grad day

This happened today - yeah!  Lots more pics to come from the day, but things are pretty busy now with family still in town and assorted stuff going on.  Super sleepy but a fun day nevertheless of course :)  Super proud!

happy holiday weekend!

 

Things have been pretty crazy busy around here, but it's been a fun-filled holiday weekend.  Too bad we have to go back to work tomorrow, boo.  At least Christmas is merely a few weeks away!  Woohoo!  

I'll have to save the other holiday-related re-capping for later, but I think this picture from Saturday night says it all.  Heehee.  Definitely lots of good and fun things to be thankful for! :)

some days you just feel like a burnt bread

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Do you know this feeling?  This feeling of being just like Kogepan, a cute, yet very burnt, bread.  

Things have been really crazy, and now, in the middle of it all, I'm left feeling like poor Kogepan.  I'm not really sure what happened...October was looking pretty manageable, then bam!  Insanity.  Work has been crazy busy as we've been short-staffed and seemingly endless deadlines are drowning everyone.  As my co-worker cried out yesterday evening, '..... I just want my life back ....!'  

For the past few weeks, every day's hours seem to fly by and I have no idea where the time goes.  And then, it just feels like there's never enough time for everything.  Good to be busy, not good to feel like we're just rowing around in a circle because we only have one oar.  Ha. 

Things just feel really endless right now, and it's not helping that I have a ton of stuff due on Thursday so it feels like a big weight on top of me.  I'm hoping that after that day, I can breathe a big sigh of relief.  It'd be nice to get my life back in order considering there are a lot of things coming up, too.  It's totally not helping that my hormones are out of control this week (hello, weepy emotional mess), Matt ran off to Arizona for his annual (and very unfortunate) trip, and I've been feeling super homesick lately.  Not sure why, maybe because things feel crazy and I miss that "stability" that only home can bring.  I felt so crazed for a taste of home that I made a really bare bones/cheat version of hot and sour soup tonight with random things I had lying around.  It really hit the spot in a way, but also made me more nostalgic.  Whoops.

There are some fun things to look forward to coming up, if I can survive until this weekend.  The firm's Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Light the Night Walk in Woodland Hills is next weekend (the Hollywood Walk on Oct. 1 apparently went very well) and of all things, apparently the Woodland Hills Walk is carnival themed!  As in, carnival games and the works.  Could that be any more perfect, considering Matt's love for such games?  Rumor is that we might even have our own game booth but no official word yet.  Hopefully it won't be something like a dunk tank...  After that, my parents come to visit for USC Parents Weekend and considering the current state of things (see above), this couldn't be coming at a better time.  It'll be good to be able to catch up and spend time with everyone - as even Matt's parents are planning to come down that weekend so we can all go to California Adventure and Disneyland together, yay!  I've felt like such an absentee daughter lately ... or, well, absentee everything.  I have a few days off in November, and before you know it, it'll be Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I love that *magical* feeling of the holidays, and really, I sure could use some of that magic right now!  I'm really looking forward to getting back on the right track and feeling 'normal' again.  Even if just a little bit.  (I spent some time last weekend knitting a portion of a jumbo version of the knitted monkey pattern, and it was so fun!  Felt good to just release some stress/tension.)

But, it's one day at a time for now and I really need to keep reminding myself.  And you know, if going to USC has taught me anything, it's that you just have to keep fighting on every day, good or bad, rain or shine :)  So let's not forget it!  Here are some reminders:

oh-so busy...and ready for fall!

Sometimes Mondays make me a little crabby......

Heehee.

Actually, today wasn't so bad but it was definitely Bizarre - yes, with a capital B.  Things have been hard with our team since a lot of people are gone, thanks to surgery, maternity leave, and just plain ol' quitting.  Just a few of us are left to run the show and it's definitely been interesting.  I was anticipating a busy week and then a bit of a breather...until a pile of greens (the discovery questions I need to respond to from defense counsel comes printed on green paper) about 3 inches thick found their way into my inbox.  I took a quick glance at one of the 10+ documents and there were 229 questions alone for me to respond to in just that one document for one client.  Hmph!!  I think there are at least 1,000 questions to object and respond to for a plethora of clients and they're all due by mid-October.  Awesome.  Thanks a lot, defense counsel!  You can guess who's on my #$@! list these days.

The above photo was taken by me in the wee Saturday morning hours on Virginia Beach during our vacation to the east coast in July.  How cool is this little guy, just sitting on the sand and chilling?  That trip was hot and humid as hell, but I do miss being on vacation right about now.  

This past weekend was less busy/hectic than usual but I still have no idea where it went!  Friday was pretty bad - not only was I exhausted from the week, but Matt had a day's worth of work in San Diego - where he even commuted from LA to San Diego and back.  In the end, he was up for nearly 24 hours, yeesh.  Saturday was devoted to USC football of course and thankfully, the game was later in the day.  In the end, in the words of Dr. Bartner:  "Band...........we killed 'em!!! ............ We're 3 and 0!!!!!" 

Sunday had no plans whatsoever so we weren't quite sure what to do with ourselves.  We ended up at a card shop of sorts so Matt could buy more baseball card supplies to organize all of his cards, then we stopped by the mall since it was nearby.  It was a total zoo, but fun to just walk around a bit.  Plus Matt finally got his hands on an Angry Bird plush in a claw machine, too.  Don't know Angry Birds?  It's this amazingly addictive puzzle game where you launch angry birds (some have special abilities, too) at structures where evil pigs (who stole their eggs) are hiding out.  Sounds silly but it's totally fabulous and actually really cute.  The Angry Birds eluded us in the claw machines in Vegas (they're too round to stay put in the claw usually) but Matt managed to snag one this time around.  I never knew but his favorite bird is the bomb bird, and when we saw this guy in a store window in passing, he had to have him!:

Please excuse my awkward face, haha.  I still have patterns I found online for creating all of the Angry Birds and I'll get to them eventually.  There's just too much going on with work, studying, and crafts.  If only there were more hours in a day (and more energy to go along with it)!!

Weather has been cooling down here and it's reminding me of all the great things to look forward to with the arrival of Fall:  football; baking; wearing sweaters, hoodies, and boots; my parents' visit for USC Parents Weekend; our annual trip to Arizona; crisp cool weather; Disneyland decked out for Halloween and later, Christmas; being able to drink hot tea again without melting into a puddle; and the holidays just around the corner!!  I'm not sure where the year went per se and it's all gone so quickly as of late, but it's definitely my favorite time of year at the moment.  Gotta enjoy every moment you can!

What are you excited for this Fall?

oh yay!

Things sure have been busy around here...hmm, I wonder why? :)  

It's football season yet again!  Oh yay!!

Edit:  I just noticed this is my 100th blog post, too.  OH YAY! :)