Entries from December 2006 ↓

Good morning, friends. It certainly has been a busy couple weeks. Work and traveling to South Dakota has kept me too busy to work on my design portfolio. Although I have loads of time at home, I have been very into relaxing and forgetting about responsibility, which includes not turning the computer on. You know.

Anyway. I’m still alive. I’m hoping to adopt a kitten this afternoon (and I’m refreshing the Humane Society’s website like mad). I plan to celebrate New Year’s Eve at home, where things are safe. I hope to get my design portfolio ready for printing this weekend—at least. I want to add it to amy-berg.com, too.

Also, Jane posted a delish recipe for Cranberry Salsa. Seriously, we had it at Thanksgiving. We had for Ryan’s graduation. We had it for Christmas. It is so yummy! I’m sure that Jane is sick of making it. But if you like cranberries and you like salsa, I guarantee that this will be a hit.

Join me and many, many others for a date at the Bell Museum of Natural History!

SPECIAL EVENT: “Night at the Museum” and Flashlight Tours
Thursday, December 21, 7 p.m.
Film screening: Free!
Flashlight Tours: $5 for adults, $3 for children

Enjoy a preview screening of the new 20th Century Fox holiday feature film “Night at the Museum” followed by a guided flashlight tour of the University of Minnesota Bell Museum of Natural History’s famous dioramas.

The film, a rollicking family comedy featuring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Robin Williams, follows the antics of a hapless, graveyard-shift, museum security guard who accidentally unleashes an ancient curse that causes the fossils, creatures, and historic figures on display to spring to life and wreak a trail of havoc and adventure. The guided flashlight tour of the museum will offer visitors a chance to see the museum’s renowned wildlife dioramas and hear the stories behind their creation.

It’s been a long weekend, but it was very nice and happy…

Karyn, Bryan and I drove down to Vermillion on Friday morning. We had a quiet afternoon and evening with the parents, Ryan and Jane, Gramma and Grampa, Aunt Laurie and Cousins Jamie and Sarah.

On Saturday we celebrated Ryan’s completion of a Master of Arts degree. More family and friends came over and the good times were flowing (in the form of Jaegermeister). That evening some of us went for dinner at Chae’s, then another few of us went for karaoke at the Eagle’s. My cousins and I sang songs together and had a lot of fun!

Today we celebrated an early Christmas with my mom’s side of the family… and after everyone left, we had our small family Christmas. I got some good kitchen stuff and things for my future kitty (12 days ’til adoption).

Karyn, Bryan and I have to make the return trek to Minneapolis tomorrow… How much do I just want to take a week off from work? So much.

Overall, tired and will never be hungry again, but very happy. I’ll be back again next weekend (but it will be much, much more relaxed).

So… sorry for the previous gross entry but I was pretty excited about it all. I still am, but it’s less “news-flashy” now and therefore I am willing to discuss other matters.

Things I have done since then…

On Wednesday I finished my undergraduate assignments. Printed all of my photos and uploaded my website. Tomorrow and Wednesday I have final critiques and then that’s it! I will officially be a graduate student (received notification that I am registered for two grad-level courses next semester).

On Thursday there were several happy hours in a row… The first was the new monthly Bell Museum happy hour. Then I joined some of the museum’s grad students for Big Buck Hunter and more beer. Then I joined Mary, Jon and Johanna for karaoke and even more beer. I had a lot of fun and I certainly felt fabulous. Until Friday morning when I accidently (sub-consciously?) pressed “off” instead of “snooze” and was an hour and a half late for work. Thank goodness my boss is so forgiving.

I spent the weekend being productive-ish at home. Sunday was the most productive because people actually came to visit me and I made about a million Christmas cookies. I almost made myself sick eating them… but I’m ready to go home now and eat a couple more.

Today I went to visit Dr. Molleti, a periodontist at Boynton Dental Clinic—she is so nice and so smart—because sometime soon after the holiday season ends, I will be having some fun dental work done. The first appointment will be to detach the little flap that holds my lips to my bottom front teeth. A few weeks after that, she will be moving some skin from the roof of my mouth to cover some recessed gums on one of my front lower teeth. She told me my face will bruise, I’ll have to eat a soft/liquid diet, and I won’t be able to brush my teeth for another few weeks because I’ll have stitches.

This all sounds very gross and exciting—I’ve never had surgery, with the exception of having two wisdom teeth removed.

Also I plan to avoid social obligations due to having bad breath. I hope my future cat understands that he or she will be sick of me pretty quickly. (23 days ’til adoption!)

In other news, I finished my final website for my class. I don’t think I’ll have any problems finishing my final photo project in the next two class sessions. Now I really really really need to work on my portfolio for my graduate school application. Ok, go!