wordless wednesday.

ok. so i got this idea from mandee, who got the idea from kelly noel, who got the idea from someone else... you get the picture. this isn't my idea, but i like the concept. so i'm going to try to do it too.

i don't have any new photos to share, and my camera is dead so i can't even upload the latest ones. but here's a photo from a couple weeks ago that i haven't posted.
i met up with yenh and some other friends at the chocolate bar for fondue one night. curly hair and all. eek. you can generally tell when i've been watching a lot of satc because i get inspired by carrie to start embracing my curls. :]

i hope everyone is having a great wednesday!

james and i just washed all of the cars and had a nice home cooked dinner. we got our dose of omega-3s from salmon, which is pretty much the only fish i will eat. now we're off to bowling night because james filling in for a friend who broke his foot.

[i know. it's supposed to be a wordless post, but you know me. wordless wednesday posts will probably never be entirely wordless, but at least they will ensure more photos make it on here to keep things interesting.]

tired.

by 10:30 this morning, i was feeling exhausted. i'm ready to go to bed, and the day isn't even half over. ugh.
i stayed up all night cleaning my room before getting up at 7 to go help with the boys. three hours of sleep just doesn't get me as far as it used it. you'd think i would have taken note of this by now.
anyway.
did i mention that my dad decided to get everyone new beds after he found out that he could order the bellagio mattresses? they are seriously the most comfortable beds ever. we talk about them all the time, especially when staying in other hotels with less comfortable beds. so my dad asked his bellagio host guy and found out that the mattresses are specially made just for bellagio, but they will sell them to individuals. score. :]
today is delivery day, which meant that james and i removed my old bed from my room last night to clear the area. with the bed out of the way, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for an organizing/purging/deep cleaning session. so i spent about 5 hours last night doing that.
every time i get caught up in a big cleaning process, i vow to never let it happen again... keep up with all the organizing as i need to instead of letting the piles accumulate. i never seem to sick to it for very long though. :/
the good news is that my bedroom looks the best it's ever looked, and i have pinpointed my two biggest problem areas. first is the clothes problem. shocking right? the second is receipts. those things pile up so quickly. so along with my attempts [which have gotten better, i'm happy to report] to do laundry more regularly, i'm also going to go through my receipts more often.

the weekend was pretty laid back. i took a beading class with michele on saturday, and it was pretty cool. i learned a few new tips and tricks, and i'm pretty much addicted to making bracelets and necklaces now. it's fun, fast, and more simple than scrapbooking. i guess i needed another hobby to add to the growing list? ha. i'm excited to hunt for more beads to add to my little collection now. that was about it for fun stuff. on sunday i watched the boys pretty much all day. oh and james and i watched abdc sunday night. i have my clear favorites already, and it was only the second episode. :]

ok. well maybe it's time for some tea so i can get more things accomplished today. happy monday.

see you soon.

as people finished the econ final today and handed it in, my professor would say "thank you" to each person.
then when i turned mine in, she said, "i'll see you soon. you have my email address, right?"
the thing is that i started getting sad when i was getting to the last few questions because i realized the class was over. i guess i liked it more than i realized and definitely more than i anticipated. it was all thanks to my professor. :]

p.s. both finals went well, even though i did get sick last night.
time to move on to studying for the pcat. :/

two.

tomorrow is my last day of summer school!
so i have my two finals tomorrow.
i've calculated it out and it looks like i can get under 65% on each final to keep my A in both classes.
so why do i still feel anxiety!? i think it's because i would be disappointed with anything close to that grade on either of these tests. i'm hoping to finish strong. :]
i gave my last speech today, which was a relief. after class, my new friend mary and i were talking about how neither of us feel like we've really become better speakers as a result of the class. i think the main things that have made me better at public speaking were early experiences... like those presentations in mr. johnson's class and the whole science fair experience, and then during college, i think teaching really helped me get better at being comfortable speaking to large groups and definitely presenting my research in lab meetings, proseminar, and during poster day was probably the biggest help. i wish i could say that i took something more valuable away from this class. oh well... it's another pre-requisite checked off my list.

in other news, i bought two new pairs of shoes on monday. i decided it was time to purge a few, and i'm not going to allow myself to take the new ones out of their boxes until i get rid of two old pairs. that should be a good motivator. :]
i've also been helping to look after two little boys in the mornings a couple days a week. i help get them ready and then take them to school and whatnot. so i have two car seats in the back of my car these days, and i have two cds of funny sing-along music in my car. ha. good times. even if it means i only get three or four hours of sleep per night.

alright. i'm exhausted. hoping to get six hours of sleep tonight, which will feel amazing. :]

waimea bay layout.

here it is...
like is said, this one is pretty simple. i attribute that to the making memories paper being so covered with print... half the work of embellishing was done for me. i like how the paper is embossed too. it just gives the pattern a bit more depth. the funny thing is that i generally look at papers like that and dismiss them, thinking that i won't actually use them. i guess that's another good thing about kits, sometimes you get to try new things that you might not have considered previously.
this was also the first time i've used the fabrips that show up in the kits occasionally. i've actually been meaning to use the ones from the garment district kit because i like some of the patterns a lot, but it hasn't happened yet. the bigger middle flower was made with a strip of the fabrip. i was also surprised to use the making memories tape... another item that i had sort of dismissed. i used it for the other two smaller flowers.

i also have to add here how nice it is to scrap with a friend... it tends to help speed up my process because instead of debating things forever, i was able to ask mandee and end the debate. :] and she always gives me the extra push i sometimes need to start cutting into papers. ha.

i hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. i have to write a speech critique [of one of my own speeches that was recorded] and otherwise, i have a few more loads of laundry to catch up on today. i'm hoping to pick up some more of those hanging folders and make some progress on my paper organization. i think james and i are having dinner with deepa and howie tonight too, so that should be nice. ok. well i better go get busy. :]

finally.

i'm officially in love with staples office supply store.
i had some extra time between classes on thursday, so i decided to check one of them out since a few of them have recently opened in the area.
first of all... i just love school supplies. i was instantly excited when i walked in and saw all of the displays. they even have this little "supply bar" type thing, where you can choose a container and stuff it with various types of clips, pins, etc. that are all decorated in cute patterns or shaped in cool designs. my favorites were the guitar shaped paper clips. :] i decided not to fill a container, but i keep thinking about it, so i'm sure i will eventually break down. ha.
but the best and absolute most exciting part was that i was able to find the red ink i needed for the photo printer there! you can't even imagine how happy i was to finally be able to buy it. :]

i put the new printer ink to use to print a few photos from hawaii to scrapbook tonight. i finished one layout, which i felt was good progress. it's another relatively simple layout, and it came together pretty fast. i'll try to take some photos tomorrow to post on here. i'm happy to finally be able to scrapbook the hawaii photos. the july studio calico kit has lots of vacation themed items in it, so it's nice to be using the kit as well.

i also had another good find on thursday.
they've been updating/rearranging our local joann's craft store, so i spent some time wandering around checking everything out.
they are now selling the jacquard lumiere paints, which i fell in love with when i tried jeanne's in my art journal. i'm definitely going to be adding a few of those to my paint collection.
i was also able to find some 12x12 hanging file folders to use with the new cart that i'd ordered online. i forgot to order the folders when i ordered the cart, so i'd been meaning to place another order online. i was very happy to see them in the store. they are a different brand, so they don't quite fit the cart. but i was able to manipulate them a bit, and i think they will work out very well. i've started the process of transferring my paper, and i really think i will like the new system. i'm trying to purge some old paper as i put it into the folders too. i'm amazed at how much paper i have that i don't really like. what was i thinking buying all of it? ugh. it makes me a little bit sick sometimes to think of all the junk i've purchased in the name of scrapbooking. :/ oh well. not much i can do now, except learn to be more selective in my purchasing. i have gotten a lot better about that since i stopped working at the scrapbook store, but i think i could still probably improve a bit more.

ok. well i'm going to find a little snack and then head to bed. i'm super tired. definitely ready for the weekend.

little bits of excitement...

*i set the curve on my econ exam. i honestly didn't think it went that well, but i'm happy.
*getting tea with erin on thursday night. always fun.
*scrapbooking planned for friday night. it's been a while, so i'm excited.
*beading class on saturday. hoping to learn the proper way to do some things instead of just my random methods.
*i gave my second to last speech today. i thought it went ok, but based on my record of self-analysis that probably means it was a disaster. ha. we'll see. either way, i'm ready for that class to be over.
*the class will be over after just six more meetings!
*got a little reward gift card from my j. crew card, which i'm looking forward to spending. ha.
*decided to grow my hair out again. at least for a while.
*james and i have been doing a bit of re-arranging downstairs, and i'm liking the change. also creating more room in the storage/furnace room, which is good. i need to box some things up and get them stored away.
*i'm off to bed. i have to get up ridiculously early tomorrow and thursday. i'm staying positive by envisioning the london fog tea latte that will be in my hand at 6:45 tomorrow morning and tasting so good. :]

curls.

today i was feeling too lazy to spend my morning with the blow dryer and flat iron. so i got out the product i used in hawaii and tried to embrace my curls.not my favorite hair style, but today i was reminded of how much time it saves to just go curly. i might end up doing it more often. it was a good choice today too because the rain was pouring down on the other side of town where we had dinner. we have been having some crazy rainstorms lately accompanied by plenty of lightening and thunder.

james and i had a low-key but fun weekend.
on friday we went to carson to have dinner with james' parents. his mom made his favorite soup, which i hadn't had before. it was really good. it was basically just broth (really yummy broth, i might add) and beef, and then there were tons of little dishes with extra items that you could add to the soup. lately, when we go to dinner there, she makes certain side dishes just for me that are not *supposed* to be spicy. so for example, i get my own little dish of kimchi that isn't red, so it shouldn't be too spicy. it still tastes spicy to me though. ha. usually she'll spend a few minutes showing me what items to combine and how to eat various things. on friday, his dad joined in on trying to get me to eat certain things, but his mom quickly stepped in and corrected him. she's starting to understand my limitations. they all have fun giving me a hard time about my food preferences. :]

on the way home, we decided to see the ugly truth. i enjoyed it. it was a slow starter in my opinion, so i was happy when it started to pick up. i wouldn't mind watching it again.

on saturday night we decided to see funny people. i liked it too. the only problem was that i didn't really have a clue what it was about, so i went in expecting the wrong type of movie. if you don't go into it expecting a funny movie, i think you'll enjoy it much more.

i guess that's about it. tonight i need to catch up on some laundry and work on my powerpoint for my next speech. my parents are in vegas, and needless to say... i'd much rather be there hanging out with victoria than at home doing the above.

i hope everyone had a good weekend!

p.s. it's august already?