(Semi) New Apartment

I got a new apartment... again. I've lived here since December.

It's time for updates.

My roommate is Courtney. She's wonderful :)

We live next to Autzen Stadium. (Perfect for duck games!)

We still have mistletoe hanging from the ceiling from Christmas.

We have bathtubs! So great.

Now I'll introduce you.

This is our living room.

Dining room.

My bathroom.

Kitchen.

My room was too messy to put pictures up.

So... on with my life. I'm going to University of Oregon and Lane Community College still.

I have been liking Eugene except for the weather (I think I say that in every single one of my posts).

I got accepted into the Elementary Education major at the University of Oregon.

I went to Sun Valley for spring break and it was AWESOME.

I've been going to lots of concerts and heard some good bands play.

I'm working on being more organized.

I want to join a yoga club in town, I think it will be good for me.

I'm trying not to eat dairy - no milk, cheese, butter... or ice cream :(

I just finished with a photography class at Lane and I'm pretty proud of my work.

I have a new baby named Giselle.

Kidding.

I am saving my money for a trip to somewhere I don't know yet.

Truth.

I am learning a lot about myself on what is good for me, and what isn't.

I don't think I'll ever stop learning that.

I don't want to ever stop learning.

and I kinda want to move again... It gets boring having to stay in one place for too long.

Where will it be next?

Any ideas?

hoi polloi.

So I figured that since I said I would put up pictures of my apartment (and I've now lived here for 4 months) I should probably do that. Anyway, here it is!

Living room.

Bathroom!

Kitchen.

Kitchen side 2.

My room!

and the other side. (I sewed those curtains, very proud.)

So I haven't really been doing much besides school and work. I cut back on work so I don't work Mondays and Wednesdays now which is super nice. It's good to have some time to yourself :) I haven't had much lately so I'm enjoying it. I went to the coast and got to see some sun! eat at Mo's, and see how fast my car could corner ;)

I've decided (once again) that I'm going to major in elementary education, but also hopefully minor/major in art. I've come to conclude that I really do love kids, and would love a job where I get to be with them and teach them every day. Not to mention that summers off will be nice...

I'm a little tired of the grey skies here in Eugene, but that's part of the package right? I just applied for my passport. That was an irritating process. I went during my lunch break and waited for AN HOUR and the line didn't move a SINGLE PERSON. I went the next day at 8:30 in the morning and it took a whopping 10 minutes. I guess you just have to catch them at the right time apparently.

The power just flickered off and on... oh shoot.

One thing I REALLY dislike, is when Christmas music is playing on the radio before Thanksgiving is even here. I like it, but by the time Christmas gets here I'm so tired of it that I don't want to hear it anymore. Christmas is my favorite holiday, but it's just not supposed to come before Thanksgiving; turkeys should get their fair share of fame.

I really like my classes that I'm taking right now. My teachers are super helpful and seem like they actually want to be there, haha. It's nice when you have a teacher who seems like they really do care about how you're doing. I hope that's how I'll be someday :)

peregrination.

Since I have almost seven more hours of work sitting behind this boring desk, I think it's a good chance to elaborate on my short entry...

Summer is practically gone! I don't really know what to think about it. It seemed like it lasted forever when I was in the middle of it but now everyone is leaving for school already. Taking classes, working, and attempting to be social takes a lot of effort, I don't know that I'll be up for it that much longer - maybe I'll cut one of them out soon?

I moved into an apartment inbetween 11th and 12th on Charnelton Alley. It's a cute little two bedroom apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, and a living room (the bathroom is practically as big as the living room). Kim and I have somewhat opposite schedules, but we've been getting along super well and we seem to have everything we need for right now as far as the apartment goes. It gets VERY hot in the apartment if we don't keep the windows open and fans on at all times, so I don't think we'll have any trouble keeping it warm during fall and winter.

I finally almost have my room put together/finished, I'm just waiting for a bed-frame and I'll be all set. My room in my apartment is bigger than either of my rooms at my parents house so that part is nice! Kim has a sewing machine that we've used to make curtains for our apartment (I made mine all by myself, woo!) we put fabric up on the walls as wall-paper, and we went to ross to get random things for the shelves that run around the ceiling in the kitchen (everyone always has random things up there, right?).

I just sold my Xterra a couple of days ago. I've been thinking about it for awhile, so I finally put it up on craigslist and got a call back about it a couple days later, and sold it! I wanted to sell it because it gets absolutely horrible gas mileage! I got 12 miles/gallon <-- bad. When I thought I was going to move to Bend it would've been the perfect car, since I'm staying here and "commuting" to work 15 minutes away it just makes more sense for me to have a car that is more fuel efficient. I'm looking at getting a volkswagon golf or rabbit, but we'll see what I end up with. And let's hope the grandparents will co-sign on another loan for me...

I'm dual-enrolling at Lane and University of Oregon this year. No going back to Hawaii for me :( Dealing with school has been a pain! I finally got admitted into U of O, but now I have to wait for orientation to sign up for classes, and guess when orientation is? The WEEK BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS! What is this?! I think they are trying as hard as they can to make it not possible for me to attend school there. I'm supposed to be giving next month's work schedule in by the 15th (two days from now) and I still have no idea what my class schedule is going to be like. Oh geez, I hope something works itself out.

My roommate and I have decided to get our motorcycle licenses... Haha. She might be getting a vespa, and in order to get one that goes over 35 mph you must have a motorcycle license. So that's what we're going to do! They get like 60 miles/gallon on fuel so we figure it's a pretty good investment. The training is only three days! Granted, they are going to be very long days, but it's going to be worth it. Wish me luck!

I've been a little more relaxed the last couple weeks, and hopefully it will stay that way until school starts (and maybe after?). I've gone to the coast a couple of times, ridden my bike, hiked Spencers Butte, eaten at Sweet Life, and slept. Really, how much better can it get?

I also just found out that flights from Portland to Hawaii, roundtrip, in January are $219. I AM GOING.

flower.

Yes, I am finally updating much needed to be updated blog. Lots of things:

• Moved into my own two-bedroom apartment with Kim!
• I'm going to be dual-enrolling at Lane and University of Oregon
• I just sold my Xterra, not quite sure how I feel about that decision yet
• I went to the Xavier Rudd concert up in Portland (awesome!)
• Just went see Michael Franti
• Also saw Band of Horses (can you tell where all of my extra money is going?)
• I want to go to take a road trip to Canada (as soon as I get a passport)
• I'm turning 20 in one month and three days, WOO!

There is my life.

elbow tag.

I've been back in Eugene now for about a month and a half. I'm really missing Hawaii, but Eugene has been fun too. I haven't written in awhile, so I need to fill in the big blank space... I've found a job as a lifeguard at the Eugene Swim & Tennis Club, and I'm taking a writing class at Lane to make up for my passed A.P. English class senior year (long, horrible, boring story). Those two things are pretty much what run my life right now, but I'm still getting some time for myself so it's worked out really well. My writing class is very (un)iteresting. My teacher, Perry Ma, came over from China and taught himself english. Why he is teaching my writing class? I have no idea. It's very hard to understand him and he seems so stressed all of the time that I really don't know how he goes through the day. He also has a funny tree branch theory he uses that involves his arm and finger... HA.

I got the amazing chance to go see Coldplay. SO NEAT! The coolest concert, by far, that I've ever been to. They were better live than they are on their cd's. So good. It was up in Ridgefield, WA (right past Portland). We thought we were going to miss it because of traffic but we ended up getting there right before Coldplay came out so it was perfect timing. There were thousands and thousands of people there. I had only gotten my tickets like a week before the show, and I ended up sitting in the same row as my mom who had gotten her tickets back in February, it was pretty funny.

I've been admitted into University of Oregon, and hopefully I'll be attending this fall, but we'll see how everything goes. I'm adjusting to life back at home as a college student and it's been going fairly well. It's definitely different living on your own for a year and then coming back home to parents and everything you left behind. It's been fun, but it takes some adjusting.

I have signed my life over to the bank to be the proud owner of an Xterra. So excited, but let's hope I can keep up with the payments. and GAS! The car gets freakin' 14 miles per gallon and the gas goes so fast... I literally watch the needle go down as I drive. It looks like it's going to be back to the bike for me!

Nutrilligator.

I am back in Eugene. Besides the weather, I love being home. It's been amazing to see friends again and be back with family. I've gotten settled in and have been making up for lost time. I have already succeeded in losing my tan I had in Hawaii, but hopefully that will be somewhat coming back if the weather ever decides to get nice here.

I take that back about loving being home (well, the job department anyway). Finding a job in Eugene = Impossible. I've turned in like 15 applications and haven't heard anything back... I'm really starting to stress out because I need to be able to find a job this summer to be able to save up some money. Besides the job part... home is great.

I've been camping, been on a nutrilligator bike riding adventure where we encountered snakes and an alligator, been trying to get my body adjusted to the 3 hour time difference, and played a softball game with the IB Roof Systems softball team (IB Ballers...). I missed Eugene, I'm glad I got to come home.

Fillip.

I've been counting down the days until I go home, and it's down to 11... I don't know if I want to go! I really like it here, and have loved meeting new people and making new friends. It's so much fun having people come out to visit me, and just getting to be a goofy kid. I do miss Eugene, but I know I'm going to miss it here so much! I'm liking classes, biking, the beach, the swap meet, the people, oh boy... I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to leave. Here's a group of us waiting at the bus stop to head home from the Swap Meet.

I had my last day of work yesterday and I was actually really sad. I mean, who would've thought I'd be sad about not having to wash dishes for hours upon hours a night? Tui brought pizza for my last day! That was nice, I haven't had pizza for like 2 months, it was great!

My friend Cait came to visit with her family and they were so nice! It was fun getting to the other side of someone's life that I met in college. It was kind of wierd seeing her like 4,000 miles away from where I met her, but it was nice to see a familiar face. We went to Matsumoto's shave ice down in Haleiwa, and I took them to a secret beach spot where we saw turtles!

I'm so excited to go home, but I'm just not too excited about leaving here. I wish I could just have both as once, that would be the life. But oh well, you can't have it all. However, I have to say, having to choose between Hawaii and Home... neither is really that bad of a choice :)