falling behind online. again.

so my google reader is out of control again. i haven't updated the blog since my trip. my inbox is getting too full again.
i'm just not keeping up with all of this online stuff!
i guess something has to give way when life gets busy, and i've been busy.

i got super sick sunday night.
i was supposed to give my speech on monday, but i was in no condition to get myself out of the house. so i had to miss my speech. i'm sure some of you can understand what kind of stress that puts on a girl who takes school seriously. especially when the syllabus says "no makeup speeches without a doctor's excuse." ugh. adding stress to sickness doesn't help the healing process. luckily, i got it all worked out, and i was supposed to give my speech on tuesday. but we ran out of time. ugh again. i finally presented wednesday. i feel like i went through triple the amount of stress over one speech than i should have because of the delays in delivering it. i'm happy that it's over.
i also had my econ midterm yesterday. i'm still not feeling 100% well, so it was hard to study when all i wanted to do was sleep. i'm not really sure how the exam went, but hopefully it wasn't too bad. i'll have to wait and see.

anyway.
i didn't manage to take very many photos during my trip to san francisco. i kept thinking about it too... i just never actually got out my camera.

it was a pretty long drive over thanks to construction on 80. i only made it about 15 miles in my first hour on the road. luckily, it wasn't too bad after that. i didn't even run into very much trouble getting over the bay bridge since i arrived a bit late.
as soon as i got to the hotel, i met up with my sister and went to dinner with richard and marty. i think i mentioned that my sister was there for a work event. it was a huge mining conference, so richard (our family friend who is a mining attorney) and marty (who we've gotten to know over the years via richard when she's in reno for mining stuff) were there as well. it was fun to catch up again. i only see marty once or twice a year, so it was nice.

we ate at this little italian place that was super cute. it's one of those really picturesque restaurants in a little alleyway with lights strung up and seating outside. the food was delicious too.
we were all pretty exhausted after dinner, so we called it a night. but my sister and i decided to make one last trip out to the cheesecake factory for a little dessert before bed. :]

the next morning, my sister and i attempted to have breakfast at this place that was featured on the food network. when we arrived, the line was out the door and estimated to be over an hour... so we passed on waiting. we headed out shopping instead. i had some success, but not at anthro. oh well. there is a joe's store in union square, where i found some new denim. it's been a while since i found a pair of joe's that i've fallen in love with, so that made me happy. i do need to get them hemmed a bit though.
we spent some time investigating the makeup counters in macy's. katie's makeup is being discontinued, and i was in the mood to try something new. the girl at the laura mercier counter was beyond nice to us. she told us all about their "flawless face" and how to use the products. she did my makeup, and then told me to come back the next day if i liked it. i went back. :] there were different girls working, who were also super nice. i cannot stand when the makeup counter girls are stuck up. so it was really nice to have such helpful and friendly girls there. one of them was a traveling makeup artist, and she worked wonders with those brushes! they definitely sold me on the products. so far, i'm really like liking my purchases. i explained that i just wanted a really fast routine because i don't normally wear makeup, and that's exactly what i have now. so far, so good.

we ventured out to chinatown that night for dinner. we went to a place called hunan home's. it was so good! we decided to try the fried bread, which was insanely delicious. i'll be going back for the bread for sure.james and i had something similar in nyc, but this was different in taste and was served with a sweet dipping sauce. mmm. so yummy. the soup and tea were really nice since it was so cold while we were there. and i love that they gave us oranges with our fortune cookies when they brought the check. so fun.

saturday night, i met up with andrew in north beach. he told me he had a new addition in his life, which i would be excited about. i was super curious. when we got to his house, i found out that it was a piano! have i ever mentioned that i could listen to him play piano for hours? i'm pretty certain that he knows that too. anyway. i met his current roommates, three of which are french girls. they were pretty funny. there was a big poetry festival going on over the weekend, and i think many of the poets were hanging out in a bar that we ventured out to. it was good a people watching experience. :] eventually, we decided to meet up with two of his roommates at mojito, where there was live music. can i just say how nice it was to have those french girls around? every time a guy would try to attempt to dance with me, i could just make eye contact with one of them, and they would move in and shut him down. ha. it was amazing.

i requested a photo before i caught a cab... somehow we ended up with this lovely atm/trash background. i don't even know why that was deemed a proper photo background. oh well.

finally on sunday, i decided that i had to get some photos with my sister before it was time to pack up and head out. we stopped on one of the corners of union square on our way back from macy's, and i tried to get the heart in the background. it was a fun challenge to figure out how far away we needed to be, etc. unfortunately, the sun was a little bright. ha.

we took this one while we were waiting for my car at the hotel. i like it much better. :]
i'm happy that i was able to spend some time with my sister and get away from everything around here for a while. she and jamie are going to visit for the rib festival, and i think paul and victoria are going to make the trip as well. it will be nice to see everyone at the same time. i'm excited. :]

on the drive back to reno, i got caught up in traffic in berkeley, so i decided to make a detour and visit scrapbook territory. it was the first time i'd visited that store, so i was happy to finally have the chance. i found a few fun things to bring home, including the new cosmo cricket holiday line. it's adorable. i walked around the area for a bit, and by the time i made my way back to the freeway, the traffic had cleared. it was a pretty nice drive home until i got to the last 30 miles, which took about an hour thanks to the construction again. ack.

alright. well. i guess that's about it for now. i'm looking forward to the weekend for sure. i have to make another presentation for a speech on tuesday, but i'm hoping to have time to rest and feel better. :]

p.s. would you believe that i forgot my toothbrush after specifically mentioning it!? thank goodness for walgreens on every corner in the city. ha.

ha.

so i've been thinking so much about all of the things that i need to do in order to leave tomorrow that i completely forgot that i need to pack!

i have a feeling packing will = a bunch of random stuff thrown into a bag about 10 minutes before i leave. :]

i'm sort of ok with that for this trip though. my sister and i have no real plans... so i don't need any specific clothes. plus, i know i can just pick something up there if i forget an essential. i've been forgetting my toothbrush a lot lately when i travel. james usually has extra mini ones that i can steal because he likes to have them for his invisalign. it's hilarious to see him stock up on those in the travel section of target. but when he's not traveling with me, i can't raid his stash. ha.

anyway. :]

before i leave, i need to write my second speech and create a powerpoint for it. i wasn't thinking about being gone, so i signed up to give my speech on monday. oops! oh well. it's a 10 minute informative speech. i had zero good ideas for a topic, so i just went with handmade journals. should be pretty easy. i just have a lot to prepare and sort out as far as organizing the flow of the speech. it's going to be a demonstration, so i'm planning to bring quite a few of the supplies as visual aids. i will need to practice with them, but i'm not really sure when i will do that. i can rehearse during my 3+ hour drives to and from SF, but i can't exactly practice demonstrating how to sew in a signature while driving. maybe i'll practice in the hotel room or something when i inevitably can't sleep.
the thing is... my first speech went pretty well, so i feel like i can't let this one fall short. on the other hand, my midterm went really well too, so a little bit of the pressure is off because i have a little grade cushion now. hopefully that combination of wanting to do well and feeling less pressure will make for a good speech.

i also need to do a couple of econ homework assignments that are going to be due online while i am gone. i keep opening them, taking a look, and then exiting the website. it's bad. i just can't focus on working on them.

maybe i'll go fix a bowl of cereal and try working on them again to get them out of the way. :]

in other news, i finally ordered the paper organizer thing that i've had my eye on ever since christine middlecamp mentioned that it's what she uses. now i just have to wait for it to arrive, but i'm excited to get my paper out of the iris bins that are hard to reach [let alone see] on top of my expedit shelves and into a more workable system. i'm planning to keep the new paper cart tucked under my desk, so all of my paper will be right there.

i also had to order another pair of my favorite martin + osa jeans because it looks like they are discontinuing them! no! i'm not 100% sure, but it kind of seems like they are changing their denim lines. i'm going to stop into the store this weekend to check, but if they change them too much then i'm going to be sad! they are my absolute favorite jeans!

and now i feel like i need to apologize for the excessive use of the exclamation point. :]

ok. i need to get serious now.

i hope that everyone has a fabulous weekend!

daydreaming about style.

i spent saturday hanging out + catching up with erin. after getting some thai, which i'd been craving, we went to check out the new legends mall. i'm excited that there are now two bcbg stores so close to me. although our macy's has recently added a large bcbg section, it's just not the same as the actual stores. i enjoy them when i'm in vegas, so it could be dangerous now that they are such a short drive away. i consistently love the dresses and clothes put out by the brand. i also love the meaning behind the name... bon chic bon genre, which translates to good style good attitude. it's pretty true, wouldn't you agree?

so for a while now, i've been wanting to refine my style and cleanse my wardrobe. i'm sure i've mentioned it several times here. but i know i've also mentioned that i have a hard time getting rid of my clothes. i know it sounds silly to be sentimental and nostalgic about an article of clothing, but i am. the best method i've found to help me overcome this is to motivate myself though the reward system. if i get rid of clothes, i get to add new clothes. :]

so i've been daydreaming about new options lately and basically trying to envision the style i'd like to achieve. this weekend, i'm meeting up with my sister in SF, and i'm definitely excited to do some shopping. i'm looking forward to a visit to anthropologie. the one in SF is understandably huge. while i tend to admire most of their clothing options... i look at some of them and think "there's no way i could pull that off!", so actually visiting the store is always fun because i can see what might actually work for me. this shirt is a good example: i'm sort of in love with it, so i might have to try it on and see. hopefully my bank account won't get too upset.

ok. well. i'm going to finish up some more econ homework and head to bed. i have my midterm in public speaking on wednesday, so i need to catch up on the reading too. i have a feeling it's going to put me right to sleep though... it's just not very exciting. oh well. it will be over before i know it. :]

sunk costs.

james is having a good time teasing me about econ. he says i might be enjoying it too much. tonight i told him about the following...

"sunk costs are sunk and should not be considered in decision making."
ok. at first, when my professor said this i started laughing because i hate when people use a word in its definition. but then she told us that once people have a good understanding of sunk costs, it can be really freeing. so i started to pay attention again. :]
she explained that if you wait in line at the store for 10 minutes then a new line opens up and you have the opportunity to move and get checked out immediately, you move. you don't think about how you should stick it out in your original line because you already spent 10 minutes there. the time you spent in line is a sunk cost. it doesn't come into consideration when deciding to switch lines. pretty simple. pretty agreeable.
but when money is involved, it's harder to see it that way. if you pay $100 for a concert ticket that is nonrefundable and nontransferable, but then get terribly sick on the day of the concert, do you go to the concert? well. the $100 is a sunk cost. so you should only consider whether you will get any amount of enjoyment out of the concert or if you will be miserable during the concert and are better off at home. you shouldn't think about the $100 when making your decision. you should probably stay home and get better.
so seriously, how much easier would life be if i had the ability to think that way? i'm going to really try to consider sunk costs in the future.

so yes.
i am a nerd.
and i am enjoying econ.

i have to give my first speech tomorrow for public speaking. we have to talk about a current event and explain our personal connection to it. is it completely ridiculous that i'm going to talk about bark beetles? ha. they are pretty much always in the news because they are killing millions of acres of our forests, so finding an article shouldn't be too hard. and my personal connection? well. i wrote my thesis on the little pests. :]

back to school.

i started summer school again today.
i'm taking two more pharmacy pre-requisites: microeconomics and public speaking. easy peasy. :]
public speaking will hopefully be somewhat fun, and i'm hoping i might learn a couple techniques to help reduce my anxiety and physical signs of nervousness when speaking. i never freak out too badly, but i definitely get nervous before speeches. i got a lot better at it thanks to biochemistry and all the presentations required for thesis, but like i said... i still get nervous. i tend to talk faster and fidget a bit, so getting these habits under control would be good.
econ seems like it will be ok. the main thing that is going to get on my nerves about the course is how simplified everything becomes when economists try to make models. my class will focus on domestic economics, and i'm just not sure how relevant that is considering the amount of world trade that occurs today. we also don't take into account the government's role in the economy, which is obviously a huge factor. still, i'm going to try to take what i can from the course. i've never taken an econ class, so i'm sure there will be something to take away.

i also finally registered for the pcat last friday. so i have about 6 weeks to get myself ready. i have a 2 hour break between my two summer classes, so i'll be spending that time in the library either doing homework or studying for the pcat.

i think my biggest challenge on the pcat will be the chemistry portion. i've never been exceptionally good at chemistry, and it's not something i've really retained over the years... especially organic chem. i think that it's the most important component of the test to pharmacy schools, so i want to make sure i do well on it. i also need to review math. the pcat covers math through calculus, which will probably be the easiest of the math for me since it's the most recent material i've learned. still it was over four years ago. most of the math i haven't looked at since high school, so i need to definitely review and make sure i can do the problems quickly to make the best use of time. i think the biology portion will be fine for me. biology is my favorite of the sciences, and i tend to remember a lot of it. the only challenge will be the anatomy and physiology portion, since i've not taken that course yet in college. i'll need to prepare myself for that. otherwise, i'm not too worried about the verbal, reading comprehension, or writing portions. hopefully i will keep my test anxiety to a minimum and be able to do ok on it when the day arrives. :]

now onto more fun things. :]

i took a photo of the front cover of my art journal...
you can sort of see the strings there on the left side. i'm still searching for the perfect beads to add. and hopefully i'll stumble on some other fun ephemera to add to the cover.

i also finally finished this older layout the other night.

i made it at work a looooong time ago when i still worked at the scrapbook store. it's really a pretty simple layout. i really wanted to use that bag from the gift shop at the zoo... it turned out to take up more room than i anticipated, so i ended up with a rare two page layout. i intended to add some more embellishments or details or something to jazz the layout up a bit more, but i finally decided to just be done with it. it's been sitting unfinished for so long now, waiting for a few more photos and some journaling. i realized after i'd written in the journaling how lame it sounds. ha. that's something i need to get better about, but i always feel kind of funny writing about events. i guess the main problem is that i don't have an audience, so i'm never sure how to structure my writing and it ends up sounding sort of... i don't know... generic? oh well. at least this one is done now. :]

ok. well. i'm going to try to get some reading done for class tomorrow.

goodnight!

finished.

i finished this one up yesterday when i was supposed to be working on my art journal cover. ha. :]


i struggled with the planning stage quite a bit, and it turned out way different from the plan once i started actually cutting and assembling. one of these days i will learn to make myself stop pushing the paper around in an attempt to plan and just cut the paper and go for it. i'm not quite there yet.
i am pretty happy with how it came out though. especially considering my frustrations with not having any new photos and thinking there was no way i would get this photo to actually coordinate with the kit that i had spread all across my studio floor. [yay for having cleaned it and thus having room to spread the contents all over. ha.] i finally decided to keep it simple and go with the yellow, and it took off from there. :]

i also managed to get my art journal cover finished before we met last night to assemble our journals. i'm really happy with how my journal came out. i'm also sort of in love with the whole binding process. i came home wanting to make like a million more little journals.

i forgot to take a photo of mine, but it's not really done anyway. i'm still searching for the perfect beads to add to the binding strings, and i'll probably continue to slowly add to the front and back covers. they are a little simple right now. but looking at it makes me happy, and that's what it's supposed to do, right?

tomorrow i'm hoping to meet some of the biochem friends for breakfast before we head up to tahoe so that mike can see it while he's in town for the weekend. i tried to plan it all at the last minute, so i'm not sure if i'll be eating breakfast just with james or with a group of people. either way, peg's won't disappoint, and it should be a nice day at the lake. :]

hope you all enjoy the weekend!

perfect day for a joke.

why was 6 afraid of 7?
because 7 8 9. :]

how could a number-lover like myself resist telling that joke today?
i hope you all had a good 7-8-9.
i'm heading back to my studio tonight to see if i can work some more magic on that layout. :]

ack.

tonight i saw public enemies with radhika for a tnmn. i had actually wanted to see the taking of pelham 123 because it will be out of the theaters here by the end of the week. but when i arrived at the theater, james and radhika told me it wasn't playing. i don't know... maybe they just didn't want to see it. ha. so we went to dinner, and then radhika and i went to public enemies instead. james decided to go home because it was getting too late and he was already feeling tired.
anyway. back to the movie...
obviously, i knew how it would end since it's based on a true story and all. so i tried to prepare myself for it as best i could. i actually thought i had done a pretty good job. and throughout the movie, i stayed calm and never got too worked up over it. [i tried to just focus on the goodness of johnny depp. ha.]
still. tonight i'm just feeling uneasy. my stomach actually hurts, and i just feel way too anxious. i can't calm myself down, and i definitely can't sleep. i know this is my usual reaction to the d word, and this is why i avoid certain movies.
i just really like happy endings, and you know... this one doesn't really fall into that category. i wanted to like the movie. i was excited about it based on the previews. but i hate this feeling i'm left with now.

so since i'm wide awake, paying for my mistake tonight, i might try to make a layout with the june studio calico kit since the july kit will be here soon. i found a photo that i printed a while back, but i'm not having tons of luck with it so far. hopefully something will work out, and i'll be able to get some sleep tonight.