the new men in my life ;)

So living with my sister and Ben has been great, however, it does get a little lonely sometimes since they are the only people I know. They're not around during the day most of the time so I've been by myself a lot, BUT luckily I've had these great guys to keep me company.

Loki loves to sit on the foot of my bed and take a nap

Rocko is the cutest fuzzball ever and he likes sleeping
in my lap after being scratched for an hour.

Loki watching the Ellen Degeneres Show with me.

Loki, AKA the cutest footrest ever.

He is my new love! I really want a cat now!

These two guys are clearly the most important thing in my life right now, but I guess I also have some news to tell. I started my job at Lowe's today and it went really well! Tomorrow I have to work from 8-5 which kind of sucks, but hopefully it's not too bad. Also, I got a call from the Berkeley College of Optometry today and I found out I got in! Now I just have to figure out where I want to spend the next 4 years of my life, nbd. Also, my sis and I have started doing yoga again and I really enjoyed the class we went to today. Hopefully we can keep it up!

-E

P.S. Rocko says it's time to go to sleep. Nighty night!

zzzzzzzz........

new year, new place

I seriously suck at keeping a blog. I started this post over a month ago but I guess I was just never in the mood to finish it. I don't even have an excuse because I have literally had nothing to do all of February. So here is how the post originally started... (P.S.  This post turned out to be super long. Sorry!)

I planned to post sooner than this but it was crazy at my house in the last couple weeks of 2011 and the first week of the new year. Rick (my dad's friend) was staying with us for a week, and the day after he left, my sister and her boyfriend Ben arrived, so the house was a lot busier than normal.

We spent Christmas Eve at my house instead of my Grandma's for the first time in my entire life (and apparently for the first time since my parents met). Everyone was kind of tired so we didn't even do that much but it was nice. I got to meet Ben's dog Loki for the first time and now I've gotten to know him very well. (He is currently nudging my leg to play with him and running around the room like a crazy dog as I am writing this post).

Christmas Day at my Grandma's was not a total disaster as we all expected. My Grandma actually seem to be on her best behavior, which means she still said some not very nice stuff but we didn't want to strangle her by the end of the day. The one bad part was that it turned out that Ben had developed something called dry socket, because he had just gotten his wisdom teeth removed a few days before. He was in a lot of pain but he was also on pain medication and apparently doesn't remember anything that happened Christmas morning. Even this:

I also (stupidly) decided to crochet everyone (like 15 people!) these little cute Christmas stockings. It was fun at first but got super annoying after awhile. Especially when I had to do 3 in one day. But I think they turned out great and I'm proud of myself since I had just barely learned how to crochet.

We had the annual Artinger/McCrary Christmas/Hanukkah party a couple days after Christmas. We had two extra people (Rachel and Erika's bfs) there plus an animal (Loki) so it was a little crazier than normal but still great! I got these great boots from Kelsey and I have already worn them in the snow a bunch!

The pre dinner vegetables. I was proud of my "artistic" picture.

The awesome boots!

The next day we went to the Santa Anita Racetrack and it was fun but not as exciting as I hoped it would be. It's not that much fun to only bet $2 at a time and then lose most of it haha. My mom and dad got to go where the photographers go so my dad got a lot of cool pictures but here's one I took. I took it on my phone because I broke my camera literally 2 minutes after we got there. So dumb.

Also, Seabiscuit once raced at Santa Anita so they had one of the horses that played Seabiscuit in the movie there. It was a little sad because they just had him in this little pen for people to stare at and pet all day, but I guess that is the price one must pay for being "famous" haha.

The horse that played Seabiscuit. He wouldn't really pose for me, but we did get to pet him!

Rachel and Ben at the races!

 On New Year's we had Bev and Sandy over as usual, but also Kathy and Tim and a couple of Rachel's friends, so it was a lot of fun! Playing Taboo has become our new tradition (if 2 years in a row counts as a tradition) and it is so funny playing with 2 different generations. The highlight of my night, however, was that Sandy and Betty got me these awesome things!

I'm a zebra!

A couple days later we took Loki to the beach for the first time. He had SOOO much fun!

Another of my "artistic" pics. Too bad Loki wouldn't pose.

Then a week after New Years, Rachel, Ben, me and my mom drove to Colorado. It was not as much fun as I thought it would be because it snowed a lot of the time and it took us 4 more hours than we expected on the second day. Here's a picture of one of the snowier moments.

Snow! It looked prettier in person.

So we finally made it to Colorado (alive!) and then my mom and my sis both left a couple days later. My sis returned after a few days but I only had a few days to spend with her before I had to fly off for my 2 weeks of interview adventures. My first stop was in Boston where I got to stay with Kelsey. We had sushi the first night and explored the city a little the second day. The interview went well and I had a lot more fun than I thought I would!

In front of the famous Mike's Pastries. The cannolis are amazing!

Me and Kelsey

Me in the snow the day I left. I had to drag my suitcase through 4 inches of snow.

Next I took the bus to New York and I stayed with my aunt on Long Island for a few days. I spent most of my time there watching TV on Hulu except for the one day I went into the city for my interview. The interview day wasn't as exciting as the one in Boston, but as of right now I am planning on attending the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry next year so I'll probably be posting a lot more pics like these!

I got to the city early so I took an early morning stroll around Times Square. 

Here is the school! It's right across from Bryant Park and the New York Public library and only a couple blocks from Times Sqaure!

From there, I flew straight to LA and spent almost a week by myself in my house because my parents were in Hawaii (so not fair!). My interview at the school in Fullerton was pretty boring and uneventful but I got to see Brittany and Laura while I was there so that was great! Unfortunately I don't have any pics because we always suck at taking them!

After that I flew back to Colorado and was there for only one day and two nights before I had to fly back to California for my Berkeley interview. Of course, stupid Colorado decided to have the worst snowstorm they've had in 6 years and my original flight was cancelled, but luckily I got a later flight and eventually made it to Berkeley late that night.

The funniest thing that happened on this trip was actually the first night when I went to take a shower. First of all, the hotel was the weirdest hotel ever. I'm not even sure you can call it a hotel.... It was literally above an Indian restaurant. You had to walk through the restaurant to get to the hotel haha. They even gave you a key to the front of the restaurant in case you got in after 11pm.

So anyway, the room we were in (oh btw, I stayed with a girl I met at the Boston and NY interviews in order to save money) supposedly had the best shower. It had a big square tub with 2 shower curtains that came from the 2 walls and pulled toward the center. I got in the shower and naturally I went to pull one of the shower curtains closed, but apparently the screws were loose and the pole came off of the wall and the whole shower curtain slid off onto the ground. So I am now naked and standing on the edge of the tub trying to put the curtain back on the pole and the pole back in the wall, when the other side of the pole falls off the other wall and the other curtain comes off! I spend a few minutes trying to fix the other side but eventually I realize that standing on the side of a tub, naked, for half an hour at 10:30pm is not the best way to spend my time so I just take a shower without the curtain on. Luckily the tub was big and the shower head was in the far corner so nothing got wet, but it was quite an end to a very busy and stressful day.

The interview at Berkeley went well. There were over a hundred people interviewing that day and even more faculty, staff, and students from the school there helping out, but it went really smoothly and didn't feel incredibly long. I'm still waiting to hear back from them though, which is annoying, but honestly I don't think I'm going to change my mind from New York even if I do get in.

Since returning from interviews, I started looking for jobs. I applied to over 20 jobs, and each one took an hour because apparently online "assessments" are the new thing. They are sort of a combination of personality tests and "what would you do in this situation at work" tests. It was really discouraging at first because I never heard back from most of the jobs, so I started making profiles at babysitting and tutoring sites too, but I finally got a couple of interviews. Just today I was officially hired at Lowe's to be a cashier! Because of my "6-7 years of customer service experience" (really??) they are going to pay me $10.96 an hour! That's the most I've ever been paid at a job; even more than the CTO where I worked for 3 years. So I'm pretty excited about that!

So I think that is pretty much it for now! I finally got caught up on the last 2 months of my life. Up next: pics of my new pets!

-E

For James

I haven't updated my blog recently because I don't feel like anything has really been happening in my life. However, I am updating today mostly because I found out that James apparently checks my blog everyday (hence the post title). I didn't really think people read this blog, but I guess I have at least one or two followers so I will try to update more often (no promises!).

I had a final last Thursday and I have a final this Wednesday so since I don't really have school right now I have a lot of free time. It doesn't even feel like finals because my classes are so easy and both finals are all multiple choice. Unfortunately I haven't been doing much with that free time. I've been playing games on Facebook (although I've pretty much stopped now), reading The Millennium Series, occasionally crocheting, and hardly ever doing anything on my to do list.

The Millennium Series is so good! I started reading the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo over the summer but I didn't get very far. Once I started reading it again I finished it in a few days, and now I've already finished the second one and am halfway through The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. I'm excited for the movie to come out, but there are so many complicated things in these books that I don't see how they could ever explain them all in the length of a normal movie, although they manage to do that in a lot of other complicated movies so maybe they'll be good.

Crocheting is getting a little bit annoying. I thought I had this great idea of crocheting these little things to give to everyone (which can't be named right now because some people that read this blog might be getting one...), but it is starting to seem like not such a brilliant idea. They are getting rather annoying to make. I don't mind doing the majority of each one, but the last step is super annoying and frustrating and not any fun. I've made 6 but I still have at least 10 more to go!

And now for some good news! I got an interview at 2 optometry schools so far! One in Boston and one in Fullerton. I haven't heard from any other schools so I don't have any no's yet. I'm getting a little worried about the interviews though because I suck at interviews and they will probably be the most important part. I just have to practice, practice, practice!

I've also felt kind of awkward the last few days because we have an unexpected house guest right now. My dad's really good friend that he's known since high school has been staying with us since Thursday. He was supposed to be here last Tuesday but he was getting his van worked on in Arizona and it ended up taking 3 more days than they originally thought. Then on the drive here his van started making weird noises so on Friday he took it to a shop and they said it was going to take a few days and they weren't going to start until Monday. He just found out today that they hope to finish it by Wednesday so hopefully he will at least make it back home (which is in Baja) by Christmas! He's a nice guy, but it is just awkward having him in the house because I feel like I can't really be myself and do the usual things I would do (like lay around in my pj's all day haha!). But honestly I think it is way more awkward for him so I should just be grateful I'm not in his place.

I'm excited that my sister is going to be here in a few days! Although, as my mom pointed out, I will be seeing a whole lot of her pretty soon. I think her and Ben aren't going to be here until the 24th, which is kind of sad. This is going to be the weirdest Christmas I've ever had. This will be the first year since I was born (and since before my parents got married!) that we will be spending Christmas Eve at our house instead of at my Grandma's. It's just getting hard for her to have us all there, especially with Ben coming. I also found out that she doesn't want to go to a movie on Christmas day, which has also been our tradition every year. I'm kind of bummed about that, but I guess we'll just have to start making new traditions. Life goes on.

Well for not having much going on I guess I did have a lot to talk about. Hopefully I will update soon. And if I don't, early Merry Christmas!

-E

P.S. I literally just got a letter in the mail saying I got an interview at the school in New York. So excited!!! =)

application and crocheting

I turned in my applications!! I still have a couple of secondaries to do but I'm basically done!! Yay! It's definitely not the best application ever, but it's the best I could do. 

I've been wanting to crochet more, but I was putting it off until I finished my application. So today I finally finished the hat and scarf I started over a month ago. Here's a picture! (It's not the greatest picture, but with my dad as slow as he is at taking pictures it's a surprise I even have one to show) 

Also I finally felt like it was Christmastime today. I had listened to Christmas music for a couple minutes here and there but mostly it hasn't seemed like Christmas. But today my Dad bought me peppermint ice cream and hot fudge at the store (so yummy!) and then I crocheted while listening to Christmas music on Pandora. I'm still listening to Christmas music while writing this and currently "Santa Baby" is playing, which is one of my favorites! I also watched the first day of the Ellen Show's 12 Days of Giveaways. I wish I could win all that stuff!! So as you can see, today was a very holiday-y day! I almost wish I was in Colorado now so I it could be cold and snowy like a really Christmas! I guess I'll have all of that soon enough haha. I'll have to settle for a sunny and 75 kind of Christmas ;)

-E

good news and bad news... but mostly good news!

First the good news: I finally got my computer back! It's actually kind of weird using my laptop again after not really using it for 2 weeks. And I bought a hard case for it on Amazon which is supposed to come in a couple days so I just have to be super careful until then.

Other good news is that Laura visited this weekend and I got my charger back! It was fine sharing my dad's but it was very inconvenient sometimes so it's awesome to have it back. Oh and I also got to see Laura! We saw the new Twilight which I surprisingly liked a lot (maybe I'll even write a review!).

Now for the bad news, or really just the not so good news. I haven't finished my application yet and it's due in 3 days. Kinda scary, but I know I'll get it done. I worked on it today and I'm almost done with it. It's just so hard answering questions when I don't even understand the questions themselves! Here's one: "Based upon your personal background, please share what you will contribute to the Class of 2016 at Berkeley Optometry, and beyond, that will add to the range of interests and experiences of this incoming class." What do they want us to say? This question is super annoying because it's basically saying that you can't get into college if you're boring. I asked my mom what I should write and she basically told me I have no interests or experiences. Thanks Mom, you're the best!

Other slightly bad news is that I think I am getting sick. I had a coughing fit today even though I had no previous symptoms. Plus I was super tired even though I got the same amount of sleep as normal. Then I felt kind of feverish and out of it after dinner so I took some Emergen-C and that seemed to help so I'm going to take some more soon and hopefully I'll prevent myself from getting a cold (mind over matter!)

In other news, Fletcher and I went to Target at midnight on Black Friday and even though I originally wasn't planning on buying anything and there wasn't even that much stuff on sale, I ended up spending $200! Eek! I'm going to return a couple things and give some stuff as presents so hopefully it'll be ok that I spent way too much money. Then I also spent a lot of time on Amazon this weekend because they had Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and I ended up buying all the Twilight movies (for $20 total!), the laptop case, and a couple other movies. But that was a lot less than I wanted to buy so I'm proud of myself! Haha!

-E

another post!

I'm so proud of myself for posting again so soon!

Even though I have a test tomorrow and another test on Tuesday, and I want to finish my applications by Wednesday (or more realistically by Friday), I turned my computer into the Apple store today so they can fix it! I decided this was the best day to do it because I want to make sure I get it back by Wednesday, otherwise I wouldn't be able to pick it up until Black Friday, which would definitely not be fun. I've had to wait long enough as it is both times I went. I don't get the point in making an appointment when you have to wait 30-45 minutes anyway!

I also stopped by The Walking Company because I want to get a couple pairs of boots from there (since Brittany can get me a discount!) They didn't have one pair that I wanted to try on and the smallest size they had in the other pair was an 8 so it was kind of a pointless visit. Wanna see the shoes??

This one is the practical, snow pair: http://www.thewalkingcompany.com/keen-hoodoo-high-lace-gargoyle-azure-blue/21924

And this is the pair that I am IN LOVE with! http://www.thewalkingcompany.com/ugg-classic-cardy-grey-cardy/4043
I like them in the navy color too, but I think these will go better with jeans (which I wear every day of my life).

I guess that's it for now. Hopefully by the time I post again I will have my beautiful, perfect computer back and I will have applied to optometry schools!

-E

Sad day

So I guess I'll just skip right to the chase. Yesterday, I broke my computer screen. Yes, my nice, new, beautiful, perfect computer!! It was sitting opening on my bed and when I went to sit on my bed it slowly slid off onto the floor. It didn't seem like that bad of a fall until I realized that the back of the screen had hit the corner of one of the drawers underneath my bed. And it hit right where the aluminum switches to the plastic apple logo, which is probably the weakest part of the entire computer. So now there is a dent in the back and the LED is completely broken.

Here is a really depressing picture:

Luckily I can still use it if I hook it up to a monitor (or in this case my 32" TV). However, I have to sit on the floor while using it now which is really starting to hurt my butt!

So I did some research on replacing it and I found a couple different answers about how much it would cost. I made an appointment at the Apple store for today and I while I was hoping it would be somewhere about $500 (or less!), I was really afraid it was going to be like $1000. So after waiting 45 minutes (even though I had an appointment!!) I found out it would only be $550! So they ordered the part today (which is just an entire new screen) and once it comes in I can turn in my computer and they will fix it!

I also realized today the advantage to one of those hard cases. I never understood them before, but now I am going to buy one and never take it off!

So luckily this isn't the end of the world, and it could have been a lot worse. And while I don't have a job right now at least I have some savings so I can afford this and Christmas presents and moving to Colorado.

So that's basically what is new with me. I am still working on my applications. I'm going to try to submit them this weekend, although if I don't have a computer that might be a little difficult haha.

-E