Have an hour?

...because I haven't posted in a while and I have lots to say! Let's start with my birthday. It was a really good day; I got a preschool birthday celebration where my mom works, because one of the little boys there had the same birthday as I, so I took some snacks for the class of four and got sung "Happy birthday" to by three and four year olds. In the afternoon Jake took me ice skating, just the two of us (everyone else was working still or at school). Then I went to Origami sushi restaurant with my family, Jake and my grandma, and we had a great BIG sushi dinner! It was so delicious, I LOVE sushi!

After babysitting those two boys again on the day after my birthday, I went to Santa Fe with my dad and we got some more Christmas shopping done. It was good to spend time with just him. Yesterday we went to my grandma's Christmas party with my loud, obnoxious, hyper family in my grandma's teeny tiny house. Good times. And today I went to Wal Mart in Espanola with my mom to still get more Christmas shopping done. Now I have one last gift to find, for my godmother.

Saturday I went to church in the evening with my parents, then my mom and I went and saw te movie Brothers (filmed in Los Alamos!) which was so good, not to mention it was so cool seeing all the Los Alamos scenery and public areas. AND the Cowboys beat the Saints! The Saints, who were undefeated until they faced off with the Boys! We were all so excited!

Church was actually great. To be honest, I hadn't been to church since before I went to Costa Rica. However, it was great to be back and it made me feel good. We sat next to some dear family friends, a couple, Ray and Joan, who have been married a very long time. They were my parents' sponsor couple when my parents were preparing for marriage, as well as my sister's and Brian's. Ray also married my sister and Brian, and he also baptized me when I was merely a few weeks old. So they hold a special place with us. Anyway, during church I looked at them and saw a perfect picture of true love. They have been through so many things together. Their son, while he was attending college at NMSU years ago, was hit by a drunk driver and had severe brain damage, altering his personality. Today, though, their son is a great person, extremely funny and witty and just caring overall. Joan has also been battling some major health issues for years, but she still wears a smile and gives you a warm hug whenever she sees you. I was behind them receiving communion, and while walking back to our pew I saw Ray put his hand gently on the back of Joan's head and rub it with his thumb. It was such a simple act, but it was clear that they were still very much in love.

Well I am going to go wrap some Christmas presents and watch TV :) Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve!

I'll be home for Christmas

Well, my sister and her husband are officially moved out of our house and in their own little house in Los Alamos. The downstairs of our house feels different! I'm all alone! She's abandoned me once before, when she went to college and I still had two years, but at least she came home during vacations and summer. Now she probably won't ever be staying here again! I'm not actually that sad about it, it just feels weird, but I can tell my mom is. She keeps going into Shanda's empty room like she needs to do something, but there's nothing to do. She looks lost :( Now I'll feel really guilty when I get married or move far away.
So that's what we've been doing the past two days, packing five vehicles with boxes, furniture, bags, etc. to the brim, driving up to their house, unpacking said items, and repeating this several times, all in the cold weather and about a foot and a half of snow. You never realize how much stuff you have until it's time to move! Seriously, I hope I don't move very often after college. Once or twice. Three times tops, and that's pushing it. It is just sooo much work and can be overwhelming when you're packing and unpacking. After I helped with that today, I babysat the two young boys of some family friends for four hours. That was fun; we went to see the community's production of Willy Wonka, but we only lasted about the show because the youngest boy is squirmy and has an amazingly short attention span. Champion.

Boy, is it cold here! There's plenty of snow on the ground, and we should be getting more tomorrow! Last year it snowed for at least 48 hours straight, including through my birthday, so we celebrated at home. I'm not really sure what I'm doing for my birthday this year, in three days! I don't want to plan anything big or specific, but it would be nice to do something, and see people. My parents suggested taking me out to dinner, but I can't decide where I'd want to go; I also kind of want to go ice skating and see some friends. But I really don't want anything huge; I've had enough actual parties in the past.

It feels sooo good to be done with the semester! I have absolutely nothing to worry about right now academia-related, and it's awesome :) All I need to worry about right now is getting Christmas shopping done, and I still have a little while.

For those making their way home from school this holiday season, I pray you all have a safe trip!

PS I've noticed my blogs aren't as witty and sarcastic as they used to be. I miss it. Right now they're just feeling like a "what I did today" kind of thing. I'll work on the wit and sarcasm more.

Monday Madness...

...the beginning of the last week of the last fall semester that I will be an undergraduate student! I can't believe I am about to round the corner and see the final stretch toward graduation.
Still don't know what I am doing after college :P I'm okay with that though, take it as it comes, fly by the seat of my pants, you know. Sometimes I wish I knew what I wanted to do exactly, but I figure that I'll figure out when I'm meant to. I'm hoping that my independent study class with my FAVORITE professor next semester might help me...I'm a little obsessed with him...well, mostly obsessed with what he does. He travels so much around the world, and his "specialty" is going to the Canadian Arctic for several weeks each year, researching and hanging out with the natives of Iqaluit, Nunavut, speaking Inuktitut, hiking through the arctic with the sun shining at midnight... I would really like to do something like that, just maybe somewhere less cold :) His emphasis of research is environmental & cultural communication, which are the branches of communication I'm most interested in too. So I am hoping that by working with him next semester he'll come to be some kind of mentor to me and will give me some ideas. If I were to do something similar to what he does, I think I'd like to research in Central or South America, and possibly Africa. I've gone to Central America three times (Honduras twice, Costa Rica once), and each time I have left a piece of my heart there. As for Africa, I've just always wanted to go there and do volunteer work...and of course see giraffes!!!
Also, I can see my self doing graduate school, but not right away. To be honest I'd rather just work for a while, perhaps settle down with...someone...lol, and maybe when I have made some good money I will continue my education. Some companies will even help you or even pay all of your graduate education. So again, I'll be taking it as it comes.
Now back to working on my 1,500 word Spanish essay!

And she'll have fun fun fun...

Last night was so much fun. After trying to finish up a paper, Jake called me and we made plans to go out to dinner with some friends and play games afterward. So he and I, Mike, Jeff, Danielle, and her roommate, went to Uno Chicago Bar & Grill, close to my apartment, and had a great time. We all got drinks; I got something called an Autumn Breeze, with Skyy vodka, cranberry and pomegranate juice. It was sooo good- not too strong from the vodka, and not to bitter from the cranberry juice. After having a good time there, we all went back to my apartment (except Danielle's roommate) and played games and drank hot chocolate. I don't know what got into me, but I developed a ridiculous amount of energy and we all got SUPER hyper. We were all really slap-happy or something, plus the games we were playing gave us the sillies and lots of energy. We played spoons, which I haven't played since high school, and Egyptian rat screw. When we were not playing cards, we were just doing dumb stuff like wrestling and trying to pull pranks on each other, and getting ourselves cracked up. At one point we had so much energy that we went outside in the freezing cold around 11:30 PM and played Jackpot with a koosh ball. I'm sore from that now, from all the running and jumping and knocking each other over and elbowing each other in the eyes/chest/mouth.....good times. Finally we all started getting tired and went back inside to watch a bit of TV. When everyone left around 12:30 or 1, I was so exhausted and conked out, finally waking up at 11 this morning! It's rare that I sleep in that late. I had such a good night though, I haven't been that hyper in so long, and it felt good to act a little immature and let the child in me come out. I guess I just haven't had the time lately!
Now that it's Saturday though, I need to get my final papers and test-studying going, so that I can once again head back home on Thursday...5 Weeks of family, friends, and holiday happiness here I come! :)

Back into the (short) grind

Thanksgiving break was wonderful; I had plenty of time to relax, got some papers done, ate great food, saw two great movies (New Moon and The Blind Side), and more! Now I am sitting in my apartment again, in denial that I still need to finish two more papers by tomorrow at 4:30. However, I have a pretty positive attitude (at least for now) about this coming week and finals week. Considering this week is the last week of regular classes, and I do not have tennis anymore, and my 2 1/2 hour, once-a-week class on Mondays is not meeting tomorrow, I will have a fairly easy week. I think my finals week will hardly be anything to worry about as well. I have to write a final essay for my Spanish linguistics class, which is due at the very end of the semester, a final essay for my conflict class which I just need to touch up and add some commentary here and there, an online test next Tuesday for my other comm. class which should be a piece of cake, and my Spanish grammar test. That last one is the thing I'm most worried about. I've gotten high A's on the first two tests for that class, but the material for the last section has been much more complicated and lengthy than the first two. But considering how I'll not need to worry about a whole lot for my other classes, plus my being completely finished with my mythology class, I'll have lots of extra time to study for that. I'll probably need it too; I did not even touch my Spanish grammar book over Thanksgiving break, so I'll have work extra hard to dig out the information that sunk into the lesser-known parts of my brain.

Then after all that, I'll be home for Christmas!! My last "final" is on Thursday, and all I need to do is go in and listen to other people's presentations in the morning, so I'm considering just not going and driving back home Wednesday. My sister and brother-in-law are moving into their house the first weekend I'm home, so I'll be busy helping them.

Anyway, I'm rambling again, so I'll sign out for now :-) For those of you finishing up the semester, good luck!

Home Sweet Home!

I arrived home Friday night about 9:30 after a 5 1/2 hour drive with Jake and his brother. Yesterday was so much fun. My sister and I went to see a matinee showing of New Moon---SOOOOOOO good! I don't know what the critics mean by "boring, drags on, characters are loveless/unlovable..." I guess it's because they are critics, and never does a critic give a movie a perfect review. Because they're critical. That's what they do. Both my sis and I agreed the movie was incredible. First, it was so much better than the first in several aspects. Better acting, better displays of emotion, incredible graphics...plus the music used in it fit perfectly and added to the emotional appeal. Second, I thought the actors did a great job in showing their feelings. Unlike the movie Twilight, New Moon had Bella narrating parts of it so that people who haven't read the book are able to get a better glimpse of her feelings and emotions. The critics also described it as just a mopey teenager the majority of the movie, but I felt it was so much more than that. It really wasn't just watching Bella mope around like any teenager, and I can only think of one part where it was just Bella "moping", and it really didn't last long. "Moping" isn't even the right word in my opinion. It was depression, and being completely lost, and it wasn't like any regular breakup; Bella lost a part of herself.
There are many more things I could say about the movie, but it would take a while :-) Bottom line, I loved it.

Last night was good too. My family and I, minus my brother and plus my grandma and cousin, went to Buffalo Thunder Resort to see the Beach Boys. Don't laugh, it was fun. We did some gambling (well my parents and grandma did...I don't have extra money to gamble), and my sister and I got drinks at the bar. We had something called a Washington Apple, which was really good. Then this middle-aged man started talking to us, asking if we were going to the concert, ad other stuff. Then he asked what we just had to drink, and then he told the bartender, "Two more Washington Apples". My sister and I were kinda weirded out. He said, "don't worry I"m not hitting on you or anything...I"m married." It was a little weird still, but hey! Free drinks :-) Oh the good things of being female :-P So yeah my sister and I had our little fiesta while everyone else lost money, then we went to the concert (we were like the only young people there lol), then did some more gambling afterwards and my sister and I danced a bit in the lounge/club. THEN we got home late, Jake came over and we hot tubbed for a while. It was a good day.

Sorry for the loooong post.

Please God, make this week go by fast...

Yesterday I got about half of my paper finished. Now I only need to write 8 more pages by Tuesday...I don't care that it's an honors class, 15 pages about the visual representations of one mythological figure is excess. There's only so much one can say about that...
So because of this, I will mostly like not be able to watch the Cowboys take on Green Bay, which is highly unfortunate as this is often one of the most anticipated match-ups during the season (even though Cowboys as of now have a better record than GB...6-2 compared to 4-4). Maybe I'll just turn on the game and have it in the background while I work...but of course, it's me, and there's a very high chance I will be far more intrigued by what's going down in Green Bay than comparing three or four different paintings of Odysseus stabbing the intoxicated Polyphemus in the eye.


On another note, my mom was here this weekend, a bit on short notice...it's a long story. When I wasn't neglecting her by working on my stupid essay (I'm not bitter...) we hung out and had a good time. We went to Dillard's where I finally used my gift card from last Christmas on a peacoat. I'd been meaning to get one for like three years, and finally found one that I'm happy with. We also stopped by for a brief time at the traveling Cowboys Pro-shop, which has come to Texas Roadhouse in Las Cruces for the weekend. Last night we went and saw the Time Traveler's Wife at the $3 theatre, which was really good, but sad. Before that we had dinner at Red Brick Pizza, where we split a Fhazanni sandwich (sooo good) and Greek salad.

Well, I'm off to work on the essay of doom. Good luck my boys. Romo, Witten, Austin, Barber, Ware, and all you others.....don't disappoint.

Football and candles

Cowboys beat the Eagles! Cowboys beat the Eagles! We're first in the division!!! I'm stoked!

While I was watching the game, I made a couple gel candles. I picked up the hobby last school year and haven't made one in a while.
The two I made tonight were simple; no embedded objects this time. For the first one I dyed the gel green, which came out prettier than the green I've made before, and added some basil-mint fragrance. I used an old candle jar for it, and now that the gel is almost all the way set, it's really bubbly and pretty. I tied a black ribbon around the top edge. For the second one, I used a small recycled diced pimiento jar. My family saves a lot of glass jars for various reasons, so I find lots of shapes and sizes at home. This one's cute, about two inches high and two inches across. I made a light red color for it, and decided not to add anything to it because I still have the lid for it and that itself makes the candle unique...diced pimientos, who'd thunk it would turn into a candle someday? :) For this one I added autumn spiced tea fragrance.

Here are a couple pics of them...I decided not to light them for the pics this time, because they're brand new and I don't want to deform the gel just yet :)

Giraffes!

Yeah, I know what most of you will say..."You would post an article about giraffes!" :)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33753490?Gt1=43001

Trabajo (otra vez)

So I wasn't very successful in getting a job this semester, but I applied on the student job posting site to be a tutor for Spanish and Communication next semester, plus I went to talk to the woman in charge, and since I actually went in and talked to her, she took my name so she would remember to consider me first or one of the first. I can't remember exactly when she said they'd be hiring, but I think it is soon.
Then Mike (Jake's roommate) told me about a job opening in the office he and Jake work in. I'd be a student academic coach, and would be doing something like helping first and second year student figure out classes to take and help them with student resources...like a step below being an actual adviser. Plus I'd be like an assistant to someone in helping plan activities and implementing programs. Mike told me this was better pay than tutoring, and he would be able to recommend me to his boss so that I'd have another advantage in consideration. This sounds like an interesting job, even though at this point it's not exactly clear what I'd be doing, and not to mention better pay than tutoring, but I still would like to tutor Spanish as well, as it's something I'm really good at and love. But, I guess I will see who (if either) offers me a job first, and then I'll decide which one would be best when the time comes.

Ok I know I come up with new ideas for myself about every other day, but another thought I had as to what kind of career I could see myself doing is teaching Spanish, possibly to middle school or high schoolers. Or maybe even elementary kids. I'd like to get a couple more years of practice in the language first, though. So who knows. Lots of options are always good :)
Have a great weekend!

Senioritis I guess

I don't know what's wrong with me, but this is the most slacker-ish I have ever been. I've been having the most difficult time buckling down and doing all my homework/papers, until I absolutely need to. It's making me so mad! I guess it's senioritis, but when I think of this disease, I figure people who get it have certain goals and at least kind of know what they're doing after graduation, so they get this syndrome because they have something in particular to look forward to. But that's not really the case with me...I don't know what I will do with my degree yet. I have ideas about what I want to do with my life (and of course those ideas will be forever changing), but I have no plans for soon after graduation, so I shouldn't be looking forward to nothing!
So if money, time, and other obstacles were not an issue, here is what my plan would be:

1) Graduate w/ a degree in communication studies and a minor in Spanish
2) Work for a while (and I really don't mind working an hourly-wage job for a while until I decide where I want to go career-wise)
3) Once I've worked for a while, travel. For at least a month or two. Maybe around the US, maybe around Europe, maybe around Central or South America (it would be nice to put my Spanish to use). While traveling, do some volunteering in the places I visit.
4) Write about my experiences while traveling.

OR pretending that money is not an issue, I would do the traveling right after graduation. Like the old cliche saying, I would love to travel and "find myself" :)

But the fact is, money and time and other obstacles are an issue, so unless I win the lottery or slip on a puddle in Wal-Mart and receive thousands from them, it looks like these traveling plans (and I'm not trying to be a pessimist or a downer or self-pitying) will have to wait.

Thinking about this inspires me to read some Henry David Thoreau and John Muir. I've studied them in classes and read about them, but I've never actually read their own writings. Any suggestions will be gladly accepted! I have one of Thoreau's quotes on my Facebook profile, which I found in another book..."The mass of men are living in quiet desperation." I think this quote speaks the truth, because rarely do you find someone who is completely content with where they are, how they are living, and who they are. I think we are all somehow desperate to find ourselves and figure out exactly where we fit.

But here I go blogging and procrastinating once again, so I'll leave you here and force myself to do some school-related writing for once.

Have a great week!

Finally...autumn hits Las Cruces

...even though it's already well into winter in northern New Mexico. It got cold really fast here. Yesterday I almost froze. It actually snowed (Las Cruces style, meaning a few flurries for about 3 minutes), and scarves, gloves and hats were necessary, although I left to school dressed unprepared because I definitely did not expect it to be suddenly so cold.
I decided not to go home this weekend for Halloween, for a few reasons. First, I have this great big paper I need to be working on, and I know I won't work on it at home even if I tell myself I will. Second, I'll be home in 3 weeks for Thanksgiving anyway, so if I have made it this long, I can surely make it 3 more weeks. Third, I'm rather sick of the drive between here and there. I am getting a bit homesick though, as I haven't been home since August 1st, when I left for Costa Rica. This is the longest I have ever been away from it. So I hope these next three weeks will go by fast, then I will be there for over a week, then only two weeks after that, a whole month or so for Christmas. I love autumn and winter in Los Alamos; these two seasons are, in my opinion, the most feel-good, heart-warming, and romantic times of the year, no doubt. All the coziness and the two best holidays ever, and being with family.
Since I won't be home this weekend, my friend and I are planning a very small Halloween party. It will be pretty laid-back, we're not even dressing up. The past two years dressing up has been a waste because I don't have enough connections to find somewhere to wear my costume, or did not hear of any fun events. It will just be about 5 to 7 people eating and playing games and watching a movie.
I don't think I have anything funny or witty to write about today, so I'll leave you here. Have a great Halloween weekend!

Yummy

Hot drinks for the cold weather. I can't wait to try making some of these!

http://www.delish.com/recipes/cooking-recipes/12-hot-drink-recipes

Stand By Me

Such a great video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

Movies I want to see in the next couple months

Brothers (filmed in Los Alamos!)
Fantastic Mr. Fox
New Moon
Me and Orson Welles
Dear John
The Blind Side
Up In the Air
Everybody's Fine
Leap Year
The Lovely Bones

A while later...

Operation catch-a-glimpse-of-Robert-Downey-Jr so far has not been accomplished, but I did watch part of the movie being shot just now. Jake came by, we walked the literally two blocks to where it was being shot (I can see the set lights from my apartment) and watched in amusement as cars were just stopped on the highway, driving backwards, forwards, positioning themselves perfectly, then got really excited when the cars started actually driving, and a truck with a trailer started driving the other way, swerving all over, police cars chasing and driving around it, as the car with the camera hitched up high above it sped in front of the truck. It was so cool! We watched them shoot this scene a couple times. A security car drove slowly past us a couple times, but did not tell us to leave. Then one of the stunt drivers, while the "traffic" was stopped, got out of his car and talked to us a bit. He asked if we were going to stay, because they were going to be doing a crash scene later! I would have loved to have watched that, but responsibility got the better of me and I remembered that I have class in the mornings (it was already about 11:15 pm at this point).
Maybe I just need a life, but I got really excited by watching this.
Another thing that made my night...as we were spectating, I kept hearing an owl's "who's", and soon it flew right over us and landed on a lamp post. It flew off, but walking back, we saw it on another lamp post, and as we stared at it in wonder, it stared right back and who'd at us. It was so beautiful...a great-horned, I believe.

Anyway, off to dream about movie sets and RDJ :)
Goodnight!

weekend's end

I was busy today, so I decided to treat myself to a Blake's lotaburger for a late dinner. It's like heaven in the form of a hamburger. The joys of New Mexico.
However, it was complicated to get to the Blake's near my apartment, because they are shooting a movie around the area (and very close to where I live) which stars Robert Downey, Jr. So there are a bunch of road closures and detours all over the place here so it took a while to drive to Blake's and back. The current set is really close to where I live, and I drove right by it going to get my food. I was rubber-necking the whole slow time I was going by it, trying to catch a glimpse of Mr. Downey, who has somewhat recently become one of my most-liked actors. I think he's great. I am considering dressing in black and just trying to sneak up to the set on foot. ;-) I saw a pic of RDJ on the set in the newspaper here...I wish I could see him! I've never seen a celeb by chance :(

So I could do more homework now, or I could get myself in trouble trying to sneak onto the set mission-impossible style...now which sounds more fun to you?

Runts

I don't know if anyone else was obsessed with this online game like I was years ago, but everyday in computer class, once I did everything I was supposed to, I'd go to wonka.com and play the Runts collector game. Soon I started playing it at home as well. I eventually forgot about it, but today I was trying to think of old computer games I used to like so I could try to find them, and this game popped into my memory. It appears that it is no longer available online :-( The thought saddened me. If anyone by any chance knows of a way I could still download it, without catching a virus or something, let me know! :-)
Also, remember the game Oregon trail?

Wild Thing...

Yesterday Jake brought me a dozen roses :)
Then we had dinner at my apartment.
Then we walked to the park and looked at stars for a while.
Then we went to a late showing of Where the Wild Things Are.
Maybe this was all cliche and cheesy, but I don't care, it was a good evening :) We hadn't spent time together, just the two of us, in a while.

I loved the movie. It was very random with not much of a plot, but it fit with the whole idea of the movie (the monsters were adults but had souls of children, throwing tantrums, coming up with very random ideas, and saying things that often seemed very off-topic). I would recommend the movie, I felt good the whole time watching it.

I have tons of homework this weekend; hopefully I can climb out of this slacker-phase that I've been going through since the semester started. Ha.

Feliz Sabado!

More recipes

I'm stealing some more recipes from MSN. Sound delicious. Particularly the apricot-basil shortbread tart and the vanilla zabaglione.

Apricot-basil shortbread tart:
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/apricot-basil-shortbread-tart-recipe

Vanilla Zabaglione w/ Raspberries:
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/vanilla-zabaglione-raspberries-recipe

Poppy Seed Cake:
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/poppy-seed-cake-recipe

Lemon Ice Box Pie:
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/lemon-ice-box-pie-recipe

African Dynamo

This is a great story from MSN today. I may want to read the book now. Read! It's worth your time :)



http://www.good.is/post/african-dynamo/?GT1=48001

Ramen nightmare

As I sit here eating my lime chile and shrimp Marachun instant lunch noodles, I am taken back to a time in elementary school when I brought one of these styrofoam-container-fill-with-hot-water-voila-you-have-sodium-in-the-form-of-lunch soups to school one day. I was sitting there with my friends at the crowded cafeteria table, eating forkfuls of this delicious stuff, when I looked down and saw a spout of liquid pouring out all over the table. It took me a couple seconds, but I realized that it was coming out of my styrofoam soup container; I had stabbed through the side of it with my fork. There was nothing I could do.
I stared at the never-ending, perfect stream of water, humiliated as everyone around me grabbed as much as they could of their lunches that were spread out on the table in hopes of rescuing them from saturation. I felt like a little boy who couldn't hold it any longer, and is therefore peeing in front of the class while all the other kids gasp in horror and shriek "EEEWWW". Not that I was a boy, and nor did I ever pee in front of my class, but I assume the feeling was similar, unable to control this plumbing mishap; all I could do was wait til it was over. Somehow this was worse than merely spilling a drink at a restaurant, because the spilleth-over continued for what seemed like an eternity. If I tried to move it, it would make a mess everywhere else and probably shower other kids, so I just let it go until it ran out of broth to embarrass me with. Lesson learned, I now pour it into a bowl before indulging.

Aside from my sad childhood (totally kidding), I got my car back today! It's funny how one can form a bond with their vehicle. My car's name is Yota (it's small and green, so it's like Yoda, but spelled like Toyota...get it?...). When the body shop came into view as the Enterprise driver gave me a ride, and I saw my car waiting there, a wide grin actually spread across my face. I felt like such a weirdo. Then I wiped the grin off, fearing my driver would see it and think I'm a freak. My rental car had been so heavy but I'd gotten used to it, so when I started driving my Yota back home, it felt like I was on bicycle, it felt so light. Like I was riding a feather. Like I was driving nothing. Like I was a bird......ok I'm done.

PS. Thanks to anyone for reading my blog; and I actually really appreciate comments to know if I'm being funny, or understood, or just appreciated :)

Today I had an argument with my bird...

It's true. I had just done a very thorough job of cleaning his water dish and filling it with fresh, cold water from my fridge (not just the sink!) and I started putting it back in his cage when he came up to me and tried to bite my finger. I flicked a little water at him (usually that makes him stop), but he charged my finger again with his beak open. So I dumped the whole thing of water on him and left.

Now, before you go reporting me to PETA or something, I love my feather brain of an animal and no, the water doesn't hurt. Sheesh. In fact, conures like water (although I'm sure not the way I gave it to him). And I wouldn't have normally dumped the water on him, but I was already in a really bad mood and his ingratitude pushed me over the edge. He already forgives me already, and I him; he's sitting on my shoulder as we speak.

And no, you don't get to know why I was in such a sour mood already.

But I will tell you that I chatted with both my brother and sister on facebook chat a while after the Bird VS. Human incident, and they brightened my day. I told my brother I was thinking of writing about the argument with my bird for one of my conflict journals for my class, and when I told him the story, he laughed really hard (well, he wrote out his laughter in all capital letters, like this HAHAHAHAHAHAHA). I was also talking to my sister and she told me how she was trying to hem her pants the other day, and she is not good at sewing, therefore she was cussing at her pants the whole time. So I nearly died of laughing, picturing her hemming her pants, saying (apologies if the censored foul language offends you), "You f****** pants, what the f*** do you want from me?!?!" So I had to tell her the story of my bird also, and the three of us cracked up about our arguments with inhuman objects.

Getting some really good laughs out of the other two people bound to me by blood made me feel much better and less of an Eeyore.

Last post today I promise

You Are an Omelette

You are an outrageous and bold person. You enjoy taking risks, even if you end up falling flat on your face. You are very open to the world, and you love to mash up the different things you love. You leap before you look, and you try to leap as often as you can. You believe in embracing opportunities. You are a fascinating and colorful. You've lived an interesting life, and you have lots of stories to tell.

What Kind of Eggs Are You?

Blogthings: If Quizzes Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Take Quizzes

Texas Stadium

I miss the old Texas Stadium. I think the new one is a tad overkill. It's sort of flaunting how big the Dallas Cowboys' budget is. A huge, and I mean HUGE screen hangs above center field (which, by the way, cost like $60 million...the stadium cost $1.2 billion), and in addition to cheerleaders, there are dancers on platforms in the stands. I miss the old one. It was more modest, and original, and I have these memories of going there for the first time when I was 10, and being awed by its glory, and again when I was 19, yet again appreciating how glorious it was, this home of my family's beloved team. And, when some players during practice and pre-season had gone to punt the ball and it hit the ridiculous screen, Jerry Jones refused to raise the screen. Not cool, Jones. So I guess it's not a tad overkill, it's REALLY overkill and I miss the old ways. It's like it's not about football anymore, but how cool the stadium is. More about the show, less about the game.
:-(


RIP old Texas Stadium....you are missed.

Do-It-Yourself

http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-home/staticslideshowrs.aspx?cp-documentid=21889122

I'm mostly posting this for myself. I came across this on MSN this morning and really like using everyday items for other purposes, so I'm saving this link :)

At work this summer I learned how to recycle glass bottles...mix Elmer's glue w/ water, brush some on clean, dry glass bottles of various shapes and sizes, stick on torn-up pieces of colored tissue paper, let dry, and VOILA! You have a cute flower vase. :) Decorate w/ stickers, ribbon, glitter, etc.

:)

All the ants in my apartment are dead.
Aggies beat the Lobos on Saturday.
Cowboys beat the Panthers yesterday.
A + on my Spanish test.
Got my car in to get fixed.
Saw my family over the weekend.

Life is good.

The ants go marching one by one....

....and they don't know they'll soon be dead hoorah! hoorah!
A couple weeks ago I noticed a few ants here and there in my kitchen, and I started seeing at least a few at a time consistently since then and saw them coming out from some floorboards in the storage closet by my kitchen, so yesterday I bought some ant traps and set two in my closet and two in my kitchen. They have poisonous bait within them, and the ants are drawn to it, and take some of it back with them to the queen ant, wherever they live. Then they all start dying one by one, hoorah.... AND THE ENTIRE COLONY IS DESTROYED MUAHAHAHA. Anyway this morning when I woke up and went to make my much-needed coffee, I saw lots and lots of ants in a line going to and from one of the traps. At first I admired them for their communication and never-ending work hours, then I sniggered to myself and said to them, "Little do you know..." then felt a little bit evil. It's tempting to squish them all as they trek across the tile floor, in easy destroying vicinity, to save them from suffering from the poison, and to save me from having to see this infestation in clear view, where I cook and eat, but I'm pretty sure that that traps will only work if they are consistently taking the bait to their home, and lots of it. I hope that they'll start dying soon, because I'm not sure how long I can stand to see yucky little creatures in the area where all my food is.

The second story of my day is that I got an estimate on my car finally, and will be taking it in to get fixed on Tuesday. This weekend I am going to visit my brother, and we're going to the UNM-NMSU game. Battle of I-25. Dun dun dun. Both teams kinda suck this year, so it will be interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing him.

Have a great Wednesday!
:)

Cowboys lost.

Therefore I will be depressed for approximately..............................until they win again.

Leave me alone.

Take cover!!!!

I was thinking about going to the NMSU-UTEP game, as UTEP is one of our two big rivals, and could not for the life of me decide if I really wanted to or not or not. God decided for me and has cast an epic thunder/lightning storm upon Las Cruces in the last ten minutes. There is thunder every 5 to 10 seconds. SO awesome!!! In fact, the lightning is starting to scare me cuz it's so close, so I think I'll get off the computer for a bit.....

*several hours later*

I had bagel bites for dinner this evening. Bagel bites (the pepperoni kind) are my favorite midnight snack ever. This craze started about two years ago, not long after Jake and I started dating. One night we were hanging out at my apartment really late at night watching cheesy ghost hunter/most haunted shows and got the late-night munchies, but couldn't figure out what sounded good. We opened my freezer, saw a Sam's club bulk pack of bagel bites, looked at each other and simultaneously said "BAGEL BITES!!!" Since then bagel bites have been the ultimate go-to in the wee hours or just when nothing else in particular sounds good.
I went to go visit Danielle for a little while, and the rain was so bad that even as I was going 50 mph on the interstate (15 under because of the sheets of rain), my car started skidding around a bit. So down to 40 mph I went. It probably would have been smarter just to stay home, but I'd been home all day and needed a friend break. The lightning was awesome though, a handful of ginormous flashes straight across the sky.
Thank God for the rain.

I started to do homework...

...then I realized it was the weekly two-hour Friends marathon on TBS. Moral of the story, I didn't get any more homework done.

This is very random, but I really cannot stand those Geico commercials, with the stack of money and the big eyes, and the annoying music, and the "That's the money you could be saving with Geico." I think those commercials are not funny at all.

However, the At&t Rollover minutes commercials crack me up every time I see them. Here are my favorite two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmIj7_0-1kg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUyUvq3dsKc

Hehehe....just thought I'd share what makes me laugh :)

The other day Jake and I had a total know-exactly-what-you're-thinking moment. We were walking to Spanish together on a nice sunny day, and this girl was walking toward us with an umbrella. Now, this umbrella was bright pink and had lots of pink and purple sequins on it, so as she held it over her head to block the sun's rays, the glare of all the sequins hit Jake and I in the face. Immediately, without even looking at him, I could feel the tension of both of us trying to hold in our laughs. As soon as we were out of hearing range, he looked at me and saw the strained look on my face, and we both just broke down as cause of the overkill umbrella.

:)

Monday's Musings!

My grandma is already back at her home, thank God. She is doing better, but I'm sure she'd appreciate it if prayers are being said for her for her still :)

Tennis was super fun today. We've been playing doubles the past two classes, and I'm finally getting the hang of serving the ball into the correct area (more or less). I love having that class first thing in the morning, because it wakes me up and gets me energized for the rest of the day. However, this class has been a friendly reminder to me that I do NOT like being corrected or told what to do unless, a) I ask for it, or b) the person correcting me is an actual instructor. Jake kept innocently trying to help me on how to make my forehand swing better, and telling me what I was doing that was messing me up a few times, and I would glare at him through my sunglasses or grit my teeth and say something like "I know" or "I'm trying" or just flat out ignore him. Poor guy. I later explained the reasoning behind my irritation toward him, and said that's just how I am, and he was like, "Yeah, I've noticed that." Ha. Sigh...oh well. I think he'll forgive me of this flaw.

I made two loaves of zucchini bread the other day...and all I have to say is that I live alone, and yet both loaves will probably be gone soon. It's so yummy for breakfast with yogurt and Costa Rican coffee :) I think I'll go nibble on some now...

Happenings

My grandma had a mini stroke last night. The doctors says she seems to be fine now, but please pray for her. I love her very much.


I have had a few desperate urges/longings lately:

Own a dog
Go ice skating
Go backpacking
Go fishing
Travel (well, I always have that urge)

And I understand that ice skating is the opposite season of backpacking and fishing. Oh well.

Plus I would really like to sleep through the night. Last night I had the worst insomnia. For about three hours I would start dozing off, then kept getting startled awake by nothing. The last time I slept soundly through the night was two weeks ago, when Jake and his buddies were here and I had juice w/ vodka, and boy did it relax me; I slept hard as a rock that night. And before that the last time I slept through the night was the night after I got back from Costa Rica. I hadn't really slept for about 48 hours, because the night before the flight home we were at a bed and breakfast in a really noisy part of Heredia that kept me from sleeping much, and we had to get up at 3 AM for our flight at 6 AM, and I didn't sleep at all on the 5 1/2 hour flight back, nor on the flight from Denver to Albuquerque, nor on the drive from Albuquerque to Las Cruces, when my dad brought me down to move me in. I went to bed about 11:30 that night, and woke up the next morning (extremely stiff) in the exact same position I fell asleep in. Oh how I long for that right now...

laundering, coffee, and doctors

I spent last night driving Jake around Las Cruces until we found an urgent care that was still open, and waiting for him til he was finished, then at Walgreen's getting his prescription. He had been sick since Thursday, then yesterday he was feeling flu-ish, so just to be on the safe side, he asked me to take drive him to one just to be sure it wasn't swine flu or anything. We went to four urgent cares before we found one that was open. Some "urgent" cares they were. Anyway, the doc didn't really know what it was, but gave him prescriptions.
Before that I was at Brian's apartment doing laundry. He offered to let me do it there so I can save some quarters. We watched 300 while my laundry was laundering, and I have to admit, it was pretty cool, and the graphics are incredibly gnarly. Before going to Brian's I spent a few hours with Danielle, which was really great because I hadn't seen her since going to the water park a few weeks ago, and had barely talked to her since. So we went to Starbucks and chatted for at least an hour, maybe more, then went to Wal-Mart got some necessities.
She and I decided that we really need to go on a spring break trip this year, ideally somewhere beachy. Last year we vaguely thought about going to Corpus Christi but none of us really had the money. And as of right now, we still don't really have the money, but if we get jobs and are able to save up, then hopefully we can. It's our senior year after all, and I really want to go on an actual trip for spring break, not just home (which I enjoy nonetheless, but I want beach!). It would be super if we could rent a beach house for a week, and split between several people, they're really not that pricey.
I just wish I could find a dang job already!

Happy Saturday :)

Eight Years Later

Here's a wonderful article from msn.com this morning:

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2009/09/11/my-9-11-a-personal-account.aspx

Take a moment to stop what you're doing, whether it be working in your office, drinking expensive coffee, worrying about your social plans for the weekend, and remember this day eight years ago... remember those who died in the wake of the attacks and the war following the attacks, those who are risking their lives this very minute so that we remain free and safe...reflect on what really matters in life, give your loved ones a call, play with your kids, resolve that petty fight with your significant other...and look deep inside to find that you're not the center of the world, but we're all in this together, as equals, as a country, as a world.

The day when most mothers go into labor....

When I was in 4th grade, our teacher asked the class if we knew what Labor Day was. One of the boys in our class answered with the title of this post. He was serious, too. It was funny. Poor thing, the rest of the class giggled in response.

This weekend was good mostly, with a couple not-so-good happenings. As you can see from my previous post, my family's dear old friend passed away Saturday morning. She will be greatly missed; she was such a treasured person to us. I am rather upset because I don't think I will be able to make it to the memorial service. It is on Wednesday in Longmont, Colorado, and that would mean I'd miss at least two days of school, maybe three, just for driving there and back, and plane tickets this last-minute from El Paso are very pricey. There may be a service in Santa Fe eventually, so at least I could make that. Please pray for her family.

Another not-so-momento de felicidad was that my car got backed into at Barnes & Noble yesterday. My mom was with me, and I had just backed out of my parking spot and was getting ready to shift into "D" to move forward, when I realized another car was backing out, heading straight towards me. I honked, but she kept going; she couldn't hear me and apparently not looking. I laid on my horn, and at the same time was trying to put my car into "D" but my anxiety was so heightened that I panicked and couldn't do it, then gave up because she was obviously going to hit me anyway. My mom and I braced ourselves, then came the hit and the crunch. Then I said the "F" word in front of my mom. Oops. I do not typically have a foul-mouth, I just couldn't control it at this moment. So we got the woman's insurance information (who happened to be elderly and unable to hear my honking, not to mention not able to see anything behind her car or maybe just not even looking), and now there is a crunched-in part between my front left tire and my door, therefore my driver's door opens less than a foot wide so I have to squeeze myself in and out. It is GREAT. I just got the title for my car, too. Not that that really changes anything. It was after the ordeal that I vaguely recalled saying the F word, but couldn't be sure if I had actually said it out loud, especially since my mom was there. So I asked her, and she was like, "Yeah, you did. That shocked me more than the event itself." Hahaha. We both laughed about it, because we both know how much of a non-cusser I am.

Other than these two things, I had fun with my mom. We did a lot of shopping around, and saw two movies, Julie & Julia and All About Steve. Both were very good. I also held a $40,000, 3 carat ring. I was waiting for my mom in the mall while she went to the bathroom, and happened to be right outside Gordon's. I started looking at the necklaces closest to the main mall, and the salesman came up to me, struck up a conversation, and asked if I would like to take a look at the Celebration diamonds. Sure, why not. So he pulled out this way-too-big-for-my-taste engagement ring, and as I held it in awe, he told it was only one of five in the country, 3 carats, $40,000. I felt pretty special, and I told him that. He said I should feel special. Then I said "Ok, I'll take it" (joking of course). I didn't try it on though, I'd feel like a dork. Or something.

I need to get some reading done for my classes. Have a good day off.

Peaches Patsy Hughes

Saturday morning we lost a very dear friend. She became part of our family when my dad began working at the lab 25 + years ago, and a man named Floyd, also working at the lab, took him under his wing and soon introduced my dad to Floyd's wife, Peaches. It took no time at all for the couple to consider my dad their son, and when my dad met my mom, they were two of the very first people he introduced her to. Of course, they flipped over my mom as well. Peaches made my parents' wedding cake, and many years later taught my mom how to decorate cakes, a business my mom is now doing very well in. Once my brother, sister and I were in the family, we were immediately considered their grandchildren. They took us boating and camping. When I was about 5 or 6 years old, Floyd fell off a roof and was paralyzed in his legs, and died shortly after in the hospital. Peaches moved back to California, and each time we traveled there, we would stay in her cozy house. Eventually she moved back to Colorado to be with her daughters and son. The past couple years she had been ailing. A week and a half ago she had open-heart surgery, and the typical procedure after having this type of surgery, the surgeons need to jump-start the heart. This wasn't necessary in Peaches' case...her heart started back on its own.
In the middle of last week, she developed an infection from the surgery and died very early Saturday morning.
She always told us she loved us. She always wore bright colors and wore pink lipstick.
We'll miss you Peaches, but we know you're in a better place.

Peaches Patsy Hughes
Spetember 6, 1924-September 5, 2009

WOW it's windy

This blustery weather makes me wonder if a storm is coming? Las Cruces experiences many days like this, in which the weather becomes overcast and windy and there are storm clouds in the distance. It teases us into thinking there will be rain, and then OOOH fooled again! There are some days when it actually does storm, though, and those days are wonderful. I hope tonight will be one of those times. I learned a few years ago that rain smells different, depending on where you are. I learned this my very first evening living in Las Cruces. My dad and some of Shanda's friends had helped Shanda and I move into our apartment, and literally about ten seconds after we moved the last piece of furniture in, it started raining. We drove over to Dion's for dinner, and the parking lot was literally already starting to flood. I vividly remember the smell; it was definitely (and obviously) the smell of rain, but it smelled differently from the rain in Los Alamos. It was like rain mixed with desert mixed with city. I actually like how the rain smells here. And going back to a previous sentence about flooding, Las Cruces has a terrible drainage system. There are certain parking lots that resemble a shallow lake after a good 20-minute downpour. The parking lot of the apartments my sis and I used to live at was like that, as well as all the areas between the dorms on campus, and the park near those apartments. The roads become temporary rivers. It's great.
If it rains tonight I will have me a legitimate excuse not to go running ;)

I'm playing hooky tomorrow. Don't tell on me. I only have one class on Fridays, and he doesn't take attendance. I figured I'd treat myself to a four-day weekend instead, with Labor day. Plus I can use the time to get caught up on reading before mi mama gets here.
Okay earlier today I had a brief thought about Thanksgiving and Christmas and I got excited. Pathetic, right? The holidays are still three months away! I probably yearned for that time of the year because it's so brutally hot here and the thought of lounging in my flannel PJ pants by the fire while it snows outside and relaxing from a hard day of being out in the beautiful whiteness or ice skating, sounds utterly appealing.

I suppose I'll go do some reading now. Until later, Merry September 3rd! :-)

This blog post is lacking in title

I turned in my application to Ruby Tuesday, and was a little sad because I got all dressed up for nothing. Yesterday when I went to get an application, the girl working at the time told me that if I turn it between 2 and 5, I might get an interview right away, therefore I should dress professionally. So I put on the most "professional" looking attire that I own, redid my makeup, fixed my hair, and went to turn in my app., but no immediate interview :( But the man there did say that the hiring manager will be looking at it soon and making some calls. I'll just keep my fingers crossed.
I was reminiscing about Costa Rica today (is two weeks afterwards too early to reminisce?), and decided I really want to go back someday. It was just so beautiful and so much fun. It seems like it was all a dream, just because it's so incredibly different here than it is there. Even though I was technically "in school" there, it was like a vacation. It's like the honeymoon's over ;-) Back to reality. Oh by the way, if you want to see my pictures from the trip, go here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2069527&id=49009247

I think I'm going to make spaghetti tonight. Not just any spaghetti, PEPPERONI SPAGHETTI! Mmmm...if you've never tried it, substitute ground beef for pepperoni (yes, the pizza type) in the sauce. It's my favorite.

My mom and sister are going to come visit this weekend! My mom will be staying with me, and of course Shanda will be staying with her new husband (he's still finishing school here while she teaches in Los Alamos). I'm looking forward to spending time with my mom because I only saw her for about an hour in Albuquerque after getting back from Costa Rica, and before heading to Las Cruces.

Swine flu is now circulating in Los Alamos...several students have tested positive for it. I'm praying for my hometown!
I wish I had more interesting things to write about. I need more Costa Rica-esque ventures to happen to me.

Until that happens, stay healthy, y Vaya Con Dios.

Jobs...jobs...

Even though I don't know what I'll be doing after I graduate in May, I'm looking for a part-time job now just to make some money during the school year. I applied to the Staybridge Suites hotel near my apartment. The woman there told me they are always hiring for part-time positions, but didn't know exactly which positions were being hired for at this time. It could be a while til I find out anything about that job. Then I read in the school paper that Ruby Tuesday is hiring for all positions right now. Since it's close to my apartment also, I figured it might be a good idea. I've worked in a restaurant before, but it's been four years. Working in a restaurant wouldn't be my first choice anyway, but it's a job :) So I'll turn in my application tomorrow and hopefully land a part-time to make some money.
I'd probably be pretty well off even if I don't get a job this school year. In the three years past I have not had a job during school and have had to make car payments, so by the end of the year I have been getting nervous about whether I'll have enough money to drive home in May! It's funny and upsetting at the same time. However, thanks to the HAIL of a hailstorm Los Alamos had in June which made my car look like it has cellulite, I received a nice check from our insurance company that will pay off the rest of my car payments :) I decided to take the money rather that get my car fixed, being that my car isn't new (10 years old) and I still think she's pretty. It's the inside that counts. It will be nice to not have to see $120 disappear from my checking account each month.
So that hailstorm helped, but I would still like to start saving up money for after graduation, and possibly a Vegas trip in the semi-near future and/or a spring break trip...I'm a senior after all, I have to celebrate my last year of college! It seems like I'm the only one who hasn't been to Vegas yet! And I would like to have a spring break trip to the beach somewhere. I'm not asking for much, am I ? :)

Which Way Home

About an hour ago I woke up, made some coffee, and turned on the TV. I came across this documentary, called Which Way Home, on HBO about illegal Latin American children immigrants and their dangerous journeys to the United States. At first I started watching it because it was a Spanish document, and I like to watch Spanish television once in a while to test my translating abilities. However, I was drawn into the document itself quickly. I was really (and still am) touched by it.
The document follows children, from younger ones to adolescents, on their foot journeys (usually alone or at least without family) to the United States from all different parts of Latin America. They travel on top of trains, walk miles upon miles, and often hitch rides from willing people, often smugglers and traffickers. There were interviews with the children on their way, in detainment centers, interviews with parents whose children have died one way or another on their journey, and parents who do not know where their children are or if they are alive. There are also interviews with officers who speak of the horrors of some of the journeys; many kids have been found dead in the desert, murdered, raped, or otherwise abandoned by smugglers and traffickers. Some just get lost and are unable to make it. It's really sad because most of the children interviewed want to go to the United States for innocent reasons, such as seeing a parent who immigrated, or to make money for their families, and some want to study in the US. They don't want to traffick drugs or otherwise wreak havoc.
The point is, I was very touched by this documentary and it gave me another idea of what I might want to do sometime in the future. Perhaps work at a detainment center for juveniles who are trying to get into the US, or something similar. This would combine my wanting to somehow work with children, help out another country, and also speaking Spanish.
If you ever get a chance to watch this documentary, you should.

Just another item to put on my list of maybe's. :)

Desert Rain

I went bowling tonight and had a lot of fun. I need to get out more...I end up getting bored then moping because of it.

My new apartment has a very pretty view of the city of Las Cruces and the (desert) mountains in the background. The other night it was raining really hard, and the sun was just beginning to go behind the mountains, so all of outside was yellow-tinted, with sun, and rain. It was so beautiful :) When I stepped outside to take it all in, I saw an amazing double rainbow. Here are some pictures.Double rainbow

You can't see the rain in this one but...


You can in this one!! Actually I don't think you can on blogger. Normally you can :( If you click on the picture it will show it bigger, and you can see the streaks of rain.

El Futuro (otra vez)

Jake and I went and saw 500 Days of Summer yesterday. I liked it. It was a romantic comedy, but it wasn't a cliche happily-ever after movie, and that's part of why I liked it. I think you may also have to have a particular sense of humor to enjoy it, and I was giggling almost the whole time.

Today I started tennis. Well, the first class was on Monday but all we did was talk about the class for about 15 minutes. I bought a tennis racket this morning at Wal-Mart. It's pink, which I wasn't that thrilled about, but it was specially built for a weaker female (like me) and was comfortable, and only pink was available for this type. So I decided that comfort was more important than looks in this case. Even though it should be in every case...But anyway the class today was fun; we just did basic stuff like swing and hitting the ball back and forth. I'm not a very coordinated person to begin with, so I'll have to work on that :)

As I have begun my final year of college, I ponder what I might do after graduation in May. To be quite honest, I have no idea. Well, I have some ideas of what I could see myself doing, but I have yet to have that epiphany of "Oh my goodness, that's my calling!" I started college as a biology major, wanting to be a vet, but soon realized that science wasn't my thing. I still love animals and would like to involve animals in my life somehow, but not as a career I suppose. Eventually I declared my major in Communication Studies. I really like the classes and concepts of this major, but I really don't know where it will take me. I've worked on and off for the YMCA child care department, and have been a counselor at Sonlight, and I could see myself working with kids somehow. Not as teaching though, can't see myself in a classroom. Perhaps some kind of youth development coordinator. I wouldn't mind just working for the Y again for a while after I graduate. I would also enjoy doing some youth development abroad, in developing/third world countries. I like kids, I like nature, I like traveling...... entonces, Kids+Traveling+Nature= perfect career for me. But what career that is, I have yet to learn.

2 years ago....

Jake and I became an item :)

For those of you who read this, I apologize for the sappiness. I won't be offended if you roll your eyes :P

Thank you for loving me.
Thanks for always being my friend, and not leaving when friendship was all I wanted.
Thank you for always being there, and always supporting me.
Thanks for putting up with my flaws.
Thank you for for making me feel important and significant, and as an equal.
Thank you for making me fall head-over-heels for you.
Thank you for never giving up on me.
Thanks for all your help and understanding.
Thank you for taking care of me.
Thank you for making me see what love can really be all about.

I LOVE YOU!!!

Sunday laziness

It's hard to believe that only three weeks ago I left for Costa Rica. Time flies. It seems like a long time ago, but at the same time, it seems like just yesterday.
I was not very productive today. It's always a task for me to get motivated at the beginning of each semester. I sat around watching TV all morning, then did nothing important on the computer. Finally I got myself to leave the apartment and I went and spent the rest of my Kohl's gift card and got a desk lamp at Lowe's. Once I got back, however, I wasted away on the computer for a couple more hours, once again doing nothing meaningful. I hope this doesn't become a habit. It just doesn't feel like school has started yet. Just now I somewhat organized my binder in which I keep all my class syllabi, assignments, schedules, etc. for the semester.

That was my day.

Aaaaaand....we're back

I got back from Costa Rica on Sunday, and I had such a wonderful time. I did very well with my Spanish and am determined to keep speaking it so I don't lose it. Jake and I did some really fun things. Went ziplining through one of the best canopy tour companies in the world, and horseback riding through the rainforest. We also took an all-day tour of the rainforest in Sarapiqui, where we took a riverboat and saw crocodiles, iguanas, monkeys, bats, birds, and a sloth. We also took a short hike through the rainforest on this tour and saw two types of poison-dart frogs. Later in the day we took a sky tram, which went through and up above the rainforest, which was absolutely beautiful, and went to the frog/snake/butterfly farm. How could it get any better? The second week we were in Monteverde, which is about 4 hours from the capitol, San Jose, where the airport is. Since our flight from San Jose to Denver left at 6:30 in the morning, we had to be there at 4 AM, which mean we had to stay at a Bed and Breakfast Saturday so that we could get up at 3 AM, which is why we were in the B&B. Anyway, that night I could barely sleep, because the city of Heredia is quite noisy, and there was a church nearby that kept shooting off canons (at least the noise of canons) and people were yelling, music was playing, dogs were barking, car alarms were honking...so I barely slept, and didn't sleep again til Sunday night at about 11 PM (didn't even sleep on the plane or car ride with my dad to Las Cruces) so I essentially didn't actually sleep for 48 hours. Yeah, I had to go straight from the airport in Albuquerque to Las Cruces. So the above description is why I loved Monteverde so much more than Heredia. It was much prettier, more rural, the houses weren't right next to each other, it was MUCH quieter, the air fresher...and so on.
I could write all about my trip, but I'm tired, and it's late, and there's just too much to tell, frankly!
I am all settled into my new (and my own!) apartment. I love it. I can already tell that it might get a bit lonely sometimes, but it's still better than OCD roommate from last year. It's the perfect size for me :)
Well I think I shall go snooze now.
Good night.

Weddings and Lately

As you know I've been home for a while now (about a month and a half), and I've slept SO good, with no neighbors stomping around at all hours above me, no bass thumping obnoxiously below me, no lovers making whoopy in the room next to me, and no obsessive-compulsive, power-hungry, control-freak, high-maintenance roommate. And........

I GOT THE APARTMENT I WANTED!!! A couple weeks ago they called and said they have a one-bedroom available to me for the fall. I am SO excited to have my own place. My prayers worked :-)

My sister's and Brian's wedding was absolutely fantastic. The ceremony was beautiful and sweet, I didn't fall walking down the aisle, the pictures Jake took are absolutely amazing and better than many professional wedding photos, the reception was extremely fun with everyone (kids, teens, young adults, middle-aged adults, and seniors) ALL dancing, the DJ played great music, the food was DELISH, my mom's cake was beautiful, everyone liked my toast, and everyone just had a great time all around. The party finally ended around 11:30 pm, and we got back home around 12:30 am. It was hard to go back to work last Monday after such an incredible weekend.

I'm on a lunch break from work right now. I like my job a lot. It can be challenging at times, like with fighting children, sensitive children who cry about everything, and children who want to run away. But I like it nonetheless. Tomorrow we take them on a bowling field trip which will likely be MADNESS. And interesting...5 and 6 year olds trying to bowl. My dad's 50th birthday is on Friday! I have to work, but I think I'm taking him to lunch and we're throwing him a surprise party on Sunday. We're pretty sure he knows about it though...
The YMCA is practically the only office/organization/whatever open on Friday, because many places are recognizing that Friday for July 4th. Oh well.

I'll blog more later, but I have to get back to work soon. Have a happy week!

Been awhile...

I guess being home makes me less susceptible to much time on the internet. I have greatly enjoyed being home these past several weeks, am enjoying my job with the YMCA summer camp as the 1st grade head counselor, been busy preparing for my sister's wedding, watching my little brother graduate high school, and more (as a brief update). Last night was my sister's bachelorette party, and it was very fun, and, um...well, I won't get into details. Today we started decorating the reception area, and it was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The first practice processional, I got super red because I walk down the aisle alone, and I got really embarrassed. Sigh. At the rehearsal dinner, my sister handed out her gifts to her bridesmaids and flower girl. All us bridesmaids got a very pretty silver necklace with the first letter of our names as the pendant. Since I'm the maid of honor, she gave me something extra. I opened the box to this extra something, and tears streamed down my face before I even realized how emotional I was getting. Seriously, I've never been that suddenly emotional. It was a silver picture frame with the word "Sisters" at the top, and at the bottom were our engraved names, "Shanda & Erika". The picture in the frame was one from when she was probably four years old, and I two years old. We're sitting on our yellow and orange plastic table at our old house, and my sister is hugging my face and has her face nuzzled against mine, and my face is all squished, but I look pleasantly surprised. As soon as I saw the picture, I didn't even feel the tears coming until they were streaming down my face. I think I surprised everyone at the table (including myself), and I got up and quickly went to the bathroom to sob. I was so stunned. After a couple minutes, my sister and mom came in (someone told them that her gift made me cry and that I had run to the bathroom in tears), and the three of us hugged in there, and cried a little, and giggled a little. It reminded me of that episode of Friends, the one at Monica and Chandler's wedding reception, and Phoebe, Rachel, and Monica lock themselves in the bathroom and soon are crying and hugging because of Rachel's pregnancy. Anyway, I seriously don't ever remember being that immediately emotional. Like I said, it was like the tears were streaming down my face before I knew I was about to cry. When I came out of the bathroom, several people were looking at me and smiling sweetly because they'd heard what happened. I was so embarrassed. Then everyone wanted me to show them the picture, so I kept getting choked up over and over. Christina, Brian's sister, wanted to see it, and got choked up too, just seeing the picture that made me so happy and sad at the same time.
I love my sister. I'm so happy she's happy. And I wish her and Brian the best in life.
<3

Last Friday here...

Jake came by for a while this morning and I helped him write a resume. I learned how to write a good resume in organizational communication this semester, so I believe I've gotten pretty good at it :) Also, there was a point where he pinned me down and tickle tortured me so badly I almost passed out from laughing so hard. Do you ever laugh so hard that your laughter is silent? Yeah, that's how I was, combined with my signature guinea-pig laugh.
Today I've been packing, cleaning, and baking cookies (using up the chocolate chips that were in my cupboard). Packing is hard because while I want to just get everything packed right away, I can't because some of it I might still need before I leave here.
My family will be here around 9 or 10 tonight, and then my cousin's graduation from here is tomorrow morning. I have two other graduations to go to this month; my other cousin's from College of Santa Fe, and my brother's from LAHS! I'm so proud of him :) He will be starting his associate's degree in culinary arts at CNM in the fall. To be honest, I keep forgetting that he is graduating and will be going to college in just a few months, because he's my little brother. It's so weird to think of him in college! I'm hoping that my family and I will go to Mesilla Valley Kitchen sometime this weekend for breakfast. If you're ever in Las Cruces, go to Mesilla Valley Kitchen and get their MVK spuds for breakfast. They are so delicious. I have yet to go there for lunch, but I'm sure it's simply grand as well. Actually, I've never even had anything but the MVK spuds...eventually I'll try something new, but the spuds always sound so delicious. It's a big pile of potatoes, cheese, sausage, bacon, eggs, and red or green chile (I go with green), served with a tortilla. Ugh, my mouth is watering now just writing about it.
Staff training for the YMCA camp will start next Thursday. I'm looking forward to working there again. Especially with the 1st graders!! It's going to be a busy busy summer. I shall list again:
Stu's graduation
Shanda's wedding (so that obviously includes bachelorette party and bridal shower)
Third Eye Blind concert
Full-time job
Costa Rica
My dad's (50th!) and Jake's birthdays
...I think that's about it...for now, at least.

Have a splendid Friday!

As of 10:55 this morning...

...I finished my semester, and my year as a junior in college. Holy smokes, I'm a college senior now!
That is insane. I don't feel old enough to be a senior yet.
Not to rub it in, but I had a really easy finals week. In fact, it was probably the easiest finals week I've ever had. I was not worried about my three tests at all, and did not stress over studying for them.
Dr. Morgan (one of my favorite professors) brought in coffee, donuts, and juice to indulge in while we took our test.
Done some more packing, but not much because I still need more boxes. I'll get those later tonight. Jake and I might go see the Soloist later (I've been dying to see it since I saw the preview months ago...I love movies about music), and then Cold Stone, to celebrate the end of el semestre! My dad called me and said my passport came in! Woohoo! One less thing to worry about for my Spanish trip. I slept really well again last night. Went to bed a little after ten, and woke up at about 8:30 to study a bit more for my test. I like when my upstairs neighbors are gone for softball trips, I'm able to sleep straight through the night when they're gone :)

Wednesday afternoon

I'm not very creative with blog titles.
Apparently I'm a morning person. Remember how yesterday I said I woke up at 8:45 without an alarm? I know that's not early for a lot of people, and I'm usually awake by that time on school days anyway, but for being I had no alarm set, it was unusual. Then this morning I woke up at 6:45 on my own! It was so weird. And I didn't fall asleep til past midnight last night, so I don't know why I woke myself up at that time. The water buffalo upstairs wasn't even stomping around making noise (I think they're on a trip for softball). So I was up and packing some more by 7 am, and got four more boxes of dishes packed. I just relaxed a while, then took the packed boxes to the dusty storage unit and got myself a Spicy Chicken sandwich from Wendy's, along with chicken nuggets and a frosty. It's finals week, don't judge me.
Then I laid out by the pool with Danielle...oh wait, they closed the pool ALL DAY so we sat in the chairs by the firepit to tan, haha. And it didn't last long because it was super hot today! It's still really hot outside, holy cow. I took a shower and decided to take a nap, as the early morning had finally caught up to me about 3:00, but I didn't fall asleep til about 3:20 then woke up at 3:33. Not even kidding! What's with my non-sleeping? However, that 13-minute power nap surprisingly helped me, and now I'm studying for my final final (lol) tomorrow. Well, obviously I'm blogging right now, but it's in between studying. I'm listening to Sting & the Police (good study music). I'm making spaghetti later for Erin and I so I can use up some more beef before I move out. I think that's about all I have right now.

Over and out.

Packing

Before hitting the hay last night, I started packing some dishes and other things into the many boxes I got from Wal-Mart. Jake went to get them with me Saturday night around 11 pm which is when they are re-stocking, and he was embarrassed to be seen with me because I was pushing a shopping cart around and loading empty boxes into it, just snatching whatever good-sized boxes I found right from under the stockers' noses. Hehe. I still need more though. I never know how much stuff I have until I pack it all. Sheesh.
I woke up at 8:45 this morning (on my own!) after a good night's sleep, and began packing again. I got lots more dishes packed, along with some things from my room and decorative things. Jake came by and gave me a ride to campus so that I could collect a bunch of newspapers. I took a bunch of New York Times and a good stack of the campus paper. Hey they're free if you're a student! I think I may have taken advantage of the free-ness though...
I took a few things to the storage unit, which was mighty dusty! The wind lately has forced dirt under the garage-type door to the unit, and just spending two minutes there putting the things in, I felt all this dirt in my teeth. Gross, I hate that. So looks like I'll need to do some dusting and vacuuming of items when I unload yet again in the fall.
I am quite proud of myself for getting a lot packed (even though it seems like there is still so much left). I just got back from visiting Jake for a while, making him take a break from his studying. Tomorrow I still don't have a final, so I'll likely spend more time packing, and I think I'll go to the pool for a while. Then I have to get back to studying, which will be hard because I've already gotten used to not having anything school-related to do the past day and a half. I don't think I need to study too much, though. The study guide I have seems pretty simple and straight-forward, and I know the material really well. Plus, I've done well on the other two tests in that class.
I think I'll go to the gym either tomorrow or Thursday afternoon, then make cookies for when my family comes this weekend. I'm taking Jake to Cold Stone Thursday night to celebrate the end of the semester! Yum! Sweet cream with raspberries is my favorite ice cream combination there. You should definitely try it sometime. The ice cream tastes like butter (in a good way) and with the raspberries, it is simply scrumptious.

One final down...

...two to go. I had my Spanish final at 8 this morning...waaaaaay too early for a final exam, especially since I couldn't fall asleep til midnight and got up at 6:30 to study more. Not fun! But I think I did well on it. Later today I'll take my online exam to get it out of the way. I am also going to get a haircut and go to Wal-Mart for packing tape and butter. Random two items together, but they're what I need. I sold my books back after my test and got $48. Which is measly compared to what I paid for them, but it's better than what I usually get back each semester. My very first semester I got a lot back...about $70-something. One semester I got $5. The rest have been anywhere between $15 and $25. I really want a nap, but I probably won't be able to sleep because I had Starbucks before my test. The nap will have to wait til later today, when the caffeine has been used up.

It's weird to think I have less than a week in this apartment complex. I started packing a little bit yesterday. It's weird to think that in a few months I will (hopefully) have a cute little (but nice) apartment all to myself and not have to step on anyone's toes and deal with roommates.

las clases no mas!

I'm done with classes!!
*Do a little jig*
Actually, as of 11:20 am this morning I was done with classes. I came home, had some grilled cheese, and laid out by the pool with Danielle for a couple hours. We made drinks w/ passion fruit vodka and strawberry crystal light and soaked up the sun. Yum.
Though I am done with official classes, I still have to do some work for finals next week. Take some notes, study, take tests, THEN I'll officially be done. :-)
I think I'll go to Wal-Mart tonight to fetch some packing boxes too. I'm making Jake take a break from all his work, and he's going to come over and make cookies with me. Perhaps I'll drag him to the big Wal with me so he can help me carry boxes.

I can finally see the end is near...

failed cooking

Usually, when I cook something for the first time, I'm always nervous that it won't come out good, but 99% of the time it does anyway. However, I needed to do a cultural activity for Spanish, so I looked up a recipe for natillas, a Spanish custard-type dessert. The first easy-looking recipe I found called for corn flour, so I went gallivanting all over town for two days trying to find some (Wal-mart didn't have any). I found some, and paid nearly five dollars for cinnamon sticks (the recipe called for just one), and today I tried cooking it. It SO did not work! The mixture just stayed watery and chunky and I could not figure out what I did wrong. I went back to the recipe on the Internet, then looked at other recipes for Natillas, and I believe I found the problem. Every other recipe calls for corn starch, not corn flour. I think whoever wrote the recipe that I used accidentally said flour rather than starch. Which makes sense, because corn starch is what people use for custards, etc. for making it thicken. Grrrr. So I spent all that time looking for corn flour and wasted money just to throw my "natillas" away. So I opted for making sopaipillas, and they are not nearly as good as my mom's, and didn't puff up as much as normal sopaipillas do, but they're edible and pretty tasty. So that's what I'm taking to class tomorrow.

TOMORROW IS MY LAST DAY OF CLASS!!!!
I finished my last paper today!!! Finally!!!!! After weeks of tormentuous (I think I made that word up?) paper writing!!!! I have one online test to take by Monday, then I have my Spanish final on Monday, and my Comm. and Culture final on Thursday! Then I'll be packing and my family will come to help me move out, and within a few days after that, I'll be GONE from here and HOME for the summer! Wahoo!!! I'm happy :-)

Sleeping weirdness and Peace Corps

I am very tired and will probably take a short nap soon. Sunday night I didn't fall asleep til late because the girl in the room next to mine had her boyfriend over and...well, they were being loud...as in their headboard kept me awake....ERIKA NOT HAPPY. Then Monday night I went to bed late again because of homework and I went grocery shopping kinda late, then slept through my alarm in the morning and woke up fifteen minutes before I had to leave. I somehow made it to class on time. Then I went to bed still a little late last night, and had trouble falling asleep because I was thinking about my future, and when I finally did doze off, the girl above me got back from a softball trip or something because she stomped in at about 1 am, was dropping her giant bag of softballs and bats on her floor, stomping around for at least an hour. I'm not a fan of my upstairs neighbors. And I was restless all night, woke up a lot. Then I had to get up a little earlier this morning so I could study for my Spanish test.

My uncle emailed me two days ago and his words were really encouraging to me. We had talked a bit during Christmas about my plans after college (which I really don't know yet), and in his email he offered a couple suggestions that he thought I'd be a perfect candidate for: AmeriCorps and Peace Corps. I'm sure you know what the Peace Corps is, and AmeriCorps is much like that, but service in the United States. To be honest, sometime in high school I thought about what it would be like in the Peace Corps, and a couple months ago my interest was sparked again by recruiters on campus. Then my uncle sent me that email with very encouraging words. He said that I show "grounded maturity" and have a "rare and admirable gift in your heart to serve the disadvantaged". I think my desire to do so stemmed from my experience in Honduras. I spent one week there for two summer with a group from my church volunteering and working at an orphanage outside of Tegucigalpa. It fueled my compassion and desire to help others who are very much in need. I also am trying to better my Spanish-speaking ability so that I can do more service work in Central or South America. I would definitely be interested in the Peace Corps, or at least something very similar. There are, however, a few things holding me back from signing up right away. You get an allowance for living, and you get a generous amount of money afterward to help you transition back to "regular" life, and of course it would look great on resumes and open up a lot of career opportunities, but it would be difficult to be without a job for two years.. I'm also incredibly close to my family, and I would miss them terribly. You get only two days off per month, and some people fly back to visit family or have family visit them, but it's only two days per month. Anyway, my point is that I feel a longing to do something like this. Maybe now's not the time, maybe I can wait a few years, but I think it is calling me.