Friday Cleaning

I spent most of the day so far cleaning up the house. Sometimes I get into cleaning moods and I just have to go with it. I cleaned our living room, kitchen, bathroom, and my bedroom and then did all of my laundry. I even mopped the floor! It feels good to clean things.

I just started reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I'm excited to read it but I hope I don't have insomnia as a result. I really glad that I haven't seen the movie--I definitely prefer to read the book first...or just not see the movie at all.

On another note, I absolutely love the new blog entry by "Colour Lovers." It has a link to a project about artists exploring the meaning of the same sentence. I really like this one:

Blue Cake

Yesterday was Elena's 24th birthday. To celebrate, I spent the day baking cookie & brownie bars and a three tiered cake (blue cake with white frosting). I really love baking and it's nice to have someone to eat what I've made.

I can't believe this is the last weekend I have before my life changes forever! Full time work, here I come!

Karaoke Tuesday

Last night I did something I never thought I'd do--sing karaoke in front of a bunch of strangers (and some friends). Baja Bean on the corner has karaoke on Tuesday nights. Although I really wanted to prove my rap skills by requesting an Eminem song, Mac and I chose Bye Bye Bye by N'Sync. It was wonderful.

The video isn't very good to watch I guess, because it was dark. But you can hear us! And the guy who helped us sing the song...he did the harmonies.

I am looking forward to Elena's birthday dinner at Basil tonight! My 22nd birthday dinner was there and it was so much fun. Happy Birthday, Elena!

All Alone!

So Chen left me today and won't be returning until around August 15! That's over two weeks of being alone down here in the bottom apartment of our house. All alone! I guess this will give me a chance to be obnoxious and blare Taylor Swift really loudly. I'm really surprised that I don't hate "You Belong with Me" yet, seeing as how I listen to it like 20 times a day. That probably should be added to my "lows."

Today I am just chillin around the house. I just finished reading Survivor. I liked it but it wasn't my favorite. As a result of finishing this book, I have the strong desire to hit up the used bookstores on the downtown mall and feed my addiction to buying used books. I haven't bought any books in quite a while but maybe I should be smart and put that money toward my work wardrobe. Hmm.

Yesterday I bought a cord to connect my hard drive to my computer, so I am now reunited with all of the hilarious things on that. I love looking at the hilarious things that I made in art classes. This one is really silly/hilariously bad--we had to make flipbooks out of sticky notes and then scan them to be viewed as a film.



I'll probably share more hilarious things later.

1999 Wine

Mmmm last night I had some '99 wine with Mom that was left over from Nana's birthday celebration...delicious. I finished Stranger in a Strange Land yesterday. I really enjoyed it a lot. You grok?

I started reading Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk this morning--I borrowed it from the Books Behind Bars program at Quest Bookstore when I went to volunteer a couple weeks ago. Kay lets us borrow books if we return them when we are done. I am only 40 pages into the book, but I am beginning to question whether or not this would be an appropriate book for a prisoner to read. It makes me axious when prisoners request violent novels and, although this novel isn't directly violent (yet), it seems to be psychologically twisted, much like Palahniuk's other novels.

Being home has been really relaxing and I have definitely enjoyed the free food but I am looking forward to heading back to Charlottesville tomorrow morning. I miss all of my Charlottesville friends and I'm looking forward to enjoying my last week of freedom until I start full-time employment. In other exciting news, I heard from my good friend Barbara last night, and she is coming back to visit Fairfax from Utah during the first week of August! I can't wait to see her.

Birthday Cakes

Eggs! To bake a cake.

Icingggg.

Sarah's birthday cake.

Sarah and her cake.

I really love how my kitchen utensils match my dress. I love this color.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

BLUE FROSTING RETURNS.

Man, I love this icing.

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Isn't my Nana adorable?

Back...ish

I just got back to Fairfax. Although I did enjoy the beach, I think that my family's condo is a bit small for my liking. It seems like Mom and I always fight at the beach and I think it's because we share a room there. I also feel kind of trapped because we only have one car at the beach, and Mom isn't too keen on me driving her Porsche unless she's in it as well.

Today we were all in good moods though...possibly because my parents and I spent last night sitting on our balcony overlooking the ocean with delicious drinks in hand. That was really fun and I wish this mood had characterized more of the trip. Dad makes excellent (strong) drinks.

I spent a lot of time in the sun today, trying to get tan. Although I got a little bit darker, it's nothing in comparison to my parents...especially Dad. They are so tan! It's crazy. I also have read about 450 pages of Stranger in a Strange Land...only 75 pages left. I probably read so much because I was stuck in the condo with not much else to do.

Summer Skin

The beach has been nice so far. Friday morning my mom and I went shopping at the outlets in Delaware. I (reluctantly) bought three shirts, a pair of dress pants, and a dress as an addition to my work wardrobe. The outfits are from Ann Taylor...not my favorite store, but I need to look professional. I spent most of the day yesterday on the beach, reading and getting tan. I do want to get tan, but I don't want skin cancer. Last night I had a little tiff with Mom, which sucked. I'm still not over it, but it's okay.

A la plage...

I'm at the beach! I started Stranger in a Strange Land yesterday and I am hoping to finish it while in Ocean City. If I'm lucky I'll get a nice tan, too. I'll update more later.

Start Date

Earlier today, I discussed my start date with HR and we set it as August 3! So excited.

Random Tea

This tea is amazing, you should go buy some. A few weeks ago I was really craving tea that I had bought a few years ago when I was in my tea phase, but all I could remember was that the tea was very orange. I decided that it was probably this kind...and it is. It's amazing!


Happy 20th Birthday, Sarah! I'm excited to celebrate with you.

Also, I expected The Bell Jar to be more depressing than it was. I guess it was pretty depressing...books with people who have depression typically are. And electrotherapy scares the crap out of me.

Goodbye, Blue Monday

Sarah and I walked to the lawn for free Arch's. It was really good...I would do almost anything for free Arch's. I am really excited for Sarah's 20th birthday on Wednesday--I know that will be fun. After the walk, I went to the HR office to submit information for my background check. Then I went to the grocery store to get some toothpaste and salsa. I haven't been feeling very great the past few days but I'm sure that it will pass (ice cream helps).

I'm going home to Fairfax on Thursday morning and my family and I are leaving for Ocean City, MD, that evening. I'm really looking forward to spending time with my family and relaxing on the beach (and reading!). I am really sad/jealous that I missed their trip to visit my Grandma in Hurricane, UT for her 70th birthday. It's feels strange that my family goes on so many trips without me. I guess that's just part of growing up.

I finished Everything is Illuminated today. I enjoyed it very much and I strongly prefer the book over the movie. Literature and film are completely different and it's difficult to compare them. My "to read" list is still really long so I have already started on my next book, The Bell Jar. I also really want to read up on conduct disorders considering that the research lab I will be working for is investigating interventions for the prevention of CDs. If only my 9-5 job could be reading books on my "to read" list.

Background check! 1, 2, 3.

So I talked to HR today and they told me a few basics and that I would need a criminal history check as well as a degree validation before I could formally accept the job offer. One more step towards officially having a job! They said that they want me to start as soon as possible...I wonder what that will mean.

Last night I watched "Twilight" for the first time and it was hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed Edward Cullen's "fly walking" and his pale white/blue face. My favorite scene was when he was eating dinner with what's her face:

What's her face: "Are you really not going to eat?"
Edward: "No. I'm on a...special diet."
Me: "YOUR BLOOD!"

Edward is awesome, he drives a Volvo!

Happy Thursday

Okay so apparently HR is going to contact me...so it's still a waiting game until I can officially accept the job offer. I'm still so excited and have, on several occasions, run around my room/living room saying "yaaaaaay!"

Right now I am reading Everything is Illuminated and I am enjoying it a lot. I've seen the movie, but I am enjoying the book a lot more. I really like Jonathan Safran Foer's writing and I also really enjoyed Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. One of my favorite parts of this book so far was when Jonathan was having his first meal with the Ukranian men who are guiding him on his trip. When they went to order, Jonathan indicated that he is a vegetarian, and thus does not eat any meat. Being really confused that someone does not eat meat, the Ukranian men ask

"Pork?" "No." "Meat?" "No." "Steak?" "Nope." "Chickens?" "No."

It reminds me of when people ask me if I eat seafood and I respond with "Nothing with a face." Maybe Jonathan should have tried that response. This is the only kind of meat that I would eat:

This is the second entry including pictures of cupcakes, maybe I should start a tag for cupcakes.

The Phone Call

I finally got the phone call I was hoping for! Professor Melvin Wilson called me early this evening to offer me the position of Lead Examiner for the Early Steps Project with the Department of Psychology at UVA! I am so excited. I'm going to talk to HR tomorrow in order to figure out my start date, salary, etc., and to officially accept the offer.

After I got off the phone with Prof. Wilson, I immediately called my parents. My phone call interrupted a huge family dinner in celebration of my grandma's 70th birthday so the news was spread quickly. The restaurant they were at was overlooking the Grand Canyon. I'm jealous that I couldn't be there to experience that, but being in Charlottesville the past week and half has been worth it.

I'm finally legit and now I don't have to keep to my rule! I have a full-time "real person" job, so I am allowed to spend money at restaurants again (just not in a crazy way). Needless to say, I immediately ran out to dinner at Baja Bean with Camille W. to celebrate. I had a delicious margarita to compliment my meal and it was great. Now I'm going to have some wine and hang out with some friends.

Slip up

So I might have slipped a little bit on my rule. Yesterday, while on a nice little (hour long) walk to and from grounds with Sarah, I ran directly into a 5 dollar bill just chillin on the sidewalk. I was pretty excited (yay, money!). Later that evening, I felt the strong desire for Arch's ice cream and so I may or may not have allowed the mystery sidewalk person to take me to a date at Arch's. I know this is spending money out at a restaurant...but it wasn't technically MY money! Right? Give a girl a break...it's been five weeks since I started this thing and everyone deserves a little slip up.

I woke up at 6 am this morning to get ready for my "observation" today at the dental office I interviewed at. After learning a lot about the scheduling system, insurance, appointment types, potential questions, etc., for three hours, I was told to answer the phone so that they could see if I could handle it. I had to answer the phone and put it on speaker while the receptionist who trained me listened and observed. I was really nervous! Then after scheduling this "new patient" appointment, I found out that it was just the office manager on the other line, testing me! Fun stuff. At least the name of the office isn't a mouthful.

This blog posting from Colour Lovers made me really crave coffee...mmm. So now I'm drinking some.

Noodle Landscape

So I think that Chen and I should build these "chairs" out of pool noodles for LooFahaus. I wonder how they are held together...I think the shapes and designs are interesting though! Apparently this landscape is on a roof which makes it much cooler.


I found these images on a blog called "Colour Lovers." They have really cool entries on pretty much everything you can think of regarding color and design. I also read an article on their blog today about how athletes who wear red are preffered to win over atheletes who wear blue. Maybe wearing my red dress on the 4th of July helped me win that game of beer pong?

Chen and I have a new blog together

And it is called "I've reached a new low." Check it out here.

In other news, I'm still waiting.

I want this

Camera cake...I want that. I also think it would be awesome to make crazy cakes for a living. How does one even get into that business?

Just pretending

Recently I have been thinking a lot about one of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut quotes: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." I think that this statement is incredibly true and applies to so many things. I think that it's really easy to find yourself acting as if you are part of something while thinking that you can easily be separated from the group but, from an outside perspective, you are just as much a part of it. It's kind of like Mean Girls. Cady thinks she's better than the plastics but she's actually just become one.

On another note, I enjoyed eating one of Jimmy and Catherine's 4th of July cupcakes. The frosting was blue and it turned my lips, teeth, and fingers blue as well.


How attractive. I also got a sweet <3 USA ring that was on the top of the cupcake. Clearly, this cupcake was the best thing that happened to me yesterday. I'm not pretending that I love cupcakes, this love is real.

Still no job offer?

For all you class of 2009 college graduates who are still unemployed, this might make you feel a bit better:

"The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) just completed its 2009 Student Survey. It shows that just 19.7 percent of 2009 graduates who applied for a job actually have one. In comparison, 51 percent of those graduating in 2007 and 26 percent of those graduating in 2008 who had applied for a job had one in hand by the time of graduation." (Article.)

That makes me feel a little bit better about my current circumstances. As of now I am definitely planning on applying to graduate school this fall. Unless I am miraculously offered a long term psychology-related research position that will make me a more competitive applicant to clinical psychology programs, I think I need to apply to grad school while my bachelor of the arts diploma is still hot off the press.

Happy 4th of July.

Correction

Correction: the concert tonight is Jenny Lewis...not Rilo Kiley. But J.Lew is amazing regardless of who she is performing as. Thanks, Chen.

Waiting

I didn't get the phone call that I was hoping for yesterday but I am going in to the office I interviewed at for the receptionist position so that I can "observe" the office. So it goes. I'm going in on Tuesday the 7th at 8 am. I think this blog is going to become all about my search for employment post-undergrad. It's time to read the classifieds again.

I wasn't in a great mood yesterday because I didn't receive the phone call I wanted, but I felt better after working out with the tres locos. Endorphins! Then we went to the grocery store and made dinner like a cute little family.

Before we went to the grocery store, we stopped at Mac's house to get her car. While we were there Mac gave me a piece of art that her brother had made so that I could put it up in Loofahaus. Seeing other people's art makes me wish I took more time to make art myself. This sounds so diary-ish of me, sorry.

On another note, the Rilo Kiley concert is tonight in Richmond and I really wish I was going! Camille is going and I'm jealous. But I am trying to be good and not spend money in a frivolous manner.

The Strangers

I thought about going to work for a bit today but decided against it. I am too anxious for my phone to ring. I keep imagining what my response would be like if I get the job offer I want and I probably should stop thinking about it.

I had so much fun last night. After a good work out, Mac, Kyle, Sarah and I went to the grocery store and bought some food to make dinner and then rented "The Strangers" from Blockbuster. Just renting the movie was enough to make us start freaking out. When we got to Sarah's to prepare dinner, we realized we didn't have a microwave to heat up the macaroni so Sarah and I headed to my house to work on that while Kyle and Mac started the rest of the meal. Little did we know, Kyle and Mac were planning to play a trick on us. Twenty minutes later we headed back to Sarah's house and saw right away that one of Sarah's three life-sized stuffed dolls was hanging in the doorway as if it had hanged itself. Once we walked in the door, we realized that all of the lights were out and I could see the shadow of a second figure hanging from a window across the room. I immediately starting screaming because I thought that Kyle and Mac were going to jump out and scare us. So there I am screaming and trying to turn on a light (which was actually the porch light--so it was going on and off rapidly) and Sarah is screaming and trying to turn on the lights. Finally we make it to the kitchen (where another stuffed doll hangs creepily) and we realize that Kyle and Mac aren't in the house. They had been following us to see our reactions. Apparently you could hear my screaming from up the street. Then we had a cute dinner followed by a viewing of "The Strangers" during which I closed by eyes and screamed the whole time. I definitely wasn't happy sleeping alone in my bed last night.