Friday, October 20, 2017
Drastic New Haircut
Alright, so I had my haircut on Friday (10/13) and I was feeling adventurous, so I decided to get rid of a lot of it. Now, I have naturally curly hair so having chopped it all off (well, let's be honest- I didn't choose to have it shaved off again, once is more than enough for me on that count) results in my curly hair bouncing up close to my ears! There are definitely many advantages (like, it doesn't take me ANY time to do my hair) but I'm still having those occasional habits of just wishing that I could be lazy and throw my hair up into a ponytail. Hmm, not so possible anymore. Well, technically it's possible, but a lot of my hair doesn't want to remain in the ponytail and ends up falling down around my face. Well, looks like I'll be shopping for some fun and cute thick headbands to decorate my new "-do".
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Birthday with brother
OK, so I do realize that my birthday was about 4 months ago, but my birthday present from Ryan and Lailah was a gift certificate to a California Windsurfing company. No, don't be worried!! Windsurfing is in the title, but the company actually offers multiple rentals. I did a little bit of research online to see what exactly this gift certificate qualified for... Through researching the company I actually realized that multiple options were available to me. They actually rent multiple forms of water entertainment including paddle boards, kayaks, pedal boats, water bikes and windsurfing boards. Initially I was intrigued by the idea of attempting a "water bike" which essentially appears to be a bike which as you pedal it, it moves the propeller so you can navigate the lagoon easily and comfortably. This idea intrigued me, but I hadn't made any hard and fast decisions.
So, then Ryan and I headed into Foster City, (he's essentially a brilliant kayak-er), but he left the decision entirely up to me. We ended up renting two kayaks for about 2 hours. Now, considering my family's issue with sun exposure and all, I made sure to layer myself in sunscreen so that I was essentially protecting myself from the sun as much as possible. I had a true blast navigating the Foster City lagoon with Ryan and I even managed to capture a number of photos of him and the scenery with my phone! I would definitely show these pictures right now, except that when we had rowed our way essentially to below 92 Ryan had asked me a question (because I was riding a sit-on-top kayak whereas he was riding a legit kayak) about how wet my rear-end must have become because of my seat... I told Ryan that my butt didn't feel wet at all because there was simply a stagnant little puddle close to my butt but not under me. I felt as though I needed to prove this to him, so I sat up in my little kayak to show that I hadn't become excessively wet- JAMIE'S BIG MISTAKE! because when I stood up all of the water moved from the puddle to right below my butt and then my cell phone popped out of my shorts' pocket and fell into the lagoon. So, as a result I have zero pictures documenting our fabulous birthday excursion, but losing my phone and having to get it replaced didn't put any damper on one of the best birthday presents that I've received in quite some time!
Feel free to ask any questions, but I realized last night that I should write about this wonderful excursion because it was absolutely ideal and I love my brother for coming up with a phenomenal birthday present idea which we both truly enjoyed!
So, then Ryan and I headed into Foster City, (he's essentially a brilliant kayak-er), but he left the decision entirely up to me. We ended up renting two kayaks for about 2 hours. Now, considering my family's issue with sun exposure and all, I made sure to layer myself in sunscreen so that I was essentially protecting myself from the sun as much as possible. I had a true blast navigating the Foster City lagoon with Ryan and I even managed to capture a number of photos of him and the scenery with my phone! I would definitely show these pictures right now, except that when we had rowed our way essentially to below 92 Ryan had asked me a question (because I was riding a sit-on-top kayak whereas he was riding a legit kayak) about how wet my rear-end must have become because of my seat... I told Ryan that my butt didn't feel wet at all because there was simply a stagnant little puddle close to my butt but not under me. I felt as though I needed to prove this to him, so I sat up in my little kayak to show that I hadn't become excessively wet- JAMIE'S BIG MISTAKE! because when I stood up all of the water moved from the puddle to right below my butt and then my cell phone popped out of my shorts' pocket and fell into the lagoon. So, as a result I have zero pictures documenting our fabulous birthday excursion, but losing my phone and having to get it replaced didn't put any damper on one of the best birthday presents that I've received in quite some time!
Feel free to ask any questions, but I realized last night that I should write about this wonderful excursion because it was absolutely ideal and I love my brother for coming up with a phenomenal birthday present idea which we both truly enjoyed!
Friday, July 14, 2017
Day with nieces
Today I was excited to be able to spend a handful of time with my nieces! Collette is 3 and her big sister is a whopping 5... and Lailah had given me a few ideas of activities which I could absorb them in to catch their interest.
Lailah knows about my love of art and painting so today I helped my nieces create paintings of their own. Her exact words were that "Amelia will be able to listen, but Collette may just slather the paint on". Her words could not have been more appropriate! Technically the assignment was they were creating a painting for Lailah's sister Gihan (whose birthday is actually today), and I essentially gave them free reign regarding what they were going to paint. (As it's best if the painter actually cares about what they are actually painting)
Amelia really wanted to paint a cat for Gigi and Collette decided to go the more traditional birthday route and I sketched an easy birthday cake for her to fill in. I made a mistake... I sketched the outline of their painting subjects so that they would simply paint around the predetermined lines. But, I realized after the fact that I probably should have followed Lailah's advice and actually began the painting for them- essentially paint the beginning lines instead of using colored pencil. Oh well!
We had a blast together and I'm looking forward to this routine possibly becoming a little more regular during my summer. First of all I was able to give Martha (Lailah's mom) a little break from feeling as though she must keep them busy and entertained all on her own AND I completely enjoyed my morning/afternoon with my wonderful nieces.
Lailah knows about my love of art and painting so today I helped my nieces create paintings of their own. Her exact words were that "Amelia will be able to listen, but Collette may just slather the paint on". Her words could not have been more appropriate! Technically the assignment was they were creating a painting for Lailah's sister Gihan (whose birthday is actually today), and I essentially gave them free reign regarding what they were going to paint. (As it's best if the painter actually cares about what they are actually painting)
Amelia really wanted to paint a cat for Gigi and Collette decided to go the more traditional birthday route and I sketched an easy birthday cake for her to fill in. I made a mistake... I sketched the outline of their painting subjects so that they would simply paint around the predetermined lines. But, I realized after the fact that I probably should have followed Lailah's advice and actually began the painting for them- essentially paint the beginning lines instead of using colored pencil. Oh well!
We had a blast together and I'm looking forward to this routine possibly becoming a little more regular during my summer. First of all I was able to give Martha (Lailah's mom) a little break from feeling as though she must keep them busy and entertained all on her own AND I completely enjoyed my morning/afternoon with my wonderful nieces.
Enjoy my captured photos/videos from today!!
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Life These Days
Alrighty, I figured that I'd update the couple of readers that I may have. So, I may have graduated from UC Davis in December of 2006, but with my current complicated lifestyle (and essentially empty calendar) I've decided to go back to school.
Don't worry, because I don't need these credits for anything I am able to look at the catalog and essentially sign up for whichever classes look the most entertaining/enjoyable. So, I have taken classes at two college campuses now. I started taking classes close to home (In Redwood City at Cañada) and essentially ended up taking all of the classes there which interested me, so now I've transferred to the College of San Mateo.
At CSM I began by taking Oil Painting and some Creative Writing classes. Well, eventually I took every single creative writing course offered, so now I'm still taking Oil Painting, but I became interested in photography classes as well. Last semester I enrolled in Beginning Digital Photography, and this semester (due largely in part to scheduling) I've enrolled in Beginning Black and White Photography.
This photography class is definitely new and exciting. We are actually using film cameras and we purchased black and white film and we have begun taking our cameras out and photographing the world. I actually enjoy going to my classes this semester because I'm learning new techniques and I'm actually experiencing something (film photography) which I don't recall having completed in YEARS!
So, nothing new and exhilarating, but considering that it has now been 7 years since my life-altering event I've been finding enjoyable ways to spend my days. Please, if anyone has any recommendations on things which I could be doing to continue to keep myself entertained, feel free to share them with me!!
So, in the past few days I learned that I have a very unhappy neighbor living below me. Apparently this downstairs neighbor is about 6 months pregnant and didn't feel comfortable confronting my parents or myself about this complaint, so they went directly to the condo president. She complained that because her doctors have essentially placed her on "bed rest" (or whatever) she is home ALL THE TIME and she complained that my walking around my condo was too stressful on her and the baby-to-be. Hmm, well maybe you should have considered confronting the person who was actually completing this "harsh walking" so that we could have arranged another way in which to protect your sensitive pregnant self. But, I'm attempting to be considerate so my dad suggested that I try walking slowly around my place (because yup, I tend to walk very quickly all the time). So, I'm trying everything to be as quiet as possible when I'm at home, and to ignore the frustrated screams going on inside of my own head in the midst of this all.
With that frustrating hiccup aside, and school still continuing very successfully, I truly feel as though I have essentially zero complaints and that life is pursuing exceptionally well.
However, I do have one brief question for you all... Alright, for 7 years I have not driven- my license expired and in order to begin driving again I would have to go to the DMV and get retested. Honestly, this hasn't been a concern of mine as I have become proficient at using public transit. Curiosity questions whether this is an event which I should consider completing at some point. It would be fabulous to have the ability to drive myself places from time to time, but I'm not sure where I would actually drive because I am SO good at using public transit. Honestly, I consider when I'm older (40s, 50s, etc.) that maybe it would be desirable to be able to get places on my own. Please, if anyone reads this, share your thoughts on this matter please!! Thanks!
Don't worry, because I don't need these credits for anything I am able to look at the catalog and essentially sign up for whichever classes look the most entertaining/enjoyable. So, I have taken classes at two college campuses now. I started taking classes close to home (In Redwood City at Cañada) and essentially ended up taking all of the classes there which interested me, so now I've transferred to the College of San Mateo.
At CSM I began by taking Oil Painting and some Creative Writing classes. Well, eventually I took every single creative writing course offered, so now I'm still taking Oil Painting, but I became interested in photography classes as well. Last semester I enrolled in Beginning Digital Photography, and this semester (due largely in part to scheduling) I've enrolled in Beginning Black and White Photography.
This photography class is definitely new and exciting. We are actually using film cameras and we purchased black and white film and we have begun taking our cameras out and photographing the world. I actually enjoy going to my classes this semester because I'm learning new techniques and I'm actually experiencing something (film photography) which I don't recall having completed in YEARS!
So, nothing new and exhilarating, but considering that it has now been 7 years since my life-altering event I've been finding enjoyable ways to spend my days. Please, if anyone has any recommendations on things which I could be doing to continue to keep myself entertained, feel free to share them with me!!
So, in the past few days I learned that I have a very unhappy neighbor living below me. Apparently this downstairs neighbor is about 6 months pregnant and didn't feel comfortable confronting my parents or myself about this complaint, so they went directly to the condo president. She complained that because her doctors have essentially placed her on "bed rest" (or whatever) she is home ALL THE TIME and she complained that my walking around my condo was too stressful on her and the baby-to-be. Hmm, well maybe you should have considered confronting the person who was actually completing this "harsh walking" so that we could have arranged another way in which to protect your sensitive pregnant self. But, I'm attempting to be considerate so my dad suggested that I try walking slowly around my place (because yup, I tend to walk very quickly all the time). So, I'm trying everything to be as quiet as possible when I'm at home, and to ignore the frustrated screams going on inside of my own head in the midst of this all.
With that frustrating hiccup aside, and school still continuing very successfully, I truly feel as though I have essentially zero complaints and that life is pursuing exceptionally well.
However, I do have one brief question for you all... Alright, for 7 years I have not driven- my license expired and in order to begin driving again I would have to go to the DMV and get retested. Honestly, this hasn't been a concern of mine as I have become proficient at using public transit. Curiosity questions whether this is an event which I should consider completing at some point. It would be fabulous to have the ability to drive myself places from time to time, but I'm not sure where I would actually drive because I am SO good at using public transit. Honestly, I consider when I'm older (40s, 50s, etc.) that maybe it would be desirable to be able to get places on my own. Please, if anyone reads this, share your thoughts on this matter please!! Thanks!
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