Winter Bucket List

As promised, here is my Winter Bucket List! I'm pretty excited about, too. Here's some of my reasoning behind putting each of these things on the list:

Go to a movie by myself - I used to think there was nothing lamer than going to a movie by yourself but then I tried it once and I loved it! It was extra relaxing to have only my own tastes to consult regarding what movie I would see, how early I would get there, where I would sit, and when I would leave. Don't get me wrong - I really enjoy seeing movies with friends, but seeing a movie by yourself is a different type of experience. I haven't done this since last April, so I think it's high time I do it again.

Go on a 30+ mile bike ride - This is more a way of making myself get in at least a little bit of shape more than anything. But also, I live right by a gorgeous trail that runs along a river and I don't get out on it nearly often enough. I'm thinking by the time March rolls around and the sun is out and things start to bloom, I should really take the time to go on a long, relaxing bike ride by myself.

Finish Intellectuals and Society - This book is a monster but I'm almost halfway through and I'm really enjoying it! I'm hoping to finish it up before the school starts again and my life gets crazy.

Start a new book purely for my own enjoyment - I used to love reading. There were very, very few things that could keep me away from a book. Over the last few years, though, most of my reading has been required for school and I've come to view reading as an unenjoyable chore. Lately, I've been trying to make a point of choosing books that I don't have to read so I can remind myself that reading is a truly enjoyable pastime.

Host a movie night - I've been hosting one movie night each month for the past few months and it's been really fun! I'm looking forward to hosting more in the New Year and I think we'll kick off 2013 with The Magnificent Seven - but that's subject to change ;).

Go ice skating - It's been years since I've been ice skating and it's one of my favorite winter activities.

Go wine tasting in a new region - I've never gone wine tasting outside of the Lodi region so hopefully this winter that will change. As much as I love Lodi wines, I really want to see (taste?) what other wine country regions in NorCal have to offer. Some regions I'm considering are the Santa Cruz Mountains, Napa, and the Mother Lode (Calaveras County).

Go to a hockey game - This is another thing I haven't done in years that I really enjoy. Stockton (about 1 hour south of Sacramento) has a minor league hockey team that I've gone to see a few times and it's always really fun (and the tickets are cheap!).

Go to a concert - Any kind of concert! In a large stadium or in a bar, I really don't care. I can count on one hand the number of non-classical music concerts I've been to in my entire life and that needs to change, pronto!

Host a casual dinner party - I did this a few years ago and enjoyed it. I know that hosting another one would be really fun.

Go to a new open mic night - There is one weekly open mic night in Sacramento that I've been to several times and I love it - but I've yet to try out any other open mic nights. I really need to gain more knowledge of the city I live in and I think listening to artists at various open mic nights is a good way to start doing that.

Go swing dancing - I've been swing dancing a few times and I'm not very good at it, so it always makes me nervous. But, this is one of those things I'll only get better at if I actually do it - hence the inclusion on my winter bucket list.

Take line dancing lessons - The fitness facility on my campus is offering Country Line Dancing as one of their group fitness classes this semester so I'm going to give it a try! I've wanted to learn line dancing for a really long time and this is the perfect opportunity to do so cheaply and in a non-skeevy environment.

Try a new restaurant - Again, I need to learn more about Sacramento. This will help me do that.

Meet John & Sherry of Young House Love - They happened to recently schedule a book tour stop in NorCal and my older sister gave me their book for Christmas. Given that and the fact that they're my and my sister's favorite bloggers, this had to be on the list!

Go beer tasting - This is something my friends and I have talked about doing for a long time but have never actually done. Maybe for my 25th birthday? We'll see.

Be a rocking Freshman Composition teacher - I was recently hired to teach English 1A (aka Freshman Composition) at my school next semester and I am SO EXCITED about it! My goal is to be a really great teacher.

Finish thesis prospectus - This has to happen or my whole life will be screwed! Haha, not really...but kinda really. I actually need to get this done within the next few weeks because it has to be approved within the first 2 weeks of the semester if I'm going to start my research this spring - which is my plan.

Start thesis research - This is pretty self-explanatory, but it's one that requires a lot of groundwork beforehand, since I have to get approval from the colleges I plan to do my research on and find teachers willing to let me come into their classrooms to find subjects.

Autumn Bucket List Update

It's officially the first day of winter! Can you believe it? Since that's the case, I thought I'd take a look at how I did on my Autumn Bucket List. Here's what was on it:

And here's how I did:

Overall, not too bad, right? I had a lot of fun doing the things on this list and I'm not too disappointed about not making apricot bread, playing ultimate, or going kayaking. There's always winter, right? Well, not for the kayaking, but maybe for the other two things!

Check back next week for my winter bucket list!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

This is a banner my mom made when we were all really little. It hangs
in my parents' house every year, but I may  "borrow" it this year.

Last year, I think I was working on final papers until just a few days before Christmas and, because I was so stressed out and still recovering from school, I never got into the mood for Christmas. I still had an enjoyable holiday, but that warm, contented feeling that I usually have around Christmas time deserted me. This year, I decided I would do things differently. No matter how stressed I am this month (and it helps that I'm done with school on 12/5 this year), I'm making it a point to get into the Christmas spirit so I can get the most out of one of my favorite seasons of the year. Here are a few of the things I'm doing (and so far it's working!):

1. I'm listening to more Christmas music. In fact, I started listening to Christmas music well before Thanksgiving. I know that's sacrilege to a lot of people, but I felt it was necessary.

2. I'm drinking lots of hot chocolate with peppermint flavor added! Making a cup of hot chocolate every now and then just does it for me.

3. I've started knitting again! Instead of multitasking while I catch up on TV shows, I'm working on finishing a scarf I started over a year ago.

4. I'm making it a point to get up ALL my goal Christmas decor. Last year, I only put up about 1/3 of the Christmas decor in my apartment that I wanted to. This year, I'm purposely setting aside a few hours here and there so that by the time Christmas rolls around, my apartment will be all decked out. My goal date to have everything finished is actually December 12th because...

5. On December 12th, I'm having a whole bunch of friends over to watch White Christmas. And I plan to serve a lot of holiday drinks, including hot chocolate, spiced cider, and mulled wine. Also Peppermint Joe-Joe's. It is NOT Christmas until you've had Peppermint Joe-Joe's :).

I also plan to go look at the Christmas lights in my city, and, if time and opportunity allow, go caroling and ice skating, too! This Christmas is already shaping up to be a lot more spirited than last year's!

Fall 2012 Bucket List

'Tis the season for creating Autumn bucket lists...or so I've gathered from the handful of blogs I read! So, I decided to make one, too. I'm not putting a lot of major things on this list simply because I'm a busy grad student and I already have lots of things to do. But I figure it's a good idea to make a "to-do" list of fun things to do that will bring me joy and satisfaction. So without further ado:

Adventures:
- Take a daytrip to Apple Hill
- Go kayaking
- Go wine tasting in November (Jeremy Wine Co. is releasing a new wine in early November and I can't wait to try it!)
- Take a daytrip to the beach and have a fire to roast s'mores


Delicious Things:
- Make pumpkin bread (I'll probably use the mix from Trader Joe's)
- Make apricot bread
- Eat mashed potatoes (Thanksgiving!)
- Drink apple cider

Social Activities:
- Host a classic movie night
- Go to dinner with friends
- Go to a pick-up ultimate frisbee game
- Go to an open mic night


Miscellaneous:
- Paint toes with Essie's Head Mistress
- Wear pearls casually
- Make painted ornaments
- Decorate my apartment for Christmas

Inside a Grad Student's Bag

School started this week, so I decided to organize the bag* I bought last summer before my first year of grad school. I put it through a lot last year, but it has held up really, really well. Since I was emptying everything out anyways, I thought it would be fun to take a look at what's in my bag for this first week of my second year of grad school. I *might* do this at the end of the semester, too - as long as the contents aren't too embarrassing. My bag is always full of junk by the end of every semester, so we'll see.

In the zippered exterior pocket, I keep my keys and a flash drive along with a few snacks. Today, it happened to be a bag of raw almonds, a larabar, and some baby carrots. My arms are long enough that I can reach the contents of this pocket whether I'm wearing the bag off one shoulder or cross-body, and it's nice to have these specific things within constant reach.

 

The two end pockets are very straightforward: My Nalgene bottle and my cell phone.

Under the flap, there are 4 main pockets, 2 zippered and 2 pouch-like.

In the upper right zippered pocket, I keep replacement lead and erasers for my mechanical pencils, a deck of cards, and a headband. In the lower right pouch pocket, I have a variety of pens, pencils, highlighters, and markers as well as sticky flags and a small notebook that I use to track daily assignments.

In the upper left zippered pocket, I stow a set of earbuds, EOS lip balm (love those things! The mint is my fav), a baggy of advil, and yet another flash drive. In the lower left pouch pocket, I keep a package of Orbit peppermint gum (best gum ever!), a black notebook for jotting down random stuff, another small notebook for brainstorming topic ideas for papers, and a small bottle of hand sanitizer.

Inside the main compartment, there is a padded section where I keep my laptop when I need to have it and a narrower pocket in the front that I usually don't use.

When it's not holding my computer, the padded pocket usually has some empty manila envelopes, lyrics I've written that my brother has put music to, and whatever pieces of mail I just picked up from my parents or want on hand for easy reference.

The main compartment of my bag holds my tutoring and volunteer work notebook, my class notebooks and folders, my wallet, and, because I don't have any book reading assigned for my classes yet, my Nook with the awesome Jonathan Adler cover I bought for it, Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell (a book I just started reading), and Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey (a book I'm almost done reading). Not pictured because I was using it to take these pictures: my camera, which is usually in one of the elastic side pockets inside the main compartment.

It'll be interesting to see what this bag looks like come December 6th. I'd be willing to bet money it has at least one empty Hot Tamales box - my go-to study snack during finals every semester.

*Here's the current model of my bag. It's on sale for $67, which I consider an absolute steal! I paid full price ($90) for my version of it, by far the most I've ever spent on any bag, and it has been worth far more than every penny. I'm crazy about the current one, though. The color scheme and monogram are so awesome!

Boys and Guns

After my brother returned from his first year of college a few weeks ago, one of the first things he did was buy a shotgun. My mom then decided that she wanted a shotgun for Mother's Day and Dad and us kids were more than happy to oblige her :). A couple weekends ago, my mom, two of my brothers, and I went out to a ranch and did some shooting. Although I must say, the boys primarily shot the guns while my mom and I primarily shot with the camera - hence the plentiful photos of my brothers shooting and none of my mom or me (I got off 16 shots and my mom fired 8, the boys shot over 100 between the two of them). Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day:

It was a beautiful day! This lake, which in my not-too-distant memory was once riddled with litter - oil cans, tires, old cars and the like - was looking quite pristine. The sky was beautiful, the sun was out, and there was a slight breeze to keep things cool.

My brother Joe and his shotgun. He and my mom got the same exact gun except my mom's is short-barrel.

Action shot of the empty shell being spewed from the chamber!

My brother Nano looked totally legit with his surplus store pants and black shirt.

First year of grad school. Done.

The title of this post was my Facebook status on 5/17/2012 and it felt so, so good to finally have all of my papers turned in. I'm not quite sure what grades I'll be getting - one paper was worth 50% of my grade, another was 40%, and the last was 20% - but by Thursday morning, I was simply glad to have everything "done enough" on time and turned in. All semester, and especially for the last three weeks of school, my brain was a mish-mash of thoughts revolving around the following terms and topics:

House of Mirth reputation Chaucer homeschoolers storytelling peer review Wharton gossip A Lost Lady social control language guile Manciple's Tale loss of voice writer's authority Legend of Good Women innocence Lily Bart caution interaction Cather self-promotion society Phebus Selden true women

And that's just the ones I can remember nearly a week later, a week I've spent putting all thoughts of school out of my head. I've spent most of this time at my parents', relaxing and trying to decompress from the most stressful year of my life. It's been nice to have some time to relax without feeling that I really should be starting on my next assignment.

During these past few days, I've gotten quite a bit of reading done and it's all been for fun. I think I've read a total of 4 books for fun in the past 3 years, but this week I've already finished all of The Hunger Games books - granted, they're easy books to fly through - and I've continued with Anna Karenina where I left off last summer. I'm still trying to get my bearings in that book again since there are so many characters and the narrative tends to move from one to another, so there are several characters I remember from last summer that I haven't encountered yet and when I do, I'm just hoping I remember the details from the first couple hundred pages of the book.

I've also started reading The Meaning of Everything which tells the story of how The Oxford English Dictionary was created. I'm not quite sure that I'll finish it, since so far, I'm not too keen on the style. But I'm going to stick with it a while longer, since the story sounds interesting and I would like to know more about that dictionary. Someday I hope to own a copy of it, but since it consists of 20 volumes and costs $1200, I'd be surprised if that ever happens. I just don't think that it will be a priority by the time I can afford it.

I have several more books on my list this summer, too. I plan to read a couple by P.G. Wodehouse because I absolutely loved A Damsel in Distress when I read it a few years ago. And I'm hoping to round out my experience by reading works from some authors I've never read, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Thomas Hardy. Let me know if you have any suggestions for other authors or specific books by the authors I've mentioned!

High Five for Friday 5/11/2012

Five highlights from this  week:

1. Just moments ago, I turned in the first of three final papers! This time next week, I will be done-done-done-done-DONE with my second semester of grad school!!!

2. On Thursday I was able to get together with the leader of the Young Adults group (ages 18-30) at my church and we had a great conversation. It was really nice to get to know her a little more and talk about the vision for our church and small group and just life in general.

3. The weather. OK, to be honest, I've not been a fan of the afternoon temperatures, but it's been absolutely lovely in the mornings & evenings!

4. On Wednesday, I presented my proposal for my thesis research project to a group of about 20 people made up of my peers and composition faculty and everyone was really enthusiastic about it! I'm really glad about that, because I wasn't feeling very confident about my research topic but now that I've received so much positive & interested feedback, I feel a lot better.

5. I don't know if this counts because it hasn't happened yet, but tomorrow everyone on my mom's side of the family is getting together to celebrate my grandpa's 85th birthday and I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone!

Here's a song I've been enjoying lately (and by "lately" I mean every spring/summer for the past 6 or so years, haha!):

Linking up to From My Grey Desk.

High Five for Friday 5/4/2012

Here are five highlights from this past week:

1. Relaxing on my friend Kelsey's back patio, catching up and smoking cigars while enjoying the lovely spring weather we've been having here in NorCal.

2. Renting Real Steel from Redbox and watching it with my roommate. We both had a bad day on Tuesday and it was nice to commiserate with one another while vegging out in front of a movie, haha.

3. Discovering the music of Alexi Murdoch. "All My Days" plays during the opening credits to Real Steel.

4. Eating steak almost every day this week (thanks to volunteering last weekend and getting to bring some home for FREE!).

5. Participating in my first official crossfit workouts. They're hard, but I feel so good when I'm done! I can't wait for the day that I can complete a workout as Rx'd!

And, I just have to add one more:

6. Successfully getting through another week of school. Two more weeks to go and I'll be done with my first year of grad school! Woohoo!

(Linking up to From My Grey Desk)

Procrastination

I've always been a master procrastinator, but now that I'm in grad school, it's reached a dangerous level. In undergrad, it's fairly easy to get away with procrastinating - your assignments are shorter and teachers aren't looking for the depth of knowledge and understanding that they expect at the graduate level, and that only comes with investing hours and hours and hours into your readings and assignments. I try not to procrastinate, but honestly, unless I wait until the last minute to do something, I usually end up wasting a lot of time doing anything except study during the time I set aside for studying. Here's what usually ends up happening during my "study" sessions:

1. Get to campus and set up my supplies - books, pens, highlighters, laptop, water, coffee/tea, snacks, articles, etc.

2. Get on the internet to do "research" - also known as, check facebook, catch up on blogroll, send emails, check other blogs not on blogroll.

3. Realize that the noise I'm hearing is the printer - turn on Spotify. Play around on Spotify for 5-10 minutes trying to find the perfect study music for the mood I'm in (country usually ends up fitting the bill).

4. Log onto library and conduct search for articles (this takes about 5 minutes).

5. Remember that I need to respond to a friend's text. While on phone, also send texts to about 5 other friends.

6. Look at search results and realize nothing there is helpful. Conduct 5 more searches, which turn up a total of 2 helpful articles.

7. Email articles to self to print later.

8. Watch an episode of a TV show on Hulu or Netflix.

9. Finally start on actual project. Go home after an hour or two because I'm too tired to keep working and need a nap.

However, here's what happens when I wait until the last minute to do something:

1. Get to campus and quickly set up work station.

2. Start typing frantically.

3. Finish assignment, proofread, print, and head to class to turn it in.

The wait-til-the-last-minute method is a LOT more efficient but it always leaves me incredibly stressed out and I realize that if I discipline myself to remain focused during my non-procrastinating study sessions, my life would be much improved AND I would no longer have to worry about last-minute things coming up and preventing me from finishing my assignments on time.

Ironically, I'm writing this post while I should be finishing up an annotated bibliography that's due this afternoon.

Grad School is Bad for Your Health

The picture on the left is from early September, 2011, just after I started grad school. The picture on the right is from a few days ago, about 6 months after starting grad school. Note that in the first picture, there are no bags under my eyes. Note the bags under my eyes in the second picture. Also I have three grey hairs that were non-existent last August.

Alien Eyes

This is the only photo in this entire post where Cora's eyes look normal. Just one eye, actually. She was wiggling too much and her face got cut out of the frame. Her eyes are glowing alien-green in every other photo I took of her today, however, so this one ultimately made the cut :).

I found Cora under our coffee table with her ball so I grabbed it and threw it for her.

She ran and brought it back, flying around the corner.

 

Here she comes!

After retrieving the ball a few times, she was tuckered out.

She quickly moved on to her new favorite toy (a gift from my mom).

Isn't she cute with her head cocked liked that?

This afternoon, as usual, I took her out on a walk. It was supposed to be a quick 30 minute deal around the park, but on our way there we passed an elderly woman standing just outside her garage. Cora started to go up to her to be pet and the lady asked me a few questions and before I knew it, we were deep in a conversation. We ended up talking for an hour! The woman shared a lot of her life story with me and it was so interesting. It's nice to have the opportunity every now and then to listen to people talk and share their life and the wisdom they've gathered over the years. At the end of our conversation, she told me to feel free to knock on her door anytime and I just might take her up on it!

A Few Hours in the Country

A few weeks ago, I went home for a few hours and went on a walk with my mom. Abba (my younger sister) was up at one of the neighbors training horses so we decided to walk there and watch her. Here are some photos from our little trek:

Gungor's Ghosts Upon the Earth Tour

Last Sunday, my two best friends and I went and saw the music group Gungor in concert. It was absolutely amazing. I wish I had known just how wonderful it be, because I would have invited a lot of people I know to go with me.

The concert program was beautifully crafted to movingly narrate the history of God's desire for a relationship with us. Each song and the poetry that was performed between segments built to a beautiful crescendo of what eternity will hold for us. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

If you live in or near a city where Gungor will be performing during their Ghosts Upon the Earth Tour, I highly, highly recommend that you go see them and bring any friends you have who are seeking meaning in their life. I really think this is the perfect concert to introduce a non-Christian to Jesus and the musicians are extremely talented; together they create wonderful, unique music that anyone, Christian or non-Christian, would enjoy.

I Got a Dog (!!!)

So I have some news I probably should have shared weeks ago. I bought a puppy! Everyone in my life, including me, is really, really surprised that I did this. See, I've never been a huge "fan" of dogs. I mean, I like them and all, but my relationship with dogs tends to be one of toleration rather than love. I have always known that I want to own dogs, especially when/if I ever have kids, but I didn't expect to own a dog as a single person, especially since I will be living in apartments for the foreseeable future.

...Which is the other surprising part about this whole thing. I got a small dog. My family has always only ever owned large dogs and frankly, I don't even like small dogs. I barely even tolerate them when they're around. However, several years ago we visited some family friends and met their little Maltese dogs, which were totally awesome and don't shed! (Dog hair is one of the main reasons I'm not a huge fan - I hate it when the hair gets all over my clothes and then I have to wash/iron them.) Since Malteses don't shed and are super sweet little animals, I told myself right then that if were ever to get a small dog, it would be a Maltese.

Then, on February 6th, 2012, I was studying with a friend from church and he told me about a puppy an acquaintance of his was trying to sell. She was 7 weeks old and half Maltese, half Poodle. Well, after I saw the picture, I couldn't get her out of my mind! The price was right, so I called the guy and went to look at her the next Saturday with my sister, Abba. I decided to buy her!

Since she didn't have any of her shots, she stayed with a friend for a few days and then I brought her down to my parents' place - I didn't want to have her stay with me until she was fully vaccinated because Sacramento has one of the highest rates of Parvo. But I'm bringing her home this weekend and I cannot wait! The timing is really perfect because I'll be on spring break, plus since we just had daylight savings, there will be plenty of daylight at the end of the day for us to go play/walk in the park.

My pup's name is Cora and she is so sweet & playful! I decided to litter box train her, which I thought was really weird, but after googling it, I saw that litter box training is actually really common with little dogs. And one of my coworkers actually used to have a Cocker Spaniel/Poodle mix that she litter box trained. So far, Cora has done really well with the training. It took her a few days to get the idea, but she has been piddling in the box consistently for a few weeks now and my mom just told me today that she has started to poop consistently in the box, too. (Sorry if that is TMI!).

Anyways, I am really, really surprised but SO happy that I bought her! I know she will bring lots of love, joy, and activity to my life for years to come and I can't wait to start studying with a little dog by my side :).

Adri's Finish List

The fact that this post is two days later than I said it would be does not bode well for FinishYear (somehow that turned into a compound noun over the weekend), but I'm not going to let that discourage me! Here are some of the things I am going to finish in 2012:

My siblings' band will record at least one EP or an LP album
For the past few years I have managed my siblings' bluegrass band and we have wanted to record an album for several years now, but it hasn't happened. This goal is dependent on a lot of other people, but I'm going to do everything I can to make it a reality. And although as manager, at first glance it seems I wouldn't be very involved in the process, I actually have written the lyrics for most of the songs we have. So I have a very large stake in this project and I am so excited to see it come to fruition!

I will audition for a community band or symphony
It's been many years (more than 5) since I've played the flute seriously. I pick it up every now and then, but my skill level is not anywhere near where it used to be. For a while now, I've wanted to get back into playing the flute, so in 2012 I am going to practice & audition for a community band or symphony. I'm not sure if I'll actually join said music group (assuming I get in...which is a pretty big assumption), but at least I'll be playing my flute again for at least a portion of the year!

I will finish a metric century
This was actually one of my goals for this year, but it didn't happen so I'm moving it to next year :). I will be participating in at least 2 metric centuries (The Zin Spin in Lodi, CA and The Mildflower in Chico, CA), so hopefully I will reach this goal in the Spring. If not, then I'll just have to keep signing up for them until I finish one!

I will finish reading Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey
I first started reading this book as a senior in highschool. I started it again just over a year ago. And although I'm well over halfway through, I haven't picked it up in a few months. What I have read so far is excellent and I need/want to finish it soon! The book is an extremely intelligent explanation of the Christian worldview and I have learned so much from reading it. I highly recommend the first half of the book, at the very least ;).

Backpacking in Hetch Hetchy: Or, Why Fallen Logs Are Nice For Sitting, Not Sleeping

Last week in the Pinterest Challenge post, I teased the story of why we have a black bear ornament on our tree. I thought today would be a good day to share that tale, so pour a cup of coffee and enjoy :)

Last year for the Hub's birthday he asked to go on a backpacking trip to celebrate. Of course I was thrilled to say yes! We love spending time backpacking and don't get to do enough of it - sadly we've averaged only one backpacking trip per year since we were married. But when we do it, it's amazing. The scenery, being away from all concept of time and techonology....walking to the point of exhaustion and beyond...we love it.

We decided on Hetch Hetchy because it would be more secluded than Yosemite but still have great views. We finally arrived at about 3pm and chose a trail - one so rarely used and secluded that it's "free camping" which means you can set up your tent anywhere there is a clearing (as long as you are 100 yards from any water sources). It was a free weekend, so all we had to pay for was $15 to rent a bear cannister. We crammed all our food into it and headed down the trail. Which very quickly became UP the trail. Up and up and up. And up some more. Since we were getting such a late start and wanted to make 8-9 miles before setting up camp, we were hoofing it. But the trail continued to get steeper and steeper as we hiked toward the crest of the ridge which surrounds the reservoir - trust me, it's much farther away than you would guess. We rarely rested as time was not on our side. Finally about an hour after we reached a point of physical exhaustion I've never been to before or since, we saw hikers descending. We asked how much longer until we reached the hidden lake (our - or really my - goal) and they reassured us it was only a 1.5 miles ahead. At this point the sun was setting and dusk was already upon us. We hiked another 15 minutes and came to a relatively flat clearing. There was a large boulder with four or five fallen logs strewn about. We decided to camp there - we could sit and rest on one of the logs and eat, and get our tent up before it was pitch dark. And that's what we did. We carried our bear canister 200 feet away from where we were sleeping and left it in the open so it could roll freely (if you wedge it against anything the bears will use that as leverage to pry it open - sneaky buggers). We each pulled out our knives so they would be accessible just in case. I've read too many Reader's Digest "Bear/Cougar/Shark/Alligator Mauls Girl - But She Lived to Tell the Tale" to not come prepared with our longest blade - which is only 4 inches, but it made me feel better. Then the Hubs pulled out his knife...or should I say letter opener. Seriously, it was a mere inch long blade IF THAT. I'm not sure what he was planning to do with it if we were attacked by a man-eating bear, but to each his own. Perhaps I should have prepped him by making him read some of those articles.

We fell asleep. But within hours were awakened by a snuffling sound. Then more snuffling sounds. Then a ripping and pawing sound. Because what is in fallen logs that bears absolutely love? Fat juicy grubs. Yes. We had inadvertently set up our camp right in the middle of a bear feeding ground. We could hear more and more bears arriving. It seemed like there were at least three or four of them pawing and scraping, sometimes yipping at each other. We lay very still for hours. Occasionally a bear would meander toward our tent and sniff it. Finally I was so exhausted I fell into a fitful sleep. But each time I would adjust my position on the hard ground, my sleeping bag (made from that super noisy material all backpacking bags are made from) would rustle noisily. Which got the bears attention - I imagine I sounded suspiciously like a rodent in the grass. Immediately a bear or two would lumber over and begin nosing at the tent. This repeated itself innumerable times throughout the night as the Hubs lay there wide awake. I imagine that, Readers Digest or no, several of those mauling scenarios were running through his mind. I however slept on, completely unaware.

Finally the sun began to peak over the ridge at 4:30am. I was awake by now, listening to the last remaining bears disinterestedly pawing at the logs. We heard two bears pad over to our tent. Suddenly, as the first ray of sun hit the top of our tent, the outline of a bear standing on its rear legs became visible, as if it was trying to peer into the top of our tent. Never have we been so still or held our breath for so long. After what felt like hours, the bears left. When all was quiet for a good ten minutes, we warily peeked out. They were gone.

All in all, it was a glorious trip. And as all ended well, it left us with quite the story and a valuable life lesson: Camp far away from fallen logs.

:)

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

I moved into my apartment nearly 2 months ago, but until about 2 weeks ago, I still hadn't put together my bed! Not for lack of trying, mind you. My bed's hardware simply refused to cooperate with my efforts to assemble it! First, I couldn't find the hardware for 2 weeks. Then, I thought I had succeeded in putting the bed together, but lo and behold, it collapsed on me in the middle of the night! A couple weeks later I tried once again to get the bed put together but the hardware was not fitting the way it should. The entire experience was incredibly frustrating and nearly brought me to tears on more than one occasion.

Thankfully, after my two oldest brothers moved out of my parents' home, their bunk bed (which is assembled in the same manner as my bed), was taken apart and moved out of their room, which meant that I had access to additional hardware. This time it worked! My bed is now put together for good and I am SO happy to not be sleeping on a mattress on the floor anymore. It's amazing how much easier it is get up in the morning when all you have to do is swing your legs over the side of your bed and stand up!

Having my bed put together has finally given me the push I needed to finish off the rest of my room. I had to run down to my hometown last week and since the World Market there is moving, everything in the store is deeply discounted. I found a small rug and a pillow that go great with my color scheme, so I picked them up. Here's how my bed looks right now:

The striped pillow was only $8 and the rug was only $7.50! They add so much to my room for less than $16 bucks, and they go perfectly with my target color scheme (black, white, blue, and green). I also like the fact that the rug has tan stripes, which helps to tie in my standard apartment carpet.

Here you can see how the striped pillow ties in with my other decor: the white sham in the back, the pillowcase that came with a sheet set I picked up at Target last year (somewhere around $8, I think - and I bought two so I never have to use anything else), the round floor pillow also from Target (on sale for around $12 - I'd had my eye on it for months so I decided it was worth a little splurge), and the ampersand pillow made for me by Rebekah. I like them all, but the "&" pillow is by far my favorite!

Here's a wider shot where you can see that I desperately need to come up with a solution for hiding those risers! They are so ugly.

And just so I can embarrass myself and you all can see how much of an improvement this is, this picture shows what my room more or less looked like for a month-and-a-half! I am ashamed. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, the black fabric hanging behind the vertical blinds is an old shower curtain that I hung there to block the light that comes in at night.

I'm so excited to finally have my bed put together that despite all the busy-ness of school, church, and work, I am on a decorating roll in this room! Projects planned for the next two weeks: hanging art, finishing the organization of my bookcase, adding curtains to my window, setting up a small jewelry station, making a de-stressing area to relax with a book or play my flute, and streamlining my desk for maximum productivity. Should be fun!

Facebook Unplugged

Monday night I did something I thought I would never do: I shut down my facebook account. I have been a steadfast proponent of facebook since my college days (my school was one of the earliest schools to join). It has been life changing in so many positive ways: connecting with distant family and friends, taking new friendships to a deeper and more jovial level, cataloging pictures, and keeping in touch with family. Unfortunately there is a negative side to social networking, and after quite a bit of reflection, I decided to disable my account for the following reasons:

1. I was checking my account an obsessive amount (20-30 times per day)

2. Sometimes I was planning my life around how it would look as a status update

3. I had stopped checking news sites, and had no desire to become informed about current events, except for what I saw on my news feed. I could literally feel my brain atrophying.

4. Occasionally I would embroil myself in some sort of drama either of my own making or someone else's

So it's been only a few days, and this is what I've discovered so far:

During the first 24 hours, I thought about checking facebook at least 30 times, how I would word a clever status update 8 times, and had the urge to stop by the profiles of different friends 5 times.

The second day I started missing the positive side of these social interactions: The friend who drops by your page with a random comment, the feeling of shared camaraderie when you and others you know post on the same picture or comment thread. The ease of planning events, finding out about exciting news (like births and engagements), and storing photos and sharing them with others.

Despite that, I have been much more at ease since I quit. I didn't realize how much facebook controlled my thoughts and actions until I started down this path. Today I spent an hour reading the Wall Street Journal, something I never would have done if facebook was accessible. I have been more present (mentally and emotionally) in every conversation I've had the last two days - it's much easier for me to concentrate on what the person I'm with is saying, without worrying about the pull of social networking.

Overall, I'm much happier now! Will I ever return to facebook (or its equivalent)? Perhaps. If I can overcome my addictive tendencies, and use it in a balanced way, it could enrich my life and my interactions with others. But until I am sure that I can do that, I am going to stay unplugged, as inconvenient and hard as that may be.

I will let you know how it works out :)

Overcoming Fear

Lately I've been forced to face some of my fears, which I'm sure one day I will say is a good thing. Of course, in the moment it doesn't seem so great. In a very short amount of time I've had to confront fears I've spent years trying to avoid. It seems manageable when you are only faced with an uncomfortable situation every once in awhile, but it's been a bit overwhelming having so many things come down at once. I'm trying not to let fear determine my actions and responses, but sometimes the flight impulse is so strong it is difficult not to run away and hide in hopes everything will go away. This has made me realize that I still have many deep seated insecurities I still haven't dealt with. For me, my greatest fear is that I will do something and not be good enough, that I won't measure up and people will look at me derisively. Sometimes I would rather not even try because I would rather never have tried than to attempt something and then fail spectacularly.

So this inner battle has been going on for about a month now, but two weeks ago I heard a story that has helped me immensely so I thought I would share :)

I was listening to an interview with Tom Hanks. When he was a student at Sacramento State he and his friends decided to try out for one of the school plays. He was the only one out of all of his friends who didn't get a part. So he went out and auditioned for a local production. They liked him and gave him a role. One of the directors of this play had a lot of connections in New York and Hollywood and liked Hanks so much he helped him find other roles, which started him on the path to becoming the successful actor he is today.

I like this story, because it shows that he had the confidence to simply move on from a failure and not let it hold him back. I'm sure looking back on his life, he is glad he went out and auditioned again, but he's also probably thankful he didn't get into the production with his friends as he would probably have never met the director who helped him begin his career.

This is the challenging part for me: taking a rejection or a failure and turning it into a learning experience, and therefore a success.

I will keep you posted as I continue on this journey of building self confidence :)