love it here.

they just built a new pharmacy by my grandparents' house. i'm resisting the urge to apply for a job there. [i do intend to apply at a pharmacy eventually to make sure i like the environment/work before i go through pharmacy school.]

last night, we got in a little over an hour late. not too bad. the pilot announced that it was "a balmy 3 degrees outside." eek.
my mom's parents picked her up and my dad and i got a rental car [i'll need to get a photo] and headed to my dad's parents' house. [yes. it's somewhat sad that we aren't all together, but this way we are all happy.]
i tried to navigate, and we ended up getting on the freeway the wrong direction and driving back through the airport. oops. but we finally made it. my sister was here waiting for us, and we all ate some yummy lasagna. :]
i also found out that it was my grandparents' 62nd wedding anniversary! oh and i learned that they met each other because my grandpa was a busboy in the women's dorm at the college they both attended, and my grandma waited tables there to make a little extra spending money. she made 25 cents an hour, and her aunt paid 38 dollars a month for room and board. we talked tonight about how much things have changed.

today, we visited my sister at her office and went out to lunch. my grandma and i spent some time knitting. she does the knit stitch differently. i kind of want to learn her way... it looks a little faster. of course, it's probably her experience that makes it look so much faster. we ate dinner at my uncle's house. then my sister and i got some shopping done. grandma, dad, and i stayed up pretty late talking. we somehow got on the topic on healthcare, which got my dad a little fired up. it also left me with a dismal feeling about the future of healthcare in our country. but that's another topic for another day. and probably one that i won't go into on this blog. :]

tomorrow, my sister and i are going to do some more shopping. then we have to head up to fort collins. my mom's parents are having a dinner to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary, which is on saturday. it's supposed to snow here, so hopefully the roads won't be too bad.

my grandma mentioned today that she didn't send out christmas cards this year. she said she used to be so good about writing out christmas letters to all of her family, but this year she decided that she would call instead. and then she added that part of the reason that she didn't write out letters this year was because she didn't know what to say about grandpa. she "didn't want to alarm anyone, but then again... maybe it's an alarming situation." my heart broke a little bit. but he seems to be in good spirits right now, which makes me so happy.

well. it's time for me to get some sleep.
goodnight. :]

wasting time.

our flight is delayed. we haven't left the house yet, and it keeps getting pushed back more and more.
so i thought i would write about my friday night/morning adventure.

i ended up staying out all night with yenh, hector [who i will seriously try to start calling j.r. since i'm the one only who calls him hector], and anthony. so i only got one hour of sleep, which made yesterday a struggle.
but it was a good night. :]

we ate at silver peak, we danced at 210, and we ate some more at the peppermill.

there was plenty of drama mixed in when hector's ex's friend spilled her drink on yenh. i offered to be yenh's roxana, and tell the girl i would break her face if she ever did that to my friend again. [if you don't know what i'm referring to, read the longest paragraph in this post.] but yenh wanted to keep things low key. i'm fairly certain i wouldn't have been able to follow through, but it could have been fun to see what happened if i tried to channel my inner roxana. ha.

hector... i mean j.r. and anthony are first year med school students. they are on winter break, but it was still hard to get them to commit to going out for the night. they decided to dedicate all of their days of vacation to snowboarding, and going out for the night would mean giving up one day of snowboarding. a hard sell, but yenh and i worked it out. ha.
during our second meal of the night, this guy sitting at a table across from ours stood up, tried to walk, and fainted. [he was beyond drunk because he had come from the dj tiesto show at the peppermill that we missed.] i told hector and anthony that they should have jumped to action, but let's just say they weren't quite in the proper condition to issue medical care.this isn't a set up. they were fast asleep at this point. anthony didn't even get to eat very many of his fries because he couldn't stay awake. and j.r. started snoring shortly before we woke them up to leave.
but i have to say, listening to them jabber while they were awake was pure comedy. plus, it was fun to get the dish on med school. :]they're lucky yenh and i are so nice and made sure they stayed safe. ha.

although my eyelids were heavy all day, i managed to ship my packages on saturday. only a day late... not too bad. i also learned that there is a automated mail center thing at the main post office here, which is open 24 hours a day. and it's pretty simple to use. the line was shorter and faster, so i tried it out instead of waiting to see a postal worker. hopefully everything went accordingly and my packages will be sent. :]

i didn't find anything warm at j. crew [or anywhere else for that matter] to take to colorado with me. i'm planning to just dress in layers. we'll see how it goes. i managed to do some laundry last night, but was too tired to pack. so i woke up early this morning to shower and pack. i'm thankful that we have an afternoon flight so that i could break my habit of not sleeping at all before flights. ha. as usual, i feel like i forgot several things, but everything on my list is checked off, so hopefully i have enough to make due.

i hope everyone is feeling more prepared for this christmas than i am!
i'll try to check in from colorado. :]

so much to do.

so little time indeed.

i keep having to remind myself that i am leaving town again on sunday. and with that reminder comes the realization that i don't have as much time for my to do list as i think i do. but for some reason, i'm still not feeling the time crunch.

i haven't finished finding gifts. what a stunning surprise.
so that's obviously on the list for tomorrow.
also a stop at j. crew because i can't figure out what happened to all of my sweaters, and it's ridiculously cold outside. and really. denver isn't going to be any warmer than it is here, so i need something warm to pack. [plus. they are having what seems to be a perpetual sale.]
and a long overdue visit to the post office. i don't know why i dread going to the post office so much. i used to love visiting there with my mom as a little one, but now i can't ever manage to make myself go.

maybe i should include a little bit of fun as a reward for getting to the post office, eh? i've been meaning to paint pottery all week. and actually, much longer than that. but if i run out of time to paint pottery, i could always knit. :]
and i am going to go out with yenh and some friends tomorrow night. as long as the weather isn't too terrible.

otherwise...
the wind is so horrific at my house tonight that helix has actually woken up and barked a few times. the whole house is shaking. i'm not a fan of this sort of wind. plus, i know it's bringing a storm, which is bad news for the holiday travel plans.

i forgot the mention that i bought the friday night knitting club on the same day as my successful wooden needle/soft yarn hunt. i'm excited to start it. i'll confess that i chose it primarily due to the adorable cover. i know. i know. i almost didn't buy it when blurb on the back alluded to a tragedy. but then i read the blurb for the second book [knit two] and basically spoiled the tragedy for myself so i'm properly prepared. someone, please tell me you would have done this too? i don't know what got into me. normally, i wouldn't have wanted to ruin the surprise.

now the only problem is that i'm rather antsy to make progress on my actual knitting. so far knitting is winning all my time.

& & i just found out that the book is being adapted into a movie. this might be a good indication, right? hopefully it's a good read. :]

yarn + old friends + another option.

i mentioned in the last post that i've been knitting. yesterday, i went on a yarn hunt in addition to my hunt for wooden needles. and i found some pretty fabulous stuff. i'm a sucker for yarn that's ridiculously soft. i might continue the hunt a bit today. we'll see.

helix has been going a little bit crazy with the balls of yarn sitting on the couch. it's pretty funny. he will just sit there and watch me knit and then sort of growl at the yarn. he wants to play with it so badly. last night, i got up for a minute and he swooped in and tried to steal my yarn. silly guy.

& & robin, in case you happen to read this, i found some of your yarn when i was sorting through boxes from my apartment. yes. i still have plenty of boxes that i've not unpacked. ack.

last night, i met up yenh and hector for dinner and a movie. [photo circa summer 2006.]

it was really good to see them again. they were both biology majors, so we had a few classes together here and there and knew some of the same people. we became close friends and had a some pretty awesome adventures together. yenh is now going to pharmacy school in utah and hector is going to medical school here at unr.

we talked quite a bit over dinner. we covered lots of ground... politics, relationships, marriage & kids, movies, school...
yenh is trying to convince me to apply to pharmacy school. last night, i couldn't sleep, so i was seriously contemplating the idea. when yenh started telling me that i should do it, james said, "hey. the salary of two pharmacists wouldn't be so bad." then yenh said "yeah! the three of us could open our own pharmacy!" ha. but i also think that it would be a job that would allow for a family, which is important to me. and you can finish in three years. the thing is, i don't have all the prerequisites to apply. the main one standing in my way is anatomy and physiology, which i swore i would never take because i know that i couldn't handle the whole cadaver situation.
it would be nice to have another option than grad school though. plus, pharmacy school leads right into a career whereas grad school leads right into who knows what. so i don't know. maybe i'll try to convince deepa, radhika, or mike to take anatomy with me so i can freak out to them and not have a full blown anxiety attack. ha. :]

ok. i'm off to work on some more christmas gifts. wish me luck!

i've been meaning to blog.

i really have.
i even have two posts in my drafts section.
but i wanted to do a post about san francisco with pictures first.
so i'm sitting down in my cold, dark bedroom on my trusty desktop that has a pretty empty hard drive because i rarely use it for more than watching satc or friends to fall asleep.
so. how about a post that lives up to the name [photos + words + stories] of this blog. :]

in case you haven't noticed, i sort of have a thing about taking photos from the airplane. i happen to enjoy them quite a bit. it goes without saying that i was pleased to capture this one on our morning flight into oakland:
most of the first day was spent shopping, although one might argue that we were primarily window shopping. the only real purchase of the day was at lush. i picked up a couple of little lovelies. they sure made my suitcase smell good. :]

i may have mentioned that one of my vivid childhood memories is riding on the spiral escalators in the mall containing nordstom. now they almost make me nauseous, but i still ride on them for the sake of memory lane. i loved seeing the holiday decor all over the city.

that night, we had a large group dinner at north beach restaurant. i won't go back there, but it was fun sitting at a huge table in the wine cellar with about 25 ladies who were enjoying the vino quite a bit. :]
the best part of the dinner [obviously not the food] was getting to see the prusciutto rooms. at the beginning of the meal, one of the silly italian servers boasted about how they make their own prusciutto on site. after our meal, the owner of the restaurant showed those of us who were interested and talked a bit about the process. it was pretty interesting. he said there was $300,000 worth of prusciutto in the two rooms. yikes. after dinner, mom and i walked over and got some cheesecake to eat in the room and called it a night. some of the ladies headed to lefty's, a bar in union square right outside the hotel. i think i heard them walking back to their rooms around one. seriously. when i'm older, i hope i can still stay out late like that. :]

the next day, mom and i did a little more shopping. the anthropologie on market st. is my most favorite anthro store. the decor at every anthro is always fascinating, but especially at this store. so many unique ideas.

after a little shopping, we headed to north beach to wander around. we had tickets to beach blanket babylon that night, so we stopped by the venue early to make sure of the location and pick up the tickets. since i have no other photos from the show, i'll just mention now that it was fabulous. better than i expected. if you're unfamiliar, it's famous for the crazy hats worn by the performers. they really are impressive. they basically make jokes about current events and pop culture throughout the show. the political part was my favorite. they seemed to make fun of everyone equally. :] oh and since it's december [i'm assuming that's the reason. ha.] they ended with a whole christmas themed segment, including a huge christmas hat. :]

before the show, mom and i wandered around washington square.we visited some of the boutiques in the area and then headed down columbus st. to visit a few more shops. i finally got to see vesuvio during the day.ha. usually i just visit there with andrew at night, but the murals on the wall outside were so fun to see during daylight. i was trying to convince my mom that this is sort of a famous spot, and just after i took this photo, a tour bus stopped and all the people unloaded and started taking photos too. sort of funny.

we decided to have dinner here:
i've eaten here before, and it's always good. i wanted a good meal after the yuck meal from the night before. [ok. to be fair, i should say that my mom enjoyed her meal the night before. i think i was the only one who didn't like mine. but with all the choices in the area, i don't feel the need to ever go back.] we had this cute, isolated little table by the window at the stinking rose with a christmas tree right behind my chair and a fun view of columbus st. after dinner, we headed off to the show were we eventually met up with everyone else from our group.

on the way back to the hotel from the show, the limo driver that had been driving us around for the whole trip got pulled over. it was a huge ordeal, where all the ladies in our limo freaked out at the cops and told him they were inconveniencing us. the cops said that the limo driver hadn't filled out the paperwork properly, so we would have to get out and take taxis. this lead to further freaking out, where the ladies told the cops that taxis were unsafe. the cops said they've been having problems with limos acting as taxis and then kidnapping the people they pick up. this caused the ladies to get even more angry because they've been using this limo service for years and told the cops they were ridiculous. i thought the whole thing was a little bit funny. some of the ladies who were in the limo are rather prominent people in reno. if the cops had only known who they were dealing with! ha. i looked it up on google maps and realized that we were less than a mile from the hotel, so mom and i just walked back. they rest of them reluctantly took taxis, and the limo got towed. the driver apparently showed up at lefty's, the bar where he knew the ladies would be that night to apologize. ha.

anyway. i really don't mind the walk from north beach to union square. james and i usually just walk. and tonight was especially cool because mom and i got to see this big christmas tree at the ritz.sadly, i failed to take photos of all the other cool trees we saw. ah well.

the next day, our flight wasn't until the evening, so after a yummy breakfast, we decided to head to golden gate park to explore. we stopped at the conservatory of flowers first.the coolest part was in one of the rooms, they had set up "the golden gate expressway", which is a little model of san francisco using all kinds of "junk" to create the buildings. oh. there was a train too, but that wasn't the impressive part. ha.notice the cheese grater? and the forks and spoons?
and here's coit tower made out of tape measures and mini blinds.
it was fun to look at each little building and try to figure out what they used. they had a little booklet that you could look at to read what each building was made from. things like light switch plates, keyboard keys, cds, computer guts, old mail cartons... i wish i could remember more!

after that, we headed to the de young museum. i'm pretty sure we took a wrong turn somewhere because it too us a while to find it. we first stumbled on the academy of sciences, which i will definitely head back to check out another time. then we went over to the museum. they are having a big ysl special exhibit right now, which was definitely the highlight of what the museum had to offer. i seriously loved seeing all of those clothes. and i seriously wished i could take a few pieces home. :]

we went up in the tower, as suggested by the guest services lady. it offered one of the best 360 degree views of the city i've come across.
the other interesting part of the museum was the dale chihuly glass. mom and i talked about how the bellagio has sort of "ruined" us. when you can see a whole ceiling made of chihuly glass, four pieces aren't all that impressive. likewise, when you see buildings modeled out of flowers in the bellagio conservatory, the golden gate park conservatory isn't quite as impressive. :] we still loved wandering through the park. it's something i've been meaning to do for a long time now.

after our short adventure, we were getting hungry, so we walked over to the haight for some lunch. naturally, i suggested we eat as askew. my mom loved it too! then i proceeded to make my poor mom walk for miles and miles and miles because despite however savvy i might think i am, i still haven't figured out the public transportation system very well. but we got to see buena vista park and plenty of cool houses like these: and we finally came upon the paper source in the fillmore where i made a quick stop. and then we continued walking and walking and walking back to union square. i got to show my mom japantown too. ha.

i didn't have a chance to visit with andrew because he was in the middle of finals. i guess that means i'll need to make another trip soon. :]

briefly, in other news:
we finally saw quantum of the solace sunday night. it was good. i need to see it again so i can figure out some more parts. i always feel like i need to see those types of movies at least twice to really understand everything.

it's been snowing. james is ecstatic about that.

this was taken from my front porch monday morning. the road is under there somewhere. :]

i've been knitting. i think i'm going to look for some wooden knitting needles in case the don't allow metal ones on the plane. i mean really, what better way to pass time while flying in the winter than to knit?

i'm craving tapioca express. so i might trek out there today.

james keeps asking me what i want for christmas. i still can't decide on anything.
i got my one big christmas wish over the weekend from my parents. now i just need to set it up. :]
i've not finished my shopping. but i'm sure you probably guessed that, huh?

i actually started this post last night, but had to take a break and didn't end up finishing it until now. kudos to you if you read it without taking a break. ha.

go figure.

now that i'm ready to upload my photos, the nasty "your startup disk is full" message has returned and decided that my desire to blog about the vegas trip with the inclusion of photos is doomed. ah well.
[that should explain why i'm asking for an external hard drive for christmas.]

upon reflecting on the trip, i really have little to say. i think that's why i was hoping to include photos of victoria. :]
my mom picked her up from daycare on monday, and we took her shopping. we also decided based on her attraction to our necklaces, that she likes tiffany jewelry. we warned my dad about this, and he had a good laugh.
on sunday, i was able to meet up with deepa for a couple hours. we went to town square. it was my first visit to this particular shopping area, and i really liked it. they have a smaller martin + osa than cherry creek in denver, but it's a martin + osa nevertheless. it's very spread out, and there are living spaces above the stores. oh. and there is a cupcake stand and a very yummy yogurt shop. what more could you ask for? when i told james about it, i added that i wouldn't mind living there. :]
we visited town square again on tuesday so that victoria could have her photo taken with santa. it was a pretty good santa, but unfortunately, the photographer was unwilling to wait for victoria to smile before she took the photos even though there was no one in line behind us. oh well. the resulting photos were still pretty cute.
we didn't do a whole lot else besides shopping and eating. we did had dinner at lucille's on tuesday night, which was obviously a highlight.

in other news, my studio calico kit arrived today. i'm in love it with once again. i actually like the kit way more than i imagined. in fact, when i was looking through the goods, i was more inspired to scrap than i have been in a long time. hopefully, the feeling will reoccur when i have time to scrapbook again. maybe this weekend. we'll see.

i also attempted some christmas shopping today. i made a similar attempt yesterday, but i came home with one bag. and wouldn't you know the bag only contained a shirt that i purchased for myself. ha. today was a bit better. i again came home with just one bag, but this time it contained victoria's gift. i've resolved that my parents will get a "new year" gift because a. i don't want to haul the gift to denver and back and b. it probably won't be done before we leave for denver anyway. now i just need to figure something out for my sister and brother + amanda. i'm considering waiting until i get to denver to purchase my sister's gift. i have a few things in mind, so it shouldn't be too difficult. i do need to figure something out for paul and amanda rather quickly so that i can get everything in the mail though. eek.

i better get going. it's nearly one in the morning now. where did the night go?
early tomorrow morning, mom and i are heading to the airport. i've not packed my bag yet, but my laundry is in the dryer, so that's a good start.
perhaps my computer will randomly find some disk space by the time i get home so that i can upload and post photos. otherwise, i'll figure something out. we can't have too many photo-less posts around here.
goodnight. :]

p.s. i was just scrolling through my old posts and when i saw the photo in this post, i got sad that i no longer have long hair for the first time since my hair cut. i guess that it took quite a while for that feeling to come. but i'm about to go blow dry and flat iron my hair. i'm sure that i'll once again be glad the length is gone when i finish the process in half the time. :]

i'm here.

but i still haven't uploaded my photos. ha.

my sister came to town on tuesday for a mining conference with her company. i picked her up yesterday when the conference was over, so we've been spending time together.
i even woke up early this morning before i had to go to work in order to go get breakfast with her. :]
work went by way too slowly. plus, james went snowboarding today and my mom and sister went shopping, and i so wish that i could have been doing either of those things instead of sitting in the freezing cold [broken heater] scrapbook store. but i'm so thankful because jeanne offered to work for me tomorrow until one so that i can get lunch with my sister before she leaves. seriously. so sweet.

anyway.
i feel like i have way too much to do in order to be ready for christmas. i'm so far behind that i don't even know where to start. hopefully on monday and tuesday i can put a good dent in my list before my mom and i leave for the city. eek.

i'll be back sooner or later with the rest of my photos from the trip.

survey says:

it's already four days into december!
i'm not ready for it to be december yet, but i'm embracing it and getting totally excited.
december means a trip to the city. finally.
december means a trip to colorado see my family. again. which makes me so super happy.
december also means that i didn't get my christmas shopping done early this year. ha. ah well. i'll figure something out.

tomorrow i will post about the rest of my trip, but i haven't uploaded my photos yet, and i'm feeling too lazy to do that right now. so how about this instead:

where is your mobile phone? in my black bag. the bag with the handle that has stitches falling out. maybe i'll go visit the coach store tomorrow to see if they can fix it?
where is your significant other? in his bed sleeping.
your hair colour? brown.
your mother? the best. she's in fallon right now.
your father? the best. he just said "these oranges are so good!" then walked out of the kitchen. ha.
your favourite thing? traveling. :]
your dream last night? i don't remember it. i slept pretty well.
your dream goal? ack. it's going to be a while.
the room you're in? the family room.
your hobby? artsy stuff and scrapbooking.
your fear? death.
where do you want to be in six years? that one is a big fat question mark. i used to be so worried about having a plan. it's strange to not be so concerned now.
where were you last night? home.
what you're not? motivated to clean the house.
one of your wish-list items? this wireless external hard drive.
where you grew up? right around here.
the last thing you did? talked to my dad.
what are you wearing? joe's jeans & my favorite black long sleeved tee.
your tv? turned on to hgtv.
your pets? helix is asleep in james' room.
your computer? this one i generally use for computer stuff + internet. the desktop in my room i generally use to watch dvds until i fall asleep.
your mood? good.
missing someone? when i think about it, of course i can think of people to miss.
your car? in the driveway.
something you're not wearing? socks, shoes, or makeup.
favourite shop? martin + osa for now.
your summer? was not too eventful.
love someone? duh.
your favourite colour? teal + black.
when is the last time you laughed? something super random happened and it made me laugh so hard. but i can't remember what it was! i'll have to ask james.
when is the last time you cried? when i was driving away from my grandparents, i got teary. but not as much as last time since i knew i would be back in three weeks. :]

feel free to copy this and fill it out if you get bored.

tomorrow i'm picking my sister up from the hotel where she is staying here in reno. she was at a big mining conference with her company, now she is going to stay with us until sunday. we're going to meet up with my dad to get her a new phone. i need to do some cleaning and i should do some laundry to keep up too. i want to make rice krispy treats, fudge, and cookies. i doubt i'll actually make all three. i've never made fudge before, but it seems easy. ha. james and i are going to dinner for radhika's birthday. at some point, i'd like to stop at target. i'd also like to make it out to the coach store, the local art supply store, and oh geez... i don't even know. it's time to make a list and prioritize.

snowy morning.

this was the view out the bedroom window when i woke up:
sigh.

it was amazing to just sit and take it in during breakfast. there's always something sort of magical about the first big snowfall of the season. no matter where you happen to be for it. :]
my grandma said that it's sort of rare for the snow to completely cover the branches and every little thing in the yard the way it did. i suppose that generally the snowfall here is a bit more heavy, so it tends to just fall right off. this one must have been just right. :]

we didn't end up going to visit the farm today. we were supposed to go up with my mom's parents, but my grandma wasn't feeling well. so we decided to reschedule, perhaps for the christmas visit.

this left us with a whole day of no plans.
we thought about going to a museum or movie or something, but we couldn't decide. instead, we went shoe shopping. ha. :]
i found three pairs that i really liked, but i decided that i didn't have enough room to get them home in my suitcase. i spent the past fifteen minutes doing some preliminary packing, and i'd say it was definitely a wise decision not to purchase any shoes. my suitcase is going to be super full.

we ate dinner at my grandparents favorite chinese restaurant. they really do have the best sesame chicken ever. i have a feeling that i'm going to be craving it in a few days. ha. after dinner, we played more cards. we played two rounds of pitch, which was new to me. i wasn't very good at it. i'll need to practice in order to be able to keep up around here. after those two rounds, we switched to ricke ticke and played two rounds of it. i won the second round! hard to believe. :]

i'm sad to be leaving tomorrow. i love spending time with my grandparents. i feel like i'm able to keep my grandpa in moderately good spirits when i'm here, despite what he's going through right now. it'd be nice to stay longer. while we were searching for things to do today, i came across this ceramics studio that i really would love to visit. i think there are a lot of interesting places and things to do around the denver area. maybe i should take a year of foreign language so i can apply to the graduate program here. :]

i better get to sleep now. i have to wake up early tomorrow, and i didn't get much sleep at all last night.
i hope everyone had a fantastic long weekend. :]

candle winds.

tonight while playing cards, my grandpa said that jamie's shuffle ranked a ten in terms of candle winds.
he explained that it was producing enough of a breeze when jamie shuffled the two decks of cards to put out the tenth candle if candles were lined up in a row heading away from the table. obviously, he explained it much more eloquently than i am, but maybe you get the idea.
i love the random little things my grandpa says.

i've been so so so bad at taking photos.
i took a bunch during my flight here though.
i had a row to myself, which is always nice. i forgot my ipod, so instead i listened to the music that was available by hooking into the arm rest. i found a jazz station, and i think that might be my new favorite flight music. seriously. james and i occasionally listen to jazz when we drive around. there's just something about it. ha.
the last portion of my flight took place during the sunset and it was beyond beautiful:
did you notice the snow? there was less than i expected, but it was still so pretty.
for a while, the sky was a very vibrant orange.
and this was right as we touched down.

oh and i got to have lunch with miss victoria and my mom and brother before my flight left. my brother got in an hour before i needed to head through security. it was great to see them. victoria will now shake her head "no" repeatedly, and it's adorable.

i'm having an amazing time here in denver.
we've not been doing a whole lot, which is nice. plenty of time for visiting and playing cards. :]

on wednesday, my sister and i went shopping at cherry creek. i made myself walk past the tiffany store there. i lost a ring a while back, and so badly want to replace it. i guess i need to do some more searching for it first.
i did not resist stopping into martin + osa though. my sister and i both fell in love with the denim there. i think i've mentioned that i've been doing the jean search for a while now at macy's with little luck. i tend to wear only joe's jeans these days, but was even having trouble finding those. i was so happy to find two great pairs of jeans. [added bonus: they are about half the price of joe's. woot!]

that night, we ate dinner at the olive garden. we all talked about how we tend to order the same thing each time we go. i have a few dishes that i rotate between. my grandpa has gotten minestrone soup and salad for years and years. my grandma and i both commented that we always intend to try something new, but then remember how good whatever we had during the previous visit tasted, so we just go with that. :] after our meal, we headed back to my grandparents for cards and scrabble.

on thursday we headed up to the fort collins area to see my mom's parents and brother's, etc. for thanksgiving dinner number one. that "dinner" was around noon. it was nice to see everyone, although the visit was brief. i never feel like i have time to get past the small talk and into comfortable conversation there before it's time for everyone to leave. ah well.

we ate dinner that night with my dad's parents and brother. we cooked a pork loin, which was a bit of an adventure because my sister thought it only needed to cook for 18-22 minutes. as we were leaving her house on the way to grandma's where we would cook it, i asked her if she was sure it would be done in time for dinner because last time dad cooked one of those, it took f o r e v e r. she said she was sure. but. once we arrived at grandma's, she fully read the directions which said 18-22 minutes per pound. we were dealing with a 4 pound tenderloin. it was ten 'til six. oops. luckily, ken is quite the cook and recommended that we could convection bake it for an hour. so although dinner was a little late, it turned out perfectly. :]

after dinner, i had to sneak away to my computer for studio calico reveal night, which was happening at ten. i secured the stamp set that i wanted, so i was pretty happy. ha. then i went back out to join in the conversation. seems i'm not the only night owl of the family.

today marked two years for james and me. i was secretly hoping he would show up here in denver. ha. no such luck, but we did talk on the phone a bit.

this afternoon, we had thanksgiving number two here at my dad's parents' house. his brother, sister, and cousin were all able to make it with a few extras. all together, we had a nice group of eleven. we ate around one, and it was so so yummy. my favorite detail [that i hope to remember in the future] was my grandma's tradition of putting a little chocolate turkey at each place. so simple, but so cute. and even more cute was seeing my grandpa break into his chocolate turkey first! i wasn't even sure he would eat it. ha.
we did have one little conflict because my aunt brought her dog, and my grandparents are taking care of gonzo right now. my aunt has a big rottweiler. gonzo is a little guy. smaller than helix even. so we had to keep them separated for the most part. after we ate, my sister, jamie, and i took gonzo for a walk, which delighted him.

this evening, my sister and i made a trip to archivers. i didn't find much. i was hoping to find some stuff that we don't have locally, but that wasn't the case. the only thing i picked up was more of the american crafts moda bella papers that were now on clearance. funny thing is that last time i visited that store with my sister, it had just been released, and i was so exited to see the line. so basically, i purchased the same papers during both of my trips to archivers. ah well. :]

we got some food after our little scrappy shopping trip at "taste of philly". my sister and jamie eat there pretty often. i would actually say it was better than the cheesesteak that i had in philly. but then again, i was totally underwhelmed by the one i had in philly. this one was pretty good though. i would probably eat there again if i was ever in the mood for a cheesesteak.

tonight, we had another good round of cards. i lost one round, then tied for fourth in the second. i still have fun, even when i loose though. plus, it's refreshing to play games instead of just watch tv in the evenings like i tend to do at home.

my sister and i might head up to my uncle's ranch in wyoming tomorrow. it's been snowing outside tonight [which is so nice to see], so if that keeps up we won't go. if we do go, perhaps i can catch up on taking some photos though. we'll see...

oh amy.

i've been rather mad at myself for the past few days.
in my true procrastinator/afraid to fail style, i didn't register for the gre.

i wanted to be absolutely sure that i was totally ready for it, in order to ensure a high score.
well.
i went to register for it the other day and all the spaces were full within the time period that i need to take it in order to apply to the school where i want to apply. ahh.
i had been keeping my eye on the schedule, so it didn't seem like it would be a problem to wait.
well.
it was.

it's not too late to take it for some of the other schools i was thinking about applying to, but i'm not sure now.
i really want to apply to a certain school, or i feel like i'll always wonder if i was good enough to get in there.

so. i have to decide if i should wait and apply next year, or go ahead and apply this year and forget about the school where i really wanted to go.

ugh.
i'm totally kicking myself.
big time.

i guess i need to join deepa in figuring out a back up plan.
it wouldn't hurt to be a lab tech for a year or so. more experience in that environment never hurts, and there is always more to learn. i just know that i need to be in that setting and away from the setting of my current job.

anyway. i'm leaving tomorrow.
it will be so nice to see family and get away. hopefully it will help me clear my head and figure out what i'm doing.
the only sad part is being away from james on our two year mark. sigh.
i better get back to my laundry now.

adventures.

adventure number one: i finally got my hair cut today. :]

before:


after:


i've been meaning to do it for a while now. i almost made an appointment last time i was in vegas with the lady who cut it for my birthday. then i got sick, so it didn't work out. plus deepa's friend hannah is just finishing up beauty school, and deepa kept telling me that i should let her cut my hair. hannah has been cutting deepa's hair so much lately. seriously, every time i see deepa, she has a new hairstyle. ha.

anyway, i'm so happy with it. we'll see how it looks when i style it on my own, but i'm definitely excited about how much less time it will take to dry and straighten my hair. :]

adventure number two: last night.

we decided to have a girls' night because deepa's friend was visiting from boise. we met up for dinner at bangkok cuisine. a clear favorite within our group. it turned out to be one of the most hilarious meals ever. we had five [slightly loud] girls sitting around this big round table, and at one point, we looked around and noticed that the rest of the tables in the entire restaurant were filled with couples. meanwhile, we had two newly single girls talking about how relationships suck. :]

after dinner, we went to the chocolate bar for some dessert.
the fondue is the best ever. and i always forget to take a photo of it. ah well. at least we managed a group shot outside. [photo order is deepa, me, roxana, marissa, and natalie.]

after that, we headed downtown. we had a table at 210, which was nice. you get to have your own private little area to hang out. there are couches to sit, plus space to dance. so either way, you are pretty much good to go.

the only problem was that the business fraternity at unr had a table that night too. and way too many people. annoying people. [i never did like the business majors, no offense to any of my readers.] they kept trying to invade our space. deepa and roxana are friends with one of the bouncers, so when his shift ended, he was hanging out at our table and keeping them out. but at one point, natalie and i were left alone at the table with instructions to keep them out of our space. so we did. and one of the few girls who was hanging out with those yucky business majors decided to be rude to us. well. mostly just to me. i was going to just ignore it, but it sort of upset me. so. i told deepa and roxana about it. and then i pointed out the girl. [she was wearing a very memorable and recognizable too-tight purple dress.] and then the girl got kicked out [where she could join some of the other yucky business majors who had acted like fools] by our bouncer friend. but not before roxana and deepa talked to her. the only line that is clear in my mind was roxana responding "i'll break your face!" to the girl when she asked deepa and roxana what they were going to do about her being mean. by that point, natalie and i were laughing so unbelievably hard that i don't remember much of what happened. but i was no longer upset.

soon the yucky business majors cleared out. my guess is that they'd had too much to drink and wanted to join their friends who'd already been kicked out. then some of natalie's football player friends from boise joined us. at which point i was accurately described by one of the guys as "the mellow friend who stays sober." yep. pretty much. :]

the rest of the night at 210 can be summed up by this photo:
ha. i actually danced a little bit too. i just wasn't as brave as deepa, so i stayed away from anyone i didn't know, like these basketball players for example.

after i dropped the girls off at home, i stopped by tonic to visit my friend scott. i only stayed for about twenty minutes. by this point i had nearly lost my voice and was getting tired. but it was nice to see him and catch up briefly.

it felt nice to shower and crawl in bed after this long [but fun] night. luckily i didn't have work today, so the four am bedtime wasn't too painful. i just had to wake up around ten to get ready for my hair adventure.

tomorrow = work + laundry + cleaning.
not nearly as much fun as these adventures, but oh well. :]

a struggle.

that's what today feels like.

hopefully i can make it better somehow.

guilty pleasures.

deepa called in to work today because her boy broke up with her last night. so she and i went on a little adventure visiting different shops around town today. it got me thinking about guilty pleasures because i definitely should have been studying today. visiting craft stores and shopping for new clothes are some of my guilty pleasures.

when i got home, i noticed that helix seems to have a guilty pleasure too. i don't know if it would actually be considered guilty, but whatever.
i gave him a new bone when deepa and i left so that he would be entertained while we were gone.
when i got home, he still had the bone... he was just carrying it around in his mouth, not chewing it whatsoever.
i let him outside and tried to get him to leave the bone inside so that he wouldn't end up dropping it and just leaving it out there, but he just sat by the door until i gave him back the bone. when i went to let him back inside, he still had the bone in his mouth, which was a pleasant surprise.
now, i just let him come upstairs with me, and he is laying on one of his favorite rugs chewing the bone. i guess he wanted to wait until he could fully indulge and enjoy is bone to the highest degree.
such a silly little guy.

and speaking of indulge... i had so much fun taking these photos of him the other night:
he so loves being in front of the fire. ha. :]

do you have a secret indulgence or a guilty pleasure?

a heart on fire.

last night, i spent four hours talking to someone who i would never have imagined talking to for nearly that long.

i'd seen him one night over a week ago. he had just finished playing a show that ended with him breaking up with his girlfriend of two years. i basically had a short session of girl talk with him that night, helping him to feel better about the situation and the impending change in his life. apparently, guys don't do that sort of thing for other guys?

so last night, he was in the final stages of breaking up with his girlfriend, and apparently needed someone to talk to again.
not sure why i was the someone, especially considering the fact that we spent the first part of our conversation discussing how we used to hate each other. ha.

it was a good talk. a really good talk. i honestly think i helped him, and little does he know, he helped me realize a few things too. i gained a bit of closure on a chapter of my life. and all because he reached out to me because he needed some more girl talk. :]

i didn't realize on my way over to talk to him that i would leave feeling the way i did. i had no idea that our talk would actually have an impact on me.

i was listening to this song tonight, and i thought it was somewhat applicable to this situation. you really don't need to watch the video... it's totally ridiculous. but the main lyric is "with heart on fire, i reach out to you tonight."
the cool thing about music is that everyone can interpret the lyrics to mean whatever they think, unless of course the artist has spelled it out for you somewhere. i'm taking heart on fire to mean a breaking heart. but it could mean so many other things too. and you know, on a different day it probably will mean a different thing to me. i tend to do that with music... :]

so. you might be wondering who the mystery person is?
andrew valdez.
i guess i've known him for over eight years now. he and garrett were essentially best friends when i started dating garrett. we didn't get along at all.
last night, he told me that i was right about him back then. wow.
i've been thinking about it though, and i have to say... it's just really cool and even inspiring to see how someone can change their life around and come out on such a better side than when you first knew them.

so.
who did you think i was talking about?

scrappy success.

i have a couple of finished layouts to share. :]

i still need to add the rest of the title to one of the layouts that i mentioned a couple posts ago. i think it's going to take me a while to finish that one. we'll see.
but i did finish this double page layout on thursday night:
yes. i've used more crate paper with those basic grey alphabets again. they go together so well that i had to do it. ha.
and fair warning, i may use the paper again. i'm sort of in love with it. and i still have tons of the glittery die cut shapes and other elements that coordinate, which i want to use.

you may have noticed that double page layouts are rare for me. i have another one that i began a while ago that i need to pull out and finish. it's funny because my first scrapbook is all double page layouts, but after i finished that, i started making primarily single page layouts. usually i don't have tons of photos that i want to scrapbook; in fact, most times i just have one large photo or a couple of smaller photos that i'll cluster together, so a single page offers sufficient room. i have enjoyed working with more space when i have more photos though. it's definitely a challenge for me. a bit out of my comfort zone i suppose. :]

on saturday night i stayed for the crop at my work, where i managed to get this layout finished:
it's for the studio calico hometown challenge, which was to create a layout about your hometown [duh] using the november kit. the journaling briefly covers how reno came to be a city. i printed it on thin graph paper, and i really like the way it looks in person. i used the same thin graph paper to stamp the title letters onto, then cut them out and traced around the light teal ink with a black pen. i had fun going back through my iPhoto gallery to pull out some photos for this page. plus, it made me think of an honors seminar that i took freshmen year of college that was all about reno. good times.

as part of the challenge, i made myself use only things included in the kit, which may be a first for me. i genrally just pull out pieces of the kit to use on a page, or add stuff from my existing stash to the kit. i realize that's not really the point of a kit, but it's just what i tend to do. for example, the flowers and basic grey alphabets on the corn maze layout are pulled from the october kit, but everything else was mine.

i also experimented with using flowers on both of these layouts. they tend to include some prima flowers in the studio calico kits, and i rarely use them. i don't tend to like using those fake flowers because well... they look like fake flowers to me. ha. i don't mind them on other peoples' layouts, but i've never had a whole lot of luck using them and liking them on my own pages. by layering them up with some paper and other elements, i was able to create a look with the flowers that was to my liking. plus, since these ones are printed, they are kind of fun. maybe you'll start seeing them on more of my pages. after all, i do have quite a few of them to use up. :]

anyway. that's about all for now. i think i might try to convince james to go to a movie tonight. i feel like we're falling behind because it's been nearly 3 weeks since we've gone to a movie. too long, i say!

i hope you all had a good weekend. :]

shampoo.

have you ever noticed how hotel shampoo tends to be ridiculously heavily scented?

i generally take my own shampoo, etc. along when i travel, but occasionally i have to use the hotel stuff.
and it's ALWAYS so smelly.

obviously this observation didn't just materialize on it's own...

tonight, as i was stepping into the shower, i remembered that i'd used up the last of my shampoo last night.
[i have to say i was a tiny bit delighted that i realized this before i was soaking wet. ha.]
i was too lazy to go all the way into j's bathroom to steal some of his, so i went to the bottom drawer in my bathroom where the hotel stash lives.

see, my bathroom used to be my brother's bathroom, and for some unknown reason i still have only one cupboard and one drawer in there even though he moved out over two years ago. anyway. when i "moved in" to the bathroom, i noticed that the bottom drawer was full of all the hotel goodies. and not just the usual stuff like shampoo, conditioner, soap, and lotion. we're taking sewing kits, shower caps, shoe polishers, loofas, and other rare finds. and some of that stuff goes back a while. there is shampoo from the disneyland hotel that i swear is from the 90s. the bottle labels are unmistakably 90s. plus, we've stayed at the grand californian since it opened, so it has to be old.

i really don't understand it, but boy was i thankful for that drawer tonight.
and i can't lie... i've been thankful a few other times.
once when i needed a shower cap, once when i needed a nail file for a scrappy project and couldn't find any of mine, and once when i ran out of q-tips.
hmm. now that i think about it, maybe my brother is on to something...
:]

nooooo.

a while ago, i heard that pushing daisies might be getting canceled. i seriously love that show. i didn't think i would like it, and i didn't intend on watching it, but somehow i watched the first episode and fell in love. so i was disappointed to hear that it might get cancelled.

then today i got word simultaneously from two of my fellow lipstick jungle fanatics that it's getting cancelled! what the heck!?

maybe all of my favorite television shows getting cancelled is a sign that it's time to stop watching television again. during my first year of college, i watched basically zero television, and it didn't kill me. once i moved into my house, were i had an actual television set, i slowly started picking up shows to watch. and i slowly started spending more time watching tv. maybe less shows to watch means more laundry will get done around here. ha. right.

in other [more happy] news, i made excellent progress on two layouts during work today. i'm rather excited about that. i have to put on the finishing touches and add some titles, but hopefully by the end of the weekend i will have something scrappy to share. :]

it's super cold in the house tonight, so i turned on the fire. that always makes things seem so cozy and nice. it also makes me want some hot chocolate... i might have to go work on that. :]

the h.s. days.

alyssa filled this out a while ago, and i decided to give it a go as well. :]

1. did you date someone from your school? yep. for nearly the entire time i was in high school, i had the same boyfriend.


2. what kind of car did you drive? a red jetta. it was my dream car, and i still kind of miss having it.


3. did you pass your driver's license test on the first try? yep. someone almost hit me because they ran a stop sign, and i think the person testing me was rather impressed at my reaction. i was too. i'm not sure how i stayed so calm.


4. were you a party animal? not by any means. i guess you could say this still holds true today. during high school, i came to reno most weekends, and i would usually hang out with my sister. i went to a few college parties with her, but never any high school parties with my high school friends.


5. were you considered a flirt? i'm not 100% sure, but i'd say no. as i already said above, i had a boyfriend most of the time i was in high school. i'm sure i had my moments before he and i started dating, but my memory fails me.


6. were you in band, orchestra, or choir? nope.


7. were you on any varsity teams? tennis for four years. oh what an adventure.


8. did you get suspended/expelled? nope.


9. can you still sing the school song? "onward greenwave, onward greenwave, fight right through that line?" i don't remember if the word is line or something else. it's a lot longer than that, but like alyssa, i just read it off the wall during the assemblies.


10. who were your favorite teachers? mr. johnson and mrs. o'toole because they made me the science nerd that i am today. :] i also enjoyed mr. punchard, but mostly because he was so much fun to impersonate. mrs. lawson's class was another favorite. she made me like math until one of my college professors ruined it for me. mr. waite always told the best stories, and his class was tons of fun. i didn't really have any teachers that i specifically remember not liking. i do remember wishing that i could have had mr. waite instead of mrs. v for a.p. spanish because she wasn't the best teacher. ha.


11. where did you sit during lunch? before i could drive, i ate at the picnic tables near the main building or went to lunch with melanie and her sisters. once i could drive, i pretty much always left for lunch. when garrett still went to school in fallon, we would sometimes go eat with his mom. once he didn't live in fallon anymore i only had class after lunch every other day, so i'm sure i just went home on the days i didn't have to go back to class. on the other days, i still went and ate with his mom sometimes, or i remember that i used to go to raley's and get a sandwich to take to a.p. government [my class after lunch], and i would share it with jud.


12. what is your school's full name? churchill county high school


13. school mascot and colors? the greenwave and green + white.


14. did you go to homecoming? yeah.


15. if you could go back and do it again, would you? no. i loved high school. i had so many great experiences that i can't imagine would have happened if i had gone to school elsewhere. [the science fair is one example.]


16. how many people were in your graduating class? i think it was right around 325.


17. what do you remember most about graduation? calvin made all of us cry with his speech, including himself. i walked with kal, which made garrett jealous so he refused to come. once graduation was over, i left really fast so that all of the goodbyes wouldn't drag on and make me cry.
i have three photos from my graduation: one of my sister and i where my eyes are closed, one of my parents and i where my dad's eyes are closed, and this one. sigh. if only i'd been a scrapbooker way back then.


18. were you in any clubs? well i was in student council one year, young republicans during senior year, and national honors society. i think that was all?


19. have you gained some weight since then? i think i'm about the same as senior year, which is probably a little more than freshmen year. :] my weight fluctuates weekly by as much as five pounds, so it's hard to say exactly.


20. did you have a job while in high school? nope. just the occasional baby sitting thing.


21. are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? probably. alyssa, i think you should come with me. :]

veteran's day + a new goal.

happy veteran's day and a big thank you to everyone who has served our country.
i truly appreciate the courage and strength of the men and women who have chosen to serve.
and not just today of course. everyday.

last night, i went on a little search in hopes of finding some old photos of my dad and grandpa in uniform to add to this post. i couldn't find any around here though. so i've decided to make it a goal over the holidays while i am visiting my grandparents to try to acquire some old photos.

i think i've mentioned that my grandpa swears by slide film. so i might have to find some slides and take them to a photo shop and have them printed. i think my sister has been wanting to do this as well, so perhaps we can work on it together.

virginia city.

i seems like i waited so long for the virginia city crop to arrive, and it was over so quickly!

i woke up bright and early and left the house sharply at 8am. i was rather proud of myself for being so punctual. it only took me about thirty minutes to get up to virginia city, but then it took me ten minutes to find the hotel. google maps was way way way wrong, which i sort of knew, so i checked the hotel directions, which were also ridiculously incorrect. i could tell just by looking at the map that you cannot make a right on "e" street from "c" street when "e" street is left of "c" street and parallel not perpendicular. needless to say, i got frustrated trying to find directions the night before and decided that i could probably just find it once i got up there. virginia city is a teeny tiny little town after all. i didn't expect that it would take ten minutes to find, but it did. ah well. i was rather happy to finally come upon the hotel. :]

once i arrived, there were so many ladies all wearing orange waiting in the hotel lobby for 9am to roll around so they could head down to the crop area and check in. i had to sneak by them to avoid the questions about why i was able to go in and they had to wait. i ended up helping people get all checked in, and it was a pretty busy job! fun to get to see and greet everyone though.

after everyone was checked in and angela given a little welcome speech, i made all the nifty fifty girls get together for a photo. that's the nice thing about being among a bunch of scrappers... when you bother them for a photo, they rarely mind. :]
the top row is julie [who won the fiskateer of the year award during the train ride later in the day], angela, me, stephenie, and suzanne. the bottom row is jennifer, jen, and hisaho. all of us were in san antonio together, so it was a nice little reunion. stephenie was a lead fiskateer who now works for fiskars. suzanne also works for fiskars and hosts fiskarstv. the other girls and i are all considered part of the nifty fifty.

one of my favorite parts of the day was going on a little adventure with hisaho and jennifer. angela sent us to decorate the train car for our train ride. we asked her where the train station was located, and she said she was hoping we knew. ack. luckily, hisaho and jennifer remembered driving by it while they were trying to find the hotel (seems i wasn't the only one who struggled), so they had a general idea of where to go. angela told us to just ask for tom when we got there because he would be expecting us. so we drove down the street and found a stationary train car where they sell tickets for the train rides. jennifer went to asked if tom was there, and the guy replied (in a total western character, which we decided means he's probably never left virginia city) that tom wouldn't be there until 11:30 or noon. well. our train was supposed to leave at 11:30. so the man came and looked out down the mountain and said "oh. i see tom's car down there. you can go meet him... just take this road and cross over the railroad tracks, then go trough the s-curve and between the two metal buildings. turn left on the dirt road, and you'll know when you're there." so with these fabulous directions, we left to find tom.
once we started heading down the dirt road [in angela's mini van, which i nearly bottomed out at one point. not sure how it was decided that i would be the driver. ha.] we hit this gate blocking passage over the railroad tracks, which we had already crossed over one time. there was a sign on the gate that said something like "private property. do not enter." but there was a clear path heading around the gate and sharply turning back to pass over the railroad tracks on the part that is safe to drive over. so i decided to just take that path [again, nearly bottoming out in the van] and eventually, we made our way to this place with all kinds of broken trains and rusty old stuff.
by this point, we had to really hurry to decorate the train. we just put up some posters that said something like "welcome aboard the fiskateer express" and we placed tote bags on each seat. the train still had orange lights on the outside and inside leftover from halloween, so that was sort of perfect.

on our way back up the dirt road to get to the place where the train would pick us up, we found this car and thought it was the perfect fiskateer car since the fiskateer colors are orange and green. so we jumped out and grabbed a photo using the self-timer. :]

once we got to the train station thing, mandee was there. i was so happy to see her. it's always fun to have someone you know along at events where you don't know very many people. it wasn't too long before we got on the train.
i don't really know where we went on the train or anything. with 100 ladies talking, i couldn't hear anything that was being said over the speaker system. we did make a stop for the fiskateer of the year presentation, but people took so long to get off the train that by the time i got off, it was already part way done. these western guys did a little skit and shot some cap guns, but i couldn't really hear what they were saying, so i don't know what the whole skit was all about.

when we got back to the hotel, there were bbq pork sandwiches for lunch. a little spicy for me, but the bread was pretty yummy. then it was crop time. i didn't get much done expect for pushing a bunch of paper around. [at work on sunday, i finally glued some photos and paper down. woot!] i was super tired from only getting two hours of sleep. i can say with certainty, that i wish i wouldn't have wasted my time making all of those ATCs. i definitely should have slept instead. ha. i kind of knew what to expect and made them anyway, so i wasn't that disappointed. just a little. the sleep would have been much more useful though because i totally hit a wall from being so tired.

i decided that i needed a good old coca-cola at one point to try and wake up, but the hotel vending machine was sold out. so i convinced hisaho and mandee to go with me to the main street of virginia city where the little shops are located to try and find one. i had success in the fudge shop, where i also picked up a piece of peanut butter fudge that i'm still slowly snacking on. :] then we had dinner from round table pizza. the pizza guy was filming everything for some reason, so mandee and i had fun running away from him. when we noticed him entering one room, we would run into the other and vice versa. it was actually pretty funny.

the weather was pretty rainy all day. eventually the ceiling started leaking. not a good situation for a room full of scrapbookers. i decided to take my stuff out to my car shortly after that and noticed that the rain had turned into snow, so i decided to leave at that point. the drive home was a little sketchy for a bit... there was so much snow that it was almost a whiteout. but the roads were fine. i was glad to get far enough down the mountain to where it was just raining. i don't mind driving in the snow, but with all the twists and turns it adds a bit more anxiety.

as i was driving by the store where i work, i noticed that the crop was still going, so i decided to stop. i let the girls look at my ATCs, which was hilarious. :] it almost made it worth spending all the time to make mine. ha.