weekend in austin

this past weekend, mom and I took a trip over to Austin for my UT architecture open house! we stayed in my parents' new-ish house.. I built this chandelier for them for Christmas, and I finally got to see it installed and in action:

saw the idea at an anthropologie store, and decided, hey, I could build that! so I did.
they look a little uneven in this picture, but I fixed it later.

while I was in open houses, mom worked on mosaics..

Ps. open house went pretty well, there are some things that I think it was lacking in their presentation, but that's ok. It will take a LOt of getting used to - big departure from berkeley.

anyway, we looked at a few potential housing options, and then went to goodwill. where I hit the jackpot. Found this taiwanese tea set:

and a sheepies! mug for my growing green mug collection.

and these plates.. "Golden Meadow" by Sheffield. I found out that these plates are worth $10 each! and I got.. a lot for $8. There are also really cute teacups, a teapot, and salt and pepper shakers that go with this line.. maybe I'll acquire those at some other point.

and my favorite picture from the weekend:

box #2

the second box... labeled "oh you know" haha

Its full of stuff from my time in Italy..

Random party invite..

and a sketch of my thesis concept... pretty abstract. It represents how even though this kilometer long building-city is huge and incomprehensible, all of the units and individuals are connected by various means. more later..

welcome to cal

This is an official UC napkin. from the garden party at the Chancellor's house welcome week.

yes, i know, i'm lame.

？

apparently I ordered a camera lens from Japan and kept the stamps.

SF

I don't remember which bay cruise this was... I have been on several. the 08/05 seems like it would be either august, 2005, or the 5th of august. I don't recall going on this cruise in august of 05, and i was only in ca on august 5 one year, and I didn't go on the tour. so yeah..

The first time I went on this was with Carolyn and Marcus. We had been in the dorms for a month and they decided that it was time for me to get my first taste of in-n-out. M checked on his phone and found the closest one was at pier 39.. so off to the city we went. We got off the bart at Powell, and in our infinite wisdom decided to WALK to the wharf. We followed the trolley lines and had an adventure.. we dressed up as disney princesses, took part in a protest, and got flipped off by some Stanfurdians on a scavenger hunt. When we finally got to the pier, it just happened to be the day the Blue Angels were there. So we had a fantastic day at in-n-out, and watched the blue angels from a boat in the bay. awesome.

vote yes!

In 04, I was 19 and it was about time to vote. My mom sent me this whole section of the Houston Chronicle that outlined all of the important issues, and each party's position on them. I remember M stayed up all night with me to help me figure out what I thought was important, and what stance I took on every key issue. I don't remember a whole lot, but I remember talking about abortion a lot, and being happy that I had someone to talk to about all of this.. I was pretty proud of him too, for remaining mostly impartial and letting me talk out all of my thoughts and opinions and figuring out my own stance.

Anyway, I also had figure out my stance on all of the local issues, and since I couldn't remember all of the letters and numbers and whatnot.. I wrote them down.. cheat sheet!

go bears!

I think this is the only Cal game I have a ticket for.. since we just entered with our Cal ID. This was the first time my family came to visit me at school, so they bought tickets and we watched the game from other side of the stadium and sat the whole time.. borring..

a cappella

My freshman year roommate, was an amazing singer, and was involved in A Cappella all four years.. That year, I think I went to every single one of her shows.. even though I am not the biggest fan of a cappella.. I even made Carolyn come with me to a lot of them!

Every show, I always bought her flowers.. we went so often that Moe, the florist, knew me by name and would sometimes give me free extra flowers.. I think my freshman year was all about flowers.. I think there were CONSTANTLY flowers in my room for me or Allison.. for birthdays, shows, and just because. For valentine's day that year, I got this HUGE box from 1800flowers and Carolyn and her roommate signed for it and were sooo excited that maybe I had a secret admirer or something.. they got me all excited, I opened it to see two dozen red roses.. we ripped open the card, and who was it from? my mom.
so disappointing! sorry, mom. hahaha