it just hit me.

i just got really sad about moving. it's been building up today.

for some reason, i kept thinking that today was my last day in reno, but really i have one more day. i'm leaving at 8am thursday morning, and at this point, i don't know when i will be home again.

i went to watch james play softball tonight, and on the way to the game we talked about how i'm feeling and that's when the first rush of sadness hit me. but i brushed it off and talked about how i'm scared to start school instead.

but tonight, i was sitting by myself after everyone had gone to bed and sadness rushed over me. i'm growing up. holy smokes. i'm really growning up.

there's much to be excited about. like making my condo feel like a home. and trying cupcakes from kara's cupcakery. and visiting the ocean on a whim. and having visitors. and meeting new people.

i've been doing a good job of focusing on those things and blocking out the other feelings.

until now.

one step down...

quite a few steps to go.

but i finally got all of the cutting finished for my first quilt top today, so i thought i'd show you the fabrics.
i hope you weren't expecting any fancy patterns. ha. i'm just making a square patchwork quilt because after lots of browsing, i kept deciding that i liked the look of them best. and for my first quilt, i wanted something relatively simple.

and yes. they are very bright. i actually started with a print that was similar to the one with the white background. it was a little more clam with mostly just yellows and teals, but still had the ornate pattern. the problem was that i couldn't find enough fabrics that i liked to coordinate with it, so i switched to this brighter one as my starting point. the pink polka dot fabric is probably my favorite. i want to buy more of it just to keep. haha.

the squares are 3.5 inches. i was going to use 4 inch squares, but i decided that 3.5 gave better variation in the non-polka dot patterns. after the first hour of cutting, i was wishing i'd gone for something like 8 inch squares. ha. part of the problem was that i learned the most efficient way to cut them a little late in the game. sigh. and next time, i think i will just go for charm packs, but there weren't any available in any fabrics that i liked at the local quilt shops. i know there are plenty online though.

all of the prints except the yellow polka dot are by michael miller. the solids are kona cotton, which according to my research is pretty decent for quilting. i wanted to include a lot more solids, but the local quilt shops don't stock very many. once again, i know there are plenty of options online. i just really like buying things of this nature locally so that i can see them before shelling out my money.

i guess that's about it for now. i'm heading to the doctor tomorrow for titers and shots, so i don't anticipate much sleep tonight because i'll be too anxious. maybe i'll get in some good reading time. :]

i'm not scrapbooking...

but i'm sewing. i've decided to sew some of my fabric scraps together. this way, if i never finish my quilt, i'll have some cool hot pads or maybe even pillow covers to show for my efforts. i'm hoping to finish cutting for the quilt by monday though.

and i'm doing a ton of laundry. next up, will be purging and donating. i need to refine my wardrobe and get rid of articles that are still around from early college and *gasp* even high school days. moving is serving as the necessary push to get this done.

and i'm researching washers and dryers. do you like yours? i'm leaning towards samsung front loaders, but open to other opinions.

i've also been made aware of the traffic problems in california. my dad, james, and i went to check out the condo again on friday, and on the way home we hit some major slow downs. i don't think driving a manual will be very much fun in california. but the good news is that james and dad liked the condo.

i'm also not looking forward to getting shots and titers next week. i've never had blood drawn, but i know i'm not going to handle it very well. hopefully i have an expert do it because if it takes more than once to get my vein, i'm going to be a very unhappy person.

ok. back to work. i hope everyone is having a good weekend. :]

i have a blog? oh. that's right.

lately i've been ignoring my google reader, my regularly visited websites [like studio calico], and apparently my blog too. but it's time to catch up... at least here. so this could be a long post.

let's see...

at the end of june, i made a house hunting trip to california with my parents and james. we stayed for three days and saw tons of horrid houses. haha. but seriously. i thought the tale of foreclosures being trashed was the exception, not the rule. apparently it's the other way around. i get that you're upset that your house is worth half of what you paid for it... but ripping out the built-in closet storage? really? how is that going to help? it was pretty sad to see nice houses in such poor condition. james was actually excited at the idea of doing some home improvement work. but the main problem was that the banks were selling them for market value when they needed tons of work [and money] to be brought up to market value. it just didn't make sense. certainly not as an investment.

we quickly realized that buying a foreclosure wasn't going to work like we'd planned. so we started looking at some new builds in american canyon, but they weren't quite right for the prices either. before leaving, i put a deposit down on an apartment in american canyon, which is about 15 miles from my school. i was sad not to find the perfect house, but happy to know i at least would have a place to live.

one evening after looking at houses, we headed up to napa to visit my dad's favorite winery. it was my first visit to napa, and i thought it was amazing to see field after field of grape vines.

my dad and james did a wine tasting in the private reserve room while my mom and i did some exploring outside.
there are definitely lots of beautiful sights to see. and i won't lie... a few times the idea of a napa wedding crossed my mind. :]
i was happy to get another photo of my parents. :]
and in my opinion this doesn't really look like james, and i look like i have a big head, but it's the only photo of us from the entire trip... so it's a keeper. haha.

it's always fun to drive to the bay area with my parents because they comment on how things have changed/stayed the same since they lived there from about 1976-1980 when my dad was in the air force. they told us that when they lived in vacaville, basically everyone they knew came to visit them because they wanted to go to napa. then my dad said, "once we moved to ohio, no one visited us except my folks, but they would probably visit me in jail." haha. :]

james and i saw toy story 3 towards the end of june as well. i really like it. i got super sad towards the end, and i think that if it weren't for the parts during the credits i would have left feeling a little bit depressed. but all in all, it was definitely good. we saw it in 3D, which i would skip if i had it to do over again. but james likes seeing movies in 3D.

for the fourth of july weekend, james and i went camping with a bunch of friends near frenchmen's lake in california. i'd never been to frenchemen's... and for some reason i was caught off guard by how pretty it is there. the drive is a little bit like the drive to vegas... boring. but then when you arrive, it's beautiful.friday night there were 18 of us, and saturday night we were down to 14. if it were up to me there probably would have been 12 the second night, but james really wanted to stay both nights, so i hung in there.

one of his friend's has about 80 acres near the lake, which worked out really well because we didn't have to try to reserve a bunch of spots at a campground. but since we weren't at an official campground... that meant no potties. not my preferred camping style. haha. before we left, sarah and i joked about buying some type of potty chair, but i didn't think it was all that realistic. imagine my surprise when she showed up with one. hilarious.

helix did better than i'd anticipated this time around. he knew which tent was ours right away, and we were able to keep him off his leash the entire time. i think there were eight dogs the first night and six the second, and he enjoyed the social time for sure. he slept a little better this time too, which meant that i slept a little better as well.

on saturday, we spent some time at the lake. james enjoyed wake boarding, and i enjoyed staying on the beach. ha. helix did a little bit of swimming, which surprised me. i think he was inspired by the other dogs.

while i took this photo, james and the rest of the boys were playing "axe murder ball". it was similar to baseball, but in place of a baseball, they used a football. and in place of a bat, they used an axe. oh. don't worry. they were using the blunt end to contact the football... so it was totally safe. needless to say, i couldn't watch. instead, i was introduced to the game apples to apples by the girls. i had heard it was fun, but had never played. i could definitely see myself playing it again because it was super fun.

one other highlight was hiking/rock climbing up to the top of mountain the first night with james and two other couples. there were so many stars and it was just really breath taking to lay there and look out at them. we saw some satellites racing around too, which was interesting.

i think james kind of felt like this might be his last chance to spend time with all of this friends together since he's most likely moving to california soon. so i was glad that we were able to go.

we got home in the afternoon on the fourth, so we grilled steaks for dinner with my parents and richard. unfortunately, that was basically the end of our celebration because we fell asleep too early to go out and see fireworks.

otherwise, i've been packing, preparing for school, and making some progress on my first quilt. i'm still trying to cut all of the fabric. it's just going to be a simple patchwork quilt, but it's been a lot of cutting because want it to be pretty big.

oh i do have one more bit of potentially exciting news. a few days ago, my dad got a call about some condos that we wanted to look at near my school. we picked up the flyer during the house hunting trip, and my dad called a few times, but never heard back. it turns out that all of the units had offers, but one of them fell through and became available again. we had about 24 hours to decide to make an offer, so my mom and i went to take a look at it this past weekend. i really think it's perfect.

there were three different models built, and it happens to be the one i would have chosen had i been able to pick. it has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and it's on the second/top floor. i could walk to school in about ten minutes too. it was also the model unit, and the realtor said he could give us a great deal on the furnishings. nothing is set in stone yet, but i really hope that it works out... i'll be so excited. :]

well. that's about all for now. i should be going to see the condo again with my dad pretty soon, and i'm sure i'll know more then.

i can hardly wait.

i really want to try a bunch of things on this list.

i know it says things to do with your kids... but i think lots of them will be fun to do with friends as well. :]

i can hardly wait to move. to be so much closer to the city. and to be way closer to the ocean.

until i start thinking about everything that it entails. then i panic. ha.

my orientation starts august 2nd. time is going to fly until then. i just know it.

random thoughts.

lately, i'm not sure if i want to scrapbook anymore. i'm just not as excited about it. i think it's because i've become more interested in sewing. but aside from that, i haven't seen anything lately that makes me want to scrapbook. hopefully that will change since i have way too much scrappy stuff. but i don't anticipate having lots of extra time in the next four years to scrapbook.

yesterday, i bought some fabric to make my first quilt. now i just have to work up the nerve to cut into it. i also think i need to get on better terms with my sewing machine, so i might do a couple other smaller projects first. i have a few lined up already.

i tried cooking the other night, and it was a big fat failure. haha. i followed a recipe too. i really want to work on my cooking skills and be more confident in the kitchen. maybe one day it will happen. at least james is a good cook. :]

i've been battling it out with my skin lately. i feel like within the past year, my skin has become worse than it's ever been. i don't understand... i'm getting older! i shouldn't be having breakout problems.

we might go camping for the fourth of july. at first, i was hesitant, but now i'm actually getting excited. it's not 100%, but i do think it could very well happen. i think lots of our friends will be going, so it should be pretty fun.

i need to start using my dslr camera. it was a goal for this summer, and so far... it's still tucked away in its box. i don't know what my problem is, but for some reason i'm afraid of it. haha.

tonight i made brownies with olive oil because the regular oil disappeared. or maybe it got used up, but either way, olive oil was all that was in the pantry. they turned out pretty well. i'm not one to fuss over my brownies too much. :]

i'm pretty sure that wasn't the first time i've used olive oil to bake something.

i have had a few minor cooking successes lately. first, i can make really good potatoes. i know. potatoes are simple. but they are also good. my favorite preparation is slicing red potatoes [or any potatoes, really] pretty thin, then just cooking them on the stove with some olive oil and herbs. i love topping them off with freshly grated parmesan cheese while they are still in the pan so it's gets all melty and yummy. james likes my potatoes too, which says quite a bit. sometimes as an alternative to olive oil, i will first cook up some diced bacon, then add the potatoes in with the bacon + bacon grease. mmm. bacon grease. i was introduced to the wonder of cooking with bacon grease last time i went camping. the boys cooked up the eggs after the bacon using the grease in place of butter. one of the best breakfasts ever. the only [minor] problem is that you feel sooo unhealthy afterwards. haha. anyway. the second bit of success was making crepes! they were delicious. i was going to get fancy with them, but i decided to just add some cinnamon and sugar. i can't wait to make them again soon.

that last thought was pretty long. oops.

financial aid gives me a headache. so many forms. ugh. i'm anxious to be done with that part of the pharmacy school process.

i guess i never officially said on here that i'm going? i mean. i don't think i had much of a choice, right? for now, i'm just trying to be excited about the new adventure and not think about any of the doubts i was having before. i know it's a good program. and i've wanted to live in the bay area for a long time.

ok. i think it's time for a nice soak in a warm bath + a book. i better make use of the opportunity to relax a bit while i still can.

more cookies.

right before i left for las vegas, i decided to try out this recipe. peanut butter + chocolate is one of my most favorite combinations, so i knew i had to give these a try. plus the recipe is so ridiculously simple, it seemed like something i'd have a hard time messing up.they turned out really well. i was concerned that i might burn my chocolate, so instead i had it just barely melted, which meant that i had to work fast to dip the cookies. the kitchen got a little messy, but it worked out just fine.

i was surprised to learn that james loved them too. i had to leave before he'd tried them, but i left a bunch behind for him. i think he actually liked them more than me. i guess it sort of makes sense... these cookies aren't super sweet, and since he seems to lack a sweet tooth [while i have a hyperactive sweet tooth], i guess they were just perfect for him.

i'll definitely make them again sometime. :]

erin's wedding weekend.

this past weekend, james and i went out to genoa for erin's wedding. it was my first visit to genoa, and it's really pretty out there. it's very green right now and the mountains as you drive into the valley are amazing. it almost doesn't feel like nevada. :]

the wedding was really small and intimate, but it suited erin and will really well. the ceremony was pretty short, but very personal. there was a reading by will's sister, which included letters from the bride's and groom's moms. such a sweet detail. i remember that erin's mom promised to only give will advice when he asked. then will's mom promised erin to only stop giving her advice when she asked. :]
after the ceremony, we took a big group photo, which i thought was such a neat idea. then erin and i talked for a short minute before she was called away for other photos.
the dinner portion of the reception was set up in this adorable little barn. they really did a wonderful job of making the space look perfect.
all of the little details suited erin really well. there was a different teacup setting at each place... and together, it was just super cute. likewise, the dinner was served on an eclectic mix of china.
all in all, james and i had a fabulous time at the wedding. and [somewhat exciting for me] he kept mentioning certain things about how he wanted his wedding to be. :]

but before i could get too excited he said, "now i really want to have a wedding... the only thing is that i don't want to be married right now." hmph.

ok. truth be told, i know it not really the right time for us to be getting married either. so i'm still excited that he at least wants to have a wedding someday. :]