Suckage

I got laid off Wednesday night. It was totally out of the blue. My boss DR didn't even say goodbye or give me a heads up, he just left and then it was just Aimee and I and then she told me. I get a severance check and good references from them. 

Suffice to say I was surprised, and upset after the shock wore off. Mostly I'm disappointed that after working for him for three and a half years I didn't even get a good-bye. 

Fun up High

Sap in the Sand

Silhouette Smooch

First Day of Preschool, Again.

Today I was at my old preschool. Instead of being known as "KATIE!" (usually said in a tone of BAD) I am now "Teacher Katie." I like that one better.

One of the long-time teachers at the preschool/daycare/after school program is in Hawaii, so I was asked if I wanted to help out. (For MONEY! I heart money.) This was my first day back at preschool and it was so much fun. I picked up their names quickly and spent a lot of time wishing I had more pairs of eyeballs to catch them playing in the dirt where they weren't supposed to be, and keep an extra eye on the new two and a half year old who kept trying to escape. ^_-

We painted clownfish and read books and played with toys that I remembered playing with. It was so cool, and I get to work there next week too!

God, He's Cute

Happy

Nick and I, sitting on a gnarled huge tree trunk on the beach right next to Van Damme, watching the sunset while Ryan was our personal photographer. He took a bunch that I adore and will be printing out to hang in our future apartment.

Well, it only took about 16 years or so. That's progress!

I finally cleaned my room. It took me 11 hours one day, a few hours the next day, and it is actually still a work in progress. (Hint: there is a reason my bed is not shown.)

My picture-mobile that Drew gave me for my 18th birthday. (Vicky, I still have photos that technically belong to you! But I will keep them by default unless you reeeeally want them back because they are majorly cute.)


This is the dresser that belonged to my grandma and grandpa--it's beautiful and very handy dandy. The top jewelery box my grandma gave me and is totally filled with my necklaces and bracelets and pendants! The middle picture is of my friend Cassie and I when she was just a few weeks pregnant with her first child. The ferris wheel of pictures was a birthday gift from Quentin. And then there's a carved knick-knack filled with zircon earrings.


This is my dresser and mirror that I've had for ages. Mom and dad bought it at an auction when I was young. The feather mask was my grandma's. On my dresser I have a carved jade jewelery box, a blown glass perfume holder, a fairy earring holder, and two coral jewelery holders. Oh, and a cat and a kitten.


This is a cross-stitched Japanese (Chinese?) woman with a little butterfly in the bottom corner. It belonged to my grandparents and was always kept in the bathroom and I've always loved it.


My bookcase corner. I gave mom the larger bookcase and took my older bookcase back (getting rid of about half of my books) and organized them to my exact specifications. On top are my bamboo hearts from Nick (^_^) and a cheap fan, and a "chop" from China from my parents.


I also organized my closet. It's awesome. I need to clean some more (does it ever end?) and then maaaybe post some more pics to show you my beautiful bed and closet. Oohlala!

Small and Fuzzy

Heeeeeeeeey!

You has foods?

Perhaps you haz cheezburger?


Three have been adopted so far, yay! I have a black tabby, a silver tabby, and a black baby girl left. They are the sweetest babies! Right now one is snoozing on my lap, so cute! They purr and play and sleep all day long.

Van Damme

I just spent Sunday through Thursday at the Van Damme campground in Mendocino, near Fort Bragg on the coast. The weather was great--we were having cool mornings and warm afternoons and cold evenings while at home they were sweltering in the hundreds. Ugh!

We biked up trails and to the ocean, flew kites and ran in the sand, soaked our ankles, poked through tidepools, and ate too many s'mores. I camped with Nick and his whole family, and our friend Ryan who we've known forever and ever. We went down to Van Damme very specifically because Nick's dad dives for abalone. Last year we went down and I dove with them but this year I stayed on the rocks with his mom and sister while Nick, his dad, and Ryan dove. Nick's cousin Brett joined us after two days and he dove the third day as well. Each day they pried off two to three abalone (like 10-25 feet down, they are giant snails stuck to rocks and they can be impossible to pry off) and we feasted on abalone for dinner.

Abalone are so weird! You gut them (eeew), slice them thin, and then mallet them until they are tender and then cook them however you like. We fried them in tempura/panko and they're soooo delicious! Monica made the most amazing fish chowder as well with some abalone in it and ohmigod it was so yummy!

We had so much fun just hanging out. We stayed busy riding our bikes and driving to beautiful spots on the coast. At night we sipped tea (or beer, or gin and tonic, or wine, whatev) and talked and told jokes and traded stories. Nick and I found the best shower where you can get like 20 minutes for a buck instead of the five minutes you were supposed to, yay! And then we shared the good news with everyone else. I bet the guys thought it was weird to go to the girls side of the showers. Heh.

Ryan took some awesome photos of Nick and I that I am so happy to have--I'm going to print some out for our apartment! I'll post them soon.

PS I've got to still take photos of my room! I went camping before taking them and it still is a little messier than I want to photograph.