luxe chandelier

I miss shopping for school especially dorm furniture. That doesn’t stop me from strolling down the aisles at the store and just seeing what they have to offer this year. Sometimes I get jealous when I see something new and wish they had invented it before when I was in college!

I went through my photos and found some of the places I’ve lived in during college. I don’t have any of my 1st year since I lost all my photos when my computer went bonkers on me back then.

2nd year: In the dorms.

3rd year: On campus apartment living with 3 boys and Tyler.

3rd year: Apparently I thought it was cool having jeans up on the wall!

4th year: Off campus apartment with Tyler and another roommate. This was my crazy red obsession phase.

Married life (present): Obviously a big improvement from a dorm room to an adult room.

We’re still not done with our bedroom but this is what we have so far. I love how much natural light we have in our bedroom. I’m thinking about adding different kind of frames on the wall to the left. Our bedroom is pretty much the last thing on our minds right now anyways compared to other rooms in the house. But it has been interesting to see how colorful we have gone to white/sea blue in the past few years.

Since last week we have decided to recently let 2 friends of ours move in with us for a while so we can help them save money and they’re helping us save money so basically a win/win situation. Also because of that, we have recently been able to pay off one of our credit cards. We have been enjoying their company and playing games almost every night. I love having a full house… this explains why I want 5+ kids someday!

DeafNation Expo occurs all over the United States. Tyler and I usually go when they come to Phoenix – it’s so easy to get sucked into conversations with friends we haven’t seen in a long time that we don’t have time to look around and see what’s at the expo.

This year was the first time they were hosting DeafNation World Expo in Las Vegas which turned out to be a huge success since 23,400 deaf people from 73 different countries all were there. Unfortunately Tyler and I couldn’t take the week off to be there but we were able to go for the weekend.

The drive there was boring since I was in a car full of boys! We got to our hotel and within minutes I was ready to go to the Deaf World Party which was hosted at Mandalay Bay. Who would’ve knew that the boys would take forever to get ready!? Rahul was being emo with his hair and the boys were swapping clothes/shoes. Finally we left after a while and got to the hotel. We had to pay $20 each to get in and I was hoping that it was going to be worth my money!

I was immediately overwhelmed at first seeing everyone again in the dark club. There were times when some people would come up to me and I couldn’t remember exactly where I knew them from….school in Washington, school in Arizona, college in New York, camp, etc. Luckily for me I didn’t embarrass myself!

I felt like I had a speech prepared for the whole weekend of how to sum up my life in a few sentences. The deaf community is so big that it’s hard to keep in touch with everyone.

It was really awesome seeing deaf people everywhere we went….in the bathroom, in line at a restaurant or club, & gambling next to us. Usually if deaf people see other deaf people in public – they usually ask in excitement, “You’re deaf too!?!” and then they introduce themselves because it’s not that often you see deaf people that you don’t know. In Las Vegas no one did that & I’m glad because I personally think it’s annoying when people approach me because we’re both deaf.

When Tyler and I normally see deaf people in public that we don’t know – we stop signing and then I make sure my hair is covering my hearing aid. I know this makes me sound like I’m a rude person but I’m not… I just don’t normally feel like talking about where I’m from, what school I went to, who else I know in the deaf community, and so on.

Anyways, there were so many other people we intended on seeing in Vegas but there wasn’t a lot of time and so many different groups & plans. We even picked up on some international sign language too and saw people signing in different languages too. It was fascinating seeing them sign and not even understand what they’re saying….but there are some signs that are obvious & similar to ours.

Haley and I’ve known each other since elementary school.
We hung out with Haley & her boyfriend, Chase, a lot that weekend.

We were leaving the club when the Deaf World Party ended and this
kid got his hand stuck in the elevator only seconds after I took this picture.
What an idiot and we had to push his hand out!

At the pool party (Treasure Island) with my Sigma Sigma Sigma sisters!

Catching up with old friends from high school.

Please ask me any questions you have about being deaf or the deaf culture. Anything and I’ll answer your questions!

the sun on your cheek,
the wind in your hair,
the speed beneath your feet.
summer in your lungs,
a sparkle in your eye,
a dare in your heart.

-unknown

• We just got back from Las Vegas (a recap on that later) where DeafNation World Expo was. It was indeed great seeing old friends & meeting new people!
• Seriously where has the time gone? I can’t believe it’s going to be August next week. I feel like I’m constantly changing my monthly calendar at work every week or so.
• It’s been a sickly month for me. The doctor told me I had chest congestion but I’m still not sure since I’m still coughing my lungs out and it’s week 3. Last week the joints in my hands & wrists started hurting so bad! It’s actually painful in the mornings and took me forever to get ready. I don’t know if I have carpal tunnel or if it’s something else. It doesn’t hurt as much today and I’m hoping it doesn’t continue in the mornings. I need my hands to sign with my deaf friends!
• I need to get back into going to the gym…seriously! I have no excuses. Our grocery budget is out of control and because of this I’m determined to change that and cut our budget into half. It’s hard though since we buy our household items & personal care stuff with groceries too. I need to work on my habit of saving receipts and not losing them or throwing them away. This is a goal for August!
• Another mini goal is to tackle Google Reader. I’m definitely behind and need to catch up on commenting! Amazing how one day can really get you behind….I guess depending on how many blogs you’re subscribed to. <3