Oh hey!

Sorry for the lack of blogging this past week.

I went to LA and didn't bring my computer. Oops!

I went to see three of my favorite women graduate from Cal State Northridge and Long Beach.

I loved being there for them and I loved being back in Long Beach.

Here's some photos I love!

 

Last two weekends in photos

No one under 21 allowed...

Well...you're aloud to read it, just not drink it!

It's hotter than hell in our apartment tonight and Hannah and I decided to get in the kitchen and make ourselves dinner (twice baked potatoes, zucchini, and chicken...yum!).

Anyways, I was looking in the fridge and decided to make us a grown-up drink to have while we cook...

and I just want to say that with this, I'm a genius.

Recipe:

1 1/2 shots of Malibu Rum

A little bit of Sprite

A little bit of Cranberry Juice

A squeeze of lime

Now you've got yourself a really refreshing grown-up drink!

After a day on the beach this is perfect.

Hope ya'll are enjoying your Sunday!

Saturday off??

First, can we please talking about how incredibly adorable this picture is??

My sister found in on Pinterest yesterday and it literally made my night.

The idea is priceless.

Today is my first Saturday off in a while.  By off, I mean I'm in Long Beach and not at home.

I will guiltily admit that I slept in till 11, laid in bed another 30 minutes finishing "The Giver", and finally I made my way downstairs and I'm watching The OC and drinking coffee.

Man that's a little pathetic...Hannah needs to get home so we can get out and do something!

Have a wonderful weekend lovelies!

Happy List for Thursday

First Happy List of the Summer

1.  The two days of 80 degree weather LB got this week.

2.  Actually getting praised at work.

3.  That the count down on my phone keeps getting smaller.

4.  Having my sisters visit me.

5.  Watching weird movies with Hannah.

6.  Running my fingers through  my straight hair.

7.  Pinterest.

8.  The fact that July 18 is so close.

9.  Vampire Diaries reruns.

10.  Sweet Tea Vodka and Sprite.

Officially Summer

Wanna know how I know it's officially Summer?

I slept in till 1 in the afternoon today!

I know I was sleeping hard too, because I had a ton of emails and texts that I didn't hear come in on my phone...

luckily none of them were important!

From all the stress and school that I had over the last couple of weeks, my body probably needed to sleep that much.

Now if only the weather would get nice!

Check out my sister's Summer Happy list over at her blog. 

I love it.

And I feel like she does...

Because I am officially Done with college!

I heard my last lecture, took my last test, and walked out of my very last class ever (hopefully!).

There are no words to describe the relief I felt walking to my car.

I can't stop smiling.

Hello Summer!

Midnight Roadtrip

Tonight the roommates and I are leaving around 10 and heading home to Salinas...
which means we'll be pulling into town around 4 AM.
The reason for such a mission?

Mine and Hannah's little sisters Becca and Rachel are both graduating from HS on Saturday!

Our families have known each other forever and these two girls have been best friends for awhile.

I'm so proud of both of them and I can't wait to get home to celebrate!

 Becca and Rachel then...

Becca and Rachel now...

Love you both!

Thank You Letters

I graduated from California State University Long Beach!

 Hurray!



Dear CSULB,
Thank you for all you've taught me over the last two years. I'm sad to see our time together end.

Dear Journalism faculty,
Thank you for preparing me for the long road ahead.
I admire you more than you know and am so grateful that I got to sit underneath you for the last few years.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Dear Mass Media Law,
You are the most repeated/deleted class in our department...take that!

Dear Creative Writing instructors,
Before I started learning from you I couldn't write a poem to save my life...
now I'm a published poet.
I couldn't write a story for anything and now I've written three.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Dear Mom and Dad,
You two are the most amazing people I know.
Thank you for your love and support through the last five years of my life.
Today was just as much your day as it was mine.

Dear POSC 100,
You will be over on the 10th...I will pass you with an A.

Dear CSULB Friends,
Thank you for making long days at school and last minute cramming sessions so fun.

Dear Roommates (and Karen),
Thank you for coming today!
And for making our home so much fun.
I love living with you guys and I'm really going to miss you.

Dear Love of My Life,
Even though you couldn't be here today, thank you so much for your support and love.
There were times where you talked me out of giving up and I can't thank you enough for that.
I missed you more than you'll ever know today.

Dear Candace,
I will try and get that job.

Dear Rebecca,
You're next!

Dear Corinne Elizabeth,
Thank you for being down here these last two years!
Don't know what I would have done without you!

Dear Grandparents,
You are wonderful.
Thank you for coming down here to celebrate with me today.



Dear Friends and Other Family,
There are way too many of you to name and thank, so this blanket thank you will have to do.
I'm incredibly grateful for all your love and support over the years.
My life has been shaped and changed by so many of you and I'll never forget it.
Thank you so much for all that you've done!

One month.

Graduation is right around the corner.

It's May 10th right now (for one more hour anyways),

and on June 10th, I will take my last final and be done.

Can you say excited? Relieved? Scared?

Holy Stress Batman

^^^^^

This is me tonight.

I keep crying randomly on and off today and I'm stressed out beyond words.

There's so many things that need to be done before Thursday and so little time to do them in.

For example; 

write, record, and edit a 15 minute podcast...

finish compiling my last few pieces, write three responses, organize, find graphics, and bind a 30 piece poetry anthology...

Rewrite one of my two short novels...

Rewrite/type up notes to turn in...

Finish writing a random acts of interpretation paper...

Compile, type up, and present a Mass Media legal brief....

I'm pretty sure that's it.  If I think of something else it might make me cry again. This whole semester has been a breeze work wise and now teachers decided to lay it on thick the week before finals.  Thanks a lot!

Well lovelies, I have to open the gym tomorrow so I need to head off to bed.

Wish me luck and pray for me if you think about it, cause I sure need it.

Night!

Possibly will make homework difficult.

 

Hannah and I got her Super Nintendo working today.

This might pose a problem to the next couple weeks of school.

My homework may suffer.

Reunited

When I think about last school year it makes me laugh that Corinne and I basically lived with each other, even though we live in two different cities an hour apart from each other.

Multiple times a week she was coming to LB or I was going to Northridge.  We would escape our issues and "home" troubles and some of those days we spent in my tiny bedroom on my bed, doing nothing are what kept me sane.

This year is different though and it makes me sad. We've barely seen each other because of our crazy schedules.  I think I can count the amount of times I've seen her this semester alone on just one hand.

Tonight though she's coming to LB and we're gonna go get a celebratory, back-together drink with Hannah and tomorrow morning we're gonna take advantage of my pool and have some much needed catch-up/best friend time. Hurray!

Have an amazing Friday loves.

Don't blame me.

Confession: I'm a book reader who owns a Kindle.

However, this does not make me a killer of the printed word!

With Borders going out of business everywhere and other independent owned bookstores closing their doors, a lot of people are pointing fingers at electronic readers.  Don't get me wrong, I still love the feel of a book in my hand and the ability for my fingers to change the pages.  I'll always be a lover of books with pretty covers and illustrations, but I love my Kindle.  I traveled with it in February and it was amazing. I've always been the girl that has at least two books in her carry on and two more in her suitcase for the trip back.  Having multiple books in one compact and light place was wonderful.  It's also just nice to be able to take it with me everywhere and it doesn't weigh my purse down too much.  Overall, I would highly recommend getting one if you're a reader.

That being said, yesterday Hannah and I went to Downtown LB with our friend Katrina and we stumble upon what was formerly Acres of Books.  It was opened at their current location in 1960, but in October of 2008 it closed.  This makes me sad! I remember James telling me about this place when we first started dating and I'm so bummed that we didn't get a chance to go.  The girls and I peeked into the only available window and even if it's been closed for three years there's still crates of books left inside.  I want to know what they're going to do with them.  As of right now the property has been sold and they're going to knock it down and build an Art Exchange.  Luckily Hannah had her camera and snapped a couple shots of the outside.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Go read a book!

You're gonna miss this.

True story.

Today I'm sitting in my English 406 class, advanced poetry, and we're getting to that point as a class where we're getting comfortable with each other and everyone's starting to open up and make critiques, instead of just our professor (a nice change).

So we're laughing and having a good time and all of a sudden this fleeting thought skipped across my mind.

"You're gonna miss this (school) when you're done."

What?? I've never thought that I would miss school once I graduated.  Learning in school has been great and I've had a lot of fun, but I'm ready to move on with my life.

Am I really going to miss it?

Love Hiking.

Hannah and I had been talking about going on a hike for weeks before Spring Break and yesterday we finally did it! We picked up our friend Lance from Union Station in LA and headed back to the coast to Malibu.

We ended up at Escondido Falls in the Santa Monica Mountains.

I can't tell you how much fun of a hike this was.  It wasn't too difficult and the beginning and for most of the trail you're walking beside running water, which is one of my favorite sounds.  After jumping across a couple of small creeks, you get to the very bottom fall, which is beautiful.

Then came the hard but still fun part.  To get to the very top waterfall you had to climb a mountain...a little bit of an exaggeration, but still.  At one point you used a rope to help get yourself up this super steep incline.  After more rock jumping you got to the smallest, second waterfall (which sadly we didn't get a picture of).

When you finally reach the top, all of your physical exertion will be totally worth it!

The top waterfall is huge and the pool underneath it will make you scream cause it's so cold, but is deep enough for you to wade and swim (if you're crazy like Lance).

The three of us had packed lunch and we ate and talked to the other hikers that were up there before jumping in to take pictures.

I'm heading home to Salinas tomorrow!

I can't wait to see my family!

Spring

 

 

 

It's literally been overcast down South for a month...and I'm over it!

It's Spring Break time and I really want some sunshine and warm weather.

Today I was told by a member that I should never go out in the sun and I should be a model.

I could never give up my sunshine and my summer tan!

I really wish I was laying in the hammock in NC right now.

Have a wonderful week!

Dear Shuttle Driver...

Dear CSULB Shuttle Driver,

Thank you for blaring country music today in your bus.  This music makes me very happy and after the last week/weekend I've had, it really cheered me up.  It also made me smile when I could see you singing right along with the songs...and me.

Sincerely,

A fellow country music listener

Graduating?

 

Tomorrow is my official appointment to fight this "3 Units Short" nonsense.

My thoughts are definitely getting to me.

I don't even feel like saying I'm graduating anymore because it literally feels like all the excitement has been robbed from me.

If it's not a mistake and I really do need to take this last class, walking on the 26th is going to feel fake.  I'll still be in school for at the very least another two weeks or at the most a month or two.

Then today I started playing the "what-if" game and my thoughts came up with this...

What if this is happening because finding out now that I'm not graduating right away, is a lot easier than finding out when grades are posted and I fail my Media Law class!!

I know...I'm overreacting.

Tonight I'll be telling myself, "Do not let the thoughts in your head get to you."

Lots of Pizza

Hi loves!

Photo provided by lifeissimplydelicious.wordpress.com

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, despite this horrible time change.

Yesterday after work, Hannah and I traipsed over to Old Town Pasadena for some art and fun.  

As an extra credit assignment for her Asian Art History class we went to the Norton Simon Museum for a little bit.  It was super interesting and I think it'd be a place that I'd go back to so I could look at all the other exhibits they have.  

After that we headed down the street and did some window shopping for awhile.  It was a lot of fun and I ended up coming home with a new-to-me pair of black cowgirl boots that cost me $15 dollars.  I love them, even if they're a little worn out. 

We ended the night by getting some super yummy pizza at Bella's Gourmet Pizza.

Today after I worked a very long opening shift at the gym, my sweet friend, Joni, came to Long Beach for the first time since she's moved down here.

Hannah and I took her down to Rainbow Harbor and the Pike and had a really good time walking around and talking.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and walking around the docks and piers really made me miss summer and made me really want a boat.

Photo provided by pbase.com

Once again we ended our night by heading over to a restaurant that Joni suggested in Huntington Beach, Oggi's Pizza and Brewery Company.  It was good food and great, cold beer, which are two of my favorite things!  Plus I love the girls I was with so it made it even better.

 I hope that ya'll had a good weekend too.

Here's to another week!