New Apartment!

My bedroom from looking in the door.

Looking to the left from the door! Nice big window!

The hallway. To the left is the bathroom. To the right my roommates bedroom. Straight foreward is my room!

Our living room! I washed the window yesterday...the papertowles I used were black!

Our kitchen. I cleaned and set up the table yesterday so it looks cute!

So yesterday morning I woke to a free saturday! I love the feeling of being able to do whatever I want. So I decided to do some cleaning since I really haven't had a chance to do so since I've lived in my aparment. I knew it was dirty and all of the areas in which I have placed my things I've cleaned with bleach wipes...but that had been my room mostly and the bathroom. Well yesterday I cleaned our common area and it was disgusting!!! My roommates and I moved into the apartment that had been previously occupied by girls living in our ward. It was kind of a slow transition and in all honesty some of the "grossness" factor could have been caused by my roommates before I moved in but it was very frustrating to move into a place that was so dirty, all grossness not of my own making. So moral of the story... clean your grossness before you leave a place, it's rude to leave it behind for someone else to take care of. Anyway I spent 3 hours on our tiny apartment and I must say I think it's looking good.

Adventures

So I've decided...I'm going to be more dedicated to making Berkeley feel like home, which means a few less trips home. This weekend is my first official weekend here since I was gone at Camp Ritchie last weekend. This morning I went hiking with my roommate and a few girls from my ward. Here we are ready for our hike Erica (my roomie from last year), Allison (my current roommate), Amy, and I.

About 10 minutes into our hike we came across this bad boy, honestly if I hadn't seen it moving I wouldn't have thought it was real...but it was, very cool looking salamander.

The morning was foggy and the landscape was amazingly beautiful!

We walked though this path under the tree limbs..very romantic (in an Anne Shirley kind of way), there was so much scope for the imagination.

We stopped to get some water and Amy and I took this pic...sweaty glow, yeah that's the look we were going for. :)

Group shot on the hike...so beautiful!

Another pic of the scenery! It was so gorgeous.

After our hike we hopped in the car and drove over by the bay and picked Black Berries. Here I am ready to drop one in my bowl. We did some serious hiking around these hills to find the most delicious berries.

The reward was all these delicious berries which we made into pie tonight and had a game night with some friends. It was a great day full of adventure, friends, and yummy food.

Labor Day Weekend...one last hurrah!

For Labor Day weekend I went to camp Ritchie for a YSA conference and brought along my sister Callie and my friend Hillary! We arrived late Friday night due to heavy traffic and getting lost (thanks so to a combo of heroics from Myriah and Clair we made it to camp).

The next day after speed dating and a service project we headed for the lake where we went out in the boat, swam and floated on inter tubes all afternoon. Here's a pic of Callie and I on our way back to camp looking tan and relaxed.

Here's Hill, Callie and I after getting ready for the dance that evening.

Before the dance we designed our own mini golf course. We met so many fun people at camp.

The next day we woke up and got ready for church.

After a relaxing afternoon of resting and nature walks we had a fireside where we made up our own parables. Here's my group presenting our parable which basically consisted of life being like a road full of things jumping out in our way or distracting us from the side but we need to keep our eyes forward on the destination.

Here I am hanging out with my friend Yolanda one of the only people I knew from Berkeley that went.

Dinner with my new friends Jake and Marie!

Marie and I both had our head lamps handy for hiking around at night. The camp is set up in such a way that you pretty much have to climb around to get anywhere.

After the fireside and dinner we had a bonfire where we had the chance to chat and hang out with our new friends one last time!

The next morning we packed up and got on the road. Here we are saying good-bye to our new friend Heather. We met people, spent time in an amazingly beautiful area, relaxed and had the best time ever! It was an amazing weekend!!!

Julie & Julia....or kinda like them

During our last week at home we had a girls day with my Dad's side of the family. I included time at Avila beach and going to see the Movie Julie and Julia. It was an really great movie and inspired us to cook something scrumptious! We tried to re-create the dish Julie makes a the beginning of the movie where she toasts the french bread in a frying pan...well it turned out amazingly well and it was super easy!

Here's a closer look! Delicious!

Portraits!!!

During the last week of summer break one of our "things to do" was take new pictures for my Mom's piano. So one evening my mom loaded up her camera with film and we headed outside for a photo shoot. This is my cheesy sunflower look...it can how be seen displayed on my grandmas wall.

Brianna looking hott!! Grandma got one of these too!

The set wouldn't be complete with out one of Callie with the Sunflower. Grandma loved it!

Here's the pic we chose for the piano...looking tan and rested...wonder how much longer that will last.

Brianna's shot for the piano! Beautiful!

Callie looking amazing as usual.

One of all three of us! Love my sisters! We had an amazing time together this summer!

Family photo! We took these in our tie-dye shirts we made! I love this pic...we are hoping Mom will send this out with the Christmas cards this year! Great pic!