i should be doing homework.

school has been in full swing for a week now, and i'm still trying to find my groove.
i've been keeping up fairly well, but i could definitely be staying on track a little better [i.e. not scrapbooking at night]. the good thing is that i have been finding time to spend in the lab, so hopefully i will keep with that. i took a little break from lab work, and it felt really nice to set up some pcr yesterday. isn't it kind of cool how a little break can make you appreciate the things you have to get done?

anyway. i think i saw this site when it first started, but i didn't pay too much attention because i'm not a card maker. i'm trying to make the transition though. making a few cards with scraps is such a fast and fun way to clean up, and there is so much fabulous inspiration on this blog. check it out if you haven't yet:
sketch this: cards!
[finally, i can make links when i blog from my mac. woo whoo.]

i made a super simple card tonight with the latest sketch, and i really enjoyed the process. :] i don't tend to use sketches for layouts, but for making a quick card... they are perfect.

okay. i have to get up early tomorrow to go to the graduate workshop for macromolecular biophys. i have a feeling it's going to make me *not* want to go to grad school. [yesterday, an old ta of mine told me that i would be a really good grad student. for about 2 minutes it made me wish i had applied for the fall. ha.]

music is a must.

especially on a windy night like tonight.
a little music helps drown out all the crazy noise my house makes during the wind.
[it's supposed to snow a foot tonight. i don't believe it, but there are already a few inches on the ground and it's not even 1 am. so we'll see.]

anyway. just wanted to share a few things.

1. portugal. the man: i can't stop listening. it just never gets old. and the louder the better. super inspiring too. [http://www.myspace.com/portugaltheman] listen to all of them, but my favorites are "my mind" and "shade".

2. jackie greene: my friend liz told me about him. not only does he have fabulous hair, he's super talented as well.
[http://www.myspace.com/jackiegreene] again. all of the songs are excellent. "closer to you" makes me smile big time. such a sweet song. i just might ask him to play at my wedding. ha. [& no. my wedding is not any time in the near future!]

*just open a new browser, copy & paste one of those addresses, let the songs play while you peruse the internet, & i promise you will have a little extra swing in your step when you get up from the computer. :]

3. a little book i made tonight. i'm hoping to fill it with photos and stuff from korea this summer. i have a lot of work to do convincing my dad to let me go still. so i guess i made this out of wishful thinking. :] that is my favorite shape for the ultra shapexpress. i have to admit. it's a tool i never imagined actually using for my own stuff, but i love love love that shape! it's just too perfect for making minis. i made another very similar mini with the hambly clearly heavy overlays for the covers and some of my favorite scenic route papers. it's far from done, but i'll share it when it's a little closer to done. [p.s. sadly, the usx doesn't cut through the hambly clearly heavy overlays. :[ but i still used the shape template to trace the shape and cut it out with my microtip scissors.]

so much for getting ahead on my homework. :/
goodnight. :]

movie update.

tonight, i finally saw 27 dresses! i've been wanting to see it since it came out, but james wasn't too excited to see it. i almost went by myself on friday, but it started snowing pretty hard at my house, so i didn't go. needless to say, i was stoked with liz called me tonight and asked me if i wanted to go. :] it was such a cute movie. and i'm glad that i didn't have to make james go because you know... it's just better to know that the person you are with is enjoying the movie as much as you.

speaking of enjoying movies... i don't think i mentioned that james and i saw sweeney todd the other night. ha. neither of us really enjoyed that one. he said that the last 3 movies we'd seen had be "amy movies" so it was time to mix it up. i decided i could handle it, so off we went. about 15 or 20 minutes into we both kind of looked at each other and started laughing. i said "don't you wish we picked 27 dresses?" he said no, but i think he meant yes. ha. i will say that i loved the part with mrs. lovett's daydream. when they are sitting on the beach, the look on sweeney's face is just perfect. & & i told james that we should be sweeney todd and mrs. lovett for halloween. i think that would be so fun. :]

i still want to see juno again. i've only seen it twice, and that's not ok with me! maybe i will just have to tell everyone that's what i want to do for my birthday. forget going out. dinner and a movie is classic amy.

anyway.

i did a little pre-birthday shopping today. i only found two tops, but i'm happy with them. i decided i will wait until i'm in vegas for some more serious shopping, but i needed a few things to wear while i'm there. ha.

i guess that's about all. work in the morning and another week of school. eek. but i'm really excited for friday. it's crazy how much i enjoy vegas now. but i guess it's more the idea of going *somewhere* than the idea of going to vegas because let's face it... if i had my choice, we'd be going to san francisco for sure. :]

back to school update.

here's my basic rundown...
-i have my thesis and proseminar, which both consist of doing work in my lab, writing my thesis, giving presentations, and letting the freshmen shadow us in the lab. i had these last semester as well... the only hard part is finding the time to spend in lab when i have homework and exams for my other classes.
-my first class on tuesday morning was evolutionary biology. this is a required course for biology majors and they like to talk about how hard it is. i don't really get that though... i guess it's going to be a lot of work [we have to post three discussions a week, and we have a quiz almost every lecture] but as far as i can tell this will be my easiest class. plus, it's pretty interesting stuff. [did you know that the giraffe's neck isn't really long because they need to reach the high leaves? it's more of a mating preference... the ladies apparently find longer necks more attractive, so that trait was selected for over time. i was talking with liz, who is in the class too, and we decided that we concur with the lady giraffes. you know those football players who are so muscular that they don't have a neck? it's just no bueno. ok. i didn't actually learn about the giraffe neck in class, but a discussion after class sparked a little wikipedia search. ha.]
-next was organic spectroscopy. yikes. it's clearly been too long since i've taken organic chem. i don't remember anything. we had homework that was due today, and let me just say... i was using that index in my old organic text like never before. plus i was nearly crying yesterday in the library when i was trying to work on it. :/ [a near mental breakdown on the second day of school, eh?] so it's going to be a lot of work [relearning], but the professor is really cool. he makes class super easy to sit through and interactive so we stay awake. but interactive also = challenging. so the relearning needs to happen asap so i'm not totally embarrassed when i can't draw a structure properly. oh! & & my whole lab is taking the class... even rubi and andrew, our grad students. so that's pretty cool.
-wednesday, i had macromolecular biophysics. and the good news [not] is that i have to take this course as an honors course because i am three credits short for my honors credit requirement. that means i have to do "something extra' beyond what the other undergrads have to do. well for this course, i have to the extra work that grad students do. [is that little star by my name denoting the honors distinction in the graduation program really worth this? i'm not so sure.] it gets better too. previously, the professor [dr. welch. look him up on the unr website if you're bored.] had a weekly journal club for the grad students. so each week they would have certain papers pertaining to the class to discuss and they would have to take turns presenting the papers. i thought i could handle that. but. dr. welch decided to "change things up this year". so instead, we "get" to learn a computer protein modeling program so that we can discuss in more detail the proteins in the course and other "fun stuff". [it was shortly after this news that i went to the library to do the organic spec homework... so this was a likely contributor to the near mental breakdown.] also. class participation is part of the grade. so in the middle of lecture, dr. welch will call on "dr. tanoue" or "dr. kim" or "dr. smith" to answer a question. yes. he randomly chooses someone from the class list. i happen to think that's just plain mean, even if he does offer the flattery of calling us a doctor.

so yeah. as predicted, stress is already high. plus i have two tests the week of valentines day, so i can't go to cha. i was really hoping to be able to make it down at least for sunday, but i just know i shouldn't do it. it's my last semester, and i want to have a strong finish... so i have to put school first. :|

by the way, that's the new student union in the photo. it just opened towards the end of last semester.

for a little excitement, i booked a flight to vegas for the weekend before my birthday today. :] james and i are going along with my parents. my dad is super excited to go to the bellagio superbowl party even though none of his teams are in it this year. he says the food will be amazing... and i'm all for that. ha.



last night, angela and i held another fiskars training session. it was a small group again, but it was a lot of fun and everything went smoothly. angela hasn't learned how to use one of the tools yet, the ultra shapexpress... so i'm always a little nervous when we get to that part because the pressure is all on me. plus, everyone thinks this is an impossible tool for some reason, so they really put the pressure on by paying extra close attention. i kind of feel like they are just waiting for something to go wrong. haha. i'm glad i've practiced with that little guy a lot. :] i really like doing the trainings for that reason. it's fun to show people that a seemingly impossible tool is actually really fun to use.


tonight, james and i went ice skating with carol and her sister, soo. it was supposed to be an alpha zeta event, but everyone chickened out because it was snowing and below freezing. we had so much fun though. i was the only one who had ice skated before. but james didn't have any problems... he's already better than i am. go figure. soo caught on really fast too, and she was doing so well by the end. carol was a little more afraid. she had never been roller blading or roller skating like the rest of us, so it was kind of hard to explain to her how to do it. james grabbed onto her and pulled her into the middle and said we should leave her there to learn. typical guy, right? [if you look in the photo of the two of us, you can see that his foot was moving as it was taken. hmm. that couldn't be because he was kicking my foot to make me loose my balance could it? ha. i guess i can't blame him... he had to have a little fun since he was surrounded by girls.] but i managed to get her comfortably away from the wall before we left. :] and no one fell, so that was a good thing.

ok. this post is *way* longer than i planned to make it. i can't believe tomorrow is friday! i am so excited for the weekend. i want to catch up on my birthday countdown album. plus i'm excited to scrap some of the ice skating photos. i hope you all have a fabulous friday. :]

back to school.

today was my last day of winter vacation. ever.
eek.
so what did i do to celebrate my last day of break?
nothing.
nada.
zero.
i left the house to take the garbage from the garage to the street for pickup tomorrow morning.
and then i made a snowman.
but as you can probably tell... i couldn't find my gloves, so i found the first thing i saw that would work [a chapstick tube] and traced one into the snow. ha.
i forgot to give him arms, but i think he's still pretty cute.
maybe tomorrow i will try to convince james that we should make a real snowman. it's been a long time since i've made one.

so. woo whoo. i really lived it up today.
ha.
it's ok though. i guess this is just want i needed to do. and plus, since it's been snowing all day [sometimes to the point of a whiteout] it was probably better to just stay home and relax. oh. and i was able to catch up on laundry. [3 loads. yay.]

i'm still not up to my usual level of back to school excitement. i'm trying, but it's not really coming.
i read over the syllabus for my evolution class last night, and i instantly thought that maybe i should take the stem cell class instead. the stem cell class is way easier, but not nearly as interesting to me.
so yeah.
i couldn't sleep last at all night because i was in a total panic about school. it seems like i didn't even have a break and once classes are going again, i am just going to be back at the same stress level i was at during finals last semester... like the stress is just going to pick up where it left off instead of starting from zero.

in other more fun news, i finished a layout that i started at the crop the other night. it's pretty simple, but i think i'm happy with it. it might need another embellishment or two. i can't decide. and i'm trying to finish up the little mini i started at the crop too. it's nearly finished, just needs two more photos and some journaling. :]
oh and i'm still working on the birthday countdown album. it's been fun. i'm a little behind, but not too bad. i'll try to post some photos if i get home early enough to have good light tomorrow.

ok. well i'm off to shower and try to get a better nights sleep than i did last night.

decisions. decisions.

i just decided that i am going to dismantle the second layout below and make a mini book with the photo as the cover. i'm certain it will make me much more happy than that layout does. & & that way i don't have to re-print that photo or buy those stickers again. :]

also. i went craft table hunting today.
no luck.
grr.
the thing is... i know what i'm looking for and nothing that i find locally is meeting the expectation. i'm sad our pier 1 is closed because i would probably just go with that one. [a la gigi kennedy.] there is also a pretty fabulous looking option at pottery barn [the bedford project table], but like i said... i don't want to spend a fortune. then there the target-version of the fabulous looking pottery barn option [the adams craft table], but we don't have it at our target, so i can't see what i looks like or evaluate the quality.
i checked dania = nothing.
i checked the office supply store = nothing.
so. there is a pier 1 in carson. i might have to see if they have what i am looking for and just make the drive. i'm sure james will want to go out there to see his parents sometime soon. :]

ok. i'm going to try to finish a layout and work on my birthday countdown book until i get tired. i hope everyone is having a wonderful long weekend.

p.s. tonight i told james he should do something romantic. he started laughing and asked me what to do. and i said he should sing to me. in my mind, i was secretly hoping he would start singing the chorus to "amie" by the pure prairie league. but. no. he busts out rev run style singing "oh baby yoooou you got what i need..." ha. nice. [you can check out a little sample in this video. http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1578902&vid=201750 it's about a minute into the first clip.]

oldies.

i finally got the internet working on the computer with the scanner. :]



here are a couple older layouts.

the christmas one is the layout i showed on fiskarstv when i was in texas.
i put it together quickly the night before i left. i have to say... i don't love it. but i guess i don't really hate it either, so i decided to post it. you can't love every layout, can you?
the other one is really old. i may have posted it a while back, but i looked and didn't see it. so here it is.
i made it back in march. super simple layout, but i love that photo.

tonight, i went to the store and scrapbooked for a bit. i didn't bring too much with me, and i made a goal not to buy anything... so now i just need to put some embellishments and things on the two projects i started while i was there. it was kind of nice. i don't like scrapbooking away from home all that much because i don't like trying to take everything with me. but every once in a while it can be nice. :]

i can't believe school starts on tuesday. eek. i bought my books today. usually i buy them as soon as they go on sale, but not this time. i guess it's another sign that i am just not ready to go back.

ok. back to tennis now. the australian open is really taking some weird turns this year. :]

have i mentioned this.

i am so excited for the sex and the city movie to come out. i feel like i've blogged about it, no?

anyway. today i was thinking i need to start watching the series again so i can be done with it in time for the movie. you know. a good little build up. and now. one of my favorite episodes is on tv. a definite sign that i need to get out the dvds now.

in other news that i don't know if i've blogged about... my mom has decided to make the front living room my scrapbook room. it's supposed to be a formal living room, but since we moved into this house, it's been the catch-all for random furniture [mostly antique pieces that my dad has collected and doesn't want to get rid of, but don't really have a suitable place in our house.] then when i moved out of my apartment i added to the mix with a bunch of boxes and bags [yes. i packed the majority of my stuff into good old paper shopping bags because that's what i had on hand. loved those handles for carrying stuff down the stairs.] the room also housed deepa's furniture and belongings for a summer while she was in vegas. so yeah. currently, the room is totally nonfunctional. and my scrapbook stuff has spilled all over the house [i know i've at least mentioned that part.] so i'm on the hunt for some cool furniture to make a scrapbook space.

here's a silly little sketch i made tonight in powerpoint. nothing is to scale, but it's a general idea for the layout. i need to find a nice work table, and shelves of some type at the very minimum. i would also like to have a little couch in there and some armoire-type cabinets. i don't know exactly what they are called, but just shelves with a door on the front. and a cute rug of course. :] i've checked out pottery barn, but i don't want to spend tons of money to get this done. i like the expedit shelves from ikea, but i don't know when i'll have the chance to make a trip to ikea and the cost of shipping is ridiculous. plus, i want to get this done asap. so. yeah. tomorrow i might try dania to see what they have. anyone have any other suggestions?

a little story about the lost dixie lid.

i often wonder why we continue eating at claim jumper with all the interesting experiences we've had there. i mean... it's a rare occasion when i don't have to ask for a new fork or knife because the one on the table is dirty. [i know some people aren't bothered by that, but i can't handle it.] then. when the drinks come, usually one of us has something nasty on our glass. you know a crusty, lipstick, food remnant... something like that. for radhika's birthday, they gave james the wrong kind of salmon, and when he finally got their attention about 10 minutes later they said there was a mix up, picked it up, and gave it to the person at the table next to us. they didn't even ask james if he had touched it or anything. gross. and tonight. my iced tea had a plastic dixie lid in it. i started laughing out loud, and was laughing so hard that james had to tell the server about it. he was like "there's a what in the drink!? i've never seen something like that before." ha. the manager said that the takeout lids must have fallen into the ice. anyway. i know we probably shouldn't give them our business anymore, but the food is so good! i can't help it. i just make sure to pay a little more attention and look for things like that when we go there.

a dixie lid. so funny.

oh. i also wanted to share a little photo printing tip in case anyone who reads this prints at home. i don't use photoshop. i have it, i managed to install it, but that's all. i'm way too impatient to learn how to use it when iPhoto is so stinking easy and user-friendly. the only thing i really wish i knew how to do in photoshop [but again, am too impatient to figure out] is making a canvas to print different sized photos on one page. the reason for this is two-fold. first, the only paper i've found that i like for home printing is only available in 8x10 or larger. i can't just print a 4x6 and waste the whole rest of the paper. i just cannot do it. and second, iPhoto allows for several different printing options, which generally do the job... but sometimes i can't get exactly what i want [as far as photo sizes and the arrangement on the page] with the available printing options. so. let me get to my point... my solution. i've started using a word document. :] i formated the page size to 8x10, and i can easily arrange the photos exactly how i want them on the page and then print. it's so easy. and it can be done for sizes other than 8x10 too. it's a really simple way to create collages/clusters of photos that you don't intend to cut apart too. i'm having a lot of fun playing around with this, and i hope if you are afraid of photoshop like me, you'll find this helpful. one more note: you can do this in powerpoint as well by just resizing the slide to your paper size. this would probably be even more simple than using word because it would be easier to move the photos around on the slide [or canvas].

oh yes. to answer your question alyssa... i go back to school next tuesday. usually i'm feeling ready to head back by now, but i am so not ready yet! i just keep telling myself that this is my last back to school, so i should be excited. it's not really working though. ha. :]

sore.

today, james and i ventured up to mt. rose for a little snowboarding. we went by ourselves so that i could have his full attention like a private lesson i guess. :]
[i only lasted two runs though, so he was left alone for the rest of the day. ha.]
i had a lot of fun, but i got beat up pretty badly. i can already feel a bruise in a certain spot every time i sit down. ha.
james said we could do the run called "around the world" and i was so excited! that was my favorite adventure as a kid.
i noticed that i was feeling a little more comfortable and in control of my board, which is nice. i still have a ways to go though. my board doesn't get away from me as much as it did last year, so i fall less, but i still took a few decent spills. [namely when i accidentally when into the mogul section. ha.] i have the "falling leaf" technique down, so i can definitely get down a mountain without falling, but i need to be able to actually ride down. :]

in other news, i started constructing my birthday countdown album. i'm pretty happy with it so far. full of hambly goodness. i wish i had a few more pieces of certain patterns in my colors of choice, but i don't have time to wait for an online order, so i'm making the best of what i have. tomorrow, i hope to go out to the summit to pick up some envelopes at paper moon. i do need to order the album online i think, but i can start without that. we were supposed to get the albums at the store, but it doesn't seem like we actually will. :/

yesterday i worked on a valentines mini, and last night i actually made two layouts. i was just playing around, but it felt really nice to have some pages to put in the album again. it's been a long time since i've added to it!

so yeah. lots of playing around these past few days. it makes me so happy. hopefully i will finish a couple minis soon so that i can share. :]

mini fun.

last night, angela and i held a fiskars training. it went really well. i was a little worried because it was at a scrapbook store that i used to shop at all the time, but haven't been to since i got my job. [things are kind of competitive here between the various stores, and i just felt awkward.] everything turned out just fine though. i got to talk to the owner again, which i realized i've sort of missed. she's super nice and was always fun to talk to while i browsed around the store. so now i feel like i can go back again, which is good. :]

also, i spoke with angela while i was there about scrapbook organization. i need some serious help in that department. while we were talking, i realized that a big part of the problem is that i just have too much stuff. i think paper is the biggest problem. so when i got home, i went through my paper. i re-organized it and got rid of almost all my scrap pieces [i can use them to demonstrate the tools at our next training class] and any full sheets of paper that i wasn't 100% certain i would use. then i cleared off the ledge behind my desk, lined up some cute boxes, and organized my embellishments and things into various categories in the boxes. i also put any components to projects that i'm working on in clear bags so they are like little project kits instead of just making more piles on my desk. i still have a lot of work to do, but i'm feeling a little better about the situation. for a while now, i haven't even had the urge to scrapbook because things are so messy in my scrap area.

now that things are a little more clear on my table, i feel ready for a new project. i sort of regretted not doing ali's december daily album. it's *such* a good idea. documenting the little things each day leading up to a big day. and the premade format is genius. so. i'm thinking of doing a little birthday countdown album.

and i'm finally posting photos of the christmas mini that i finished a while back. they aren't the best photos because it's been cloudy here, but you get the idea. the album construction was kind of inspired by one of the albums i made in the kc class. i love love love envelopes. :]

the grass is greener, but just as hard to mow.

i'm not feeling 100% better yet, but this song definitely helps.
really really seriously excellent song. i hope you like it too. :]


oh. and i went back to the old colors. i liked the white, but after being snowed in... it wasn't working for me. ha.

a good laugh.

my stomach muscles hurt so much [see the post below] that i thought twice about watching chelsea lately tonight, but i couldn't help it. i needed the pick me up of a good laugh.
and indeed, i laughed so hard that i *almost* regretted watching it.
i found the clip online too. it's a pretty long clip, so if you want to get straight to the good stuff, it starts at about 4:35.


ha. i always love it when celebrities admit to scrapbooking. and this is just hilarious. :]

cabin flu.

i guess the cabin fever led to the flu.
no fun.
i'm feel a little better now, but my whole body hurts. maybe because i slept on the bathroom floor.
not quite what i planned for today. :/

wasting time.

i'm pretty much snowed in. i tried to shovel the driveway again, and the snow is so heavy that i only shoveled about half of it. eek.

my poor mom is stuck in vegas. her flight got canceled after she waited at the airport all day, so she has to wait until tomorrow morning. hopefully things will be clear enough by then. i'm snowed in and she's snowed out. awesome.

so anyway. i went to susan's floor plan search website, and low and behold my dream home is the featured home. ha. [i'd hate to think of how many more dream homes i could find if i spent too much time on that website.] the code is DHSW43137 and the house looks amazing. i would have to make a few changes probably, but it's a good start. :]

yeah. i must be getting delirious from all the snow and the cabin fever that is setting in. but. it is *so* fun to think about that stuff. i love the idea of two staircases. my dad would tell me that it's a terrible waste of space. but. i still think the effect is really nice.

what else... last night, i started emily falconbridge's weekly art journal cards. i bought the deck of cards a long time ago, but never started it. i figure now that i'm a whole year behind, it should work out pretty well. so i made several backgrounds and the card for the first week. i'll try to post it later. i have to find the internet password for my computer that's hooked up to the scanner, and i have no idea where it is. probably a good project to occupy my time though.

i want to make brownies so bad right now, but we don't have any eggs. i totally forgot to pick some up last night when i stopped at the store to get milk and a few things. i just think it's a really bad idea to try to drive up there now. a couple people have managed to get out of our neighborhood, but they all drive hummers. i don't want to be without my car for a month like i was last year when i decided to drive in the storm. and i could probably walk, but it's just so cold. it would be a definite workout walking in the snow though. it think it's a little over a mile probably? yeah. i guess i'll have to find something else to cook. plus. i would probably eat the whole pan since i'm home alone. ha. better not make brownies after all.

back home to a blizzard.

i think we have about a foot of snow outside now. it's crazy, and i'm quite excited about it actually. :] it's just beautiful out there, and it sure would be fun to make my first snowboarding trip of the season after this fresh snow.

the boys who came by to shovel the driveway during the last storm came by around 7 or so tonight, so i told them they could shovel again even though they increased their rate. [$15 is pretty good money considering it took them about 15 minutes!] i went out about an hour and a half later and shoveled again. then. i gave up. ha. i just looked out a little while ago and i had to do a double take. i could not believe how much snow has filled up the clear driveway. my car is completely covered too. [thanks a lot garage door. you had to decide to stop working just before a big storm, eh?]

anyway. the trip to vegas for new years was great. it went by pretty fast, and of course, i didn't take as many photos as i should have. it was fun to see my aunts and uncles again. my aunt janet is the coolest. she's all about taking photos too, so i didn't feel like such a dork at some points. ha.

the flight down was fine. we were delayed a bit because there were too many planes trying to land in vegas. so we sat in the plane for a while before takeoff and then circled around vegas once we arrived. my sister's flight didn't get in until after ours anyway, so it was fine to be a little late. it was crazy how cold it was when we got to vegas. i knew it wouldn't be hot, but it was just surprisingly cold for the whole trip.










after we got checked in and everything, we wandered around the conservatory at the bellagio, which was still beautifully decorated for christmas. we had to get a picture by all the penguins. :] i love penguins. ha. we also wandered over to the miracle mile shops at ph for a little shopping. [they have a really cool urban outfitters there.] eventually, we had a nice big family dinner at cafe bellagio where they gave all of us new years hats. how funny. i intended to get a group photo with all of us in our hats, but totally forgot. my dinner wasn't so good, and i missed lunch since our flight got in late [we had planned to get food while waiting for katie's flight to arrive.] so it was just a bad food day for me.

after dinner, james and i went back to ph to see some of his friends who were also in vegas. we found the cutest little bar place [to me anyway] called yolos. it's all bright pink with pretty flowers. super cute. then after watching a the bellagio fountains from the room for a while, james and i went out onto the strip [even though it was super cold] to watch the fireworks and just be part of the crazy celebration. it wasn't as packed as i expected, but i liked it that way. it was nice to be able to move around and have some personal space. ha. my sister's boyfriend's friends were there and they were super out of control... singing and everything. it was hilarious. all in all, it was a nice new years celebration.

the next day was a definite sleep in day. ha. james and i went to the fashion show for lunch and a little window shopping. then my brother came and picked us up so we could all head out to henderson to go to lucille's for dinner. we love that place. :] when we got back to the strip after dinner, we wandered around some of the other hotels and watched the little show outside of treasure island. we all thought the show was pretty bad. ha. james had seen it as a kid and said it used to be much better, but they tried to make it more of a dancing thing now and yeah... not so good. i hadn't been to many of the other hotels, so we went to the wynn, which was so pretty inside. they have the coolest big lantern things and a really big waterfall outside. i think they have a show at the waterfall maybe. they also have a pretty big chanel store that i would like to check out sometime. :] we also went to the palazzo and the venetian, which are both really pretty. lots of good photos opps for sure. later that night, james and i took this little tram thing from treasure island to the mirage and walked around the strip trying to find some hair gel stuff because his got taken away at the airport since the bottle was too big. ha. we didn't have any luck though. but it was fun to just walk around a bit. lots of walking during this trip. i don't know if it was quite as much as a trip to san francisco, but it's possible.

the next day was more shopping, but james and i were pretty tired. my sister wanted to go to ruehl, which is a really crazy store. seriously. if you ever see one, go inside. i think it's supposed to have the feeling of a library or something? but there are so many walls and hallways and then little rooms with the clothes and crazy light fixtures and some rooms will just have like a bed/couch thing. ha. james and i took a few photos while we were waiting for my sister to shop. if you go to the website, and click store listings, you can see what the outside looks like. yes. in the middle of a mall. they make it look like a street side brick building. pretty intense i guess.

that night, we ate at the bellagio buffet for dinner. james was happy about that. ha. and his cousin came too. she took us to see juno afterwards, which is amazing. really. on my top 10 list of favorites. and it turns out, it opened in reno today. so now i can go see it like a billion more times before it comes out on dvd. :]

in the morning. we had the buffet again for breakfast before heading to the airport. i'm not a fan of buffets at all. but. the bellagio buffet is an exception. it's really pretty good. and for breakfast, i can have all the bacon i want. ha. so yummy.

when we were waiting at gate for our flight, there was this girl across from us. i have no idea what was wrong with her, but she was seriously out of her mind. james said she had to be on drugs or something. it was hilarious and really scary at the same time. she would pretend to talk on the phone to someone and kept saying "this is vanessa! who is this!" followed by a series of slurred expletives. but there was never anyone on her phone. and she would talk about how everyone was staring at her. finally a lady right behind her was brave enough to talk to her. she asked the crazy lady if she was feeling badly or something, and the crazy lady said "no. i'm feeling good, but they wouldn't let me fly." and the brave lady told her maybe she needed to feel a little worse. ha. then security came, which was pretty entertaining as well.

once we finally boarded the plane, there was one delay after another. waiting for some people to transfer to our flight. waiting for their bags. waiting in a line of planes to take off. and the pilot came on and announced that a storm was entering reno and there were winds over 40 mph so it would be a rough flight. everyone was freaking out. especially when we were making our final descent. the guy behind james was grabbing onto james' seat so hard. and the guy next to me had his bible out and was freaking out too. they all clapped when we landed. dramatics. but really. it wasn't that bad. the landing was considerably smooth. silly people. flying into reno is usually pretty bumpy. they should try a little dramamine. :]

well. since i'm basically snowed in, i've been doing a little cleaning. but i got totally overwhelmed, so i decided to come post the update. i have too much stuff. seriously. but not enough of it is junk that can be easily thrown away. grr. maybe i'll just crawl in bed put on a movie now. :]