New Library opening

Well, our little town has a great big new library now!!

They had a grand opening on July 21st, the day that Harry Potter came out, so of course it was even more exciting! They had free cookies, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and taiko drumming, to say the least.

The doors opened at 12:30, and everyone was pushing and shoving to get in! It looks very impressive, all shiny and new. It seems to be from the same designer that did our other new town buildings, the Centennial Recreation Center, the Aquatic Center, and the Community and Cultural Center. Lots of movement and progress has been going on in the past few years in Morgan Hill. Anyways, here are some pictures form this grand opening:

For the full set of pictures, and much more, view my Flickr pictures here:

10 years... the wait is over!

I finished reading Harry Potter today! All 759 pages of it.... well worth the wait. The last book was all i expected, but much more- all kinds of surprises at the end! I recommend it to everyone. It has been very interesting to see the storyline develop over the past 10 years. Here are some pictures from the release party at midnight at Wal-mart, where we waited in line, a line that stretched past the garden center! The wristband you got determined the order in which you could purchase your copy, that went Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, then Slytherin.

There's my dad and I reading in the Mcdonald's at Walmart. It was a long night!

The following morning, my mom and I attended the release party at our local bookstore, Booksmart, where i had pre-ordered the book two months ago. This way, we ended up with two copies, one for my dad and one for me, but I just couldn't wait until they opened at 8 am on the day of, when I could get it at midnight the night before somewhere else!! The bookstore had all kinds of activities and drawings, and i even won a Harry Potter button for answering a trivia question about the Tri-Wizard Tournament. They had a mock Forbidden Forest, and a bar serving "butterbeer" (which was very delicious, by the way, and non-alcholic) and even characters dressed up. Here are some pictures:

Happy Wizarding!!

Harry Potter... tomorrow night!!!!!

I'm so excited- the last of the series will finally be coming out tomorrow night! However, this excitement also comes with a tiny sense of dread on my part, because after this last, final book there will be no more Harry Potter goodness to brighten the world! There will be no more new books to read, and no more new chapters in the life of the " Boy Who Lived."
I remember, back when the first book hit stores, how people whispered and talked about it. It was hyped up by editors to be one of the best new children's book series at the time. I think that I was in third grade, or somewhere around there, when I read the first book by J.K. Rowling. Well, let me say this- I was hooked! Those editors were definitely right, but they were missing one thing- it turned out to be the best new series for ALL ages- even my parents have read about Potter and his adventures. It made me a little sad when I found out that Hogwart's wasn't real!- and I'm sure plenty of others felt the same way, judging by the way the whole nation holds its breath in expectation of each new novel.

Here are some Potter sites for news, spoilers, and etc.:

Muggle Net

The Leaky Cauldron

Veritaserum

HPANA

The author, J.K. Rowling's official site

Some fun with the cat!

Some pictures of my baby kitty Churro!!

And my cat and I with some of my new bedding from IKEA.

Technology- meh!!

I bought one of the above prints for my new room! It's the one on the right, and it was only $4, marked down from $79!

Right now, I'm sitting at my daddy's giant computer desk in his classroom at school. He has this enormous 30 or 40nch monitor. It's... fun. So today, i had the task of setting up his new wireless mini keyboard and gyration mouse. Grrrr- It took me about two hours to set up the darn things, and in the end, the solution to the frustration was simply just to get new batteries! It always seems to be that way with those tricky newfangled devices! Anyways, the new setup is working just fine, and the Air mouse is really sweet.

Shopping day...

So today was a pretty busy day! My mom and I went shopping for my new dorm all evening! First I drove down to help out my dad with his Summer Institute, where he's teaching digital media classes during the summer, and then drove my mom up to the EPA, the location of the notorious IKEA superstore. wow- it always amazes me how massive that store is! We got most of the important stuff that I will need in a few months, including a new comforter and cover, pillows, a rug, cups, lamps, and pictures and mirrors for the walls. We had lunch which was chicken& some other stuff. delicious. Then, we loaded up the back of the station wagon with my new goodies and stopped at Costco and Target on the way home, to get bath towels, socks, and a flannel sheet set( the X-long twin size is kind of hard to find!). So all in all, a good day! Now i'm just watching The Notebook- I've heard lots about it!

3 more days til BOOK 7!!!!!

Short movie reviews

just got home from work, a long closing shift (my favorites!) and I'm enjoying a Reese's Big Cup with Nuts. They are so gooodd... especially with this Safeway soy milk. Delicious. Not an advertisement-don't worry! : )
I watched Fever Pitch last night, and the Queen the night before. Both were good movies, very different though. Fever Pitch is with Drew barrymore and Jimmy Fallon, about the Red Sox, and it's a really sweet romantic comedy. It was pretty good to watch. The other movie, The Queen, I got from the movie machine at Safeway, the one that shoots the DVDs out at you, and it's only $1 for 24 hours. It was a really intense movie; the kind that you might fall asleep watching if you didn't pay attention. I really enjoy British movies and film, though, so I found it enthralling. Rent both of these, if you haven't seen them yet!

Sunday, my day off

I slept in today. It was a yummy sleep, but i woke up at around 3 and discovered i was still on the couch. i think this caused me to have a dream about working at Starbucks. not sure why, but it was an interesting dream nevertheless. I imagined that my dad and i were out traveling one day, and went into a Starbucks to get some hot chocolate, or whatever other drinks they sell. haha.. and then when i walked in. they asked me if i could just start working, to cover a shift, because someone had forgotten to show up for their scheduled shift. So, i just went behind the counter and started serving drinks!
I had another dream too, where my mother came over to me and started giving me a haircut, at home. I seemed to be okay with it at the time. it all seemed quite normal in the dream, but who knows.
Interesting.... not sure what it quite means, but i'll look it up in my dream interpretation guide:

• Loss of hair: fear of loss of one's virility
• Traveling in a car with another person: thoughts about marriage
• Occupations: All occupations are lumped together as an entity in dreams. One may stand for another, and all represent man in his official capacity.
• The house: the mother's womb
• Time of day: Afternoon: adulthood

These definitions or references are taken from the packet "How to Interpret your Dreams," by Tom Chetwynd, something i read last year in school, but still have because it is very fascinating.
I went in to Peet's today and got my free tea for the week, which was Masala Chai, tea bags. this over the loose leaf tea just for convenience, and to try it out. I brewed it today, and it wasI chose excellent! Two tea bags in a mug of boling water, with half an inch of vanilla soy milk added afterwards. yummmmm!

And, for other news, my cat took over my laundry basket today. She outgrew the old one, so now she is upgraded.. but i still need a laundry basket!

Thundering thursdays

well! no more headache today!!! woo-pah!

I worked this morning early, so to start the day off, I ended up stuck in traffic on the 87. That was not so fun, but luckily i had left a lot earlier, because i was expecting that crazy traffic! yuck. there is nothing like solid brake lights to start off a lovely day. haha... well, it wasn't so bad, anyways. I had an awesome lunch sandwich- turkey, avocado, and bacon club sandwich from the bakery across the street, and sparkling apple juice to drink. It was awesome!!

I also bought three quarts of transmission fluid today, for my ridiculous but lovely Volvo 850. It's a brick, a tank, whatever, but it's fun. It might have a leak : (

So... this will be the sixth quart this month! uh oh
I also gave in to retail therapy and bought some new work clothes today. I got two pairs of pants and a sweater. So now, I'm just sitting outside watching my kitten
chew on grass and play in it like she's a real panther or jungle cat! It's purely adorable.

Loud Noises!

wednesday- an okay day.
major headache though!!! And all my senses are heightened, so the littlest noise is like it is right next to my ear. Caffeine and tylenol have still not helped yet, so i hope this goes away soon!
I worked in San jose today.. afterwards, I stopped in at the Morgan Hill store to do some paperwork, and the health inspector was there! Scary.
He even looked like Larry the Cable Guy!

Me, working.

+ (91), originally uploaded by _campbell.

Working hard or hardly working?

The past few days and events

Okay, well it's been a couple (or more) days since I've written about my super way exciting life. Hahah... well, anyways, It has been an interesting week. I've worked every day, six days last week, because there have been some staffing changes and what not at work (Peet's Coffee and Tea, for those of you who don't know) , so it has been pretty busy.
Sunday was spent at the Kaiser hospital in San Francisco, with my grandpa and grandma and mom. We spent all day visiting with him, spending time together and talking and playing Jumbles, and then he sent us off at around 8 so that he could get his shower in preparation for the following day's surgery.
We went to Chinese at a little restaurant on Broadway, which was very tasty. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel Myako in Japantown for rest. We needed to wake up before 5!, so we accomplished that, but to the tune of no less than 5 alarms! : D
We headed to the hospital, and made it in time to see Papa in his room, sitting there and getting ready for "the slab" as he called it. The nurses came and took him for surgery prep, while we were escorted from one waiting room to another. We got to see him just before he went in, which was a little scary and very emotional. It was about a 4-5 hour surgery, so we waited in the hospital cafeteria for a few hours.
We had Egg muffins for breakfast, and i proceeded to sleep on the dining table for two hours!! And spill hot chocolate, of course! : ) After that, we went back up to the cardiovascular procedure waiting room to hear news from the physicians.
Unfortunately, i had to catch the caltrain back to San jose before i could hear the news, but i found out later on that everything went just fine.
This morning, i awoke with a crazy headache, the kind that feels like a migraine but doesn't hurt, the kind where I can hear loud rushing sounds around my head, but no pain just yet. Yuck! well... a little caffeine and some food helps, but as of now it's still going on, so I guess i just have to wait it out!
I also need to get some sleep, because tonight, I am going with my dad at midnight to the premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, movie 5 of the series. I'm really excited!!!!

Follow this link for some interesting fan news and facts about Harry Potter

Independence Day

Good Evening!
Happy fourth of July all, I hope you're having a terrific one!
This is my first blog post, and i created it because it seemed like a good idea. OH- and... my superb aunt has one, so that makes it way cool. : )
Work was good today- since it was a holiday i got paid overtime!
My aunt and uncle came to visit, and had some drinks and purchased some excellent teas from the tea rack. It was awesome to see both of them.
It is SUPER hot right now.



As you can see!








Well, i'm off to more exciting adventures.
TTFN