pack.

i don't want to pack tonight.

partially because i'm full on sick today and feeling lazy, and partially because i don't like my clothes anymore.
seriously.
aside from 4 pairs of jeans that i'm loving, i just don't like my clothes.

and when i try to look for new things that i love, i just don't find anything.
i did find one cute top the other day, but i couldn't bring myself to pay over $150 for one top.
i need a better job in order to do that.
so i left empty handed as i have on the last several shopping trips.

hopefully i can change things this weekend.
a little wardrobe update... sounds nice.
but just in case i can't find anything... i guess i better actually pack a few things.

maybe i'll sneak away for some scrapbooking first.
you know... to get me in the mood to pack. :]

father's day review.

first, here's a look at the mini album that i finished the day before father's day. yay for being done early. ha.







i've become pretty good friends with the ladies who teach classes at the store where i work. i'm not big on taking classes, but i like to support my friends when they are teaching classes if i am able to. usually michele's classes are when i work so i can't take them, but this father's day class happened to be on a monday night so i was totally free to take it. i sort of did my own thing with the project, and thankfully michele didn't mind. :]

her album was green, but my dad's favorite color is blue, so i used blue crackle paint instead. there's lots of distress ink and stamping for a little extra touch that doesn't really show up too well in the photos, but looks nice in person.

i also changed out some of the papers to match my blue album, and i added those little chipboard embellishments because they matched the blue pretty well also. [michele used more tickets in her album, which i might have to reuse on another project. they are on my desk for now, so we'll see.] i changed my cover around because i wanted to use one of the chipboard pieces, so i ended up using metal letters that i inked up to match. nothing like staz-on all over your fingers to make people ask questions. ha.

i don't have tons of photos with my dad. that's something i'll have to work on. but it was fun to look back and pick the photos. when he opened the album and looked at the first photo, he said, "oh what a nice photo... except that i'm in it." apparently, he doesn't really like photos of himself either. welcome to the club, dad. :]

overall it is really a pretty simple album, but i tend to think that's how albums for guys should be. you know... minimal embellishments and not too much fluff. i generally put a lot of journaling into projects/layouts, but this one just didn't call for it. i had a lot of fun making it, and i think my dad enjoyed looking at it. hopefully it won't just get lost somewhere in his office. ha.

now for the update part...

my brother + amanda + baby victoria were up visiting for the weekend. such a treat.

it was amanda's high school reunion, so they were in carson on saturday, but came back up here on sunday afternoon for a father's day dinner and some hangout time before catching their flight back home. i so love soaking up baby time. she is starting to giggle a little bit and it's pretty much adorable. she's also found her feet and can *almost* roll over. oh and it's looking more and more her hair will be red. amanda said her hair was red as a child, so we'll see. :]

here are a couple photos:





1 = victoria + grandpa. [kinda weird calling my dad grandpa. ha.]











2 = victoria + daddy + grandpa. [again. kinda weird calling my brother daddy.]











3 = victoria + grandma. [see above comments.]











4 = love that look. i think somewhere there has to be a baby photo of me with the same expression. my sister has commented that i used to make that face. :]


and the good news is that mom + dad + i are heading down to vegas on thursday, which means more baby time. woot! james started work this week, so he can't come along. i'm a little sad about that part, but still excited to soak up more time with victoria and maybe do a little bit of shopping. :]

i'm once again drinking defense vitamin water like crazy trying not to get sick. james started feeling sick on sunday [just in time for his first day of work on monday] and today he was looking pretty miserable. he fell asleep right when he got home from work and really only woke up to eat some pho that i brought home for him and watch the end of ocean's thirteen with me while he ate. tonight my ears are hurting and my throat is starting to hurt as well. ack!

latest scrappies.

i made these last week for week one of may's class at bps. i haven't started on week two yet, but something tells me tonight just might be the night. we'll see. :]

these are pretty simple pages, but the printer was out of ink [and was feeling lazy on choosing photos] so i used older photos that were already printed. that sort of means that they are mostly photos that i wasn't uber excited about scrapping anymore because i most likely tried when i first printed them and didn't have any luck. you know how that goes? plus i challenged myself to use the love, elsie cody collection. i'm not 100% sure why i bought it since i don't have any sports photos! [maybe a little addiction?] it was a good time to try use it with week one of the class.

this one uses photos from the [ugly] holiday sweater party from two years ago. [i had just met james at this point. aww.] i changed out that background cardstock color about 15 times. no joke. sports paper = holiday layout. ha.


this one is probably my favorite of the bunch. mostly because the focus is really on the photo, which i like. it's also an oldie. i think helix was maybe six months old? it was right around when he stopped looking like a puppy so much. taken on a long day that i spent alone with him when we still weren't really getting along. ha.


these are a couple photos from may's visit to reno. [i swear i scrapped these before i saw your week 2 bonus handout, may!] i had definitely tried to scrap these before but because of the weird color combo, i just struggled. i'm pretty happy with the way this one came out though, and i'm even more happy to have those photos finally scrapped and ready to go into an album. :]


this one is a really old photo. [it was printed at costco. and i haven't printed there in a loooong time.] i just thought it was hilarious. again, one of those photos that i've been meaning to scrap, but just struggled to figure out.

eeek! i just squealed with delight because the doorbell rang. i knew that today, the doorbell meant the arrival of my studio calico kit! it's delicious. seriously. tonight should be a good night of scrappage.

ok. i'm off to run errands so that i can play tonight. :]

girls' weekend photos.

blogger doesn't like me very much, but i think i finally managed to get most of the photos i wanted uploaded into this post. woot.

we actually did make our first stop [after checking in to the hotel] at tiffany, where i picked up my graduation gift to myself. :]
somehow, i managed to leave without taking a single photo though. ah well.

then we made our way over to britex, the most lovely fabric store ever. 4 floors of goodness arranged by color. there is so much texture and pattern and overall loveliness that i could honestly spend a whole day in there with no problem at all.


we decided that since we were shoe shopping in macy's, we should go ahead and just eat at the cheesecake factory. as you can see, i didn't get a before photo. only an after photo. adam's peanut butter cup fudge ripple never disappoints. :]


then we made our way down to urban where i found an pretty fabulous sweater on sale! gotta love that. :]



and we could not escape lush. we tried. but after the third time of walking past... the smell finally drew us in.
oh.
my.
goodness.
deepa and i are officially addicted to everything in the store. i just bought new shampoo and conditioner maybe 2 weeks ago, but i had to buy some from lush. the whole idea of solid shampoo was just too intriguing to pass up. and i definitely see an increase in bath-taking over shower-taking coming very very soon. i came home with plenty, but i'm going to need an excuse to buy more. :]

we called it a night rather early because both of us were pretty tired and we wanted to get a good start in the morning, which we did.


we started the day by going to the haight, where you can find *all* kinds of interesting things. deepa had never been before and i had so much fun showing her around. we both had to try really hard to limit our purchases. i was holding out for some shoes, which i didn't end up finding [probably a good thing for the bank account] so i really only bought some pants from american apparel. i did fall completely in love with a pair of joe's jeans... but at that point i was still holding out for some shoes, so i didn't get them. i'm only a little sad. ha. there are joe's galore in the haight. i will have to keep that in mind since they seem to be the only pants that fit me perfectly these days. :]


and we had to eat at askew. :]
when james and i ate there the first time, we were talking about how cool it would be to open something like that up by unr. deepa and i had the same exact conversation. the food it just sooo good and we really have nothing like it in reno. do you think that three biochemists could run a restaurant?

[how cool is that front window... the whole thing opens up. makes for a lovely lunch setting looking out to haight street and having everyone walk by and smell your fabulous food. ha.]


on the way to meet with my sister briefly, we stopped off at the full house houses so deepa could see the lovely painted ladies. if we go again, i think we will have to plan for a nice little picnic in that park. :]


then we made our way down lombard street so deepa could experience it on our way to meet up with my sister at pier 39. i felt bad for my sister because she had to stay with jamie's family and they only stayed in the fisherman's wharf area the whole time they were there. it's very busy and touristy over there and really to the only reason to go is to quickly see the sea otters and grab some mini donuts [which deepa and i did. ha.] there's just so many other amazing things to do and see in the city, so if you spend your whole time in that area, you aren't getting a good feel. just my opinion though...

we had dinner at cafe divine, where andrew was working his last night before heading to new york for the summer. the food was truly amazing. north beach never disappoints, but this food was seriously seriously yummy.

after dinner, we went back to andrew's house. this is the sunset from his roof. so pretty. the views up there were really breathtaking. you could see the big buildings of the financial district, coit tower, and even a peak of the golden gate bridge.

his bedroom is pretty cool too. he really impresses me with his decorating skills. ha.


after the quick stop at his house, we went to vesuvio. you may or may not remember this place from another trip. it's just a really cute little bar. it cracks me up every time that it's two floors. i can just imagine people getting a little tipsy upstairs and not being able to easily make it back down the narrow stairs. [i tend to have a little trouble with them, and i don't even drink!]



after vesuvio, we grabbed a cab and headed for an ethiopian bar. i wasn't quite sure what to expect, but andrew assured us that it was one of his favorite places from his old neighborhood. it's a restaurant by day, and a bar by night. it's actually a really neat place. the whole place had the coolest wallpaper. it's actually like a nice piece of flocked scrapbooking paper. ha. and there is "the hole", which is this tiny little spot with one table and two chairs [we added more] that made a great little hangout spot for us. deepa got to try some ethiopian beer there. i think she liked it?

so yeah. it was a good night. oh. i almost forgot. when we got back to the hotel, it was about 2am or so and deepa and i were a little hungry. forgetting that san francisco is not quite the 24 hour town that reno is, we thought it would be easy to find some food. we had to wander around for a bit, and finally saw a jack in the box with a line out the door. it was an intense experience. first, right after we got in line... a drunk irish man started hitting on deepa when he was supposed to be getting in a cab with his friends. he actually spit some food on her by accident. it was hilarious and totally disgusting at the same time. once we got into the doors, we realized there were homeless people actually inside asking for money. we didn't think that they were allowed to be inside, but the employees seemed too busy to care. then as we were waiting for our food, an australian guy started talking to us. he explained that his hotel was across the street, and he'd arrived 24 hours prior and had already eaten at that jack in the box 5 times. "what else do you need?" ha. hearing him say jumbo jack with an accent kept us laughing for the rest of the night. :]

that was also the night i got sick and slept for about one hour from 10am to 11am. nice. i still don't really know what the deal with that was... i think a bit of anxiety that i can't seem to get rid of even though it's summer!


once we packed up the car and made one last stop at lush we headed for ocean beach. it's sort of a requirement for all of my trips, in case you haven't noticed. :] it was so windy... our ears were killing us by the time we left, but it was worth it. when we got there, there was no one there except a few guys setting up for some wind surfing. it was pretty interesting to watch them. i'll probably never be brave enough to give something like that a try... but it does seem fun. we had a little photo shoot, but none of the photos turned out very well. we managed to get this one with the self-timer on my camera ON THE FIRST TRY! we screamed with delight when we saw it. :] i realize now that it's not actually a very good photo... but hey. it's a good memory.

we drove through golden gate park on the way out and agreed that we need to spend at least one whole day there exploring. something james and i have talked about a couple times too. hopefully soon. there is just so much to see there. amazing stuff.

we also paid $4.51 for gas in the city, and then realized on the way home that was the cheapest gas to be seen for a while. we saw it as high as $4.76 at which point we thought we might be going crazy from being in the car for so long and not really moving.

it was a lovely little trip.
and as always, i can't wait to go back.

home.

so. we didn't hit ANY traffic on the way into the city.
i had a feeling that there was just no way it would work out that well both ways.
indeed. i was right.
i spent 5.5 hours driving home.
yuck.

plus. i was sick last night, so i drove home for 5.5 hours on approx. 1 hour of sleep.
but deepa and i rocked out to the mix that james made me when we were first getting to know each other.
and talked lots.
and stopped for pie.
and remembered that we have had classes together since freshmen year... which means good stories of learning about each others' personalities.
:]

so. i'm still as happy as can be right now.
the trip was amazing, even considering the drive and the whole being sick in a hotel room situation.

and i just ate the biggest artichoke i've ever seen in my life. well... i ate half of the biggest artichoke i've ever seen in my life. i tried to pawn some of it off on helix, but he's not really a fan. unless there is butter... then he's all about it. ha.

i'm waaaay to tried to upload photos right now, but i will do a proper post tomorrow.
which may or may not include mentioning of tiffany, cheesecake, lush, the haight, mini donuts, cafe divine, vesuvio, the ethiopian bar, jack in the box, more lush, and the ocean. we'll see what i can remember.
goodnight. :]

can't sleep.

because i am so excited to go to the city tomorrow!

i got a call from my sister today that went something like this:

k: umm. i don't know if it's too late to tell you this, i meant to tell you two weeks ago, but you didn't answer your phone... anyway... jamie and i are going to san francisco tomorrow. do you think you can come?
a: whaaa? i'm already going to san francisco tomorrow with deepa!
k: whaaat!? yay!

yeah. something like that. how random though right? we aren't staying in the same hotel, and she's only staying in the city for one night before they head off somewhere else, but it will be nice to see her. :]

plus, deepa and i are making our first stop to pick up this little beauty. deepa already got hers, but i haven't been to the store lately. i'm pretty sure i need it though, right? ha.

well. i was going to post my latest layouts, but i just realized that i took the battery out of my camera to get it all charged up... so i can't upload the photos onto my computer. i'll post them when i am back home though. along with the well overdue mission: make a studio post. i still need to get a few more things in order before i can get some good photos of the studio, but one of these days i will. :]

have good rest of the week everyone!

satc: round 2.

just as good as the first time.

i made james go with me tonight.
big brownie points to him. :]


& & i forgot to mention two cool things in the last post:
1. andrew nelson cooked dinner at my house last night. mark hubbard came over to enjoy the pasta goodness. fabulous.
2. deepa and i booked a room in the city last night for a short visit. we're debating about whether or not to let james come along. ha.

thank goodness for savers.

yes. i found a glorious gold sweater at savers for the 80s party. it was $3.99, but with a purple tag on purple tag day, it was only $2. gotta love that.

the night turned into a little bit of a mess at the end, but it was really fun for a while. we went to radhika's house for her 80s party, and when we wanted to leave, we weren't ready for the night to be done. so had you been at the eldorado, you could have seen a little bit of 80s glory.


[yes. we got a comment from pretty much everyone who walked by. that pink jogging suit on ryan was quite the conversation piece.]

p.s. happy birthday to my sister today. hopefully i'll have a chance to go visit her this summer. :]