# 23: Camp at Enchanted Rock

This semester Chase and I took a stellar astronomy class. That being said, the class was less than stellar...it was actually pretty boring and I am positive that the professor didn't like me. He picked on me a lot for little things, made notes on my work about how I did such and such wrong (when we all did the exact same thing!), and still didn't remember my name on the last day of class. The actual astronomy part was pretty interesting, though! It is always fascinating to learn about something new, especially such a vast topic as astronomy. One of the first things we were assigned to complete was a star chart. We had to choose a constellation (Cassiopeia) and measure the degrees of each star in it, and also measure the distance to Polaris (the north star). Since you can't see but 3 or 4 stars in Austin, Chase and I decided to drive out to Enchanted Rock, camp out for the night, and make our observations.

This was a somewhat spur of the moment decision. Note to self: do not go camping at Enchanted Rock unless you are completely prepared. So our first mistake was not checking to see if we could drive up to the campsites. For some dumb reason we just assumed that we could. WRONG. You have to hike for about a mile and a half before you reach the primitive campsites, hence the word "primitive". So after making the drive out there, paying for the campsite, and realizing that we would have to walk all the way there in the Texas heat, we also realized that we forgot a tent. Yes, I know, how could we forget a tent right? Surprisingly it was easy to do. With nothing else to do, we loaded up as much as we could carry and started the walk. Now, picture this: we have on these huge backpacks stuffed to the brim, Chase is carrying a nice size cooler, I have his giant laptop in my backpack, and somehow he fit the sleeping bag into his. I swear we had to stop every five minutes from exhaustion. Once we finally made it to the campsite and it got dark, we decided that it was way to creepy to stay there. We were under these scary trees, all alone, and it just looked like a scene out of a horror movie. And then just to add to the creepiness, we could hear so many coyotes and they seemed way to close for comfort. We finally decided to move our campsite to a more open location. We needed to be able to see the sky anyway! We decided on a slab of granite...which are everywhere, since Enchanted Rock is in fact just a big granite mound. So we laid everything out and started our observations. As our flashlight broke, phones died, and water bottles ran out, we finished up the observations and decided to hike back to the truck before it got hot, since we were out of water.

In the end, we got our star charts made. Of course I got a B because my paper was "sloppy". Pshh. I am not a sloppy person, at least not when it comes to school assignments. Anyways! Next time we go to Enchanted Rock, we are going to be much better prepared.

At least I can mark it off my list! :D

Bien á vous,
Caitlin

# 33: Buy something from Etsy

I made my first purchase from Etsy this summer. I've always loved this website and when I have free time I browse around looking at all of the cool stuff people make. Some people are so creative! After a while, I decided on a pair of earrings. They make it look like you have gauges when you really don't. Not that I like to trick people or anything, but I love when people ask me what size they are. You can't even tell they're fake.
Some day I want to actually gauge my ears...not much, maybe to a 10...but I am a wimp. My septum piercing hurt less than it does when I attempt to gauge my ears. One of these days I'll do it, though :)

This is what they look like:

Pretty cute if you ask me! I love them. They even held up when I went swimming in salt water!
They definitely won't be my last purchase from Etsy.

Bien á vous,
Caitlin

The Little Things

Well, I've been MIA for a few months. Sorry about that ;)
I don't really have any good excuse, other than being busy with school and work. I have had no motivation to update this thing. The good news is that I do have a few goals to mark off my list! The bad news is that I'm going to have to delete that last blog...I totally started biting my fingernails again. I blame stress.

School went pretty well this semester. I only took 3 classes, so at least that allowed me to work more. Gotta get that money! Sadly, my classes, which consisted of Stellar Astronomy, Human Sexuality, and French 3, probably won't transfer to Texas State along with me next semester. I'm at my limit of transferable hours. But then again, that may just be a blessing in disguise and the universe's way of telling me that I'm not ready for French 4. I feel like I didn't learn anything in that class this semester!

Everything else in life is going pretty good. I can't complain much.

Now it's time to start editing photos!

Bien á vous,
Caitlin

# 76: Quit biting my nails

Yeah, you read that right. I haven't bit my fingernails off in over a month! It has been difficult at times, because it's more of an oral fixation for me: whenever I'm bored, nervous, scared, etc. you could always find me chewin' away...which is pretty gross if you think about it.
I don't have pictures of them yet, but when I do I will add one on this post :)

In other news, I am still working at the theatre. It's going alright, but it's kind of boring and repetitive. But, then again, what job isn't! My coworkers make it bearable!

This last weekend I went to one of my best friend's wedding! It was beautiful. I am so happy for her, and for her groom. Congratulations Jordan and Ryan!!

I'll have some more posted in the next few days.

Bien á vous,
Caitlin

#22: Get a job

It has been forever since I have written anything! I have been living in the new apartment now for almost 2 weeks, and still haven't set internet up. But the good news is that they are coming to install it on Sunday! No more slacking! More good news is that during my time away from the blogging world I got a job! I am now a concessionist at the Regal Metropolitan Theatre here in Austin. It's not the most prestigious job ever, but it's something! And, not to mention, I am working soooo many hours. Over 35 a week!

So far it is going great; the job isn't tough and my coworkers are really cool. I think it will be a good, steady job for a few years.

Sadly I have no pictures to upload, but I promise I will add some soon! I may take some pics of my new apartment, show it off a bit ;)

Bien á vous,
Caitlin

# 15: Adopt a new kitten

It's official!
Chase and I adopted a sweet little kitten on the 21st. We went to the animal shelter after our long day of ice skating and fell in love with her. We got our applications, got entered into the system that day, and put our little kitty cat on hold until Tuesday.
The next day, we went by to finalize the adoption and pick her up!

Meet Amélie!

I initially wanted to get a kitten to keep my other cat, Vince, company so he wouldn't get lonely. He isn't taking her presence so well, all he does is hide, growl, and hiss.
Hopefully he will get over it though and grow to love his new little sister :)

On a side note, I really like the Town Lake Animal Shelter. It is a great facility and they genuinely care about the animals that are kept there. Sadly there is an extreme overpopulation of cats and dogs here in Austin, as I'm sure is the deal everywhere, especially during the summer. With the admittance of so many animals into the shelter, they have deals to help get the pets adopted more rapidly so they won't have to euthanize as many. (TLAC is NOT a no-kill shelter; they don't have enough room and can't afford to keep all of the animals for an indefinite period of time.) We were lucky enough to get Amélie for free. During the month of June, all cats are free on Tuesdays, cats and dogs 5+ are free to adopt, and cats and dogs less than 5 years old have reduced adoption fees.
Helping an animal in need and giving it a forever-home is such a rewarding feeling. Amélie seems so happy now and is slowly warming up to us; right now she is curled up in my lap, as I hope she will do every time I write my blog :)

Bien á vous,
Caitlin

# 48: Go ice skating

Finally I can mark one off my list!

For our 7 month anniversary, my boyfriend and I decided to do something fun. Ice skating it was!
To start the day off, we went to Einstein Bros. Bagels and had a delicious brunch. I had never bought a plain bagel there before and I must say it was absolutely delicious. Then we headed to the skating rink!
So, to be honest, I have only gone ice skating once before and I'm pretty sure that was in 4th grade for a birthday party. I was pretty darn nervous about getting out there on the ice.
I think to up my confidence, my boyfriend Chase told me that he 'isn't great' at skating either... Hah!
He was skating backwards, doing spins, and showing off like crazy!
During this, I could barely stand up let alone move.
Finally, we decided that I couldn't be that balance-impaired and got me some new skates.
Voilà! I could skate! (Of course, not as well as him.)

All in all, the ice skating was tons of fun...even though all of the little kids were showing us up.

After we went ice skating, we headed down to south Austin to meet up with friends for lunch at ThunderCloud Subs, which was delicious!

Then we headed over to the Town Lake Animal Shelter, to look around at the cats and dogs. We were originally going to walk the dogs, but we fell in love with a cute little kitten in the shelter and ended up spending all of our time in there...
This leads to the next post ;)

Bien à vous,
Caitlin