On heading home again...

So I went home this past weekend in order to celebrate my 23rd birthday with my family (my birthday is actually today if you were wondering), and I had a really great time. I took Friday off from work to make the 5 1/2 hour drive into San Diego county, and then that night I went to a local elementary school's harvest festival to see my aunt who had a booth set up for her jewelry. I wish she had an updated website to show you because I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the jewelry she makes. My collection is quickly being taken over by her creations. I should post pictures of the pieces I have one day because they are one-of-a-kind funky pieces, which is something I greatly enjoy. Well anyway, I got a new bracelet from Creations by Pauli on Friday, which she said will be accompanied by birthday earrings she will send me soon. I'm excited!

Garden pickins from my mom's fall garden

I also spent the night catching up with my nearly-15-year-old sister and all of her awesome high school drama. It was surprisingly fun.

Then Saturday involved Tri-tip sandwiches with peppers (see above), shopping for my birthday present (I got an amazing heather-grey sweater, comfy knit scarf and gorgeous peacock scarf. Can you tell I'm preparing for fall and winters in Chicago?), cheesecake and seeing my cousins, whom I haven't seen in forever! I would talk about Sunday, but it involves football and crushing defeats of both my San Diego Chargers and fantasy team, so I'm pretending like it didn't happen.

On my actual birthday, I'm at work. As you can tell you guys, I am clearly working :)

I have more plans tonight. I'll let you know if anything good happens. I'm hoping for more cake. 

Oh! Check out this present my brother got me from the Hallmark Store. It is hilarious. Sorry about the terrible filming. I realized I couldn't hit the button with one hand. 

On Missing Him...

So James left today. I'm going to try not to be consumed by missing him, but I can't lie, it's going to affect me.
I'm just glad we had a pretty awesome weekend celebrating our anniversary and his last few days in AZ. We went to Gameworks, which is an arcade, stayed at the Aloft hotel in Phoenix and went to a really nice restaurant called the Keg. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

I don't know why I can't make normal faces in pictures...

So now that James is gone, I'll try to use my extra free time doing things I like: reading, painting...sobbing quietly into my pillow (joking on that last one!).
Hopefully my blog will be a little more interesting when I start my projects.

On another note, I can't wait till Halloween! I was planning on dressing as a Masquerade party goer, but now I'm thinking it might be easier to reuse my Panda costume from a couple years ago. I guess we'll see when Halloween gets closer. I'm excited!

On being an honorable mention...

Last month I entered an art contest at Ruche, a great website, and while I didn't win (winner got their art made into a downloadable desktop wallpaper) I was an honorable mention!
Honestly, I'm not even sad.  Looking at all the amazing work that was entered has me grateful that I was picked at all. The painting I entered was the one of Isola dei San Giorgio Maggiore I have to the right of this blog with a couple of other paintings.
If you want to see my painting included on the Ruche Blog, click on this link here!
Also check out the amazing art of the other ladies.

And on the note of art, I just want to say that I never did any art, especially watercolor, until my sophomore year of college. Learning to paint has taught me that it's never too late to start a new passion. Even though I'm not very good at it, I wouldn't abandon painting for the world. I haven't painted in a couple months because I've been so busy, but I definitely want to start up again.

I'll have to remember to post new projects here.

On how it's beginning to feel a lot like fall...

Ok people, it is 68 degrees right now!  Can I get a hallelujah?
It is FINALLY beginning to feel like fall.
And I have chosen to celebrate this fact by sharing a video with you.
Every day on my way to work I pass this field with flocks of birds "dancing" as a flock. It is gorgeous! While I don't have a video myself (I'm always driving), I found this one that looks very much like what I see on my way to work.

Simply beautiful.

On the next two weeks...

Our Halloween wreath on our front door

The next two weeks are bringing me two pretty major events in my life. The first one (Oct. 17) is James and my one year anniversary :)  The second one (Oct. 22) is when James leaves me to go to Chicago :(

I'm not really prepared for him to go. We have been practically inseparable for the entirety of our relationship (especially after we moved in together). Until now, the longest we have ever been apart was nine days for Christmas and New Years. While I think it might be good to have some time to reacquaint ourselves with our individual selves, five months is just too long. It is going to be really hard. How am I preparing myself for such a move? Denial.

Him moving out (along with Josh, another roommate) also brings me another problem: finding a new roommate because Rachel and I cannot afford this house by ourselves (Rachel's brother also lives with us but he doesn't make enough money to pay for a third of rent and utilities along with his other bills)(Am I using a lot of parentheses?). While we haven't found a new roommate yet, we are in the process. I put an ad on Craigslist (yikes! Trust me I know), and a few people have responded. Unfortunately it looks like the most likely candidates are all guys, which doesn't have to be a problem, but I'm the one who has to share a bathroom with them. Luckily no creepers have responded...that we know of...yet.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to this month. James and I are going to celebrate our 1st anniversary and my 23rd birthday before he leaves. Then the weekend before my birthday, I'm going home and maybe getting an iPhone 5 from my parents!! And then of course is my birthday...and Halloween shortly after. Too bad they're both during the week.

On the Office...

I love having a coworker (whom I share a desk with) that shares my love for the office. This is just one of our many The Office themed whiteboard posts and references that takes place on a near-daily basis. Everyone should aspire to be a DWIGHT, no?

On Good Luck Ahead...

Man, I gotta go somewhere where it rains.

On Phoenix Heat...

The worst thing about Phoenix?  The heat!  While I must admit, the weather in California isn't much better right now, Phoenix has me resenting the sun way more than when I lived in California.  Call it an Indian Summer or a heat wave or whatever, but it should not be above 100 degrees in October anywhere.
It was frequently over 110 degrees this summer here, and I am ready for it to cool down.  I'm not asking for cold weather, but maybe in the 80's.  I mean, it is Fall!
Although, it's in the low 60's in Chicago right now...that might be too cold for October.
Maybe I'm just hard to please.

On another note: I am so excited to decorate for Halloween!  We got an early start last night, and I'm going to add a few things outside tonight.  Not too much though.  I don't want anything to melt.
Since we were living in an apartment last year, we didn't get any trick-or-treaters, but there are plenty of kids on our street now, so I'm hoping our house draws some people in.
Pinterest has me brainstorming decoration ideas :)
If I do anything cool, I'll add pictures!