Things I did on my vacation (last week):

Played frisbee in Ojai on Easter Sunday with various excellent friends (one of whom did not show up like a complete douchebag even though we never see him and he had 2 weeks notice). Then went and got homemade ice cream before going back home for Easter dinner.

Cleaned out my gradparents storage shed. Ended up with some of my grandma's china and silver, an awesome pendulum clock, and a pencil drawing of my mom when she was 10.

Hung out with various members of the extended family, some of whom I hadn't seen for six or so years.

Hung out a lot with Cj's family, lovely as always.

Went to Disneyland and got silhouette portraits done, pictures will come when I am not insane, whenever that might be. Forgot how "without resolution" end of the Snow White's Adventure ride is.

Went out with both current and future sisters and got bridesmaid dresses. Also bought possibly the shortest skirt I have ever owned. (picstocome)

Worked on the quilt a bit before I remembered everything I had to do.

Hung out on a boat with the parents of the Lovely Miss Allison Whom I Hung Out With Much In High School, and ate a ton of her Mom's scrumptious apple crisp.

Finished my grant application. Oh yeah, I'm doing one of those. Won't know whether or not I get it until July 21st. I'm applying for it in the event that I don't get in to CalArts (see below), as it will allow me to work at a company without them having to pay me out of their own pocket.

Drove back to Ojai to visit with Cj's grandpa.

Drove home, then checked the mail.

Got waitlisted at CalArts.

They'll let me know somewhere around June 1st if a spot opens up. Yyyeeearrrrgh.

SO,

Drove over the hill to drop off my portion of the grant application, then drove back and got a sad, sick little Cj some dinner, nyquil, and orange juice.

By the way, Cj got a tattoo. And it's really cool.



p.s. I've retired my old icon of cate for one much more suitable.

Since we went to visit Cj's mentor SpearIt in Berkeley yesterday, I got a head start on some Christmas presents for his family and brought them up with me.



Puzzle ball (pattern from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts) for baby, pillowcases for mom and dad. I gave his 2 year old brother a little plastic egg with sand in it cause he likes to make music, but the noise isn't so obnoxious that his mom would want to kill me after a few days with it ;) She much prefers it to the metal measuring cups he plays with now.



See? The baby's name is Krsna Kalonji, so there's a little K stitched into it.



The pillowcases - I was trying out my new (tiny) sewing machine, the
Euro-pro Dressmaker II, so they're not the best made things in the world, but didn't they turn out pretty?



This vegan cake/pudding thing I made. Posted the recipe here.

It must be this time of year - I just want to sit in a corner with some tea and sew. Or bake. In fact, I have this pumpkin crisp recipe I've been wanting to try...

Things I did on the Las Vegas Strip:

Hung out in the arcade at the Luxor
Had a bananna split at Cafe Gelato in the Bellagio
Saw the dancing waters show 3 1/2 times (didn't know Rebecca Romijn choreographed it)
Walked through the forum shops at Caesar's Palace (Chanel! Fendi! Fred Leighton!)
Played $5 at the slots (& lost it all)
Had the best drink I've ever had in my life (frozen lemonade, rasberry pucker, vodka)
Almost threw up due to alcohol + ice cream combination

Fun fun fun - relaxing in SoCal for a few days, then Ojai, then home.

I forgot how bright it is here at night.

Cj's aunt and uncle are being stellar and putting us up while we're here, which is cool for everyone because we hardly ever get to see them and vice/versa. They have a gorgeous house with a nice big pool and a jacuzzi that we have totally taken advantage of (things I never did in high school - kiss a boy in a jacuzzi :), and a giant big screen tv where we watched Almost Famous and all the bonus material on Memoirs of a Geisha. We're eating normal stuff from the grocery store, and keeping a low financial profile so as to save the $$, but it still feels like we're staying at a nice hotel (except better because there's people here to hang out with).

Yesterday we found out that Cj's uncle had been wanting to go see the japanese Human Bodies exhibit that was happening out at the strip, the same one I've been dying to see for quite a while now, but that Cj's aunt wasn't in to it and he didn't want to go alone. So we went together and got a good deal between the locals and student discounts, and it was phenomenal. Just amazing. I did get teary eyed during the part where they show all the little fetuses (feti?) in various stages of development, and I don't think I could ever have an abortion after going and seeing that, but it was still a great experience. I was amazed at how much I didn't know about my own body, even after anatomy classes and lots of curiosity.

Today we're hanging out around home and maybe going out to one of the little shopping centers nearby, and I'm planning on sewing a bunch and being very crafty. :) I'm also resisting the temptation for a shotgun wedding, thank you very much everyone who suggested it... it just wouldn't feel right.

Other than that: lots of chillin', lots of movies, and some very excellent huevos rancheros.

Screw you and your tests. I'm off, and I'm never coming back!!!

Ohkay, maybe I'll come back. In a week or so.

I bought two wonderbras yesterday. It feels like I'm wearing a suit of armor.

Finished all obligations except my costume final on Wednesday... then it's Vegas, baby.

Allright - some of you may have noticed that I have not sent out any Christmas Presents. This is because I wanted to make all of them, take pictures, and then give them out. Turns out, however, that I spent way too much time on each one and in fact am still working on a few. You'll get them eventually, I promise.

Anyway, here they are: From Left - Rupert, for Cj, Pirate, for Kacey, Raver, for Allison, Parisian, for Courtney, Kamijo Jr., for Ryan.

Not shown: Zom-B, for Tony, Ninja, for Joe, Dr. House Lamb, for Molly R., and a few other unfinished sheep. Joe and Tony, if you could take a few pictures of your sheep and send them to me that'd be awesome - the ones I took didn't turn out.

I've been putting off writing a holiday entry because I wasn't entirely sure what to say in it. It seems like lots has happened, but I couldn't articulate it on the page like I normally can. I'll do my best now, though, as procrastinating has never gotten me anything good.*

Christmas Eve at Cj's house was nice and low key, as hoped. We had lunch with his brother, sister-in-law, nephew and new baby neice (who both Cj and I held, with varying degrees of success), and exchanged our presents early since we'd be having Christmas Day at my parents' house. Memorable presents included a set of sock monkey-themed sheets and some pretty hand-me down earrings from Cj's mom and a sushi set for two from Cj's brother. It's too bad we couldn't all have Christmas together, or it would have been even more excellent.

As it was, Christmas with the folks was lovely, with exchanges of presents more meaningful than trivial, with a Christmas Eve dinner cooked by me and the sisters. Speaking of which, one of our presents was a cooking lesson from a chef (very educational), which we had a few days ago... hopefully I'll be able to make more than pasta and toast now. I also got a nifty little sewing machine that I've yet to try out, but I'll probably end up making some of the costumes for Prometheus on it.

New Year's was much the same as usual - traditionally we invite over this set of twins that my sisters went to school with (as well as their parents and, this time, a boyfriend and a really cool cousin) and play board games until two in the morning. As a tradition it has mixed success. Oh, they brought over their little purebred Chihuahua to play with (read: be terrorized by) Stacy. New Year's Day was fun - we slept in and I made apricot scones, then we went to theoni's parents' house and ate some excellent japanese/asian fusion type food and chilled with his friends, all of whom have senses of humor similar to Cj's (not sure if that's good or bad - they were cool, though).

Now merry_tasogare's on a plane heading back to school in Japan, tubie2006's heading back to college on Thursday, cactusstar is driving up the hill to my house, and I have a pink mole on my back that feels like a burn. Hm. Dermatologist appointment, anyone?

Still haven't figured out New Year's resolutions - I guess that'll be my next post. Night, all...


*Except maybe Cj.