Insight into my Life

New Blog for Personal Whatnots (Follow me through NaNo 2009!)

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:28:00 +0000

Dear anyone that may be reading this:

I am sorry that I kind of quit blogging for a while. Mostly, I was busy goofing off and I really didn't have a structured day to sit down and do some blogging, so I just didn't really do it.

Another reason was because this blog was originally just for updating the status on my writing, and then I turned it into a personal blog when I quit doing Becoming. I never really liked the url but I didn't want to just up and change it.

So I decided to start a new blog. Mainly because I'm going to be doing NaNoWriMo this year and I want to blog my progress (not saying I'm going to blog actual parts of my story, but I will blog about the story). I also am going to post things about writing in general, what I've learned from NaNo, and the ins and outs of my life.

Please check out my new blog at http://arielle-writing.blogspot.com/ . I'd really appreciate followers, comments, and anything else you can throw at me.

-Arielle

It's been a while.

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:52:00 +0000

Life has been so hectic! Here's what's been going on.

I graduated! Yay! It was stressful at the end, with some of the harder classes I was taking. But I passed everything, walked across the stage, got my degree, and now I'm done! Here's the pictures from graduation. No one actually got me walking across the stage. Apparently my dad, who was in charge of the video and the still photos, got distracted or something. Oh well.

I got married! Another big thing. It rained on the day of the wedding, which everyone says is "good luck," but I think people just say that to make you feel better about the fact that it rained. Other than the weather, everything turned out perfectly. We made bacon explosions for the wedding and they were a big hit. We only made two because of time constraints, and they disappeared within minutes! My parents also rented a chocolate fountain which was a big success as well. It was so yummy! For pictures from the wedding and the wedding shower, head over to either of these sites:

Brandon's MobileMe Gallery
The Photographer's Website

After the wedding, we went to the Salado inn and spent the night, since we weren't leaving for our honeymoon for a week. Click here for pictures from the inn.

That Sunday, we opened gifts and wrote thank-you cards. Then we headed up to Houston for the week before our cruise.

We left the following Sunday, May 24th on our cruise. The cruise stopped in Jamaica and Grand Cayman. It was supposed to also go to Cozumel, but the canceled that stop due to the swine flu. It was a blast, though. Brandon lost some money in the casino, I bought a beautiful necklace in Grand Cayman, we met other newlyweds, and we had lots of fun. I will post pictures to that probably next week after we show them off to our family. I haven't been home since the cruise, so I want to show them off in person before I post them online.

After the cruise, I've been on the job hunt. I've applied for a bunch of jobs, and only been called in for one interview. I think it went well, though, but I may not hear anything about it until August. Until then, I'm going to do some temp work for an employment agency hopefully while I wait for more chemistry and forensic science jobs to come open or until I hear back from the job I interviewed for.

I've been cooking and doing some cleaning. I made a roast chicken one night, and last night I made a pizza from scratch, the crust and the sauce! Tonight, I'm trying out an orange chicken recipe. I really like cooking.

I also finally finished Bitten. I posted the last chapter today, so go check it out!

Science is cool!

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:33:00 +0000

I've been looking into a lab job lately and I've started paying more attention in my classes, because it might be something that I actually will use.

Last week in my molecular genetics lab, we did a restriction digest. We were checking to see if our little plasmids had the correct fragment inserted into them against a known sample (positive control). We used special enzymes called restriction enzymes to cut, or digest, the plasmids into fragments, and then we incubated them and ran them on an agarose gel. I know it's really nerdy, but this is one of the best gels I've ever ran. Normally they're really fuzzy and they don't look like they're supposed to or nothing shows up at all. I'm kinda proud of it.

Here's my group's gel:

The greyish square is the actual gel which we stuck into a special machine that shines UV light on it and takes a picture of the gel. (I put it in a little bit crooked, oops!) What you are supposed to look at are the really bright lines. Those are DNA fragments.

Anyway, the lane on the far left is called the ladder, it's a special thing we have to use that is lambda phage DNA already cut with an enzyme and the sizes of the base pairs are known. We can used the known sizes to determine the sizes of the base pairs of our DNA fragments. One kid in the class screwed his up by putting the ladder in all the tubes, thinking that it was the dye we were supposed to use. His gel didn't even turn out though, because he forgot to put ethidium bromide in it when he was making it, which is what actually causes the DNA to flouresce. We have to e-mail his group the picture of our gel so they can have something for their lab report.

The second lane is our plasmid that was cut once into a linear fragment, the fourth lane is the positive control. As you can see, the fragments traveled almost the same distance, which means they are the same size!

The third lane is our plasmid that was cut twice with two different enzymes. The top fragment is our fragment of interest that we cloned into the plasmid while the bottom fragment is the plasmid it was cloned into. The fifth lane is the positive control cut with the same enzymes. Again, they're the same, which means we did it right.

Pretty much, all that means is that we had what we needed, but then we threw it all away and started on something else, so it doesn't really mean all that much in the long run, but oh well. It was still fun.

The Hitchhiker - Short Story

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:02:00 +0000

Everyone knows that picking up a hitchhiker can be a risky thing to do. But on my long, monthly drives from El Paso to Houston and back, the human interaction and conversation was all that kept me sane.

Most of the people I picked up were dull, wordless creatures. I had to pry conversation from them and it was often awkward and uncomfortable. I would turn on the radio to fill the silence as we drove.

Others spoke so much that I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. I would get their entire life stories along that ten-hour drive (sometimes less depending on where I would pick them up and let them off). Not that they didn’t have interesting lives and stories to tell, but it wasn’t conversation; it wasn’t engaging. Some of those chatty people, I just wanted to turn on the radio and drown out their voices with the first music I could find.

But every now and then I would get some that was the perfect companion. I guess sometimes just you take a chance and you get what you’ve been waiting for over a long time.

I picked her up early in my journey, at a gas station right outside El Paso, the last stop before the empty miles of nothingness ahead. She was going to San Antonio, almost three-quarters of the way to Houston. It was pretty much on my way, and neither of us looked scary or creepy to the other, so she came along.

Her name was Hazel, possibly a strange joke played on her by her parents, or maybe they just liked the name. Nothing about her was hazel, I noted as I glanced over at her. She was looking out the window, the bright, hot Texas sun glimmering on her golden hair as it caught in the wind. Her blue eyes glittered in the light, shining with intelligence.

She was an actress. Or at least, she’d tried to be one. She was told over and over that she was good, but she just wasn’t good enough. She was hitchhiking her way from California because she was completely broke after about a year of trying to find work and failing. She was going back to San Antonio to live with her parents for a bit. Maybe she would go back to school.

She was full of stories about some of the people she’d met, some of the things she’d seen. I didn’t know if they were true or if she was some kind of pathological liar, a storyteller with a vivid imagination, but she was interesting and full of life, and the stories made the drive through the lands of nothing but scrub brush and dry, sandy earth go much faster.

I would often glance over at her as she spoke. We didn’t even need the radio. Her blue eyes shone as she told me about.

I looked back at the road, deserted all around. We were the only car for miles, maybe more. The roads here were never really crowded, especially in the middle of the week, but if I would have put a little thought into it, I would have noticed that there were no cars at all, coming or going. We hadn’t passed any. We were all alone. But I was oblivious. I was too enchanted by my new companion and her fantastic stories. I was continuing the conversation with questions, asking her to go on, telling her what little I knew about the business and letting her explain things to me in more detail.

“Honestly,” I said, “This is one of the most interesting conversations I’ve had in a long time.” I just had to take another look at her, though. I should have had my fill. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have. Maybe I should have just gone on driving, talking to myself.

Because I couldn’t look at her – she was gone.

In my shock and surprise, I immediately slammed on the brakes, everything in the car shifting forward, my entire body jerking in the seatbelt, bruising my chest and knocking the wind out of me. I was glad to be alone on the road, otherwise I would have gotten rear-ended.

I shakily pulled the car over to the side of the road and got out, looking around. The flat terrain confirmed my suspicions. I was alone. Hazel was gone.

I hit the unlock button and went over to the passenger side of the car, searching the seat she’d been sitting in for clues, for evidence that someone had actually been there. That I hadn’t just imagined her. The seat was warm but this was Texas. The seats were always warm. The sun took care of that. Her stuff was gone as well, the small backpack she’s been carrying had been sitting up in the front seat with her, despite my offer to throw it in the trunk so she’d have more room for her legs.

There was nothing, no proof of her, not even a whiff of perfume lingering on the fabric. I sighed and sat down in the passenger seat, trying to figure out my situation. I closed my eyes and let the wind play over my face and through my closely cut hair as it blew through the open doors. I felt something tickling my face and my eyes flew open.

A single long strand of blonde hair, still stuck to the headrest of the passenger seat was being blown across my face. There was my proof. She really had been there!

But did I really want that proof? Along with the proof came a different predicament.

Where was she now?

I got back behind the steering wheel and started the car, quickly making a U-turn, kicking up dust all around me. I floored the gas pedal and, tires skidding on the asphalt, I drove back in the direction of where I’d picked her up. We’d driven over 200 miles, but I didn’t care. Somewhere over the 200 miles in-between where Hazel went missing and where I picked her up, there had to be more evidence, or maybe Hazel herself.

I glanced down at the gauges on my dashboard. I was going over 150 miles per hour. I eased off the gas pedal and took a deep, calming breath. I’d never find anything if I was speeding past it all.

I drove and drove, but I saw nothing. No Hazel, no cars, not even any animals. Was I all alone?

About fifty miles away from the gas station, my car began to lose momentum. I pushed down on the pedal with my foot, but it did nothing. The car began to stutter and stall. I let it roll to a stop on the side of the road. I looked down at the gauges and cursed.

I was out of gas.

I let my rage out on the steering wheel, pounding my fists into it until they were sore and aching. I had just gotten gas. How could I have run out? Did I drive further than I thought?

I got out and slammed the car door, kicking the tires and door panels in frustration. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, but I had no signal, of course. I thought about smashing it, but I was finally coming to my senses, my anger at myself and the world slowly ebbing.

I looked around to view my surroundings. The desert was mostly scrub brush and low bushes growing in the dry ground, but I and noticed for the first time a hint of color against the bland landscape. It was a small blue object, a few yards away from me, lying off the road next to a bush.

I walked over to it to get a better look. It was a backpack, dark blue cloth, with two zippered compartments. It looked exactly like the one Hazel had been carrying, but it seemed fuller. Was it hers?

I picked it up, the weight surprising me. I turned to take it to my car.

My car was gone.

I stood there for a moment, stunned. The bag fell from my hands as I slowly walked to where my car had been parked on the side of the road. Had someone stolen it? I surely would have heard something, I didn’t walk that far away.

I looked in the dirt to find the tire tracks, something to convey what had happened. There were marks where I drove the car off the road and they stopped where I’d parked it. There were no tracks leading away.

First, my passenger had vanished, now my car. All I had was a worthless cell phone and a dirty backpack. The closest gas station and hint of civilization was fifty miles down the highway, where I’d originally picked Hazel up.

I trudged back to the backpack and opened it. Inside were a few bottles of water, some granola bars, and a blanket. I sighed and began walking along the highway, in the direction of the gas station. I hoped I would see a car, maybe they would help me, but no one drove by.

I drank when I was thirsty, I ate when I was hungry. When nightfall came, the temperature dropped. I curled the blanket around me and went to sleep on the asphalt on the side of the road. It was hard on my back, but it was warm.

The next morning, I started walking again. I didn’t run out of food or water, and still no cars came. I checked my phone so often for a signal that my battery died. I just left it there on the side of the road.

I didn’t know how far away the gas station was anymore. I could have been hours or days or minutes away. I was so awash with hopelessness that when I finally saw the sign with the familiar logo on it, I cried.

Then I saw a familiar figure sitting on the curb in front of the store and I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Hazel,” I said as I stood there dumbly, staring at the blonde girl, her hair blowing in the breeze as she looked up at me with those blue eyes. There were no cars getting gas, but as I looked around, there were people sitting on the ground, the curbs, leaning up against walls, all holding little cardboard signs for Albuquerque, Dallas, Austin, Brownsville, Oklahoma City, and more. The more I looked, the more people I saw.

Hazel scooted over on the curb and smiled at me, patting the concrete next to her. She laughed at me as I just stared at her and then she said, “Did I tell you the story about the time I picked up a hitchhiker?”

-----

I wrote this story based on this prompt. Click the link for more information! Hope you liked the story, write your own if you think you can do better, which you probably can. :P

The Hitchhiker - Short Story Prompt

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:50:00 +0000

I've been meaning to post this stuff, but I'm a slacker. Here is a prompt that was sent to me by Bharat, who hasn't posted to his blog in a long time, but I know he's still alive.

The story that I wrote from it comes in the next post. I changed and expanded the original prompt a bit, as you can see if you read the story, but I kept the original concept. If you like this prompt and want to write a short story from it, just e-mail your short story to arielle_harris@baylor.edu and I will post it. Don't forget a link to your own blog or website so I can promote you a bit. If you have a prompt you want to give me, you can e-mail that as well.

More info is in this post.

Everybody said picking up a hitchhiker was, well, stupid to be maddeningly understating. But everybody wasn't having what could possibly be one of the most brilliant conversations of their life with Y. I guess sometimes you take a chance and you get what you've been waiting for for a hell of a long time. I glanced over at her, our conversation had reached a lull, and it didn't bother either of us. She was looking out the window, bright Texas sun glimmering on her golden hair caught in the wind. I looked back at the road, deserted all around, we were the only car for miles.

"Honestly," I said, "This is one of the most involving conversations I've had for a very long time." I just had to get another look at her. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have. Maybe I should have just gone on talking. Because I couldn't look at her... she was gone.

A beautiful day for pictures.

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:27:00 +0000

Yesterday was wonderful outside. It was a bit cold, but there was not a cloud in the sky and the fruit trees were blooming. We got a bit of relaxing time and I got Brandon to play for me. I haven't heard him play in a while, so it was fun to just listen to him and watch him play. I pulled out the camera for some pictures. As always, click to enlarge!

Brandon at the piano.

A shot I took while he was playing.

His sister, Jessica, sat down and played for a bit after he was done.

Then I went outside. This is a bush that normally has really long stalks, but they were just recently trimmed back, so they looked pretty cool. The spines are sharp!

There was some wind and the sky was really blue, so the water in the pool looked really great.

The plum tree started blooming this weekend, so I took a very Texas shot of the tree, with the water tower thingy in the background.

I got in a little closer to the blossoms and did a macro shot with the water tower blurred in the background.

I cropped a different picture down a bit and found a great macro of the blossoms. This is one of my favorite pictures.

We got a house!

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:48:00 +0000

So I have some awesome news. This weekend, Brandon and I decided on a house. It's a little soon, but interest rates are good (4.25% fixed for 30 years) and the house was perfect. There's a slideshow below with pictures of the house that Brandon took once we decided on it. I added the captions. I think you need flash to view them. Click to see a bigger image.

Bacon Explosion!

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:17:00 +0000

A while back, I got an e-mail from Brandon that read:

"I want you to make this for me this weekend."

Followed by three links:

Wiki Article

News article about it wi th good pictures.

Recipe

And thus began our Bacon Explosion Adventure... (Click on any image for full detail.)

We first had to convince the parents, because even though we would buy the ingredients, Brandon doesn't have a smoker and neither do I. Both our dads have them, but I was able to convince my dad first and he thought it was a good idea, so we did it at my house. Brandon's family wasn't as keen on the idea until later on, but I'd already made the plans with my dad to make it at our house so we went through with it there.

We had to get up really early to go to the grocery store. This ended up in a lot of bickering about bacon and sausage locations in the store (I was right, of course), and we forgot the hickory chips for the smoker so we had to go back and get them after we grabbed some breakfast at the new Chik-Fil-A that just arrived in town. All in all, we purchased 3 pounds of thick-cut bacon (The recipe called for two, but we got three just to be safe, 2 pounds of italian sausage, a bottle of Stubb's Bar-B-Q sauce, and a shaker of Stubb's Bar-B-Q spice rub. It was a brand we were familiar with and the only one that had a matching spice and sauce, which we thought would make it taste better, or at least more uniform.

Then, we went home to begin creating our log of meat. First Step: Weaving the bacon. After weaving, we sprinkled some of the spice rub onto the weave. Had we been able to find thicker or fresher bacon, we might have had a tighter weave, but as we worked with the bacon, the fat began to separate from the meat, which made it nearly fall apart on us. We also noticed that while working with the bacon, it began to stretch. Next time, we'll work with colder bacon and try to find thicker bacon, maybe actually head over to a meat market and get some fresher bacon. Brandon used one pound (one package) of bacon for this part.

The next step after that was to put the sausage over the bacon mat. Since our weave wasn't quite as tight as it should have been, the sausage got mushed into the holes in the bacon, which made it more difficult to roll it up in a later step. While Brandon did this part, I fried the second package of bacon (our second pound) for the inside of the bacon explosion.

We sprinkled more of our spices onto the sausage mat and then I cut up the bacon I had fried into small pieces and put those on top of the sausage. We then added more spices and some of the Bar-B-Que sauce. Then, we rolled it up, which was more difficult than it should have been. You have to roll up the sausage independently of the bacon mat, but the sausage had been pressed down into the bacon, making it very sticky. As we tried to separate the sausage from the bacon, the bacon itself tried to tear and the sausage also tore, bleeding Bar-B-Que sauce. As we tried to mash the meat back together to keep the sauce in, it ended up making a bit of a mess and I thought we might not actually get it rolled up. But we did get it rolled up, and then we rolled it back over the bacon mat, making a nice and fragile bacon log. Next time we make it, we're going to put a layer of wax paper in between the bacon mat and the sausage, so we won't have a sticking problem. I also think things would have gone better if we had used colder meats, especially the bacon. Unfortunately, by that time, we'd been working with the meat a bit more than we should have been, so it was warmer and stickier. As you can see, the bacon didn't quite reach the end of the log, and we should have gone back and covered the ends using the third package of bacon we had, but we neglected to do so. After rolling, we covered the outer layer of bacon in more spices and it was ready for the smoker.

We smoked it for about three hours, periodically checking in on it. Our log was longer than it should have been and it was also very fragile, so we had to put it on a makeshift foil tray. This might have hurt the cooking a little bit, but it still got cooked all the way through in the three hours we left it in for.

After three hours, we got this:

Which we basted with more Bar-B-Que Sauce and sliced open, happy to see that it was cooked all the way through.

We then put it on a biscuit and bit in. (The piece in the picture was kind of falling apart, but once we learned to cut it better and thicker, they didn't fall apart as easily, except when Brandon's mom tried to cut one in half.) After Brandon, my dad, and I tried it, my dad made me put several slices aside for him before we took it over to Brandon's family to try. They finished it up and enjoyed it.

We have a lot of things that we are going to try to do better next time, and there will be a next time. Brandon really wants to make several to serve at our wedding, but I'm not sure about that. Next time, we want to try putting cheese in it and my dad wants to try one with onions or jalapenos in it with some spicier Bar-B-Que sauce. If you really like sausage and bacon, check out the recipe link above and make your own! It's worth it!

Dog Photographer

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:54:00 +0000

(click any of these pictures to enlarge for detail)
I love to take my camera with me wherever I go. The only time I don't carry it is when I go to school, but I really should probably put it in my trunk just in case I find something worthy of taking pictures of.

I really like to take my camera when I go to other people's houses. Most of the people I know have pets, so I feel drawn to take pictures of these pets, as long as the camera doesn't scare them. Animals are some of the few subjects that don't get tired of me taking lots and lots of pictures of them. Or at least, they don't get tired of it as much as other people do. (Why must everyone cover their faces when I try to take their picture? Why?!)

The dog in the sweater is Ellie Mae, Brandon's cousin's schnauzer. We went to her house for Christmas and I took about 50 pictures of the dog. In the second picture, she's chewing on a corncob toy she got that evening.

I can't remember the brown chihuahua's name. I snapped his picture when we were at a girl's house, waiting for Brandon's friend to get there and propose to his girlfriend. (She said yes.) This dog loved the camera, and he loved standing still for me.

The pit bull is my friend Erin's dog. His name is Capone and he loves to cuddle.

I have tons of pictures of Molly and Petey because they belong to Brandon's parents and I get to see them all the time. Whenever I go over to his house I take pictures of them...it's an addiction!

Not all my pictures turn out good, but I like a lot of them. These are only pictures of the dogs that don't belong to me. My photo library consists of mostly pictures of dogs, and I can't delete any! I'll see if I get better at photography after I take those classes my friend gave me.

The Upward Spiral

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:56:00 +0000

One of the reasons I quit posting on this blog was that I didn't really have lots of happy stuff to post. I felt like all my news was depressing and posting it would make me more depressed. Bad things happened over the last month of non-posting, but good things have happened as well. So I've decided to focus on posting about the good things and try to be upbeat. By focusing on the good things in my life I can realize that there are good things going on and that I have reasons to be happy.

One of the best things that happened was that my parents allowed me to have my camera! I will be posting lots and lots of pictures on here. I've been driving Brandon crazy with the thing. He also got me Aperture for Christmas, which is a program for Mac for photo organization and editing. I haven't gone through all the tutorials for it yet, though I should. That'll happen when I get more time, then I can use the program to its full extent. A friend of ours also gave me some free passes to photography classes that I will start taking once I get up in Houston. They don't expire and I can take them whenever, so that will be fun! My mom is also planning to get me some lenses for graduation, and I really want a macro lens but I think it might be too expensive. I don't even really know what to look for in a lens.

Also, we have set our plans for the Honeymoon. We're taking a 7 day cruise out of Galveston to Cozumel, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands! I've never been on a cruise so I'm excited, and we're also going to visit some Mayan Ruins while we're there, I can't wait! We're going to do a small wedding in the backyard, just a real simple thing. My dad's been working to make the backyard look nice, and it's coming along well.

Pictures are from a day where it rained and iced over a bit, I thought it was pretty outside.

More pictures and upbeat stuff soon!

Passing Out at a Concert

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:35:00 +0000

Last night we went to a rock concert in Houston. We meaning me, Brandon, and his friend, Steven. The concert was originally supposed to be this big music festival that a popular local radio station holds annually, called Buzzfest. It even has its own Wiki page. Anyway, if you bothered to go to that link, then you already know that Buzzfest was canceled this year because hurricane Ike messed up the venue for the concert. However, they refunded our tickets and announced a week later that they were still going to have the concert, which they titled "Better Than Nothing." The concert would have six bands rather than the original thirteen and it would be at a different place, indoors, and smaller. We got tickets for this concert and showed up early, because it was standing room only.

We ended up at the very front, which was fun but also maybe not too smart. Yeah, it's not that awesome to get the lead singer's spit and sweat on you. Getting kicked in the head by crowd surfers isn't so awesome either. I didn't actually get kicked, but some people did, and it didn't look fun. One girl's beer got knocked out of her hands by a crowd surfer. It ended up all over her. The lineup was: Merriwether, Hawthorne Heights, Earshot, Saving Abel, 10 Years, and The Offspring (in that order). The only bands I was really familiar with were Hawthorne Heights and The Offspring, though Saving Abel played a few songs that I recognized. It was fun, though, and I caught a guitar pick from one of the Saving Abel band members. Almost caught a drumstick too, but the dude next to me snatched it faster than I did.

Being up front had some disadvantages. We couldn't leave. The crowd was like water. If we moved an inch, it flowed into that space. When I say I was at the front, I mean I was literally at the front, shoved against the metal barrier they had set up so there was a gap between the crowd and the stage. In this gap stood a whole bunch of muscley men ready to catch the crowd surfers and keep people from trying to climb over and onto the stage. Over the course of the night, Brandon and Steven kept getting shoved into me, and the front kept getting more closed-in and claustrophobic. I wanted something to drink, but I couldn't move. I was hungry, but again, I couldn't move. The girl behind the lady next to me had been trying to shove her way into my spot the whole time, but I wasn't going to let her.

We watched the first five bands, and while they were setting up for The Offspring, I started feeling a little woozy. Everything went numb and I felt like my body wasn't mine anymore. The next thing I remembered, people were asking me if I was okay and I was asking if I passed out, though I could barely hear what I was saying, everything felt distant and hollow. According to Brandon, I slumped against the barrier and the lady next to me thought I was trying to sit down. Brandon turned me around and he said my eyes crossed and rolled back into my head. I remembered asking for water, and someone shoved a cup of cold water into my hands while I drank it. I really didn't want to leave, since I was there to see The Offspring and I'd waited all night to see them. Finally, one of the muscled dudes pulled me over the barrier and carried me into a room where they were doing first aid and stuff. They laid me down on a cot, gave me a wet paper towel to put on my forehead, and I drank some more water. I was feeling better and since I was coherent, they let me go. Luckily, it was taking a while to set up for The Offspring, so we still got to see them. I kept my water with me and we sat against the wall at the very back.

They were really good, and they played all my favorite songs. As for passing out, it was probably dehydration, or a lack of food. Low blood sugar or something. I've never passed out before, so I dunno. It was definitely a strange experience.

After months of waiting, I now have my ring, and my MacBook!

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:25:00 +0000

Today I have shinies for you! Here are pictures of my engagement ring and my brand new MacBook. It's one of the new aluminum unibody MacBooks that just came out Tuesday. I had to chase down the FedEx truck yesterday to get it. Apparently the delivery guy didn't know where I lived. Click them to enlarge, lots of detail!

It glows! I took these outside so the sunlight would catch in the diamond. It's white gold and a .6 carat.

The front. It's so pretty!

A back view of the ring, what's holding it together.

I tried to take a picture of the coolest part of the ring, but I couldn't get a good macro of it. Basically, as you can see from this image, the diamond basically floats in the ring. I'll keep trying to get a better one.

The ring on my hand.

Another shot of the ring on.
Like it?

Now onto the MacBook! I think it speaks for itself in most of these pictures.

ClosedTop!Bottom!And my Bluetooth Mouse. Yeah, it's a Microsoft.

A Great Weekend, and more Wedding Dresses

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:06:00 +0000

I drove to Houston and back with no incident, no accidents, and no issues. My dad had nothing to worry about! I just hope he notices this and lets me go more often.

We didn't really do much up in Houston. We didn't have a plan, and we stuck with that. What I wanted most to do was get Brandon a haircut, and try on a few more dresses. We accomplished both those things, and I have some pictures to show off. First, Brandon's haircut.

A before shot. Apparently, it was so long he was being mistaken for a girl.

The aftermath.

The result! It could use to be a little longer...but at the rate his hair grows it'll be a better length when I see him in two weeks. ^.^

I've decided to go with a color known as "clover." The bridesmaid dress I've been looking at are a chiffon material rather than satin. I saw some girls trying on the satin dresses and I was just like...UGH. My other color will probably be silver.

Onto the dresses (click for zoom)! My goal on this outing was to sample some dresses without the halter-top and to try for something new. We found one in the window of the store that was really pretty, but it took us a while to figure out which one it was.

The first one I tried on was not the same one, but I did like how it wrapped around. The dress was the wrong size, so it didn't zip up in the back.

The back of the dress. Not very frilly, quite simple.

This is the dress we saw in the window. I like everything about it except the waist and the price. $1,100 is a little steep.

The back...it is a beautiful dress though. Sigh...

My favorite of the three dresses. It's simplicity with a little intricacy laid over it.

The back, the part I like the most. Corset back (not fully tied up in the picture, we were too lazy), and lace and beadwork all over the back.

What do you guys think? I'm really tired of trying on dresses. >.<

Ring News, I FINALLY get to drive to Houston!

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:35:00 +0000

Brandon called up the jeweler that's handling the ring that he found plus the rings that we want. The diamond in the rings is definitely real, and it has an odd flaw that makes it worth a little less than a diamond of that size would normally be worth. Still, he's giving us $4,500 for the ring. He says that the rings we want made are worth about $4,100 and I can upgrade to a larger diamond (the current one we have picked out is about .6 carats) or he can make a wedding band that interlocks with the ring design I picked out. We're going to go for the wedding band, and he says that the ring should be ready in a few weeks. I'll post pictures when I get it!

This weekend I'm going to Houston to visit Brandon. This is a monumental occasion, because it will be the first time I've ever driven to Houston by myself. I've wanted to for years, but my parents (namely, my dad) wouldn't let me. I'm heading up Friday, since I have no classes on Fridays, and I'm staying until Sunday! I plan to get lots of things done while we're up in Houston, like getting professional pictures taken for the engagement announcement in the paper, and trying on more dresses. >.< style="font-style: italic;">too terrible. We were going to be taking a trip to Kerrville this weekend to do a car driving cruise thingy around the hill country, but it got canceled because a tree fell on the leader's car during hurricane Ike. So instead, we get a weekend together for wedding planning and whatnot.

I also asked my friend and former roommate to be my Maid of Honor for the wedding. I didn't know if she would want to do it, but she actually seems really excited about it. More excited than me, actually. She's already planning parties and figuring details and deciding which sex shops to go to for pre-honeymoon shopping.

I'm scared!

Prompted?

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:25:00 +0000

I've been in the mood to write short stories lately.

The problem?

No inspiration!

I know that once I put the pen to paper I can write, but sometimes it's just getting started that's hard. That's where you guys come in. I need a prompt. Just a sentence, two at the maximum. I would like something edgy and grabby. Something that will pull in a reader and make them want to read. The first sentence (or two) of the story will be your prompt, followed by my completion of the story. I will also post the prompts for others to try their hand at.

If you want me to promote your blog, this is the best way. I'll give credit for all the prompts and I'll post your short story, along with a link to your blog, your baby pictures, etc.

E-mail me the prompts. (I love getting e-mails!) You can mail as many as you like, as much as you want. Bursting with ideas? Send 'em over to my e-mail at arielle_harris@baylor.edu

Don't forget to include a link to your blog in that e-mail so I know who to credit the prompt to.

If I get a prompt and I just can't figure out what to do with it (or I get way too many to handle), I will post it on the blog for others to try to complete.

Sounds fun? Then let's do it!

A Weekend of Weather Channel...And a Diamond Ring

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:00:00 +0000

So everyone knows about Hurricane Ike. Pretty much all we did for the entire weekend was watch the Weather Channel, the news, and more weather. Brandon lives in Houston, as well as his friend Steven, who evacuated Thursday and spent the weekend up at Brandon's parents' home. I spent most of my time up with him and trying to keep him from worrying about his apartment. As of right now, we still don't know how his apartment or Steven's apartment fared the hurricane. For all they know, they could be going back to nothing left.

It's scary. I just hope his apartment was spared. Not only the hurricane, but the looters.

A few weeks ago, Brandon found a diamond engagement ring in the parking lot of his apartment complex. He held onto it and I told him to bring it down this weekend to get appraised to see if the diamond was even real and what it was worth.

We took the ring down to a jewelry store that his family knows and they do all their business with, and the guy there said it is a real diamond! It's a 1 carat square-cut diamond with over thirty small diamond chips embedded in an 18k white gold band. The ring is a little big and gaudy for my tastes, but the jeweler said it's probably worth about $4-5 thousand dollars. He's doing a full appraisal on it, so we'll know later in the week what it's really worth.

The cool part is, he's probably going to let us trade that ring in for the ring that I want, as well as the wedding band Brandon wants. He can't get the exact ring I want, but he can get another one that I like even better (and for cheaper than the designer ring I wanted). He's also going to make an interlocking band to go with the ring. I also opted for a half carat diamond rather than a full one carat. I guess I just don't like those huge rocks. I'm a simple gal (and I'm saving Brandon some money). ^.^

Bioethics Cancelled...How does that make me feel?

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:20:00 +0000

I got an e-mail a bit ago saying that my Bioethics teacher is going to be sick tomorrow and we don't have class. Furthermore, our homework that was due tomorrow isn't due until Tuesday now, but I already did it so now I don't have any homework over the weekend!

So that's exciting, right? No class, sweet!

But then it got to me, the class is Bioethics. Is it ethically, morally right for me to be excited about not having class and homework while my teacher suffering? He's so ill tonight that he knows he won't be able to teach tomorrow, which means he must be feeling bad. (Unless he's faking it/pretending he is sick because he wants to go do something.) But assuming that he truly is sick, is it right for me to be happy about this? Is it okay for me to celebrate someone else's illness because I would rather not go to class? Is it bad if I hope class gets cancelled Tuesday too due to a relapse or something?

This class is getting to me...

Fashionably...What?!

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:21:00 +0000

My grandma got this magazine in the mail and she gave it to me, thinking I was interested in this stuff.

So I threw it in the bathroom because the only other magazines in there are about golf, and I think fashion would be at least a little bit more interesting than golf...I mean, anything's more interesting than golf. I don't know how they watch it. It's like watching C-SPAN.

So I'm flipping through this magazine, and the stuff I see in here is not only hideous, but it's insanely priced. I could probably have some of this stuff custom-made for cheaper, but oh no, it's designer.

Some designers should be taken to common sense school. I could teach them a thing or two.

I found one photo set incredibly amusing. It's about 10 pictures of different outfits, all insanely expensive. The title of the spread is "Thrills & Frills: Shiny Sequins, Crocheted Capes, and Ripe Silk Roses - Fantasy Fashion for Free Spirits." So I'm like hmm these might be more up my alley...then I look at them, and the prices. Plus, the entire theme is just downright absurd. The model wearing these outfits is out in the woods, tall grass and weeds, wearing all these ridiculous outfits. Like I'm totally going to walk around in woods and underbrush in an ugly $6,000 Chanel dress and $700 shoes. Riiiiight.

Well, see for yourself. I selected three to scan and show off.

Hideous $3,000 dress on and she's walking around in tall weeds and who-knows-what...shouldn't she be at a fancy dinner party? I think my mom has a dress that looks kind of like it, she probably got it at the mall for 1/30th of the price. And what's up with that hair? Does a bird's nest on her head mean she's a free spirit?

At first I thought this dress was kind of pretty, if you're into that sort of frilly velvety stuff. Then I looked at the description. Apparently this is an Alexander McQueen (whoever that is) navy velvet luxury silk-tulle dress with Swarovski crystals. Price on Request. The shoes she's wearing? $1,190. Er yeah, if you have to ask for the price, you probably can't afford it. Again, why is she in the wilderness in an outfit that probably costs more than my car?

Apparently in this one, we were going for the crochet look. Er...I think I can probably crochet something for a lot cheaper and get the same effect, and I can't even crochet. I'll teach myself, maybe take a few classes, because the Chanel black wool-hemp cape she's wearing costs $7,790 and the Chanel dress costs $6,890. The shoes are $665. If I tried to crochet something that looked like this then sat on the street and tried to sell it for a couple grand, people would stare at me like I'm insane.

The examples could continue, but it's more of the same stuff. Clothing few people could afford and I doubt they'll ever be trouncing around in the wilderness in this stuff. In one picture, she was wearing a mink coat, $23,000, and a shirt, just a wierd little white cotton shirt that costs $385.

Honestly, I don't why they're marketing this stuff to so called "free spirits." I imagine that a free-spirited person would rather run around in the woods naked than pay $16,000 for an outfit. Not to mention all the matching jewelry and stuff.

I hope "thrifty" comes into style someday.

What's Your Name?

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:00:00 +0000

In Bioethics yesterday we went around the room introducing ourselves and our majors, and we also had to identify everyone that introduced themselves before us.

Now I'm bad with names. Not just bad as in, "Okay, I know your name starts with Gr- and rhymes with 'face' but I can't remember it off the top of my head...Oh yeah it's Grace!" I'm bad as in someone says "Hi, I'm Grace," and two seconds later I don't have a clue who this brown-headed girl in front of me is and why she's talking about cats.

I don't know why this is! It's been like this all my life. I feel so bad when someone who instantly knows who I am says hi to me and I wish I could Ask The Audience or use some other lifeline so I know who the hell I'm talking to! I even admitted to the teacher when it was my turn yesterday that I can barely even remember my own name and what I ate for breakfast much less rattle off twenty names of people that just introduced themselves before me. I can pay attention to them when they say their names, I can even repeat it, but in a few minutes it's just gone. Off into that empty space where my brain is supposed to be.

Maybe it's because I'm also processing what the person looks like, what their voice sounds like, what they're wearing, are they skinny or fat? Her hair's cute, I should try to wear it like that, man his laugh is annoying, he must be smart he looks smart, did she take a bath today? Her hair looks really greasy. I recognize her, she was in my Firearms class a few years ago and I still can't remember her name oh well she just introduced herself again but I totally don't remember what she said. What's he eating, oooh she has a MacBook I really want one. Oh wait, it's my turn I'm really nervous, crap what did he just says his name was?

Maybe I need less caffiene...and maybe something for ADHD, I hear it's in patch form now.

In the end, I remembered no one's name and I still don't. I remember there was someone named Ty in the class because I compared him to Beanie Babies, but if he doesn't sit in the same place again, I'm screwed.

And I had cereal for breakfast...I think.

Slowest...Week...Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:17:00 +0000

The first two days of school have gone by, but it seems like forever has passed. Maybe it's because my schedule is more screwed up than it's ever been.

Ever.

See? (Click to enlarge)

I blame Organic Chemistry Lab and Human Physiology Lab. Odd lab times kill my life! While I enjoy not having class on Wednesdays and Fridays, something that has never ever happened to me, it tends to make Tuesdays and Thursdays go by really really slow, not to mention that I have four classes, a lab lecture, and a lab every Tuesday and Thursday until 8pm.

I have also found out that most of my teachers this year don't grade on a curve, so I can't count on that to save me (not like it helped much last year stupid 69 in Genetics).

At least I get every Wednesday as a break so I can do readings and study orplayvideogames.

Oh and about textbooks, I finally got into Bioethics after trying for two years, a class that is always full because graduate students have to take it too and they get to register before me as well as dean's list and athletics and half the school it seems. My old roommate, Kristin, is pissed off because she couldn't get into it and the teacher won't make an exception to let her in because it's already so full.

Because I got into Bioethics, I got to drop Biochemistry and return nearly $300 worth of books to trade for about $60 worth of used Bioethics books. My Human Physiology teacher told us that we don't need our textbook and my friend Lauren told me that when she took it, she never even opened the book. That's $121.90 that I get to return and I also dropped Raquetball so I could have Wednesdays and Fridays free (it was the only class I had left on M/W/F), so that's $27.35 I get back. Next semester when I take Bioethics, I'll probably be able to get the book used since they won't be adopting another new edition so soon so I'll save probably fifty dollars. That money will go into the MacBook fund! What scares me about the MacBook is I'm starting to get worried that the rumors were untrue or that they only apply to the MacBook Pros which kind of fall out of my price range $1,799 plus tax...kill me now).

Also, the tip of my index finger on my right hand has been bothering me all day. I didn't slam it in anything lately, and it's not discolored or anthing. It just hurts, or maybe it's hypersensitivity. I'm just worried that it might be something more serious. If it continues to hurt and be sensitive or if it spreads, I may at least call a nurse or ask someone who might know more about the body. It kind of hurts to type, but that won't stop me! I'm a BEAST!

Go read Bitten! Do it!

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:00:00 +0000

The first chapter of Bitten has now been posted. Go read it here. Subscribe, add it to your bloglist, tell your friends! But most of all, please read it and let me know what you think!

I think this story is a lot better than Becoming, so I really want everyone's input as it progresses. Bitten is being updated Mondays and Thursdays (a new chapter of Becoming will still come every Thursday) for the next few weeks, but the chapters are fairly short, so try to keep up with them.

Enjoy! <3

School Starts Tomorrow! I don't know whether to be happy or sad...

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:55:00 +0000

My senior year at Baylor is about to begin in less than twenty-four hours! Though I'm excited for school to begin, I'm also ready for it to be done with. I want to be done with school so I can finally get married, move in with Brandon, and begin my adult life.

Then again, I don't really want to study...and I'm going to have to study a lot this year. Well, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and remember that I'm 3/4 of the way there! I just have to not screw up this year. I have to pass my classes, and I'd like to do well. I want to graduate with at least a 3.0 GPA.

Also, I found my own copy of Wii Fit! Now I can resume exercising and since I'm at my grandma's I don't have to fight people for the Wii, since they don't even know what the Wii is, really. They know nothing about technology, really. They don't even have a cell phone! And they don't even really know what the internet is. I often wonder, when they're watching TV and a video game ad comes on, or a computer ad comes on, if they even know what the commercial is talking about. Do they just tune it out or ignore it? My Grandma didn't even know my iPhone was a phone, even though Apple runs ads all the time (and they do watch a lot of TV).

I'm going to start getting ready for tomorrow! Whee!

Icky, Dirty, Nasty Houses

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:09:00 +0000

Today was my last day of work! After work, I packed up the rest of my stuff and came up to Lorena, where my Grandma lives and where I'll be staying for the next two semesters. (Expect to see some posts in the future about living with old people. :D)

As a little bit of a treat, I want to share some pictures that I've taken over the summer of what happens sometimes when people move out of military housing. They don't really move out, they just leave their stuff and start over wherever they're going next. These houses are filthy, smelly, and filled with trash that no one wants (and a few treasures if you are willing to dig). You might even wonder if these houses are really vacant. Well, all the pictures I am posting are of vacant houses. No one lives there anymore, really. They're not coming back for this stuff.

Oh, and sorry if the quality is terrible on some of these, they were all taken on my iPhone. As always, click to enlarge.

Enjoy!

This is one of the first nasty houses I went into. I went into this one with my uncle, who is also our supervisor. Surprisingly, this house had no bugs!

The contents of the fridge...mmm, freezy pops and Pepto Bismol!

The kitchen counter and all the stuff they left behind. The cabinets were also full of stuff that they were too lazy to even throw away.

The stove...maybe they should have used that Ajax?

Just a general shot of the mess on the floor. In the bottom left, that's a cat food dish. They just left it there, with wet cat food still in it. By the time we got there it was starting to rot...

The living room, they left a huge carpet, and there was a vase with old roses, just spilled over the floor, and some dirt as well. In the top right hand corner are various liquor bottles, empty.

Upstairs, on the landing. This is the scene that greeted me.

Prescription medications. There was everything from prescription Zoloft to Dimetapp to Witch Hazel left behind, just scattered all over the floors in various rooms. I'm pretty sure the military pays for these people to get these prescriptions.

House number two, also had no bugs.

This is what I saw upon pulling up to the house. I had to double-check to make sure I had the right address. From what I saw, these people tried to have a garage sale before they left. Whatever they didn't sell, they just left behind.

Dining room? I couldn't even get around in this room to spray. I actually called my dad on this one and said there's no way I could spray around inside this house. He told me to do my best...

Kitchen shot, the drawers and cabinets were full of stuff.

A child's bedroom, I'm assuming. Totally trashed.

Another bedroom.

Naaaasty bathroom.

Another bedroom, stuff everywhere. Check out the stains in the carpet, and the crayon on the plastic bin.

One of several holes in the walls. This one was about...three inches from top to bottom if I remember correctly.

The backyard. Note the missing slats in the fence and state of the swingset.

House number three. This one was actually an eviction, I learned later. Don't know why there evicted, but they were. They left behind a pretty nice washer and dryer too. I'm sure some maintenance people salvaged those and made a few bucks!

Living room, too bad that TV didn't work. :(

The mess behind the couches.

Yummeh...

There was stuff on the floor of every bedroom, but I wanted to show this one to illustrate how dirty this house was. Cigarette butts everywhere. In one place, there was an overturned ashtray full of ashes and butts.

Probably one of my nastier shots. At one time they had rice in there, then it turned into a nice, moist haven for fruit flies and their larvae. Disgusting.

The contents of the fridge. All those blackish brown specks? Those are dead fruit flies.

Molding fruit, vegetables, and bread, just left behind. It smelled...really bad.

The other side of the kitchen. I brought in some chemical (The plastic jug with the red scoop on top.) so i could fill my spray can and couldn't even get to the sink.

The bathroom sink, stuff everywhere!

They could have used that scrub brush, couldn't they?

So your question is probably, why aren't we outraged about this? Should we shove their noses in it and make them clean it up themselves? Nah. Only about 5% of the houses that I sprayed as vacants looked like this. Imagine how they looked when the people were living there! Well, whenever I went to a house like this, I always checked out the paperwork to see what they were getting charged. Of course, the charges varied depending on how well they cleaned and what was left behind, what needed to be repaired, and the state that the house was left in.

$1128.63...Yeah, buddy! That's coming out of your paycheck!

Wading Through Roaches

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:54:00 +0000

Today was my first day back out on the road, spraying the vacant houses. Dad felt like a week of training was enough for the new secretary (even though I think she needs about another month), so I got thrown back out into the wild.

While I was working, I got a call from my uncle, who is basically our supervisor. He was over at a vacant house nearby that he'd been spraying for the past week because of a really bad german cockroach infestation, one of the worst he'd ever seen. By now, most of the activity had died down, but there were still a few live ones and a whole bunch of dead ones. It can take several weeks to get a roach infestation this bad under control. He wanted me to come take a look at the house, so I could see how bad it was.

I could smell it before I even walked in. He had the door open and the odor was just wafting out. The floor in the entryway was littered with dirt and dead roaches, and I could even see roaches that had been squished in the door frame from opening and closing the door. He said the first time he came, the roaches had been falling on him right when he opened the door. The was roach poop along the door frame as well, all evidence of infestation.

The house had holes in the walls, crayon and marker all over the walls, and dirt and filth everywhere.

The kitchen was where the smell was the worst, and also where the roaches had been the worst. Maintenance people had pulled out the dishwasher from under the counter and this was the scene: (Warning: not for the squeamish!)

All that black and brown stuff you see on the floor? Dead, decomposing roaches, skins from when the roaches molted (each roach molts six to seven times as it matures), roach poo, and roach egg casings. All that is filth generated by german cockroaches. That right there is why some kids have asthma. When the roaches molt, their old skins dry up and become airborne, causing asthma and irritating people's allergies. I guarantee you that any kids living in this house had asthma or exhibited symptoms of it.

All this brown stuff on the wall? That's roach poop, scat, feces, whatever you want to call it. It's disgusting, and it wasn't just here. It was all over the place in this house.

A close up of the inch-tall pile of dead roaches (even though it's not very good.) All these shiny things? They're roach egg casings. Each one has like thirty to forty eggs in it, and I'd say there are probably fifty or more egg cases that picture alone.

Something told me today to bring my good camera, but I didn't bring it. I really should have, because then I'd have some much better pictures than what my iPhone can take. Imagine living like that, though. Imagine having your house just infested with roaches. Imagine coming home to the worst odor you can think of and living in that smell. Imagine opening your drawers and cabinets and your utensils and plates covered in roach poo and dead roaches. Imagine turning on a light on at night in your kitchen, bathroom, or living room and seeing hundreds of roaches scatter.

Imagine not doing anything about it.

Moving...hurray!

noreply@blogger.com (Arielle Fragassi) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:59:00 +0000

Today I'm moving all my junk up to my Grandma's house. I'm living with them this year mostly because it's cheaper. They only live like fifteen minutes away, and the only roommates I have to deal with are her and her third husband, Dean. (The first two passed away.) I don't know Dean very well, mostly because I haven't spent much time with him. He really likes golf, likes to watch it, play it, and read about it. Other than that, I don't really know anything else about him.

I'm moving my desk, most of my stuff, and my computer up there today. I'll still have my old laptop, so don't worry, I'll still be updating Becoming and working on getting Bitten ready for posting. I'm bringing my computer up there mostly because I want to get my room all set up today and I also want to configure the router because I'm putting wi-fi in her house. Also, it's heavy, and my dad will be doing most of the moving today, my only chance to get him to help me move the heavy stuff.

I'll post pictures of the room once it's all pretty. That'll probably be late this week or next week though.