Jennifer's California Adventures

Big Things!

2007-12-10T22:51:00.000-08:00

Per this post, the Big Things are finally happening.

That's right.... I'm moving!!

(Not in real life, don't worry. One cross-country move a year is enough!)

But the blog is moving. To here. Re-set your bookmarks, blog-readers and RSS feeds, folks, because this is my last post here.

One out of two isn't that bad...

2007-12-06T00:43:00.000-08:00

When I wasn't feeling well some weekend a little while ago, I decided that part of taking care of myself is cooking yummy, healthy stuff to eat. So I set out to the store to buy all the ingredients for homemade chicken noodle soup and these ginger-pumpkin muffins. I do really enjoy foodie blogs and thought that it would be fun to take pictures of my food to post up here. (Assuming the pictures -- and the food -- turned out yummy, that is!) I chopped and chopped all the veggies for the chicken noodle soup and once that was simmering on my teeny-tiny, pint-sized stove-top, I started to make the muffins. I even took a cool "before" picture of the muffins before I put them in the oven.

The only problem was.... they looked the exact same when I took them out of the oven.

That's right. I forgot the baking soda. Both my roommate and I still ate a muffin each, but they were kind of like hockey pucks: small, round-ish, and hard. Definitely not fluffy. And because the cans of pumpkin had been on the very tip-top shelf at the grocery store, I did not have an extra can. That one can had been very difficult to get; I had to stand on the bottom shelf and then slightly jump up while lunging my arm as far to the back of the shelf to grab the one can of pumpkin that was relatively closest to the front of the shelf. Going back for another can of pumpkin would've been a sure-fire way to end up with a sprained ankle.

Luckily, the chicken noodle soup turned out delicious! The picture is below. It's definitely not nearly as nice as the incredible ones on all the foodie blogs, but I was pretty happy with it.

*Thanks, Mom, for teaching me how to make soups!! You were right; it's a good thing to know.

Thanksgiving, Part Three

2007-12-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

Just in case you're thinking that all we did over Thanksgiving weekend was eat, here's the last of my pictures from that weekend.

We went to a hockey game on Thanksgiving night, and our Team won!! They definitely weren't supposed to, and it was a very fun, exciting game with lots of bad calls by the refs that forced our Team to be playing three-on-five a few times. Crazy. Here we are during one of the breaks between the periods:

T and I also went into downtown to see the city's landmark building that is huge. Here he is, very excited to see the building that you can only see in my hometown's downtown:

And here I am, in front of a column. The building was closed, so we didn't get to see the inside, but the outside was fun enough!

Thanksgiving, Part Two

2007-12-03T23:57:00.000-08:00

Since we already had the huge pot of hot oil.... we decided to go ahead and fry up a few other things. We went to the store and got everything we thought would do well when battered and fried. The receipt speaks for itself:

After freezing everything overnight, we prepared the batter...

... and then set everything up by the deep-fryer...

... battered them, fried them... and they started to come out golden crispy and yummy...

... to be cut into bite-sized pieces and then quickly devoured by the entire family!

Yes, they look potentially disgusting, but the fried Twinkies were possibly the most delicious things ever. You really should try them once in your life. Once. Probably not more than that or else you might increase your chance of a heart attack by 587%.

Thanksgiving, Part One

2007-12-02T20:41:00.000-08:00

The turkey.

In case you haven't known me for that long, you might not know that I beg my dad every year to fry a turkey for me. If you've never had a fried turkey, you're missing out. It's possibly the most succulent, moist, delicious turkey that you could ever imagine. A regular-sized turkey cooks in about 45 minutes, sealing in all the yummy juices.

All you have to do is take a turkey, inject it with some tasty juices, and spear it like this:

Once the oil is piping hot, carefully drop the turkey into the oil, hoping that you didn't fill the container too full with oil. Ours was a teeny bit too full, but thankfully not too much oil bubbled out over the edges. (Note: please, please do this outside and not in a garage... burning down your house is not a fun thing to do on Thanksgiving day... or any day, really)

Let the turkey cook in the boiling and bubbling oil. In case you're curious what that would look/sound like, here's a video (courtesy of T).

And.... voila! Your turkey should come out golden brown like ours:

Carve, eat, eat seconds, and enjoy the fried turkey.

More to come later on other things we fried after the turkey was done...

Advent

2007-12-02T18:19:00.000-08:00

ad·vent (dvnt)n.

1. The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important: the advent of the computer.

2. The liturgical period preceding Christmas, beginning in Western churches on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and in Eastern churches in mid-November, and observed by many Christians as a season of prayer, fasting, and penitence.

Advent was always one of my favorite things at church when I was growing up. It meant shorter sermons to sit through, watching someone light a candle, singing Christmas carols.... oh, and yeah -- it meant that Christmas was close!

Now that I'm a little bit older (and hopefully a little bit wiser), I've been thinking more about the actual meaning of the Advent season. The desire to prayerfully await the coming of Christmas and the celebration of the birth of Christ. Just recently I stumbled upon a list of daily readings for Advent season on the website of a former church on the other side of the country, and I'm going to try to follow it. In case you're interested and would like to follow along, you can find the list here. Should be some good "grounding" amidst the craziness that is holiday parties and cookies and gift buying, etc.

So random.

2007-11-30T18:36:00.000-08:00

What's your Christmas Elf name?

My Christmas Elf Name is

Get your Christmas Elf Name at JokesUnlimited.com

Christmas music!

2007-11-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I put Christmas music on my work laptop -- yay!

Sleigh bells, here I come.

What is your favorite Christmas CD or song? I'm always looking for more good Christmas music.

Some of my favorites are Amy Grant's "Tennessee Christmas" album, the MW Smith album that has Chris Rice's "Welcome to this World" on it.... and oh! Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas." You can't forget that one. But in my mind, the AG album really should just be on repeat from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Come on... answer! Broaden my knowledge of good Christmas music =)

Thankful.

2007-11-28T00:56:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know that Thanksgiving was last week.

That being said, I wanted to share the rest of my list of things that I was thankful for both last week and today:

1. Family who are not offended when I show up in the Hometown wearing sweatpants, a sweatshirt and a baseball hat after having to get up at 315AM to make a 6AM flight. Yup.

2. Getting to see T over the break -- for twice as long as our previous 2 visit weekends, which was long enough to not feel "long-distance" anymore.

3. Deep-fried Thanksgiving turkeys. More pictures to come later, but it's seriously the yummiest thing ever.

4. Not burning down the house or catching anyone on fire while deep-frying the turkey.

5. A hockey win on Thanksgiving day against the Big Bad team from the Up-North Hockey Crazy place.

6. Deciding to not get up at 4AM on Black Friday to go shopping.

7. Instead decorating the Christmas tree while listening to some quality, old-school Amy Grant Christmas music.

8. Sharing the wonders of the Lake House with T.

9. Friends who will pick you up at the airport!

10. An instrument that works... now I just need to start "doing science" again. Yikes.

11. Friends who come search for me behind the big glass window in the middle of the afternoon to see if I want to go get coffee. (S, I still really miss our walks to SBucks!)

12. Having acquired all but about 5 addresses for mailing out Christmas cards in approximately 24 hours. Now I just need to finish the cards...

13. A microwave that works.... as opposed to the old one that died the day I got back in town. Yay for Walmart.

I'll post the deep-fried turkey pictures ASAP! Happy mid-week "hump" day to all.

Thankfulness, day 2.

2007-11-19T16:33:00.000-08:00

Things I am thankful for today:

1. Gingko trees. There were a few on my undergrad's college campus, and they were by far my favorite trees on campus. I had never seem them until going to college. They're beautiful when the leaves turn yellow, but they're tricky because all the leaves fall off within 7-10 days after they first turn yellow. So you really have to enjoy the trees when they're showing off all their golden splendor because it doesn't last for long. All that to say, there were 2 gingko trees on my walk to work this morning, and it made me possibly the happiest person in the world to realize that the Big School's campus had them too. Here's a picture from Wikipedia of a gingko tree right when it turned yellow:

2. Friends who will offer to pick you up at the airport. I have been amazed at how friendly my new friends out here are and how supportive they are of each other in terms of airport rides. My coworkers are that way too, which is such a fun thing. Moving to someplace new at the same time as others builds another fun community of those who experienced/survived the move together.

3. California life. It's gorgeous here today. Some days life here feels like a dream. Seriously.

4. Gingerbread lattes.

5. Music. I've been listening to the new Caedmon's Call CD a lot recently. It's incredible. I'm really glad that they brought Derek Webb back for it.

6. Getting to see T tomorrow!!!!

Thankfulness.

2007-11-18T09:33:00.001-08:00

In preparation for Thanksgiving this upcoming Thursday, I want to use this week to reflect on what I am thankful for in my life -- and to share them.

I've been thinking about this on-and-off all day long in anticipation of writing this post. I am thankful for my family. And my friends -- new and old. And T.

The thing that I find myself thankful for today is something that I didn't expect when I first starting thinking about this: hymns. Yes, you read that right: hymns. I am thankful for hymns, for the people who wrote the words, for the people who wrote the music, and for the people who are updating some of the music today. Hymns take the critically important pieces of faith and boil them down to poignant truths that I always need to hear. Thus I am very thankful for the way that God works through hymns.

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found; / He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground, / Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all— / Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh, / Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness, / Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died, / The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid— / Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay, / Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day, / Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory, / Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine— / Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death— / This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath, / Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man, / Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home— / Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

Beautiful. Just beautiful. What are you thankful for today?

I'm ba-ack!

2007-11-17T18:33:00.000-08:00

That's right... I'm back. The previously alluded to Big Secret is still in the works, but I have done my "fall cleaning" and all my blog posts are back up.

What's been going on here? A lot.

I spent a week in Salt Lake City at an academic conference and gave a presentation on my research. I saw some interesting work presented there, which was good. It made me excited to do a really good job finishing up my project and getting my Ph.D. -- and then to find a slightly different research field. It's nice to remember that there are areas of research out there that exist outside of my small, narrow field.

The highlight of SLC, however, was getting to spend the week hanging out with one of my best friends from my previous life in the Big City. She's one of those friends that you can just "be" with so comfortably and easily. So fun. I miss her a lot!

SLC was my first trip out of town from here other than going back to see T. It was weird coming back home and not having him here; for some reason it felt like he should've been here. Long-distance is not fun!

On the flight back from the conference, the girl sitting next to me pulled our her NAIL POLISH and started to paint her nails. Um, hello? Noxious fumes? Small, confined space? Not the best idea. What would you have done? I kindly asked her if she minded waiting until she got off the plane after she was through about three nails; she was really nice and apologetic about it. But still...

Then this week has been a super-social, "Jennifer-has-crawled-back-out- from-under-a-rock" type week. But in the good way. I haven't felt that my extroverted side was exhausted. IT was exercised, but not worn out. It was also really good to get back out and continue building my relationships here. I still am amazed at the providence of God in the community that is here. I feel like I haven't been giving my all in terms of engaging with that community and building up relationships, so I want to work on that. I need to learn to be a little bit less guarded with my evening, not-at-work time. I also need to learn to be more productive during my at-work hours so that I can be more giving of my nights. So much to learn. Life is fun!

Winner!

2007-11-04T01:23:00.000-07:00

And.... after a very scientific random drawing (pulling a name out of a hat), the winner of the giveaway is JGR! I'll be in email contact with you....

Thanks everyone for playing!

Where did all the blog posts go?

2007-10-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't notice, a lot of my blog posts are currently missing. In anticipation of Big (shhh! SECRET) Things that are happening in the next few months, I'm doing some fall cleaning. Don't worry, I'll be back within a few weeks.

And yes, I did survive yesterday's earthquake! It actually was kind of fun.

Fall, Y'all Giveaway!

2007-10-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

Wow; I never imagined that I would get this many comments. Due to a variety of reasons, an executive decision has been made, and this giveaway is now closed as of 8AM PST on Wednesday. Thanks for playing!

It's my first giveaway EVER as a blogger! Shannon, over at Rocks in my Dryer, is hosting the "Fall, Y'all Giveaway" -- the fall version of one of the biggest "carnival" giveaways out there in the blogosphere. (Right, I know. I just used the word "blogosphere." Sorry.)

So what am I giving away? I recently came across an extra copy of the book The Call by Os Guinness. As I am just now starting to get into the book, I can personally say that it's a good one. If you want to check it out, you can find it on Amazon here.

How do you win? To be entered, please leave a comment on this post and include the name of the book you read during high school that was your favorite. I'll close the comments on ... just closed, sorry!, and I'll pick a random number/name out of a hat on Saturday. Please make sure that your email address is accessible in your comment (as in, if you're not a blogger, please leave "joebobsmith [at] gmail [dot] com" in your comment as well). Offer is open to US residents only, and I'll pay postage! Oh, and I'll throw in a copy of one of my favorite mix CD's, so you can also include the name of your current favorite song if you'd like.

So, come out, come out.... and comment! I know everyone likes free stuff.

(Oh, and if you're interested in entering other giveaways for other cool free stuff, check out the Fall, Y'all Giveaway link above!)

Home again, home again.

2007-10-29T09:26:00.001-07:00

I'm back from the Big City and currently buried knee-deep (actually, probably at least chest-deep) in work. I'll write more later about what it's like to visit a place you just moved away from 2 months ago. (The short answer: interesting but really weird.) Happy Monday to all!

Reading material.

2007-10-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

I'm heading to the Big City this weekend to see T (Thursday through Sunday!) I am not happy to be exchanging this gorgeous, sunny 85 degree weather for rainy, grey 45 degree weather, but my excitement about spending the weekend with T makes up for the less-than-optimal weather.

I am quickly becoming a California girl.

But I don't want to leave you with nothing to read while I'm gone. So here are several fun, interesting and/or thoughtful links for your reading pleasure:

If you've seen the news recently, you've probably heard about the Southern California wildfires. Mary has been blogging in the midst of the fires, and she has some incredible pictures. Check them out.
Poignant post about rain that reminded me that sometimes hard times make you feel more alive.
Has everyone found Postsecret? If not, you can find it here.
Curious about what the life of a PhD student is really like? Please check out PhD comics. You can find the latest comic here, and some of my favorites (that are very, very true to real life) are this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one.
Last but not least, my next new recipe to try. It's that pumpkin-y time of the year!

On being green.

2007-10-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

I had a haircut appointment yesterday in the Big School's downtown at 10am at a new place. Well, new to me since I'm new to the area. Since it wasn't that far off campus (please note that the Big School's campus is over 8000 acres! So "off-campus" a good walk.), I decided to bike there and then to work instead of driving there and back before biking in to work. I felt very, very "green" today as I biked into downtown, and also very happy to have survived my first bike ride off campus! It also was a gorgeous, sunny day where I could bike in jeans and short sleeves very comfortably, which helped. The only bad part of the whole excursion was realizing that I had to put my bike helmet on over my newly cut and styled hair.... oh well, better safe than not!

But seriously, I felt like the environment loved me.

SO COOL.

2007-10-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

I finally sat down and tried the "photo stitch" program that came with my digital camera. It's an incredibly simple way of creating huge, sweeping landscape-type pictures that are actually a combination of multiple pictures.

It is perhaps the coolest thing EVER.

Here are my three photo-stitched pictures (click on the picture to enlarge it):

From the Bonnevile Salt Flats

At Muir Woods National Monument:

Sunset over the entire Bay Area while camping this past weekend at Mt Diablo State Park:

Camping!

2007-10-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

What did you do this weekend? Something fun?

I went camping!

If you know me, you know that I'm a beginning camper. As in, I like to camp but only at real campsites where I'm not required to hug a tree. Which is an opinion that I was threw out when a few guys in the lab started talking about us all going camping. Thankfully, the great state of California has some incredible state parks with beautiful, well-kept campsites...

... including a park that is supposedly the largest state park in California, and which has (again, supposedly) the largest viewshed (area of land you can see from one point) in the world, next to Mt Kilimanjaro. Plus it's only an hour away! So off went the entire lab, on our first California outing.

First thing after setting up our tents: hiking! We went up to this ridge first:

Where T(m) found out where helium balloons go to die.

Me at the top of the ridge at the beginning of the hike:

Between the ridge and the summit, I found my new favorite tree in all of California under which I want to have a picnic:

And finally, we made it to the top! Here I am with M with one of the beautiful vistas behind us (looking south).

And now with the view looking towards Nevada behind me (and lots and lots of wind!)

Our two fearless camping organizers (J and T(m)).

The whole group at the very top of the summit.

The view of sunset from under my 2nd favorite tree on the mountain.

A better view of the sunset.

Sunset! (Sightseeing, part 3 of 3)

2007-10-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

(Last in this three-part, long-overdue series of my birthday weekend events!)

The last super-fun, totally-California thing that T and I did when he was here was going to the beach to watch the sun set over the ocean. We'd watched the sun rise over the Lake before I left the Big City, and now we were pumped to see it set over the Pacific. We found a great bench at Super-Close Bay overlooking the water, and.... ta-da:

Tall, tall trees (Sightseeing, Part 2 of 3)

2007-10-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

(Side note: This is the 2nd of 3 posts from my b'day weekend escapades.)

Once we got to the north side of the Big Bridge, our destination was to see the redwoods! We only had a little over an hour to spend there, so we just did the quick loop around the main section of the park. I would love to go back and spend a lot more time there someday!

Here's T by the entrance to the park:

We stopped to take a picture by the tree along the main path that has most of its innards hollowed out. It seemed a little too cheesy to actually stand inside the tree for the pictures, so here we are in front of it:

Look how tall the trees are! This picture doesn't even do it justice.

The tree that we're standing in front of here is over 1000 years old!

View of the trees when you look up:

Sightseeing! (Part 1 of 3)

2007-10-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

(Side note: This and the next 2 posts will be fun photo updates from my birthday weekend... in September. Better late than never, right?)

I finally got to go on my first CA sight-seeing adventure the weekend that T was in town for my birthday! I definitely do think that the entirety of where I live is absolutely gorgeous, thus I hadn't noticed that I had not left it during the first three weeks that I was here. Hence it was unexpectedly really fun and exciting to get out and drive up the peninsula. The first part of our adventure involved driving across the Big Bridge on our way up to a national park (that'll be post 2 of 3), which was SO COOL. Not only was it featured in the opening credits of Full House, but it also used to be the world's longest and tallest suspension bridge. Plus you can see practically the best view possible of downtown from there.

Here's the view from the car as we were driving up to the bridge (T was great and drove so that I could take pictures and look all around!). Sadly there was a big bug smeared on my windshield, which kind of hurt the pictures, but here it is anyway.

The view looking up as we were driving under the first pillar going north.

And while the view to the right back at the city was amazing while we were driving across, all the security bars (that keep you from falling off the bridge from the sidewalk) got in the way of my pictures! I couldn't get a picture of the city through the bars but I did manage to get one of The Rock:

Once we crossed the bridge, the scenery was beautiful. Ever since moving here, I'm continually amazed at how amazingly gorgeous the natural beauty of California is. Seriously.

When it was time to drive south across the Big Bridge, I finally got that picture of downtown that I couldn't get before.

(I still might like the Big City skyline better...)

I also managed to get the picture below, which is probably my favorite of all the Big Bridge ones! Granted, all of the pictures were from a moving car. I definitely want to go back sometime soon and actually walk across the bridge (or at least halfway and back) and hike around in the hills on both sides of the bridge in the parks. Anyone want to come visit and go with me?

Freeeeeeeeedommm!

2007-10-14T23:29:00.000-07:00

That's right. I was Bravehart for the "Revolution" party (if you remember, the theme was "dress to represent freedom"). I even had a sword! I had a blast putting together my costume with some plaid Walmart fabric and blue face paint. I was joined at the party by E supporting the women's working revolution, shark J, Besty Ross-inspired flag R and many, many more incredible costumes, especially M dressed up to look like Willie Nelson.

*In case you're curious about the shark costume and how it represents freedom, please watch the clip below. The shark costume (sewn by E) represents J's freedom to be obsessed with the movie "Eagle VS Shark." (Well, and sharks in general.) Please watch the trailer... it looks hysterical!

And... drumroll please.... the highlight of the evening was most definitely getting the first ever triple-Jennifer picture! Here we are in all of our freedom-ified splendor:

Hopefully we'll get another three-way Jennifer picture sometime soon when I don't have a blue face...

Thoughts on life in the CA.

2007-10-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

That's right. The CA. As in "the 5" or "the 101" or "the..." (insert any highway or interstate number here); that's apparently how we roll out here.

Maybe that's why the tv show was called "The OC" !!

Random, interesting (to me, at least) things have happened here recently.

First, I finally broke down and canceled my Verizon cell phone. I figure since no one's accidentally called it in the last week or so other than my dad (please change your speed dial!), everyone got the memo that I got a new number. I am now officially an AT&T-only cell phone user. The whole 2-cell phone thing was wearing -- I'm not sure how Spencer does it (The Hills, anyone?)

Second, I saw a car with a license plate that was only 6 numbers higher than mine!! For those of you who don't live in the CA or know its license plate scheme, it's 7 characters in a number-three letter-three number pattern. They assign them as sequentially as possible, although since they hand you the plates while you're at the DMV, they can't be exactly sequential down to the second you applied for CA plates. Anyway, I saw a car that had the EXACT SAME license plate number as mine, plus 6. I don't know why that was so fascinating to me, other than that it meant that person was probably at the same DMV as me on the same day.... but it was really exciting at the time. (Heck, I still think it's kind of cool.)

Third, the weather here has been absolutely crummy lately! I mean, one day, it looked like this outside while I was biking to work...

... and it stayed like that for a whole HOUR, misting on me! I mean, seriously... isn't life in the CA supposed to be ALL sunshine and palm trees? That being said, it legitimately is cooler here than I thought it would be. I got a Stanford hooded sweatshirt right when I got here, thinking I wouldn't wear until November at least -- I've worn it approximately every other day since I've been here.

Fourth, I've switched almost exclusively to gChat and away from IM. gChat is like IM but feels significantly more "grown-up" to me than the IM that I associate so clearly with my first year of college when you would hear the dings of messages being sent back and forth as you walked down the hall to the bathroom. gChat. Just do it.

Last, I'm going to a party on Saturday night where the suggested/required attire is "Dress to represent Freedom." Any suggestions?

Happy birthday to me! (~2 weeks ago)

2007-10-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

(In the continuing spirit of catching you up with my life.)

My birthday was 16 days ago, and it was an eventful day! I passed my Big School Quals that morning, and then T came into town that afternoon for the weekend. It was definitely one of my favorite birthdays thus far. Here's a picture of us from the weekend:

Did you notice my necklace? It's new! It was my birthday present from T, and I love it! I think I've worn it every one of these past 16 days. Seriously. In case you can't see it very well, here's a close-up picture from the website.

It was made by a friend who has a jewelry-making business. In case you're in the mood for some pretty jewelry (or just "window" shopping), check out her site! Everything there is gorgeous.

Quick update.

2007-10-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry if my "Unpacking/Unpacked" posts below are kind of confusing. I'm about a month behind in posting pictures and things like that, which I could've explained more clearly. Hence, yes, my roommate is here (and has been for almost a month), and she's great. Several other belated posts with pictures from my birthday weekend will be coming soon.
While I definitely think that my scratchy throat this morning was due in part to my fan being on "high" last night, it came back later this afternoon along with a feeling that I might be getting sick. Awesome. Time to mainline some OJ.

When will I learn?

2007-10-04T08:20:00.001-07:00

Living in a new place means figuring out all the little things.

Like what level (low/medium/high) to put the fan on at night. I don't have A/C, so all of my cooling comes from outside. Interestingly, there's also less humidity here than there was in the Big City, and I've learned that if my fan is on too high, I wake up completely dry, with a sore, scratchy throat. Thus I've been playing around with my fan levels to see if I can find the level that gives me good noise (there's also a picnic area right outside my open window where people tend to congregate) but that doesn't dry me out.

I realized last week that the "low" setting of the fan was perfect. The outside noise was drowned out, and I then wake up refreshed but not dry.

However, ever since realizing this, I continue to accidentally put my fan on "high" about every third or fourth night. Like last night. And then I wake up dry and with a scratchy, painful throat. I know it'll go away during the day... but still, when will I learn?

Unpacked!

2007-10-04T00:43:00.001-07:00

Alright... I'm back.

Believe it or not, I did manage to get all of the boxes from the previous post completely unpacked and put away by the end of the day on that Sunday. It was no small feat, and I took these "victory" pictures once I was done. Imagine that you're standing in the middle of living room and rotating counter-clockwise.... and this is what you'd see:

Look at my comfy chair and how well my pillows match the provided couch:

I also managed to find a temporary home for my window:

Our kitchen doesn't have nearly enough cabinets, so I had to be creative about dish storage:

And look! This is the same kitchen as before, believe it or not:

I also got my bedroom completely unpacked:

It feels a little bit ridiculous that I brought my big dresser with me, but I managed to fit it into my room...

And that concludes your final tour of Jennifer's Brand New, Teeny-Tiny apartment. I hope that you enjoyed your visit and that you are amazed at my incredible, rapid, mad unpacking skillz.

Hahaha.

Just kidding!

Overall, I'm just really, really happy that everything managed to fit into the place. There's still some creative organizing that needs to be done to figure out how to make the most of every single spare square inch we have, but we're working on it. Oh, and I still have one last box of random stuff from my hall closet in the Big City that I still need to unpack. Maybe this weekend?

Happy Thursday to all.

Unpacking!

2007-10-02T00:08:00.001-07:00

As promised, I'm finally posting pictures of the last few weeks here in California! I figured the best place to start would be the crazy, hyper-speed process of unpacking. My roommate "moved" in on Sept 7th (a Friday), but thankfully she just picked up her keys that day and wasn't actually moving in until the following Monday. As Murphy's Law predicted, my stuff didn't arrive until the very last day of my promised delivery range -- Saturday, Sept 8th. I had forgotten the following truth until they started lugging my stuff up to my 3rd floor apartment:

I have a ton of crap.

Not that I mean any disrespect to any of my stuff, because it's all nice and perfect for me... but I have a lot of it. It didn't seem like a lot in my old apartment in the Big City because I had cleaned out almost half of it and had twice as much room. But once all the boxes were moved in, I could barely move around to get stuff unpacked!

See here's the living room:

... and the view into the kitchen:

Yes, it was a little bit (um, ok, LOT) out of control. I agree. And if you're wondering what this space looked like with nothing in it, please see this post for pictures.

I also used the then-empty 2nd bedroom to stage all of the boxes filled with stuff for my bedroom and the various 57 boxes filled with books while I unpacked/organized them:

I'm not sure if you can tell, but those boxes are easily neck-high on me. Seriously.

After a late delivery on that Saturday (the movers left at 4pm, and I hadn't had lunch yet that day), I did actually manage to get some stuff unpacked Saturday night with a lot of help from a new friend from church. By the end of the night, my kitchen was at least "unpacked":

Curious as to how I managed to fit everything into the apartment? Especially considering how everything needed to be unpacked before my roommate showed up on Monday?

To be continued....

Please stay tuned for the next installment of this crazy life.

With hope.

2007-09-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

There's a beautiful, emotion-filled, poignant Steven Curtis Chapman song called "With Hope" that was written with the intention of comforting several families his local community who lost children all around the same time. This song is all that I can think of when thinking about the strong, courageous, raw faith of the Farley family who just lost sweet baby Copeland.

In their latest post, Boothe and Conor graciously shared not only the letter to Copeland that they read at her memorial, but also the video below that includes a song written by a family friend the same night that Copeland became whole in heaven. Watch it. It's beautiful.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2007-09-30T00:20:00.000-07:00

Happy 26th birthday to T!

If only all days involved endings like this...

... but at least you get to start all of your days with this!

Hope your day is amazing.

Deep breath... and routine

2007-09-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

Finally. I finally feel like I can sit back and breathe. I have been running non-stop for the last several months, and I finally had a spare moment this Saturday to sit back and do nothing. Other than a few brief errands (having to drive all the way to the bank during business hours to deposit a check since I don't have my check/ATM card yet for my new account, getting SBucks, and going on a quick trip to the market for real food for dinner), I basically spent the whole day at home, relaxing, watching TV and working on the 2nd half of T's b'day present. Spending the entire day at home with minimal need for my extroverted half to come out to play was AMAZING. This past week was filled with tons of welcome picnics and other things like that which completely wore out my extroverted half, and I really, really needed the down time to relax and reset. I feel refreshed and ready to start the week tomorrow.

My Sunday (after church and lunch with new friends) will be filled with all sorts of cleaning, organizing, Safeway-ing, emailing and just general preparation for the week, and I'm so excited about it! It will be the first Sunday since I've been here that I'll be preparing for a regular, normal work week; I can start getting into a routine! I know people get tired of routines, but they are familiar and stress-free to me. Being able to settle into a routine means that I really do live here; it also means that I want to make the most of adjusting to my life here. Hence I am very excited to spend my Sunday preparing for a routine week.

Bring on the routine. (But just not the rain... Jo Dee Messina, anyone?)

Prayers, please.

2007-09-26T23:09:00.001-07:00

(I know I promised pictures. Those will come soon; this is more important.)

Please, if you get a chance today, pray for the Farley family. Boothe is a friend from high school, and they just lost their nine-day-old daughter to heaven today. While angels are rejoicing, and sweet Copeland is finally healed, I can't even begin to imagine the pain and sorrow that Boothe and Conor (& families) are experiencing right now. Please pray for their marriage to flourish, their faith to be strengthened through the doubt and sorrow and grief, their 3-year-old daughter Sellers to bring joy into their home, for the peace of God that is bigger and more immense than anyone can begin to imagine to surround them, and for the presence of God to be so mighty in their lives that they cannot question His provision.

Please, friends.... pray.

*If you have spare 'net surfing time, please read through their poignant, beautiful posts, especially those from the last week.

New, new, new.

2007-09-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

In the last week or so, lots and lots of new things have happened here in California.

As per this post, my California driver's license came in the mail
I actually got the gas pump to work all on my own (see this if you're curious why this is exciting)
I explored outside of the Big School's campus/the surrounding grocery store/target/etc area (pictures coming soon) which included driving across the Big Bridge, seeing trees that were more than 1000 years old, and watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean
I got a new cell phone (and number.... leave a message if you want it and I haven't already emailed it to you) -- it's so tiny!!
I braved the DMV office, again, and came out victorious -- with license plates in hand!
I opened a new bank account. Since starting college in 2000, this is my 5th bank. That's absurd.

All in all, it's been an interesting last few weeks. Oh, AND -- I passed my qualifying exams!! So I am officially a Ph.D. Candidate.... again. If only the Big School gave out free business cards, too.... sad.

Stay tuned for some picture updates soon. I promise. For real this time.

I'm official!

2007-09-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

My California driver's license came in the mail today!!

I guess that means I actually live here now...

Seriously?

2007-09-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

Apparently gas pumps work slightly differently in California than in other states.

As in, I couldn't get it to work today and had to push the "help" button so the attendant could come fix it.

I couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong when no gas would come out of the nozzle. I had swiped my credit card, hit the correct button for the cheapest-octane gas, taken the nozzle off its holder, and put the nozzle into my gas tank. And then nothing happened. The screen said "ready to begin fueling," but all there was in the nozzle was slack when I held it down to start fueling. I double checked everything, but still... slack. So, deciding that I'd rather feel like an idiot by asking for help than drive any longer with my "need gas" light illuminated, I pressed the "help" button. The attendant came out, pushed the nozzle further into my gas tank, and the fueling started. Apparently the crinkly thing on the nose of the nozzle actually vacuum seals to the outer rim of the opening and it won't dispense gas until sealed.

Lesson learned. And at least I still have Illinois plates on my car!

Gorgeous.

2007-09-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

There have been several times this week that I've looked around and said "Oh my gosh, it's beautiful here. I can't believe I get to live here!" I feel really lucky and blessed to get to experience life here.

On another note, the qualifying exam preparations are coming along. I may be pretty MIA between now and the 24th, but then I'll be back.

Hooray!

2007-09-09T01:25:00.000-07:00

My stuff finally, finally came today. I have a TON of stuff -- way more than I really need in an apartment this size. I've managed to find homes for all my extra pieces of furniture except for one table. Hopefully I can take care of that on Sunday. I did a huge portion of the unpacking today (many thanks to those who helped me!), and only have 1 more actual box left to unpack. At this point, I'm pretty much just trying to find homes for everything that are good enough for the next 2 weeks, until after quals and T's visit. I figure, by then both my roommate and I will have lived here for 2 weeks with all my stuff, and we'll know where we want things and what extra storage do-hickies and thing-ama-bobs we need. Hopefully she's amenable to the idea of giving me time to get through quals before figuring out all this.

Pictures to come soon.

Good to Me

2007-09-07T22:36:00.000-07:00

Incredible lyrics... definitely what I needed to hear.

Good to Me

I cry out, for Your hand of mercy to heal me.
I am weak, I need Your love to free me.
O Lord, my Rock, my strength in weakness,
Come rescue me, O Lord (repeat)

You are my hope, Your promise never fails me,
And my desire is to follow You forever.
For You are good, for You are good, for You are good to me.
For You are good, for You are good, for You are good to me.

More firsts!

2007-09-07T13:13:00.001-07:00

Nothing is more exciting than when you find mail in your mailbox that's not junk. Especially when it's the very first mail delivered to a new address:

(That's a DVD from Netflix and some pictures from Shutterfly).

New things

2007-09-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

So far, life in California's treating me pretty well. The past few days have been full of lots of new things along with the standard multiple trips to Bed, Bath & Beyond/Target/Walmart/etc that go along with moving into any new place.

A few new things that I've learned recently:

When you get a new catalytic converter in your car, or any maintenance for that matter, you have to drive at least 100 miles before the computer system in your car resets. If you decide to take your car for its smog test before driving those 100 miles (because the dealership told you it'd be ok), you'll fail it.
They're serious about conservation here. My shower head has "Please conserve water" written around the rim so that you see it when showering.
When moving companies give you a date range for when your stuff might be delivered, prepare yourself for it to be delivered on the last possible date. It's much better to be surprised by your stuff arriving early than frustrated that it hasn't come yet.
Biking is fun when you have a smooth, easy-to-ride bike with a comfortable bike seat.
If you have a basket installed on the back of your bike, make sure to not hit it with your knee every time when dismounting. Otherwise you'll end with a massive bruise that hurts. A lot.
In a new place, the familiar becomes so much more important. Like realizing where the closest Chipotle is located.
Moving cross-country means learning about new birds that are native to the area. My new favorite is the Western Scrub Jay:

Home sweet home.

2007-09-03T17:23:00.001-07:00

I know you've all been waiting anxiously on pins and needles for me to post pictures of my new place.... and here they are!

I'm on the top floor of my building, and our living room windows are at the corner of the building. Speaking of the living room, here it is:

The living room flows into the kitchen/dining area:

I finally put away some stuff in my room today. It still doesn't feel like "home" since most of my stuff is still three days away on the moving truck, but it's starting to feel more comfortable with some stuff put away.

The bathroom also seems more home-y after putting down the bathmats (which hopefully my roommate will like...)

Finally, I realized that nothing makes me feel more like the place is mine than putting up my magnets on the fridge. I seem to have taken it over, so I might need to move some things around after the roommate moves in on Friday.

Overall, I really am enjoying the new apartment (did I mention that I get free long-distance?). I can already tell that it's going to be a great year.

Moved in.

2007-09-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

I moved into my apartment today. Well, sort of. I am here along with my stuff that came in the car, but the movers won't get here until late next week with the rest of my stuff. It's weird wanting to get everything moved in and organized in order to feel settled but not being able to do that.

I also don't like not knowing things about where I live -- like where to get a quick, yummy, filling lunch. Thanks to Mary, though, for her recommendation on The Counter -- it was every bit as delicious as she described!

I'll post pictures of the apartment and more of an update soon.

Meet Ella.

2007-08-31T21:00:00.001-07:00

A first (but not last) time for everything

2007-08-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

That's right.

I officially ate at In-and-Out Burger for the first time ever today. Here's me, ready to experience one of the best burgers of my life...

*Thanks to T for the gift card!!

Campus!

2007-08-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

Today was busy. I don't officially move in to my apartment until tomorrow, so I took dad to the Big School's campus to show him around before he left. It was a gorgeous day, and we enjoyed walking around. Here are a few pictures (with many more anticipated in the next few weeks).

A side view of the buildings that make up the main quad:

Dad standing in front of the Big School's driveway:

Me at my building (my soon-to-be home-away-from-home):

Deserts and mountains and bays...

2007-08-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

... oh my!

(To the tune of "lions and tigers and bears...")

That's right, we finally made it today to California! We were excited when we got up this morning, knowing that we were going to be driving about 100 miles less today than any other day and thinking that it would take us less time. We forgot, however, to take into account going over mountains as well as hitting city traffic during rush hour. It took what felt like forever to make it here tonight. But we did, and we are safe.

Dad started out the day how all days in the state of Nevada should begin: at a casino.

... just kidding! The picture sure makes it look like it's true, though. This was just your regular truck stop, with a convenience area, an Arby's, gasoline... oh, and of course, a casino (which we did bypass).

After our early morning gas stop, we finally, finally made it into the Pacific time zone -- hooray! That was a sign that the trip was close to being over.

One thing that I didn't anticipate, too, was how beautiful the state of Nevada is! I thought it would just be very flat with nothing to look at but the road and the sand around it. I was definitely wrong, and I was very excited to realize that Nevada was full of mountains/hills like the ones in the pictures below. The natural beauty and the Starbucks at the random stop in the middle of the state definitely redeemed my opinion of/experience in the state.

We stopped in Reno for lunch and ate at a Qdoba. Not eating at a traditional fast-food restaurant after being in the car for so long was like eating fresh, homemade, warm chocolate chip cookies after eating 3-month old, stale, store-bought cookies for a week. Seriously.

My trusty Honda Accord (Peanut) carried us across the state line into California around 3pm, Pacific time.

At that point, I think dad and I were so delerious from all the time in the car that we mentally prepared ourselves for another 2-3 hours in the car.

It definitely took a solid 5 hours, at which point we were both grumpy albeit happy to be safe. We saw a wreck on the Super-Long Highway yesterday in Wyoming (on the other side of the road) where people were being pulled out of cars; after that, we did not take our continued safety on the road lightly.

Despite our collective grumpiness, we saw some cool sites on the way into town, including another windmill farm (this one probably had at least 1000 windmills -- no joke!) and a view of the Bay from a bridge going west.

Overall, the trip cross-country has been amazing and a ton of fun. Dad and I survived 6 full days in very close quarters, and he heads home on Friday. We saw a fantastic sign in Nevada that I kept just missing with my camera. Next to some of the exit signs that advertise towns, about 5 of the stops had "Prison Area; Hitchhikers Prohibited" signs next to the city names. It was definitely a sign that I have never seen before. Also, does anyone know why the state of CA makes you surrender fruit bought in other states? It was weird; I've never before been stopped at an agriculture inspection station on the interstate. Guess there's a first time for everything!

Now that I'm here, your question is what do I do next? The answer: lots of things. Tomorrow's task is getting my car serviced along with just in general exploring the campus and town after taking dad to the airport. For now, I'm just going to bed!

Nevada: 2; Me: 0 (day 5)

2007-08-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone was keeping track, the official score is 2-0 in favor of Nevada. I was very excited to both drive into Mountain time zone as well as out of it in the same day today. I mean, how often do you gain 2 hours in your day when driving? Not often. But sadly the small border town of West Wendover, NV changed back to Mountain time (from Pacific) in 1999. So I did not get to fulfill that dream today. And on top of that, the hotel where we are does not have internet!! Thankfully, dad's work computer has Verizon broadband access, but it's slower than regular wireless (and thus not good for watching streaming videos of TV shows...)

Moving on from my current complaints about the state of Nevada, here is a quick run-down of our day today. We started out in Nebraska with about 175 miles to go before entering the state of Wyoming. I got really excited and managed to get this picture of one of the first signs of topography/hills that I saw! I also thought it was funny that someone put a large cut-out of a coyote on top of the hill.

Soon after that, we finally made it to Wyoming. The cowboy on the sign below is the same as the one on their license plate. As you can tell, it was foggy and misty and nasty for the first few hours of the drive this morning.

After we were past Cheyenne, the weather cleared up and the topography kept getting more interesting. There were a lot of really interesting rock formations in Wyoming, like the two below.

With such a wide open space and a now clear, beautiful day, the clouds were incredible. I know that Montana is supposedly "Big Sky Country," but Wyoming would've come in a close 2nd in that contest yesterday.

The wide open spaces also lent themselves to green energy; we passed several large windmill farms like this one.

I'm not sure if you can read the sign in the picture below, but this picture deserves a caption that says something along the lines of "Wait; what?" It says "Evanston 28 miles; Salt Lake 108 miles". Apparently there is an Evanston in Wyoming, too!

Finally, after driving for what seemed like forever, we made it to the great state of Utah! I was surprised to find that the terrain in the first part of Utah (mountainous, near Park City) was more similar to what I expected to find in the western half of Wyoming, where it was a high elevation but not very up-and-down mountainous. I thought going over the Rocky Mountains would be more like a long, extended version of going over Sewanee, but I was definitely wrong.

Utah also had some really cool rock formations.

While in Utah, my odometer hit 90K miles!! Fingers crossed that it makes it to 100K (unlike the Fiero).

Here's a picture of what we were passing when I reached 90K -- the Great Salt Desert (where part of the Great Salt Lake used to be).

Our one touristy thing so far was stopping at the Bonneville Salt Flats, which you can read about here. Sadly, we were not there on a day that they were racing. Here's a picture of dad...

And one of me... (yes, that's all salt)

After many "are we there yet"s from Dad, we finally made it over the state line, into the state of Nevada, where we stopped for the night.

Here's hoping that the drive across the rest of the state (we have a solid 400 more miles to Reno) is a better experience and that the score at least evens up.

642 miles to go...

Plains states (day 4)

2007-08-28T20:38:00.001-07:00

We left at 6am this morning to drive cross-country to California. I was abnormally awake and ungrumpy, but I think it was only because I knew dad (who was driving) needed my help with directions getting out of the maze of Big City interstates and onto the Super-Long Freeway to head west. We started out with a highly nutritious breakfast of champions:

We also were met by an incredible, gorgeous, awe-inspiring sunrise. I got one good picture from the DD parking lot and one other one while driving (looking out the driver's side window -- from the passenger side!); the colors of the sky seemed especially vibrant this morning.

Once we were out of the city, I slept until we hit Iowa.

I decided that the state of Iowa was a kind, friendly state to road-trippers, mainly because the gas was cheap...
... but also because Sonic was an available food choice that was advertised on the interstate boards. Mmmmm, Cherry Limeade!

Next up was Nebraska... which, by the way, did you know that Nebraska is the official home of Arbor Day? That was news to me.

Nebraska has been an interesting ride so far. We've seen everything from beautiful clouds that seemed to scream "quintessential cross-country road trip picture"...

... to a plane on the side of the road that was the "sign" for the Military Vehicle Museum (it's a pretty good picture for being taken while in a moving vehicle, eh?) ...

... to a crazy storm that had a "window" in between the two huge arms. We made it through the window while just experiencing a small amount of rain -- nothing like what was going on in the actual storm.

What else have we seen? Oh yeah, lots and lots and lots of CORN. Here I am, pointing to an old ear of corn on a stalk in the field that is right behind our hotel -- look how tall the corn is:

We did also see a lot of soybeans, so it wasn't all corn, which was nice.

Overall, we drove 758 miles today, and we have about the same plus 20-40 more miles to go tomorrow to get to the Utah/Nevada border. Today was exhausting, but hopefully a good night's rest (my first in a long time) will help us bounce back and be ready to hit the road hard again early tomorrow morning. Thank goodness dad wakes up easily and is happy to drive the first leg each day! We'll travel all the way through the Mountain time zone tomorrow (we're in Central right now and aim to spend tomorrow night in Pacific), so we'll gain an extra 2 hours of sleep tomorrow night, which will be nice. Off to bed I go now...

Days 2-3.

2007-08-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday and Monday were very full, busy, packed, hectic days. Amidst all of the cleaning, organizing, and putting things in order on Sunday, I went to church with J, had dinner with S, and then picked up T at the airport. I barely managed to have everything ready when the packers showed up at 7:30 on Monday morning, but I did (even if it did require throwing stuff into my large closet that was the "do not pack" zone). The packers were gone by 10am; the movers showed up soon after, and they had the truck all packed up by noon. They did in four and a half hours what would've taken me at least a week. Here's a picture of dad, hard at work while the movers were there:
After the movers left with the loaded-up truck, Dad, T and I went to the Best Pancake Place Ever for lunch. It was yummy as always, and the German pancake was bigger than ever:

Day 1.

2007-08-26T16:23:00.001-07:00

I've decided that Saturday was the official "Day 1" of the move. That's when Dad showed up to help (thanks!), as well as when the rubber met the road. I had done a pretty good job cleaning out most everything a while ago, but there were definitely still parts of my apartment that required more cleaning out. Which I took care of while sending Dad out on various errands like taking clothes to Salvation Army, taking boxes of books/things that I don't need in California to the post office to be mailed back home, picking up another whole box of garbage sacks at the grocery store, dropping off books to be donated at the library, getting coffee, etc. He likes being useful, and I had a ton of stuff with which he could help! I also sold my bike (I'm going to buy a new one out there), and gave away my long-favorite, well-loved recliner to a couple who's expecting their first baby in 3 weeks. And cleaned. And organized. And cleaned. And organized. All in all, Saturday was very productive. I seriously don't know what I would've done if the electricity had still been out, and I'm glad I didn't have to find out. The funniest part definitely was the look on Dad's face when he first saw the state of my apartment. He apparently had forgotten that the movers were going to PACK my stuff as well as move it -- he thought I'd done nothing! I think he was a little scared; it was funny. He also took a picture of himself on the train ride up here from the airport, which I'll leave you with for now. More to come later about the move, but probably not until Tuesday night when we're on the road.

Dad, the ever-experienced rider, waiting at a stop:

Let there be light!

2007-08-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

That's right... the power's back on.

For now.

Hopefully this next round of storms (supposedly tonight) is kinder to me.

Ugh.

2007-08-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

I don't have any electricity, internet, or hot water at home. Due to a huge storm. Not exactly ideal for my last weekend in the Big City when I need to do tons and tons of organizing and cleaning out of my apartment before the movers come first thing Monday morning. Although I guess I'm really thankful that my car didn't get hit by a tree like the one in that picture!

My fingers are crossed that my electricity will be up and running by the time I get home from work today. Otherwise a long weekend will be even longer...

Beauty.

2007-08-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Beauty in the midst of tragedy. Here.

Are you kidding me?

2007-08-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

I looked over at my window just now and realized that the vines outside my apartment are now growing inside my apartment!! What the?! This is the window where my A/C unit lives (at the bottom of the first picture), and I normally keep the curtain pulled across the top part of the window. And no, I don't look behind my curtains a lot, which must be how I missed this!!

Here's a close-up of the top part of the window -- look how far the vine has grown inside! What do I do with this?

And, just in case you were curious how the vine got inside my apartment, you can see in the picture below of the bottom half of the window. The screen is up because of the A/C unit below it, so the vine managed to grow in between the screen and the glass all the way up into my apartment. I mean, seriously?! Is it more desirable to the plant to be living inside instead of out? It can't get water in here. To be honest, though, it does look a bit brown and withery at the top; it must not be thriving.

Needless to say, I am kind of looking forward to leaving this apartment! To live someplace where plants don't grow inside (unless potted, but then I'll most likely kill them) and where the toilet always flushes completely (which is another post entirely) sounds really, really nice right now.

Sharpie headache, anyone?

2007-08-21T15:26:00.001-07:00

Yup, I did all of these sticky labels today, plus about 100 more.

Gotta love moving!

This is real.

2007-08-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

In less than 168 hours, I will be in the car and on my way out of town. Permanently. (Seven days sounds so much shorter when you put it in terms of hours.) ... I want to make the most of each of those hours and moments between now and then.

I can't believe it's actually happening!

Um, yeah.

2007-08-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

Even the most stable brain operates just a millimeter from madness.

I haven't finished reading this article yet, but I liked the first sentence a lot. I feel like it can be applied to almost anything... including planning a cross-country move.

Good news of the day? The sky was beautiful today. Not just plain pretty blue with a random puffy cloud here or there, but gorgeous with tons of weird clouds and the sun shining through in way that makes you remember that God loves you.

Random linkage of the day:

The yummiest looking cranberry limeade ever can be found here
Incredible picture of a plane after a huge fire
I didn't even know they were dating in real life -- didn't they date on House?

And lastly, the full text of this can be found here, but what stood out to me from the post on waiting was this:

Waiting on God isn't about the suspension of meaning and purpose. It's part of the meaning and purpose that God has brought into my life. Waiting on God isn't to be viewed as an obstruction in the way of the plan. Waiting is an essential part of the plan. For the child of God, waiting isn't simply about what I'll receive at the end of my wait. No, waiting is much more purposeful, efficient, and practical than that. Waiting is fundamentally about what I'll become as I wait. God is using the wait to do in and through me exactly what he's promised. Through the wait he's changing me. By means of the wait he's altering the fabric of my thoughts and desires. Through the wait he's causing me to see and experience new things about him and his kingdom. And all of this sharpens me, enabling me to be a more useful tool in his redemptive hands. Waiting on God is restorative. (emphasis added) It's one of the tools God uses to remake us into what we were designed to be in the beginning. Yet, I don't like to wait and I still struggle to wait well. How about you? ... Picture in your mind the nimble and skilled fingers of a potter, who's putting pressure on the clay right where it's needed, so that it will take on the beauty that is it's potential. And with this picture in mind, give thanks for the very moment that would have once have driven you crazy.

"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." Psalm 27:14

Seventy-four.

2007-08-19T18:15:00.001-07:00

That is the number of things on my to-do list for the move. I recognize that averages out to about 10-11/day for the next 7 days, but about 30 of those need to be done on Monday. Ridiculous!

At this point I'm really looking forward to finally being in California. This move has been in the works for over 2 years; I'm excited that it's finally happening and I can stop thinking about it and start living it.

Off I go. I have to do at least 5 of the things on this list tonight...

Learned something new....

2007-08-18T18:02:00.001-07:00

... about myself!

For a variety of reasons, I ended up driving out to the FedEx distribution center at the airport to get something shipped next-day. It was fun to see the planes (and trucks) right there, all lined up and ready to take all the packages all over the country.

The highlight of the drive out there, though, was definitely driving around to the other side of the airport -- so far around that I was driving underneath the planes that were landing! I never have a desire before to go watch planes land near an airport, but now I totally want to do that. Something to add to my "to-do"* list!

*The "to-do" sometime in life list, not to be confused with either the "to-do" before I leave the Big City list or the "to-do" for the move list.

A first.

2007-08-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

To the best of my knowledge, I've never seen the sun rise over the water before. Until today. It was gorgeous!!

I was sleepy, but it was totally worth it. Next stop? Watching the sun set over the ocean!

Old hymns.

2007-08-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

I have a thing for old hymns. It most likely comes from growing up in a youth groups under the influence of one who was leading up the revolution of rewriting music to them, combined with 4 years in RUF. The lyrics are so rich and the new music (especially coming out of the Indelible Grace project) is just incredible. Some days I just need to hear the lyrics, like today, for example, when I read this (hat tip to CGO):

Encompassed with Clouds of Distress

Encompassed with clouds of distress, and tempted all hope to resign,
I pant for the light of thy face, that I in thy beauty might shine.
Disheartened with waiting so long, I sink at thy feet with my load;
All plaintive I pour out my song, and stretch forth my hands unto God.

If sometimes I strive, as I mourn, my hold of thy promise to keep,
The billows more fiercely return, and plunge my again in the deep,
While harassed and cast from thy sight, the tempter suggests with a roar,
"The Lord has forsaken thee quite; thy God will be gracious no more."

Shine, Lord, and my terror shall cease; the blood of atonement apply;
And lead me to Jesus for peace, the rock that is higher than I.
Speak Saviour, for sweet is thy voice; thy presence is fair to behold;
I thirst for thy spirit, with cries and groanings that cannot be told.

Yet, Lord, if thy love has designed no covenant blessing for me,
Ah! Tell me, how is it I find some sweetness in waiting for thee?
Almighty to rescue thou art, thy grace is immortal and free;
Lord, succour and comfort my heart, and make me live wholly to thee.

... and make me live wholly to thee. Please, Lord.

Cheers!

2007-08-13T13:46:00.001-07:00

The wedding weekend was incredible. Being up in the mountains meant that the weather was significantly cooler, which is nice considering the pilot told us that it was 100 degrees outside as my plane landed. After three years of living in the Big City, I am no longer capable of surviving 100-degree weather for very long! Thankfully my sweet party-van of a rental car also had air-conditioning that worked very well. Not only was it cooler up in the mountains, but it was also gorgeous. The view from the reception site was incredible:

Everything pretty much went off without a hitch. There was a small moment of panic when the florist realized that they had misplaced (ie, lost) three of the bridesmaid bouquets. They weren't panicked; they were actually so disturbingly calm that it seemed as if they didn't care that they had lost 30% of the bouquets. But they pulled through, found the bouquets, and in the end did an amazing job playing up the green of the green/brown wedding color combination:

The cake was also decorated to incorporate the green theme, with icing tinted every-so-slightly green that included incredible etched leaf-prints.

close-up of the leaves:

One of the funnier things was definitely the picture below, where all of the bridesmaids (and the bride!) lined up and took of running towards the photographer. This is definitely something that I've never seen before, so I'm curious to see how the official pictures turn out. You can tell who ran track in high school by their form. My form? Horrible.

All in all, a big congratulations and best wishes to G and J!

Preview to the reality

2007-08-09T19:17:00.001-07:00

I am currently in the mountains on the east coast for a dear friend's wedding. (More to come on this later, most likely.) Since that's definitely not within driving distance of the Big City, I flew. And despite a grey, cloudy day, I managed to snap this shot of the downtown skyline as we flew past...

Nineteen days from today, I'll be driving out of town -- this time permanently. Scary! Exciting, too.

Thousand Miles?

2007-08-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

For a good article about the soon-to-be-released new Caedmon's Call album, check out this one from Common Grounds by Todd Bragg (their drummer).

Also, you can pre-order a limited edition version of their new CD here -- $12 for not one, but two CD's is a pretty good deal!

This new CD may be a necessity for the cross-country drive....

Renewed faith

2007-08-08T08:36:00.001-07:00

It's things like this that give me renewed faith in mankind in the midst of all the other awful things reported in the news.

ahhhhh.

2007-08-06T22:17:00.001-07:00

Only could be better if there was sand in the background instead of my bookcases.

On being stressed

2007-08-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

As I said in this post, the brain fascinates me. Recently, I've realized how my ability to handle stress has adapted from previous experiences. Last fall was horribly stressful, to the point of being overworked and burnt out. I survived the experience, and I would like to think that I am stronger as a result. With the impending move (both mine personally and that of the lab), I knew that things would get crazy and stressful. And they have. But I've realized recently that when my stress level has gotten really high at various points in time over the last few weeks, I just completely shut down and can't concentrate. It's as if my body has adapted to recognize the stress that led to burn out last time and that it's bad for me, and it stops me from moving further down that path to the super-stressed place by just shutting down. I realize that sounds kind of bad, but I also have learned that a 10-15 minute break and walk outside (by the water) lowers my stress level back down and will allow myself to "restart" and be able to think/concentrate again. So not only will my brain keep me from getting so stressed, but I now know how to handle it and lower my stress level. The brain is an incredible thing. And I guess the past did make me stronger!

"The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul."
Psalm 23: 1-3a

So good.

2007-08-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

Incredible lyrics (old, I know, but so good):

If You Want Me To (Ginny Owens)

The pathway is broken
And The signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason why You brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I'm gonna walk through the valley
If You want me to

Chorus:
Cause I'm not who I was
When I took my first step
And I'm clinging to the promise You're not through with me yet
so if all of these trials bring me closer to you
Then I will walk through the fire
If You want me to

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that's not my home
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I'd never go alone

So When the whole world turns against me
And I'm all by myself
And I can't hear You answer my cries for help
I'll remember the suffering Your love put You through
And I will go through the valley
If You want me to

Lead of Love (Caedmon's Call)

Looking back at the road so far
The journey's left its share of scars
Mostly from leaving the narrow and straight

Looking back it is clear to me
That a man is more than the sum of his deeds
And how You've made good of this mess I've made
Is a profound mystery

Looking back You know You had to bring me through
All that I was so afraid of
Though I questioned the sky, now I see why
Had to walk the rocks to see the mountain view
Looking back I see the lead of love

Looking back I can finally see (I'd rather have wisdom)
How failures bring humility (than be)
Brings me to my knees (a comfortable fool)
Helps me see my need for Thee

Seriously?

2007-08-02T12:51:00.001-07:00

Is it really going to be this crazy/busy/hectic up until the time I move? I feel like I'm about three steps behind in (almost) every aspect of my life! Sheesh. I mean, I love everything that I'm doing and every one that I'm spending time with, but just this once -- can't there be 36 hours in the day instead of 24 so that I can get everything done? Please?

Moving, part 2

2007-07-31T07:50:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm not leaving the Big City for another 4 weeks, but my bed left today. Since I'm moving into a minimally furnished apartment there in California, I no longer needed my wonderful, spacious queen bed (I'll have a twin there) so I sold it to friends who're moving into a house and needed a guest bed. Waking up in my bed this morning was bittersweet. My bedroom does have a lot more room now that all I have is an air mattress! As you can see, I went from this:

... to this:

It's not the Ritz, but it will do well for the next few weeks before I leave. Plus, now I have an air mattress for anyone who comes to visit me!

I think the reality of the fact that I am actually moving in 4 weeks is starting to sink in. I anticipate that they will pass quickly in a whirlwind of activity, despite all my best efforts to stop and savor every moment. Ready or not, California, here I come!

Pamplona, anyone?

2007-07-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

After running my first one yesterday, I've already found my next 5K.

I have to say, I've never had any desire to go to the real one in Spain...

... but this looks like a ton of fun!

Coins into coffee?

2007-07-30T06:41:00.000-07:00

At the end of the day, my dad always empties his pockets of coins into a bucket that he keeps in his closet. As a child, I used to love the weekend or summer day when dad would bring out the bucket, dump it out, and let me sort and count it. It somehow always felt like "free" money. One year when I was a little bit older, I talked him into taking all the change down the street to the grocery store where they had a Coinstar machine, not knowing that the machine would take 9% of the change as a service fee.

Fast-forward to today. Like my dad, I empty my pockets (and the bottom of my purse) of change frequently. I don't have a bucket, but I do have two cups that serve this purpose well. Jaded by the Coinstar machine experience of my past, I was surprised to see a billboard recently advertising turning your coins into coffee. Apparently you can now use the Coinstar machines to count your change and turn it into gift cards -- with no fee! I tried it for the first time on Sunday and walked away with $$ in the form of both iTunes and Starbucks gift cards and an appreciation for how much change a Jeff cup really can hold. Coins into coffee -- who knew?

Oliver Sacks.

2007-07-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

"Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more - it can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to life. For them, music is not a luxury, but a necessity."

(Oliver Sacks, neurologist and author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, courtesy of my Starbucks cup.)

So true.

I think I might look into the books. The brain is fascinating, and I am always amazed to learn more about it. Like synaesthesia, where you might see, feel, and/or taste colors - how incredible!

Yikes.

2007-07-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

I think that I have completely underestimated the amount of stuff that needs to get done before the big move! If only I was just moving my self and my own stuff and didn't have to think about the equipment that needs to be moved or purchased, the supplies to be purchased and the transportation of frozen samples. However, if we didn't think about all of that, it would greatly increase the downtime on the other end. So if a few hectic weeks here result in a semi-smooth, fast set-up there... then I guess it's worth it. My to-do list for the weekend is frighteningly long, though. My goal is to get all of my personal move stuff (cleaning out, selling, giving away, etc) taken care of by the end of July so that I have all of August to work really hard during the day and play really hard at night. Fingers crossed that this weekend is productive!

Am I crazy?

2007-07-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

I like having goals. More than just normal goals, I like having goals that seem so big and unattainable that I feel kind of crazy for even thinking that I could do those things.

The Avon breast cancer walk was one of those things. Walk a marathon? Raise a lot of money? I definitely was crazy. But it was one of the things that I am most proud of doing in my life. With something like 3000 people walking the Chicago walk in 2006, we raised over $8.3 million for breast cancer research and making early prevention screening and cancer care available to those who couldn't otherwise afford it. Think you can't make a difference? You can. Here's a few pictures of us walking:

This is only about a mile after the start -- look at how many people there are behind us!

About 4 miles into the walk, and we're now on the other side of downtown Chicago.

About 3-4 miles from the finish line. Ready to be done!

Then this year, I decided to take up running. I always thought that I hated running, but after the exhileration of the walk and participating in this year's Shamrock Shuffle, I knew that I wanted to start running races. Not for the times, but for the personal experience -- for the chance to do things that I always thought that I couldn't do. So I signed up for a 5k a few months ago, and it's now this upcoming Sunday!

I'm a tiny bit frustrated that I'm not as ready for it as I possibly could be. At the same time, I know that it won't be my last 5k and am excited just to get my first real "race" under my belt. I definitely have plans to do another one this fall once I'm settled in California.

That being said (and getting back to the crazy goals that I like to make for myself), I decided today that I want to do this next year. Not the full marathon -- only the half! But I'm really excited about it. The course is fairly rough, especially considering all the hills of downtown SF! It will take a decent amount of training for me to build up to running 13.1 miles, but I think living somewhere that has great outdoor running weather probably 360 days of the year will help.

Anyone want to join me?

I also think I want to get involved and help out with Girls on the Run after I'm settled. It seems like an amazing way to spend some free time.

Moving, part 1

2007-07-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

I moved every single year of college. And sometimes more than once if you count moving into a storage unit at the beginning of a summer and out of it at the end of the summer. While moving that much was definitely never fun, it gave me several chances to go through all of my stuff and decide what was worth keeping.

I've lived in the same apartment here in the Big City for the last three years. By myself. Which means a). I've accumulated a lot of crap; and b). there's been no impetus of having a roommate to make me want to keep things cleaned out for their sake. Thus you can begin to imagine the mounds of stuff through which I find myself sorting.

The biggest, scariest job of all (that I've been putting off) has been my big closet. And when I say big, I mean BIG -- 6 feet deep and 3.5-4 feet wide. I remember looking into that closet when I was looking at apartments to rent and thinking "Wow, that's really messy! I can't believe someone could let their closet get that disorganized. It looks like they just opened the door, threw stuff in, and then shut the door. If I end up in this apartment, I'll always keep that closet clean and neat."

Those were my famous last words. The closet has been a disaster for the last three years.

Until today. I finally decided to tackle it, and several hours later, here it is:

If only I had actually thought to take a "before" picture. But, as you can see, the closet is clean! I'm not quite sure that I'm going to need all of my scarves in California, but I couldn't bear to get rid of any of them just yet.

Next steps re: moving? More cleaning. While I have always loved this apartment for its abundant closet space, I'm cursing it now. Oh well. I have 2 down and 2 left to go, but after surviving the monster, I think I can handle anything!

One hundred.

2007-07-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well, this whole "100 things about me" blog-version of an email forward (MLR I agree with you about that) has been floating around for a while. Since I've enjoyed reading everyone else's, I decided to join in if I could get to 100. I did. Here's the list, for your enjoyment:

1. My name is Jennifer.
2. Not Jenny.
3. If you call me Jenny, I might never talk to you again.
4. I probably still will. But it will bother me that much.
5. I am probably 95% excited to move cross-country and only 5% scared/nervous.
6. I am leaving friends behind that I will miss dreadfully.
7. I way over-highlight textbooks.
8. I read every book assigned in high school.
9. I miss reading high-school-english-class type books.
10. I have bought at least 10 of those type books in the last 5 years.
11. I have yet to finish one of them.
12. I've actually only started one of them.
13. I've never read or seen Pride & Prejudice.
14. I've also never seen Star Wars, episode 6 (Return of the Jedi).
15. I finished Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows in one day.
16. I love to read.
17. I've wanted a KitchenAid stand mixer for at least the last 4 years. As soon as I live somewhere with enough counterspace, I'm buying one for myself!
18. I love to bake.
19. I love math.
20. And science (but not as much as math).
21. My mom was right when she told me I should be an engineer.
22. Thankfully, I stopped fighting that (ah, stubbornness) and realized that she was right.
23. Going to a college where I knew practically no one (only 2 out of 12,000!) was perfect for me.
24. I make friends easily.
25. I am the happiest when I have some sort of craft project going on.
26. Having something crafty to focus on outside of science for at least an hour or so a week keeps me sane.
27. Seriously.
28. My crafts thus far in my life have been: jewelry making, scrapbooking, black/white photography and developing, glass/tile mosaics, knitting, crocheting, and card making. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, though.
29. Being surrounded by books makes me happy.
30. I have seen a sheep under anesthesia.
31. I own all 10 seasons of Friends on DVD.
32. The Chronicles of Narnia is possibly my favorite book ever.
33. I have been whale-watching off the coast of Victoria, BC. Twice.
34. I studied abroad at Oxford University in England.
35. I had my first alcohol there.
36. My first alcohol was wine that had to be strained with a paper towel because we dropped cork bits into it while trying to get the cork out.
37. Every time that story is re-told by the person who was supposed to un-cork the wine bottle, I laugh harder and harder.
38. I love to travel.
39. I will travel any where, any time. (Assuming I can get off work!)
40. I am an only child.
41. I love my parents. A lot.
42. I will 99% not settle down in the place where I grew up.
43. I feel like a nomad sometimes because of that, because I don't have a "home" (city/area of the country) to which I am longing to move back to.
44. I think my parents have realized this about me and are ok with it.
45. I'm ok with the fact that I've been transitory like that up until now in my life.
46. I'm jealous of the people who do know where "home" is to them.
47. I love to play cards.
48. Especially Nerts.
49. One of my favorite Nerts memories was at Bob's with at least 8 people playing around one big, square table. The games went so fast!
50. I have walked into a glass sliding door before. Thankfully I was walking slowly!
51. I love almost all kinds of tea.
52. I am learning to like "normal" coffee. ("Normal" means coffee, not an espresso drink).
53. There is no Starbucks better than the one in my college town. Hands down, that is the coolest one there is.
54. I doubt I will ever stop craving the sandwiches from my college town.
55. Music is very important to me.
56. I don't understand people to whom music is not important.
57. I can't keep plants alive.
58. My apartment is filled with fake plants for that very reason.
59. I'm making my own Christmas cards this year.
60. I still owe ice cream to 7 of you.
61. Writing in my journal is a relaxing part of the day.
62. I could eat pizza or tacos/burritos every day.
63. Rainier cherries are amazingly delicious.
64. I also could eat a pint of blueberries every day.
65. I am a crazier driver since living in the Big City.
66. My car is named "peanut."
67. Fountain sprite is my comfort thing when I am sick with a cold or a sore throat.
68. I rode horses when I was younger.
69. The only time I've been unconscious was when I got thrown from a horse when I was 12 or 13 (I had on a helmet, don't worry).
70. I didn't know I'd been knocked out until my mom told me a year later.
71. I want a digital SLR.
72. Even though I own all the Harry Potter books, I kind of still want to buy all the British version ones as well.
73. I've been 20 feet away from Bono at a U2 concert.
74. If I'm making a mix CD, you know I'm procrastinating from something very important.
75. I don't like Halloween.
76. I once went out with a guy from South Dakota.
77. I'm looking forward to the topography in California.
78. It's weird to me that I'm going to be living somewhere that has palm trees as native plants.
79. I love SkeeBall.
80. I'm not a very good bike rider. I have a tendency to run in to stationary objects.
81. I had a beta fish until this past week when he died.
82. His name was Tony.
83. I hate packing.
84. I'm allergic to papaya in large doses.
85. Fireworks are one of my favorite things.
86. I got to see them twice this year, both on the 3rd and the 4th of July. (Thanks!)
87. My old friends become more precious and dear to me each time I meet a new friend.
88. I don't remember what I did before they put a Starbucks in the student center here.
89. Going on a hot-air balloon ride is one of my life goals.
90. I am going to miss my family's lake house when my parents sell it.
91. I think I saw my first shooting stars there.
92. I learned to water-ski there. And to get up on only 1 ski.
93. Going kayaking right before college graduation was one of the most fun things I've done.
94. I like doing things like that (kayaking) that I always thought that I couldn't do.
95. I'm currently trying to learn to like running.
96. I've decided that I actually might like running.
97. The stress-relief that I get from running is somewhat unparalleled.
98. If I had to go back and major in something completely different, I think I'd become a nurse.
99. Maybe a doctor, but probably a nurse.
100. I wish I was in Hawaii right now...

Oh so good.

2007-07-21T18:03:00.001-07:00

Is anyone else done with book 7 yet? I thought it was fantastic. It also made me want to go back and re-read the whole series slowly...

Incredible.

2007-07-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

This is B. Fountain in downtown of my Big City, all lit up. What you can't tell from the picture is that the lights were changing with the music that was playing over the loudspeakers. I'm not sure if they do that every night in the summer or if it was just because it was the Taste, but it was definitely a sight to see before moving!

Adventures in mosaics, part 2.

2007-07-20T06:24:00.001-07:00

My first mosaic adventure started last fall when I took a glass-on-glass mosaic glass from the [insert big city name] Mosaic School and made the window that you can see on the right side of this blog. It was one of the most fun things that I had done in a while, and I learned that stopping and taking time to be crafty in the midst of all the science is somewhat critical to my sanity! I'd been wanting to take another class from the school, and since I was leaving town soon, I decided to do it. Eight weeks later, here is my masterpiece:

It's significantly smaller than the window (it's a mirror on the inside), but I had just as much fun doing it! I don't know yet how I'm going to continue this hobby when I get to California, but I'm hoping that I will. If only small shards of tile (or glass) didn't fly everywhere when being cut, I might try to do this in my apartment....

Maybe I should just stick to cards.

New!

2007-07-17T12:37:00.001-07:00

With a new life adventure ahead, it seemed time to start a new blog. Welcome!