New Year's Eve

This is where I spent New Year's Eve last year: in bed. I was asleep when 2009 ended and 2010 began. While others were out toasting with champagne I was taking painkillers. I had a toothache; a bad toothache! After a day it disappeared and when I was finally able to get in to see my dentist I learned that it was temporary pain from clenching my teeth at night while stressed.

This year, I plan to be social on NYE. Sarah and I are getting together. We don't have a big night of partying planned, but we will go out to eat and watch TV after. It'll be a relaxing way to ring in 2011. I work on New Year's Day, so that will be perfect. What are all of you doing for NYE?

A Wonderful October Weekend

It's been an unusually hot October but maybe the nice, chilly Fall weather is coming. It was a little on the chilly side yesterday, though still beautiful. Today, I was wearing sweatshirts and socks, and made a mug of one of my favorite cold weather drinks, chai. {Of course, I had to drink it with a cookie straight out of the freezer, my favorite way to eat them! My mom always wondered how the cookies disappeared from the freezer when she'd make a batch and put some in there until recently when she saw me taking one out.}

How was your weekend?

Mine was actually quite fun! It wasn't productive school-wise but I did have a great weekend for writing. I had Friday off so after class on Thursday I came home, made a pot of coffee, and spent the night working on my novel. I made a lot of progress, which felt really good! I also created a full outline for the rest of the book this weekend, so it's nice to finally have a little template to follow.

On Friday I met with Sarah for lunch where we spent a few hours talking about our books and planning for the Sanctuary season premiere. For the premiere, we had a classy meal of pizza, Pirate's Booty and Twizzlers, accompanied by wine. The wine is what made it classy. ;)

After work on Saturday, my friend Mary and I stopped in at the wedding reception of an old friend from our high school days. Our high school days BEFORE graduation. In our before graduation high school days the three of us were like the Three Musketeers, so it was fun to catch up! We talked about the crazy times--running around outside wearing only socks in January, stumbling upon one of their brother's stacks of... well, erm, questionable videos... while looking for a cartoon. When the time for the Dollar Dance came we left and went to the mall for a bit of quick shopping, dinner {with a cute waiter!}, and a run through the bookstore to look at what's there.

Today brought church with Sarah, lunch with my mom at an Indian restaurant we've been interested in trying out and studying. Lots of studying. However, studying time was cut into by a headache that I slept through to get rid of. Sleeping for awhile this afternoon will probably present a problem when I try to go to bed tonight. At least I might be able to complete some of that homework that I missed working on!

I hope everyone out there has a great week ahead!

The Start of a New Class

It's October and I haven't posted once yet. So, what I have been doing? Not much! Basically studying, studying, studying, writing, writing, writing with TV, work and swimming with my niece and nephew thrown in.

A new class started tonight. It's with the community college I was at before moving to the university. Basically, in order to avoid taking another science class with a lab at the university I need to complete the transfer curriculum with the community college, so I'm taking one last general to get that out of the way. Since I really don't feel like making the drive all the way to the college itself once a week, I'm taking a course that meets off campus. In a location about fifteen minutes away from my house. The best part? It's less than five minutes away from my favorite Ethiopian coffee shop. My dad pointed out the building to me the last time we were in the area but I wanted to be sure it was the place I needed to go to. So, last night I mapquested the address, glanced at the directions to make sure a few streets were on it, and that was that. (On a side note, the teacher tonight discussed the days before mapquest. Can you imagine? I sure can't! Think about finding all those little pesky little roads on the map by yourself... it would take forever!)

Today, after my usual Thursday lunch at my favorite Colombian restaurant, my dad came to meet me. On our walk back to the school he and my mom volunteer at, we had this conversation:

Me: Last night I mapquested the address to make sure you pointed out the right building.
Him: You didn't believe me? When have I ever let you down?
Me: There was that one time you told me to take the bus in one direction and it turned out I needed to go in the other.
Him: Did I lead you astray this time?
Me: Well, no...

I'm sure with that little conversation you can see where this story is going. I drove to the building and, when I saw two cars in the parking lot, felt like something might be off. Luckily, the janitor was cleaning near the door and was able to point me in the right direction.

My teacher had to attend a conference this week so he sent his wife (who also teaches) to give us the introduction to the class. She was hilarious and I'm kind of sad she won't be our teacher for the semester. We also got out really early--we basically spent a half hour in class tonight. The best part about my new class? It's a ten week class and three of our class periods are canceled due to teacher conferences and holidays. I had to stop myself from doing a little dance when I heard the great news!

What else have I been doing while I have not been updating the blog? Playing Dark Nebula on my iTouch. Let me just say, it's as on the edge of your seat addictive as the article says it is!

And if you have a few more minutes after this loooong post, you should go check out Sarah's blog. (Yep, she's the same Sarah from Alex and Robin nights--which are, sadly, over now that we've finished Moonlight--and the oatmeal mask.) Her Strangers in the Library post is an exceptionally good one if you're in the mood for a fantastic crazy person story. Can you guess who her best friend in the story is? That's right! C'est moi! So go read and find a little story that I haven't told you!

Beauty Break

Yesterday I invited a few friends over for a Beauty Break. My sister came with the beauty products she sells so that my friends and I could try them out. I made strawberry cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes for the night and served them with coffee and strawberry blooming tea. No pictures of the drinks, but I do have pictures of the cupcakes and making of. And if you have a chance this fall to spend a night with your friends eating sweets and playing around with make-up, I highly recommend you take advantage of the opportunity!

Oat and Yogurt Facial Mask

It's September and I am now counting down the days until the start of the semester--six days (including today) to be exact. It's a strange time of year, this last week before a semester starts. Throughout this week I try to soak up as much free time as possible while making last minute preparations for the semester.

Part of soaking up free time includes the last few days of spending time with friends without the thought of homework I'm not doing hanging over my head. My friend Sarah came over again to watch the second season of Sanctuary (which is breaking my heart!) and to continue making our way through the only season of Moonlight.

Lately we've been doing "girly" things while watching our shows. We started with painting our finger and toenails and did our make-up during the next get-together. When we talked about not being completely happy with our pores I came up with a new idea: a pore reducing homemade facial mask.

So I searched this lovely thing called an internet and found a recipe for a homemade oat and yogurt facial mask.

Oat and Yogurt Facial Mask

You will need:
2 tablespoons oats or oatmeal (not the quick-cook kind)
2 tablespoons yogurt

This mask is so easy to make that I don't even need to write this out into steps. All you have to do is grind the oats and mix them with yogurt. Refrigerate the mask for a few hours before applying.

I don't think I ground the oats enough and if I had it might not have been quite so messy but let me tell you, it was an experience to apply this mask! We removed our make-up and applied the mask. It was falling over the place but eventually we were able to pack it onto our faces. Since we were watching TV I lost track of time, but we probably had the mask on for about twenty minutes before we took it off. And that was another experience!

Sarah noticed that overtime the yogurt hardens into it's own mask beneath the layer of oats. It was pretty cool. We could feel the effects of the mask immediately upon removing it. While we didn't notice a huge change in our pores, but the mask softens the skin. Like Sarah said, it makes your skin baby soft!

Here are some making-of photos and Sarah with the mask.

I heart my friends.

A conversation with my friend at her birthday celebration:

Her: I'm 26.
Me: Wait, you're 26? What year were you born?
Her: 1985.
Me: You're 25.
Her: No, I'm 26.
Me: You were born in 1985. It's 2010. You're 25.
Her: *thinks* Oh! I'm 25!
Me: You're a quarter of a century year old!
Her: Gee, thanks!
Me: I just gave you an extra year!