oh well.

i decided since i had ruined the layout with journaling, that i should go ahead and try adding some mist. i still don't like it as much as i did pre-journaling, but it's ok for now. eventually i might replace the white, but the thing is that the title really needs an explanation. so i felt like i had to have some journaling. so then again... maybe i keep it this way. ha.

also, for some reason the photos are looking a little dull when i upload them here compared to how they look in iphoto. not sure what the deal is... but oh well. :]
one night when james and i were saying goodnight via text, he sent "i lobe you." so i wrote back "i lobe you too." so now we continue to use the typo as a little inside joke. :]
i used almost an entire package of sassafras paper whimsies on here. i was just going to use a few, but i couldn't help it and just kept adding them. i popped some of them up for dimension and added some little black pearls to some of the centers for a little extra detail.

that's all for now... i'm going to attempt to buy a bigger pumpkin now so that james and i [well. mostly james.] can carve it for the trick-or-treaters tonight. i'll be back soon with photos from a couple halloween parties and deepa's birthday celebration.
oh and happy nevada day! :]

crop results.

i finished 3.25 layouts at the crop. for a little while it looked like i would come home without a single completed layout. i was struggling quite a bit, but finally pulled it together a few hours before it was time to leave. i actually decided to just be done because i felt frustrated and just wasn't getting anywhere. i called james to check in, and he kind of gave me a little extra push. i found a favorite photo of the two of us that had made it's way into the small amount of stuff that i'd packed. so i decided to just play around with that photo and have some fun. i didn't really care if i came out with a great layout, but i ended up with one of my favorites. that happens more often than not when i just throw caution to the wind and make something for fun with no expectations. unfortunately, i can't share that layout because i decided to add some journaling when i got home, and i don't like it now. haha. so i'm going to fix it, then i will post it. :] i have two others to share though. i struggled to get good photos of them and finally just gave up. you'll be able to get the idea.

i'm not going to lie... i was pretty bummed when we arrived and checked out green tangerines. i was expecting to see all sorts of fabulous new product. but there was nothing. i mean... a few new things from american crafts, but nothing that i had been hoping and planning to buy while i was there. i was pretty sad. i hadn't packed very much because i was anticipating finding lots of new product to buy. so on friday night i didn't get much very accomplished at the crop. luckily, i brought three studio calico kits with me, so i was able to start this layout after realizing i wouldn't be buying much.don't you love my super creative title? :]
there were a couple challenges issued, so i decided to participate in one of them. we had to use elements on our layout that started with the letters of our initials, so i did "apple patterned paper" or "alphabet thickers" for "a" and "green ribbon" for "g".
as i mentioned... i had a hard time figuring how to finish this one. in fact, i didn't finish it until shortly before packing up to leave on saturday night. i had set it aside and was just going to finish it at home, but i finally decided to pull out my trusty fiskars punches. then i chose another chipboard sticker from cosmo for the final finishing touch.
i had planned a lot more journaling about the yummy pies and our lunch at bodhaine, but i couldn't get it to fit and look good, so i left it off the final layout.

that night at the hotel, i was searching around on the internet via my phone and found out that there was a small stamping store called the stamp art shoppe just a short drive away. in the morning i asked mandee if she wanted to go check it out, so after breakfast we headed over there. i'm so glad that we did... it's a nice little store and the owner was so friendly. they had the new basic grey nook and pantry collection, which i wasn't too excited about when i saw it online, but holy smokes! in person it's wonderful. i'm in love with the backsides of most of the papers... they are just so pretty. that lovely brown doilie pattern below is from the collection, as well as the cream linen looking paper. i should have purchased more... i seriously can't tell you enough about how much i love the patterns.
i really like that photo of erin on the left, so i decided to document our pumpkin hunt.
i was excited to finally use some of the twine i've been collecting from studio calico. i also used some cute little nutmeg chipboard stickers that i won from cosmo cricket and some jenni bowlin chipboard buttons that i picked up at the stamp art shoppe.
and i have to thank mandee again for letting me have the jenni bowlin label journaling paper. i had attemped to cut one from brown cardstock, but i didn't have a good brown with me and the cardstock selection at green tangerines was pretty pathetic. i don't mean to keep saying bad things about the store, but i definitely feel like if you are having a big crop, you should have your cardstock section well stocked.

all in all, i had a good time on the short trip. it was nice to get away and have some creative time. plus, mandee and i got to meet rachel, a fellow studio calico fan, on saturday at the crop. she lives in the area, and i'm so glad that she was able to make it. it's always fun to meet online scrappy friends in real life. she is super sweet, and i'm really hoping that we'll have the chance to meet up again sometime. :]

i'm so tired, i feel like i'm forgetting to mention something that i had intended to about the trip... oh well. maybe it will come to me later. i guess that's all for now. i'm off to bed!

pumpkin patch.

james and i visited the pumpkin patch last night. it was pretty much dark when we arrived, which was nice because there wasn't a crowd. the only problem was that the patch wasn't very well lit so it was hard to see the pumpkins. i ended up picking two small pumpkins to befriend my squash from apple hill on the counter. :]

i think my practical went pretty well. i was tempted to write "adipose tissue" for one of the cadaver questions because as far as i could tell the needle was pointing into a yellow fat blob, but there wasn't supposed to be any histology on this practical. the cat questions went surprisingly well though. so i think it went better than i was anticipating. we'll see when i find out my grade.

not much else going on around here. i had a chance to visit my old lab on tuesday, which was really great. i need to stop by more often. i miss that place a lot. it was so nice to catch up with everyone. rubi has a baby boy now and sharon has a grandson! time seems like it's just going by so fast.

anyway. i'm off to green tangerines with mandee for some creative time. i better go find my shoes [of course the ones i want are no where to be found today] and throw my stuff in the car so we can get out of here.
i hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

wordless wednesday. neuron edition.

i have my second practical in anatomy today.

i like this model of a myelinated neuron. it's easy for me to understand, and i do think that neurons are pretty fascinating. :] i have a few of my biochem professors to thank for that.
otherwise, i'm find the muscular system much harder than the skeletal system. it could have something to do with the cats and cadavers, or it could be because i was sick the past few weeks when we initially learned the material. either way, i hope this practical isn't too bad.

apple hill.

i was able to visit apple hill today with erin and her friend joey.
it took about three hours to get there... we went on 80 through auburn instead of taking 50 through carson & tahoe. i much prefer the 50 route. as soon as we were off 80 onto the ca-49, i was reminded why. not only is it much more scenic on the 50, but i hate the twists and turns of ca-49. erin and i were feeling pretty car sick, so we were super happy when we were finally getting close.
our first stop was one of my personal favorite places at apple hill...
we got some lunch here, and i picked out two pies to bring home. my dad loves the sour cream apple pie, so i had to get one of those. i also picked a blackberry apple one. they are in the freezer waiting for the opportune moment for consumption. :]

our next stop is right next to bodhaine...
erin and i like the apple selection they have inside that big barn, so we each put together a small bag of apples to bring home. i decided to try one tonight, and let's just say i couldn't finish one bite. haha. i really had no idea what i was picking, so i didn't expect to love every single one. now i know to avoid the extremely dark red ones in the future. :]
we also attempted to get pumpkins here, but they were pretty much all rotten. so joey resorted to having a little fun with the wagon instead.

erin really wanted to stop at denver dan's to get a sprial cut apple.
by the time i thought to take a photo, the apple had been half way consumed. but you get the idea.
during one of our family trips when i was a little one, we brought home one of those spiral machines. i can remember using it with my sister quite often. my parents still have it too. :]
now that i think of it... that might be a fun gift for my sister. maybe i'll have to look into purchasing one.

once we had acquired my pies and erin's spiral cut apple, the only things left on the list were finding erin three perfect pumpkins and getting some cider for joey to try since he had apparently never had apple cider? i still can't believe that.
we noticed that rainbow orchards had cider, so we decided to stop there next. i failed to get a photo of their sign or building, which is kind of sad because it had a cute mural on it.
we definitely found a lot of fun pumpkins and various kinds of squash, but erin passed on the pumpkins because the price seemed a bit high. i couldn't pass up this cute squash that i'm holding in the photo. it was only eighty-five cents. :]
we all got some cider too, but i haven't tried mine yet.
there was a fun looking miniature craft fair going on in the field behind the main building, but our time was running out so we didn't explore it.

our final stop of the trip was at a pumpkin patch for erin's pumpkins. i remembered to get a photo of the sign as we were leaving. :]
they had a good selection with two different patches to choose from. erin had a hard time narrowing her options to just three perfect pumpkins. i briefly contemplated getting some pumpkins too, but decided to be content with my one little squash.
on our way down to the lower patch, joey pulled erin and i in the wagon. it was a fun little adventure. sadly i didn't get a good photo with the two of us, but i like this one of erin.
once we got down to the lower patch, we looked over to the side, and i got instant chills from this sight...
the photo really doesn't do it justice, but i'm telling you... these houses were beyond creepy. i have no idea what they are or why they are there, but something didn't feel right when we looked over and saw them. all three of us were just totally creeped out. the funny part is that there was a perfectly normal looking log cabin up near the upper patch that had been decorated with spider webs, huge spiders, etc. to look like it was haunted. i was trying to figure out why they wasted their time when they have these creepy houses available just a short walk away. seriously, those things have got to be haunted. i'm literally creeped out again just from thinking about those houses right now.

so that was our little day trip adventure to apple hill. i hadn't been since the last time that erin and i went a couple years ago, so i'm glad that i had the opportunity this weekend to make it happen. the fall colors were just perfect. i kept seeing the most beautiful red, yellow, and orange trees while we were driving, but i wasn't able to get great photos. photos never seem to do that kind of beauty justice anyway.

oh. one more funny thing... last time erin and i went to apple hill, we both made the impulse decision to get our faces painted at one of the orchards. immediately upon seeing the results, we regretted wasting our money. i mean. it was pretty bad. and sad really. but we noticed that there were face painters at every single orchard we stopped at today. apparently they get some repeat business somehow, although some of the places were offering it for free.

no. erin and i didn't make that mistake again. older and wiser.

oh. and you probably aren't shocked that we took the 50 route home. :]

i'm off to bed. i hope that everyone enjoyed the weekend!

missing out.

my sisters have been sending me iphone photos to remind me that they miss me. i think they are also letting me know what i'm missing out on by not being in denver.

during my last visit, my grandpa was telling my grandma it was time to get rid of that little doll bed. she really wanted to keep it. i'm guessing that victoria was glad that grandma put up a fight. :]
the first two were sent by katie and the last one was sent by amanda.

i wasn't going to mention this, but here goes...
i spent about 6 hours last night having breakdown number three [or was it number four?] of this week. i didn't take the pcat today. i was very conflicted about my choice, but after two long conversations with katie and my dad, i came to a my final decision. i'm not quite at peace with it yet, just writing this is making my eyes fill with tears again. but it really only eliminates one school from my list of potential schools. if none of the other options work out, then it wasn't meant to be this time. eventually i will find my way to the right path.
i mentioned two posts ago how thankful i am to have james to understand and support me. i'm also immensely thankful to have such a wonderful family who reassures me and sheds new light on tough situations. what would i do without my dad's ability to make me laugh in the middle of hysterical tears? :]

p.s. happy birthday to my brother today! i definitely wish i could be there to celebrate with everyone.

wordless wednesday. rainy edition.

i decided to wear my rain boots to the library on tuesday evening.
i learned my lesson from going to school early in the day wearing normal shoes.
rain boots are amazing.

p.s. my anatomy exam went ok. i got a 92, which is fine yet frustrating.

thoughts.

i've been really stressed and feeling a bit lost lately. i think a lot of it has to do with being sick, but i also know that i am sick because of the stress.

i think i've mentioned before that i'm struggling with this period of "uncertainty" in my life. i don't like feeling lost. i just want to know what my future holds and how exactly i am going to get there. i know that is part of why i am so drawn to pharmacy school. it is a quick path to a good career and decently lucrative future. the problem is that pharmacy school is not something i have dreamed about forever, so i'm lacking the motivation to take the necessary steps to get myself there. i'm taking the pcat on saturday and once again... i've not studied for it. i've known that i'm setting myself up for disaster with my poor time management, but i've been feeling so overwhelmed lately. when i get overwhelmed, i tend to just shut down. i know that about myself, yet i have no idea how to remedy it.

i've been having a lot of moments lately where i just break down. usually it's to james. i'm so thankful to have his understanding, support, and tough love. he always encourages me and assures me that i can, in fact, do everything... i just need to look at it bit by bit and not as a whole. he also reminds me that i need to have better time management. it's a hard thing to correct for a lifelong procrastinator like myself. i have always been someone who puts assignments or studying off to the night before, and i've always gotten everything done in time with an acceptable outcome. but while this strategy [if you can call it that] may have worked for me so far in life, i think my body and mind are both trying to tell me to stop, as they have been breaking down rather frequently recently.

my nanny job has ended as of yesterday. i feel badly that it didn't work out better, but i have just been so stressed and overwhelmed that it was one more thing on my plate that was making me go a little bit more insane. and every time i was too busy or sick to help out, i felt guilty and more stressed. i'm really sad [even more sad than i anticipated] that i won't be doing it anymore, but i think it's for the best.

i'm hoping that one less item on my agenda will help. i know there is more that can be done though. hopefully over the next few months i will get everything worked out into a manageable and more healthy schedule.

wow. this post turned into way more than i intended. i didn't really mean to put this much out there, but here it is i guess.

i actually just wanted to post something like "i've been struggling a lot lately, and tonight i realized that i really miss ceramics. i started working with clay when i was a wee little one, and haven't had a chance to work with it since high school. maybe taking time for ceramics again would be a good option for me to relieve some stress and feel less overwhelmed."

see what i mean? i got a little out of control with my thoughts. :]

my entire family has gathered in colorado this week. i'm sad that i'm not there as well, but i have way too much going on here. i have an exam tomorrow in anatomy, a lab quiz on wednesday, and the pcat as i mentioned. so i better get back to my books. i just needed a little break. apparently, i needed to vent.

i do have some exciting things to look forward to though. they are helping me get through these little obstacles.
i'm hoping to visit apple hill with erin the day after the pcat. if not, i think i might try to at least visit a local pumpkin patch or something fun and fallish.
i'm also going to the crop for the cure at green tangerines with mandee. it will be nice to have some time dedicated to creativity.
and of course, i can always take little breaks to enjoy this little dude:
he was captivated by something on my bookcase. i'm not sure what though.

sorry for the heavy post, but that's just how it is sometimes around here. i'm sure you know i use this blog as a way to keep track of all kinds of things... including the not so fun parts of my life. and i know that even if no one else does [which will probably be the case] i will look back one day and be glad to see how i've grown from this point. i've already been able to do that with some of my older posts. :]

swine.

i called my dad on tuesday saying "i think i have the swine flu."
he laughed at me and assured me that i probably had a different kind of "regular" flu. [swine was initially ruled out because i had thrown up that morning... but it was likely because i was coughing too hard. i ate a few hours later and didn't have any more problems, indicating nothing gi.] anyway. i told him my symptoms and he talked to my doctor, who put me on tamiflu.
that evening, my dad drove to reno, picked up my medicine, brought it to me and left saying "i'm leaving the death house now." he came back into the living room shortly after and said "amy, make sure you don't die, otherwise i'll feel really bad about calling this the death house." that's my dad. :]
tonight he called me and said "so. you were right. you most likely have the swine flu."
since i'm feeling a bit better today, i laughed.
apparently, he talked to my doctor a bit more who confirmed that it's most probably swine.

i guess this means i won't have to decide whether or not to get vaccinated?

sadly, it was really bad timing on getting sick since i'm getting back to that overwhelmed feeling with school + work + application stuff.
i'm trying not to worry about it too much because we all know getting stressed and worried doesn't exactly help you get better, but that's easier said than done for a worrier like myself.

in other [way more fun] news...
i'm definitely excited about this since i missed the one over the summer. maybe i'll have better luck attending this one. :]

be back soon...

to share more of this:

which has finally been finished and joined the mini bowl:


for now i'm off to the store with my mom... it seems that both our washer and refrigerator have decided to act up leaving us with water on the kitchen floor and water on the laundry room floor. fabulous. i'm sort of excited about the whole idea of shopping for new ones though. :]

happy october.

there's something so exciting about october. with the cooling temperatures around here [just within the past two days really] i'm starting to really feel fall. i'm glad it's here. :]

i thought it would be fun to make a small list of things i want to do this year in october.
here goes:
1. visit apple hill.
2. actually buy pumpkins.
3. take photos of the leaves.
4. bake something homemade.
5. finish some knitting.

i don't want to make my list too complex, but just a few fun things to think about and try to fit in here or there. :]

as for my halloween costume... i've not had much luck deciding. i tried to convince james that we should be mr. and mrs. pac man this year, but i don't think he's too keen on that one. so then i thought star trek might be more agreeable, but he doesn't like that either. [honestly... all you would need is black pants, the signature shirt, and one of those pins and you would be set! so simple.] then i asked if he was interested in being tetris pieces... nope.
so now i'm thinking that i might forgo the couple costume route and just pick something fun for myself. we'll see.
what are you planning to be this year?