CARE PACKAGE GALORE

OH MY GOSH, I just received a care package!!

Mom, Grandma & Papa, thank you SOO much! I really needed some foody love, and today was the perfect day for it to come! :D I opened everything just now, with this huge smile, ear to ear, (I probably looked ridiculous from the street outside,) giggling as I found more things. It was like being a college freshman again and getting treats from home. (Except instead of a roommate giggling beside me, I had a nosey dog snuffling at every bag of goodies.)

Mom, I LOVE everything you put in there! Holy crap, there was SO much stuff! I didn't even know they made some of this craziness. Chili spiced pineapple?? (Not gonna lie, I opened that on sight out of sheer curiosity. Delicious, by the way.) Anyway, these are really great healthy snacks for me, and the massive amounts of protein in my cabinet now will make me strong, strong, strong!!

Grandma & Papa, I REALLY appreciate the gift card!! I love Trader Joe's food, and that's where I get all my healthy stuff for meals, so this should totally feed me for like a month! You rock! Now I can expand my cooking to new healthy meals! I'm so excited.

Thanks guys, this totally made my day. It takes a bunch of stress off me too as far as needing to buy more food goes.

ALSO: Mom, I forgot to tell you.. I know you were worried about me cutting out a lot of carbs in the new P90X diet, but I read more into the whole nutrition plan, and here's what I learned that will hopefully make you feel better: It's only for the first month that most carbs are cut out, so the body can replace fats with muscle (protein). It also says in the guide that if I start to feel tired during work-outs, I should add more carbs to my diet to give me extra energy, and I should adjust the diet to fit my own body's needs. The second month, I eat equal parts protein and carbohydrates to boost my energy and keep me feeling healthy and energized. And the third month, I actually eat a lot more carbs than proteins to maximize my endurance and give me the energy to continue to "Bring It!"

That's all, folks! :)

I'm off to Northern California in a few hours! Love to you all!

Life, etcetera

Hello all!

Lots to update on, it seems. First, I'd like to thank you all who have bought some of my ceramics, and those who have been helping me network them through friends of friends! Every little bit helps me out a TON!

You all should also know that I received my proof in the mail today from Thailand! The book looks pretty good, but there are a few changes they need to make, so I've emailed my contact, and now I wait. Hopefully I'll be able to have the books printed and in my home before the end of the year. (This is my goal.) The price has changed, so I'm going to have to compensate for that, (it went up after there was a little confusion on the layout/page numbers,) but it will work out, I think. Everyone has been very generous and helpful to me thus far!

Geoff and I have begun a new workout program called P90X. You may have seen it on the TV infomercials. It's a really, really intense 90 day work-out/diet combo that is supposed to get you really fit in just 3 months. It's been a week, and it's totally killing me. I'm SO sore every day, and the work-outs are brutal. However, I feel (and look a little) stronger ALREADY and I'm only on week 2 out of 12. Awesome.

I decided to start the program because I haven't done anything physical in about 2 months. When I don't physically exercise, I get pretty tense and irritable, so I was really glad to finally start doing something. I miss going to the climbing gym, but it's impossibly expensive, and we'd have to cut out eating if we wanted to continue climbing. I like eating, therefore, P90X.

The "diet" part of the program isn't so bad. For the first month, it cuts out most carbs/starches and fats, and we concentrate on LOTS of protein and vegetables. It teaches us to eat about 5 small meals a day, (though their version of "small" isn't so small for me!) which consist of healthy things like nuts, eggs, lean meats, salads, and protein shakes. I was never a huge meat eater, but I'm actually starting to physically feel healthier and stronger, and it feels great! I do miss things like pizza and chocolate and super cheap ramen, but this is better for my body anyway. For those of you who are afraid I am doing this to lose weight, FEAR NOT! I am happy with my weight--the diet part supplements the exercise and makes you healthier, not necessarily skinnier. In fact, I'm eating more than I would normally by doing this program, and I'm learning to cook new things too! Also, if anything, I may gain weight through this program, as muscle weighs more than fat. (And I am totally getting more muscle!!)

On a different note, Geoff and I are going up to Northern California this weekend to visit his parents. I am excited to be going somewhere.. getting a little stir-crazy here in Long Beach. Tails will probably hate the car ride up, but at least when we get there, he can play with Chance (the Luecker's big Collie). And at least we are taking the new Subaru up, (lots more space for Tails's crate,) so I can make Tails a comfy little cave to hide in. He hates riding in the car... sometimes he even gets car sick on very short drives. It's strange.. I've never met a dog that didn't like riding in the car. However, it may be that he associates car rides with going to the animal shelter when he was picked up as a stray. :( Poor thing.

Anyway, I think that covers most of what's going on with me! I hope all is well with you guys, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Ciao!

Ceramics!

Hey guys!

I am selling some of my lovely ceramic pieces on Etsy.com to help pay my bills and such. So please feel free to check them out, and tell your friends about them! Each piece is truly unique!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/kitskylark

That's the link to my shop on Etsy!

Sending love to you all.

Job for Geoffrey!

Geoff got the email today!

After his interview/skills test/written test for the job with CARE Ambulance, this week he finally got "the email", which was to say that he was offered the job of a full time EMT with the company!! We're both super excited. Of course, this means he will be working shifts that are usually around 12 hours each, (minimum of 9 hours, max of 24 hours,) which will be lonely for me and Tails, but at least it's work! And I'm glad it's something Geoff loves to do.

Tomorrow, to celebrate, we are going on a picnic with Tails.

(His first journey outside into the grass at the park! ... Tails, I mean. Not Geoff.)

I'm very excited because that means it will tire him out (hopefully). Right now, he is darting around the living room throwing his new toy in the air and chasing after it. He likes to jump really high and land in Geoff's giant bean bag chair. It's super funny, but I wish we could let him run around outside. He beats me whenever we race down the hallway of the apartments. (He is so fast, it's hilarious. And he jumps so high! He would make a great agility dog.)

I just finished my commission to design the book cover/website image for my latest client. This project has changed so much since we started, and it's just taken so long, I'm so glad it's finally done. And I'll get the second half of my paycheck soon from the author, so that will be helpful. When the book gets published, I'll let you know so you can go see my image on the cover! Hehe. That's exciting.

To celebrate being done with that project, I made lemon bars! So now I'm going to go tend to those, and work on my next project--MY book! Wish me luck!

Tails

Last week, Geoff and I sent in an application for a puppy we saw a video of on Craig's List. He was taken out of a shelter in rural Kern County, and was being fostered by a woman working for the "Southland Sheltie Rescue Group". The puppy was weird looking--unlike any dog we've ever seen. He was tan and white and scruffy all over, with wavy fur and the hugest ears. He looked like OUR dog. So, we sent in an application. Soon after, I went through the phone interview, and later the home check. In about a week's time, we'd adopted a 10 pound fox-like puppy, and everything seemed just how it should be.

His name is "Tails" and he is a 5 month old Sheltie x Papillon mix (supposedly).

We decided to name him Tails because he looks so much like a little fox, and jumps so high, he can almost fly. You will recall we once owned a little hedgehog named "Sonic". Well, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the old Sega Genesis game "Sonic the Hedgehog", Sonic, the main character, had a trusty sidekick who was a fox with two tails, named appropriately, "Tails". This character could fly by rapidly whipping his tails around like a helicopter, and is the inspiration for the name we chose.

He is a typical puppy--running and playing like crazy, and then crashing in a heap of sleepy fur. He doesn't know much about walking on a leash yet, and repeatedly trips us on our otherwise peaceful strolls down the street. The vet says he probably won't get any more than 15 pounds at the most. It's kind of funny to have such a small creature running around, as Geoff and I have always loved big dogs. But, Tails is perfect for our lifestyle and our living situation. (We can basically exercise him in the apartment! Haha.)

He is also, as you can see, a great partner and inspiration for my "working from home" time! I am working on my next book, and also working on self-publishing "The Gift". I'm not going to post a ton of details on here, but you can email me if you want details about my plans. Hopefully, by next month, (cross your fingers!) I'll be publishing around 1,000 copies of my book and selling them from my website and from my home. Details are slowly unfolding, and I will keep you all up to date! I'm super excited!

Goodnight for now. It's time to put our sleepy puppy to bed. Love to you all!

Aquahydrate

So, the job search goes on.

I did sign on with one company through a friend though.

I've been working this event called "Crossfit" for a high performance sports water company called "Aquahydrate". It's a really great water, and I know a ton about it now, so feel free to ask me and I'll give you my sales pitch. ;) For now, I'll spare you. But let's just say, it's the only water I'll buy now!

This Crossfit event is a SUPER intense competition with people from all over the world doing these really intense competitive work-outs to be "the world's fittest" athlete. It's pretty cool. So basically, as event staff, I went in to the venue and worked at the booth telling people about the water and handing out samples for a few hours each day. We had our final day today, and the Aquahydrate guys are keeping my information so they can call me for the next event! It's been lots of fun, so I'm glad I at least have this part-time job. :)

That's all for now!

By the way...

... If anyone has any helpful tips on how to store things in a small space, I'd love to hear them. Think storing larger items too... I've heard about hanging things and installing shelves, but none of that seems to appeal. The best idea I've come up with for storing larger items is buying one of those folding room dividers and putting it in front of my stack of bins.

What do you think?

Summer Day

Well, we're back at our new home, after having gone out to Redlands again to clean up the old place a little bit. Bryce is still there, so we are just trying to get all our stuff out so that when he moves, we can do the walk-through right away and get that security deposit back!

Today, Geoff and I were invited to attend the Nickelodeon company picnic with Angelico's family! We drove up to Burbank and spent the day at the studios, enjoying the carnival themed party they have every year for the employees. (Angelico's mom is an animator for Sponge-bob Square Pants.) They handed out water guns so everyone was spraying each other in the nice, warm weather. There was a ton of free carnival food, arcade games, and circus entertainment people. The photo is of my "loot" that Geoff (and Angelico) won for me at the carnival games!

My favorite is definitely the lobster. And also the walrus.

We also got a personal tour of Nickelodeon studios. Their workspace is SO cute. I would kill to work in a place like that some day. Bright colors and enlarged sketches everywhere... And Angelico's mother had this HUGE tablet in her cubicle space that I got to oogle over for a while. Some day! :)

Anyway, I've gotta run back to unpacking and such. Just thought I'd update you all on our day! Hope the heat isn't getting to you too much out there... I hear it's been unusually steamy on the East Coast. Try to stay cool!

Much love from the West!

New Apartment!

Hello family!

I know it's been a long time since I've been able to update, but luckily I've been able to keep in contact with most of you via Email. Geoff and I have just moved into our new place in Long Beach! It's been a lot of work with just the two of us, and we are still surrounded by boxes, but it's coming along, and we are SO happy to have a place of our own. We will truly miss Bryce a LOT, but I am glad we have a nice quiet place to live anyway. We are only 3 blocks from the ocean too! It's much cooler here than in Redlands, so Geoff is loving that.

We made the move with the big van and everything on Tuesday. I was throwing up the whole morning, between carrying boxes out to the truck, so Geoff unfortunately had to do most of the loading work that morning. Figures I'd reach the peak of my sickness on THAT day I needed strength and health. Murphy's Law, right? Anyway, we managed. I was healthy enough by the time we got to the apartment to help unload all the stuff... We are still sore from it though! It's crazy how much stuff we've acquired over the years.

Long Beach is a super cute place... I love the area we're in. We are right by the Aquarium and nice restaurants, but also by a strip of a ton of thrift stores and locally run coffee shops. It reminds me a lot of Northampton sometimes... but beachy-er. Everyone has dogs and cats so there is a dog park nearby, and lots of people walking out on the sidewalks. The people in our building seem super friendly--they all introduce themselves, and some even helped us move the heavier items (thank goodness!).

Anyway, that's all for now. Geoff and I have unpacking to do, and are going to walk down the street to the doggy day care center to see if they are hiring. I would really love to work with animals if I could. :) We love it here!

Talk to you later!

Much love to you all.

Most Recent News

1.) President Dorsey resigned yesterday morning. We are all very sad, and I hope those who were demonizing him during this economic crisis and faculty dismissals feel HORRIBLE right now, because I mostly blame them.

2.) I bought my cap, gown, & tassel this afternoon. I still can't believe ART gets the color BROWN for their tassel. Unbelievable.

3.) I made the Dean's List in the Fall, and just received my letter today. Woohoo!

4.) It's St. Patrick's Day and I have class until 9pm. Boo. :(

5.) My birthday is in less than 2 weeks, and I feel like I'm getting old already!

Death Valley

So, as usual, I have been slacking at updating my blog!

However, that means that I have a lot to update you on now, and I've been working hard on more important things like my senior project.

We just got back from Spring Break, in which we had a whole week off. It was much needed for everyone, and as usual, it went by really fast. For the first 4 days, Geoff and I drove out to Death Valley to camp. We'd never been there before, but it is INCREDIBLE.

I mean, I love deserts and mountains, but I think even someone who doesn't care much for them would be amazed by the sights out there. The weather was perfect this time of year too, since it's still technically winter, so the high was around 80 degrees during the day, and the low was about 52 at night.

We went to Salt Creek, where we saw the "rare" Pupfish, which only appears in Death Valley at one point during the year before it dies when the stream dries up in summer. They were small and not that exciting, but it was the first thing we saw, so we were just glad to be in Death Valley.

Then we hiked through the Mosaic Canyon, which is this huge, gorgeous canyon made of smooth marble walls! The rock is beautiful and has all these different textures in it, so I took a TON of photos. If you have facebook, feel free to check them out. I posted about 200 photos in 3 different albums. All the mountains and rocks in death valley are different colors and have different patterns on them due to various mineral deposits. The mountains themselves are striped, as if a huge painter just dragged his brush across the whole range.. Death Valley used to be underwater thousands of years ago, so I imagine these lines are from back when there were different water levels, but I am not sure.

Another place we went to was called "Artist's Palette" or "Artist's Drive". It's about 3 miles long, and you drive through this canyon where you can really see the different mineral deposits in the rock that change them different colors. Geoff drove through and I popped my head out of the sun roof of the car with my camera so I could get lots of shots while we were moving. One guy even asked if we were from Google! Haha... Imagine if google was just one little girl poking her head out the top of a Jetta taking 360-view photos... hahah.

Anyway, we saw green rocks and pink rocks and orange rocks, and yellow rocks! I've never seen such colorful mountains. It really was a rock collector's paradise... Or a geology-nerd's heaven.

One of my favorite places we visited was the Mesquite Sand Dunes! There are these random, massive sand dunes in the middle of the desert that look like they belong in egypt or something! We hiked around them for a while as I searched for the perfect set of pictures... Man is sand a calf-killer! We were sore for days after visiting the dunes. I wanted to see a sidewinder rattlesnake like they show on the dunes in National Geographic shows, but we didn't get to spot any. :( Apparently they are really only around in the summertime.

We took my little Totoro/dust bunny stuffed animal with us and took his picture in some random places, so here is a photo of him at the dunes. :) I have many more of the sand dunes, but this blog is only so big, so please ask if you would like to see more and I will email them to you!

We also went to Badwater Basin, which is the lowest point in North America! (282 feet below Sea Level!) It's a huge salt flat, covered in salt crystals because of the ocean that used to be on top of it. People are free to wander all over it, wherever we want. It was sooo windy there though that Geoff and I could barely take a photo together. In the end, we took a picture of our water bottles sitting side by side in place of our bodies, because the water bottles wouldn't fly away in the wind. :) By the way, I think you can click on these pictures I'm putting on the blog for them to get bigger... but I'm not sure.

The last place we visited before heading home was this ghost town called "Rhyolite".

I really wanted to see a real ghost town before we left Death Valley, and since we didn't get to see the hot springs I'd planned on visiting, Geoff drove all the way up to the Nevada part of Death Valley so that we could visit Rhyolite. It is officially marked on the map as "Rhyolite (ghost town)". So, naturally, we HAD to see it.

I took a ton of photos here too as you can imagine! It was a photographer's dream--all this old stuff in a spooky area! Almost every building left (mostly) standing had signs on it saying "Danger" or "Stay out, stay alive" posted so people wouldn't go in. And there were rattlesnake warning signs all over the roads too so we didn't wander through the grasses. No one lives in Rhyolite anymore, but most of these buildings were at least a hundred years old. At one point, Rhyolite was the 3rd largest city in Nevada. It was pretty hard to believe, standing in the middle of the waste that's left of it. But what a cool place!

Next time, Geoff and I are renting a Jeep so that we can go on the roads that require a high-clearance vehicle with 4-wheel drive and see more ghost towns and all the other cool stuff we missed! It really was quite the adventure. We needed an adventure too, after all the work we've been doing.

That's all for now, I think... I have other stuff I could update you on, but I've got work to do, and this is already a long entry! Again, if you'd like to see more photos of anything we visited, or cutesy photos of me and Geoff that we took along the way, please email me and ask for whatever ones you want, or check them out on my facebook. :) Love you!

Apocalyptic Weather, No?

Los Angeles had tornadoes yesterday.

Picked up boats and cars 50 feet in the air, they say.

[The very day after I finished telling Geoff "as a matter of fact" that there were no tornadoes in Southern California. Seems I've jinxed us all! Karma has certainly shown me not to be so sure of the weather.]

It's been raining and thunderstorming here since Sunday, and is expected to carry on at least through Friday... Bleh. You know me - I tend to avoid falling water at all costs, so you can imagine how yucky it's been dealing with this weather! We've had floods and mudslides, high winds and falling debris. The coastal cities are feeling the worst of it, but it's still pretty nasty down here too.

I'm trying to stay indoors as much as I can, but I feel really bad for our poor little Bonsai tree who is starting to wilt because she misses the sun so much. Geoff got me this Bonsai Tea Tree on our way back down to SoCal so I would have something to take care of while he was in class this semester... we still can't afford a pet, so the Bonsai tree will have to do.

My classes are going well so far. I'm really relaxed, and barely have times where I'm actually in a classroom. It's a huge change from last semester, but I am trying to keep on schedule for my senior project. I also get to work more hours in the costume shop and at BevMo which is nice. I'm putting practically all the money I make this semester into Geoff and my savings account. It was originally set up as our "Puppy Fund" so that we could try again with a dog, but it's looking like we're going to need a really large reserve of money to get our lives started this summer when we move into L.A. New things we never thought we'd have to pay for are starting to present themselves, and we're slowly realizing how hard real life is going to be. Although we're definitely moving into a building that is dog-friendly, we may not be able to afford one of our own for a while yet, what with paying for the rest of life. I'm definitely not looking forward to paying for Health Insurance and paying off my student loans! Yikes.

I've been cooking though, which has been fun. Since I have more time in the evenings, I can actually set things up and make yummy meals. I made this bacon bowtie pasta the other night that turned out fantastic! It's a recipe from a restaurant in Lake Tahoe that Geoff and I really enjoy. I'm finding that cooking can get a little pricey too though, what with having to run out and buy all those ingredients all the time. Grandma is sending me her recipe for oven-cooked macaroni which I LOVE, so I'm super excited to try to cook that for Geoff and me.

Other than that, I've just been hiding from the rain and struggling to keep up with the massive amounts of reading for my Environmental Non-Fiction class. (We were supposed to read this 625 pg book on Island Biogeography in a week, and my book I ordered arrived yesterday... haha. I am on page 80.)

Anyway, I must go back to reading. My class starts at 6pm, so I've got another 4 and a half hours to read. Ciao!