I Think I Might Have Found My Mecca

Last Saturday my friend Courtney and I decided to get off campus after my Costco shift. The day before that one of the people who works at the front desk had said they had just been at U Village, an outdoor mall by UW, and that it was amazing. AND it smelled like summer outside. After that I was hooked. I thought I was the only person who knew what summer smelled like, but when he said that, I knew I had to go.

Courtney and I set out and we both had our perspective goals. Hers was Anthropologie, and mine was JUICY COUTURE. When we finally got to the Juicy store, I was just about ready to move in. All the jewelry and accessories are in special cases and they have all the newest bags and clothes and also a lot of clearance.

The decorations were all very cute and chic, like the big pink knight pictured above. It was all very French Revolutionary, as Courtney pointed out.

One of the saleswoman, Jane, latched on to me like no other. She kept referring to all the products as her "friends", i.e. "Look at this new leopard print friend we just got in!", "This friend is a baby bag but a lot of my friends without kids carry them as bags!". I suppose as I was wearing a Juicy hoody, carrying a Juicy bag, with a Juicy wallet, and a Juicy phone cover, I looked like an easy target, but I stood my ground. I had come in there for one thing and one thing only: a key ring for my new car keys.

Voila!

This one was on sale!

And will I be visiting the only Juicy Store in the state again (the Juicy outlet is apparently a different entity, Jane assured me)? You betcha!

Things That I Forgot I Liked About Baseball

- Shiskaberries (well that was never forgotten)


- The Mariner's Intro Songs that are Invariably Rap Songs

- The Feeling of Americana

- There seems to be less (publicized?) infidelity in this sport. More steroids, but less infidelity.

- SU Students in the Student Section Who are Blatantly Drunk

-Garlic Fries

- All the gooey couples

(Actually I Could do without the last three)

If I Were to Make This a Facebook Album It Would Be Titled "Your face is beautiful. It makes me want to bite it"

This past weekend I had a first time experience. I went camping. And if any of you know me, you'll know it was an experience.

The above is what Courtney said when she was explaining to the rest of us why she thinks bugs like to sting her over other people, and someone said maybe it was because her face was so beautiful that bugs were just attracted to it.

Anyways, our adventure began in the wee hours of the morning, when we drove to Mukulteo, where we then took the ferry to South Whidby Island. South Whidby is a beautiful little island and certainly a place I'd visit many times over, even if I can't necessarily imagine living there. It's quaint.

We all ate in Langley in this pizzeria where I'm pretty sure us eleven people were like a third of the occupancy. The pizza was really homemade, greasy, and good.

We saw a lot of dogs on this trip, and Courtney lost control of all her bodily functions and faculties every single time.

We drove to South Whidby State Park, and our tents went up a lot faster than I thought possible. I thought it was a good sign to come.

We decided to walk down the beach trail for a hike. Now ya'll know I'm not a hiker, but this walk was gorgeous. Gorgeous! I'm considering taking the ferry back just to walk this trail again. There were a lot of trees as obstacles along the way, but aside from the one time I accidentally didn't run from the surf fast enough and the one time I tried to climb over a tree and ended up on my belly, I LOVED it. I really wish I would have brought my camera, there were some really pretty waterfalls and ocean shots and trees. Plus at some parts in the walk, the rock was turning into clay and I played with it =)

Then we went to the grocery store to buy provisions for dinner later that night. When we got back our hall director started chopping and preparing food, and I learned how to play Phase 10 (a very fun card game).

After we made our dinners, the oh so appropriate titled "Hobo Dinners". Basically you get a mix of ingredients (we chose from onions, potatoes, mushrooms, ground beef, carrots, hot dogs, and a whole mess of sauces), then you wrap your choices in a bunch of tin foil and cook it on the campfire. We cooked smore's and bananas stuffed with peanut butter and chocolate chips for dessert. Plus I made an apple pie concoction out of apples and Pillsbury crescent rolls that turned out great.

We ended the night playing Settlers of Cattan. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's very confusing. But my team won second place, not bad for my first time.

We turned in to sleep at 11pm. I didn't anticipate getting a good night's sleep. but what actually occurred was much worse. My chief complaint was that my back and especially my neck were killing me in the morning, despite sleeping on a sleeping mat and sleeping bag, and two of my tent mates snored in the rare instances they fell asleep (we all had a hard time), which I can never sleep through. Not to mention, it was bitter cold, and I was ok with my mammoth Coleman sleeping bag, but others were deathly cold.

This lead to a very fast wake up the next day, and we were back by 10 am or so. And despite the harsh sleeping conditions, it was an experience I will never forget.

Here's my staff. It's the best non-family family picture I could ask for.

The Referals Have Been Counted!

And whether he goes by Not Your Dad, Not Not Your Dad, or Stephen, he is the winner. He has won a $15 iTunes gift card (it has occurred to me that maybe if I would have shared the prize earlier there might have been a larger response). Well, at any rate, your prize will be mailed to you shortly!

The Winners! And the Name!

Thank you everyone, for your votes and your suggestions! And the name of my car is....

Rosalie Logan

That means that winners of this contest are e. eyre (for Rosalie) and Maddy (for Logan)! You will be given or mailed your prizes shortly! Thanks everyone for participating, and my apologies that the contest was not exactly 100 percent clear =( Also, Ultimate Honorable Mentions goes to Not Not Your Dad for The People's Car and for seeing the Buttercup connection.

Some fun facts about my car:

• The song Rosalie plays when she is feeling friendly: Hey Souls Sister, by Train
• The song that plays when Andrew and I are on an adventure: Tik Tok by Ke$ha
• The song that makes Rosalie feel naughty: Say Ahh by Trey Songz
• Mommy's Favorite Song: In My Head by Jason DeRulo

Meet My Baby!

Baby is a 2010 gunmetal gray Toyota Corolla. I leased her on Good Friday. I paid for her all by myself. All By Myself. She is her mommy's new love and every time before I get in I inspect her for scratches.

That's right, she's a girl. At first I thought she was a boy, because of her gunmetal gray color. But now that I have driven her, I know she's a girl. A really tough girl (but definitely a girl car who likes boy cars, but also an independent girl).

So herein lies the contest! I want to name my car! But here's the thing... I only have two prizes. So instead of going the traditional way of having you all vote on which name choice you like the best, I've done something else instead. I will give you the name options, and the clincher is I have already chosen the name and middle name I want (her last name is van Ingen). And since I am limited to two prizes, the two people who guess the correct names I have picked will be the winners. The way you pick a name is that you pick a name and once it's picked that name is out. You will leave your choice in the form of a comment with your name. Essentially this is like a game of "pick the number 1-10" except it's with names and there are two correct answers.

Here are the name choices:

• Lila (F)
• Logan (M)
• Reginald (M)
• Buttercup (F)
• Emma (F)
• Rosalie (F)
• Augustin (M)

Just because a name is male does not mean it is not in the running because a) my baby is a strong woman, b) I once thought she was a boy, and c) some of these names are unisex to me.

Feel free to nominate your own name suggestions, you probably won't win a prize but you might get an honorable mention for creativity.

If you choose her first name, you will get a handmade tote bag (that I made) with "Grab My Notebook" on the front and a word scrimmage travel book.

If you pick her middle name, you will get a different travel book involving different words.

Comments will be accepted until 9 pm Wedenesday night, and the winner will (hopefully) be announced by 10 pm.

And don't forget to email me referrals!

Trinity Week!

Betcha thought you were gonna get rid of me, since the 40 days leading up to Easter are over and my blog every day challenge is over? Well, think again!

This post is aptly titled because there are three parts that I would like to share with you.

The first....
I wanted to change the url of this website to www.grabmynotebook.blogspot.com so that way it would be shorter, easier to remember, and easier to spell. Unfortch, when I tried to do that, it erased all the comments. And I think I love the comments that ya'll make better than changing the name, so it'll stay for now.

The second...
I have recently come into acquiring something, and you lucky blog readers will be involved in the naming process. More on that tomorrow. It will be multiple day ordeal.

The third...
All this week (well, Tuesday through Friday at noon), I will be having a membership drive. This means that you will email (speak to, text, what have you) your friends and family and tell them about my blog. If they express interest in reading further (past this week), have them email me at vaningen@seattleu.edu, with their name, email, and who referred them, and they will be added to my blog list. At the end of the week, whoever has the most referrals will receive a prize to be announced Friday!

A recap of your tasks:
1) Check back here tomorrow at www.shakewhatyamamagaveya.blogspot.com for the second contest you all are eligible to win and to be introduced to someone or something very special to me (those who are in on the secret, please don't ruin it for the others!).

2) Email everyone you know and get them to email me so you can get as many referrals as possible and win a really awesome prize!

Look What The Easter Bunny Brought Me!

( I had to zoom in so you can see all that is inside it, because from far away it looks just like hot cheetos, but there is so much more. There's even stuff in the back that you can't necessarily see.)

HAPPY EASTER!

A List of DVDs that I Would Rent on Netflix if I Had It

Transformers 2

Walk the Line

17 Again

Eagle Eye

Get Smart

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Bride and Predjudice

King of queens seasons 5-9

Slumdog millionaire

Casablanca

Citizen Cane

Ella Enchanted

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Bruno

Godfather Series

Rent

Night at the Museum 2

Step Up

Dance Flick

Yes Man

Marie Antoinette

Angela's Ashes

Four Christmases

The Royal Tenenbaums

Breakfast at Tiffanys

Up

Fight Club

Year One

Clueless

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

500 Days of Summer

300

Cool Runnings

Planet Earth

Date Movie

16 Candles

Say Anything

My Life in Ruins

The Ugly Truth

East of Eden

Any other suggestions?

Today is my Last Meatless Friday until next year!

Here's a list of all the meaty things I wish I could eat right now and today, but will get to my fill of any other day:

• Bacon
• A salad that has bacon on top (my school did this,it looked so good, but I couldn't and didn't eat it)
• Steak
• Ham
• Chicken
• Chicken pad thai
• Chicken pad-se-ew
• Chicken breast stuffed with bacon or ham and rolled up
• Chicken strips
• Prime Rib
• Pot Roast
• Carnitas
• Carne Asada
• Ornage Chicken
• I'd even eat some turkey right about now....

Here are some pictures from the program I did with my coworker Janet

As an RA, I have to do four programs with the residents, whether this be an educational movie, an outing, a study break, or a speaker, which Janet was.

I had her come talk about her life growing up in Kenya, she moved here in 2001. She cooked traditional African food, like mandazis (cardamom and cinnamon fried dough) and chapadis (tortilla like things), as well as stew, and the African version of salsa.

This is her husband Mike. They met in Kenya. He's from California, likes the Lakers, and helped Janet make the food. I like his Africa shirt.

Here's more of the food. Plus the Kenyan flag and the American flag. All and all, I think the program was pretty successful because ten people ended up showing up, and everyone loves Janet's stories!