wanderlust continued

I have a (temporary) future! This entire year people have asked me what I've got planned post-graduation and for the most part, I had no idea. Then they'd ask me, "ideally," what I wanted to do: I wanted to live and work in Europe. After missing the Fulbright deadline, I tried to see if there were other ways to go: graduate programs, teaching English, etc. It's unlikely that I'd ever win a trip to Paris, or magically inherit tons of money just to travel as much as I wanted. It wasn't until a few months ago when David's aunt asked me if I'd ever considered becoming an au pair.

After finding a (really sweet) family, I spent the past month or so getting all of my paperwork settled. I wanted to tell everyone so badly, but I have this weird superstition where I don't like to jynx things before they're completely settled.

Well... everything is settled! I have my visa, I have my flight, I have my family! At the end of this month I'm heading to a tiny little town about two hours east of Bordeaux in beautiful Dordogne. I'm nervous, excited, and all kinds of emotions all squeezed into one. I don't speak a word of French but traveling and experiencing new cultures has always been where my heart lies.

I can't wait for this new adventure! My wanderlust is bubbling with anticipation.

don't worry baby

1. Why don't we dance like this anymore? (maybe not at 1:47...)
2. Why isn't music like this anymore?
3. Why aren't our swimsuits like this anymore?

Please excuse me as I transition through my Beach Boys phase.

downtown oakland

I know that there are a lot of bad associations with Oakland: it doesn't have a great reputation and it's kind of dirty. It's also where I spent 6 years of my childhood growing up.

After leaving the city when I was 13, I'd only been back a handful of times and even then, it was usually just to go to A's games. When I found out that our Jenny and Johnny concert was in Oakland, I didn't realize the venue was in (relatively) the same neighborhood where I grew up. I didn't visit my childhood apartment, but it was weird walking around with eyes 9 years older.

Chelsey and I stayed pretty close to the venue and mostly only ventured in search of coffee shops. Walking around I noticed that the city had a lot of architectural charm from when it used to be a fairly wealthy area. I'd never really noticed anything like this before, but it was nice appreciating these little gems because more often than not, they're left forgotten.

camera heaven

Sort of along the themes of "school ending" and "graduation," I wanted to post a photo from the digital photography class I took this quarter.

Before this April I had never taken a photography class ever. After saving up my work money from freshmen through senior years of high school, I finally bought an SLR and fell in love. Since then it's traveled the world with me, it's been snuck into concerts, and it's my constant companion in the kitchen. (My brother-in-law also likes to refer to it as my "G14 Classified").

Up until this course most of my photos were taken with my vague knowledge of how a camera really functions. From my own experience, I knew that I hated flash, I adjusted shutter speed when needed, and I rarely ever changed things in Photoshop. While I still prefer not to post-process, this course (and an amazing day assisting Rachel Thurston) has taught me to really embrace manual settings to make my photos truly my own.

This photo is one from our "Night & Color" Assignment where one of the requirements was to paint with light. I just loved how this one turned out-- it's like each wisp of light is a little halo over each camera. My own personal camera heaven.*

*Cameras from my small antique camera collection.
** Click here to see my class portfolio.

weekend

I love long weekends! Especially when they include nieces, wine & cheese surprise birthday parties, and sushi.

In exactly one week I will be done with everything school related (that is, finals and final projects) and earlier tonight I just finished my last college essay ever (in Italian and about food blogs! go figure).

I'm looking around my little room and remembering the day I moved in last September. I made David get up at 8 in the morning because I wanted to be here early. I met Jenna for the first time in the parking lot. I rearranged the furniture and removed the closet doors.

Now my room is a disaster. Everything is unkept and sprawled out so I can "get to it" once I'm done with all of my school work. On my last day I don' t think I'll have David with me, Jenna is already moved out, and I have to move the furniture back to where it originally was.

I feel like I'm completing some kind of circle. This room will be exactly as it was when I first moved in (assuming I can replace those closet doors correctly...) and it'll be like I was never here. It's a life lesson I'd never expected from college.

In other news, I went to see Bridesmaids with David and cried during almost the entire movie. I'm not sure what was wrong, I just couldn't help it.