Fluffy, full-length, terry-cloth bathrobe, prefereably white.

Gift Cards:

- World Market
- Forever 21

Matt would like the soundtrack to "The Sound of Music" and other awesome musicals. He has "My Fair Lady" but that's about it. I know Matt would also like a suit. One that's not so fancy that he can't wear it to school, or at least pieces. He also needs a new jacket. Something simple, but classy that he can dress up or down. The one he is wearing now makes him look like he's still in high school. Thus sayeth the Wife.

Short, but, hey it's a tradition now, so here it be. On a related note, I think I'm pretty much done with my Christmas shopping. I just bought stuff as I was inspired and suddenly I have something for everyone!

Gift Cards:
- Victoria Secret
- Sephora
- Target
- iTunes
- Ikea
- Bed, Bath and Beyond

CDs
- Battle Studies by John Mayer
- The Fall by Norah Jones
- Save Me, San Francisco by Train

Black Pea Coat, hip length (Size small)

Dark brown, furry “UGG” type boots from Costco

"The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can't do."

To ask yourself next time you are stressed: What's the worst that could happen? Is that really all that bad? What lasting impact is it really going to have on my life?

What would I do if I weren't afraid?

What would I do if I knew I couldn't fail?

P.S. "Autumn Cat" user pic by Paul Koh

What a night last night.

Started off with going to a new book club at B&N. This club was listed as a "Spiritual Focus" group. I wasn't sure what that was going to mean, but I thought it might be nice to get to engage in spiritual dialog outside of the Christian box. I was a bit skeptical, but was pleasantly surprised in the end. The main leader of the group has a Catholic background and still espouses many tenets. The group is mainly made up of a bunch of old men. It's been going for almost eight years and has gone through many various influxes. They cycle through a list of contemporary mystics every year, with a few minor changes. Everyone seemed very genuine and open. I'm really excited. I think I will have to work on being more disciplined in the reading. It's neither light nor fun. But then spiritual growth never is.

After book club, Matt and I ventured in to San Fran to check out a new bar that just opened. It's called Eve Lounge, and we were really excited about its 20's inspired theme. We still miss The Edison terribly. It was very quiet, with just a handful of people hanging out. They seemed to all be employees or friends of employees. We got our drinks and were just chatting. Then one of the guys handed me his camera, said "you look like a professional photographer", and asked me to take a picture of the group. I took some shots and then he just went back to drinking. I asked him if he wanted his camera back and he asked if I had experience in photography. I told him I worked in a studio for a year, and he said "yea, I don't even know how to work this camera. You can just keep shooting." The camera was a Canon Rebel, so I was pretty familiar with it, considering that's the same model I own. So I took some more pictures of people, and then just started playing, taking random pictures of the bar.

Later, we got to chatting with our bartender and talked for what must have been close to an hour. He was a young guy, kind of shy and nervous, but really interesting. I asked him about places to go in the city. He told us about the bar he used to work at, how he got the job at Eve. He's really interested in the mixology aspect of bartending and works as a bartender at night for fun. By day, he's an engineer. He claims to have the biggest home bar in SF, funded mainly by his childhood friend and roommate, who struck it rich in a dot-com business. He was a wealth of interesting knowledge, like how to correctly prepare an egg so you can use the raw egg white in drinks, and about the structure of a new kind of techno music. Later he made me an "Eve Apple" incorporating a bunch of ingredients I didn't recognize, unfiltered apple juice, angostura bitters, fresh grated cinnamon, and of course, egg white. It was delicious! When shaken, the egg white turns into this frothy foam that floats on top. It's alot like the steamed milk they put on coffee.

Finished up at Denny's at 3am. Our waitress was the nicest, most thoughtful waitress I've ever had. I felt a distinct mothering vibe and it seemed like she almost enjoyed taking care of people.

Neat evening.

Tonight Matt battled three, THREE cockroaches!!! Two of them frickin’ simultaneously! I cannot wait to get the ---- out of here. This is getting crazy. They are so nasty! They don’t die when you spray them, they start running around like crazy! And not just on the ground. On the walls, even the ceiling! Ugh! They run and run in erratic patterns for like 15 minutes before they finally fall over. But then they keep twitching and waving their little feelers around. Makes me want to puke. Matt and I were in the bedroom battling two roaches while a third finished dying the hall way. Matt just found a fourth in the closet!!! We are sleeping in the living room tonight. Anyway, we were both in the bedroom, and I didn’t want to go past the one in the hall, but the two in the bedroom were both in the running like crazy stage, when one decided to get on the ceiling and start running for the bed, our island of safety. On the verge of a hysterical breakdown, I made a mad dash past the one in the hall who luckily had advanced to the twitching stage. I made it safely to the couch and Matt braved it until the end. Why is it the more we clean and organize, the more they come? Why don’t they understand we are doing our utmost to make them uncomfortable, climb through the walls and go terrorize someone else??

I like ants. Why can’t we have ants? They are pesky, but easy to deal with if you keep things relatively clean and keep all the food in plastic airtight containers. And they usually stay where the food is, they dont' venture into your most private of sanctuaries and start a frat house. They don’t leave excrement on your counters, and they don’t jump out and scare you to death in the middle of the night. And you can crush them with no effort . Even if there’s a ton of them, you can just wipe them away! And most of all THEY DON’T WAVE THEIR NASTY FEELERS AT YOU LIKE THEY ARE TRYING TO MOLEST YOU BY RADAR!! They also can’t crawl in your ears and cause serious pain like something from “Wrath of Khan”. I would welcome ants, if it got rid of the cockroaches. If I see one freakin’ roach at our new place, I am calling an exterminator to bomb the place. I can’t deal with it any more. I’m verging on paranoia. I see little movements out of the corner of my eye all the time now, terrified one is going to sneak up on me. After tonight’s fiasco, a little gnat-moth thing fluttered past me. I just saw the movement and started shrieking. I’m not a shrieker. I’ll catch spiders and release them into the wild. I’ll wave off a bee and go find somewhere else to stand. Mice are adorable, though it’s too bad they too are the excrement-depositing types.

Someday, we will look back on this and laugh. Someday, it might even be a little romantic, thinking back to our first, tiny, disgusting apartment and our first days as a married couple. However, right now, this apartment can go to hell.

July 26-27: Mom comes to collect kitchen table to put in storage and some boxes to temporarily store.

July 29: Littles arrive in LA!

July 30: Matt's last day of work!! Yay! After attending Matt's Open House for work, I go pick up the moving truck. The Littles and I get as much loaded as possible before running out of energy or time. If she's willing, I'm thinking of putting Sammy on cleaning detail, vacuuming and cleaning as we empty rooms.

July 31: Finish loading vehicles. Matt wants to drive the moving truck. We will have to divy up my car (more on that in another post), Matt's car and the Little's car between Chris, Jenni, and I. Then we all fight over who gets to have Sammy :D j/k Head for Campbell!

When we get there, I want to unload as quickly as possible so the Littles can get home and take some well-deserved rest! Amber and Aaron, if you are still game, I think I'd like your help unloading after all. The carpets will already be cleaned, and it doesn't make sense for my family to come down just to help unload the truck. We are going to be exhausted and I don't plan on doing any unpacking of boxes on the 31st.

Later, at a undecided time: Mom & Co. will bring down the boxes that were in storage, and hang out! Perhaps for my birthday? Also, at some point, we will bring home our kitty!!! Yay! We want to get the majority of the unpacking done first though, so that she won't be coming home to chaos. I'll try and have things ready so if the Littles want to come party it up for my birthday, they can bring Lexi with them.

That's it for now. If you are involved, or potentially involved, please let me know if this sounds a-okay to you. Love you all! Thank you so much for all your love and support! I would be going even nuttier than I am without you.

As I was stuck at home with no mode of transportation, I had lots of time to research the best way to acquire said transportation, i.e. a car. Here are my pearls of wisdom for all who might embark on a similar quest.

Edmunds.com: This is where I did most of my research and some of the other links are from this site. They have lots of interesting “Top-10” articles as well as “How-To”s such as “How to Get a Bargain On a Used Car”. Edmunds even sent a journalist to work undercover as a car salesman to learn the ins and outs and dirty secrets of car dealerships. You can also use the site to research cars by category or by specific make and model. Easy to use and a wealth of knowledge!

TCO: This tool calculates the “True Cost to Own” a vehicle for the following five years, as in what the vehicle will continue to cost you after you’ve bought it. TCO breaks it down into deprecation, taxes & fees, fuel, maintenance, repairs , financing and, perhaps most importantly, insurance for your area. Insurance can be a kicker. A used Toyota Prius can be affordable, but the insurance was sky-high. The downside to the TCO calculator is that it only goes back as far as cars made in 2004, but you can still use it to guesstimate.
To use: Although it’s on the homepage of Edmunds.com, it seemed to work better to click on the Auto Insurance tab, and then select TCO from the top.

TMV: Knowing the “True Market Value” of a vehicle can help you negotiate a fair price once you reach the dealership. It also helped Matt and I avoid a few clunkers that were suspiciously listed far beneath their market value. Supposedly, Edmunds is more accurate than Kelly Blue Book, but that’s Edmunds’ opinion. I think KBB factors in more of the cars condition, and TMV calculates more according to current economic conditions. However, I would need to do more research to be sure what the differences are. KBB is also available online, and it wouldn't hurt to cross-check between the two.
To use: TMV is also on the homepage of Edmunds.com

Cars.com: Although there are many websites where you can shop for both new and used cars online, cars.com seemed to have the most variety and better prices. It also has various flexible search parameters, especially under an advanced search mode. It also allows you to save your favorite vehicles to compare side-by-side and keeps them for 20 days. Cars.com searches both dealerships and classified ads listed by private sellers.

Carfax.com: I think everyone knows about carfax, but it doesn’t hurt to mention it anyway. Before purchasing a used vehicle, you can look up a vehicle on carfax by its VIN. Carfax will tell you much about the car’s history, including how many previous owners, any accidents it’s been in, if it’s been declared a total loss, etc. Carfax isn’t foolproof, as it is only based on info reported to the site, but it’s still worth it to check for any red-flag problems. You can purchase a single report for $30, or buy a set of 10 reports for $35 if you want to check on multiple vehicles.

Happy Shopping!

In trying to get internet set up at our next place, I accidentally stumbled into a bit of haggling magic. I filled out the order with Comcast online, and then it said the last step to complete the order was to chat online with a sales rep (or "analyst"), like IM. We were going along, happily exchanging information when we got down to saying go. I did a quick check with Matt. I told him we would be paying $20 a month for the first 6 months and then $60 a month after that, and that there was a $100 installation fee. He was shocked and said we are currently paying $40 and had no installation fee.

I felt bad, but I told the rep I needed to save the info and shop around some more before agreeing. She said "One moment, please". Matt then scurried to find all our original receipts to verify his facts. He quickly found everything (such a good record keeper!) and confirmed we had paid no installation fee. The rep came back and said she was "happy to inform" me that they could give me the installation for only $50. Matt and I were still surprised that it was so much more, and realized that we had the opportunity for some bargaining.

I was frantically trying to simultaneously price compare with our current service provider. I told her what we were paying now monthly and that we hadn't paid a installation fee before. She said "Let me check if there is a running promo for free installation in your area." Conveniently, she found they could completely waive the installation fee. I said that was great and said that if we could settle on a monthly fee, I would be happy to sign up today. She asked what I meant, and I asked if we could agree on $50 a month. She flatly told me the price again, but then came back and said, I apologize, my resources are limited, etc. In the mean time, I found Comcast is the only provider in our area, so we were happy to agree to what we had managed so far. I thanked her profusely before we signed off.

As we are going car shopping tomorrow, that will be a good experience to go in with. It was so exciting to feel savvy, using my expert web-skills to price compare, discuss with Matt and to unexpectedly save a hundred dollars! That's alot of date money, lol. Matt said after the introductory period expired, he would call and haggle. Amber, what do you guys pay? If you have a better deal, maybe we can use that as a bargaining chip. If not, maybe you guys can use our offer to get a better deal, lol.

Here's the birthday list.

Canon Wireless Remote Control RC1 for Digital Rebel
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Wireless-Remote-Control-Digital/dp/B00004WCIC

Movies

- “Peter Pan” (2003)
- “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” (the new one with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie)
- “Step Up”
- “Mulan”
- “A Bug’s Life”
- “The Sting”


Housey things:

- Cordless drill
- Mandolin food slicer
- large cookie scoop
- food processor
- kitchen scale
- wire sieve/ strainer (5 inches or so)
- These dishes
http://www.target.com/Dinnerware-16-pc-Set-Cream/dp/B00193YJC2/qid=1243296937/ref=br_1_13/178-8989808-8799227?ie=UTF8&node=358064011&frombrowse=1&pricerange=&index=tgt-mf-mv&field-browse=358064011&rank=pmrank&rh=&page=3

Bar stuff:
- Muddler
- Bar spoon
- Gin
- Bourbon
- Tequila
- Peach schnapps
- Malibu rum
- Bailey’s Irish Cream
- Frangelico
- Blue Curacao
- Sweet and Sour
- Torani syrups in fun flavors
- Small bottles of tonic water
- Wine glasses
- Champagne flutes
- Martini glasses
- Hurricane glasses
- BevMo gift card
Music:
- iTunes gift card
- any albums by Sufjan Stevens
- “Circus” by Britney Spears

Books:
- "Digital Photography" By Steve Luck, published by Hermes House


Major Purchases: (Because it’s healthy to dream :)

- PhotoShop CS4
- piano (preferably baby grand)
- super awesome ikea bookshelf (brown/black)- $159
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalogproducts/40047675
- beautiful living room rug (size 5x8)- $429
http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p11594/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1|20|||0|||||||adeline&cm_src=SCH
- dishwasher (the roll-around portable kind)
- bed frame (king, pewter)- $849
http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p2560/index.cfm?pkey=cmetal-beds-headboards
- King size box spring and mattress.

Well, now. Finally I can make a proper update. As I said, I am through with student teaching, and with Biola, forever! Almost. Haha, I am waiting to hear if I passed an important test for my credential, then I will have to settle the final paperwork on my credential. I picked up my diploma, finally. It’s pretty :D

My car has once and for all bit the dust. It was bought and towed away by a salvage yard this morning. I am somewhat sad and nostalgic to see it go. But I am glad to be through with its unpredictable behavior. This does significantly alter my plans for the summer. No classes for me :( Oh well. I’m sure I’ll find things to do to fill up my time. Alisa and I are already planning on swimming and learning to make sushi when her school year is over. I’m hoping to pick up some random work, a few hours at CL!X, cleaning , babysitting, etc. I’ll also be hunting for a new car and a job. I have a few photography projects brewing in my head, and an offer to collaborate on some web design.

Really, “summer” is only a month and a half. Matt has decided on San Jose State and we will be moving to Campbell the first week of August. We are (officially!) renting a small, three-bedroom house from a distant relative of Matt’s. She’s graciously giving us a very excellent rate, especially for the area. We are so excited to have a washer and dryer of our own, and space for guests! We will be fifteen minutes from Matt’s school, fifteen minutes from Amber and Aaron, an hour from Matt’s family, two and a half hours from mine, an hour from San Francisco, including Zach, Amy, the McClure family, and all the fun S.F. can offer!

The first few weeks of summer were spent in lots of visiting with family. My last week of teaching, Matt went up to see his family and poke around San Jose. A few days after he got back, I went up and visited my family, poked around San Jose, saw the house, and got Alli ready for prom. I brought Sammy, Matt’s sister, back with me. She stayed with us the past week and had fun. Now Matt’s job is in full swing. I’m relishing sleeping in, catching up on odds and ends, reading and enjoying a slower pace to life. Right now, I’m relishing some “June gloom” here in sunny So-Cal. I wouldn’t mind if it continued until August! Our apartment is so miserable when it’s hot and packing and moving in the heat will not be so fun.

Stay tuned for more summer shenanigans!

IS OVER!!!!!!!

I'm going to go take a nap now.

So Matt got the summer research job! Woots! I'm so proud. He also won a cool math-y-science-y scholarship. I can't remember the details, but you can ask him. He came home with a cool $800 check. Sweet. Anyway, so we will be chillin' in SoCal for a few more months. His research project runs from June 1st to July 30th. I've decided to take a couple computer art classes to pass the time. For those in the know, I'll be learning to use Illustrator and InDesign, plus buffing up my mad PhotoShop skills. The PhotoShop stuff will be super bad-ass, because I'll be learning to build images from scratch, not just tweak photos. I'm super stoked. It will be a nice change from teaching and will hopefully open up some new job opportunities. I've been lurking on Craigslist, checking up on Arts/Media job opportunities here and in prospective relocations. Illustrator is a big "must know" for alot of creative-y jobs. I even ran across a job paying people to make powerpoints. I built a pretty sweet powerpoint for a school assembly where I'm teaching. It went along with a skit playing off "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?". I made a whole interactive game board with the categories you could click on, and questions and answers that came in individually. I was pretty proud of it and wowed alot of people, so that was really neat.

Anyway, wanted to give that little update as the time is drawing nigh and I thought ya'll would want to be in the know. Now I must get to sleep. 6:30 comes early. I'm never ready.

Love to my loves.

Sorry in advance that most of my posts are so gloomy. Matt got his letter from Davis and was not admitted. They didn't say why, but it was most likely because they don't like to admit transfer students who have more than a certain number of units. Matt had too many but decided to try anyway. He's going to call to try and found out why, and appeal the decision. However, he was accepted to San Jose State, so if all else fails, he'll be going there.

Gloomy news #2 and then I'll try and come up with something cheerful. Leif passed away this afternoon. Last night he was breathing very slowly and didn't stir when I touched him. We let him be in case he was in pain, but moved his cage next to our bed. He was still alive this morning, but breathing even slower. We brought him back out to the living room,and when I checked on him just now, he was gone. For now he is in the freezer (so sentimental, I know) and hopefully we can take a drive up into the mountains soon and give him a burial.

Things are going ok at school. I was really dreading going back after spring break, but Monday was pretty good. The week dragged by so slowly, but I'm feeling much more confident both in teaching and in managing the classroom. I still don't feel incredibly connected with the kids, but we are getting friendlier. When I walk them back from recess and lunch, sometimes one of them will come and chat with me for a bit. Right now it feels like it will never end, but when I stop and think about it, 5 weeks is not that long. I'm so close to the end, I just have to keep repeating that to myself.

Miss you guys, all of you.

I just got home from school and I need to vent. There have been three major "management challenge" kids in my class. Last week I finally had a break through for two of them, and everything was going great but now my third kid, Mark, is spinning out of control. He's a really sweet kid with alot of issues at home. Through out the placement, I feel I've really built a relationship with these kids, and with Mark especially. It's pretty obvious that I like him, and he likes me. Last week he started sleeping through language arts, which has progressed into sleeping whenever he doesn't want to work. I try and wake him up, but he refuses to keep trying. Now any time something happens he doesn't like, he just shuts down. Today in the library, I told him he couldn't check out the book he wanted and he sat on the floor with his head in his hands. I picked out a book for him, and told him it was time to leave, and thank God he left with us. I feel like it doesn't matter if I'm mean or if I'm nice, he still just has a hair-trigger. After school, we are buddies, but during school it's craziness. I tried to talk to my master teacher about it today and her glib answer was "he's testing you". It's my last week, and he knows that! Every time I tried to keep talking about it with her, the conversation got side-tracked. I just feel so frustrated because I have three days left there, only two of which I'm actually teaching. I feel like just throwing in the towel, but that doesn't seem right. But on the other hand, what can I do in 2 days? Plus I have no support. Meh.

I'm sorry to announce that Leif took a turn for the worst last night. He hasn't been very active lately, so I thought he might be feeling the effects of the infection more. His eyes seem to not be getting better, but not getting worse either. Last night I took him out of his cage, and he felt limp and cool. He was still breathing, but looked pretty bad. I really thought he wasn't going to make it through the night. I wrapped him up in a towel, and asked Matt to hold him while I cleaned his cage. I wanted him to be clean and comfortable. After that, it was late and he was so still, but I didn't want him to be alone when he passed. So I layed in bed and held him in the palm of my hand. I think we both fell asleep. When I woke up a little later, he stirred, and when I put him down he perked up his ears and started walking around. Not exactly "slipping away" type behavior :p So I put his cage by my bed,tucked him in, and went to bed. When I woke up this morning, he had flipped over his food bowl. When I came home from school, he had abandoned the nest I made him, and dragged his fluffy blanket back over to his favorite spot, under his wheel. So he's not so feeble, he can't still be ornery, but I think he's had a major set-back. I'd say he's near then end, but I don't know what to make of his behavior.

All-in-all, it's pretty inconclusive. But many of you are animal lovers, and I thought you would want to know.

Thanks, Sammy, for your note, and for asking about Leif. I intend to write you soon, but you know how it is.

The first round of student teaching is on the downhill side! yaaaay! This past week was my "be responsible for all instruction" week. I cheated a little, and took Wednesday off to nip a lurking cold in the bud. It was also a lesson in being disciplined in resting, and not burning out. This coming week, I have teach only in the afternoon because of testing, and the following week is all minimum days for parent/teacher conferences. Extra bonus: my master teacher doesn't mind if I work on other stuff, like TPA3, when I'm not teaching. She will never know how grateful I am for her sensibility and mercy. Then the last week is just transitioning out, observing other grade levels, etc.

Friday I took my class to the neighborhood park next door to play. It was just me and the kids, so I let loose and swung on the swings with them, joked around, and chased them growling and being "scary". They loved it. I loved it. If teaching were more of that and less paperwork and requirements and testing nonsense, I would dive right in and never look back.

Matt and I started our bartending class today. No free alcohol, but all the juice and soda from the "gun" we want.It was long, but good. Our teacher really knows his stuff, and is preparing us to have job skills. He's also really quirky and funny. He jokes around alot and told us "I insult you because I like you. If I don't insult you, it's because you're ugly."

So, I intended to write more, but it's Sunday night now, and I must bathe and get to bed.

My bed time routine has grown quite extensive, especially now that I am sick Xp

In no particular order, it consists of:

- washing dishes (doesn't always happen, but we're trying to keep the ants and roaches at bay.)
- taking out the trash
- taking usual night-time pills (3), now also Airborne
- medicating Leif's eyes
- putting stuff to take with me in the morning in a heap on one chair.
- laying out clothes for next day.
- at least thinking about lunch for the next day, if not packaging some leftovers.
- brushing teeth
- washing face
- Zicam-ing my nose
- setting alarm
- lotion-ing hands

It used to be just brush teeth and wash face, if I felt like it. And setting alarm. And lotioning hands. Those last two are musts.

I am also now forced to put clocks everywhere. In the bathroom, on my wrist. I feel kind of resentful of having a visual reminder of the passage of time, strapped to my person constantly.

I survived! And I actually had quite alot of fun. I am sure you are as surprised as I am, considering how much I was dreading it. I have a really great master teacher though. She's very practical and down to earth. She's very strict with the kids, but also cares for them a great deal which is a great combination. The principal is really enthusiastic about her student teachers. She wants to personally go over our resumes with us before we leave, and next week she's taking us to the district to become substitute teachers. That way, if the master teacher needs to be out, we can actually get paid for our time in the class, rather than having a sub come in and watch us do all the work.

I've almost got all the kids names down now. The tricky thing is that a group of kids from other classes come in the morning for language arts, so I have that many more names to learn. Those are the ones I'm still working on, as I only see them for two hours a day.

I'm in a second grade classroom and the kids make me laugh all the time. I was grading some homework yesterday and one of the assignments was to write about the emotions of the main character in their story. The sentence prompts were things like "Mrs. So-and-so was happy...", "Mrs. So-and-so was sad..." One student completed a prompt like this: "Mrs. So-and-so was kind...of sad."

Thursday we had a big PE rotation and we worked with some kindergartners. When we all started jogging, one of the girls was like "you're so big!". Then later, another girl asked my name. When I told her she said "Mrs. Little?! You should be Mrs. Big!" lol, I don't think she was trying to be clever. She seemed genuinely confused that my name contradicts my height, like such a thing should not be so.

I hate the early mornings, but I usually come home pretty energetic. Thursday and Friday, not so much. But I think it was because it was hot. That tends to sap my strength. This coming week, I will be taking over all the math lessons. Wish me luck!

Hey, friends.

Sorry I left such a depressing post up during the holidays. Blech. Life is much better now. Made it through graduation with much chaos, but much fun as well. I even got my cap and gown back in time. Mom treated us to Disneyland/ CA Adventure. It was neat to be able to go to CA Adventure, and check it out. I nearly chickened out on "California Screamin'", but Amy held my hand and it was a blast! So was Tower of Terror. I may be more of an adrenaline junky than I thought. The holiday decorations at D-land were awesome. My favorite was "It's A Small World" completely overhauled for Christmas. Close second was the castle, especially at night.

Christmas was great, maybe one of the best yet. For some reason, this year just seemed really warm and laid back. Not the pressure of past Christmases. Quiet, but joyful.

Since then I've been sleeping alot, getting little things around the house done, and helping my friend get her lingerie company started. She's the main designer, and I help a little, but mainly I help her make her ideas a reality by working out the technical stuff like patterns, alterations, construction, etc. That's been alot of fun, although right now I'm more stressed out about it than she is. I took today off to get some perspective back. We've got some great designs,I'm really excited about it and I want it to succeed. I'll for sure post the link when we finally launch.

Leif has been sick. He's got an infection in his eye. It seems to be responding to medication, but if it worsens, the vet says he will have to remove the whole eye. I certainly can't afford surgery, so I hope the medication clears it up. Matt and I have a little routine. Every morning and evening, I put a ointment on Leif's eye and then hold his eye open while Matt puts the eye drops in. His eyes are so small, he blinks most of it out. But that's better than before. When I was trying to get it in his eye all by myself, most of it just ended up in his fur or in his nose. Squirming rodents and eye drops don't mix. I think he's getting used to it thought, and doesn't struggle as much.

Otherwise, the little furry one is doing great, especially for a hampster as old as he is. He's still feisty and loves to roam the apartment in his ball. I think he may have even gained a little weight. I got him a chew toy, because he was annoying Matt by chewing on his water bottle. It's just a small twig type thing. After I cleaned his cage and put the chew thing in there, he was carrying it around in his mouth by one end, which looked ridiculous enough. But I swear he looked like a dog trying to pick a spot to bury a bone. "Where can I hide it that no one else will find it!?"

I begin student teaching tomorrow. I've already met with the principal and she's super nice and supportive. She's taking a personal interest in our resumes and planning special training for us. She's even taking us herself to the district office to fill out the substitute teacher paperwork so we can be paid if we cover for our master teachers. So far so good!

In honor of my newly appointed teaching position, I've painted my toenails blue-glittery. So even though I look like a responsible professional, underneath those stockings, I'm rockin' it! Oh, and I also got a little new jewelry, just to mix it up. Check it:



Doesn't my expression look so cynical and worldly? I think it's mainly due to looking out the corner of my eye. Yay, built in web cams. Much easier than having to upload from a card. I'm so lazy.

Speaking of photography, business at the studio has been so slow. I've worked one day since coming back from vacation. It's given me more time to work on the lingerie, so I'm glad. But I did get in a little fashion photography at a friend's lingerie shower. The bride wanted some pictures in her new outfits to give to her husband. It was so fun. The bride and several of her guests are film people, so they got all crazy with the lighting, putting gels over household lamps and moving things around so it was just right. Crazy fun.

One last item of interest: Matt and I are going to try going in a vegan direction for awhile. I've heard a raw-only vegan diet gives you crazy energy, and lots of people experience the need for less sleep. Raw-only would be much too difficult and expensive. But we are going to try the vegan thing and see if it helps, or if it's just not worth the hassle.

Well, guys, I'll keep you posted on life, craziness and the pursuit liberty, but free-time will be short once this semester really gets rolling, so don't hold you breath. I'm always just a phone call or email away. Love you all.