goodbye double ohh seven.

this year really flew by for me. it seems that the time just goes by more and more quickly, huh?
but.
it was a really good year. :]

i thought about attempting a little re-cap of 2007, but then i realized i've had this blog for the whole year... so most everything has already been documented. how cool is that. :] yeah. i'm really thankful that i kept this thing up.


instead, maybe i'll just try look ahead a bit?
resolutions never work for me... so i'll call these goals instead.

1. throw stuff away. i was putting clothes away tonight, and i realized that i haven't worn over half of the clothes in my closet for over two years. plus, i still have boxes from moving out of my apartment that haven't been touched. definitely time for some purging.

2. take a photo everyday. :] hopefully this will help me use my d80, my lomo camera [that's still in the box], and the holga my brother gave me.

3. cook. i got two cookbooks for christmas, so i'm feeling motivated to try some new recipes.

4. make art everyday. or at the very least every week. :]

four seems like a good place to stop. there's always more to add, but this will be a good place to start.


i guess i should probably head to bed. i won't get much sleep, but oh well. i'm just so excited for the trip tomorrow. i'm nearly packed, but i need something from my car. my garage door broke yesterday, so my car is parked out in the driveway, and i'm too scared to walk outside and get it. ha. silly i know. but i've been freaking myself out tonight. sometimes being alone in this house is just no bueno.

oh. that reminds me. someone called my work today and was speaking in very fast spanish. i was so confused. all i said was "umm... no?" ha. i was trying trying trying to remember some spanish, but not having much luck. finally, i figured out that she wanted to talk to my boss. since they are from argentina, they both speak spanish really well... so well that i hardly know what they are saying when they talk to each other. sometimes i wish i would have kept it up a little better. maybe one day.

well. i'm looking forward to the new year. it's going to be unique because the future isn't really set out... i've always had the routine of school, but soon there will be no more school. how weird is that! so i guess the new year is just full of possibilities. more so than usual. and i'm excited. plus soon i'll be an aunt. so cool. :]

i guess one thing i've learned that has really been evident this year is that so much of life is based on your attitude. it's much healthier [and fun] to have a positive attitude than a negative one, and in having a positive attitude the outcome is generally more positive as well. so basically. i'm feeling positive about the new year. <3

well.

i finally got those last two photos to upload. it's pretty frustrating when things don't work and you have no idea why.

anyway. i actually finished up one of my minis tonight. it's a fun little christmas mini. i'll try to get a photo tomorrow to share. i don't want to battle with the flash and the photo uploader thing anymore. ha. i used mostly love elsie stuff with some products from waste not paper. i recently discovered that the paper moon at the summit has some of their products. i'm a happy girl. :]

i have another christmas mini started, but i need to print some photos for it. i got two ideas, so i just made both. ha. i'll probably make the second one using photos from last year, since i haven't really scrapped them.

i've also finally used some of the fabric i've purchased recently. before christmas, i made my own little custom mini album cover using some chipboard and some fabric i've been hoarding forever. i still haven't filled it up, but it might become the new years mini or... ? you never know. ha. and last night, i sewed a little stuffed animal. it's super cute, but i still have to get something to stuff it with to finish it off. it's not too well made because i was stitching by hand, and my fingers were getting sore. [yep. still no sewing machine for me.] but i figure it gives it some character when it's not perfect. :]

it's been super windy and slightly stormy here. when it gets really windy, my house is a bit scary. especially when i am trying to fall asleep... there is a bush outside my window and the wind makes it scrape against the window. the sound is pretty creepy. [eta: my mom just came out because she can't sleep since the wind is making so much noise. it's just amazing how strong the wind is around here.]

and in keeping with the story of my life... i need to do laundry. ha. really though, i've made my packing list for vegas and i have a couple loads to get done in order to be ready. plus, it's always nice to come home and have clean clothes so you don't have to do laundry right away. ha.

ok. well. maybe i should just turn on some music to drown out the wind and get started on the laundry. maybe a little room cleaning too. :]

finally some photos.

1. a few photos from our one year dinner. i like the third one the best. we made some hearts on the dessert plate. ha. mine is the candy cane one and james' is the chocolate one. :]




















































2. my favorite photo from the nutcracker. it's always interesting to take photos without the flash right? it was nice to see it again. they included local some children in the performance, which was really neat. it's always cute to see tiny little dancers. they are just adorable. but it was a little bit different than the traditional nutcracker. still fun though. [i don't know if james would agree. ha.]













3. some christmas photos. i was having a hard time getting good photos since it was at night. the flash was getting a little crazy. it's just hard to get good photos indoors when there isn't plenty of outside light. ah well. maybe next year i will be a pro at using my d80. ha.





























































4. one last photo of the cutest dog ever. ha. but really... he is pretty cute! [especially when he's asleep in the bean bag chair.]

what in the world.

i just looked at the clock and it's 5am.
how did that happen.
eek.

i hope to have some stuff to share tomorrow. [well. later today i guess. you know what i mean.]
i've been feeling creative finally. [thus not sleeping.]
but. not doing so well on finishing projects before i get an idea and start a new one. ha.
at the very least, i need to post a bunch of photos. :]

goodnight now.
[at least it's still dark.]

merry christmas.

we actually had our family christmas celebration last night so that paul could be with amanda's family today.
the holidays keep getting more and more untraditional for us, but i guess we just have the make the best of it, and be grateful for the opportunities we have... even if they don't follow the traditions of childhood.

i spent most of the day yesterday finishing my shopping. it was a frustrating shopping season for me. but in the end, it worked out. james says i worry and stress too much over choosing gifts. probably true, but i can't help it. i wish i had the time to think of and make handmade gifts for everyone, but it wasn't in the cards this year.

i still have to get a gift for james. i feel bad because he already gave me mine. ack. we went shopping together last week, but didn't buy anything for ourselves. we didn't plan this really, but it worked out because we pointed out things we liked and got great ideas of what each other wanted. the only problem is that yesterday when he went back to get some things for me, he ended up getting a bunch of the things he pointed out to me. ha. i guess he couldn't resist. so now i'm back to not really knowing what to get him.

anyway. after paul arrived, we went to dinner at claim jumper. [yes. very untraditional.] then we opened our presents and had some desserts at home. it turned out to be a pretty good little christmas. :]

i don't have my camera cord, and i have a ton of photos to upload, so once i'm back in reno i'll make a big photo catch up post.

i hope that everyone is having a wonderful christmas day with good food, good people, and good memories. :]

so.

do you like the new look?
i'm thinking about a change for the next year.
we'll see.

random thoughts at 1:43am.

the girl on pimp my ride right now is a scrapbooker.
but.
she does the old school scrapbooking.
but.
the guys are making her trunk into a scrapbooking workspace.
oh. my. goodness.
ha.

i need a new book.
to read for fun. yay.
i finally finished my book from the summer a few weeks ago.
it was so good.
now i'm scared to start another one for fear that it won't be as good as the last one.
ha.

sometimes i think about who my bridesmaids will be.
[no. this does not mean anything about a wedding anytime soon. i've been thinking about this since i was 10 probably.]
i have a list of people in my mind.
i wonder how much that list will change by the time i get married.
i used to think i was going to need like 10 bridesmaids.
but now.
not so much.

i wonder who reads my blog.
the only blog readers that i know of are alyssa and susan.
and of course me. :]
it's fun to look back. especially at posts with photos.
[note to self: add more photos to blog posts.]

i have to be in lab at 9am to set up some real time pcr.
i still have to shower and flat iron my hair.
eek.
it's going to be a night of little sleep.
yes. i *have* to flat iron my hair. i've been having semi-bad days lately, and i think the curly hair has something to do with it.

i also need a haircut.
real soon.
but i'm so nervous.

this afternoon, i was leaving james' apartment and i drove by judson's little green car.
when i used to date dave, i remember seeing judson's little green car at his apartments one night.
weird.
how do i know it's his car?
well.
1. it's pretty unique.
2. USNA sticker on the back.
yeah. it's him. and he never tells me when he visits.
i guess he forgot about me.
and i even used to give him half of my sandwich nearly every time in ap gov.

i'm thinking about getting a book made for my first year of blog posts.
do you think that would be cool or lame?
i can't decide.

well. it's time for the scrapbook trunk reveal.
and. this post is very long and random.
goodnight.
happy friday.

no luck.

i had a very long and frustrating day in the lab today.

partly because i was thinking about the fact that i was supposed to be on my way to san francisco. but. the roads. grr.
don't get me wrong. i really do like the snow. and i don't mind driving in it. but there were delays, and chain requirements, and closures, and that's definitely not fun to drive in. :/

afterwards, i tried to find some presents. i went to so many stores. and nothing. nada. no luck.
i did not come home with a single thing.

and really. how easy would shopping be if only i was in the city!

grr.
my family just needs to tell me what they want!

so tomorrow... i guess i get to try again.

ut oh.

i can't believe there's less than a week until christmas.
eek.
i still have to do basically all of my shopping.
i made an attempt yesterday, but all i found were a few cute things for the baby on the way. [it's hard for me to find gender neutral baby things... i was looking around and everything that was supposed to be neutral still seemed to lean one way or the other to me. anyone else feel like that?]
tomorrow i'm going to try to go to the summit to see if i'll have better luck. [crossing my fingers.]

i also need [ok. want.] to find a cute dress to wear to the nutcracker. i'm justifying the purchase by telling myself i will wear it for new years as well. ha. :]

oh. my final on monday was ridiculous. some of my friends were taking it late, so they called me to ask what to study... i had no idea. i told them that even if i could take the final again, with another chance to study, i still wouldn't know what to study. today i asked them how it went, and they all agreed. we basically still have no clue what that test was. nice.

tonight was our dinner for mentoring. somehow, people decided that we should go to the pho place. i really don't like pho. in fact, i would probably go so far as to say that i hate it. so i ate fried rice. nice. afterwards, james, radhika, and i went to see enchanted. [i'm still amazed that we convinced james to go with us. ha.] it was ok... not as good as radhika and i thought it would be though.

i can't believe that school is over. it feels way more weird this time for some reason. maybe because i'm realizing that this is my last winter break from school. [unless i become a teacher i suppose.] it's just a little crazy to think about how close i'm getting to graduation. yikes.

oh yeah. tonight i ran out to get the mail. [yes. literally ran. it was cold. and i did not have my jacket on.] as i approached the street, i noticed it was all glittery and pretty. but i just kept on running. then BAM. as soon as my feet hit the street, the slipped out from under me. my wrist and ankle are still sore. :/ but i managed to laugh when i called james to tell him.
it's good to laugh at yourself right?

too excited to study.

because honestly, either way school will be over tomorrow.
and that is just plain *exciting* to me.

so yeah.
i'm just having a hard time finding the last little bit of motivation to sit down and read. and go over pathways. and memorize all of it. again. because i didn't manage to put it into my long term memory the first time around. because i never study long enough. ever.

anyway.
after tomorrow i'm one step closer to graduation right?
eek.
so exciting.
so so so exciting.

i'm thinking more and more about what to do when i graduate. i'm leaning toward going to vegas for the summer to help paul and amanda with the baby. [another thing i am so so so excited for.] we'll see. i guess there is still time. :]

ok. somehow i have to make myself go study. ack.

:/

well. i found out today that my dad was in the hospital again last night.
he's home today, so hopefully everything is fine now.

unfortunately, they had to cardiovert him twice, and he woke up the first time. it's very painful to experience... i can't really even imagine.

i'm just glad that he's home now. i can't wait to see him tomorrow.


i had my ch final this morning, and i think it went pretty well. it took me over two hours to complete. we had to write 7 one paragraph responses, 1 four page essay, plus two pages of t/f, two pages of multiple choice, and two pages of quote identifications. i was exhausted when by the time i finished. not to mention out of words!

my friend shared this funny video with me tonight. it's called "one semester of spanish-spanish love song." [alyssa, i think you will appreciate it, especially if your spanish has become as bad as mine by now. i'd love to see mr. waite make one of these. ha.]

deep breath & put it in perspective.

yep. sometimes i just have to remind myself to breathe.

it's getting to the final stretch though. :]

i had a met reg exam on monday, and i did pretty well, especially considering how much i studied [or didn't study in this case.] i had my final paper for ch due monday as well, and i had to work on sunday, so it was very stressful trying to fit everything in. i think i managed to study only around 5 or 6 hours for met reg, but i ended up with an 89.5%. i'm happy with that score. i think it might even curve up to an A. [i have to give major kudos to james for helping me prepare. he pretty much taught me everything i needed to know about the isoprenoid pathway, which turned out to be heavily emphasized on the exam. so yeah. he's pretty much amazing.]

now i just have my ch final tomorrow morning. [i still need to study quite a bit.] then i have my met reg final on monday morning. [i need to review all the pathways, so i have a good deal of studying to do for that one.] i also have work on sunday, so i have to keep that block of time crossed off. plus, i have to finish up grading some papers for the freshmen class that i taught this semester.

once those things are completed, i can finally start to prepare for christmas. i have no idea what i'm getting anyone, but i'm hoping some ideas will magically pop into my head. ha.

i think james, liz and i are going to the city on wednesday, so perhaps i can do some shopping there. maybe not though... i might just go to the ocean and unwind. :]

& & some other exciting news... james isn't going to take his winter class, so he can go to vegas with us for new years. i'm so happy about that. i was stressing about whether or not to go, but now i don't have to decide. my sister is going to be there along with two of my uncles and their wives, so it will be a lot of family time. plus i probably won't get to see paul and amanda for too long on christmas, so it will be nice to see them again. thinking about the fun things that are coming up is definitely helping me get through this last little bit of school.

ok. back to my books now. i hope everyone is getting excited for the holidays and not stressed out.

"amy. you're barely alive."

yes.
i know.

the acrobat.

and old friend of mine once covered this song, and i thought it was one of the most beautiful songs.
i hope you enjoy it too.
[this is the original version, not my friend's.]

romney.

you know, i have to admit that haven't had tons of time to look into the candidates for the upcoming election.
i did take a little quiz that my mom sent me to see who my top candidates were a while ago... mitt romney and rudy giuliani were at the top of my alignment list. i'm pretty sure what separated them from the rest is that they offer more support for science than the other republican candidates.

anyway. i just have to say that i was really impressed with mitt romeny's speech today. i didn't catch the whole thing, but i think he did a fabulous job! i don't think there's any way some of the other candidates could have given such an eloquent speech on the topic. [especially from the other party!]

i hope that the republicans will narrow things down pretty soon. i just feel like it would give more strength to the party to have a few top candidates instead of so many, but who knows.


p.s. thanks for the kind words alyssa. i really appreciate what you said. :]

grr.

i'm at a loss for words here.
but i'm crying, and i just need to get this off my chest.
[it's times like these that make me wish i was a better writer, but oh well.]

i don't understand racism.
seriously. what's the point?

when i was in grade school, no one cared what race anyone was. i was completely unaware that people might think differently about someone just because of the color of their skin. everyone was friends with everyone and no one made rude and unnecessary comments about people because they were a different race. what happened to that time?

anyway. tonight garrett made some very mean comments to me. you can probably guess the nature of them. the thing is, i've tried really hard to maintain a friendship with him because he was such a big part of my life, and vice versa, but maybe he's just not the person i think he is. it's so frustrating when you try to be there for someone and help them be the best person they can be, and in return, they make comments to you knowing they will hurt you.

maybe one day he can find acceptance and happiness in his heart. [and i don't mean acceptance or happiness for me... i mean for himself.]

happy birthday.

helix is one year old today!
it's a little hard for me to believe.

he's been pretty hyper, but i don't think he really knows it's his big day. some people get pet birthday cakes to celebrate, but i don't know about that idea. james decided that the thing he would want most was just to spend time with us today. ha. :]

super busy this weekend with school stuff. i don't have much time, but here's a quick update:

i was supposed to go to california today, but i was too stressed out and had to cancel. :[ i did console myself with a stop at the fabric store after i dropped my mom off at the airport this morning. [she and my dad are in vegas for the weekend.] i got some really cute fabrics that i *plan* to make some christmas ornaments with. we'll see if i have time to make these plans come to fruition.

genea came in last night to take the lsat, and stayed with me. it was so nice to see her, even if it was a super short trip. we managed to have dinner last night with james and that was about it as far as hanging out time.

i'll post some photos from our anniversary once i upload them onto the computer. it was a good dinner, but i think we both agreed that it didn't quite live up to the hype.

:]

well. today is 1 year. it's sort of crazy to say/think.
but then again, it actually feels like it's been much longer.

so anyway. i didn't really think we were going to do much since it's in the middle of the week, and we have lots of school stuff going on right now, etc.

but.

james just called me and told me that we have a reservation at the melting pot tonight. i've been bugging him to go there for so long... way before it even opened. ha. so maybe boys really do listen to us? :]


p.s. last night, i actually pulled the melting pot menu that i had picked up a while back out of the "menu drawer" that we have at my house. i carefully looked it over, then put it back in the drawer and thought... "maybe one day." ha.

health food & photos.

i went to target today and felt inspired to buy some healthy snacks. i haven't been feeling well lately. [lots of headaches.] i think it could have something to do with my crappy diet, so maybe healthier options will help. i have to say, these little bars are pretty tasty. :]

also. now that i've realized how much i need to do for school, i'm ready to upload the photos from this past weekend. go figure.

wednesday night, james and i went to fallon to see alyssa and family. it was so good to catch up on old times. :] plus, it was the first time james had come to fallon with me. i hadn't been back for a long time. i can't believe there is a starbucks now. it's just weird to go back and see how much things have changed.

thursday morning i headed to the airport at 4:30. when i was waiting in line to check my bag, the guy in front of me turned around and i was in la-la land, so he got my attention, and i realized that he was in my education class over the summer. we had worked on our group project together. ha. well he ended up being on the same flight as me, and sitting in the row in front of me! kinda random. plus, he knew the denver airport better than me, so he helped my find my way to the passenger pickup area. nice.

i have no idea why i keep thinking it's a good idea to book my flights so early! but it was pretty cool to watch to sunrise from the plane. plus, this time, i guess i had to leave really early because i needed to be there in time for thanksgiving number 1 at my mom's parent's house. pretty much all of my mom's side was there, and it was nice to see everyone. it was a little bit weird though because i feel kind of distant from my cousins now... it seems we are all grown up and it's a little weird. anyway. it was pretty cold there. i was excited to see the snow on the ground though. :]



[here's a little action shot of the guys carving the turkey. ha.
then that's my only girl cousin [who just got married] in the green shirt, playing cards with my grandma and mom.
and one of paul and amanda while we were just hanging out.]





then it was back to denver for thanksgiving number 2 at my dad's parent's house. there was a big group of relatives there as well. it was so nice to see everyone again. :] plus, there weren't any mashed potatoes at thanksgiving number 1, so i had to stock up this time. ha.

my grandpa got up before we started eating and pretended like he was going to give a big speech, and everyone was kind of sighing and giggling, then he just said something very brief like "it's nice to have everyone together." ha. little trickster. it was really cool to see my dad with all the relatives again, since it's been so long since he's been back to colorado. it was such a fun and jam packed day... that night, i slept really well. :]

friday, we all went to see my uncle's house... i think he's doing a flip. you know, fixing it up and selling it. he's really good at decorating, so it was neat to see his ideas. :]


then my sister and i went on a little shopping trip. we were trying to find something to wear to my cousin's reception, but didn't have any luck. i love the way the anthropologie window was decorated though. so cool with all the paper snowflakes sewn together. my parent's went back to my mom's parent's house that day, but i stayed in denver with my brother and sisters. we had really good asian food that night. seriously. it was awesome. and instead of little candies or something that would usually come with the bill, they gave us these little ice cream thingys. they were so good. little ice creams covered in marzipan or something. i have no clue what exactly it was, but it was really good. :] that night, we all played ricky ticky. it's my grandpa's favorite card game, and i have to say... it's really fun!



saturday, we went to the aquarium with my grandpa. i loved it. there was a pink fish in what we decided to call the "nemo exhibit" and the only sign by the tank was for clown fish... so i think it was a pink clown fish. anyway. i want one of those! i always love looking at the jellyfish too. after lunch, we headed back up to my other grandparents house to go to the wedding reception. there were a lot of people there, but i didn't really know that many of them. luckily, most of the cousins sat together, so i had people i knew to talk to. it was a little weird though because it felt like everyone there was in a couple, and i was really missing james by that point. :/ i wish he could have come. maybe we can make a trip at some point though.

on the way back to denver that night, we drove downtown to see the capitol building that had been decorated for the holidays. i couldn't get a good photo, but it was seriously amazing to see it in person.

that was pretty much the trip. :] sunday morning we headed back home. i wasn't feeling too well, but i was just glad that i didn't get sick on the plane or anything. i really didn't want to come home, but it was nice to see james again. he can tell i really like it in denver, and when we were talking about it, he said that it might be possible for us to live there someday. ha. how cool. :]

ok. better get to my reading now. this is a long post anyway!

maybe i'm not tall enough to be a supermodel...

but i'll never have trouble fitting into a seat on an airplane. :]

yes. it's always interesting to notice how cramped in people can be on airplanes. but lucky for me, i'm short enough to not have that problem.

on the flight to denver, both the people next to me (i prefer the window seat) were complaining because the people in front of us all reclined their seats.
then, i flew home on the same flight as my parents, and my dad kept asking me if i wanted to put my purse above instead of under my seat so that i had room for my feet. i guess it was hard for him to understand the possibility of having enough room since he's so tall.

anyway. i'm still pretty tired and recovering, but the weekend was amazing. i don't want to be home, except to see james.
well i have some pictures to post, but i'm not feeling up to it right now. i just wanted to check in and say that i hope everyone had a fabulous holiday!

reunion.

tis the season for reunions, right?





well tonight, i went to have sushi with kal and kade. how fun!
when james and i got there, brian was there as well. he has a class with james this semester, and another boy from their class came to dinner too, so james had a good time too. then mark ended up coming as well. it was nice to see some of the boys i haven't seen for so long. :]

now. does anyone have a suggestion about how to make myself become more interested in doing the laundry i need to do in order to pack!?

weekend review.

i kept meaning to blog this weekend, but it didn't happen.

anyway. it was a good weekend. lots of excitement.
[which was needed after getting the terrible test score.]

friday night, james and i went to see american gangster with yenh and joey. it was seriously so so good. i'm generally really bad at watching movies with violence, but this one was so good, it made up for it.



saturday was thanksgiving for my club. i had it at my house last year, so i ended up having it here again. that means i had to clean things saturday morning. plus, our turkey maker from the past several years graduated last year. that left me to bake the turkey! it was my first time ever making a turkey, and i did it all by myself. i'm not going to lie... i was pretty proud. and everyone said it was really good, so i was super happy about that. :] we had a small group, but it was really fun. lots of yummy thanksgiving food.

saturday night was a bit of a girls' night. deepa wanted to see august rush, but it was sold out when we got to the theater. so we ended up seeing the bee movie. it was cute, but not fabulous.

i was just going to stay home once i got done with the movie, but then erin called me to tell my portugal. the man was playing a show here. so i decided to go. i ended up seeing andrew there. so random. we talked for a little bit, but then he had to leave. ah well. it was nice to see him since the phone number i had for him is no longer his phone number.

sunday was a rough day at work. things kept going wrong with the computer, so that just made it a little harder than it should have been. james came for lunch though, so that was really nice.

we also had my favorite pizza for dinner... from jj's pie company. i had the wings, which made me a happy girl. plus i stole some of james' crust to dip in the honey. mmm. :]

well. i think it's time to go shopping now. i still need to find something to wear to my cousin's wedding reception while i am in denver. has anyone seen anything super cute lately? i'm having a hard time finding something i like.

p.s. alyssa, i realized i have lab meeting on wednesday, so i won't be done until around 4pm, so i probably won't make it out until closer to 5pm. will that work for you?

bad day.

yep. i had a met reg exam today, and i have never felt so bad leaving an exam.
it's just plain frustrating.
especially after getting and A on the first exam, then preparing in the same manner, and then having to turn in the exam with a 14 point question left blank.
blah. i don't even know what to do about it. i'm just at a loss.

i'm trying to stay motivated with school, but it's so hard. first of all, i feel like i can't keep up, but then there are just too many other things i'd rather be doing with my time.

i made it to the last round of last scrapper standing, but i'm not going to do the challenge.
it seems sort of ashame not to do it, but i'm just not feeling inspired. :/

ah well.
i guess i just needed to vent.

blind date.

last night i guess i set up a little blind date for liz and zachary. ha.

well first, james, radhika, liz, and i went to dinner at the summit and tried to do a little shopping, but we only had 30 minutes. so it wasn't very successful.

then radhika, liz, and i went to divine, but there was no one there so we went to seven. radhika and i played liar's dice and we all just talked for a while. there was a creeper who came and sat at our table, but luckily zachary came to meet us and the creeper left.

i don't know how good of a match maker i am, but i think it went pretty well. they seemed to get along. :]

liz wanted a grilled cheese, so we tried to go to silver peak, but it was busy and stuff, so we went to awful awful instead. ha. that always makes for a random time. radhika and i agreed that we haven't laughed that hard in a really long time. liz is a good story teller. :] she just kept coming up with more stories that were strangely hilarious. like flying over her bike handlebars on the way to the hilton or trying to get rid of hiccups in paris.


on the walk back to the car, liz and zachary decided to make the alley look "more like an alley" by scattering the newspaper that had been dropped. i decided it did look more like an alley, so i took this photo. ha.

some other random things happened too.

i saw sydney at seven, and then a bit later... the roommate that moved in to replace her came to seven too. how random.

then when we were leaving seven to go to silver peak, i saw blake cooper. even more ranodm.

and right when i walked in to silver peak, i saw owen mackedon. hello random.

it was a fun night though. :] now it's time to read and study. i have an exam in metabolic regulation on wednesday, and i have to have a book read for core humanities on wednesday as well. eek. all i want to do is work on fun scrapbook stuff, but i just can't. grr. :/

yeo.bo.sae.ohh.

well. you can't really spell korean words in english, but i make attempts. it's the only way i can remember. i think that is hello.

last night, we went to dinner at carol's boyfriend's restraunt, so i asked carol and her sister if i was saying it right, and they tried to help me spell it in english so i can remember. ha. :] it will probably still take a while before i will say it to james' parents or anything like that.

i think i managed to get most of the photos i wanted up in that last post. that was a serious pain. everytime i tried to do more than one photo, i would wait forever then get an error. so i had to upload them one at a time, which means i trimmed down the amount i was going to post. ah well. that's a pretty good selection i think.

i *finally* went to the gym tonight. luckily james was there when i got there and he was just finishing up, so he came upstairs [where the girlie machines are] when he was done and helped me out. there are so many machines that i have no clue how to use. so he told me what i should do and helped me learn how to do the lifts properly. really helped. then i went for a really short run until i got lightheaded and dizzy. [what's the deal with that lately!?]

tonight we had a random little get-together at mike's house. it was a lot of biochemers. both the grad students from my lab were there too. so everyone was playing guitar hero. but i refused. and i will contiue to refuse. i really don't need another addiction. and everyone else was smoking the hookah. i stayed away though... smoke gives me such a bad headache. they were in the garage though, and i still had my gym clothes on... so it was too cold for me to be out there, which left me with a good excuse to stay away. :]

so here's the highlight... i'd eaten a salad before i went to the gym, so i was pretty hungry and james and liz and radhika were too. so we went to dairy queen. liz is a vegetarian, so she wanted a grilled cheese. so radhika asked if they had grilled cheese. the drive-thru guy said no. so we were all thinking what the heck... are they serious. and i pointed out that they have toast... so really... it seemed a little strange to us. so liz goes, "will you ask him if i can have two pieces of toast with cheese melted in the middle?" ha. so radhika actually did ask, and the guy goes, "umm. well. i guess i can do that. i'll just put it in the microwave or something." it was seriously hilarious to us. but liz got her grilled cheese, so all was well.

anyway. i'm so super tired. and so super sick of school. and so super wanting to just scrapbook. ah well. goodnight.

the rest of san antonio.

ok. well i didn't have time to give another update from san antonio. and i've been super tired and catching up on sleep and everything, but i just finally uploaded my photos to my computer. so it's time for a post. [i might be here all evening trying to get the photos to upload. it's not working very well. grr.]




so first there are a couple photos from friday night. when we met for dinner, we went into the room and there was the little tool thing on rollers, you know what i mean... well they dubbed it our "horse" because we would be able to let it carry everything for us. and in the spirit of fiskars and texas, we all got an orange cowboy hat with our fiskateer number on it. it was so funny to meet people that you know from online in person. it's just strange to feel like you "know" them and then actually meet them for the first time.

that night we had a couple little warm up sessions. one of them was called the dna of a scrapper or something like that. naturally, i was very excited about that. so of course, there was no way it could have lived up to my expectations. haha. it was ok though. we were just supposed to make a little book about what who we *were*, who we *are*, and who we *want to be*... so i did like a past/present/future thing. but i didn't finish it. then we were supposed to make a layout using the letters of our name to describe ourselves. yeah. i didn't finish that one either. ha.

saturday was better. i slept so well friday night and really didn't want to wake up, but managed somehow. we had some little breakout sessions... three classes with the lead fiskateers. i didn't finish any of those projects. [do you see a theme here? well. i wasn't the only one. in fact, i got a lot further than some people.] we also had a session with the brains on fire people. i'm still not 100% sure what part they were playing in this, but i know they organized it mostly, and i think they are sort of like the public relations firm that fiskars is using to build their company.



anyway. we went to a nice little lunch at this cute little buffet style place. i think that was my favorite meal of the trip. [i'm not a huge fan of mexican food, but of course, that was the focus for most of the food.] on the walk to lunch, we were waiting for the group to catch up and somehow i happened to be standing next to two other amys. sort of random that out of 50, three of us were named amy. but they were really cool. so we sat together at lunch with one more lady named sharon, but we made her an honorary amy. ha.





then we walked around the alamo for a while. i hung out with one of the amys and we just sort of wandered around taking cool photos and went to the gift shop. :]

what else...

oh we had a class with nancy, one of the designers for cloud 9. it was a cd calendar thing, and i finished the cover, january, and half of february. ha.




then we went on this cool boat tour. the whole area was just so pretty. i sat with the two amys. :] i was amazed at how long the boat tour was. i thought it would be a silly little thing... but it was actually really long and nice. we saw 4 or 5 weddings on the way. kind of funny.


then we got dropped off for a mexican food dinner and walked back to the hotel. i got some neat photos on the walk back. i also got really dizzy so that i almost fell over while i was walking. it was a little scary. and i was so nervous since you can just fall right off the edge into the water with nothing to stop you! i still don't believe that onle 3 people fall in per year. i think people just don't report it or something.

after that, we had a class with heidi grace. it was amazing. definiely a highlight of the trip. she is just adorable. she's pregnant right now with a girl who they plan to name ireland. she is seriously the best story teller. she made us tear up and then immediately laugh hysterically. yeah. that was great. and i actually almost finished her project! i could have finished, but i had been trying to get a photo with her, but since everyone else was too... i kept just going back and sitting down. so eventually, she came over and asked me if i was ok. by this point, i had been thinking about my thesis and was a little mad at myself for not spending more time on the rough draft. even though everyone said it didn't matter and not to worry about it... i still was. big time. so this was really on my mind, and when she asked if i was ok... bam. i started getting all teary. and i couldn't really explain it to anyone. it was so embarrassing. i wanted to go clean myself up a little bit, so i left early and didn't finish my project. ah well. :]

that night, we had some cropping time. so i talked to a few people. one lady told me her husband works for genentech, so if i want a summer internship or something to just send her an email. ha. how cool. then angela, amy, and i talked for a while about everything that's been going on lately with the scrapbooking industry. it all makes me so sad. i wish we could all be supportive of each other instead of being jealous. grr. anyway. it was a good talk that we had. good bonding time. :]

angela and i stayed up until like 4am packing all of our stuff and talking. ha. good call. not! the morning came way too soon. we had a nice breakfast. it was probably my second favorite meal of the trip... there was bacon, so i was a happy girl. then we had a little graduation ceremony and we each got a little necklace with a scissors charm. cute.




after that, it was pretty much over. some of us who didn't have to leave yet went to lunch on the riverwalk. mexican food of course. luckily i was able to get a hamburger. [for $13, but whatever. haha.] then we took a bunch of random silly photos on the walk back to the hotel.

everyone was so worried about their bags being overweight. angela and i didn't depart until 5:00pm, but we took the 2:30 shuttle because we just figured we could hang out with people at the airport. we also had extra time to make sure our bags were ok... angela was close with one of her's... about 45 pounds. but both of mine were only like 25-35 pounds. i think most people had one big bag and one little bag, but i had two medium bags. i also packed a ton of stuff in my carry-ons. they were so stinking heavy! but we made it without any problems. the lady next to me on the flight to reno had two little puppies with her. i had no idea you could take them as a carry-on, but they didn't make a sound the whole flight. most people didn't even know they were there until she was getting off the plane.

yep. so it was an amazing trip. a bit of a blur. and i'm a little mad at myself for putting school stuff on the back burner, but it all works out, right? sad to have it over, but happy to be home. :]