A QUEST FOR BEAUTY

Miss Me?

2010-08-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

Sadly, it has been WAY too long since I have updated my blog. My excuses for not writing in awhile are this: First, I was in Mexico for a week and a half. Second, my computer died and I am still without one. Third, even if I borrowed Heath's computer, I have no internet at my place (yet). BUT, right now I am at Heath's parent's house, using his computer and I have some free time to write a little bit!

Mexico was great, Heath and his parents, and me and my parents all went to the Cancun area for a week and a half right after school got out. Oh and did I mention I graduated? Yeah, don't feel like it yet, but I'm sure I will come September when Heath goes back to school and I don't!! Anywho...Mexico was great, the weather was great right up until the day we left!

Got back and started my new job!! I am now an Assistant Project Manager at Translations.com! My dear friend Amy Dill works in the Sales department and suggested I apply for the position. I found out right before we left for Mexico that they were considering me for the position and two days later they called and offered me the job! So we got back from Mexico on a Saturday and I started my new job that Monday! I've been there now for a little over a month and I love it! It is long hours because we're a little understaffed but they are working on hiring more people. I love what I do and I feel like I'm utilizing skills that I have that I actually enjoy using. So I'm hoping I can stay working here as long as Heath and I are in Corvallis!

Heath and I are getting closer to the wedding! 34 days! I'm pretty sure we have most of the big details worked out and all our vendors picked and set up, now we just need to finalize numbers and little details. I can't wait - if I think about it too much I start getting a little nervous!

Also, I moved into the apartment which Heath and I will be living in once we get married! It's two story, one bed, one bath, and really cute. Heath and I have been slowly setting it up and unpacking boxes in our spare time (what's that?!) and I can't wait to finally share that place with the love of my life.

That's all for now and I probably won't be able to update again until I get a computer or internet, which probably won't be until after Heath and I get back from our honeymoon.

Graduated!!!

2010-06-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

I graduated! College life is done!! It is weird looking back on the 4 years I spent at Oregon State University. The activities I was involved in like ballroom dancing, Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship, Calvary Chapel, etc. The people I've met and stayed friends with and those that were friends during specific times in my life; I just can't believe how much I have gone through. College brought me tears and heartache as well as love and happiness. It was a journey I'm glad to say I survived and managed to enjoy for the most part! There will be many things I will miss, including: ranting about crazy English teachers with Kalin, getting chai tea and bagels from Java, having a building I can call my own (Moreland), finding exciting new authors and books because of a class I took, and many more. However, there will also be many things I will not miss anymore, such as: having classes with crazy, mean English teachers, having to run across campus to print papers off last minute and get to a hot and sweaty classroom in Moreland, not being able to find a computer at the library, and walking a half hour in the rain when I straightened my hair that day, etc. I'm sure I will be walking into a slew of new ups and downs with the next part of my life which will hopefully included a job with salary and benefits. Special thanks to everyone who helped me to celebrate my graduation on Sunday!

Favorite Products

2010-06-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy reading beauty blogs so I decided to make a post of my own reviewing a few of my favorite products! It's always easier for me to buy someone's product when I can see someone's personal review of whether or not it was worth the money. So here are a few of my favorite products!

Aveeno's Ultra-Calming daily moisturizer is my life saver! I use it everyday and it has visibly reduced the redness on my face and given me softer skin. It's perfect for my sensitive skin. The one downside is it costs about $16 at a drugstore; but I pay it because I know it works. I've been using it for 3-4 years and I wouldn't change it for any other brand. It does last a long time, I can usually get mine to last around a year since I don't need much to moisturize my face.

As silly as the bottle looks, the smell is quite good. I would have never picked it out on my own but I got it as a gift from Heath's mom and I wear it all the time now! I have never been one to have a favorite smell and I always get a new perfume each time I'm out because I like to try new ones, but currently, out of the 3 different brands I use, this one is my favorite.

This product is great for catching fly-aways. I will put it in damp hair if I am going to blow-dry my hair to help protect it from the heat and when it is dry but a little frizzy I will put a little dab in to tame it down. Be careful of over-use or too much at once or it can make your hair a little greasy.

That's all for now, when I get new products (happens rarely as I have no money) I will try to review them on here!

Wedding Quilt

2010-06-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday I began the quilting process! My sister-in-law Elisha took me Joann Fabrics and we picked out some fun colors to use! She showed me how to cut everything to correct dimensions. Who knew there was so much math in quilting?! Time for me to brush up on my addition of fractions skills. I decided to make a wedding themed quilt for Heath and I. I'm attempting to make it a queen size, though it may end up being smaller as my sewing machine skills are very low and I end up loosing a lot of fabric with I'm sewing two pieces together.
Elisha's mom let me borrow her sewing machine until I decided whether or not I wanted to buy my own (or get it as a gift, etc). Here are 4 of the 5 fabrics we chose (I couldn't find a picture of the last one online).

The first fabric (with the wording) is the base fabric I picked out -- notice the wedding themed wording--and as our bedroom is going to be somewhat brown themed, I thought brown and blue would look nice!

We cut all the fabric into strips of varying sizes and I began sewing them together in rows. Once I get all the blocks done I will sow the blocks together with it switching between horizontal and vertical direction of the strips. I'll be sure to post pictures as it is coming together! Need to get all the blocks done then figure out the next step. Haven't begun to learn about the backing and a border, etc.

Also, Heath says I need to blog about more exciting things...I just have no idea what is more exciting than quilting!

Fill In The Blank Friday

2010-06-04T13:13:00.000-07:00

FILL IN THE BLANK FRIDAY: Taken from this blog here!

MY DREAM VACATION WOULD BE: Well vacation for me is relaxing, so my dream vacation (not traveling) would be some remote island with not many people and beautiful beaches and warm water and my man (once he's my husband - 3 months!). My dream traveling vacation would be Israel and all around there.

THE BEST TRIP I'VE EVER TAKEN: was all around Europe. Went to France, Switzerland, and Italy all in a month. It was a blast, saw so many things and was blown away by everything. Wish I could do it again!

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO TAKE ON A ROAD TRIP: Dramamine!! I get super car sick so road trips are no fun without it. And snacks and good music you can sing along with.

THE NEXT TRIP I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IS: my honeymoon to Cabo San Lucas in September. =]

IF I HAD TO PICK ONE CD TO LISTEN TO ON A LONG ROAD TRIP, IT WOULD BE: probably a CD with showtunes/Glee mixes. Depending on who was riding with me. Anything I could sing along with at the top of my lungs!

THE BIGGEST DISASTER I'VE ENCOUNTERED WHILE TRAVELING WAS: Probably my trip in southern Spain with Shannon, we missed every bus we tried to catch and our hostel wasn't actually located where they said it was so we almost had to sleep on a bench for a night but then found a hostel with one twin bed we could share. Disaster, but at the same time extremely fun and an awesome memory.

MY FAVORITE TRAVEL MEMORY: I absolutely loved seeing Monte St. Michael in France. It was beautiful and fun to hike around the town with my parents and my friend Shannon, then finding our hotel (not easy) and getting there and playing cards all night.

The End is Just The Beginning

2010-06-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

As it gets within the single digit number of days until my college graduation, I can't help but feel a little scared. Our whole lives are school, all preparing us for reaching "the real world." Do I feel prepared? No. Do I feel ready? No. Am I glad to be done with school? YES. But now what? The age old question that you are asked from your Junior year in High School until a little after you graduate from College is: What do you want to do with you life? My honest answer? I have no clue. None. The one that sounds the most appealing? Being a stay-at-home mom. Is this practical and possible? Not yet; especially since I don't have any kids and Heath has more schooling before he can be the bread-winner. So my next best options? Trying to find a job I don't hate. I can get along in any job, deal with any type of boss, but I would prefer to have a job I actually enjoy.
I've come to realize that I really enjoy working with people, but that people also wear me out if I get overly involved, so jobs in social service might be too much. So what's the next best thing? Receptionist/Secretarial type work. It's the perfect balance of customer interaction while still having office work to keep you busy. I'm really detail oriented and I love being organized. Most people would criticize someone for aspiring to be a secretary, it's not a career goal most people fantasize about; but I think I would be really good at it and might just enjoy it! I'm not cut out for the competitive business world, I don't care about reaching the top and climbing some ladder, I just want a job I don't hate. So here I go, off into the real world to find my calling (as they say), except I've already found my calling, my calling is to serve the Lord, and I realize I can do that anywhere. So all I ask is for prayer that I will be placed in a job where God can use me. And if you know of any good job opportunities I suppose passing those along wouldn't hurt either ;-)

Adventure for a New Hobby

2010-05-31T20:43:00.000-07:00

I've decided I need a new hobby. And as I am getting married soon I wanted to choose something that I would be able to do in my spare time at home. As I look towards marriage and being a wife there are certain traditions I don't want to die off as my generation becomes more and more technologically advanced, more about instant gratification, and less about doing things yourself. So here are a few things I am going to learn how to do, hopefully before I become a wife (so I have until September!). Or at least within the first year or so.

1. Learn how to can fruit, make applesauce, etc
2. Learn how to make homemade bread
3. Learn how to quilt
4. Learn how to make my own pie crust and pie filling (the filling I suppose goes under the canning category)
5. This will probably come with quilting but I want to learn how to sow minor things like tears in pants or buttons that have fallen off, etc.

I think 5 is enough for now, though I am sure there will be more things I can think of later on.

So to start off my adventure I am spending next Saturday afternoon/evening with my lovely sister-in-law who quilts and she is going to help get me started! I'll post about it later. My current challenge is trying to find an idea for a quilt to make. I think our future bedroom colors are going to be brown tones, so maybe something for that room. Or maybe just start with something fun. Maybe a wedding quilt since our colors are purple and gold (though gold might be hard, maybe make it yellow for the quilt). Thoughts?

25 Random Things About Me

2010-05-23T16:29:00.000-07:00

1. I love to be organized
2. When my room is slightly messy I feel extremely disorganized in every aspect of my life
3. If I had a cubicle desk job, my desk would be immaculate
4. I don't have a favorite color
5. If you ask me what my favorite color is, I will tell you whatever color I like at the time
6. The color I like at the time usually reflects whichever color I am wearing the most or think looks best on me at said point in time
7. I could live on bread
8. And cheese
9. And water, my favorite drink is a perfectly cold, no ice, glass of water
10. I do like ice in my water when in Europe...why do they like warm water? I do not know
11. I love to travel
12. I am a sucker for new clothes
13. I am a new found believer in paying more money to get a great hair cut by a professional, instead of going to a Great Clips, Perfect Look, etc.
14. I am trying to grow my hair out, wish there was a faster way than just waiting
15. I chew my finger nails when I'm bored
16. I try to paint my finger nails in hopes that this will stop me from biting them (it only delays me by forcing me to chip the color off first)
17. I have weird long toes
18. I wish I could own more shoes
19. I love wearing heels, except that they make me as tall as Heath
20. I'm thankful I'm marrying someone taller than me
21. I want to be an old-fashioned housewife
22. I want to learn how to quilt, sow, stitch, knit, etc.
23. When I have a place of my own I hope to be very creative in decorating
24. I attempt to blog to be more creative in my writing
25. Comments fuel my blogging and I try to comment on other people's blogs because I know everyone secretly (if not openly) loves getting comments.

Shedding the Extra Layering

2010-02-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

This summer I am going to Mexico with Heath, his parents and my parents. But over the last few months I have managed to gain some extra weight from eating unhealthily. So after Christmas break Heath and I decided to buy a treadmill. Well the treadmill somehow got lost in transit and for about a month I was calling UPS Freight over and over to see if it had showed up. Eventually I called Costco (who we had ordered it through) and they said they would ship a new one. While the order was processing, however, Heath and I noticed that there is a Anytime Fitness (gym) really close to my house. We canceled the order, got a refund and got a membership to the gym. So for a couple weeks now we have been working out regularly and it makes me feel really healthy. Sadly, I have yet to feel like I've been loosing any weight. I'm sure this isn't true, but it's so hard not to see immediate results, especially in our culture of instant gratification.
I realized that along with working out I really should be working on watching what I consume. I have gotten in such a bad habit of eating junk food and eating out all the time. With a busy schedule and working all the time it is really easy to eat what is convenient. But what is convenient is generally unhealthy. Also, with being short on money I don't buy as many groceries which means I don't have as many healthy options even when I'm home. Therefore my new goal is to try and eat healthier. I was tempted to say no to sugar all together, but I didn't want to be so severe. Instead, I am attempting to just eat less sugar. Like maybe only one item with sugar a day (if any at all). That way I am not depriving myself of anything somewhat sweet, but instead limiting my intake. Also when I eat out I will be trying to eat healthier foods. Heath and I have been on a Subway kick and it is so nice that you can get a foot long sandwich for only 5 dollars.
This will all start tomorrow, as today I am pretty sure I didn't follow my rules since I had a piece of chocolate and a yummy Jamba Juice (thanks Heath!) and a Slim-fast this morning. So maybe I will randomly update on here what I've been eating, maybe it will help keep me accountable =]
So hopefully by Mexico I will have a body that I am comfortable enough in that I won't worry about being in a currently dreaded swimsuit!

What a Keeper!!

2010-02-14T20:15:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day. A day where those in relationships either do something special in attempt to show their love for the other person or choose to claim it is a "dumb" holiday. A day where single people either ignore it or claim to hate the holiday with a passion because they are jealous that they cannot fully participate. While I have always claimed to not care (in a relationship or not), there has always been a secret desire to be swept off my feet romantically (a feeling I think most women have). Well this year Heath truly went above and beyond!!
Having heard him boast over his ability to be really romantic when he wanted to, I was curious if I would receive some of this romance or not. In the days leading up to February 14th I realized I had not heard Heath mention anything. So I casually reminded him that Sunday was in fact this coveted day of love. To which he, in surprise, answered that he thought it was next week or something. This led me to believe that he had forgotten and only had about 2-3 days to do anything. I began preparing myself for nothing. Valentine's day would just be another day in the year with nothing special about it at all. I needed to work on not expecting anything, because expectations are where problems can arise. I was trying to decide whether or not to do something for him or if that would just make him upset at not doing anything. I had to work from 4-9 and since Heath had not asked me to get it off I just figured that I would be working with nothing out of the ordinary...
It all started on Saturday night =] I got off work at 10 and was tired from a surprisingly busy day at the Motel 6 and knowing that I wouldn't get to see Heath until later the next day I was a little saddened. I walked upstairs to my room and my door was slightly closed, knowing I had left it open I was a little confused. I opened the door, turned on my light and almost burst into tears of joy! There was my room exactly how I had left it except all the clutter was gone, all the boxes of stuff we were trying to sell was gone, my floor space was cleared and vacuumed and my bed was made. And to top it all off, sitting on my bed was a heart shaped box of chocolates with a heart balloon attached AND there was a beautiful single red rose in a pretty vase sitting on my nicely cleaned bedside table!! I was stunned! I had been complaining for awhile that my room was really messy but I simply didn't have any place to put all the junk. And now it is all gone! I just kept walking around my room looking at all the clean surfaces in awe. I called Heath up to thank him and tell him just how special I felt when he said that that wasn't all! That there was more to come tomorrow. Not knowing what he meant I put it away in my mind, trying to still not have any expectations for what else could be coming. Let me tell you, I slept like a little kid on Christmas eve. It took me forever to fall asleep because I was hyped up on surprise.
Sunday (today), started off slow, went to church which was good and spent the day making Heath a homemade card and some homemade truffles. Not knowing when exactly I would see Heath, just assuming he would come to work at some point, I tried again, to not have any expectations. Around 6 Heath showed up with food in hand. I figured he would just buy food to go and bring it in, but not Heath. He went above and beyond and made scrumptious coconut shrimp and bacon-wrapped scallops with a side raspberry vinaigrette salad. It was delicious!! Again, I thought this was it! I brought out my truffles and he tried one of each flavor (peppermint, coconut and plain chocolate) saying each one was good. As I was preparing to settle in to the rest of the evening of work he asked me to close my eyes. I immediately got really nervous and excited at not know what was next. When I was allowed to open them there was a beautiful necklace laying in front of me. Pictured below =]

All I can say is that every other woman should be jealous of the fabulous boyfriend I have! Haha, kidding.
My advice about Valentine's Day is to have no expectations what so ever because then you will be blown away by anything he may or may not do. If Heath had done nothing it wouldn't have changed my opinion of him or made me feel less loved. But because he did do something I felt exceptionally special and cared about. I love Heath and I look forward to each day that I get to tell him that.

Lemon Meringue Tart

2010-02-07T16:49:00.000-08:00

I finally cooked something else out of my cookbook! However, I'm not sure it turned out right. Heath was craving something lemony, so while he was at work I thought I would try and whip something up. It was a lot harder than I thought. I didn't want to make a pie crust so I bought some premade dough that you just unroll onto your pie or tart dish. Seems easy right? Well, it was...until I burn the crust. You precook it for 9-12 minutes, so at 9 minutes I looked at it and thought it could use just a minute more. Big mistake. I got busy juicing lemons and 3-5 minutes later I smelled smoke. Sure enough, the pie crust was black. Thankfully the package came with 2 crusts so I quickly cooled the tart pan and rerolled the dough out. But having sat in the freezer for a few minutes it didn't form to the pan as well and actually cracked in the bottom. I tried to smooth it all out and patch up the holes, but when I pulled it out of the oven after 9 minutes exactly, the cracks had reappeared. At least it was nice and golden brown!
Knowing that I would have to whip everything together quickly with the custard and meringue parts I got all my ingredients out ahead of time and even measured them into individual little dishes that my mom got me for Christmas. The recipe calls for 4 eggs, separated, so I tried my luck at moving the yoke back and forth between the two halves of the shells to separate them (since I didn't have an egg separator). And it worked! I didn't break any of the yokes or get little shell pieces in them or anything. I felt very proud of myself. I made the lemon custard and I believe I was able to cook it correctly. Though when the directions said simmer until thick I wasn't sure just how thick it needed to be, but I definitely got it thicker than it was when I put it in the pan to simmer. Then I put it in the cooked pie crust and went to make the meringue.
Now comes the hard part. I have heard in the past that making a meringue topping is difficult...and now I believe it. The instructions simply stated to whip the eggs until foamy, whip in the cream of tarter until it forms soft peaks and slowly add in the sugar. So on my first attempt (yes, there were two) I beat the eggs until they looked foamy to me, and then added in the cream of tarter and beat....and beat...and beat...and it wasn't getting firm, so I added the sugar and continued to beat. It was getting nowhere. I set it aside and started over. Separated egg whites, measured out the ingredients, etc. This time the eggs quickly got "foamy" and I added the cream of tarter and it got much thicker. Thinking I was along the right path I checked to see if there were "soft peaks" and to the best of my knowledge there were. So I slowly added the sugar. But as I was adding the sugar it seemed to be loosing its firmness. I didn't have enough eggs to start again so I called it good and put it on top of the custard filling. Next was to put it in the oven for around 12 minutes or until meringue was lightly browned. Well after about 6 minutes or so it was light brown and I didn't want it to burn like the crust had, so I took it out.
Since it needed to cool completely I set it on a wire rack and went upstairs. When I came back down the meringue had separated from the edge, even though I had made sure it touched the edges. There was clear liquid in the areas where the meringue had separated. I had to go to work so I just put it in the fridge. I hope that it at least tastes good since it now looks kind of funny.
Not sure I will attempt a meringue pie again for awhile. Two plus hours of work and the result was not very appealing. I'm just hoping the taste makes up for the look.

This is what I WISH it looked like:

If anyone else has made a lemon meringue pie I would love some tips! I assume I still didn't beat the meringue long enough, I just didn't want to over do it. I'll be sure to post how it turned out and maybe some pictures of the funny looking result. =]

Answer to Prayer

2010-02-04T13:01:00.000-08:00

God is so good! I just wanted to write down in words how God has been answering my prayers lately. Calvary Chapel (the church I call home) has recently decided to try something new called "house churches." This doesn't mean that the normal Sunday service is gone, but it is something on top of that. House churches are a way for the body to fellowship together and get involved. There are about 20 different house churches as of now that each meet a different night. Our pastor challenged us to pick a night and a house church and attend for an 8 week commitment. Heath and I saw this as a perfect opportunity to meet new people and get more involved at Calvary. Let me just tell you, it has been such a blessing and an answer to prayer! Already we have met some wonderful people at our house church. We come together (ours has about 41 people) and meet to pray, talk about the Sunday message and fellowship together. Having felt the need to have deeper christian relationships with those who would be able to help mentor us we have been working on getting together outside of the house church with some people. I know God is going to use these House Churches in ways I can't even fathom for anyone who attends. Already it has been so great for Heath and I. One specific example that stands out to me happened last week.
We broke into smaller groups of about 10-15 for prayer time and Heath and I decided to go into separate groups. In my group the prayer requests were very touching, parents calling out for their spouses, sons and/or daughters to be saved or helped in some way or another. I sat there in silence as I realized how deeply they were all burning for their loved one's hearts to follow Christ, something I won't fully know about until I'm older with kids of my own. But as I sat there, praying for them I was trying to come up with my own prayer requests. All I could think of seemed minuscule in comparison to some of their hurts, the most I could come up with was help in paying off my debt. More specifically, help in trusting God that I will be able to pay off my debt fast. Feeling like it would seem trivial to share, I decided that I wouldn't and instead just prayed in my head about it during periods of silence. But I still seemed to feel doubtful that God would be able to provide the money to pay it off. My goal is to pay it off in a year and with the current income that I have I didn't know how I would be able to. Logistically it just didn't seem possible. I sat there in my doubts when one of the gentlemen in the group said something that really moved me. Something I've heard before, but is always good to hear again. He spoke about how we need to come to God in prayer with a spirit of forcefulness, a spirit of knowing God can and will answer our prayers. Something I wasn't seemingly able to do. I just didn't know how God could make it happen. But after these words of coming to God in this way, I started adjusting the tone of my prayers in my head. Instead of prayers full of doubt they turned to prayers full of conviction and asking, knowing God would answer them in the way He felt best.
So I left feeling a little better, but still not knowing how God would choose to answer this prayer. Then I got to work on Friday. Come to find out Heather (the other girl who works there) is finally quitting! She was supposed to quit in September but she didn't and she was taking hours that I was supposed to be working. I asked my boss again and again when her last day was and I believe it is this Thursday, which means next week I can start working at least 2 more days, if not 3. This is such and blessing and an answer to prayer. I hadn't asked that God would make her quit, I had simply asked that he would provide other ways of earning money and sure enough, He did. What an awesome God we have. One step closer to paying off that debt of mine!

Here is a link to a song that Heath showed me that we have really enjoyed listening to. It is called "How Many Kings" by Downhere. Click here to listen to it!

Debt-Be-Gone!

2010-01-26T17:04:00.000-08:00

As I get closer to finishing college forever I realize there are things I must face about "the real world" that I have ignored until now. As Heath and I discussed our future together we came to realize that I have more debt than I realized. I had to take out a loan to pay for college and now that I am close to being done I realize that I have to pay it off. A loan is not free money, instead it will come back to bite you in the butt later on. Sadly, in my naivety I didn't save a penny during college. Not until Heath came along that is. Now, my debt may seem small in comparison to those who had to take out loans for a private school, but the ways they affect me are still great. Heath and I know that when we get married we will have bills to pay, bills that up until then our parents have graciously paid for. So our goal is to pay off my debt before we get married. As severe as that seemed to me at first, I now know the benefit of it. With faith in God I have no doubt that we will be able to fully pay off my debt as fast as possible. Already we have lowered it faster than I thought we would. Heath has been so loving and kind in accepting my debt as his own and working with me to pay it off. God has truly blessed me with someone who sees the value in not having outstanding debts and to be wise about the ways you spend your money. These are all things that I just never gave much thought to.
So far Heath and I have been utilizing craigslist.com to sell instruments, electronics and whatever else we can manage to find. We have also been using half.com to sell old books, CD's, and DVD's to get a little profit that adds up quickly. So my question for you is, do you have any special methods for making money quickly? If so, I would love to hear some recommendations as I am constantly trying to save and make money where I can. Both Heath and I work and every penny that isn't going towards expenses is going straight to my debt. I am so blessed by Heath and it hurts my heart to know I am the one who is bringing the burden of debt into this relationship. But the lessons I am learning and the knowledge I am gaining about Heath is something I am glad to learn now instead of later in life. By dealing with these issues now we save ourselves the potential of pain and frustration in our future. =]

BOOKS!

2010-01-17T11:36:00.001-08:00

You may be wondering what I have been up to lately that has made me neglect updating my blog. If you think school, then you are mostly wrong. Yes, school does take up time but recently I have been spending way too much time reading books for fun. Eventually school will become so hectic that I will no longer have the time to read for pleasure. But while I can I have become a reading machine! I have been utilizing the fabulous resource called a Library and have been reading tons of books for free! Sadly, I cannot keep these books to build my own library. My own library will have to wait until I have oodles of money, no debt and a perfect space to house my lovely books.
Taking some hints from my beautiful sister-in-law, who has her own reading blog which you can read here, I have decided to let the world wide web know what I have been reading. If instead of reading this blog you would like a snapshot glance at what I have been reading, go to this fabulous online bookshelf site here! On this site, called shelfari.com, I add the books I have read, am reading, and will read and give mini reviews to most of the books I have finished. If you read as much as I do you should definitely get one. I find it is a perfect way to keep track of what books I have read.

Below is a guide to "my" rating system which I will use for each book. (Taken from Elisha's reading blog :] )

0- Burn it. It will be a way better use of your time than reading it!
1- Terrible. Just plain terrible.
2- Don't bother opening it; the cover is the best part.
3- Bleh. I wouldn't bother, but maybe you have more patience.
4- Could be good with a little work.
5- Pretty good, for the most part.
6- Good. Solidly good.
7- Great. This book is worth reading AND recommending.
8- Holy Cow! This book rocks my socks off, but isn't the best book I've ever read.
9- Top 20 - this books tops the charts of my favorite books!
10- THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST STINKIN' BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ!!!!!!

Since I have recently read multiple books I won't create a separate blog for each one, instead just list a few here with the rating. If you have read or do read any of these books, let me know what you think!!

First book: "How Not to be Popular" by Jennifer Ziegler

This book is really cute. It is about a high school girl who moves around a bunch. She decides at the next school that to avoid getting attached and then having heartache when she is

forced to move again, she will be unpopular. The writing is witty and fun to read. I would probably recommend it more for girls as it is from her perspective. Not that some guys wouldn't enjoy it, but overall it was quite the girly book. I would give it between a 6- Good. Solidly good. and a 7- Great. This book is worth reading AND recommending.
It isn't the most original book and the plot is pretty predictable, hence the lower score. But still recommending it.

Next:

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

This was a really engaging read. I definitely recommend it. The story is from three different women's point-of-view and the writing style is brilliant. It takes place in Mississippi in the 1960's and deals with issues of black women maids. Two of the women are maids, one a quite devote woman and the other a fiery woman who has a bad habit of speaking her mind. The other woman is a white college graduate who decides to write down the stories of multiple maids in a book. Their journey of writing this book and working for certain people is both moving and adventurous. I would give it an 8- Holy Cow! This book rocks my socks off, but isn't the best book I've ever read.

OK, so I have read a multitude of books that I obviously haven't posted here, but I'm running short on time. I will continue posting the books I have read/am reading so keep checking back if you're interested!

Last Fall of College

2009-12-05T19:00:00.001-08:00

Finally fall term is almost over! My last fall term of college!! Only two terms left to go and I graduate, thank goodness. I know I was trying to start using this blog as a cooking blog, but once school started I had neither the funds, nor the time to cook. I am hoping that during the Christmas break I will be able to utilize my mother's kitchen and ingredients to cook up a storm! Nothing better than having a large space and seemingly unlimited resources. But to update a bit on how this term played out:

I was taking five classes:
-English 440: Modern Irish Literature
-English 412: Studies in British Theatre and Society
-Anthropology 240: Biological Anthropology
-Writing 224: Fiction Writing
-History 362: Women in U.S. History

The classes were a mix of good and bad. I loved my fiction writing class, the teacher was energetic and I was able to test the waters of short story writing by being assigned to write two stories during the term. Both of which I enjoyed writing. Conversely, my Irish Lit class was a struggle. The material was not the problem, I enjoyed reading Yeats, Shaw, and O'Casey. But the teacher was another matter. He constantly yelled and degraded the class for not being up to his standards in discussion. While he may have been trying to get us to think more deeply about the subject materiel, it led most students, myself included, to fear going to class because we knew that we would never have the right answer. The few times that I or my friend Kalin would speak out and try and participate with valid responses, we would get cut off or practically ignored. If someone didn't give him the exact answer he was looking for to an open ended discussion question, he would tell them they were wrong. I thought discussing literature was pretty much open to the reader. My Irish Lit professor thought otherwise. So for anyone who attends OSU and may take an English class in the future, avoid Professor Davison. I will say, that I have learned a lot, but I don't think the means to getting there were the most effective.

After Midterms I was looking at all A's in my classes and I hope I did enough in the second half of the term to keep them. I have two papers left to write and one test this week, but other than that I am finished!

Other highlights...Heath and I celebrated our One Year Anniversary in November! To think that so much time has gone by, but at the same time, not very long, is exciting. To celebrate the big occasion we went out to eat at The Painted Lady in Newberg. (www.thepaintedladyrestaurant.com) For those of you who have never heard of it, it is a four course meal, and truly delicious experience. Heath and I had recently become fans of the Food Network Channel show, "Chopped" and neither of us had ever been to a super fancy restaurant and thought it would be fun. We were a bit worried that four little meals would not be filling, but trust me when I say that was not the case. We both left stuffed!

For starters I had a Venison Carpaccio with Petite Salad and Heath had a Miso Custard with Crab and Sea Urchin. Next they brought us bread.
Our second course was a crispy skinned steel-head on top of a cauliflower ravioli.
The main entree, I had Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin over Potato Puree and Sherry Cream Sauce and Heath had Beef Two Ways; Prime New York Steak and Braised Short Ribs
And the most important, dessert, Heath had a Citrus Quartet, which had four mini citrus themed desserts; a citrus salad, lemon creme brulee, citrus tart and citrus merengue. I had a Chocolate Souffle. Having only ever heard about them and never tried one I had to give it a shot.
All the food was delicious and it was truly a romantic evening to remember!

Thanksgiving was a big occasion at my parents house with about 20 people. We had my family, my sister-in-law's family and Heath's family over and it was truly a feast. The day was spent socializing, eating, and eating a bit more. Heath and I were lucky enough to take the majority of the leftovers back down to Corvallis which sustained us for about a week.

Also, I was introduced to this site called shelfari.com and it is basically an online bookshelf! You can add books you have read, are reading and want to read. It can be a bit addicting when you start finding all the books you've read and give reviews, etc. I mainly enjoy it because I can keep track of books I have read and whether or not I liked them. So check it out!

And So It Begins

2009-09-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've done it! I've began the cooking process! And it has already been a roller-coaster of excitement and emotions. Not what I expected from simply cooking from a few recipes but a good experience so far.
I ended up not being able to cook anything on my designated day, Saturday, because I had unknown plans to hang out with some friends during the afternoon. Which, believe me when I say it was a blast, but I was a little down because I would have to postpone my cooking further. Worried I would have to wait until next Saturday, I was relieved when I realized I would be making a dessert on Wednesday night for a bible study my parents host at their house. The next day, however, I was informed by my mom that someone else wanted to make dessert because it was their birthday, so yet again I was defeated before even beginning the process. As it got nearer to Wednesday the group realized no one was signed up to bring appetizers or a side for the main dish. Immediately, I jumped at the chance and began searching through the cookbook for the best things to make. That's when I found out the main entree for the evening was Chili Cheese Dogs...not much you can pair with those as a side. I was forced to narrow my search options through the cookbook; something healthy, something green perhaps. I finally settled on a Warm Green Bean Salad for the side dish and a Hummus dip and a Artichoke and Scallion dip for the appetizers.
Come Wednesday, after shopping and acquiring all of the ingredients needed for my three dishes. Upon arriving home I promptly start setting out the ingredients for the individual recipes and my mission was under way. I started with the Hummus; now I have had a few store bought types and even tried someone's homemade, so I was excited to attempt my own. While shopping for the ingredients, the Hummus recipe called for Tahini. My mind drew a complete blank. Tahini? What is that? A vegetable? A spice? No...apparently it is a sauce, who knew? Not I, so as I am searching up and down the aisles at Fred Meyer I eventually come to the conclusion that it doesn't exist or I am too blind to see it. Baffled, I decided to ask someone who works there if they happen to know where it could possibly be. I assumed that no one else had heard of it either so I say, "Excuse me, I have an odd ingredient to ask about, do you know where Tahini is?" To which the kind lady, fully knowing what it is I am looking for points me in the right direction. Of course, why didn't I look in the Natural Foods section...by the Peanut Butter...
I have come to the conclusion that grocery stores should have a look up computer like they have at libraries. So I could go to this computer and type in "tahini" and it would tell me what aisle to look down. Back to the cooking - I put all the ingredients in my mom's mini food processor and watched as Chickpeas (also known as Garbanzo beans), lemon juice, tahini, and garlic became my own homemade Hummus. I was elated! I had made Hummus and it was easy as can be and looked perfect, and some paprika sprinkled on top gave it a nice look. My joy, however, was lost when I tried said Hummus. Taking a pita chip and putting a fair amount on it and putting it in my mouth, expecting a delicious flavor. Instead my delicious flavor was overpowered by an after taste that was bitter and sour! Immediately I looked at the recipe; did I add more garlic than I thought? Did i mess up the amount of lemon? No, everything looked in order. No idea why, but the Hummus I made had a sharp after flavor. Worried I was going to be serving something gross to people I put it in the fridge for later, hoping that the next dip would be better.
Artichoke and Scallion dip! I've already noticed something funny about this recipe book. It gives you an estimated prep and cook time, and so far they have been WAY off in when it comes to prep time. The Artichoke and Scallion dip says "Prep time 5 minutes." Maybe for a master chef! The only way I can think they allotted only 5 minutes was if the ingredients were already set out, chopped and measured just waiting to be mixed together. Taking probably 15 minutes to make this dip, I again tried it with a pita chip and Voila! Delicious! It is a very savory but mild dip and I was much more pleased with the way it turned out. Putting it in the fridge with the Hummus to get cold I waited to start the third recipe until people started arriving.
Before people started arriving I had my fabulous taste-tester Heath try both dips to see if they were edible and worth setting out for others to partake in. Wonderful Heath, who likes everything, put my fears to rest when he announced he really like both; including the Hummus! People started arriving and the dips were both a huge hit! Maybe I'm the one with the weird taste buds; which Heath would agree with considering he doesn't understand how I wouldn't like any and every food. I'm working on training my taste buds to like different foods, especially those I usually dislike, but I'm not going to lie, I avoided the Hummus dip for the rest of the night.
As Sasha, who was preparing the Chili Cheese Dogs, started setting up, I decided to start making the Warm Green Bean Salad. I had my cookbook sitting out on the stove top next to the counter where I was mixing my ingredients together for the sauce. Sasha, who claims she can never understand which button to turn for which burner, decided to try one that she thought was correct. The one she turned on, which we have a gas stove, so it's flames not just a coil heating up, but the burner she chose happened to be the one my cookbook was sitting against. Suddenly we started noting there was a smoke-y smell in the room, thankfully my mom saw what was going on and picked up the cookbook and the paper towel which was in flames and put it all out. My cookbook is now officially christened. Normally, I would be quite upset over the fact that I just spent 35 bucks on a brand new cookbook only to have it get a nice crinkly burnt spot on the front cover, the first time I go to use it. Thankfully, however, Heath was there to quickly put my emotions at bay by telling me it was now an official cookbook and it showed how used it was. If he hadn't been there, I may have gotten a bit more upset. And now that I think about it, who really cares, it's just a book and a cookbook at that, isn't it supposed to get stains and burns and whatnot all over it to show how used it is? The Warm Green Bean Salad ended up being scrumptious! I, with my picky taste buds, thought there was a little too much ginger in it, but everyone else seemed to like it.

997 recipes to go!

Next task: Dinner for Heath and my parents :)

Adventure Time!

2009-09-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning to realize that the title I originally chose for my blog now sounds extremely conceited. I started this blog as a photography blog, so the quest for beauty was through pictures, then my blog was a travel blog, and now it is my personal blog for writing about anything and I fear people assume the quest for beauty would be for physical, personal beauty - but alas it is not.

My next adventure which I plan to use this blog for is my attempt at cooking through a cookbook. Now before you assume I just simply copied the idea from the movie Julie and Julia, it is not true. I have always wanted to make every recipe in a cookbook. I mean, if the recipe made it into a cookbook it has to be good right? But how often do I really use a cookbook to try something "new"? I use cookbooks when I want to make something I know I will like; I just need a recipe for it - like cheesecake. But now I am going to cook through an entire cookbook even if it is a recipe I don't think I will particularly enjoy. Thankfully my taste-tester is Heath, who happens to eat anything and everything. So I know there won't be ingredients that he wouldn't eat, I will be more of the problem in that department. I'm the one who can tend to be picky, which is why I never think to make certain recipes in the first place, or even take the time to try. But now I am making that time.
Heath and I went to Borders and picked out a well rounded cookbook that we thought would give me a wide range of things to cook and bake. It's called, "The Kitchen Bible," but you want to know what the best part is? It's Illustrated! Which is, in my opinion, the best part. That way I can see if what I make actually has any resemblance to the picture of the pro's version.
In contrast to the movie, I won't be trying to cook through this book in a year. First, I don't have the money to buy all the ingredients to do it that quickly and second, I don't have the time to devote to cooking. So I am going to start by using my Saturday morning/afternoon to cook a few things from the Kitchen Bible, whether it be bread and a salad or a main dish and dessert (I'm telling you this book has a bit of everything).
Similarly to the movie, I will be attempting to update my blog with the on-goings of my cooking. Hopefully it will encourage me to use my blog more often and be able to write about my ups and downs of cooking new and exciting dishes.
My only problem that I have noted so far is realizing how much kitchen gadgets I don't own, which of course will add to the cost of cooking. Maybe I will save recipes, in which I don't have the correct utensils, for after Christmas. That way I can ask for what I need then.

With the first Saturday coming up so soon (tomorrow) I am not sure where to begin in this cookbook with 1,000 recipes! I'm thinking I should start small and just test the waters first but part of me wants to go all out and make an extravagant meal. We shall see and I will be sure to post about my first run with the cookbook at work tomorrow.

The phrase "working mother" is redundant

2009-05-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is Mother's Day, a wonderful time to celebrate all that mother's do for their families. My mom has been such a blessing in my life. She is someone I look up to and hope to be like when I am a mother. She has always had her families best interest in mind. Looking back to my childhood and adolescent days, I realize all the times I didn't thank her, I didn't even realize the sacrifices she made for us as kids and family. Every day she made us dinner, every week we had clean clothes and a clean house. And how many times did I say thank you? Not enough I'm sure.
What I challenge myself to do now is to thank her as much as possible, because I am always thankful for what she does, but I need to make more of an effort to express it. I realize how much I am like my mom, I give to people time. And usually that time is spent cooking, cleaning, helping, doing anything I can that I know that person will appreciate. And when I don't get a thank you? I feel like I must not have done a good enough job, and if I'm anything like my mom (which I know I am) how often must she have felt not good enough as a mom, not valued for all she did for us. So once a year we are given the opportunity to show just a little bit of the gratitude we have for the mothers who have given so much for us.

THANKS MOM!! :D

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up"

2009-04-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday I was able to get work off and go visit Heath's grandparents with his family for his grandpa's 75th birthday. We got there and Heath, his mom-Rhonda, and I all chatted with his Grandma while his dad-Darren and Grandpa were working on some stuff out in the shop. We then went to lunch at Mcgraths Fish House and had yummy seafood. Then afterward Heath, Grandma and I all played Scrabble and went for a refreshing walk. While driving home Heath and his parents and I all stopped to eat dinner at this wonderful Mexican restaurant, I was so full after!

Sunday my mom came down and went to church with us. The sermon was awesome. We went through a section of Psalm 119 and it was really powerful and full of impact. We then made a huge lunch of Coconut Chicken, Bread, and Cesar Salad. It was so scrumptious. Then my mom headed home and I went off to work.

Monday meant going back to school, I had to lead discussion for English 436; we're reading the book Middlemarch by George Eliot (female pen name). The book is great. We're wrapping up the book this Wednesday, and the ending was perfect (I read ahead). Then I had Writing 201 in which all the students came in and sat down and we're all sitting there until about 5 minutes after class should start when we realize there is a sign outside the door that says the class is cancelled today haha. If only I had noticed that beforehand I would have saved some time. Then I was able to have leftover coconut chicken with Heath for lunch before walking to my Anthropology 380 class - where we watched the first part of a war movie called "No Man's Land."

Today, Tuesday, I walked in early to meet Heath at the Library where we went over the reading for our English 206 and 203 class. Then we walked to English 206 where we were studying for the midterm we have on Thursday and took a quiz!! Now we're sitting in English 203, Shakespeare, where we also had a quiz and are now discussing Timon of Athens - a play I have never read or studied before.

Tonight Heath and I get to do laundry and then we're going to make dinner for our friend Christy. My mom gave me this awesome Stir Fry recipe and I'm going to attempt to make it for the first time - hope it tastes good!!

Heath and I started watching "The Day the Earth Stood Still" last night, and I must say the movie isn't very good. It's all about preaching how we are ruining the earth and the only way to save Earth is that if we change--but that humans never change. A bit far fetched and the directing/script/acting/cinematography isn't even good to begin with.

I Have Almost Forgot the Taste of Fears.

2009-04-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here in my Shakespeare class - while we discuss the play Macbeth. Makes me appreciate the theatre I did in High School, so much easier to understand Shakespeare when you have actually acted in a play. Then I start missing theatre. The last play I acted in was Romeo and Juliet. Why didn't I continue to do theatre in college? Time, mainly. Didn't think I would have the time and I wanted to not be attached to the theatre world for once (considering it ate my entire high school career). I have acted in 19 plays and Assisted Directed 1. How do you just drop something that is so consuming of your life for so long?
Every time I see someone from my past, the question always asked is "are you involved in theatre?" And my answer..."no" I don't regret not continuing to be involved in theatre, the only times i miss it are when I watch a play. Like Broadway shows, I absolutely love to see professional (or nonprofessional) shows, but then I always get this little feeling inside of me of how I miss it.
But then I think of all the things I wouldn't be able to do if I was involved in theatre!
I wouldn't have been able to go to Spain, I wouldn't be able to have a job, I wouldn't have all the free time to spend hanging out with friends. I'm sure my homework would suffer and I would be wrapped up in a completely different group of friends. Probably would have never met all my friends through Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship. I don't regret not going into theatre and I will continue to enjoy watching what other people will produce for the stage. :D

Life Happens

2008-10-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really been since June 13th that I have posted a blog! Crazy. Well I got back from Europe (forever ago) and I guess I kind of forgot about this thing! So here I am again, wasting time and updating it, even though I have no idea if people read this thing.

Summer:
I worked at a grass seed research farm (same place I worked the summer before). It was pretty uneventful. I worked 50+ hour weeks and worked right up until before school.
Had one fun trip before school started, went to Fort Stevens for a 2 nights with Michele and Zach and then for one night Matt Lee, Micah Houck, and Tiffany Hartmann all came up. It was perfect weather and we had fun climbing around the ruins and walking through the dark passageways of the fort!
Also went to the wedding of Amy and Jesse Dill, it was beautiful and their reception was a blast! Everyone was dancing and enjoying themselves, it was great. Next was the wedding of Amaris and Mike Moss, which was also really fun, Amaris looked beautiful and Mike couldn't stop smiling at his new bride!

Fall:
Moved into an apartment this year, again with 2 other girls. I am now located in the Parkwest Apartments, which are very close to campus, and close to some of my good friends! I am living with my best friend Michele Sweeney, and another girl that Michele and I just met, Joanna. So far the living arrangement has been working pretty well, Michele and I share a room, and Joanna has her own and so far its been good!
Classes started the last week in September and I am taking 3 english classes, 1 spanish class, 1 french class and a teaching class. Which is a full load, but i really enjoy all my classes! Im finally in a major in enjoy, which if anyone doesnt know, I officially changed to a double major in English and Education, and a double minor in Spanish and French. Which means I will be in school for awhile =D
I got a job down in Corvallis, I am the front desk receptionist at the Motel 6! Which is actually a great job, I work 16 hours a week, and I get to help people, which i enjoy.
Other than that, I'm just doing homework and hanging out with friends! And trying to find out how I can get back to Europe =D

Next...

2008-06-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

Well I made it out of Spain! My parents arrived and I showed them around Santander, then we headed to a town called San Sebastian where we walked around some and got a general feel for the town...after driving there and almost hitting two bikers and other cars etc.
Then we took a train to Hendaye which is on the border of France and Spain, where we stayed in a small hotel that supposedly had a pool...this consisted of a small goldfish pond haha. We bought some yummy pasteries and walked to a Castle that was really neat to see.
The next day we headed to Tours, France where we ate dinner at this really cute little Grill, and so far have managed to survive knowing no French.
Then we drove to Caen, France, and on the way saw Mont St. Michael, which is an Abbey out on an island that was later a prison, and is now a tourist attraction haha, but it was really pretty.
Now we are in Caen, and today we saw the beaches of Normandy, also really cool.
If you want to read more and see some photos my dad has been keeping a blog with more details, and i figure it wasnt worth it to write the same thing. The address is catts3.blogspot.com

Cant Wait To Come Home!!

Has It Really Been That Long??

2008-06-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

Can´t believe it, but my time in Spain is actually coming to an end! Today I had my last final, my last class, and got handed my diploma. Wont actually get my grades until August, but I´m not worried. So now to start packing up and getting ready to travel some more. My parents are coming Saturday, cannot WAIT to see them, then we are heading out into great ol´ Europe and seeing some more sights, including France, Switzerland, and Italy.
I get home June 26th, have a whole weekend to relax, eat the food I miss, catch up on movies I´ve missed, and hang out with my friends. Then I start work on July 1st. Back to the real world and working 50 hours a week on a farm...not the most exciting thing to come back to, but I got to pay for Spain somehow!
Can´t wait to see you all soon!

Me gusta leer

2008-05-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

( I like to read) which is true. I´m also a bit bored today so I´m not really writing about anything in particular. Just randomness. About reading...I have read a total of 8 books and counting while here in Spain, and I love it! I never have this much time to read at home!! Here is a list of the books I have read (and some side comments for fun!)

P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern -- An easy read but really cute (and sad). There is a movie based off of the book, but they are infact complete oposites (basically). For example, in the movie, the husband is Irish and they live in New York. In the book, they are both Irish and live in Ireland.

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt -- Also an easy read because it is a young adult book. But really well written! About these 4 kids who are "abandoned" and they have to walk a long ways to find some place to live...hard to describe without giving it away or writing down too much, but its good!
Dicey´s Song by Cynthia Voigt -- The second book in the "Tillerman Series"
A Solitery Blue by Cynthia Voigt -- The third book in the "Tillerman Series" There are quite a few more books in the series that i will have to read once I get home cause I dont have them here. Mom I recommend these books to you because they deal with phonics in them!! One of the kids is a bit slower at reading and they find the best way to teach her is by using phonics haha and it was written in like the 80´s I think, also they might be good ones to reccomend to kids to read since they are about kids...just a suggestion!

The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry -- bought this one here at an English Book Shop, its about a possible link to the lost Library of Alexandria, a fast paced book full of twists and turns, pretty good though there were some themes about the validity of the Bible in the book (saying that the lost library had evidence of it being false or something silly like that) but it ended up not being a big deal.

Leaning Towards Pisa by Sue Howard -- A story about a woman who ends up living and teaching in Italy, not the most exciting book, had a very non-climactic ending, basically just a plain old story.

Come Back: A Mother and Daughters Journey Through Hell and Back by Claire and Mia Fontaine -- "stole" this book from a hostel in London, and I actually really liked it, its a memoir and actually really sad (happy ending of course!) but hard to get through because you feel so bad for this family. Its about a daughter who is sexually abused as a child, then grows up and gets into drugs and such, and finally her mom forces her to go to a school that will make her break her habits and be able to function again in the real world. Its really powerful and impactful, I learned a lot about it and recommend it to everyone!!

Currently I am reading Atonement by Ian Mcewan -- also has a movie made about the book, which I havent seen yet, but want too! Im trying to make this book last since most of the books I have read quickley...but I still have a month overseas and will need to find another book soon. Going to Ireland this weekend maybe the hostel there has some books I can "borrow" haha.

New Roommate!

2008-05-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

So the empty bed in my room is now filled by a 20 year old girl from Texas! Her name is CC Copeland and she´s really nice! I couldnt have asked for a better person to share my room with for the next few weeks! She´s already feeling overwhelmed by how fast our host mom talks, and I just keep trying to assure her that it is normal and she will get used to it. She came out with us last night and got a feel for the late night-ness of Spain.

Here is a photo of Me, Our Host mom Alicia, and CC!

In the Land of Ladies and Gentes

2008-05-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

Oh London, how I love thee. Visited London this weekend and absolutely adore it. I had a blast, even though the weather was not great (until the day we left of course ha). We, Shannon, Lindsay, and I saw a ton of stuff, but of course there was still a ton to see and hopefully I will go back one day and see it all.

We arrived in London the first day and just went straight to our hostel. The next day we got up early and headed to Buckingham Palace to be able to see the Changing of the Guards. Which was packed with people. Also found a place where we could take a photo with a guard up close! Poor guy couldnt move through out probably hundreds of photos daily haha.

Then we headed to Hyde Park, where we ate lunch and I had a goose eat out of my hand! Then we went to Trafalgar Square and on to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. I absolutely LOVED westminster abbey, the coolest cathedral I have been to yet! Saw the tomb of Elizabeth I and Mary I, and also Mary, queen of the Scots (as well as many more). Also saw the Coronation chair. Also they have an area called the Poets Corner and there is buried tons of Authors(musicians and other great minds too), including; Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Handel, Thomas Hardy, Isaac Newton, Rudyard Kipling, Charles Darwin, and many more!

Then we went on The London Eye, which is Europe´s largest ferris wheel (443 ft high). It was pretty cool! Didnt go very fast (which was good) gave you a chance to relly take in the view and take some photos too haha. Then we headed home!

Just going over the top of the London Eye.

The next day we headed out to the older side of London and saw St. Paul´s Cathedral, The Tower Bridge (what people think is the london bridge) and The Tower of London: where lots of prisoners were held! Also where the crown jewels are held, beautiful! The weather was really rainy and windy that day, but we still walked everywhere, at the end we went to the the largest deptarment store ever, Harrods, 5 floors, and you could get lost easily. We had a hard enough time just finding bathrooms (had to ask where to go, and even then it was confusing).

The Tower of London!

Overall had a fabulous time! Really want to go back again!!

A Short Update

2008-05-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

Realized I haven´t written in awhile, been quite busy with all the traveling and school work. The weekend after Madrid I went to Granada and Sevilla, which I wrote about some of the crazy adventures in past blogs. Also saw some pretty cool stuff!
Got to Granada at about 430AM on thursday and didnt have a place to stay yet, but wanted to get into the Alhambra which is a palace/museum of sorts, but it sells out its tickets months in advance online, but they reserve a few tickets for walkups. But you have to wait in line for them, and we were told to get there early. So we figured, what better to do than wait until 8AM when it opens, so we started to walk in the direction we thought was the Alhambra, but when it got to about 6AM, we thought it might be too far away to walk there. So we took a taxi, which ended up costing a bit, but got us their much faster than walking. We got there about 615AM and there was already a huge line of people, so we got in line and waited for 2 hours, by the time that we got to the front of the line to buy our tickets (it was about 845) there were hundreds of people behind us. And they only had about 700 tickets, and when we got up there they only had 350 left. So we got our tickets, and headed to where we were staying (with a friend of Shannons, named Brittany) our tickets for Alhambra didnt allow us to visit until the afternoon. Brittany showed us all around Granada in the morning, and then in the afternoon we headed to the Alhambra, spent a lot of time there, and then later headed back to Brittany´s. That night Brittany and some of her friends took us out, and we found out that Granada gives away free "tapas" or personaly appetizers with every drink you buy, even if its just a soda. So we enjoyed that for awhile, then headed home. The next day we just slept in and relaxed, then went to Sevilla.
Sevilla was nice and warm, we found lodging and then the next day we saw the sights! We went to a Palace, and then we went to a huge cathedral. The next day we headed home (a really long bus ride) and that was that.

This last weekend we went on a whole group trip to Segovia, Toledo, and Burgos. Saw some cool things there as well and had a good time all around (minus the rain and cold weather).

This coming weekend I am going to London and I am sooo excited for that!! Cant wait and I will be sure to write about it and take lots of photos!

For photos from Granada/Sevilla and Segovia/Toledo/Burgos go to my facebook account!

Madrid

2008-05-05T09:01:00.001-07:00

Going back in time, two weekends ago, Shannon, Lindsay, and I went to Madrid for the weekend. I was thankful enough to know a friend from high school, Sheila, who had moved to Madrid with her family during high school. So we had contacted her to ask if we could stay with them, which they said they would love to have us (which was such a blessing). We got into the bus station around 1015PM and they picked us up and took us back to their house (they actually live about 30 minutes outside of Madrid, but there is a train we were able to take to get into the city center the next day. Got to their house and they fed us dinner and were so nice to us, it was so nice to feel welcome (and understand the language -english haha).

The next morning we got up bright and early and took the train into downtown Madrid. The first thing we did was hit up Starbucks!! Which was WAY overpriced, but tasted great!

Then we decided to go to the famous Museo del Prado, which was huge, we were in it for quite awhile and I know we still missed some rooms, and they also had a huge temporary Goya exhibit, so we got to see that.

Then we walked around this HUGE park, called Parque Retiro, met some ladies from Lake Tahoe, and just felt very relaxed and it was nice and sunny which was a nice change from windy/rainy Santander.

Then we went to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and had delicious Bacon Cheeseburgers (with real chedder cheese!)

Then we headed to the Royal Palace, got to see the Armory, Pharmacy, and some of the state rooms, it was huge, and beautiful! We just dont have buildings like this in the states!!

The next day we visited the Real Madrid Soccer Stadium, which was huge! Got to see the locker room, press room, sit in VIP seats, trophy room, etc. It was awesome. Then we just relaxed and the next day we slept in then headed home for Santander!

Chapter 2

2008-05-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

Our exciting trip continued to be an adventure...where did I leave off...finally got a bed to sleep in. Well when they showed us the room, which had 5 sets of bunk beds, there were a couple beds that had folded sheets on them, the nice lady wasnt sure which one was ours, but just gave us the first on she saw, and said if it was a problem (like if it was someone elses bed) to come get her. We get un-packed, shower, make the bed and go to sleep. I was on the outside and around 530AM i kept seeing this bright flashes of light in the room and this clicking noise, i finally woke up enough to realize that some guy was using his lighter as a flashlight and looking in all the beds. He was leaning over our bed, and in English (i was half asleep) i was like "yeah?" and he responded in english, but with a german accent, "you´re in my bed" So i proceeded to tell him that there was another open one (and pointed to it) and that when they had given us this bed they must have mixed it up. So he was fine with it and just went to crawl into the other bed, but the other bed wasnt made and I felt really bad, and I knew Shannon had a flashlight on her, and so I asked him if he wanted to borrow a flashlight (a bit easier than his lighter) so I woke up Shannon and got it, which surprised him because he didnt realize there was another person in the bed haha. I hear him go outside the room and converse with his friends, and then he comes back in with one of his guy friends and is telling him (in german) the situation, his friend, with our flashlight, leans his head in the bed and is looking at us and laughing...which I understand, if I was going to get into my bed and found two guys in it I would think it was pretty funny. So finally everyone went to bed and that was that.

Got up in the morning and got everything packed up and we moved to the room we had reserved for the next night, which was a queen bed in one room (no strangers for roommates! haha). Spent the day seeing the sights of Sevilla, which I will post photos and details of in the next blog or so.

Then we have to go home on Sunday, we after missing our bus to sevilla from granada, we were sure to get up extra early and get to the bus station we had come into very early! So we are waiting at the bus station, and not seeing our bus, which was supposed to leave at 8...gets to be 750AM and still no bus, so Shannon goes to ask someone if its late or something...only to find out that its at another bus station across town...because Sevilla has two...which we didnt bother to think about...and the bus tickets didnt say the name of the bus station, so we figured it was the "estacion de autobuses" (where we were) that we would leave from...not the "estacion de autobuses plaza del armas" (where we needed to be). So we run (literally) outside to get to the taxi, by this time we have only 5 minutes, which he says we cant make it there that fast, but we try anyway! We get to the bus station, and its 805...so we know the bus has already left because they are never late in leaving. We slowly start walking over to the bus station hoping they have another bus heading to Santander that day (but we thought this was the only one going out that day). As we are crossing the crosswalk to go into the bus station we see this bus stopped at a red light, and Shannon is like "Bus 61...thats our bus!!" So we run over to the bus and I get there first so I knock on the door window to see if the driver will let us in, well he angrily waves his finger at us, basically saying NO. Of course i start to tear up because im so frustrated, and we step back and are basically like well I guess we go in and see if there is another bus. When apparently the bus driver had a change of heart because we hear a honk and he turns the corner and lets us on, we try and explain to him why we were late but he just hurrys us on and doesnt even check our tickets. We were so thankful to be on that bus! haha it was crazy. Again I thank the lord that the timing worked out so perfectly that the bus happened to be stopped right when we got there. And Shannon happened to see it. We got home safe and sound, but that bus ride was the longest bus ride ever! about 14 hours, with probably around 7 to 8 different stops of dropping off and receiving passengers. And we were the last stop. And we drove through a crazy lightening storm.

But we made it, and despite all our crazy adventures had a great time!

An exciting adventure

2008-05-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

I know I haven´t written about Madrid yet, and I will get to that next week when I am back in Santander and have time to sit and write, right now I am thankfully in a hostel in Seville (sevilla en español) and I wanted to write and tell you all about how i managed to get here...

Shannon and I decided for our long weekend (we didnt have school thursday) that we would go to Granada and Sevilla in the south of Spain. Wednesday afternoon we got on a bus which took us to Granada, about 12 hours total, we arrived at 430AM. In Granada we stayed with a friend of Shannons who is studying abroad there, then today we were planning on taking a bus to sevilla and staying here til sunday then heading back. We splet in today, which was nice, then headed to our bus station because our bus left at 330PM. We hoped on a city bus (to get to the bus station) at 225

Needless to say, we missed our bus! We walked into the station and Shannon was like "I want to get a post card" and proceeded to look at her watch to see how much time we had to do that, only to find out that it was 330!! our city bus had taken a lot longer than we thought. We rushed to where the busses were parked and ran up and down the parking area trying to see if our bus had left yet. It had. Haha, so we headed back up to the ticket desk and asked when the next bus was, which thankfully was only and hour later. And, thankfully they didnt charge us for the new tickets, they just let us change!! So we just waited around (got a postcard haha) and got on our 3 hour bus to sevilla.

We get to sevilla, and go to the info desk to try and get a map so we can find out hostel because all we have is an address and phone number for it. And the info desk gives us directions to the Office of Tourism in Sevilla (it was close to where we were) we get there and its closed. =( but there was a lady sitting in there, but she was busy I guess. So we went to the store next door to ask for a map, buy it and try and find the street of our hostel, after searching and not finding it, we go back in the store to ask if they know where it is, only to find out that it is not actually a street address, but a town name...this is what it said "apt. 32 Montellano, Sevilla" we just assumed montellano was the name of the street...oh no it is the name of a small town outside of sevilla, but in the sevilla Providence...which is like our counties...so they called the number for us to get directions there...and maybe a street name because they had never heard to the town before!! The guy they talked to didnt know. haha. He didnt know how to get to his own hostel from sevilla!! they told us he was a bit crazy sounding, then they proceeded to google map it. Found out Montellano is about an HOUR outside of Sevilla!! And they then called the bus stations and such to find out if there was a bus that went out there...nope. So we thanked them so much for their help (which was so nice of them to help us out!!) And we found an internet cafe and tried to search for a new hostel that was actually in the right city, but its a holiday weekend so everything we found was booked except for ONE hotel room for 300 euros haha. which was not going to work. We called this hostel to cancel, with thoughts of just sitting up all night on a bench in the city center as our backup plan. We cancelled it, after having to talk through why we couldnt (and didnt want) to get out there to Montellano!! So they thankfully didnt charge us for the hostel!

So we decided to start walking around looking for a hostel to ask if they had a bed or two open. The first one we found was booked but he verbally told us directions to another hostel that might have beds open (not likely). We tried to find it, but ended up getting lost and finding a burger king so we decided to grab food since we hadnt eaten since a piece of toast at breakfast. Then, with food in our stomachs, we decided to get back on the road in search of a place to stay. We decided to call our hostel we have booked for tomorrow night(had to book two seperate hostels because none had two beds two nights in a row because of the holiday weekend) because they might have a bed open (even though they were full online). Come to find out they have ONE bed!! So Shannon and I are staying in a twin bed together, but hey its so much better than a bench outside haha!

Was definitely praying hard core through out this whole time, and God faithfully provided a place to stay. He is so great!

I will put up photos and such later next week! I just couldnt resist writing about our exciting experience haha. Oh and our hostel has free internet and three open computers which is really nice! Tomorrow we are heading into the city (like a 5 minute walk) to see the sights of Sevilla, which should be great, the city is very pretty!

Cuando era niña...

2008-04-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

(When i was little)...I wanted to live in a castle...heck I STILL want to live in a castle!! This weekend Lindsay, Shannon, and I (basically the two girls I love and do everything with!) decided to explore a little more of Santander, since we had nothing better to do.

Friday, we just walked around town and went into some shops, we found this really cute jewlery shop with TONS of stuff, we probably spent over an hour in there looking for gifts, and some stuff for ourselves ;-)

Saturday, we decided to go to one of the malls in Santander, but they are not in the city, they are on the outskirts of town, so we had to take the train!! Which was fun, and pretty cheap. So we got to the mall, Valle Real, shopped around and then decided we wanted to see a movie (in spanish!) so we took our train BACK to santander and then took a bus to another mall, Corte Ingles, which has a bigger movie theatre (and happens to be like right next to Valle Real haha). And we saw "Papa por Sorpresa" which is the movie The Game Plan in english...it was good and i was able to understand the main plot haha.

Sunday, we went to El Sardinero, which is basically the beach part of Santander. There is this little offshoot that has a "Zoo" -- which consisted of 3 "pens/cages" which has Penguins, Seals, and Sealions...nothing very exciting haha. Then we walked up this road to this Palace, which we couldn´t get into (dont know if it is ever open) but we were able to walk around and take photos and enjoy the nice weather! Here are some photos!

What I Miss

2008-04-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

Well first off I miss all my friends and family, but there are some superficial things I really wish i had right now...and I felt like blogging about them. So here is my list (with some side notes for fun!):

1. Italian food...fettuchine alfredo, breadsticks, cesear salad, lasagna, tortallini, manacotti -- the closest thing I have had here to italian food is my mom made me spagetti (she called it that) which was plain noodles and tomato paste...thats it...no flavor no nothing!! And the salads here all have just vinigrette dressing, and they are Drenched in it, so much so that it makes the lettuce turn kinda clear from soaking it all up.
2. Mexican food...burritos, tacos, nachos, Taco Bell, tortilla chips, refried beans -- I haven´t had anything close to mexican food here, and one of our teachers told us about a restaurant in town that is a mexican restaurant, but expensive...I might have to splurge.
3. Chinese food...panda express and lucky fortune -- there is a chinese restaurant here but I havent gotten up the courage to try it, I cant imagine it would be very good, or what I miss...basically it wont be american chinese food haha.
4. American food...fast food, a REAL hamburger (a hamburger here is just a flat burger patty...thats it), Red Robin, Chilies, BBQed anything really-pork, chicken, ribs, steak!! I would kill for some good BBQ sauce--they dont have that here, in fact i dont know if they even have BBQ´s here.
5. CHEESE...tillamock cheese, chedder, provolone, american, sharp chedder...Yum. The cheese here is just weird haha, and usually doesnt have much flavor.
6. Ranch/Ketchup...basically any sauce, tartor sauce too, they dont have sauce here unless its oil haha. I asked for ketchup the other day, because she made me greesy french fries, and she gave me tomato paste...not quite the same...at all.
7. Cheesecake...plain and simple, they dont have it here (or many desserts for that matter) and i miss it. They do have Chocolate con Churros here...which is this deep fried dough which you then dip into this cup of thick chocolate...it is delicious...and terrible for you...but still not cheesecake
8. Goldfish crackers/cheeze-itz...their snack food here isnt very good, they dont have good cheese so they dont make good cheesy snacks...my one saving grace has been Pringles...I found sour cream and onion pringles in the grocery store! -- which i might add the grocery stores here are about the size of a gas station store.
9. Wheat bread...never thought i would say this since generally I like white bread, but they dont have this here...all they have is white bread, and even that is not good. Though i will say, we have a slice of a baguette with every lunch and dinner and I am sooo thankful for it because it is a taste I know from the states! And whenever I am served something I dont really like, I just follow every bite with a little taste of bread.
10. Sour candy...cant find it here...they have tons of little candy stores, but none of them sell sour candies...which i love. Its very sad (though they do have great chocolate here).
11. Showers...my shower consistes of a bathtub with a hand held shower head which i have to hold in one hand...and there is no curtain so I have to be careful not to spray the entire bathroom...and they expect showers to be short, a bit difficult with the set up they provide.
12. Nice people...people here are not the nicest, when I am walking down the street if I just smile nicely at anyone, they never smile back...they just keep on their frown...I want to tell them to lighten up haha. Same when like I am nice and move out of the way for someone to get past me, or if there is only room for one of the sidewalk i stand aside and let the person coming at me pass...no smile of appreciation...they just keep walking. I also feel a bit of racism here, when people assume I am american they are more rude to me then their other native spaniards...I dont know why, but sometimes I feel as if there is a huge prejudice against me.
13. English...haha this one is expected, but I can not wait to get back to the states and be able to speak a language fluently and not have to think so hard about everything I say.
14. Our keyboards...I´m sure the keyboards here are more efficient for when you are typing in Spanish, but things are in all sorts of weird places, which takes getting used to, they also have another type of shift key because their keys have three different options on them. And then they have weird symbols like: ç that I have no idea why they are in the spots they are! Now I will have to get readjusted to the american keyboard haha.
15. Television...I miss The Office, Lost, Scrubs...etc etc, they have some shows here on their tv´s that are reruns of ours (new to them) but of course they are in spanish. Its funny to watch shows like House, because Dr. House has such a distinct voice, that really fits his character...well whoever speaks it in spanish doesnt have his same accent or voice inflections...its just not the same!
16. Dryers...we hang dry everything here, because dryers are expensive. So it takes awhile to get clothes...and shirts and things dont re-shrink up so everything just feels a bit stretched and too big now.
17. Wireless internet/my laptop...dont have it. miss it. Have to come to a computer lab during the day to check email and such. also miss my camera...brought my parents camera which is nice, and takes good photos...but i still miss my camera that I know how to work!
18. Our outlets...killed my converter with my hair straightener because it didnt convert the energy right or something...and almost melted my straightener because my converter was then giving too much energy...now i have no way of charging my iPod and camera battery, so I have to borrow a converter from friends.
19. Our schedule...Here (on a school day) I get up (8am), eat, go to school (930-2pm), eat a huge lunch (230pm), nap, go to computer lab, eat a big dinner (930pm), study and go to bed (11pm). Not much to do, and people dont really go over to friends apartments, dont know why, but its just culturally not accepted. So to hang out, you have to go out, which means spending money basically. I miss just sitting and playing cards or watching a movie with friends.
20. Small portions...My host mom here feeds me SO much food, and when I dont finish it all she gets unhappy...so I stuff myself and feel sick after. I am going to gain so much weight and im not excited haha. I mean I walk most everywhere so that helps burn it off, but I eat basically 2 peoples servings here, and I always try and tell her I can eat that much...but it never seems to stick. Can´t wait to be able to serve myself and not have a full plate with a huge bowl of soup, two big pieces of meat, a piece of bread, and a thing of rice. (for example).

Guess thats all for now, and all of this just really makes me appreciate and be thankful for everything God has blessed me with in the United States. It really is a great country!!

The Guggenheim

2008-04-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

Saturday a group of us, Aubrey, Ben, Danielle, Francisco, Jim, and I, traveled by bus to Bilbao where we visited the ever so famous Guggenheim Museum. It was actually really neat, you can see the building from quite a distance in the city and once you get there its greatness takes your breath away. The building itself is a work of art, meant to mimic the sails of a ship. Once we got inside there were 3 stories of art work to go through...it took us about 3 hours. We walked around a ton, took a few photos (even though we weren´t supposed too) and had an all around good time.

The weather was beautiful so we went to a supermarket and bought all the makings for yummy sandwiches and found a park to eat in, which was basically the prettiest park ever! We stayed there chatting and eating and goofing around for the rest of the afternoon when we headed back to Santander. Bilbao is a really cool city, more what i was expecting Santander to be like. It smells 10 times better, looks 10 times prettier and has a ton more green areas and such.

While we were sitting in the park enjoying ourselves this guy came up to us asking for money. He spoke in Spanish, telling us how he had had a few jobs in the past and that tonight the church would feed him, but he needed money for tomorrow (because all shops are closed on sundays) so he needed money now so he could buy food for tomorrow...then he starts talking in English (broken english but still very understandable) so that he made sure we knew he was really going to use the money for food for him and his friends...it was kinda sketch, I mean he was really nice, but he wouldnt take the food we had on us, he only wanted money, we gave him a bit of our change, nothing huge, but we are pretty sure he probably wanted it for alcohol. If he can speak 2 languages he should be able to find a job! But he was very convincing and very appreciative haha, saying that if we were ever in his position we would understand and how he wished he could do something for us in return...I guess he plays some intrument but it "broke" haha. who knows, but hopefully he got his food.

Our view for where we ate lunch

Exploring Caves

2008-04-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

Friday our whole group went on an excursion to see some caves! The first one was called the Cueva del Castillo (Caves of Castillo), we couldn´t take photos inside, but they were pretty cool. Much more intricate than the hollowed out lava tubes I´ve been too in Oregon. There were also some original cave paintings on the wall, some bison and hands had been painted. Amazing to think that people lived in caves. Not going to lie, some of what the historians and culture analysis people have come up with are a little strange. Saying that the cave people drew things for "this reason" or whatever, they have no idea, it´s all just guesses. But they don´t ever phrase it like that...it´s more of a "they drew the bison along this crack in the rock because it helps form the line of the back bone of the bison..." they have no idea if they chose that area of rock for a reason, for all they know the rock cracked After the picture was painted. Oh well.

Then we proceeded onto the Altamira Caves...well kind of. We went to a museum that had replicas...not the real thing (aparently they are too delicate for us to visit). First we went to this little lesson on how the cave people back then made fire and spears, which was interesting. The guide took a specific type of rock which they use for spear heads and knives and he broke off a sharp piece and then cut some girls hair to show how sharp it was (she volunteered of course). Then we got to throw a spear! They had these huge painted deer and bison at various distances and we got 2 chances to throw our spears at them, my first one barely went anywhere, but my second one would have hit the deer had i been aiming better (forgot to aim because I was so focused on getting it to go far).

Then we went in for a tour of the replica caves, which were basically a joke. It wasn´t in a real cave, just a man made one, with nice ramps and nice little video tour things as you went. The first little narrative was this video. It shows a family of cave dwellers, the dad is sitting around his fire sharpening a knife or something, and the mom and child come in (aparently they have been gathering shells) and they are all just one big happy family talking spanish and behaving perfectly...a little hard to believe...first who knows if they were speaking spanish, and secondly whose to say they had the same mannorisms as we do today?? It was hard not to laugh. Then we walked and saw the replica cave paintings, which if they had been real would have been really cool...but its hard to be impressed when you know someone just repainted the old ones. It really is too bad that we could not see the originals!

A Further Look Into the Workings of Spain

2008-04-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry this post has taken so long to come, I find that every time I get a chance to be online I have so many e-mails and such to respond to I forget to update my blog! So here goes!

First, had our first "class" last Monday, which consisted of a test to see if we were in the upper or lower level Spanish class, it was really hard!! Then we just got a quick tour around campus. Next day we got to find out what class we were in and I got into the upper class which was a real surprise! I thought I had done terrible, but apparently not too bad haha. So the group of 30 is split evenly into the upper and lower classes, and thankfully both my friends Lindsay and Shannon got into the upper level too! Then we had class, my schedule is as follows:

Monday - Thursday, 930-1130 we have Grammer class with Esther (she´s really nice and a great teacher!) Then we have a 30 minute break. Then from 12-1 we have Conversation class with our teacher Manolo, and he is crazy! But a ton of fun, he has this thing called the "Electric Chair" where he makes you go sit on a table and he gives you a topic (I had to talk about what my perfect future husband looked like) and you have to talk about that topic for 3-4 minutes straight in Spanish, and if you pause for too long you get minutes added on! Its quite nerve wracking but fun too. Manolo is funny though, he loves to cuss (in spanish) and loves to make people uncomfortable, but at the same time makes everyone laugh. Then from 1-2 we have Culture class, which is a tad boring, no extremely boring. Its really hard to pay attention because it is like a regular college class except taught in Spanish, so if you stop focusing for one minute you are completely lost!

Second, no classes on fridays which is awesome! So the popular thing to do here (even for older people) is to go out. There are tons of bars and clubs here and the thing to do is to just get a drink and socialize. Their hours of being awake are so much different than the US, people dont really go out until like 12 to 1AM!!

Third, went to the beach on Saturday because the weather was nice, and it is beautiful here, the sand is perfect, but the water is cold (reminds me of Oregon haha).

Here are a few photos I have taken so far!

What a change!

2008-03-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Well i am here, in good ol´Santander, Spain. I have very mixed feelings as to whether or not i like it yet. I know the longer I am here, the better it will get. My host family is very nice, though on occasion the son can stereotype me as an american who obvisouly doesn´t know the difference between easy things like "ser and estar" - for you spanish speaking people it isnt too hard, and i do know the difference!! But overall it is good, just takes getting used to the spanish all the time, takes time to have to translate in my head, but slowly it is getting better day by day. and ive only been here since thursday.

The town is very pretty and i have been walking a ton!! The ocean is beautiful and the weather has been really nice, though a bit windy at times!! School starts tomorrow and I think they days will be better once i have something to do, lately all i have been doing is walking around with friends, though i have gotten to know the city pretty well and where things are located.

Miss everyone and look forward to coming home, but i know this experience is good and can only continue to get better!

Leavin' Soon

2008-03-25T11:53:00.001-07:00

This blog was originally a place for me to put up photos that I had taken of various friends and family, but as I am leaving for Spain, I realized that I should write in my blog about my experiences so I don't have to write everyone individually telling them all the same thing. So I guess I would suggest randomly checking this blog and I will hopefully be updating it often and putting up some photos of Spain as well!

So I'm leaving tomorrow at 2:45 in the afternoon, I will have a non-stop flight to Frankfurt, Germany, where I will have an hour layover to go through customs and such. Then I will be on my way to Bilbao, which is close to Santander, the town I will be living in. The total of the flight is about 14 hours, which isn't too bad. The time difference in Spain is 9 hours, so it will definitely take some getting used to!!

Be praying that I will feel comfortable with my host family and be OK with making a fool of myself for the first few weeks while getting accustom to speaking Spanish 24/7.

Travis and Shannon

2008-03-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from the engagement photos of Travis and Shannon. They were great to work with and to see their love for each other as they take the next step in their lives together. The weather was not so great for the shoot, so some photos had to be done inside.

A Man in Uniform

2008-02-29T01:46:00.000-08:00

My friend David asked me to take some photos of him in his Air Force service dress! Needed some photos to send home to family and loved ones!

We went to Avery Park and here are some of the best -- and funniest.

Had to have a Zoolander picture!

My First Shoot

2008-02-28T14:02:00.000-08:00

Amaris and Mike's Engagement Photos!!

I received a new camera for Christmas and I have been yearning to use it ever since i opened it. I was so honored and thrilled when my friends Mike and Amaris asked me to take their engagement photos! Finally a chance to try out my new Canon XTi!!

Here are a few photos from the fun Saturday afternoon in Corvallis!