UC Santa Barbara

The final school we visited was UC Santa Barbara.  My daughter and I could barely walk because we were so sore from all the walking we did.  It was so nice to sit on the beach and watch the kids play in the sand and surf.  Somehow the vastness of the ocean and the sounds of the birds and waves calms the soul.  Nice little break from all the driving and walking.

You have the beautiful mountains in the background and the beach on the other side of campus.  A short drive across the freeway and you are in a very nice little town with lots of specialty shops and a very active downtown.  There were a lot of activities going on when we visited too.  Some type of ethnic dancing and a barbeque as well as a big basketball game.

This is a very nice school, but is down on my daughter's list of choices.

UCLA

What can I say, the campus was so gorgeous.  It is in the middle of Los Angeles and one side has the big city skyscrapers and the other has the million dollar homes of Beverly Hills.  We almost got killed several times because the crazy driving.  But once on campus, it was quiet and peaceful.

This is inside the library.  Lots of details everywhere.

Another beautiful tennis facility with a huge stadium seating area.  Wouldn't it be great to play in front of so many people?  Well, not me, cuz I don't know what I'm doing, but maybe if you were really good.

Must take a picture with the school mascot.  We probably walked past this a dozen times.  We just kept walking around and around the campus.  We had to wait until noon for the student store opened and we could get a shirt and sweat pants for my husband and daughter.

The little guy was such a trooper and was still running everywhere after 4 schools.

How could you not love a school with quilt block tiles on every stair of the library.  They were all so pretty!

The buildings were gorgeous.  Reminded me of Oberlin where my oldest went to school.  Most schools out here in the west don't look like this.  There were a lot of open spaces and even though there were a ton of people out and about, there were places to get away from everyone.  This was my daughter's favorite school and she hopes that she gets in.  We hope we can pay for it!

the cupboard is bare

Well, actually the two giant buckets I use to hold the finished quilts are completely empty.  I can say that I do not have a single finished quilt sitting around, waiting for a home.  Last week a friend picked up 20 to take to Mexico to give to kids in an orphanage and today I dropped off the rest (probably 30 more) to my friend who will take them to Safe Families.  They are growing in my area and are hosting more and more kids whose parents need some time to figure out their own lives.  The kids are safe, loved and not put in foster care.  They get to see their parent often as the families are supported.  I just love that program.

I guess this means I had better get busy making more quilts!  How many days until summer vacation?

Claremont McKenna

Claremont McKenna is part of a 5 college group that are all connected.  If you get in to one, you can take classes at the others.  You can't even tell where one campus ends and the other begins.  It was really quiet on campus on Friday night so I'm wondering how many students go home over the weekend.

They had a beautiful tennis facility.

We were so sore and tired, it was really hard to walk around, so we did a bit of driving around the campus to see it all.

QOV needs help

http://qovf.blogspot.com/2013/03/want-to-get-involved.html

Do you already make quilts for Quilts of Valor?  They are looking for some more volunteers to help with coordination and managing their group.  Maybe you can help out?  I wish I wasn't working full time, or I would step up.  QOV is a great organization.

UC Irvine

Second on the list was UC Irvine.  Both my brother and sister graduated from UCI and it is so different from what I remember when I visited long ago.  I met a former student who was going to give us a personal tour and we were there just in time for the campus tour put on by the school.  We decided to all walk with them and get the inside scoop on the campus.  My little guy loved the tour guide because he was so weird and told terrible jokes.  

I don't think you can get a real feel for the campus without eating in the dining commons so after the tour, we had the all you can eat in one sitting lunch.  My little guy approved and he's a pretty picky eater.  

My daughter has already been admitted to UCI into the honors program and was offered a $2500 scholarship.  It would be nice having her near my brother who still lives in Irvine just in case.  So hard to send your child far away without having a little safety net just in case.  

After sending my oldest 3,000 miles away (can you believe that was 5 years ago?) I'm doing a little better with letting go.  But since she is the only other girl in the house now, I'm going to miss her even more.  I will be left with boys and strange body noises and no food in the house!

Quilting again

About 20 years ago, I took a quilting class at my church with three other ladies.  One of those ladies has served as a missionary in Kazakhstan for a couple of years and is now back in my area.  She is a nurse at a local school and has 7 kids.  This week she is going with 2 of her kids to Mexico to work on building a house and work in an orphanage.  I'm sending 20 of our quilts with her.  I'm so happy that she is able to be the delivery person for all of our handiwork.  We love to bring comfort to kids all over the world.  Most go to local kids, but it is nice to know we've sent quilts to Kazakhstan, Rwanda, Haiti, New Jersey (Superstorm Sandy), Connecticut (Newton), Louisiana (Katrina) and San Bruno (gas main explosion).

I've been spending so much time using my new embroidery machine that I've stopped quilting.  I need summer vacation so I have time for everything.

The other thing I've been doing a lot of is walking.  The new medicine I'm on makes me want to eat and eat and eat.  I'm never full so to keep me from exploding, my husband and I walk.  I'm still gaining weight every month, but hopefully it is slowing the weight down a bit.  The migraines are better, being only 3-4 a week instead of every day.

These last two quilts are some of my favorite types.  At one of our quilt days, the students from my high school cut these on the Accuquilt Studio cutter.  Carla has the kids sort the scraps into bags by size.  Then they lay scraps on top of the dies and roll them through the cutter. We get a thousand pieces in an hour.  Of course, we then have a thousand pieces to sew back together.  We must teach more kids how to sew!  We have a lot of kids who need volunteer hours.  Again, wish I had more time in the day.

weird bug

Anybody know what kind of bug this is?  I've never seen anything like this before.  The right side is the head and the long feelers/legs on the left are the back end.  So weird.  Found it on my counter while making lunch today.

walking

I've set a goal for 1,000 miles this year.  Some days it is really hard to get moving, especially after a long day at work.  But if I can get off the couch, I always feel better after a walk.  Most of the time it helps with my migraines too.  Our longest walk so far is just over 6 miles.  We try to walk different routes to keep things interesting.  Much nicer to walk with my husband than alone or with the dogs.

75.78 miles for January

54.13 miles for February

24.92 for miles March so far.

I was hoping that I'd be able to add some running/jogging in there as well, but my bones and joints aren't agreeing with that too much.  Between my feet, my knees and ankles, I"m going to stick to walking for now.

UC San Diego

After a blog break, I am back!  Lots to talk about and pictures to show.  We had a furlough break for a week in February and my son had an All State Band concert in Fresno.  Since I was going to be half way to So. Cal, I figured it was a perfect time to take my daughter to visit some of the colleges she has applied to.  We had a great time and came home very sore and tired, but she has a better idea of what she wants in a college.

The first stop on our 5 college trip a couple weeks ago was UC San Diego.  My daughter loves that you can see the ocean from some of the dorms.  The campus is huge and it seemed like everything was uphill.

This is the Dr. Seuss library because I guess Theodore Geisel graduated from UCSD.  The higher you go up, the quieter it must be.  We made it to the top and you can see everything for miles around.  Lots of study rooms and tables too.

This was my daughter's 2nd favorite school of the 5.