blog....

can i just say that i LOVE blogging?

i know, i haven't been blogging as regularly, but i do love it. 

in fact, convincing my friends to start blogging is almost as fun as blogging itself ;)

two down...one to go (tirzah)?

all that to say, here is the link to a friends new blog. you should check it out. it has a pretty hilarious picture of yours truly. 

                 http://www.b-mcd.blogspot.com/

So to catch you all up on the updated "business casual" problem....

due to the continuing lack of understanding the phrase "business casual" the topic was actually brought up in class. It became clear that:

     1. jeans are not business casual                                                         

     2. no facial piercings                                                                            

     3. no fingernail polish ( i was actually pretty    bummed about this one)

     4. No t-shirts                                                                                       

today, i was thinking about how much i sit. 

I go to school from 9 to 4 and i am sitting about 95% of that time.      

i never used to sit this much. 

it is making me restless.

so today, after school, i decided to take a nice long walk. 

i know of this loop that includes a HUGE hill and would be a nice walk.

some stairs next to the hill. Wimps use these. hehe

i didn't realize how much damage all this sitting has done to me until i finished running up the HUGE hill. it scares me how out of shape i am. lol

this is me when i finally got to the top of "the hill"

i about died.

so the hill sucked pretty bad, but the view when i got to the top was awesome. the picture i took didn't give the view enough justice so i didn't post it. But there was a rainbow overlooking the whole city. it was cloudy but you could see all the way to the bay. 

it was so cool.

Dear Natalie:

Dear Natalie,

         I was browsing through my cell phone the other day when I found a secret note that you wrote inside my phone. I saw the words "RATTY NATTY" and thought to myself, 'Self, what could this be? I don't remember putting this in my phone.' To fill my curiosity, i clicked on it. Here is what it said:

"Ratty Natty:
Is the most amazing person i have ever met in my life. 

She is perfect in every way and some day I wish to be as great as  her. 

She is my idol."

          Nice Nat. hah. I laughed pretty hard when i read this but it made me miss you so much! Have fun on your cruise and I will see you soon!

Sincerely,

Elyse

week 1: earthquake and candy

week 1 of nursing school complete!

and with that said, i LOVE it. 

at the end of the week we had our first big test...

...and...

i got a 94%!

i was so happy. but from here on out we have a test everyday for the next 2 weeks.

yikes!

On Thursday at around 10/10:30 AM, i was sitting in class listening to my Infection Control lecture when suddenly the projector that hangs from the ceiling started violently shaking.

it took me a second to figure out what was going on until i realized that we were in the middle of an earthquake. 

the TV was shaking so badly it almost fell off its stand.

someone yelled, "Earthquake!". I was so close to getting out of my chair and if the quake would have lasted for one more second i would have been on my way out the door.

Thankfully, it stopped right when everyone begun to panic. 

my professor is a Minnesota native 

and she freaked out.

she said that she would take a tornado 

over an earthquake any day. 

remember in elementary school we learned that if there was an earthquake to hide under our desks?

well there was only one person in our class of 31 people that took it with her once she left elementary school. 

it was funny to see her climb out from 

under the desk when the earthquake was over.

On friday night Mike and I went to the REDBOX in Safeway. 

we looked at all the movies we could rent and i knelt down so i could see all the ones at the bottom.

as i am kneeling there something pretty funny happened:

this tiny, platinum blonde haired little girl 

(probably around 3 years old) walks up to me.

With a look of pure need in her eyes she puts her little hand on my shoulder and says, "I want candy." 

it was hilarious! she waited for a response from me and so i just said, "Yea, when I was your age i wanted candy too."

this child was absolutely precious! 

she kept talking to me and i started to wonder 

where her parents were. 

as it turns out, her mom was waiting in the grocery line. 

All that to say, i need to go study now for my test tomorrow. 

wish me luck!

answer to business casual...

day 1 and 2 of nursing school done and 11 months to go.

it was SUPER interesting and really good, but i know i am going to be a busy girl. 

going to school again from 9-3:30 Monday thru Friday reminds me of good old high school. except this time i need to actually show up and pay attention. lol

the BIG question is whether or not i understand the meaning of business casual after day 1 (and 2)...

AND THE ANSWER IS............

no.

hah. yea, i was actually very surprised. there were about 4 people who dressed pretty nice, i being 1 of them. you know, a skirt, heels, black tights, and a cardigan. the guys were in slacks, button up shirts and nice shoes.

there where some in the class that were dressed in nicer every day clothes. you know, jeans or khakis, a cute jacket, whatever.

then there were those who were in things you lounge around the house in. I am talking almost ripped jeans, flip flops, and sweatshirts. 

i think those people might have missed the memo. 

but all in all, i think my outfit was a success {thanks mom :)   }

orange nail polish

tomorrow is kinda a BIG day for me: i am officially going to be in nursing school...finally!!!

for the first 3 weeks of school i am required to wear business casual.

I am starting school tomorrow and i am still genuinely trying to figure out what the term "business casual" means. ha. 

everyone i ask seems to have a different definition of it, seriously. 

1 person says denim is ok, another one says it's not. heels are fine. heels are too dressy. its tough. 
from what i get of all this, it sounds to me that business casual is somewhat plain and conservative.

{I guess tomorrow i will find out what it means. i'll let you know} 

because of my lack of understanding the meaning of "business casual" i took of my bright RED nail polish. i know, nail polish isn't that big of a deal but i don't want to be to casual and nail polish can do that sometimes...i blame that on the conservative side of me

to compensate for my lack of nail polish, the rebel side of me painted my toenails a BRIGHT ORANGE. it comforts me to know that tomorrow, when i am dressed all bland and boring, i will still have a little part of me that is neon orange. hehe

WISH ME LUCK! 

and tomorrow i will be sure to let you know what "business casual" means

its been a while...

i haven't blogged in so long! :( 
so let me fill you in on my life since my last blog:


1. i moved. i completely moved out of my house. i had to be all packed and gone by the end of the week. Let me just say that the particular week i had to move was my finals week. 
note to self: avoid moving during finals at ALL costs.


2. i got the never-ending cold. during that week i just told you about (you know, the one where i had to move and take finals at the same time?) i got a nasty cold. it was probably due to the fact that i didn't get any sleep. the cold lasted about 2 weeks. 


3. Pink eye! yep, i got pink eye. Friday of hell week was the day that i was going to pile all my belongings into my tonka truck and drive home sweet home. i woke up on friday morning with my eyeball glued shut. we all know what that means: PINK EYE! i went to the doc and sure enough, i was infected. Of all days to get pink eye, that friday was the worst day that i could've gotten it. i was on my last pair of contacts and had to wait to see the optometrist to get a new order. Because i never wear my glasses, I never get them updated. so my old lenses were in them. The doc told me that i would have to wear my glasses for the next few days. remember....this meant that i had to drive 4 hours home in glasses i could see out of. it was all bad

needless to say, i was happy to get home that night

4. Pre-Christmas Dinner: when i got home we had a pre-christmas dinner with my family and some friends. My sister and brother in-law wouldn't be spending Christmas Day with us so we needed to make up for it. We had the most amazing Crab Cioppino (5lbs or so of crab) with some ATOMIC garlic bread. and when i mean ATOMIC, i mean the most garlicy, firey, spicy, delicious, buttery garlic bread you have ever tasted. This might be gross but the next day after eating it, i was still burping the ATOMIC garlic bread. 

5. Christmas!: the fam (minus Tirzah and Steve) mad our way to Gramps house for Christmas. Thanks to the San Mateo County we were not allowed to have a fire in the fireplace on Christmas day. It was sad. my Gramps said it was the first christmas in 50 years that there was no fire burning in that fireplace on Christmas day. But no worries. Comcast had a channel on TV that showed a fire burning with Christmas music in the background. it was called the Yule Log Channel. HA. it was pretty funny and it almost made up for the fact that we couldn't have a real fire. 

this was what showed on the TV screen on the Yule Log Channel. it sounded just like a real fire with the popping and crackling. It was pretty awesome.

Santa did me good on christmas and gave me a sewing machine (a yellow post-it note was in my stocking and it read 'sewing machine'. so i have get to pick one out but it still counts) and a GPS! for christmas dinner we went to my aunts house, ate an amazing roast beef dinner, and opened more presents. There were 3 dogs at christmas: Otis, Henry (the St. Bernard Puppy, and the new puppy that my cousin gave her kids on Christmas. Otis got sent to the car for almost eating the new puppy. that would have been some drama.

6. SNOW!: my little home in the mountains t so great in the winter with snow. so Pilar, C-Bot, and I all made our way to the slopes to shred the gnar. it was a good first of the season trip. I am excited for more to come

decem-BURRRR

December has made its mark and i think all of California is frozen over.



it is so COLD everywhere and it seems like there is no way of getting warm here; especially here.


I don't think that a single home here was build with insulation because everyone seems to be experiencing the same problem...a FREEZING HOUSE. An easy solution would be to turn on the heater, but now that i have gas and electricity bills of my own, I understand why mad dad would never want us turning on the heater back home.



when the thermostat gets below 55, the roomies and I make an exception to turn it on till it reaches 60. then it get turned off again.

our thermostat at 1pm

its dead week here, the week before finals...bleh. it consists of late night studying, lots of coffee, and yes...finals. its weird but true. there are a good about of classes that turn in final papers and presentations the week before finals.i notice that the professors who give their finals the week before they are supposed to, are just as eager to finish the semester as we are. but it has its pro's and cons.



one of the funniest things happened yesterday:

to help warm up (and get clean) i took a hot shower. the hot water felt so good and gave me a chance to defrost. for about 15 minutes, i was actually warm. it was bittersweet though because right when i turned off that hot water i was freezing again. 


not only that, but my hair was wet for the next half hour in which time mike stopped by to join the study party. while i was moaning and complaining about my wet hair that was the root of my discomfort and making me colder, mike offered to blow dry my hair to warm me up. HA! it was so great. we even got it photographed. hah

i thought it was pretty hilarious

sugar coma

i am officially going into a sugar coma, caused by a sugar overload.

all 3 of us roomies are.

you might ask how did the sugar overload came to be...

i have 2 words for you:

CARMEL CORN

{Bianca} made the most delicious, creamy, outstanding carmel corn i have ever tasted. 

all the time i have been spending walking to school has been in vain after a night of eating this deliciousness. 

that just means i'll be walking more!

thrift stores

i've come to the conclusion that thrift stores are amazing.

actually, i already knew that.

 but i was recently reminded of their awesomeness when i went to one and hit the jackpot. i got a few goofy christmas presents for certain people so i cant list everything i bought, but there was one item in particular that i am so EXCITED about:

...a bacon press...

i think this is the coolest thing ever! not only that but i know someone who was just gifted a brand new one. She knows i LOVE bacon so she showed me hers and i thought it was so funny. so i was stoked when i found one.

i love it!

some other good finds:

1. Lederhosen. Seriously, if you have ever been to a good Oktoberfest party you'll know that a pair of these suckers will elect you as best dressed for sure. And really, i think i was morally obligated to get them since they are real and they were only $14. yea, i know...pretty awesome....

below: dad and Tirz at the annual Oktoberfest party

2. Lamp. i love lamp. My mom and i were in a thrift store once and found an AWESOME 70's lamp. it looks a little bit like a yellow bowling ball with a lampshade. it is BRIGHT YELLOW and was only $3.50. i think it might be my favorite part of my bedroom(either that or my huge chair that i got for FREE on craigslist). 

3. A great vintage shirt. I didn't put up a picture because it didn't do it justice. but just know, its amazing. 

sweet cream

ATTEMPT #1
three nights ago was our first attempt to make chocolate chip cookies.
but we had no chocolate chips. 
so the cookies had to wait. 


ATTEMPT #2
our 2nd attempt was successful.
last night we made the cookies.


it was an interesting cooking backing sesh if i do say so myself. for starters we had no measuring spoons. hah. yea, that makes baking cookies a problem when you need to add minor ingredients like salt, baking soda, and vanilla. 
but no worries, we improvised by guesstimating with a regular spoon. (:

When i was hovering over the baker snapping pictures of this i was asked not to write about this embarrassing episode of having no measuring spoons; it might make the baker look bad. 

he later reconsidered.

another fun fact about our cookies was that we tried sweet cream butter instead of regular butter. I learned last night that sweet cream butter messes with the salt measurement-i thought that was interesting.

The reason why we used the sweet cream butter instead of regular unsalted butter was because that was all i had. 

it was all i had because when i was in Trader Joe's on sunday i need to buy butter and as i looked at all the varieties and brands of butter i had an urge to get sweet cream butter. i have always wanted to try it and it sounds so delicious. just say it... sweet cream. it just sounds good (it sounds even better if you say it with an English accent). 

ALL that to say, the sweet cream butter is overrated...and not the best to use when making cookies. I could definitely taste it when i was eating all the cookie dough when we were finished. 

the cookies ended up great! sweet cream butter and all!

at least i think so...i tend to be the only one eating them around these parts.