Pre-Job July

Well, here we have it—my last post about being and living in and around California (possibly ever). To put this into the simplest of terms, I’m starting to freak out. Not a negative “freak out” but the anxiety is finally starting to settle in. It’s officially crunch time for saying goodbye and I’ll miss you to old friends and packing my life into a singular duffle bag for 10 ½ months. Just yesterday I went through a normal day, step by step, to try to figure out all the things that I absolutely need to smoothly survive this year ahead of me—It is AMAZING how many things I use (and perhaps you use, too) on a daily basis: bed sheets, pillow, tooth brush, contacts, hair ties, socks, deodorant, undergarments, PANTS, etc. I don’t consider myself a materialistic person, but when I actually sat down to write out all the things I use on any given day, my hand started cramping up…it’s a really, really long list!

Well now that that little rant is over…I guess I’ll amuse you all with the incredible first (almost) three weeks of July I had :)

July’s Gluten Free Discoveries

Yes, I have discovered yet another gluten-free beer, hallelujah! This particular beer made me chuckle quite a bit. My complaint about gluten-free beer of late is about how all of them are in glass bottles, normally glass bottles are exciting and classy, but I’ve really just been craving beer from a can (pathetic, I know). A few days ago I went to Total Wine & More to search for pretty much anything new to quench my thirst and while I was there, I found this: Fox Tail Gluten Free Pale Ale by Joseph James Brewing Company. It was surprisingly delicious…and well, it was in a can :)

A couple months ago, my friend David came up with a great idea for gluten-free chicken fingers. Because he knows how much I love hot and regular Cheetos…he suggested crushing them up to replace the usual breadcrumbs that surround the chicken. Well, my mother and I decided to put his splendid idea into action for my going away party and they were DELICIOUS. Because I love spicy, we also threw some Frank’s Hot Sauce on them. I recommend trying it, especially if you're gluten-free :) Thank you again Dave for the great idea…sorry for making them without you, haha.

So, there’s a Baby Grand in my Living Room

Back in my freshman year of High School, my parents decided to purchase the coolest piece of furniture in the entire world: a piano. For about 6 months after that big purchase, I took piano lessons…and quickly realized I don’t like practicing, shocking. Despite my rejection of and quitting of lessons, my ability to read music still greatly increased through my experience in high school and church choirs and my a cappella group, Take it SLO. Since my true passion is singing, over the years I've learned how to play simple chords behind my voice. In these few weeks of living at home, I have played and sang every single day and it has been incredible. I have to admit…this piano is probably going to be the most missed thing (beside my mommy) about home for me. Hopefully they’ll have a piano where I’m living for the next year…

Sometimes I Pretend I Exercise

Ah, sibling bonding. My brother and I ran the annual Lake Forest Firecracker 5k together on the morning of the 4^th of July. J I don’t actually run races very often…so our time (for me, personally) was really impressive…haha. 

Also during these past few weeks at home, I ran the most I ever have at one time…SEVEN MILES! Yay. Unfortunately I’ve hardly run since then, but let’s just pretend I didn’t tell you that J

Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Due to the awesome planning of my dear friend, Mitch, a group of our High School friends got together to go to an Angels game. Despite the normal boredom I feel at baseball games…I had an incredible time, it’s amazing what a little bit of good company can do. One particular humorous moment was when Mitch went to put his beer on the ground when his nachos were on his lap…short story shorter: The chest of Mitch’s Angels jersey was covered in nacho cheese…and he proceeded to lick it off. Thanks for the entertainment, Mitch…and for putting this hang out together.

WOAH, I can cook!?

Don’t let this title deceive you…I’m only good at making gluten-free pizza. Twice this month (since I’m trying to blow through all my gluten-free baking goods) I made some boooomb pizza. I used Chebe Gluten FreePizza Dough Mix and Bob’s Red Mill mix. Personally I preferred the Chebe mix, it called to put cheese in the crust and it was a lot thinner (more my style), yum. The first pizza was topped with pesto, fresh mozzarella, spinach leaves, and tomato slices. The second pizza, topped with pesto, mozzarella, and pepperoni (not that exciting…but still delicious). And the last pizza (my favorite one) had red sauce mixed with Frank’s Hot Sauce, mozzarella, Cheetos chicken fingers, cilantro, and more hot sauce. I’m getting hungry again just thinking about them…

That Job Thing…

Finally, eight days before the start of my job with FEMA Corps, I received my travel plans. I literally screamed at the top of my lungs to my mother when I got them. I am SO excited. I leave out of John Wayne at 6:45am….joy. Thanks in advance to my baby brother for driving me to the airport J

The Simple Serendipities

Maybe it is because I am leaving soon…or because things don’t fit neatly into categories anymore…but this section is huge this post. I am so lucky, SO LUCKY for everything in my life. My goodness.

I think this sign is just the cutest :)

“Those with a bad sense of direction see more of the world”: This is an incredible quote I saw on my college friend’s blog the other day. Because I have a particularly horrible sense of direction, this quote really home. It also made me really excited for my adventure that I leave for SO SOON. I can’t wait to see the world…even if I’m only starting small scale with the U.S.

Summer Rain: Have you ever had such a moving conversation with someone that any time that topic (or event) comes up, you literally BEAM at the memory of speaking with that old friend? Well, this is how I feel about rain and my traveling friend. One morning I woke up with a text referring to rain…and then later that day when I was laying out by the pool…what does the sky open up and do? Yep, it rained. Middle of the summer rain—my favorite. Couldn’t help but smile J

What are people from other states called? Me and my friend Ryan had quite the laugh as we tried to figure out (read: make up) the names of people from other states. Like, I am from California—I am Californian. Our favorite made-up title was for people from Iowa—Iowinians. I'm certain that's incorrect, but it gave us a good laugh. I hope I never know the actual titles of people from other states…guessing is just way too fun.

Flowers: I got some pretty flowers in the mail the other day :)

Papyrus: My college roommate Julie is a Graphic Communications major at Cal Poly. One of her favorite (and most talked about classes) was her typography class, which for us laymen folk; it’s a class about fonts.  She tells me how much she hates Papyrus so frequently that I recognized the horrific font on my new gluten free beer. You’re welcome Julie for recognizing how hideous it is…but sorry for sending it to you…I know it probably pained you to see such a terrible design.

Elevators: As if I already didn’t have an irrational fear of possibly getting trapped in a small box…the elevator I experienced recently made me hate controlled falling boxes on a whole NEW level. I swear I rode on the fastest elevator ever the other day. It flew up and down twenty-five floors in a flash. I decided that my body feels really sick when it accelerates and decelerates too quickly in its vertical plane. Thank you speed-of-light-elevator for forcing me to find that out…


Update on the right now:

My dad gets into town tomorrow...so we have a fun family outing planned for tomorrow evening.

I've been packing a whole lot. The OCD in me is panicking that I am going to forget something very important...

Countdown to Mississippi: 6 days!