The Adventures of Nicole Michele

Sick

2009-10-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

I have waited for fall for the past couple of months. I couldn't wait for it to arrive, I love this time of year. Now it is finally here, the weather has finally changed, it is no longer triple digits and it even has a nice breeze. Now what do I get in return for this beautiful weather... A COLD! Only one week into the actual fall weather and I am already sick. It's irronic that last week I got a flu shot in hopes of avoiding that this winter and a couple of days later I get a cold. I am taking lots of vitamin C in hopes that I will boost my immune system and knock this cold out fast. I have a very demanding school schedule and cannot afford to miss any of my classes! I slept for over 10 hours last night, have been up for roughly 2 hours, and already feel like I need to go back to sleep! This needs to go away now! I HATE BEING SICK, especially during the school year!!!

What's New

2009-09-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

A new semester has started and it looks like it is going to be a lot of fun and a lot of hard work! I am taking 16 units this semester; 3 interior design classes (yay!) 2 of them are lecture classes and 1 is a studio class where I will be learning drafting and how to make models.
I am really excited for that class! Then I am also taking a math class and Ancient Greece as my ancient civilizations course for general ed. I am also taking a creative aerobics course which I hope will help me get into better shape. The first week went well and I hope the semester continues in this manner. There is this club on campus called Pr.Int.S (Professional Interior Design Students) it is the only Interior Design club on campus and my friend and I are going to go to their meeting on Wednesday and join. It sounds like a really good opportunity, the club does a lot of functions with the local design community so it is an excellent way to network and make contacts, they also do things for Habitat for Humanity so I can do some community service which is always good, and its also just a chance to meet some people and hopefully make some more friends!

Summer was nice and relaxing, it was so nice to actually have a break for once and not be working a full time job, probably the last time for many years to come that I could just enjoy my summer and have a good time with friends and family so I definitely took full advantage of it! I started out the summer with an art class that I took both for fun and to improve my drawing skills. I really enjoyed the class and produced so drawings that I am very pleased with.

I also was able to keep in touch with my creative side by baking and decorating lots of cakes, I think I made 8 cakes over the break.

It is always fun to do stuff like that. I am excited my mom and I are going to be taking another cake decorating class in October so I will learn some more skills to improve my work even more. This time the class will be focusing on Fondant and Gumpaste, both of which I do not have a lot of experience so I am certainly looking forward to the different techniques we will be learning! Looks like the cakes I bake this holiday season will be even prettier than last year!!!! I know that is still a few months away, but I am just so excited for the fall season and then all the holidays! It is my favorite time of the year and it is almost here!!!

Yesterday I went to Old Sac with a couple of friends and their baby and we spent most of the day there. It was a lot of fun, they had "Gold Rush Days" going on so there were reinactments and horse drawn wagans and they made it look like it would have when Old Sac was all of Sacramento. We just walked around and looked in the shops and had a good time. It only her second time going there and the first time she said was kinda a dud and they didn't stay too long so this time she actually got to experience it!

Home Stretch

2009-05-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

I am in what is the end of the home stretch for the semester. I cannot believe it has gone by this fast! I have already had all of my final exams for my classes, and this week I will be turning in my final two projects. I just cannot believe it is over. Yesterday and today my mom and I went searching for materials I need for my Visual Basics class. We went to so many stores, and had the hardest time finding this one type of paper I needed. My teacher is requiring us to make a final portfolio for the class that is made up of all our projects from the semester. We are allowed to make refinements where ever we want and then have to mount them all to card-stock, over lay each page with a piece of translucent vellum, write a description of each individual project on the vellum, then take all of this and get it bound. I am going to take mine to Kinkos since it is just around the corner from my house. Finally we found the vellum after looking at about 6 stores and eventually driving into Sac to an art supply store. Now I just need to finish mounting all of the projects so that I can take it to Kinkos tomorrow. I am excited to be finishing up the semester but also a little stressed because I only have 2 days left until both my projects have to be done.

I am signed up for my Writing Proficiency Exam and am set to take it bright and early at 8 am on May 30th. I signed up to take the workshop, hopefully that will help me. I consider myself a strong writer when I put the needed time into it, but I have not taken any English classes in 3 years and could use a brush up on the rules of grammar etc. I hope I can pass this on the first try because they have changed the writing requirement to graduate and this will be the last time this particular exam is offered. If I do not pass it i will have to take a writing course now and then take a different exam and then take a writing intensive course after, I do not want to have to do all of that, I will still have to take the writing intensive course, but do not want to waste my precious time taking any extra courses if I can pass this test. Wish me luck!

I am all set for next semester. I am taking 16 units... 3 Interior design classes, an ancient civilizations class... Ancient Greece!, a math class, and an aerobics class. I have accepted my student loan so that will pay for my tuition plus I accepted a little extra so that I can buy the computer programs we use regularly instead of always having to go to the computer lab to do my homework. I also might be purchasing a new computer... we shall see about that one. I am also planning on taking a summer course at the community college down the road from me. I plan to take a drawing class to help me with my basic sketching skills. Well time to get back to the homework.... need to get that done so the fun can begin lol.

Snowballing

2009-04-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

Man how time flies... only five weeks left in the semester and things have been going pretty good at school. I have had lots of homework every week but have managed to keep up. Now, unfortunately, I am starting to feel the usual stress of the end of the semester. On top of the regular homework assignments I have 3 classes that require some sort of final project and they are not small projects. It is definitely going to be time consuming and a lot of work and since I don't have any of the programs we use on my computer I anticipate having to spend hours in the computer labs at school trying to finish all the work! not look forward to that too much! On the bright side I talked to both academic and major advisers today to make sure i am on track for the next two semesters. I only have 3 more lower division classes for my major and 5 more general ed classes to take ! i will be able to have all that done by the end of next spring semester, which is perfect because that means that in fall '10 I will be able to start my upper division for interior design (providing I get accepted into the major) and I will be able to focus solely on that and not have to do any more GE!!! I am very excited about this news and it was a huge stress lifted off my shoulders to talk to the counselors and make sure everything would work out right!!!

Tragic

2009-03-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon, 3 young people lost their lives and 1 is in critical condition. The driver was a girl that I did cheerleading with, we were not close but it is still so sad! One of the people who died left behind 2 young children, that will now have to grow up without their father. The other one that died was only 17. She still had her whole life to live. And the one that is in critical condition (or possibly dead now, I have heard both and even read both in different online newspapers) he is only 16. I cannot imagine what that family is going through. To lose 2 possibly 3 of your children in 1 day would be absolutely horrible! I remember how scared I was when my dad called me and told me Bradley and Jordan had been in an accident and were being med flighted to Modesto. I was at cheerleading practice and just wanted to leave and head down there asap. Then again how i felt when my dad got in his accident and was in ICU for a week. I just cannot imagine how horrible it would be to multiply that by 3 then add to it that they are you children! I hope I never have to go through something like that!

Has it been that long already?

2009-02-25T17:50:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe this is the 5th week of the semester already! If time keeps flying like this I will no doubt have my degree in no time! Tomorrow I have my first midterms for two of my classes. Excited? Not so much. My one class should be no problem, a lot of the information in review for me from a computer class I took at Delta. But the other class... that is my interior design class, and the grade is based solely on 3 tests and an essay! And to top that off, the class is a lecture only class so it is a lot of information to take in and a lot of memorization of slides. On the bright side that test is the first one so I can just get it done and out of the way. Well I guess I'd better stop procrastinating and go study!

So....

2009-02-24T22:19:00.000-08:00

I am having a difficult time getting myself back into church. After being inactive for the past few years it is very difficult for me to find the "will power" to start going back again. I know I want to, I know I need to, it is just so hard to actually start again. I keep telling myself this week I will go, but the week comes and goes and I still have not went. I hate this, while I was working on Sundays and could not go, I really wanted to go and even talked to my boss to try to figure out ways that might make it possible, but in the end she said no. Now that I have nothing stopping me why is it so hard for me to actually take the step and go?! I think on of the hardest things for me is that I do not really know anyone. I hate going to church ALONE when I know no one, I though once I started institute I would meet some people and feel a little more comfortable starting church, but I still do not know anyone, that is one thing I HATE about being so shy!!! On the up side I am going to institute so that is a start, but it is still not church. I have to say I do love my institute class though. My teacher is so enthusiastic and I love how after we read a section of scriptures he "rewords" it or tells a little story of his own and it really makes everything clear to me. Often times I have a hard time understanding what I am reading in the scriptures so having him tell it in his own words really helps me, and the fact that he is so excited about it makes me excited too! I have never read any of the scriptures all the way through on my own. Most of what I have read was in seminary when I was in high school and my Book of Mormon reader when I was a child, and though I remember some of the stories and lessons I really want to read them for myself. I love to read and I read all these books all the time so I thought to myself this is the next thing I am going to read! That is my goal for myself, I want to finish at least one of the scriptures by the end of the year. I'm not sure which one I should start with though, I think the New Testament because I love the stories in it but I'm not sure. Please any advice about trying to become active again or on where to start with the reading is greatly appreciated.

Stress-Free and Loving Life

2009-02-19T21:40:00.001-08:00

Between adjusting to my "new" life, new school, and no job I thought I would be extremely stressed out, (especially since I tend to stress about everything!) but I find that I have been surprisingly relaxed. Of course I do get stressed from time to time about money, but who doesn't. It is almost weird to me to be living so calmly. School is keeping me very busy, but I think the really reason I have not been getting stressed out is because I am not having to worry about work and therefore I actually have time to focus on school and do all my homework and still have time to have a life and have fun. I have just gotten so use to having to juggle school and work and friends and it always seemed that work and friends came first so school just go pushed aside and I would do my homework and stuff right before class. It is so nice to not have to deal with that anymore! I am just loving the chance to live on my own, and even though it can often be lonely I just have to remind myself to ENJOY it while I can so that is what I am doing.

Be My Valentine

2009-02-15T00:25:00.000-08:00

So valentines day was fun, not what we had originally planned, but we had fun anyways. We had planned to go to Outback (my favorite restaurant) for dinner then I have some movie tickets I got for Christmas so we were gonna go see Mall Cop after, then my mom gave me a little money so we could go out for dessert after. Then last night Jason and I decided that since it was going to be so busy at every restaurant that we would save some money and just make dinner and then go out for the rest of the evening after dinner. So today we went to Win Co and bought pork chops, stuff for cheesy potatoes, asparagus, and stuff for a salad. It turned out so good! I am so proud of myself... this is the first time that I have ever timed everything perfectly so that everything was done at just about the same time and it tasted very good! Then about halfway through me cooking dinner Jason's friend called and wanted to come over... I would have said no because of our plans, but this friend drives big rigs and we haven't gotten to hang out with him for like 2 months so we invited him over too. We decided not to go to the movies tonight and just stay in and watch movies on TV. Instead Jason said we could go to the movies this upcoming week to make up for it. I have to say I am a little disappointed that I didn't get my cheesecake I planned on having for dessert, but all in all it was a fun evening and we saved money by staying in and we had a good time hanging out with an old friend. I guess we'll just have to get my cheesecake when we go to the movies!

2009-02-14T15:28:00.000-08:00

So I have a friend at school that we have all of our classes together so we are hanging out outside of class too. We have both decided that we want to be involved with school activities and not just the education aspect of it. So this past Thursday a club at school offered a free comedy show so we went, it was so much fun I am super glad that I have made this friend that wants to do the things that I want to do too, because I know that I would not go to something like that on my own.

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!

2009-02-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

Some people have absolutely no consideration at all!! How can people be so self centered, selfish, and rude?!!!! So since I don't have a job yet and my dad wants me to focus on school he told me that for the time being he will pay my half of the utilities so that I can pay off my bill and save up money and not be super stressed about finding a job or having to work full time instead of just part time. So that includes my comcast... phone, internet, AND cable. Anyways to the point... I had some friends over to hang out, see the house, and spend the night about a month ago. Well, I got a phone call tonight from my dad, not mad, but just telling me that he agreed to pay the comcast but that he's not gonna pay for anything ordered on pay per view... so I'm thinking well I watch movies on-demand... did I accidently order something that costs? Then he told me I have to pay him the $15 for the movie... so now I'm like I KNOW I didn't order that... So needless to say when he told me the date it was ordered and all the details... i know EXACTLY who it was and I am not to happy! How rude to order a movie on SOMEONE else's tv WITHOUT asking!!! and what pisses me off even more is that I know I'm gonna be stuck paying for it because they don't even have a job to pay for it and if they do pay for it it will only be because their parents give ME the money because if they gave it to this person I would never get it. It is just plain ridiculous! I just cannot believe the nerve of some people... and then when I confronted him about it he blamed it on his girlfriend... its like come on grow up! If I was at my friends house and Jason ordered something without asking and he wasn't gonna pay for it I would give my friend the money. Man all I can say about this is SOME PEOPLE!!!

2009-01-27T19:48:00.000-08:00

Well the first 2 days of school have been really good. I am so excited for my classes. They will definetly keep me busy, but I think they will be a LOT of fun!!! 3 of my classes will be very time consuming and a lot of hard work, but I think they will be a lot of fun and I will learn a lot about these programs. 2 of my classes will be covering similar things so it will really reinforce what I am learning.

Birthday Madness

2009-01-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

My dads birthday is this Friday and my mom and I have decided that we are going to make HOME MADE pizza. I have this wonderful pizza dough recipe that I I learned in my baking class and so we are going to make that first thing Friday morning. We want to use toppings that are a little more creative than just the basic combo or meat lovers pizza. If anyone has any ideas for some yummy toppings let me know.

EXCITED!!!

2009-01-25T19:15:00.001-08:00

School starts tomorrow and I have finally reached the point of being truly excited. I was just preparing for the day... getting a copy of my class schedule, getting books together, checking to make sure I have all the books i will need, preparing lunch for tomorrow... when it hit me how much I am looking forward to this semester. It seems like I have been dreading it, but finally I am excited!!! i am taking FOUR classes for MY major!!! This is the first time that I will be taking so many classes that I actually WANT to take! Photoshop.... so looking forward to that one, I love to play with that program!... Visual Basics... I'm not quite sure what that will in tale but I still think it will be fun!... Introduction to Interior Design... probably wont be too exciting but next semesters classes will build on that so I guess I need it. and Introduction to Digital Design.... that one should be pretty interesting and intense because I will be learning 3 different design programs in that class. Needless to say it should be an exciting semester!!!!!!!!!! WISH ME LUCK!

A New Adventure

2009-01-24T23:12:00.000-08:00

School starts in one more day. I am so excited to start the next segment of my education... time to start studying what I want to do! In addition to my classes for school I registered for an Institute class for church studying the New Testament. And I can finally start going back to church since I am not working Sundays anymore. Tomorrow will be my first day at the new ward... I am a little nervous because I hate going places where I don't know anyone and this is a family ward not a singles ward so I hope there are still some young people there, I just cannot see driving 15 min to the singles ward when there is a building 1 block from my house.

Needless to say this week should be quite fun!

2009-01-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

Well it has been quite a while since I have had any spare time to write. I am all moved into the new house in Elk Grove! It is GREAT! I absolutely love it!!! It can be a little lonely living by my self and I am definitely looking forward to Bradley joining me in a few months... But for the time being I am just enjoying the time I have alone. It is such a difference from living in a house with four other people, there is always noise and something going on. I was hardly ever able to have some quiet to my self... even in my room with the door shut I could still hear everyone. What a change now that the only noise I hear now is myself or if I have the TV on.

I had to laugh, I moved out about a week and a half ago and my mom stayed with me the first night to help get everything set up. So the next day we just goof around and I take her home in the evening. On the ride we were making bets about Bradley taking my room over already... I even went as far as to picture Jeremy getting up first thing in the morning and moving Bradley's stuff himself just to have is own room. Well we weren't far off base... when we got there Bradley had all his stuff in my room (it looks much bigger now since Bradley doesn't have NEARLY as much as I had!!! And Jeremy had completely rearranged his room too. Man I feel the love!

2008-12-16T23:15:00.000-08:00

There is a good chance I will be getting a teacup yorkie for free! (well $100 for shipping but for a yorkie that is still a very good price). I am so excited, she is only 10 weeks old and is potty trained and has papers and shots. I have still have to have my mom read over the emails in which we discuss the details just to make sure I am not being scammed but if all goes well Jason is going to pay the $100 for me to get this puppy! I am so excited, she will be a nice companion since I will soon be living by myself. I wish I had a picture, but they took the ad down so I wont have one until I get her. (If she will get big enough we are going to breed her with Toto to make Morkies (Maltese and Yorkie Mix))! they will be very cute!

Santa's Little Helper

2008-12-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

For as long as I can remember I have been my moms little elf during the Christmas season... helping with the crafts, baking cookies, Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, decorating... the list goes on and on. Let me tell you as I've gotten older the list only gets longer and longer. This year I have a quite long list of all the people I need to bake for and just when I think the list is done mom says well what about so and so... and the list just keeps on growing. Oh and taking that baking class didn't help either, now on top of baking just plain cookies I am also including things such as Lemon Bars and Coconut Macaroons. Don't get me wrong I love to bake it just seems like there's never enough time to get all of the things done that I need to, I think it would be an excellent idea and very beneficial to everyone if we extended the year 1 month and pushed Christmas back to that extra month... then I would have that much time to get everything done with minimal stress. well since that's not gonna happen I guess the new location of the North Pole must have moved to Valley Springs because our house will definitely resemble Santa's Workshop for the next 2 weeks.

Last Day

2008-12-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of instruction for me at Delta! On the down side that just leaves finals left... but thats only 3 days and then I will be done! I registerd for my classes for Sac State, unfortunatly I am only enrolled in 2 of the classes I want to take, the others I am on wait lists for and 1 of them I am #17 on the list (Ancient Rome) so I put myself on the wait list for Ancient Greece as a back up but even that I am #14 on the list so I decided to enroll in another class that I need for interior design (but was gonna take in the fall) just to make sure I get into something. Its amazing how fast those classes fill up... I checked them on WED night and they were all still open, then THURS on my lunch break I registered and FULL! oh well.

It's that time already

2008-12-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

It's time to register for classes. For the last few weeks I have been checking and rechecking the course sections at Sac State for the classes I wish to take. I have planned schedule after schedule trying to pick the perfect flow of classes, and just when I think I have figured it out my major advisor informs me at orientation that I should hold off on one of the classes until next semester. Now I have spent the last few days trying to figure out what GE course I should replace it with. Sac State has some additional requirements for GE that I was not able to complete at Delta including a World Civilizations class. I think I have decided I will just take one of those, I have narrowed it down the 2: Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome, but I think I am leaning more toward Greece, I remember studying it in 6th grade and I just loved it... it's too bad I can't find one on the Egyptians, now that would be fascinating!

So tomorrow I get to sign up for my classes! Hopefully I will get all of the ones I planned on. Now I'd better get back to my homework so I can pass all my classes and actually get to take my new ones. =D

Stress and Disasters

2008-12-09T22:04:00.000-08:00

Man life is busy and quite stressful right now. Sunday was a horrible day! It started when I was moving the manual paint dispenser at my work into the storage room using a dolly. A coworker asked me a question so I started to set the dolly, not considering the weigh transfer, and the machine fell over and spilt colorant all over the floor! It took 4 of us to pick the machine back up! It took me the ENTIRE day to get the floor clean! Even after the entire day of cleaning the floor was still stained with blue colorant! Then as if that wasn't enough someone mentioned to the owner that I am leaving to go to Sac State and he asked my manager (who didn't know anything) about it and when I was leaving. So naturally she asked me about it and now if the owner has to do lay offs after the first of the year I will be one of the first ones to go. I understand his reasons but I am just worried that I will not get a new job before I get laid off. So keep me in your prayers that everything will work out with Sac! To make me even more stressed than I am about the move this week is the last week of school before finals so I have the stress of finishing up all my classes and getting in any last assignments. On top of that I have to study for finals which start Monday. Then on top of school I have the general stresses of the holiday season, such as all of the holiday baking that I have to do. Since I am taking a baking class at Delta I have been assigned baking duty at home. I love to bake and I learned some REALLY good recipes so it should be fun. I can't wait for next week to be finished. It will be so nice to be done with Delta and moving on to bigger and better things!