thanksgiving and some other things

I apologize for the time it has been since my last posting. I never mean to stop, but sometimes I forget, and then a couple times when I tried to sign on it didn't accept my password or email or something, so I got annoyed and stopped trying.

So now, here I am, weeks of information in my head and I'm not sure where to start.

For thanksgiving I headed out to Salt Lake City and met up with my parents and Marin who flew in from Seattle. We rented a car with a huuuge trunk, loaded all of our things in, and were off to visit our uncle dave. Saint Mark's hospital was huge and unfortunately felt a lot like a hospital. Maybe someday I can design a facility that doesn't feel like sterile shabby chic. Every time we visited Uncle Dave his spirits lifted a lot, he even began to tell stories. He's full of stories, and he's a really funny guy. We then headed over to my cousin Connie and her husband Carlton's house. They hosted us, and the four of us had an entire floor to ourselves including a gym! So I took advantage of that probably three out of the four days we were actually there because I have no gym membership out here. I don't mind running terribly, but I like lifting weights and a gym because then no matter the weather or time of day (waking hours) you can go and get a work out. Plus most gyms around here even have their own parking lots, thank goodness. But, considering I have no income, I can't really justify spending 30-40 dollars a month on a gym pass. Anyways, it was a nice thing to have at our disposal.

That same night we arrived, we went to our uncle donald and aunt carroll's house, they gave us these ice cream bars called creamies which were actually delicious. Their dog Lizzy was very affectionate and we all held her in our laps at one point, which you wouldn't think to considering her size. Thanksgiving day we spent at my uncle tom and aunt elaine's house. Two out of three of my cousins were there with their kids, which made it a pretty full house. I always forget how many relatives I actually have! We had a fantastic dinner and played this word association game and solved these riddles. It's nice being older and visiting, because I'm able to grasp more what my family is like, hold conversations with the adults and really enjoy my time with them. Friday we visited my dad's friends/friends of the family about an hour out of the city. I think I'm getting my days mixed up... this is why it's better to write when an event is actually happening. The next day we went to breakfast with my cousins and then hung out with our other cousins Clark and Margaret and saw their "new house" because we haven't been there in so long it's new to us. We went to lunch and I got to spend some more time with them and their son whom I haven't seen since I was a baby most likely. Clark and Margaret came up to visit the house this summer so I was able to see them briefly, but it was fun to have more time.

Anyways, the last night that we were there Connie and Carlton took us to dinner at this great Chinese restaurant and then hosted a little gathering where we had Carrol's homemade peppermint ice cream. Again I was able to see more cousins and second cousins and even little baby third cousins! Then my second cousin Chris and his friend Ben and I went downtown to see the temple lights. It was nice getting to see the city and all the various people out to see the beauty of the lights.

It was a fun trip and the whole time I kept asking my dad, "why don't we come here more often?" or "can we come back sooner?" I love my family out in Utah and various surrounding areas such as Idaho and Los Vegas, hah. But I can truthfully say we don't see them enough. But, as soon as the new house is all fixed up our place could practically be a resort, so there's no excuse not to vacation out our way!

Other than that, life has been rather busy. It felt weird coming back after a four day break. I felt out of sync. I slept the whole day when I got back and had trouble getting out of that sleepy funk, when you feel lethargic and like everything around you is fuzzy. I still haven't been to the grocery store because I've just been cooking pasta and whatever is in my cupboards. My fridge is empty, it's partially intentional- as an act to clean it out, and partially laziness, because I don't know what I want, and I'm too busy doing homework to get up and go shop. I will most likely go tomorrow morning.

Today I woke up to the sound of dripping/splatting water... turns out it was pouring! Who knew it did that here? I was confused and aghast, I was planning on walking to my Friday morning breakfast in order to get a little fresh air and some exercise. That didn't happen. I was bummed. Also, the people planning to come didn't show except me and my friend Brett. So together we kept my friend Ashley company, us at the bar, her behind the counter. It was a nice way to kick off the morning. Then Brett took me to some of the thrift stores he goes to and I actually found a couple of dresses and a cardigan. I love finding things that I would never pay full price for, because i'm cheap, and getting them at an affordable price! It was fun. Now I'm home and needing to clean house badly! I think we skipped a week because we were both gone for thanksgiving.

I haven't done too much at school since thanksgiving, just a continuation of work because everything we've done up to this point is now geared towards final projects. I'll probably be hard at work for the next couple weeks until break. oh man, break! best words of my life! I can't wait to come home. can't wait can't wait can't wait.

I'm starting to like being here more and more everyday. I don't feel at all like I'm missing out on something, this is a whole new experience that I'm doing on my own, and that's pretty brave of me. so I'm looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes and trying to take advantage of what's here and what I want to do. FIDM in general offers such a different experience from SPU, I feel like I'm receiving so much information!

la de da. i'm sort of out of new, interesting information. Later I'm going to think of something and wish I'd written, and try to remember it for the next time. I saw a really nice mustang get it's front end crumpled... the cars were holding back to let him turn left, and he wasn't watching the turning lane coming at him, and it's likely they had no perception of him either, and though there was a truck right in front of my view, i knewwww what just happened. And when i pulled ahead i saw the poor guy and his poor pretty car. sad. I was going to go to school today and work on stuff, but when we drove by the freeway around noon it was packed! It's never packed at noon. People don't know how to drive in the rain here, and the roads apparently aren't really built for it either. So I thought I would play it safe and not drive or risk getting into an accident.

My roommate isn't home today either, in fact I haven't seen her in about two days. I think I've heard her come home late, i think. haha. i'm starting to think i live alone :)