Birthday, etc.

So I bet you all are wondering how my birthday went!

(And I assure you the reason for my delayed report is NOT because I have been hungover since then.) :D

Well, Geoff and I had a lovely time in Palm Springs.

We first went to an outdoor bar/restaurant called Azul, which was wonderful, but a little pricey.

We hung out there for a while, and I ordered my first drink! It was a raspberry Mojito! (delicious).

However, the bartender made our drinks SO STRONG, that after two drinks (the second was a raspberry lemon drop martini, I would later discover was a $13 drink...) I was pretty much set for the evening. Hence, I am sorry to say that I do not have any photos of my birthday. But, I assure you it was full of fun, walking up and down the strip of little stores and restaurants in Palm Springs, stopping every once in a while for a drink. I think at some point we had Nachos too.

Thank you all for the birthday present money, which I received in the mail, and for the happy loving wishes and phone calls I got during the day. :) It was great to hear from you all.

On a completely unrelated note, Geoff and I did this really awesome thing last week, which they call "Flavor Tripping". (It's completely safe and legal and all that so let me explain first.) And don't worry. It's not a drug or anything.

There are these tropical berries they call "Miracle Berries", or "miracle fruit" which, after eating, give you the illusion that sour things taste sweet. They make these in small

 tablets now which can be bought online, usually coming from Asia. They did an article about these "Miracle Fruits" in the New York Times not too long ago... you can read the article here, if you are interested. Anyway, my housemates Laura and Bryce had bought a box of these to try out, and they gave us their last two tablets. We put them on our tongues until they dissolved, (about 30 seconds or so,) and then went about the house, trying to eat everything strange we could get our hands on. To our astonishment, the results were INCREDIBLY powerful. 

Lemons and Limes tasted like candy... (I actually ate like, an entire lemon as if it were an orange. They were my favorite...) Balsamic Vinegar was stran

ge tasting, but not bad! Tabasco Sauce was incredibly sweet, but still had the after-kick of spice. I put a ton on my tongue... delicious! Guinness tasted like chocolate, and Corona just tasted... strange.

I wrote down everything we tried, and Geoff and I rated them:

Lemons -- K (A+) G (A+)

Lime -- K (A) G (A)

Tabasco -- K (A-) G (A-)

Pickle -- K (C) G (too grossed out to try) 

(It just tasted like a sweet pickle, really...)

Corona -- K & G (B)

Vinegar -- K & G (C+)

Wine -- K & G (B)

Guinness -- K (B) G (B-)

Horseradish -- K (B+) G (too scared.)

Spicy Brown Mustard -- K (B-) 

(tasted like honey mustard.. bleh.)

Minced Garlic -- K (B) G (B-)

Anyway, I highly recommend the experience! It's a lot of fun to try, and it's actually a really great thing for people with diabetes... makes not sweet things taste really sweet... gets your sugar fix without you eating sugar! 

I will warn you though, if you eat too much of this weird stuff, you might want to limit yourself... all that acid from the sour fruits gives you an interesting feeling in your tummy sometime after the tabasco... :P  Bleh!

I love you all very much, and Geoff sends his greetings to you too.

Take care of yourselves!

Much love!

Sad.

My beautiful puppy Yo-Yo, my favorite at the shelter, the one I would spoil and play with whenever possible, did not get adopted this Saturday like I'd hoped.

And so, today, she got very sick, and as it goes with sick dogs at animal control, she was put down.

My compassionate volunteer coordinator, Dreena, was kind enough to send me a sympathy email, letting me know about yo-yo. She let me know that the "nurse" Sona, held her very gently in her arms as she peacefully fell asleep for the last time... so she wasn't alone, and she left in a loving atmosphere.

She was a wonderful dog. She was only a few months old and she could sit, come, would play, and crawl in your lap to snuggle and get a belly rub. I would have taken her home if I could have.

Needless to say, most of today was sad for me.

On a brighter note, my wonderful housemate Laura took me out to Niko Niko Sushi (a local sushi place,) for an early birthday dinner. We got the Crunchy Spider Roll and the Sapporo Roll, (which was new for both of us,) and it was delicious. We had a lovely chat, and now I am home. Time to get back to work...

Oh, by the way. My childrens book is coming out pretty nice. I'm happy with it. I've done 8 out of 16 of the illustrations, so I still have my work cut out for me, but luckily it is our last Typography project of the semester, so I have a few weeks to work on it.

I was Blind but now can See!

So, wonderful news.

I was worried about passing my eye test when I renewed my license next week, and as you can imagine, became considerably nervous as I attempted to read road signs far away as I rode with Geoff. So, with TONS of Linda's help, I managed to find a really lovely Optometrist/Opthomologist in Redlands to get contacts and an eye exam. Yesterday was my appointment... it all went very fast... but to put things shortly, I've ordered a year's supply, my doctor's name is Dr. Ledesma, and he is very nice. He talks really fast, and sounds like he knows a lot, but isn't annoying about it. He said that I probably would have barely passed the eye exam without contacts, but that it was good I was getting them now. Also, they give me free saline solution any time I want, so I don't have to keep buying it!

To be honest, even though I have to wake up 20 minutes earlier than I used to now in order to get my contacts in on time in the morning, it's totally worth it. I see SO much more detail at a distance that I haven't seen before... Let me tell you. The mountains here are gorgeous! Even on our smoggy days! :) I feel way more confident about reading things far away, and won't ever have trouble reading power points during lectures if I'm seated at the back of the room. Happy day. Thank you Dad and Linda! :)  ...AND now I don't have to search for my glasses to wear and look silly for my California license photo! Hehehe. yay. Life's small pleasures, right?

In other news, Geoff is taking an EMT refresher course and interviewing for a job as an 

EMT this summer this weekend in L.A., so I will be alone for most of this weekend. :( At least I will get lots of work done I guess....

OH! Goodness, I forgot to mention! My dear friend Albert, who is a fellow photographer, who worked with me at the Bulldog Weekly my Freshman year.. has had a child. Which, I know, is terrifying to me too, but .. I guess I just had to say it! Albert has a baby. It's really a trip for me and Megan--we can't believe it. Considering we had no idea if this was his plan or not, and I didn't even know he was seriously dating someone! Anyway, that was a shocker. His baby shower is this weekend, but I'm afraid I probably won't be able to attend, since Geoff will be taking the car into L.A. all weekend... Gosh. Anyway, don't worry family, I'm not having babies. But congratulations to Albert all the same. My friend is a daddy. (whoa.)

Also, for my Typography class, I am going to be writing, illustrating, designing, printing, and binding my own children's book! I have to admit, I am intimidated but still excited at the same time about this. It will be featuring a character called ________ the hedgehog, (he has yet to be named,) and concerns the subject of Colors. So, it's a REALLY little kid's book I guess. But I have to make 13 copies, so Mom & David will get one, Dad & Linda will get one, I will keep a few for my portfolio, and maybe I will give Albert one to read to his baby. :D I hope it turns out looking pretty good.

Hmm, that's all I can think of for now! 

Oh, wait, I'll put up a picture of my favorite puppy at the Animal Control Center!! I played with her for about an hour last saturday... hopefully she's adopted by now. Her name is Yo-yo. Isn't she precious?? She can sit, walk on a leash, plays fetch, and crawls into your lap to cuddle when you sit on the ground. And she's only about 4 months old!! I would take that dog home in a second! We think she is a yellow lab / pit bull mix. Really a beautiful girl. :)

Birthday Madness

So, this one is for the family...

Some of you have been asking what I want for my birthday, as it is coming up next week. (I'm sure you know.) Here is a small list of things I've been saving my money for, that may or may not be a good idea for you to keep in mind as present possibilities. :D  (I'll leave out the car wish this time.)

1. Tattoo (for those of you who are worried, the one i have in mind is with UV ink so you can't see it during the day or... even at night really unless i'm under a blacklight.)

2. Prismacolor Markers (I actually don't own any nice markers for art so... these are my favorite brand.)

3. New Phone - Voyager (Verizon has let me know that I am due for an update, so i don't know if that means you get money off or not, but I've had my eye on the phone called the "Voyager". I don't know if it's expensive or not...)

4. New Shoes - my Pumas are dying a little...

5. A Puppy!! sorry. i had to.

It looks like we are going to be spending my birthday weekend in Palm Springs, (I don't know if I mentioned that in my last entry,) and then for my present, Geoff is buying us both seats on the bus for the wine tasting in Temecula the weekend after my birthday. Lots of my friends are going, and they'll provide transportation, lunch, and 3 wine tastings. I can't wait!

Anyway, that's it for now, I've got to get back to work.

Ciao!

A New Semester Already??

Well, yesterday, I registered for Fall 2009 classes.

Oh my god, right?

FALL OF MY SENIOR YEAR.

Goodness, time flies. I've got almost one year left before I have to start playing "grown-up" for real... scary thought.

Anyway, I'm super bummed because I didn't get into the Ceramics class I wanted to take. They changed the times of the class a few hours before I registered, and it ended up conflicting with another course I had to take, so that was sad. Hopefully I will be able to take it in the spring. However, you must be curious about what classes I DID end up getting into!

I'm happy to announce that this is the first semester since I've been at college that I'm actually NOT on any waiting lists for classes! I got all the ones I needed. :) 

So, this coming fall, I will be taking the following:

1) Advanced Design Workshop - this is the last design course I need to take in order to graduate with my major besides my senior project class which will take place in the spring.

2) Chinese/Japanese Calligraphy - Just a fun elective, in place of my Ceramics class...

3) Whodunnit! A Course in Forensic Science - For my (M1) LAF. (Which is a science with a lab.) Should be interesting, and it takes care of that requirement so... yay.

4) American National Government and Politics - UGH. I know. It's awful. But I have to take it or it's Economics for me. Blehhhh. At least I'm avoiding the math-y stuff. I have to suck it up and deal with politics for a semester for my SE (social economics, I think) LAF.

After the Fall semester, I'll only have one more LAF to complete, and one more major credit, which is my senior project. Other than registering, I've just been the usual boring and busy and stressed and all that good stuff. Pleh. Anyway, I'll update if I think of anything else to tell you.

Love you all, and I hope everyone is doing alright.

My love especially goes out to those dealing with recent tragedies involving friends/loved ones.

Take care!