Emuzines

This was written a couple of nights ago. The summary isn’t complete, but I figured I should get it out before I slack off on my blog again. I won’t get to the rest this weekend beceuase Mandi is visiting right now! Yay! Last night was went out for tapas in town, and today we’re heading to the outlets for fall clothes shopping and then coming home to make an autumn meal.

Here is what I owe my blog:

Summer Summary, Part I

I sit here snuggled with Nik under a big soft blanket on an evening that feels very much like fall. The heat of the past months has subsided, and has been replaced with a cool(er), windy evening. The branches outside whip around, and the sky is turning a very Halloweeny orange. I was able to resist putting up my fall decorations under September 1 only, so the house has been covered with pumpkins and fall leaves for almost a month. I further resisted Halloween-specific decorations until tonight, and am now surrounded by witches’ hats and ghosts. Additionally, I have lit my Pumpkin Patch candle, so the house smells very fally.

I have completely neglected writing here all summer. It was a vicious cycle, missing a post on one event, and then not wanting to post on the next until I went back to that. This resulted in no posting, so here is my summer summary. I vow to try very, very hard not to lag on posts in the future.

Studying

This was my big summer activity. It hurts just to think about it even now. I had my preliminary exam for school last week. This was a three-day exam covering infancy/early childhood, middle childhood/adolescence, and adulthood/aging. Within these areas I needed to know details of biological, socioemotional, and cognitive development. In addition to the details, author names and article or chapter years. I had about 200 articles memorized, most with multiple author names. Hundreds—thousands—of facts floated and, luckily, solidified in my head through endless hours of studying. Ugh, enough on that. A painful experience, but worth it.

LA

I made three trips to LA over the summer. Always a great time. The first served as a break between the end of classes and the beginning of the previously-described activity. I fit in visits to my dad, Martha, and Justine (dinner and a night stroll in Long Beach), Mark (coffee in Redondo Beach), Kimberly, Zena, and Grady (incredible new dinner place in Long Beach), and spent lots of time with Mandi and my mom (and Logan!).

The second trip was for the Fourth of July. JoJo came on this trip, so there was lots of playful chaos. I went to a party at Danny’s, like last year, and played games and set off fireworks with them. We also went to what is my favorite Hollywood Bowl trip so far—to see John Fogarty. My mom, Mandi, and I go for this holiday every year, not caring who is playing. We didn’t even know who John Fogarty was before going, but almost every song was recognizable. He put on a fantastic show. Lots of good food again, as always, too.

The third trip was just last month. This was a whirlwind of activity: celebration of Mandi’s birthday at Café Sevilla, Maddy and Mike’s wedding, Foti and Sarah’s engagement party, a surprise visit to my dad, Justine, Martha, and her side of the family at my step-uncle and –aunt’s anniversary party, taco truck adventures at 2 am, and more. Many of these occurred in one night, leaving me hardly able to move the next day. Luckily, Nik just drove me home and Jo and I slept!

North Carolina

What can I say about North Carolina, my annual weekend of extreme fun?!? My NC trip deserves its very own summary.

-Raleigh Melting Pot (“1, 2, 3, FONDUUUUUUE!”)

-Games, games, games

-Boating

-Water skiing

-Tubing

-Driving the jet ski (“OH MY GOD, 52!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”)…that’s how fast I got. I screamed

-Table for 12 at hibachi

-Balls of rice in my eye

-Flashlight tag

-Pool

-Fried pickles

-Shopping

-Coffee and Apples to Apples break

-Microwaved s-mores

-Golden Cheesemuffs

Mandi and I always love, love, love our North Carolina trips. Sharon, Paul, and Sara (Ryan was out of town, but let me sleep in his room!) are always great hosts.I frequently look through my old NC pictures just for fun. I wish I could get out there more than once a year!

So…Nik and I spent the past few days moving in.  The drive up wasn’t bad…actually, it was sort of fun.  I played games with myself such as, “How many miles can I go without having to alter my cruise control?” and “Can Nik and I match our cruise controls EXACTLY, leaving neither of us having to brake?”  I found some good radio stations, I watched tomatoes fall off of tomato trucks, I saw some baby cows, and I talked to Mark and my mom with my Jawbone.  We made a few stops, which helped the body aches immensely, and we arrived happily.  We stayed in my favorite Davis hotel the first night, and got up early the next day to get our keys.

The apartment is really cute.  Certain rooms are a lot bigger than I remembered.  The bathroom has a double sink and is huge, and the living room is going to allow us to get a gigantic 3-piece sectional.  The bedrooms aren’t quite so huge, and we are splitting up the Pottery Barn furniture throughout the apartment in order to get it all.  We’re hoping to move into a bigger place (a house?) after this year, so we’ve been buying with that mindset.  Make it work this year, so we have it for the future.  Speaking of buying, we’re nearly done with purchasing all of the furniture.  We just have to get the nightstands and find some bookshelves.  Like Nik said, our couch won’t be delivered for awhile, but we really love it!  We have done a ton of work on the place (especially Nik), and it’s looking good.  He has been very busy putting furniture together and his hands are covered in blisters.  He got a bit of reprieve when Sarah and Foti came up to help (our first visitors and huge helpers, thank you!!).  I tried to help a bit but I’m better at…washing the dishes…and…coordinating colors in the bathroom towels…than using a screwdriver.  Oh!  And then he bought an electric one, which made his day.

We spent the evenings going out to eat and watching Sex and the City.  It’s been quite fun.  We are now back in L.A. for the week.  My fun Aunt Sharon is coming into town tomorrow, and we have a lot of plans.  I have been cuddling with Logan a lot and he’s such a LoveBug.  And today is my sister’s birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MANDI!), so we’re doing a few fun celebrations.  I’m so excited for my plans.  We leave again on Saturday with JoJo.  Hopefully we JoJo-proofed the place (i.e. picked up spare screws and nails from building desks) enough so that her initial exploration of the place goes well. 

Oh, please send me letters at my new place!  They would make me so happy