Some Things

I couldn't quite pinpoint a reason for why I've been silent for the last 10 days or so, but I could tell you it's a little bit due to the ways in which I try to soak up all of my feelings of being home while I am there, a little bit due to the fact that I had a delicious post scheduled regarding an activity I didn't end up doing, a little bit due to the fact that I was in a wedding and that just takes time and energy and is endlessly glorious, and a little bit due to the fact that I haven't taken any pictures in a while.

But I can warn you never to go into IKEA when you're not in an energized, good mood.

And I can tell you about the guy behind me at the store purchasing only KY jelly and a video game of some sort who was standing all too close to me and who "accidentally" walked into me when I was leaning over on my shopping cart to talk to my friend (aka, the butt of my yoga pants met the front of his whatever he was wearing) and how when he apologized I started to say it's okay but then realized it wasn't and just said It's ooooo......

And I can tell you that you shouldn't bake anything when you're the only person in your house because you will inevitably eat all of it and then hate yourself for having given up on running a mile every day for the last forever(but I'm starting up again!)

And I can tell you that life is seasons and that this is a season of staying at home a lot and wearing skirts and walking under the sun.  It'll be a short season.

A picture, because that's my rule?

Because I am queen of my apartment right now....

This Summer

Oh, boy oh boy do I have plans for this summer.

I grew up with great summers.  It seemed like there wasn't anything I had to do in the summer, and the days were long and the popsicles were plentiful.  Every year my Mom would take us to the library at the beginning of the summer and we would pick out books.  So many books!  And so leisure reading is a summer time thing for me.

This year, I want to get a lot out of my summer.  I hate that most days when I am bored I just plop down in front of the tv or in front of the computer and get sucked into this zone of mindlessness.  My goal for this summer is to be able to entertain myself.  To be able to be unplugged and to still enjoy myself.  So here are the things I want to do this summer, should time and funds allow:

• run 100 miles in 100 days (I have already started!)
• blog a lot
• read CS Lewis
• read at least 2 biographies
• play the piano a lot
• write a lot
• practice my spanish
• go to the beach
• get a good tan
• get a lot of sleep
• make new friends
• go new places

I'm really excited to start going through my list.  Oh and DEFINITELY ask me about my 100 miles in 100 days.  I want to be held accountable for that one.  

The fun has already begun, my friends.  

Independent Woman

When I typed that, I was reminded of this video, which I had forgotten about, and which has very very little to do with the post, but I may or may not have had the lyrics memorized at one point in my life.  But that's not my fault.  One of my sisters had printed out the lyrics and they were floating around our computer room for a couple weeks.  What was I supposed to do?

One of my favorite things to do lately is to go out by myself to somewhere I have never been before and take
pictures.  My photography class has sort of given me an excuse to do that, and it turns out  really like it.  I am a total creeper and I take photos of people I have never seen before.  One girl said to her friend, while I was within three feet and definitely still in earshot "Did that girl just take our picture?"  To which I just kept walking.   Because, it is perfectly legal, and I am perfectly fine with being the weirdo.

That was a tangent.

The main point, is how much I realized I really like to go discover things by myself.  Form my own opinions, see something new, live the high life, etc.  F'reals though, when I saw Walker Evans at our school's museum, one of my friends told me I should have taken her with me.  But the thought didn't even occur to me to ask someone to come with me.  I think it's my way of feeling connected with the world - by going out into it, while still being alone to my thoughts.  It's really awesome, and I really really recommend it.

Here are some pics (of the terrible cell phone variety) of my days discoveries:

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In case you were wondering: 1. some more pretty tulips (among other gorgeous plants - I love the colors!) 2. Me messing around with what I thought was a cool scene 3. It's called lawn bowling apparently?  ANd each of those is about 300 plastic shopping bags, but they are art, not regulation balls 4.  Did you make out that rainbow in the sky?  Rainbows don't photograph well

Ah, the spring, she is good, no?

Me? I Want a Hula Hoop.

Thanksgiving is over.  December starts on Thursday.  I officially have a license to start spreading Christmas cheer.  Dudes, do you even know how awesome Christmas is?  (Do you get annoyed when I call you dudes?)

At my parents' house, Christmas is not really that big of a deal - ON OPPOSITE DAY.  Christmas is the absolute best day of the year if you are a Gamboa.  And I am looking so very very forward to it.  I don't think you can quite possibly comprehend this if you haven't been to our house before during the month of December.  Allow me to illustrate what I am describing:

See these boxes?  All of them, every last one of them, is full of Christmas decorations.  Christmas decorations!  They come in all shapes and sizes.  From the giant ornate ornaments that we hang from our railings to the homemade felt trip to Bethlehem that is a Velcro advent calendar to the creepy robot Rudolph that walks around and scares small children and animals.

Before I left my Mom had started the tedious (but very worth-while!) process of decorating the house!  It's crazy!  She puts up garland with lights in it everywhere and inevitably half of the lights are bad so she has to re-string them throughout the garland.
In process:

I literally walked up to my mom and sang, "Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."  It was a bag of cheese, but I love Christmas.  Hopefully you all don't get sick of me and my holiday spirit.  We're all going to have to wait til I get home after finals to see the finished product.  Unless of course you are any of my readers that live in my house.  In which case, don't have too much fun without me.  Merry Christmas dudes! :)

Photos and Giveaway Info

Dudes.

Remember when I told you that I was hosting a giveaway when I reached 10,000 pageviews and that I would give a hint every time I passed another 1,000 mile marker?

Well, I have since had about another 1,000 pageviews, and you, my dear audience, are clearly needing to be rewarded with a hint as to what my giveaway will be!

And here is that hint:

There is not one giveaway item, but instead of compilation a few pretty cool things, and one truly terrific item.

And with that very vague clue, here are some photos that I have taken lately from my cellular device.  Here we go dudes.

From the random category:

Apparently someone at work has the nasty habit of pulling about 7 toilet protectors out and then just leaving them on the counter by the sink.  Sign says, "Who is doing this?  Please Stop!"

 Just because I go to a world-renown university doesn't mean our TA's don't get lazy.  This is literally the only comment on the whole paper.  

 The fountains this week are blood red in honor of the upcoming rivalry game vs. Cal.  All this fountain does is make me want kool-aid

As I poured my third glass in one hour, I thought, "I probably shouldn't drink alone."

And these are the "I like what I see" photos:

I like this photo, but let's pretend it was taken 100 years ago:

Much better.

 I love these fall colors.  They're pretty much a new discovery for me here.  Because of the whole lack of colors in SoCal thing here.  And anyone who is from New England is scoffing at me right now.  

If I had an architectural obsession on campus what do you think it would be?  Oh yes, it's the most Stanford building there is, Hoover Tower (named after our only presidential alum, not the vacuum).

Happy Weekend, all!  Wish me luck on the drive back to Southern California this weekend!  I have company this time!

Taking A Walk on a Grey November Day

Oh November!  November!  More than two weeks have gone by already in November.  And what have I been doing?  not even appreciating November for all that it's worth.  I should be listening to beautiful songs while snuggling up under a blanket, reading a book, and sipping on hot apple cider.  And I have been wasting it with what - studying?  Studying is nine months of the year, but November?  November only comes once.
And for me November is Christmas.  I can hear you now - the outrage!  "November is not Christmas!  November is fall/the onslaught of winter.  November is Thanksgiving!  November is the leaves on trees that you have taken a picture of.  November is special!  Don't lump November with Christmas.  Christmas needs to but out and realize that it is only one day - December 25th."

Oh, but you don't understand November!  You don't understand Christmas!  You don't understand magic!  Christmas isn't just December 25th.  Christmas is the whole months of November and December.  Christmas is an entire season.

Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth.  Christmas is magic.  Christmas is family and Thanksgiving and gratitude and yummy food and music and cold weather all rolled up into one.  Christmas is the reason people magically become nicer to strangers and more willing to sing songs to old people they are not related to and to give things to people they love.  Christmas is the reason I'm allowed to get teary-eyed when I watch The Incredibles.  Christmas is the reason each member of my family gets approximately 7.2 times funnier when we are all together.  And why we sound better when we sing together.  Christmas is talking in British accents and wearing tights.  Christmas is knowing what's important and loving it the most.

So yeah, I sort of wish Christmas were 12 months a year.  But I'll settle for 2.  And maybe we just define Christmas differently, you know?

Merry Christmas everyone!

OCTOBA!

There was this post on the tip of my fingertips all about how much I love my walk home from school to my new place (Kristin and I are having a terrible time trying to name this thing - by which I mean, all the names we are coming up with are terrible), when October came and decided to throw me for a loop.  I got out of class today and went to the library to study for a few hours in an optimal learning environment before going back to the laugh factory (hey that's not bad) to do some chores and hopefully some homie work.  Anyhoozzle, when I got out of the library to make the walk back to home, it was RAINING!  Can you believe it?  Just four days ago I was sweating like a pig on my walk home, and by a "sweating like a pig" I mean "glistening like a lady". Where does the time go?

I was trying to take a picture of the rain, because the first rain of a school year is a little bit soul-crushing in that I am a Southern California girl who thinks, "Get me out of this gloom and doooooom!" and also a bit awesome in the, "We're not in Kansas anymore," sort of way and also, who doesn't love a little fall crisp-ness?  But why should it come with moisture?
Oh! but I realized, that when all you have is a not very high-quality phone to use as a camera, it is pretty much impossible to take a picture of the rain.  Which is when I realized......


You must need a video:

I'm rocking that wet dog look.  Oh and also, I don't think I've even made worse jokes in my entire life.  IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.  So let's just pretend that I never ever said anything about a snoring man.  EVER.

Happy October Everyone!  Fall is in the air! (Quite literally).  Enjoy the proximity to Christmas bells!  They are almost a-ringing.  No but really, Christmas (which is practically the entire month of December in my mind) is right around the corner, and is obviously the best holiday there ever, ever was.


So here's to a quick fall!


P.S.  I apologize for not posting a fool Friday!  This whole school thing is throwing me through a loop.  Oh and also in the PS category, I'm totally getting back on this blog-thing for realsies about now.  So get pumped!