Birthday List

So this is actually my "Stuff I Want To Buy if I Have Money Left Over in My Budget at the End of Each Month List", but I've turned it into my "Birthday List" considering my birthday is at the end of March and I'm doing a horrible job at updating this blog.

I don't expect gifts from anyone at all, but I thought I would share some of the little things I would love to own with whoever happens to be reading today!

Claddagh Gold Ring

http://www.amazon.com/Gold-Vermeil-Sterling-Silver-Claddagh/dp/B001KW4G16/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=jewelry&qid=1265333836&sr=1-6

I have a silver version of this ring, but its starting to bend and get a bit old, and I've always been a gold girl. I love the idea of this Irish tradition as well.

Falling Whistle Necklace

http://fallingwhistles.bigcartel.com/product/whistle-necklace

I think this is such a great cause. When young boys are torn away from their families in the "Democratic Republic" of Congo by rebel armies, they are often not even big enough to carry a gun. If that is the case, they are given nothing but a whistle and thrown onto the front lines of battle. This organization asks us now to use their "weapons" as their voice. You can read more about the story at www.fallingwhistles.com.

Invisible Children Bracelet

http://store.invisiblechildren.com/bracelets/the-blue-roseline-bracelet.html

Invisible Children is a fighting for similar things as Falling Whistles, although Invisible Children is probably much more famous. I have an Invisible Children shirt, I've just always been too strapped for cash to buy a bracelet. Once again, to learn more about Invisible Children you can simply go to www.invisiblechildren.com

Ipod Touch Arm Band

There isn't much to say here. I go to the gym and listen to my Ipod. Not all of my sweatpants have pockets. This item would be helpful. I don't really care what product specifically, as long as it has good reviews online.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Happiness-Project/Gretchen-Rubin/e/9780061583254/?itm=1&USRI=the+happiness+project+or+why+i+spent+a+year

Doesn't this just seem like a lovely book to read. Unfortunately it is too new and too popular for me to be able to paperbackswap it or buy it used on amazon.

My Life by Marc Chagall

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/My-Life/Marc-Chagall/e/9780306805714/?itm=1

Chagall is by far one of my favorite artists. His work is so beautiful, meaningful, lovely, colorful, and all in all just puts you in a good mood. I would love to read about the man behind the art.

Snow Angels

So apparently college students suddenly become five years old again in the aftermath of a blizzard.

In the last two days I've seen several igloos around campus (one with two people eating lunch inside), including the igloo village that was built on the baseball feild, watched six students climbing on top of a 15 foot pile of snow at 10:15pm, come across many snowman, most of which were decapataed, witnessed four snowball fights, had approximately eight snowballs thrown at my window while I was sitting at my computer, and of course, seen the many snow angels spread around campus.

Ah, college.

Anthropologie Outfit: Matchy Matchy

Since I'm currently stuck in my dorm due to a ridiculous blizzard, I thought I would have some fun putting together an outfit from a lovely store that I could never afford.

Going back to my roots as a girl who grew up in a Air Force town surrounded by airplane engineers and B-2 Bombers flying above my head.

The total cost of this outfit: $515

A Love Poem

Language Lesson, 1976.

When Americans say a man

takes liberties, they mean

he’s gone too far. In Philadelphia today I saw

a kid on a leash look mom-ward

and announce his fondest wish: one

bicentennial burger, hold

the relish. Hold is forget,

in American.

On the courts of Philadelphia

the rich prepare

to serve, to fault. The language is a game as well,

in which love can mean nothing,

doubletalk mean lie. I’m saying

doubletalk with me. I’m saying

go so far the customs are untold.

Make nothing without words,

and let me be

the one you never hold.

-Heather McHugh

Think about the romance in this poem. Read it once, twice, three times.

When Americans say a man

takes liberties, they mean

he’s gone too far. In Philadelphia today I saw

a kid on a leash look mom-ward

and announce his fondest wish: one

bicentennial burger, hold

the relish. Hold is forget,

in American.

On the courts of Philadelphia

the rich prepare

to serve, to fault. The language is a game as well,

in which love can mean nothing,

doubletalk mean lie. I’m saying

doubletalk (lie) with me. I’m saying

go so far the customs are untold.

Make nothing (love) without words,

and let me be

the one you never hold (forget).

There are many other things going on in the poem, but the way she plays with words in those three ways is why I love it so much.

Hearst Castle!

While back in California on Christmas break, my mother decided it would be fun to take a mini family vacation. She decided on place we had visited when we were very young and could therefore barely remember, Hearst Castle.

Heart Castle is about a 5 hour car trip from our house, although after driving 7, 8, or even 11 hours in one day on our cross country robotics trip last summer, 5 hours was a breeze.

We stopped along the way at several places, making the drive seem less intense. This included my father's old dorm building at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where we slyly held the door open for a young woman who was moving back in, after she had slid her ID card to unlock the door, and then walked in behind her.

The best place we stopped however was Hot Licks, which my mother saw on TV Food Network (or California's Gold, I can't remember). They were featured in a segment because of their one specialty item...bugs.

These crickets and meal worms came in a variety of flavors, including ranch, sour cream and onion, and cheddar cheese.

These are the chocolate covered meal-worms we ate at lunch.

DELICIOUS!

We then walked around the beach for a little while.

The next day we headed to Hearst Castle (which was built by newspaper mogul William Randolf Hearst, for any New Yorkers who may have never heard of the castle) to take just one of the many tours of the place.

This is the Neptune Pool, with the original marble ladder handle things. Some of the sculptures were created for Hearst specifically, where are others (like the relief in the tympanum above the left columned structure) are from actual ancient times.

By the way, I would totally spend my fortune on priceless artifacts to decorate my pool with.

Oh, hello there! You look familiar from my lovely art history class last semester! Just like many other things at the castle (obviously, I totally just used the word tympanum, 6 months ago I would have had little idea what that was). Everyone should have to take one art history class in their life, simply so they can appreciate what they see in architecture and in museums.

Another pool. Indoor this time.

You would think that seeing a bajillion dollar castle would be the highlight of our trip. You would think wouldn't you? But you would be wrong!

Because this was totally the highlight of the weekend.

ELEPHANT SEALS!

HUNDREDS OF ELEPHANT SEALS!

Screaming at the top of their lungs.

Sleeping lazily.

CUDDLING WITH THEIR BABIES!!!!!!

Did I mention screaming at the top of their lung?

AND THE BABIES? This one was sucking his flippers moments before.

The babies would yell at their mothers that they wanted to nurse, and the mothers would act completely annoyed before rolling over for their pups.

We spent a really long time there.

Then we went to dinner at this adorable little restaurant with twinkle lights and a very boho vibe (at least on the porch).

Apparently it was silly hat day, and anyone who was wearing a silly hat got a free dessert. My mom asked the bus lady if, since we were not locals and had no idea that silly hat day even existed, if she could make a hat could we get a free dessert. The bus lady said yes, and my mom proceeded to make a hat out of her napkin, being the former Girl Scout leader that she is. But alas, the actual waitress refused her her free dessert.

But it didn't stop me from having the BEST piece of pumpkin cheesecake EVER!!!

On our way out of town we stopped at the poor man's Hearst Castle for a peek, but we were there too early for a tour.

The monarch sanctuary.

And Pea Soup Anderson's, which is actually just called Anderson's, but everyone calls it "Pea Soup" Anderson's because of their world famous pea soup.

And then we were home. All in all, a wonderful trip.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

So I've been home for over four weeks now, and I have been way too busy to even think about updating this blog.

Anyway, now I have a lot of catching up to do!

First of all, I had a wonderful Christmas. The day before I made silly gingerbread cookies!

A bride and groom, which were horribly decapitated on Christmas Day :( , a Team 399 member, an elf, Santa, and a guy in his PJs.

On Christmas Day I received many lovely gifts from my parents, but this year I had even more fun giving gifts to my family! I probably spent a bit too much money, but I didn't mind. I found out at the beginning of December that I will be working 15-18 hours a week next semester WOOOO!!!!!!

After we opened our presents we have a delicious and very filling brunch with some family friends; Holly, the teacher in my mom's classroom, and her husband Marlin, and the Voraceks, who we know through Robotics.

This is Dave and my dad, in a very picture perfect moment!

Brad, Me, and Caitlin!

I honestly don't remember what else we did that day. My mom had planned to make a lamb dinner, but we were all too full from brunch, so we made our "Christmas Dinner" on Sunday. I'm sure we just lazed around all day enjoying the holiday.

I had originally planned to have a very quiet night at home on New Years Eve, but then Danielle, Kellie, and Ari ended up coming over to celebrate. It was still a pretty quiet night, however. We played board games and drank 4 bottles of apple cider, which comes out to a little more than 1 and 1/3 of a bottle for Kellie, Danielle, and me, and about 1/3 of a bottle for Ari.

We had a wonderful night, laughing hysterically due to the sugar high we were on, taking silly pictures with photobooth, and watching the ball drop at midnight.

So although my holidays were pretty uneventful, I wouldn't of had them any other way.

A REAL Winter!

So last Saturday night Long Island experienced a blizzard. You would thinking that coming from California that this would have been my first blizzard... it was not.

I had a little experience with blizzards from the one we were stuck in in Denver, Colorado this March. We were there for a Robotics Competition, the first day of which was canceled because of the weather. We then had to walk back to our hotel, which was a little less than a mile, right in the middle of the blizzard.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the aftermath of the blizzard. Unlike my fall pictures, I was not trying to be artsy at all with these, my hands were too cold. Therefore they are also not photoshopped to make them prettier or anything.

So here is the Winter Wonderland I had for a couple of days.