Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Popping out to say...

We are home from our lovely vacation that started in Santa Barbara and ended in Santa Cruz. We had a fabulous time making friends with the animals at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and at the many piers and wharfs we visited. More than anything else I think we both enjoyed the company of one another on our first adult vacation.

I think I will have to say more about that later, but suffice to say I saw two humpback whales, many otters, and had a whole lot of fun with my love, and I have the pictures to prove it.

Real life seems rough after such a great few days away from it all, but I guess there is something to be said for home.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

I heart photos




So the challenge in recently joined Flickr group was to do some light painting. You should check out the group and see what other people did, but I like this one a lot. It's my heart of flames. I posted the other ones I took here. (I like the one with David encircled in my flame rope paint.)
This is a really cool technique called light painting which I had never heard of until the challenge. It involves leaving the shutter of your camera open for a longer period of time- I had some issues with trying to do in in a well lit room, but it worked much better in the garage.
I did these with a stick lighter that David gave me, but look forward to trying some more in the future with a flashlight...





Saturday, July 19, 2008

Buck tradition...

I feel like everyone around me is getting married, and while I am really happy for them I think I have a hard time with all the ceremony surrounding weddings and marriage.

I recently acquired a new bridesmaid dress that will not be unused because the wedding will be no longer. And while the gown is brown I have been seriously considering having it seriously altered and saving as a wedding dress for a future date. I don't need to wear white.

And bridal showers are cute and everything, and it made me so happy to be at my friend's today and to see all the great stuff she got to move into her new place with her new hubby in a few weeks, but I think that I am not going to be whole scrap-booky person when it comes to a shower. I also think it would be cool to have something where you don't have a real registry per se, but maybe a general list of things you need/want and then encourage friends and family to help you find things at good will, free cycle, or craiglist. I know I would probably love a whole bunch of new kitchen gadgets, but I also think that I'd be thrilled if my roommate just let me keep the cast iron (I think) pots and pans with the really 80's yellow outside that were in the apartment when we moved in.

As for ceremony- I am thinking something small and outdoors with a BBQ/potluck.

I mean I'm not getting married any time soon, so it's not a huge thing, but every time I experience/ hear about all the planning and ceremony etc I just think it's not really something I am interested in for myself. I guess I should revel and have fun with other people's events and not keep thinking about how much I want to buck tradition. (But it is a little fun to think about.)

Friday, July 18, 2008

Counting down the days...

I am going on vacation in a week, and I cannot wait.

Stops and extended stays are to include Santa Barbara, San Simeon, Atascadero/Paso Robles, Monterrey, Santa Cruz, and a small town called Ben Lomond near Santa Cruz.

We are taking the 101 to Monterrey because we aren't sure how PCH will be looking with all the recent burn activity. Possible stops on the 101 could be Salinas and Gilroy, but we are just not sure yet. We will also be hitting up some wineries along the way.

Definites for the trip are the Hearst Castle and the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, and a lot of relaxation.

Please send me recommendations for these areas for your favorite restaurants, viewing spots, interesting activities, and such... They would be greatly appreciated.

I've been through some of the areas before quickly, but am looking to have a really great time.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Because laughing is good for your health

If you are not into Flight of the Conchords you should be.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Big Sister

Besides being a HIGHly emotional person in the first place, I always have trouble when I leave or my family members leave me to go back on a plane somewhere far away. I kind of have this policy now that family members do not get walked into the airport. They have to be dropped off at the curb because this ensures a swift departure and no crying at the airport security checkpoint line. It's hard to drive anywhere after or get on a plane when you are crying, so I try to avoid this now- even though it's difficult.

I have to say that one of the most alone times was when I watched my mom get on the shuttle and go home from Chile and knew my sister was in Brazil, and I was in this huge city all by myself. It wasn't the city itself that made me feel alone- it's just the act of putting someone on a plane and knowing how far anyone with your bloodlines is from you.

The last time my little sister left California she got home really late the night before she was leaving. I think I left to work and she took a super shuttle home, and when I got home there was a note on my bed that still floats around my room and makes me cry every now and then.

That night in bed with David I asked him to hold me as I cried- explaining that I just missed my sister. I felt desperate and sad not knowing when I would see her next (although I knew it would be in Chile)...

It's hard to describe my relationship with my sister- although I sometimes feel like she is kind of the same person as me, and yet so different. I think we would agree that as we have both grown up we have grown apart in terms of our interests and maybe not our personalities so much as the things we do for fun. I am not sure how to explain it other than to say that we are growing into our own persons as we grow up, but we still have this really amazing strong bond. We still look and talk like sisters. We still have all the same memories from when we were little. We are still us, just bigger/older versions, with much stronger opinions.

I like the person my sister has become. She is strong, smart, independent, funny, and well aware of the world around here (and that which is not so close.) I am proud of her. I love and hold her so close my heart.

I think maybe it's harder for me to think about my sister as a peer rather than a younger sibling I need to be an example for or more than that- I think I have always wanted to impress her and to have her think I was really cool. I wanted her to want to be like me for a long time. I don't think it was as much being self-centered as just knowing that I was an important example for her, and that meant a lot.

This weekend I keep reminding her that she is my 'my little babers' and then I tell her that I remember when she had just eaten lunch and I decided to dance with her and shake her up, which caused her to barf on me. We were just sitting on the floor, but I definitely screamed and let go of her. She was old enough to sit up and crawl so she recovered much faster than myself, myself who was upset about the throw up on my pretty clothes.

We are adults now, but she'll always be my baby sister, and those are two things that I struggle to reconcile, although I am getting the hang of it more and more.

Sister's on a 'Booze Cruise'

We only call is that because of The Office.













Friday, July 11, 2008

If you don't have to work because your little sister is here and you are going to the Wild Animal Park


But you still get up at 7am because you want to gather all the book you need for your first photo challenge for a new Flckr group called a Certain Slant of Light

DSC01493



and then you go running down the street in your PJs (minus bra) because you hear the street sweeper turn on and you don't want to get a ticket-


Well, then you could be me, and you could be ready for an awesome weekend with your little sister. Who you snap a picture of while she is asleep.
My Babe in Bed.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Look how happy we were and how pretty the sky was on the 4th of July.



We were happy to get away from all the drunken craziness in Newport Beach. It was such a pleasant afternoon in San Clemente. Good food, good company, good music, and we didn't have to fight traffic at all. (Smile)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

It has to be better this time...

I signed up for my classes at UCI yesterday. This is really very exciting for me. I have been out of school since 2005 and have been working ever since them to maintain my life in Orange County. I have not loved my jobs, but I made many friend at them and got a sweet Severance package from New Century not to mention unemployment, and maybe one day when the whole bankruptcy thing gets settled they will send me another check for $600.

Anyway, I am a little bit scared of starting school and mainly because it makes me think about when I started school again in Fall 2005. After taking a year off from school and working at New Century I decided that I should work on getting my teaching credential. I figured I could go to Vanguard, and wouldn't have to do much to get into the program-which was true. They accepted me with no problem.

The slight problem in all of this was that I had no interest in teaching- although I convinced myself it was the right thing for a while. I thought that I would get summers off like my mom did when I was growing up, I'd make decent money (if I could get a job) and I'd be able to apply my History degree- which is something that seemed rather hopeless at the time.

The only hurdle I had to jump over was taking the CSET for history. I had to take one twice, but I passed. I started the program and was surrounded by all these hyper-enthused classmates. I had no enthusiasm. I got into a classroom and realized that it scared the shit out of me that the kids looked not that much younger than me. I felt like I didn't remember history well enough to teach it, and eventually I just realized that I didn't care about teaching, and I just wanted an easy pathway to a job, and that therefore I would suck as a teacher because I would be unhappy doing it.

So I dropped out like a month or so into the program. I lost part of the money I had paid Vanguard, and I eventually wound up back at New Century again.

I never felt like I failed or gave up. I knew I made the right choice to leave and the wrong choice to enroll just because it seemed like I might be able to work it out.

Starting school again scares me just because what if the same thing happens again? I guess I feel like there is little chance of that because this program is something that I really care about and I think it really will give me the tools to work in a career that focuses on environmental sustainability-which is something I really care about. I definitely worked harder to get in, and am proud of how hard I worked. I am just a little bit nervous to start school again and see how it works out this time.

I plan on being completely happy and successful and I am sure not going into is half-hearted by any means this time, so I think I am starting off on a better foot than before, and that has to help.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Disclaimer

I bought new glasses today-both regular and sunglasses.

I don't know if I have ever told you this story, but it's a shameful/funny one. Shortly after returning to college for my final semester. I thought that I would be clever and swim in the Pacific Ocean fully clothed. I am going to be honest and it had a lot to do with being off anti-depressants and embracing stuff that is hard to embrace and not going in the Pacific once. The bad thing is that as soon as I went under I my brand new glasses came off my face and floated into the Pacific.

Now let me just say these were very nice and expensive glasses my mother had purchased me. At the time she said it was the last pair she'd be able to get me on my insurance (since I was graduating soon.) I remember it being like 300 dollars and I remember feeling SO bad that I had wasted my mothers hard earned money. I think I have always been someone who knows the value of a dollar, and I was mortified.

I sulked back to the car soaking wet and asked Tina and Layla to help me look for my glasses in the ocean. I didn't find them. I wore my prescription sunglasses until the next day and they called me Stevie Wonder, and I bought some more the next day. I think I told my mom the next summer. Everyone LOVES my current glasses, which out the ones that I bought that final semester in college in 2004.

I have had the lenses replaced since. Do I think all in all I got my use out of the initial 250 for them and 200 more for additional frames two years ago. I am really sorry to say goodbye to these and fear I will get many fewer compliments on the new ones than I did these.

Something I DO NOT like about all the new glasses is that they insist on having HUGE designer names on the side of them. So my new glasses say Versage (is that how to spell it) and I kind of hate that, but feel like at the price (clearance) it couldn't be avoided. I also got some prescription sunglasses because I tried the whole contact thing and failed miserably. I guess every 4 years we need to spend three car payments on two pairs of glasses, but that doesn't make it that much easier to drop the cash.

Anyway, I am not complaining, more saying that it's time for a change and that is you see my designers name screaming in the side of my head, just know that I wouldn't have wanted it that way.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Confessions of a Data Entry Queen

  • I really like being domestic. I don't believe in gender roles, but for some reason I feel responsible to make dinner at the end of a day of working, and to clean up after the dinner too. I kind of melt when David does it for me, but I am okay with doing it for him most of the time.
  • There is a soft spot in my heart for reality TV. (Thank God I don't have cable, because otherwise it would be a problem.)
  • I am reading some trashy-ish novel right now that reminds me of teen fiction, and I am very much enjoying it. I needed a break from serious stuff.
  • I spend 1-2 hours at the beginning of the work day catching up on personal stuff. (I don't feel bad about this because I am really efficient at my job.)
  • Once when I smelled Inn and Out I thought about going there and having a cheeseburger and not telling anyone ever, but I didn't. (I don't crave meat often, but the grilled cheeses there just aren't the same.)
  • I read a lot of people's blogs all the time and never comment. I feel like I am a blog stalker in this way.
  • I sometimes don't by fair trade coffee because I really like certain flavors. It actually makes me feel like I am drinking 'blood coffee' sometimes, and I know I need to change this habit.
  • I am pretty happy spending time with just David and other close friends. I feel like I can't keep in touch with a lot of people all the time, and I am really happy in a normal routine.
  • I shave my legs about once every 2-3 months. Sometimes longer.
  • I feel guilty for moving so far from my family. It makes me feel like an abandoner- like my dad.
  • I peed in the pool most of my life growing up. (Not anymore thankfully)
  • I shaved my face with my mom's boyfriends razor when I was 10.
  • I asked a lady in a Rite Aid why she had a beard once, and my Aunt why she was fat. (I was not really polite at that age.)
  • I never order sodas when I am out, but I always take 3-5 sips from David.