Another one?!

So, you may have noticed over on the right or seen on my Facebook that I've started another blog. As anticipated, I've already received some grief for this (Ernesto asked if I was trying to achieve a blog record). However, the EarthHomeHealth blog was a class assignment for this semester, a team project that likely will not continue too far into the future. (Although, keep reading at least through Sunday, please! Leave some comments, too!)

Anyway, the new blog is Natural Nevadan. While I haven't talked it over with my committee chair yet, I'm thinking this will be my project for my master's degree. The plan is to cover environmental stories in Northern Nevada, have some recurring features, and engage the community to participate by commenting, linking and providing content. As I've learned with EarthHomeHealth, this won't be an easy task to keep people engaged on a regular basis, but I think trying to put some of the theories we're learning into practice will be a good learning experience, and I'd like my project to be something I can continue past graduation.

So, go and check it out!

Baseball Birthday Game

Ray invited us out on Saturday night to surprise his brother Chun at the Aces game for his 30th birthday. Ray and Chun arrived early. The unsuspecting Chun was surprised when 20 or so of us showed up in the first inning. Chun received many birthday gifts in the form of Jack & Coke.
Erin took some teasing for smuggling in a Port of Subs sandwich ...
While Doug ordered the most ridiculous sandwich ever. Even sharing with his wife, they were unable to conquer the Triple Play.Chris, of course, was unable to join us in the stands as he was up in the press box doing his job, but he did peek his head out and wave on request.

Sandor, Erin, Tyler and Chris.

Chris joined us out at the end of the night.

Welcome to my ...

The craft room is really a work in progress, but today I was able to put some furniture in it, play with the chalkboard wall and do some homework (theoretically). I still want to get a folding table for sewing and other projects, and need to figure out what's going on the walls. But it's good for now! It will especially be nice to do homework in here instead of having my laptop, books and papers all over our dining room table.

If you have a chalkboard wall, you have to have chalk!

Desk and bookshelf, obviously.

Scoop came in and got right in the bookshelf. Silly puppy.

Monterey Mornings

So I know I've been doing a lot of griping lately about the weather. But I realized this morning, it's the snow that's been getting to me ... I really don't mind the rain. Last night we had snow covering our yard, but by morning snow gave way to rain and much of it washed away. By the time I got to campus, there was just a light drizzle, and the cool, crisp air and the clouds actually felt nice. As I walked up the hill, it reminded me something of Monterey, which is funny because I just had a conversation with someone yesterday about how I miss those Monterey mornings. I loved waking up on the foggy mornings, and arriving to work on Cannery Row when it seemed the rest of the world was sleeping. It was so calm, so peaceful. There was the smell of cinnamon rolls baking next to the store where I worked. Gardeners came to water the flowers. And slowly but surely the tourists would arrive, on their way to and from the Aquarium, a bike ride to the wharf, a lunch of clam chowder in a bread bowl. The sun would come out late morning, and by then Cannery Row was bustling. But it was those fog covered mornings I treasured, cool but not cold, hot chai in my hand, and the calm quiet morning with all the promise of a new day.

Adventures in Moving

Saturday was the big move. We hired some movers to take all the big stuff, and we took care of the little stuff. It is awesome having movers. (There was one little hiccup when they knocked the banister with a big desk and left a little boo-boo, but they sent someone over right away to fix it.)
Here is Chris, realizing that his entertainment center doesn't fit into the allotted space ... by a fraction of an inch. Of course, he figured out a temporary solution so that he could watch TV. So for now we don't have a coffee table in the living room.

After setting up the TV in the living room, Chris got straight to work setting up his "man cave." His pictures aren't hung up yet, but the TV and recliner are in place and that's the most important thing (obviously).
Scoop had a very exhausting day playing with her friends while we were moving, and sniffing everything in sight when we brought her home. Luckily, she slept through the night. We're glad she likes it here.
I've spent most of the time setting up the kitchen. It was pretty exciting to realize I could put the cookbooks on a shelf that I can see at eye level. Putting food in the pantry was pretty awesome, too. Of course, setting the bar up was also a priority.

Now I'm getting to work on the guest room ... it should be ready by the end of the day. I expect you'll all be planning your visits soon!

Rock Stars

Our game design teacher decided that we should partner with the computer science department and hold a Rock Band tournament at school last week. No, I am not kidding. So we helped to plan and promote the tournament, and I formed a band with three other grad students in my cohort.

We went with an '80s theme after deciding to play "White Wedding." Megan found some '80s looking dresses from friends and she and Whitney wore them. Scott decided to "wear" his wife's wedding dress. I was going to wear a tuxedo T-shirt, but I couldn't find one. Luckily, I did find a Billy Idol Tee. The three of us girls crimped our hair, I pegged my pants, and we rocked some side ponytails.
It was kind of obvious that we weren't as good as the younger, more skilled undergrad gamers ... but we had fun. And, we won fan favorite!
It was a good time, and I told Chris this afternoon that I'd like to have Rock Band at the house now ... so I can improve my drumming score ;-)

Update: My friend Will from school made a video from the tournament. It is pretty silly. Check it out here.

Winnemucca Potato

On the suggestion of my friend Kat, who is from Winnemucca, I added "eat a Winnemucca potato" to my list of Nevada things to do this year. After confirmation that that simply meant to eat a potato grown in Winnemucca (and not that this was some sort of specific dish that the lovely folks of Humboldt County made with their homegrown potatoes) I realized that I already had eaten a Winnemucca potato, because that is what they serve on campus at Spudistro. But, seeing as how I was hungry, and that I wanted to get a picture for the blog, and because they are delicious, I had another this week. I ordered The Sagebrush, topped with broccoli, black olives, sautéed mushrooms and cheddar cheese. It tasted fresh and yummy and was more than enough for lunch (although I ate the whole thing anyway). It's nice to find places to eat that use locally-grown ingredients!

Three down, seven to go!

Soundtrack of my life

So in the packing process, I found a treasure trove of cassette tapes. These are just a little sample, but you'll see they begin with the '80s with the Bangles and Belinda Carlisle and roll right through the '90s with Liz Phair and No Doubt. There are lots more. Bob Marley and Johnny Cash that I bought used in Santa Cruz. Mix tapes my sister sent me when I lived in Monterey. I have a tape player in my car, but I rarely (maybe once or twice a year) actually play tapes in it ... and some of my favorites are warped. But some of these tapes represent some great memories, which is probably the reason they've moved with me so many times over the last 13 years. I was going to post this blog as "keep or toss," but then I decided I'm not ready to throw them all away ... so I did a little research and found some upcycling projects. Once we get settled into the house and school is on break, maybe I'll take some time and remake these tapes into wallets and belt buckles, clutches, or maybe even jewelry. And you know what else I'll put in the craft room? Our little TV with a built in VCR ... so I can watch my old VHS tapes while I'm crafting. At least, until I find a fun project for them, too ...

Do you still have cassette tapes? What would you do with them? What was your first tape?

I'm not sure what me and Mena's first tape was, but I have a hunch it was a blank white tape with this song on it.

Painting, and a pop quiz

Even though the new house didn't need any paint, I wanted to add some color to a couple rooms before we move in to give it a personal touch. So, Chris got the downstairs half-bath and my soon-to-be craft room prepped on Friday and on Sunday I got to painting, with a lot of help from Erin.

Chris is hard at work

Scoop, of course, is supervising

Erin was such a big help!

Making progress!

So, this is the color of three out of four walls in the craft room ... and now for the Pop Quiz: Why didn't we paint the fourth wall the same color? (If you already know, please don't guess ... it will ruin all the fun!) Guess away folks! And stay tuned for more adventures in moving and painting later this week ...

April showers bring June weddings

Alexya, who we know through Andrea, is getting married in June and was very sweet to invite me to her wedding shower on Saturday. Her team did a lovely job of setting up the party with all of the bride's favorite things - which, lucky for us, included hot fudge sundaes! It was nice to see some friends and meet Brandie's beautiful new baby girl. I'm looking forward to the wedding in a couple months, especially because that means we'll get to see Andrea for a few days, too!

Spring?

The morning after Easter we woke up to a fresh dusting of snow on the ground. I'm pretty sure this has been the Longest. Winter. Ever. Luckily, by mid-week, the temps were up in the 60s (heat wave!) and trees around town were spotted sprouting pink and white blossoms. It seemed as though Spring had finally sprung. The final piece of evidence came Thursday with the start of baseball season in Reno!
You may recall last year I was a little bummed to miss opening day, so I was pretty excited this week when I got to shoot the opener against Fresno, which the Aces won after 12 innings. Whoa!
Here is Chris, working hard in the press box ...
And here I am shooting some of the action. Hooray for baseball season!

P.S. It's currently 36 degrees and raining, with a chance of snow overnight.

Easter Fun

On Friday night, Julie, Na and Erin came over for one last girls night in the old apartment and we had dinner and dyed Easter eggs. It was really fun and great to have company since Chris was gone the whole week last week.

Above: Julie and Na decorating

Below: Me and Erin showing off our eggs

Then on Sunday, Erin hosted an Easter brunch. Erin is a great hostess and had cute decorations set up and lots of yummy food. The company was great, too! (Poor Scoop missed out on playing with seven other dogs because she got fixed last week and is still healing. Next time she'll get to play, though!) I am lucky to have such great friends.
The best part of Easter Sunday? Chris came home after spending a week in Arizona for Spring Training. I'm sure he was happy to be working out in the warm weather and being able to see his family and friends, but Scoop and I sure missed him!

Happy Easter!

I hope your Easter is Egg-stra special!

Love,

Scoop