Oh my goodness here goes another blog post starting just like every other one. "It's been so long". But you guys, it really truly has been an eternity.
Let's start where we left off, shall we? Amy Flood from the 5th ward had her annual ghetto-rific birthday party and it was everything a girl could ever dream of. Me and the roomies went all out with bling, big t shirts, and some fabulous hair. The party was poppin' - shoutout to Amy for making it happen!
Side note of sorts: I bought this book and have decided to take up calligraphy. (like the cutesy Pinterest kind) So far I'm not very good but all things like this take practice! This book should help me out a lot - she has the best tutorials!
Here is an example from my sketchbook...I know the t and the h look kind of weird BUT I am still practicing people.
On March 3rd, it was my lovely, beautiful. caring, hilarious, and fabulous mother's birthday! She is the cutest lady ever and I feel so blessed to have experienced so much unconditional love from her. She has made so many sacrifices and every decision she has made has been to benefit my sister and I - she is so selfless and I am so thankful for that! Happy birthday again mamacita :)
If you guys don't already know....I am sometimes spontaneous. Instead of getting out my "stupid teenage/young adult years" through partying and other unlawful activities, I do other things, like cut my hair at 9 o'clock at night. This photo documents when I cut my hair (it was really just my bangs and a little off the ends). However, this didn't satisfy my craving to change up my hair. I just knew it needed to be shorter and lighter for the summer because I get super cranky when my hair is hot and heavy. So I got my hair cut at a salon the next day so she could thin it out, add some layers, and take off a lot more length. I love it!!! I haven't had layers in a while because I don't always like how they act when I curl my hair or when I braid it, but so far I'm diggin my hair.
This is the picture of before the haircut...
And after. Not much of a difference but it feels like a world of difference to me! So much bounce and movement. Ahh. It's heavenly.
Fast forward to March 7th....the Institute Variety Show! I vowed to myself and many people that I would perform in it, because I knew if I told enough people that I wouldn't be able to back down. Even though I was in choir all four years of high school and have been performing my whole life, I have the worst stage fright. I can't even handle performing in large groups. Of course, as soon as I'm on stage it always goes away. Anyways, my long nights of practicing for the talent show finally paid off! This marks the 2nd time in my life that I have ever performed a solo. From what I heard, it was good.
Lauren got her 15 minutes of fame when "One Direction" pulled her onstage for a lipsync performance of "What Makes You Beautiful" Baby, Lauren lights up ALL of our worlds like nobody else.
Here's a pic of me doing that good ole guitar thang.
The next day was March 8th, AKA the best holiday on earth. Why? My precious baby Dewey's birthday!!! He is the light of my life. Enjoy this picture of him drinking beer at the Superbowl.
So then midterms happened and I honestly don't have any pictures from that week nor do I have any recollection of what happened....studying. Tests. Papers. Projects. All that fun jazz. The only good thing about midterms/finals is that they usually come right before a BREAK!!!! (except October midterms. Those ones kind of just blow.)
You guys. Spring break is magic. In California everything turns brown in the summer on the hills/mountains so around February and March is primetime for greenery. And in Tucson, there isn't much greenery. The car ride home from the airport was just about the best thing ever for me because of the clear skies and rolling green hills. I love Arizona and I love Tucson, but it's nothing like the crisp San Ramon air. It's times like these when I actually appreciate Spare the Air days because of how clear everything is.
It just looks fresh to me. If that's possible.
One of the other best things about being home is seeing my beautiful pets! I can call or text my family whenever I want, but with these fun guys it's just not the same. I wanted to make sure I had some updated pictures of my cutie pies so here they are for your enjoyment.
Wilbur is a lazy butthead but he is also hands down the sweetest cat in the world. He would be a horrible guard cat because he sits in every stranger's lap and purrs. Definitely not like most cats who are skimpish and skeptical of new people at first. He couldn't care less.
And my best friend Charlotte. I talk about how much I love Dewey all the time but that's because he's NEW. He's just barely 3 years old and our newest addition to the Shaw family. But Charlotte has been by my side for 10 years - from Texas, to Africa, and to California. I'll never forget that fateful Thanksgiving 10 years ago when I begged my parents to get us two cats because I knew I could never be separated from Charlotte. Trust me, this whole college thing has been tough on the both of us. We make up for it tenfold whenever I come home to visit. Poor baby, she got 10 teeth pulled one time at the vet so she is lacking in the teeth department. She is one of the most beautiful cats ever, but I managed to catch her looking absolutely hideous and it was too good not to share with y'all.
Here's a better picture of her so you can see she's not actually a homeless rabies-infested critter.
In choir in high school we did a Madrigal dinner every year, which was a Renaissance themed Christmas dinner where we performed a play along with Christmas carols and Madrigal songs. (really old ones) It was so much fun to have British accents and serve the food and it was definitely one of my favorite parts of high school. I think I made a pretty kick-butt Chinese ambassador my junior year. Anyways, this year was the last year of doing Madrigal dinner! Which is super sad. But my choir teacher, Mottaz, auctioned off all of the props from the shows! My best friend Dallin's family decided to purchase these thrones which are now gracing their living room - which I think is absolutely hilarious.
Over the break I volunteered in a second grade classroom to gain volunteer hours for the College of Education here at the U of A. Since they were having conference week with early dismissal at 11:35, and I wanted to get as many hours as possible, I also helped out in afternoon kindergarten. The kindergarten teachers had me rotate classrooms so I could see different teaching styles and students, and one of the days I was greeted with a huge surprise. In classic Northern California style, I went to the Mandarin immersion classroom! It was totally insane. Guys, I don't speak any Mandarin at all. The class is taught half in English and half in Mandarin. Most of the students aren't native speakers, and it was amazing to see how much they have learned in less than a school year. I was really excited because I learned the character for "wood". Not sure how useful that will be in conversation, but it's a start.
While enjoying time with Dewey and my father (which is very rare), I got to witness Dewey's drinking problem in action. It's not actually a problem, he just gets to lick the inside of the bottle when my dad is done with his beer. For those of you newbies, Dewey has a humungous oral fixation and loves to lick everything. If it tastes good or is pungent (which beer is) then it is even better. He's a little cutie. The beer thing is a rare treat for him too because my dad is almost always in China. When Dewey's daddy is home anything goes!
There are the most beautiful roses outside of my house - I just had to stop and take a picture one morning!
I also had a crazy idea and decided I was going to make some homemade focaccia one day. It was surprisingly easy and tasted really good! It didn't keep very well though - for those of you who are planning on making it. But it was super yummy!!
Before going in the oven...
And after!
It was delish.
While at the school my mom works at, I was in her library and stopped to admire the hand-painted wall mural she has. It is so nice and detailed! They all look exactly like the books I remember. These are some of my mom's favorite books and therefore played a huge role in my childhood (hello....my cats are named Charlotte and Wilbur).
On the Saturday of Spring Break, my mom and I finally had some time away from school where we could play! We ventured off into Oakland (scary) and went to a restaurant that I have heard absolutely amazing things about. Homeroom is the best place ever. It is a restaurant dedicated to macaroni and cheese. Even though my other didn't eat any mac and cheese, she got some awesome roasted veggies and said they were delicious! In addition to the amazing food, Homeroom is decorated like a cute, old-fashioned, hipster, awesome schoolhouse. It was the cutest place ever.
Awesome orchids on the table
Cute "desk" numbers on the community table we sat at.
Library cards they use as frequent buyer cards.
Their version of the ABC's.
Some super cute Diet Coke. It was pretty crappy tasting, but the bottle was adorable.
And my wonderfully creamy, sharp white cheddar Mac. SO so so good. And there was plenty leftover for dinner.
After Homeroom, we went home and I snapped some more pictures of my cutie pets before watching Frozen with my mom for her first time ever! I couldn't believe she hadn't seen it yet, but luckily she loves it just as much as me.
Dewey is a total sun bum.
It was super hard to catch Jozi not sleeping since that's what she does all the time, but I actually snapped one!
I thoroughly enjoyed this man's safari vest on the plane ride back to Tucson. My dad is a huge safari vest fan so I had to snap a picture to send to him!
Back to reality, and back to the craziness that is life down here! Annabeth and I have been trying our hand at the institute choir....so far so good. Here's a pic of that.
It has also been Lauren's birthday week!!!!!! Which means she gets a gift every day for a week leading up to her birthday. On one of the days I drew this sign for her and I think it's fabulous.
And on Friday there was the Institute Spring Fling which Sydney, Lauren and I helped set up. It was at the Church Ballpark which I have been to many times, but I never noticed how cute this sign on the grill was! After dinner, Sydney and I left the activity because we were tired and went home and watched TV. It was fantastic.
On Saturday, we (the roomies) all went to our dear friend Sanahin's house for a wonderful dinner! It was delicious. We had Moroccan chicken and Persian rice and it was so good! Sanahin and her mother are so hospitable - it is nice to have a home cooked meal every now and then. They even gave us the cutest cookies ever!!!
I had a bee.
Here is Annabeth with her cute daisy cookie.
Anddddddd then there was the game. We don't really have to talk about it. But it was insane and stressful and I don't want to repeat it. Syd felt similarly.
AFTER the game, however, was awesome because there were riots! Just look it up on Google y'all. I'm glad we can bear down with class. But really, it was so exhilarating. Nothing too crazy happened. Some people threw beer bottles at police and basically all of campus shut down. Naturally we had to head over there to check out all the action. Unfortunately when we got there everyone other than the cops had left.
Here are some pictures of the beautiful event.
That brings us to today!! Sunday. Woke up, got ready, had the home teachers come over to home teach us, went to church, helped make break the fast, ate break the fast, cleaned it up, came home, did homework, ate some more food, and now we are here. It's been an exhausting week but there are only 6 weeks left of school. We are in the homestretch baby!
