a little bit blah.

i'm not feeling 100% healthy the past few days.
since james left for san francisco yesterday with a few friends for a concert this weekend, i've been trying to just sleep it off. still i just feel like i'm in a bit of a fog lately.

i'm going to attempt to go scrapbook at the store tonight, so we'll see how that goes.
i have some photos ready, and i think i'll just take my studio calico kits along and not much else.
hopefully keeping it simple will help me get something done. :]
[plus, it's not like there won't be plenty of product around if i need something. ha.]

i finished reading love walked in on thursday at work. [just before four boxes of new product arrived for me to enter and put out.]
so now i need a new book. i did a bit of browsing online, and i found out that there is a sequel that came out not too long ago. i didn't even think there was a sequel, so that was a good find. i was going to start on something else, but now i want to read the next book while the first one is still fresh in my mind. i enjoyed the first one [even if i was tearing up for the last quarter of the book], so i'm ready for more.

so i guess that i'm going to try to muster up the energy to do a bit of shopping before i go scrapbook tonight. i want to stop at the bookstore, and i need to stop at target. somewhere between my shower and a drawer in my bathroom, my razor mysteriously disappeared. nice. i have seriously looked everywhere, and i can't find it. so i guess i'll be buying a new one. i also want to stop by trader joe's to get some yummy cheddar popcorn to take with me tonight.

off i go.
i hope everyone is having a good weekend!

teeny tiny pain.

i had my 40 minute adventure with the dentist today.

i think i looked more pale than normal because he asked "what's so scary?" when he came in and saw me.
i told him that i'm afraid of needles and he said, "ok. then i won't wave it around in front of your face."
ha.
he's actually always been very good about that, but this time he was especially good and understanding about my fear. he told me to close my eyes when it came time for that part.

the only problem is that now... about 16 hours later, i can still feel where the injection went in and it's creeping me out so much!
seriously.
there is only a teeny tiny pain there at the injection site, but i can't sleep because if i don't keep my mind occupied, it's all i can think about.
ugh.
that big huge needle.
it makes my skin crawl.

in an attempt to get my mind off of it, i should probably talk about something else...

how about the olympics?
the games are seriously taking up my days and nights. i'm so into it this year.
did you see the white water event today where togo got it's first medal as a country? so cool.
the gymnastics was a little heart breaking. i can't believe how talented those chinese girls are though.
beach volleyball has been awesome to watch. i have to say that volleyball is probably one of the most fun sport to watch in my opinion, and the beach version is even better.
and the swimming. oh the swimming. it has quickly become my favorite event to watch. :]

oh and another paint update...
i warned my mom about it after i picked up from the airport monday morning [she and my dad went to visit the baby again. yes. i was jealous.] she actually likes it better than i expected, although i don't think she 100% loves it.
my dad came to reno tonight, and i'm fairly certain that he didn't notice. if he did, he didn't say anything about it... which would be unexpected. we'll see what he says tomorrow because i'm pretty sure he'll notice it by then since he's working from home here tomorrow.

ok. i guess i better go find another distraction now.

did you see that!?

the US men just beat the french men in the freestyle relay!

not even kidding when i say that i was sitting here by myself and actually stood up and jumped around [looking like a fool, i'm sure] after jones jumped in the water just hoping they would win. the announcers were saying the US wouldn't be able to beat the french, which made me just know they could do it... those announcers are always doubting when they should just believe.

prosperity.

i just learned that eight symbolizes prosperity in chinese culture.
pretty cool.
happy eight eight ohh eight. :]

as you can probably guess... i'm watching the olympics.
so excited.

[paint update coming soon.]

a sign that i've been watching too much hgtv.

james and i are going to buy paint!

i can't say i didn't expect it.

i went to the dentist today.

i've been noticing a little pain when i eat, but i've been choosing to ignore it.
even when they asked me if i was having any problems, i said no. ha.

but. it turns out that i have a tiny spot that might be a cavity.
it doesn't even show up on the x-ray, it's so small.
but i still have to get it filled.

between the recent pain and all the junk i eat... i think i saw this coming.
i guess i'm even a little relieved that it's only a tiny one.
and hopefully it will make the pain go away when they fix it.

in other news,
the second sisterhood movie is coming out tomorrow.
you can bet that deepa and i have been anxiously texting about it and making plans to go see it. :]


oh and i started a new book at work on sunday called love walked in. i'm not that far into it yet, but so far i really like it.

& & it looks like i'll have to hurry up and finish it because after hearing over and over that i should read it, may has convinced me to read the twilight series. a daunting task for a slow-ish reader like me... but it sounds like it will be worth it.

sun sick.

you know that feeling you get when you have a sun burn.
just feeling sick and grumpy. that's was me today. ack.

overall, our little camping trip was a success. most notably, i'd say we did much better with the food this time around even though it was all very last minute.

it started out on friday with a struggle to find the tent we wanted. i made james meet me at target because i really really don't like to shop at that store that starts with a w. [and i had forgotten about all of the outdoor stores we have around here. ha.] we found one that we liked, but there were none in stock. go figure. but james was quick to remind me that we have all sorts of outdoor stores, so we headed out to check them.

four outdoor stores later, we ended up heading out to check the target in sparks... success! they had the tent. :]

meanwhile, we were ridiculously behind schedule at this point. so we went home and quickly packed up the car. then we stopped at the grocery store on the way out. this is where we hit the food jackpot. they had all kinds of pre-made skewer foods, including these lemon pepper chicken skewers. sweet deal. no pb&j for us. ha.

due to our late late start, we barely made it to the campsite before dark. the sun was already down, so james and andrew put up the tent in little light that was left. i'm amazed at how quickly they are able to assemble tents. seriously. it seems like such a pain, but they make it look so easy.

[here's a photo of the tent the next day, just before we took it down.]

the rest of the night was spent around the campfire. we made a few of the skewers and of course some s'mores. oh! and i actually had cell phone reception. major plus in my book. no one else had reception, which was a plus in their book.
"it's not camping if you have cell phone reception."
well. i beg to differ. especially when eliza made a wrong turn and got lost on her way out to the campsite. [she ended up winding around on mountain roads. by herself. in the dark. ugh. i would have been so scared.] so thank goodness for good reception so that i could direct her.

that night was a night of little sleep thanks to helix. i expected it, but that didn't make it any easier. he was restless in the tent all night. [even though we picked the tent with him in mind because it had a little doggie room in it. i guess he wasn't impressed. ha.] i was mostly just waiting for the sun to come up so that i could get up. when it finally did, i took him out for a little run to the lake that was at our campsite. it was so crazy to feel like one of those people. you know... the morning runners. maybe one day. :]

eventually james and eliza got up. james cooked a yummy breakfast of eggs and bacon. we were all a little sad that claus wasn't there early enough to make us those yummy pancakes that he did last year, but eggs and bacon were a good substitute.

eliza had to leave in the afternoon to go visit her sister,
so i made james get a photo of use before she left. at the same time she was leaving, claus arrived with his family. his kids were very excited to go play in the water, so [to my own shock] i put on my bathing suit and headed down to the lake with the rest of the group. [thus the painful sunburn. i actually wore sunscreen, but i used maria's spray stuff. never. again. ugh. i have the classic zebra sunburn. little strips of white interspersed with strips of red. nice.]

james took claus' kayak out for another ride. i asked him when he got back if he would want to own a kayak, and he said yes. maybe i'll keep that in mind for a future gift. ha.

it's very rare that helix will voluntarily go in the water for a swim. he will get his paws wet at the shore, but that's about all. so james took him a little ways out and made him go swimming. it makes me laugh every time because his little tail always stays above the water just bobbing back and fourth. so cute.

and to prove that i actually did get in the water, here's a photo of me with some of my friends from the lab.
i know, i know... brown hat with a black swimming suit. but i found that had in my car and the thought of not having a sunburnt scalp seemed so appealing. :]

after a day of fun at the lake, during which i actually managed three sips of james' beer because i was so thirsty and no one thought to bring any water in the cooler on the ridiculously long walk down to the lake, we had our big potluck dinner. james and i brought macaroni salad and pie, the later of which seemed to be a big hit.

shortly after dinner, james and i packed up and headed home. i jumped in the shower as soon as we walked in the door. then we gave helix a bath. the amount of dirt coming out of his fur was insane. the poor dog was more tired than james and i were and promptly fell asleep after his bath. we have yumi, claus' daughter, to thank for that. she was walking helix around after we ate and wouldn't stop. even when helix would lay down and not move... somehow she would make him continue walking. plus maria had already taken him for a two mile run that day. so the little dude got his fill of exercise.

now i really need to make myself sort through photos and print some. i have these and the chicago photos, plus some other older ones that i still want to scrapbook. i've been noticing that a big reason why i haven't been scrapbooking much is due to a lack of printed photos. imagine that.

i hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. :]

august + getting old.

august?
what?
where the heck did you come from?
seriously.

i keep seeing back to school commercials.

and
i
don't
like
it
one
bit.

it gives me anxiety. because i kind of feel like my summer just started and i'm not ready to go back to school.
and then i realize that I'M NOT GOING BACK TO SCHOOL.
and then i get a whole other kind of anxiety. ha.

deepa and i enjoyed a girls' night tonight.

we ate at genghis grill.

we ventured to world market where she found a sweet bottle of wine, which we think is called "the bastard" but it's in another language. and i found the mother box of those amazing koala cookies that i have been in love with since i was a child.

[oh yes. i really am that excited over this find. see. i'm a pretty simple girl for the most part. give me koala cookies, and i'm happy. especially since lately i've only been able to find the panda ones, which clearly just aren't as good.]

you can bet that i'm finishing off those pandas before i move on to the superior quality koalas. :]

then we went to tapioca express and realized that we are old.
it was deepa's first time. naturally, i was disappointed when they didn't seal my cup with the usual plastic film with the magic cup sealing machine. i mean really... that's half the reason i love that place so much. [the other half is that the thai tea snow bubble is equally as good as the thai iced tea at bangkok cuisine. pure delight.] but i was even more disappointed when my lid started pouring out liquid. i had to quickly fashion up a diaper for my cup. no joke. then deepa's was the same way!
so deepa [being deepa] said something to the girl about the lids totally sucking.
and the girl said in a lame, melodramatic voice, "oh. sorry. that's all we have."
i wanted to say "NO IT ISN'T. YOU HAVE A MACHINE RIGHT THERE THAT WILL SEAL MY CUP PERFECTLY. YOU IDIOT." but i [being amy] didn't say it.
however, deepa [being deepa] uttered "effing teenagers" as we walked over to fashion her up a little diaper for her cup.

and that was when i realized that we are getting old.

despite my conversation with garrett about how i am so not feeling old, the conversation that ensued over cup diaper making was evidence to the contrary.

but hey, at least it was hilarious.

we made one last stop at barnes and noble where deepa forced me to finally buy the gre study guide that i have picked up about four times and immediately put back on the shelf. ha.

and we made it home just in time to watch america's best dance crew. missy elliot is the best, is she not?

tomorrow calls for some serious camping prep, or else we just might have to stay home. [ha.] james' brother is also going camping tomorrow, so he took all of their camping gear. i'd say that not having a tent might be a good excuse not to go, right? we'll see. i do want to have some photos to use with the mr. campy papers... so i still have a little bit of motivation to make it happen. :]

p.s. tonight when james got home from school 30 seconds after i got home from work [how do we keep timing it like that!?] he asked me to guess what song was in his mind... i told him that i had no idea. so he grabbed my computer and started playing this video for me:

part way in, thinking that it seemed pretty romantic and perfectly sweet, i asked him it is was his song to me.

he explained that today at work, his co-worker/new friend imad let him borrow the cd to listen to in his cubicle, and the two of them had been singing it all day.
ohhh. how romantic. for them. not for me.
but i'm not bitter.
really.
:]