Monday, August 31, 2009

School is starting...

Today is my first day at Cabrillo College, my new school. I'm excited and a teensy bit nervous at the same time. Fortunately, I'm taking three pretty cool classes. Tonight I have astronomy, tomorrow is creative writing and wednesday is art history. I hope I enjoy them all! Wish me luck!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Neat Photo

Here is a picture that my boyfriend Zach took and developed of me about two years ago walking around in Niles Canyon, a beautiful, scenic place in Fremont, CA. He was trying to get some good pictures for his photography class and I was being nervous and on the look out for mountain lions (why do I put myself in these situations?!)


I love this picture. Zach told me that he made the photo look that way (like a spiderweb or broken mirror) by slamming down the enlarger really fast, just to see what happened. It's neat to see how he gave this picture a cool effect without digital enhancement.

From pant legs to pot holder

I'm always on the look out for a new hobby and most recently I've set my sights on sewing and crafting. More specifically, I like the idea of making new things out of old things. For my first project, I made a couple of pot holders out of the legs of some jeans I cut into shorts. The first one will function but has many flaws. I made a list of all the things that went wrong with the first project, and my second one is almost flawless! Plus I made it in half the time it took me to make the first one. I had a couple issues with the hem of the jeans being to thick for my dinky little Hello Kitty sewing machine. But for the most part, it's beautiful! I'm very proud of my work.

Here's a link to the instructions I followed to make this: http://www.makeandtakes.com/blue-jean-pot-holders.

(I didn't make mine with the pocket of my jeans because I only had the legs to work with.)

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Camping Trip

I've been neglecting my blog. I knew this would happen. I'll try not to let it happen again, even though I don't think anyone reads this. Oh well.

So the reason for my neglectful behavior was my camping trip. I went to a campground called Hell Gate which is my favorite place ever. It's in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, past Red Bluff, waaaay up north. I had a great time. The highlight of the trip was our five mile hike to the Hoffman graves and back.




That's me on a cute little bridge made out of a tree trunk on the way to the graves. We all gave ourselves nicknames early on in the hike. Mine was Baby Moon Dancer, after my favorite My Little Pony.



That's Cougar Jones, aka my boyfriend Zach cooling off in the creek which my three companions later drank from after they ran out of water. Fortunately they did not get sick. I was very proud of the fact that I managed to conserve all my water. Go me!


That's Rooster Cogburn, aka my brother Jake up on this tree that was growing out of the side of the mountain.



And here with Jake is his best friend Tiger Lily, aka Darren. See that rock he's holding? He had it the whole way to the graves and back, for use as a weapon in case we came across any mountain lions. I have a HUGE fear of mountain lions and was looking over my shoulder constantly.

After a long trek down the main trail, we turned off onto a tiny little trail in a pretty creepy part of the forest. The trees were all dead. Every single one of them. Eventually we got to a very pretty swimming hole that was extremely refreshing.

After a short swim we started on the trail again and soon found the graves. Unfortunately my camera died before we got there, which was pretty devastating, or I would have gotten a picture of them. In case you're wondering about whose graves we were so intent on seeing, here's the story behind them-

Way back when, some time around the California gold rush, a man named Jack Hoffman lived in a house in the Shasta-Trinity Forest, just near where the graves are today. Supposedly, he would put ads in the newspapers of nearby towns in which he promised to meet up with prospectors, sell them supplies and act as their guide. But when these people got near where Hoffman lived, he would shoot them and steal all their belongings. The graves belong to Hoffman and his aunt. Carved into his wooden headstone is a pistol and the words, "Here lies Jack Hoffman, crooked in his grave as he was in life."

All in all it was a fun, if not creepy, experience!

It felt so amazing and yet so terrifying to be so completely engulfed by wilderness. There wasn't a soul for miles. It felt unreal.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Home Sweet Home

I love unpacking my things and decorating an empty space to make it my own. I am in love with this apartment, despite it's flaws. Although today the shower ran out of hot water after about five minutes...

Last night I could not fall asleep. Well, I did fall asleep eventually, but not until five in the morning. This always seems to happen when I move to a new place. I decided to watch The Little Mermaid which I haven't watched in years.


I discovered I still love it. I have the dvd and on the second disc there is an extremely interesting little feature on the making of the movie. It made me like it even more. It's basically about how this movie sort of defeated all the odds and was a total comeback for Disney, which apparently was in danger of shutting down.

Things are coming along nicely. Hopefully I find my camera soon so I can take pictures of my new home.