I have been intending to write a catch-up post for quite some time. I don't really have a good excuse for not updating. I guess I've just been lazy! To be honest I feel like I've lost a lot of the motivation I used to have, not just for Xanga but for everything. Finishing school and taking a full-time job has been terrible for my mind. I had so much fun with my fulltime summer job at Orientation, that I thought working fulltime, all the time, would be similar. Unfortunately, this job isn't as fun as my Orientation gig, and there's the added fact that my friends aren't around like they were during college summers. When I was working at USC, I could come home and hang out with people afterwards. I don't really get to do that now, since a lot of friends have moved away. I'm happy for them, but it gets lonely! I guess I need to find a new social circle. It is very nice not to have to worry about tests or homework, and to have evenings free, but...even that gets old after a while!

Basically I haven't been writing because there hasn't been much to say. I have a lot of things I could say about work (few of them positive) but I don't want to fill my blog up with that sort of thing. I'd like to write about stuff that's actually worth remembering, and work rants aren't. As to my personal life, the "fun" part of the year is basically wrapping up with the imminent departure of the boyfriend for Illinois, my sister's new life starting at college, and my family's move from Minnesota to Ohio. It's a lot of change to deal with, and yet no change at all for me personally. I'm staying in the same spot, working the same job, and doing the same things while everyone else goes off to new and exciting things. I'm not jealous (especially of Alyssa-- I'm so excited for her and I can't wait to hear about her college experience!) but I do feel weird. All this stuff should affect me, but it doesn't. I don't live at home anymore, so it really doesn't matter whether my family is in Minnesota or Ohio; ditto for my sister going to college, because it's not like I see her on a regular basis to begin with. So I'm not really sure how to respond to this stuff, because even though I'm obviously part of the family, I'm not part of the family's every day life. And I guess I'm still trying to get used to that.

To complicate things further, I had really been trying to move to Colorado, but it doesn't look like that's working out, so I'm really frustrated about having to stay in a place where I don't want to be.

I will post some pictures of the celebrations I attended in June (Alyssa's high school graduation and Neil's college graduation) because they were fun! Also, I want to look at pictures of yummy food. Especially the pan of Famous Dave's cornbread muffins. AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS.

It took about six weeks, but my apartment is finally done! I really didn't believe it would ever look the same after that massive leak, but it looks pretty good all told. To celebrate, the bf spent the weekend at my place. I had been going over to his apartment for a month, because I didn't want to be around mine while the repairs were going on. It was so nice to be able to have company over once again!

We spent Saturday running around town shopping, and on Saturday night we met up with the bf's friend from high school and his girlfriend...it was (I think?) my first real double date. They are both lovely people and I really enjoyed hanging out with them. We went to C&O Trattoria and indulged ourselves with their famous Killer Garlic Rolls. I am getting hungry just recalling the food. Yum!

On Sunday, the bf and I went to Disneyland. We've been putting our APs to good use. It must have been a charmed day, because we won a Year of a Million Dreams prize! I wanted to check out the Taste Pilot's Grill in DCA for lunch, and as we were waiting in line to order, one of the Cast Members asked the bf if it was "just the two of us" eating. I thought it was an odd question, but who knows with Disneyland. The place was busy and maybe she was just trying to get an idea of how many people they were serving. Well, after we had placed our order, the same CM took our receipt from the cashier and said, "Congratulations guys, you are our VIP guests for today. If you want to just follow me..." and she took us right to a reserved table. I was happy enough with that because it meant we wouldn't have to struggle to find a place to sit in the middle of the lunch rush! The table had a white tablecloth, real silverware, everything. And best of all, we didn't have to do anything but sit there. The CM brought our food to us, along with condiments, and complimentary vanilla shakes for dessert. We also got color-changing straws (you can bet I brought those home!) and pins that said "Honorary Citizen of Disneyland." Classy stuff for the Taste Pilot's Grill. A lot of people we staring at us and wondering what we had done to deserve VIP treatment. One lady even asked if we had just been married! I really had no idea what to say to that. On the one hand it's pretty funny....but on the other hand, I must be getting old, if I look old enough to get married....and I don't want to look old!

The rest of the day was fun, although nothing could top lunch. Now it's back to the dull workweek grind. At least I have an excellent weekend to look back on.

So my apartment still isn't done, but that's another story for another day. I wanted to write instead about my trip to Palm Springs with the bf. We went a few weeks ago. It was a very impromtu trip. We didn't have any plans for the day, and the idea of Palm Springs came up around 11am, so we decided to go for it. Now, Palm Springs is still an hour from the bf's house, so we didn't get there until after 1pm...a little short for a day trip. Normally I would've said no-- if I'm going to Palm Springs, I want to spend an entire day there!-- but I decided to give it a try, and it turned out well. In the end I realized that I've been there several times before, and don't really need an entire day to experience it anymore.

We went to the Indian Canyons, named for the people who used to live there. The place is beautiful and so peaceful. It's amazing to me that there can be palm trees and a spring (with waterfalls) in the middle of the desert. No wonder people lived there. If you have to live in the desert, you might as well live in an oasis.

There are plenty of trails at Indian Canyons, for every level of hiker. I like to hike but I wasn't really outfitted for it, so we did an easy trail, walking along the stream. There were still plenty of rocks to look at (or climb, in the bf's case), and lots of wildlife. We saw a few other hikers-- families, couples, and even one old dude. It's a nice spot to take the family, but you can also enjoy it alone. I had been here once before, with friends from Australia, and I will definitely go back many times. I thought it might be a little boring since I'd been there before, but it was even better than the first time. Since it's a nature preserve, there's always going to be something else to see, depending on the season, time of day, etc.

After the Canyons, we ate at Yard House and headed for home. Palm Springs turned out to be a really fun road trip. It was just the right length-- not too long and not too short, and we got to stop and buy Icees at a gas station (a must for every road trip!) We even hit up the outlet stores on the way back, but I didn't really buy anything. Even for outlets they were kind of pricey.

Climbing rocks, and a waterfall

We saw this colorful lizard, and this heart in the sand. I don't know who made the heart, or why, but it's super sweet.

I'm still not really sure how he managed to get up here. I stuck with the ground, it had a better view of the waterfall anyway.

There are three reasons I've been spending a lot of time away from my apartment lately: prepping for the big work conference, weekend day trips with the bf, and THE LEAK. I put it in caps because it deserves it.

Just after Valentine's Day (so, nearly a month now) I was getting ready for bed when I heard some water dripping in the kitchen. At first I assumed it was just the turtles splashing about, but it got louder. Then I realized there was water dripping from my kitchen ceiling. One drip became two, two became three, and soon there was a phantom drip that I couldn't seem to locate but persisted in soaking my floor. I did not get to bed until midnight and when I woke up, almost the entire apartment was wet. Good thing I had moved everything off the floor before sleeping!

We found out later that a pipe had burst, flooding my apartment and the apartment next door. That would have been the end of that, except I then found out that the piping hadn't been updated since the building was constructed 50 years ago, and that the entire system needed to be replaced to prevent this from happening in the future. Then  I found out that my apartment is the "center" of the plumbing for this side of the building, hence the reason I was coming home every day to find yet another hole torn in my wall/ceiling/closet. These holes are still gaping, and while it's no longer wet (thank goodness) and they are finally doing a better job of covering my stuff to keep the dirt off (though the damage has already been done) it is just terrible to have to deal with. I never know if I will be able to come home after work and relax. On Monday night they were here until 8pm, and I had to be up at 5am the next day, so all I wanted to do was take a shower and get in bed. My neighbor let me use her shower (what a kind gesture!) but I was still so frustrated. They are in here every Saturday at 9am so I've been spending weekends with the bf. I like spending time with him, but I haven't been home on the weekend in over a month.

Photographic evidence of the chaos that is my apartment (it's driving me crazy because I am a very neat and orderly person, and I've basically been forced to live out of boxes for three weeks.)

Leaking:

The aftermath: