a sub-par Mexican place


Sacramento is so picturesque


Betty & I

Oh yeah....we went to Disneyland!! Brady's fam gave us all tickets. Bless them


Brady, Kainoa & I waiting for the Mexican place to open. We were up at 5:30 am to go so we were starving by 10:30. Since we got free tix to the park I somehow thought it was OK to spend 50 bucks on food. My running plan starts tomorrow


this place really is magical.


I've seen a few of the "behind the scenes of Disney" shows so I paid a lot of attention to the scenery. This place is so meticulous and done to perfection. Case in point? the moose-shaped bush


you're never too old....



girls in front of the water ride


These lanterns at the teacups are the inspiration for my future garden


one of the best fireworks shows I have EVER seen~foreal, it was incredible. I kept thinking it was the grand finale then it would get even better. At one point there were fireworks on this giant pinwheel flying off into the sky


I have about 1 free hour a week. This post just took up all free time until next Sunday~
Pictures of our apartment coming soon!

On the road again~

I'm leaving in a few hours for the next adventure: internship in LA! Although I realize it will be totally different from Jerusalem, I think I'm still going to blog about my next 4 mos (at least) on the other side of the country.

My friend Jessica had a brilliant idea- this blog will still be called "Marianne in the Holy Land" and wherever I'm living at the time will just be the Holy Land!

Here's what went down in VA this past week: (one day was completely lazy and filled with a pretty consistent and embarrassing routine of eat sleep eat sleep eat sleep.)

First home-made meal in a long time- salmon & mango salsa..mmmm


the chef

the canal downtown


I love historic downtown Richmond


the James River


me, Jess, Laura @ Belle Isle


she's such a babe




you take the pedestrian bridge to get to these rocks on the other side of the river


the pedestrian bridge under the freeway


post-massage/ facialour fav- Carrabba's

lake by mi casa


hahah Nascar races- I actually love them


one of the parachuters bringing the flag into the raceway

padre & me @ the races- his first attempt at a self photo


a little pedi


Arts in the Park. The only things we bought were sausages & ice cream cones





For some reason I was infatuated w/ all the homemade meals on this trip home. I act like I'll never have one again; hopefully I'll whip up a few meals in LA


It was a pretty awesome week- thanks mom & dad for entertaining me. Now it's off to work~