enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe

theme of the night: shady.

Shady.  Gold River Is.  Actually it is not.  But when you drink in the places that you used to eat lunch at in 5th grade, you cannot help but feel shady.  When you fall over on the bike trail and it is not because you crashed your bike, you feel shady. 

When you pretend that Gold River is a college town and it is not, you are shady.

Welcome to last night.

We bar hopped.  In Gold River Town Center.  Applebee's, Mision Rogelio & Outback.  Good Jack & Cokes.  But I made my fatal error and forgot to order my last drink of the night.  The drink that I should always order. 

Water.  On the rocks.  With a twist.  It is anything but shady.

de-clutter.

Spent all of yesterday and a lot of today cleaning.  And purging.  A lot of high school stuff that I no longer have to physically have in order to remember it.  Like flowers from Sophomore Homecoming...it became okay to let that stuff go. 

Feels good to throw away.  To de-clutter.  To make room for the new.

Flower is from the backyard.  Sacramento is in bloom.

rock on.

Rio Americano High School Fashion Show tonight.

Theme was "Rio Rocks."  Robbie Rocked.  According to one of the girls, "Your brother has finally come out of his shell."  It is pretty exciting to have everyone see him the way the fam always has.  So excited to have the kid at USC. 

It was bizarre to see the Class of 2006 on stage.  Part of me feels like I was just there.  Another part of me feels like I was never there at all.  I knew about four kids.  Concentrated more on the clothes. 

And took pictures.  With my new CANON Powershot SD450 Digital Elph.  Finally, I am back in the digital game.  Not going to lose this time.

sactown.

Made the drive up for a long weekend.

Classes are officially over.  Spring 2006 was by far my best learning experience at USC.  Great teachers, great discussions, great projects. 

On the agenda for Sacramento. 

• Enjoy sunshine.
• Get a new camera.
• See Ro in the Rio Fashion Show.
• Ruuuuuuuuun.

Good times.

thank you for calling USC admission, this is Elise, how can I help you?

I just had a great time out at La Barca with the Admission Staff.  The USC Admission Staff.  Not the counselors, although I love them because they let Robbie in, but the interns.  The kids.  The cool people.

Good times.  Realized that funny stuff occurs in the office.  That really funny stuff occurs.  That as much as I complain it about it, it is probably by far the best job on campus.  That I should work more hours.  That it is going to be a good year next year.

And yes, I said year, not semester.  Maybe if I say it daily, Mom and Dad will forget they were going to save $17,000 if I graduated early.

And yes, they serve alcohol at La Barca.  Solid.

And no, Matt and Pete do not work with me.  But they should.  They generate the phone calls.