These last few days my family was in from Utah to celebrate Justin's graduation from college!
I went to pick Jamie up around 11am at the airport on Thursday (the rest of the family was driving, so they were getting in later that night) and then we headed home to say "hi" to everyone and pick up Katie before going to lunch with Betsy and Gary's parents. Later that evening uncle Jeff, aunt Julie and Jenna arrived along with Justin, who they picked up in Whittier. We had a quick dinner and then turned in early because his graduation was bright and early the next morning.
6:30am came and so did Jamie, knocking on my door, asking to take a shower. I permitted her to, rolled over and went back to sleep. we were out of the house by 7:30am and there early for his 9:00am graduation, which was outside in the blistering morning sun.
I have to say, as excited as I am for him to have completed this huge milestone, I'm sad as well. It's been so much fun having him out here for the last four years. And it's been great having a cousin that is also like best friend and a brother all in one. Not that, that will change, we just wont get to hang out as often. It's definitely not going to be the same coming home on weekends from school and not seeing Justin raiding our kitchen, or going out to a random movie at 11:00 or wanting to paint out of the blue. Man, I'm going to miss him. But, the upside is i'm going to be seeing quite a lot of him this summer and we will never loose touch...kind of impossible when you are family.
anyway, that's my tribute to Justin.
till i return from Hawaii then...
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
pop!
Wednesday Amy, August, Grace and I were finally able to get together and hang out. after a lovely dinner at the factory of cheesecake, we tried desperately to think of something fun to do that wouldn't cost too much. we came up with the great idea of balloon painting! a quick trip to the hardware store for some wood and to K-mart for some paint and balloons got us ready to go. what a fun evening it was. i don't think i've ever ingested that much paint (accidentally of course...it would come out of the balloon when you were trying to blow it up)
balloon wars! danielle vs. august...who will win? :)
aw, i love them so much!
yes, we are slightly psychotic ...do you have a problem with that haha
the finished product!
balloon wars! danielle vs. august...who will win? :)
aw, i love them so much!
yes, we are slightly psychotic ...do you have a problem with that haha
the finished product!
what a fun evening! i hope summer will bring me lots of time to spend with them :)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
finishing up the thriftstore journey
so, to finish up the installment of my journey with Amy and Barrett, we drove out to Redlands and got to Barrett's house around 8:30. we hadn't stopped for dinner and thus, were starving. we unloaded our things and piled into a three seater truck. oh, and did i mention it was a stick-shift? did i also mention that Barrett just had learned to drive one two weeks prior. it was interesting. since the gear shift is in the center, i (the one in the small middle seat) had no other place to put my legs, but on top of Amy. we only stalled twice and despite Amy and my unhelpful remarks, Barrett got us there and back safely and full of laughs.
that evening we spent a lovely long while skyping with Shanan. Amy got online and skyped him, as Barrett and I hid, waiting to jump out at him and surprise him that we were all together. so, as Amy was talking to him, I leaned over the screen, yelled and then watched him jump back from the computer, surprised. he was so confused and started asking us questions about how long I'd been at Amy's and when we couldn't lie any longer, Barrett took her turn and jumped out at him. poor Shanan...always getting scared :)
in the morning (by morning i mean 11:30), Barrett's mom took us out to breakfast and then we were off to the remaining thrift stores on our list. Amy and I didn't end up leaving until around 8:30pm, but eventually made it to Van Nuys so I could drop her off and then back on the 405 so I could get home. fun trip with them and it was so good to get to see them before the summer really got going.
that evening we spent a lovely long while skyping with Shanan. Amy got online and skyped him, as Barrett and I hid, waiting to jump out at him and surprise him that we were all together. so, as Amy was talking to him, I leaned over the screen, yelled and then watched him jump back from the computer, surprised. he was so confused and started asking us questions about how long I'd been at Amy's and when we couldn't lie any longer, Barrett took her turn and jumped out at him. poor Shanan...always getting scared :)
in the morning (by morning i mean 11:30), Barrett's mom took us out to breakfast and then we were off to the remaining thrift stores on our list. Amy and I didn't end up leaving until around 8:30pm, but eventually made it to Van Nuys so I could drop her off and then back on the 405 so I could get home. fun trip with them and it was so good to get to see them before the summer really got going.
Monday, May 24, 2010
and the adventures continue...
Summer has still been going great, although it's been starting to get busier by the day.
Last Wednesday afternoon, I drove up to LA Union Station to pick up Barrett, who was coming in on the train from Redlands and Amy, who was being dropped off there by her sister. Yes, I am aware that it had only been a little less than two weeks since I'd last seen them, but it was great to see them, nonetheless. It really is funny how the people you meet at college become your family away from your family. Wednesday night was spent showing both of them some of Long Beach and going down to 2nd St. for an event put on by the restaurants called Stroll and Savor, during which Grace joined us. After much strolling and savoring, we took a quick trip down to the beach, where Barrett and I again engaged in a wrestling match...not the best of ideas, when so close to ocean water.
Thursday began our thrift-store adventures, starting with Buffalo exchange and eventually ending on Friday afternoon in Beaumont with Redlands thrift.
here is a list of what items i got and their price:
Buffalo Exchange:
-pair of black jeans: $11
-skirt: $6
Savers:
-jean shorts: $5
-small couch: $20 (split 3 ways. I'll explain this one)
Hobo's Vintage (my personal favorite)
-1950's/60's polyester jacket: $6
-1 tie from the 1950's and 1 from the 1960's: $2
-1960's vintage dress (my favorite purchase): $12
Redlands Thrift:
-awesome red fuzzy nightgown (we all got nightgowns haha): $.99
-long-sleeve sweater/shirt: $.99
Shopping at thrift stores may just be one of my new favorite things (well, as much as i can favor shopping...i'm not much of a shopper). So, we had planned to leave Buffalo Exchange/Long Beach around 1pm, which ended up being 3pm. We hadn't had lunch yet as we began our drive out to Beaumont (small town next to Redlands where Barrett lives) and as we were passing Whittier I told them that Whittier was really the last city I semi-knew how to get around until we got out to Redlands, where Barrett could guide us. As I got off the exit to Whittier Blvd. Amy made a comment that she didn't like Whittier, yet the only thing she new about the city was what a group of people from a church there had displayed when they had come to stay at her church. Apparently they came off arrogant to her and right as she expressed this, Barrett jumped on the bandwagon with her perceptions of the city and that became the running joke for the trip. Every sign, car, person or building we passed came with a plethora of comments from Barrett and Amy. Since I was a mere 10 minutes away from Whittier college, I gave Justin a call to see if he wanted to come join us for lunch. He did and I was told to pick him up at the athletic center. Barrett and Amy immediately go "Oh, look at us, we're Whittier and we have an athletic center."
"It's a college campus. Why wouldn't they have an athletic center?"
"Oh, we're such an important city...we have a college."
After a lovely lunch, Barrett and Amy began suffering from the effects of the bigheaded people of Whittier as displayed when I dropped Justin off at his house and the two of them stayed seated in the back seat, making me chauffeur them around to find the thrift store Justin had told us about. Ridiculous.
We eventually made it to Savers, searched the store, found items worthy of buying and Amy and I proceeded to wait for Barrett to be done. We wandered into the home section, browsing for anything to add to our room next year. We stumbled upon this small couch with no arms, but that could comfortably seat three people on it's two cushions. Amy and I looked at each other and expressed that we thought it might be perfect for our dorm room, but only halfheartedly since we have so little space with three people. We decided to sit on it anyway, just to see if it were even worth it. Hands down one of the most comfortable couches I've ever sat on. It's a bit old and a little decrepit looking, but who cares! For that comfort and only $20 it's perfect! We ran to find Barrett and after pushing her down onto it's padding, she was sold as well on it. Quite exciting!
Well, I fear this post is dragging on and thus will save the rest of the retelling of my journey for a later date. I'm going to try and be better about keeping up my blog...I realize I've said that before, but this time I really am...we'll see :)
Over and out.
Last Wednesday afternoon, I drove up to LA Union Station to pick up Barrett, who was coming in on the train from Redlands and Amy, who was being dropped off there by her sister. Yes, I am aware that it had only been a little less than two weeks since I'd last seen them, but it was great to see them, nonetheless. It really is funny how the people you meet at college become your family away from your family. Wednesday night was spent showing both of them some of Long Beach and going down to 2nd St. for an event put on by the restaurants called Stroll and Savor, during which Grace joined us. After much strolling and savoring, we took a quick trip down to the beach, where Barrett and I again engaged in a wrestling match...not the best of ideas, when so close to ocean water.
Thursday began our thrift-store adventures, starting with Buffalo exchange and eventually ending on Friday afternoon in Beaumont with Redlands thrift.
here is a list of what items i got and their price:
Buffalo Exchange:
-pair of black jeans: $11
-skirt: $6
Savers:
-jean shorts: $5
-small couch: $20 (split 3 ways. I'll explain this one)
Hobo's Vintage (my personal favorite)
-1950's/60's polyester jacket: $6
-1 tie from the 1950's and 1 from the 1960's: $2
-1960's vintage dress (my favorite purchase): $12
Redlands Thrift:
-awesome red fuzzy nightgown (we all got nightgowns haha): $.99
-long-sleeve sweater/shirt: $.99
Shopping at thrift stores may just be one of my new favorite things (well, as much as i can favor shopping...i'm not much of a shopper). So, we had planned to leave Buffalo Exchange/Long Beach around 1pm, which ended up being 3pm. We hadn't had lunch yet as we began our drive out to Beaumont (small town next to Redlands where Barrett lives) and as we were passing Whittier I told them that Whittier was really the last city I semi-knew how to get around until we got out to Redlands, where Barrett could guide us. As I got off the exit to Whittier Blvd. Amy made a comment that she didn't like Whittier, yet the only thing she new about the city was what a group of people from a church there had displayed when they had come to stay at her church. Apparently they came off arrogant to her and right as she expressed this, Barrett jumped on the bandwagon with her perceptions of the city and that became the running joke for the trip. Every sign, car, person or building we passed came with a plethora of comments from Barrett and Amy. Since I was a mere 10 minutes away from Whittier college, I gave Justin a call to see if he wanted to come join us for lunch. He did and I was told to pick him up at the athletic center. Barrett and Amy immediately go "Oh, look at us, we're Whittier and we have an athletic center."
"It's a college campus. Why wouldn't they have an athletic center?"
"Oh, we're such an important city...we have a college."
After a lovely lunch, Barrett and Amy began suffering from the effects of the bigheaded people of Whittier as displayed when I dropped Justin off at his house and the two of them stayed seated in the back seat, making me chauffeur them around to find the thrift store Justin had told us about. Ridiculous.
We eventually made it to Savers, searched the store, found items worthy of buying and Amy and I proceeded to wait for Barrett to be done. We wandered into the home section, browsing for anything to add to our room next year. We stumbled upon this small couch with no arms, but that could comfortably seat three people on it's two cushions. Amy and I looked at each other and expressed that we thought it might be perfect for our dorm room, but only halfheartedly since we have so little space with three people. We decided to sit on it anyway, just to see if it were even worth it. Hands down one of the most comfortable couches I've ever sat on. It's a bit old and a little decrepit looking, but who cares! For that comfort and only $20 it's perfect! We ran to find Barrett and after pushing her down onto it's padding, she was sold as well on it. Quite exciting!
Well, I fear this post is dragging on and thus will save the rest of the retelling of my journey for a later date. I'm going to try and be better about keeping up my blog...I realize I've said that before, but this time I really am...we'll see :)
Over and out.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
the many adventures of being back home
so, I've been home a full week now and fully recovered from the all-nighter i pulled the day i moved out.
Thursday was all of our last night's there, so we decided it would be fun to go out and see iron man 2, plus we had two cars available (my mom's and Barrett's parents') so we were able to get back that late, seeing as the shuttle doesn't run. the movie was pretty good...i fell asleep for a bit (it was late haha). when we arrived back to campus, i loaded some stuff in the car. yes, at 2:30 am. after that, i turn to Amy and Barrett and say, "well, i think I'm going to go to bed". they immediately broke into protest, saying "it's our last night together" and "that's so lame!". so, they convinced me to stay up for a while...till 5:30, in fact. i then said "alright i really need to get to bed". "but what's the point now? you've almost stayed up all night. come on lets go to our favorite spots on campus and watch the sun rise". well, i do enjoy sunrises :)
so, off we went into the early morning cold. we climbed the giant bolder and watched as the sky lightened, we climbed the roof of the post office as sat under the trees (totally breaking the rules), we climbed the rock by the library and laid on top of it, watching a bunch of bats fly over us (they have a nest in the library roof as we discovered),we went down to the track and the observatory and the stairs where we have had many long and good conversations. quite a sentimental evening :) around 6:45 we were getting quite sleepy and hungry and decided maybe we would go to the D.C at 7 when it opened, but ihop sounded more appealing than cafeteria food. so we went and got in Barrett's car and drove down to state street, getting quite lost along the way because Barrett just had to drive through the hills. eventually we made it and enjoyed a lovely early-morning breakfast. our return trip to campus was quite smooth and when we arrived we found the dorm waking up and people out packing up their cars. they were all shocked to hear we had stayed up all night.
saying goodbye was much harder than i expected and though i was really excited to come home, tears weren't optional. i know it's only for four months, but that seems like a long time when you all have been living together and see people everyday.
but, home-life is great. I've been enjoying spending time with my family and have seen August and my other Amy since I've been back.
i enjoyed a great trip to the tide-pools with August on Wednesday and an adventure to old-town Pasadena with Amy on Thursday.
the tide pools were great. we found lots of little creatures and neat shells and it was so fun to get to spend some time with her...i hope this summer will hold a lot of that. after, my parents called to see if we wanted to meet them at the farmers market, so we did and then ate dinner.
Wednesday with Amy was good as well and we enjoyed exploring part of southern California neither of us had really been to before. we found a cool Indian restaurant and had some amazing food. oh, and we got stuck in a parking garage thanks to me. Amy drove, so i said i would pay for the parking. there was no guy in the ticket booth and the machine said if you were there for under 90 mins to just put your ticket in, if not (like we were) go to the pay station machine. Amy pulled over and i hopped out to go to the machine. i paid and then got a receipt, thinking i wouldn't need a receipt, i threw in in the trash on the way back to the car. so, now how do we get the arm to go up? oh, you must need the receipt. brilliant. i got out of the car and went to dig in the trash to get it, found it all crumpled up and then Amy proceeded to try and put it in the ticket machine. it wouldn't take it. we pushed the "help" button and begin explaining our problem to some guy, who goes "the machine should have given you your ticket back". i said i didn't think it did, but ran to go check anyway. oh, yes there it was in the machine. another brilliant move by me. it took us a good 10 mins to get out of a parking structure...never again.
there is another embarrassing moment you can borrow, august. :)
oh summer...so delightful
Thursday was all of our last night's there, so we decided it would be fun to go out and see iron man 2, plus we had two cars available (my mom's and Barrett's parents') so we were able to get back that late, seeing as the shuttle doesn't run. the movie was pretty good...i fell asleep for a bit (it was late haha). when we arrived back to campus, i loaded some stuff in the car. yes, at 2:30 am. after that, i turn to Amy and Barrett and say, "well, i think I'm going to go to bed". they immediately broke into protest, saying "it's our last night together" and "that's so lame!". so, they convinced me to stay up for a while...till 5:30, in fact. i then said "alright i really need to get to bed". "but what's the point now? you've almost stayed up all night. come on lets go to our favorite spots on campus and watch the sun rise". well, i do enjoy sunrises :)
so, off we went into the early morning cold. we climbed the giant bolder and watched as the sky lightened, we climbed the roof of the post office as sat under the trees (totally breaking the rules), we climbed the rock by the library and laid on top of it, watching a bunch of bats fly over us (they have a nest in the library roof as we discovered),we went down to the track and the observatory and the stairs where we have had many long and good conversations. quite a sentimental evening :) around 6:45 we were getting quite sleepy and hungry and decided maybe we would go to the D.C at 7 when it opened, but ihop sounded more appealing than cafeteria food. so we went and got in Barrett's car and drove down to state street, getting quite lost along the way because Barrett just had to drive through the hills. eventually we made it and enjoyed a lovely early-morning breakfast. our return trip to campus was quite smooth and when we arrived we found the dorm waking up and people out packing up their cars. they were all shocked to hear we had stayed up all night.
saying goodbye was much harder than i expected and though i was really excited to come home, tears weren't optional. i know it's only for four months, but that seems like a long time when you all have been living together and see people everyday.
but, home-life is great. I've been enjoying spending time with my family and have seen August and my other Amy since I've been back.
i enjoyed a great trip to the tide-pools with August on Wednesday and an adventure to old-town Pasadena with Amy on Thursday.
the tide pools were great. we found lots of little creatures and neat shells and it was so fun to get to spend some time with her...i hope this summer will hold a lot of that. after, my parents called to see if we wanted to meet them at the farmers market, so we did and then ate dinner.
Wednesday with Amy was good as well and we enjoyed exploring part of southern California neither of us had really been to before. we found a cool Indian restaurant and had some amazing food. oh, and we got stuck in a parking garage thanks to me. Amy drove, so i said i would pay for the parking. there was no guy in the ticket booth and the machine said if you were there for under 90 mins to just put your ticket in, if not (like we were) go to the pay station machine. Amy pulled over and i hopped out to go to the machine. i paid and then got a receipt, thinking i wouldn't need a receipt, i threw in in the trash on the way back to the car. so, now how do we get the arm to go up? oh, you must need the receipt. brilliant. i got out of the car and went to dig in the trash to get it, found it all crumpled up and then Amy proceeded to try and put it in the ticket machine. it wouldn't take it. we pushed the "help" button and begin explaining our problem to some guy, who goes "the machine should have given you your ticket back". i said i didn't think it did, but ran to go check anyway. oh, yes there it was in the machine. another brilliant move by me. it took us a good 10 mins to get out of a parking structure...never again.
there is another embarrassing moment you can borrow, august. :)
oh summer...so delightful
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
ch ch ch ch changes....
in the words of David Bowie (one of my most recent music obsessions)"...turn and face the strange...time may change me, but I can't trace time".
lot's of changes happening right now. i can't believe my freshman year will be over in two days! two days! where did this year go? and it's amazing to me how much my attitudes about college have changed. i absolutely love it now, where as at the beginning of the year, i just wanted these four years to go by as quickly as possible. it's hard to imagine my life without some of the great people I've met and hard to imagine that just ten months ago, I didn't know any of them.
in addition to my freshman year almost being complete, rooming for next year was decided a couple weeks ago! meet my two new roommates! Barrett and Amy! both of them are great and i can't wait to live with them next year! it's going to be so cramped, since the room in which we are living, is not actually designed to be a triple room, but it's going to be so worth it. i can only imagine all the crazy memories that will come out of this living situation yay for Armington A (my new building!) both of them are such blessings in my life. and to think that i didn't know them just 9 months ago. they have become such major and important parts of my life. we always have a blast and are constantly laughing, but i'm also thankful that our relationships go deeper.
we were stalking our new room and took a picture outside the window
Polaroid's are awesome! :)
lot's of changes happening right now. i can't believe my freshman year will be over in two days! two days! where did this year go? and it's amazing to me how much my attitudes about college have changed. i absolutely love it now, where as at the beginning of the year, i just wanted these four years to go by as quickly as possible. it's hard to imagine my life without some of the great people I've met and hard to imagine that just ten months ago, I didn't know any of them.
in addition to my freshman year almost being complete, rooming for next year was decided a couple weeks ago! meet my two new roommates! Barrett and Amy! both of them are great and i can't wait to live with them next year! it's going to be so cramped, since the room in which we are living, is not actually designed to be a triple room, but it's going to be so worth it. i can only imagine all the crazy memories that will come out of this living situation yay for Armington A (my new building!) both of them are such blessings in my life. and to think that i didn't know them just 9 months ago. they have become such major and important parts of my life. we always have a blast and are constantly laughing, but i'm also thankful that our relationships go deeper.
we were stalking our new room and took a picture outside the window
Polaroid's are awesome! :)other changes include my official declaration of my English major! not that it's life-changing, but in a way it is. the responses i've gotten when i tell people i'm going to be an English major are all over the map. some say how excellent that is and that English is such a lost art amongst all the Business and Science majors of today. others will look apprehensive and say something like "oh, and what are you planning to do with that? teach? what else can you do?". however, i'm trying not to worry too much about my plans after college. after all, i've still got three years and who knows where i will be then...just going to see where things take me. it will all work out.
quite another big change that i'm looking forward to, but has also been weighing on my heart is my application to the San Francisco Urban program. i have decided to take advantage of Westmont's off campus programs and explore the city of San Francisco. so, if everything works out, i will be in San Fran. next spring semester. this is extremely exciting, but also comes with drawbacks. but, i will continue praying about it and know that whatever happens will happen for the best.
anyway, finals week has been...pure hell (for lack of a better phrase). amidst studying, papers, packing and spending time with friends before summer, i haven't had much down time. but, it will all be over soon and then i can enjoy some r and r before taking off for the many trips my dear family has planned this summer and before i start my GE's (luckily they are online so i can do them from anywhere in the world-a nessecary measure for this summer's travel plans).
well, over and out.
oh, by the way, happy star wars day...May the fourth be with you. haha get it? extremely corny? yes. :)
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