catching up.

i've been meaning to blog. really, i have. but i've either been too busy or too lazy. what a dichotomy, right? since my last post about the beginnings of the moving out process, a lot has gone on.
where should i begin?
before my roadtrip to california with hope began, i had to split my time between finals and packing.
        Last tuesday the 5th, i had my statistics unleashed (yes, that was the name of the class) final. it was a group test, like all of our other tests, and i thought it went decently until i looked online at our grade. yipes.....luckily, we had an opportunity for extra credit so that helped out my not-so-great grade.
        on wednesday the 6th, i had my other two finals. the first one (at 8am.....barf) was my sewing final. it ended up taking the entire 2 hours plus more. it was SEW hard.....wayyyy harder than i had anticipated. in just ten short weeks, i learned everything from threading a machine to constructing a skirt. as much sleep as i lost, as many times as i unintentionally hurt myself, as many tears as i shed, i'm so proud of what i have accomplished.
       after that final, i rushed to my intro to business final at 10:30. i finished that a little after noon, then rushed to clear everything out of my room for my 12:30pm checkout time. i turned in my key, took about 12 trips to my car to put my stuff in, said goodbye to the people that were around, and got on the road. even though i didn't say goodbye to everyone i wanted to, it was better that way. goodbyes suck. sometimes it's better to just avoid them.
it was about 2:30 by the time i left and i realized i hadn't eaten anything all day. i grabbed some food on my way, and set off for olympia. 

      i got home around 4ish and unpacked my car. hope got there about an hour later, and after grabbing sustenance we were off!  on our way down, we made a pit stop in portland for voodoo donuts. have you heard about this place?? it's outrageous. lots of people at SPU make roadtrips from seattle to portland just to go to this place. this was the first time for both of us - and it was soooo good. the donuts are really cheap too, which was a bonus. i got a 'mcminnville cream' which is similar to a boston cream donut, but it had maple icing. it was probably the best donut i've ever had. i'm being serious. i didn't take the picture below, but those are the kind of donuts you'll find there. unlike any other! (ps: don't go alone....it can be super creepy. especially at night...)

Voodoo donuts

 we arrived in talent, OR (by ashland) around 12:30am. we stayed with hope's family friends - the same we stayed with on the way up in september. the next morning, after a delicious breakfast, we got on the road by 11:30am. we made another pit stop at hope's favorite coffee place in redding, ca (where she went last summer) called yak's koffee. it's a northern california kinda place, apparently.

Yak's Koffee.....first caffeine of the day.

the further we drove, the hotter it got. after being in 60 degree weather for so long, i didn't know how to handle 80 degrees! we finally got to burbank around 10:30pm on thursday night. we had friday and saturday to relax and hang out - the perfect start to summer! 
highlights include:

• hanging out by hope's pool
• barbecuing
• getting half off at menchies (we love you lisa!)
• going to william's (hope's brother) volleyball championship
• going to pinocchio's italian deli 
• UNO tournament

L to R: william (hope's little bro), janelle (william's friend), hope, me, jacq (hope's sister), clayton (hope's older brother), & tiana (clayton's gf)

i would post more pictures, but i didn't take many....oops. also, i would steal them from hope's instagram account, but i don't have a smartphone. (hint, hint....:))

i love hope's family and i am so thankful i got to hang out with them for a few days.....and sunny california wasn't bad either ;)