so this is christmas

it's that time of year again.

and i have a lot to be thankful for. and as i watch everyone else during this holiday season, i realize how thankful i am to not have so much on my plate.

for one, it's finals week! i was beginning to miss school, but now that i see the torture of the week of finals (more like 2 weeks), i am having flashbacks of the horror and pain i once experienced 3x a year. so to say i am thrilled to not be a student, would be quite the understatement.

then there's the holiday shopping (yuck). having been in retail for the past umpteen years (okay not that long, 7 years is still long), i have tried to stay away from the hell of holiday sales and specials. i have succeeded in not being the consumer during this time, but now i am also too poor to even try. ha! that is why i am so happy there is ebay and amazon.

aside from my sarcasm though, i must say, i am incredibly blessed this year. having moved to a distant land to satisfy my need of adventure and love, i have had many a high and many a low. but nevertheless, i have friends, i have family, and i have a roof over my head and food in my belly (well, most of the time). yes, it is difficult to be on my own post-college, but i have prevailed. and if we all make it past next friday (the end of the world, remember?), then 2013 is gonna be a blast.

with those things being said, i have some news for all of you:

• i will be going back to school. perhaps in the summer though. because...
• i am unemployed as of late. tragic, yes. but all i can do is move on and be thankful for what i have. (and apply for every job in the city of reno and surrounding areas) until i find that perfect job,
• i will be working on my second job and my social media sites (twitter, tumblr, and my other blog)

and since i got nothin' but time, i'll be able to devote more time to all you wonderful people!

btw, i will be doing some kind of giveaway pretty soon, so stay tuned! and tell your friends!

follow me!

thalia

as some of you know, my aunt is a huge advocate for adoption (having adopted children herself). she recently posted on facebook about a good friend of hers adopting a child as well. this family is trying to raise money to bring home a 7 year old, little, Chinese girl name Thalia. she is adorable! i feel that since i know how difficult it can be to adopt a child (because of my dear auntie), that i should help this family bring their little girl home in any way i can. so, i'm sharing their blog with you, their journey, so you can help them in any way you can too. (and there are some added perks for doing so! jus sayin...)

Bring Thalia Home!

Miss you miss you

I have a confession. I am in a long distance relationship with someone. Her name is Melanie. She goes by other names though too--Mellie. Life Partner. Best Friend. Mrs. Raney. Step Sister. This relationship has been going on for 3 years almost, and it's still going strong. But it's been long distance now for 14 months almost. And it makes me sad. I haven't seen my most wonderful best friend since last July! I've been thinking about you lately, Mellie, and I miss you a lot. So this is a shout-out to you in remembering all our good times since day one. 😊

birthday

since my last post, i have turned a quarter of a century old. let me tell you how that feels...actually, first i'll tell you how i thought it would feel. i thought i would get wrinkles overnight, that i would maybe receive my first gray hair, and possibly have saggy boobs (even though i haven't had children yet). and when you don't know what to expect, everything i mentioned are perfectly logical pre-25-yr-old fears. also, what do you even get a 25 year old? people kept asking me what i wanted, and all i could think about was how old i was gonna be. luckily my friends know me better than i do and knew just what i wanted. anyway, needless to say, i was terrified of turning 25 because i honestly thought my world was gonna end. (now imagine how i'm gonna feel when i turn 30!? *gasp*)

so...now. being 25 is not so bad. my world is still going; i still have fun and am seriously immature; i still have a bright future. so yeah. obviously it's not that bad. plus, i have a pretty amazing boyfriend to keep me sane in my times of despair and embarrassment of old age. and he seriously outdid himself on my birthday. observe below:

look at this huge breakfast i woke up to! he woke up early just to surprise me with it :)
(in case you're wondering, i drank half the juice before this was taken)

yummm... he's the best breakfast maker :)
don't mind my hair, btw

i'm so cute in the mornings, lol.

this is one of the best gifts ever. i was so surprised!

so as you can see, i was off to a great start... not to mention the fact that there was a SOLAR ECLIPSE! oh.em.gee. probably one of the most amazing things i have ever witnessed. i bought really awesome solar eclipse viewing glasses specifically for it too. they worked really well. only in the sun though. otherwise, we couldn't see anything.

obviously you don't have the full effect here, but it's a taste...

so excited for the eclipsseee!

xoxo

towards the end of the astronomical phenomenon

after that fulfilling amazement, we were famished and went to wingstop for some hella good wings. when we got there, we discovered some nylon stockings i had in the car... as you can see, words cannot describe how weird this was ha.

i can honestly say this was the perfect birthday. it could not have gone any better. :)

reno

6 months since my last post! ah! sorry folks. all 8 readers i have. hope you haven't been too disappointed! i'll see what i can do about updating you on my life since september. it probably will be in segments. we'll see.

anyway, i moved to reno about 2 months ago. pretty crazy, right? yeah sometimes i think that, too. but so far it's been a real adventure. annnd everyone always asks why i moved here so before you even start, i moved here for a guy. the same guy you can read about in my post on 11/16/2010. i'm a pretty lucky gal to have such a great guy worth moving for. i guess i'm also lucky i don't get attached to places i live. something i probably picked up in college? since i moved around so much during that time.

so back to reno. i couldn't find a job for what seemed like forever. and not having friends? oh. my. hell. probably the hardest part about moving here. forget not having a job. not having friends is the worst. luckily i finally started working. part time at sports authority, and full time at the atlantis hotel casino. i recently quit sports authority though because the people there (minus a small handful) were absolutely horrible. they were condescending, rude, ridiculing, complaining jerks. i hated every moment i was at that place. so needless to say, i'm done with that company forever. i work in the spa at the atlantis though, and i really enjoy it. mostly because i feel like i've finally made friends. not to mention it's a freaking spa!

so now that i got those two problems out of the way, i feel like i'm getting to a really happy place now. whereas before, it was honestly really questionable. it's a true testament of how stability and friendship can really affect how you feel day to day. and moving to a strange city is just an added bonus to that ha!

well, i think that's it for now because i'm getting really distracted and this post has already taken long enough to type.

happy friday the 13th!