2013.09.14 - end of the summer sun and fun

Checking in again at the end of a long, memorable summer. So many things happened and I will probably post a few more times to fill in on the major events, including a road trip to Portland with my closest friends. 

Two of my friends, my boyfriend, and I held a mini, polaroid photo shoot last month. With only a couple days until she had to return to New York, Gina insisted we use up her remaining exposures. Tom and I posed for this one in his kitchen a few days before moving out of that apartment.

Gina and I snapped a quick picture with root beer cupcakes at the Bite of Seattle festival. It wasn't as entertaining this year as I had remembered it being, but we wandered around for a while with Tom and Alex. The weather was wonderful and we also munched on piles of curly fries. 

I am currently at home with my mom for the remainder of the summer and my living situation for school is a total mess. In the meantime, I am going to try to make it work by commuting to school and possibly staying at a friend's house here and there if I feel the need. Because I am at home, my photos are getting split between my two laptops. My newer laptop, which I had been using before coming home, will not connect to the internet here, so I switched back. I am going to try to merge my collection of pictures onto my new laptop and get it to work from home before I post much more. I would like to see all my pictures at once to plan out posts chronologically. Until I get that all sorted out, I'll leave blogging on the back-burner. 

Meeting Tom and his mother (for the first time) tomorrow for dinner and job interview in a couple days as well. Wish me luck! 

I hope everyone's summers went well and jumping back into school isn't too much of a struggle.

~April Baldock

2013.07.17 - back from the dead

Hello again chicas!

I have been stuck in the deepest rut, but having the time of my life as well. Too many things have happened and my life has taken far too many 180's. I'm going to bring it all in with some short snippets. 

The beautiful lady by my side is none other than my very best friend, Gina. She has been with me through everything and I have gotten to know her better than ever before. We really have been through thick and thin and nothing will stop us from going to infinity and beyond! We have plans for matching tattoos in the works; will update if those come to fruition before she leaves again for school. This photo finds us at Mt. Rainier on the Fourth of July (hence the color-appropriate outfits). 

We were supposed to make the almost three hour drive to meet our friend Alex's family for a bbq. None of us were aware of the still wintery conditions and dressed for typical Fourth of July weather. Thankfully, my socks and beanie were surprisingly warm. We ended up being three hours later than we  were supposed to and we later found out that Alex's family had left before we even arrived... There was absolutely no phone service once we got there, so there was no way for us to find his family to begin with. We decided to walk around a bit and snap a few pictures to prove that we made the journey. After about half an hour, we gave up and left to get korean bbq at a restaurant (not quite worth the six hours of driving). It was a massive failure, but still a fun day with three people I love. At least we'll have a story to tell next summer. 

We even went back to Seattle in an attempt to salvage our Fourth. We went to our friends' apartment to finally join the celebrations only to find that everyone (again) just left. While we stood on their front step, they were all sitting at the nearby park watching the fireworks. Completely defeated, we went home to sleep.

Here is a picture of me and my one and only. Appropriately dress, I swear, for the annual gathering of ravers in Vegas. Tom and I pose in >100 degree weather between dancing our butts off. EDC was an amazing experience and hopefully I will be able to say that again next year. 

The sun was setting behind the electric daisy on our final day of raging. The dusky sky and beautiful mountains were the perfect backdrop to this mind-blowing event. A few photos and immeasurable memories are close to everything I brought back with me. 

This year has seen quite the lifestyle change for me, but I couldn't be happier. I am currently dating the young man who introduced me to this other life and I will keep you updated on our adventures together. This chapter of my life has seen six months so far and we are still going strong. 

Hope everyone has been doing well and enjoying their own adventures as much as I have been enjoying mine!

~April Baldock

2012.11.22 - hide and seek

Happy Thanksgiving, kiddies! I thought I would just share a quick story that I posted on my recently made, personal tumblr. I have had a fashion tumblr for quite a while, but just decided to make a personal one as well. You can find it hereee if you would like to check out my adventures in shorter, probably more frequent, updates. 

On Tuesday, my lovely friend, Emily, and I went out on a grab-a-date together and I summarized the night on my tumblr. I use quite a different writing style there, as you will see. I hope you enjoy getting a sneak peek into my night life. It gets crazy up here.

"2012.11.20

my Tuesday with Emily, one of the loves of my life:

both get asked to the same grab-a-date at SAE. not interested in the guys…nbd, free booze and bowling. get to the house…only lokos. wtf? Emily and I down a couple after finding half a bottle of fireball to split. talk to Nick and distract him from his essay for a while. feeling good and off to bowling.

car ride includes touchiness. pretty sure my crotch was touched…everyone thinks we’re lesbians anyway. bowling is pretty fun; took a chunk out of my thumb with my nail somehow, bled on my sweater dress..oh well.

back at the house, more lokos and some cookies. we’re getting real bored of our dates and leave for the bathroom. run out the doors and head to the frat across the street. it’s a grab-a-date, but we just walk in and follow some bitches around…no drinks, no cute guys. wander through their house for a while, lost. do some pull-ups on a door frame, get crept on by a weird asian with weird earrings. super ghetto, we’re out. talk to a couple wasu juniors at the door when we try to leave. run to high five them and both trip over the same parking block…

our dates have been looking for us.

“where did you guys go?”

“hide and seek mutha fuckaaa”

“are you at least in the house still?”

“of course…come find us.”

fuck, locked out of the house. knock on the front door, run back inside, soaked from the rain, run into our dates. 

“you went to sigma xi, didn’t you?” “what. no.” 

later, sobering up…this sucks. let’s go home. want to go without my date following us back, he comes with, we insist we want to go by ourselves, he still comes with. 

“uhhh my friends need me to walk them back from zbt…” “it’s cool i’ll come with” “nahh man, you stay.” “nope, coming with”

Emily and I run like mad to zbt with him following, wtf. Timmy, my favorite person, opens the door and lets us in, tells of my date and we chill, escaped from the creeper. 

too much excitement, Timmy is the best, eventually back in Emily’s dorm…slumber party! talk for hours, I love this bitch. 

I’m thankful for the many wonderful people in my life and the adventures we go through together; here’s to many, many more!

<3"

I hope you all had a wonderful turkey day and check back soon for more of my adventures!

~ April Baldock

2012.11.18 - long time no see

All settled in at the University of Washington and finally updating. It has been crazier than I expected and I have definitely been experiencing a roller coaster; good weeks and bad ones. Thankfully my experience has mostly been a positive one. Got thrown out in the rain for a couple hours today due to a fire alarm going off, but that was a rare exception. 

Here are a few shots that were taken from my balcony. Unfortunately, it is now locked due to a few rotten eggs throwing a bunch of crap off of theirs, but I believe they will be opened again for winter quarter. 

Classes have been going fairly well, but I am more than excited for winter break and the start of new classes. I feel that I have gotten the hang of being able to control my own schedule pretty well. I absolutely have a few things to work on still; I would love to get to the gym more often and I shouldn't procrastinate quite as much, but I'm surviving so far. I've made a bunch of awesome new friends and have learned a reasonable amount in class. I can safely say that I have learned more outside of the classroom, however. 

I will try to post more frequently. I stopped for a while when I couldn't get internet in my dorm, then I kept putting it off. I do love blogging though and will continue to document my time here at the University. I will also be trying to update my other blog, http://lilyinlace.blogspot.com/. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already!

Thank you all for sticking with me and checking out my page; come back soon to see more! c:

~ April Baldock

2012.09.13 - saint ed's with the ladies

Pictures from my short hike/dip in the lake with my lady friends.

Harriet, myself, and Audrey

Audrey, Lauren, and Harriet

Me inside the giant, hollowed-out tree holding my shoes, which served as a phone holder.

"I wanna get up there!"

Heave

Almost there...

Victory!

Headed back up after an awesome afternoon at the lake.

I'll miss you, Harriet! Looking forward to hearing all your stories about Northwestern <3

~ April Baldock

2012.09.18 - my week in condensed form

It's been a little while! I practically haven't been home this past week except to sleep, and sometimes not even for that. I've been getting a lot done and having tons of fun with friends. To save you from the longest post imaginable, I'll try to summarize each day and pick the highlights to share.

Tuesday the 11th

Just some interesting street sign art on the Burke-Gilman. Seattle is covered in interesting art and I love it.

Definitely captured this picture while driving...but here's the Space Needle with an American flag in honor of September 11th. 

Wednesday the 12th

Someone left a gorgeous dahlia on the trail, so naturally I had to pick it up. As you can see, there was clearly no one else on the trail at this time, so it must have been meant for me. I walked all the way to the medical center before deciding I should leave it for the next curious passerby to pick up. I wedged it between two stacked signs across from the med center. I should have taken a picture, but was trying not to awkwardly stand in the middle of the trail any longer as bikers and runners stared at me. 

I had a few other outings planned for after work, but decided to cancel them all and go home to relax. I was really glad I did this because I ended up collapsing and sleeping for around 13 hours when I got home.

Thursday the 13th

I went on a short hike with three of my lovely lady friends, but will make a separate post for those pictures. My dear friend, Harriet, made her way to Chicago today and I had to see her before she left.

After the hike, I went to my friend Dan's apartment to see my buddy, Justin! It was a really chill night and we went out to Enemy Tattoo to get our friend, Brad's, appointment confirmed. He already has a number of tattoos, but this will be his biggest yet. I'm hoping to go in with him on Thursday and will definitely post pictures of how it turns out. 

Friday the 14th

One of my best friends in the world, Steven, surprised me when I was at work. He called me and told me he was on campus, so I went out to get bubble tea with him and help him track down his school books. We walked a few blocks off the ave to Half Price Books, where the super helpful staff led us to all the literature he needed. To celebrate, Steven took me to Shinka Tea, the bubble tea shop that he used to go to with his sister.

The tea here was much more authentic tasting than most other places I have been and they used small tapioca. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the tapioca, but the tea was amazing. Also, I'm not sure why, but I really prefer this type of cup when I get bubble tea. It surprised me that they didn't use the normal, sealed cup. That might just be the hipster in me coming out... Also, that is Steven; he hates having his picture taken.

Here's some of the fancy teas they use. Steven and I both got jasmine milk tea. The decor was more rustic and muted than the regular, colorful bubble tea shop.

Also, this was my last day working at the lab!! And I spend a good chunk of it out with Steven...it was a great way to spend my last day not at work c:

Later that night, Steven went back to Dan's with me to meet Dan, his girlfriend Serena (suchh a sweetheart), Brad, and Justin. We inadvertently spend the night and groggily went home at 8 the next morning to sleeeep.

Saturday the 15th

Saturday was amazinggg. I got to catch up with my old friend, Cameron, and see a super sick concert with him. We went to the Paramount and saw The Head and The Heart. There were two opening bands: Curtains for You and Bryan John Appleby. All three groups were superb, but my favorite was probably Curtains for You; their energy was crazy contagious. They were also the most interactive with the crowd. The keyboardist, Peter, looked at me a few times and the frontman, Matt, smiled at me! It was definitely an experience I won't soon forget. If you haven't heard of this small band before, and I wouldn't be suprised, check out their song Daisy. You'll be hooked on their catchy melodies and perfect harmonies. 

The Paramount is gorgeous! This was my first show there. I didn't get any pictures of Curtains for You; security guards were still strolling back and forth in front of the crowd, trying to prevent people from filming :c

Bryan John Appleby mesmerized the whole crowd. His music was tranquil and a little eerie, but completely addicting.

And finally, the Head and the Heart took the stage! Here's Jonathan and Josiah, the two male vocalists.

Charity is the other main vocalist and I literally could not take my eyes off her the entire show. She was incredibly captivating and obviously a fan favorite. She was showered with cheers during every solo. Their set was amazing and I would not hesitate to see them again.

Sunday the 16th

Sunday started off with me giving my cousin a quick driving lesson. Unfortunately, it was cut short by a flat tire, which meant I had to quickly drive us home to change it.

The afternoon led to another day at the park, but with Steven and Connor this time. Connor and I decided to take a dip in the lake and swim out to a log for adventure's sake. While we dried off, Steven and I took turns playing tunes on his ukulele.

I believe this is the only picture of my from that day...Connor snuck a couple of Steven and I while we packed up our things to climb back up to the trail.

I finished off the day by hanging out with Justin again. He had to find his way to my house in the middle of nowhere because my mom didn't want me driving my car. I'll have to take it in to get the opposite tire changed as well because it is much more worn-down than the spare is. 

While getting driven around by Justin with his friend, Jordan (it was nice to meet you!), in the backseat, Justin surprised me by telling me I was going to learn how to drive stick. I didn't know if I should be nervous or excited, but it was a very interesting experience. Thank goodness for Justin's patience and understanding; anyone else would have yelled at me for killing their car a handful of times. According to Justin and Jordan, I did really well for my first time, but I can't help but to be skeptical of their praise. I'm actually looking forward to having another lesson, though!

Monday the 17th

Yesterday was simply an errand day for me. I finally got around to buying my textbooks and am now $220 poorer. I ran a couple errands for my mom then had the rest of the day for myself. I got back to a DIY project I had been meaning to finish for a while and posted a new video on my YouTube channel about it. Make sure you check it out here! Video editing is still taking me forever and I am far from satisfied with the results, but I want to get at least one video up per week, so I uploaded it anyway. I'm hoping to figure out some more effective ways to edit soon!

I made a pair of lace-inset shorts! I'm really, really happy with how they turned out and can't wait to wear them. I'll probably even wear them into the fall with tights and whatnot. 

Welllll, I'm totally pooped from this long blog post, so I'll let you go now. If you actually made it all the way through my week, thank you!! I hope you are having an amazing day and check back soon to see how my life is going. I am moving into my dorm on Thursday and will have plenty of college-y adventures to tell you about.

~ April Baldock

2012.09.10 - meeting the roomie

Today I went out with the intention of being at work from 9-5 with a short-ish break during lunchtime to meet up with my roommate for a quick bite. Instead, I pulled in to UVillage around 11:15, sat in my car taking pictures and videos of myself, and wandered around UW until 1:00, when I was supposed to meet my roommate. The two of us also got together with two other girls in our cluster and one of their friends, who was visiting from southern California. Once the five of us found each other at the U Book Store, we headed off to Thai Tom for lunch. 

Thai Tom was amazinggg; the serving sizes were great for the price and the staff was super friendly. All the entrees were the same price, which was about $7.95. Most of the girls, including myself, had to get a take-out box (you can see mine sitting on top of my phone d: ) even though we were starving going into the restaurant! I'll definitely have to head back there more often once I move into my dorm. But a quick warning; they only accept cash here, so come prepared!

Meeting the girls was great. Everyone was really nice and I didn't feel much awkwardness at all. Conversation seemed to flow pretty naturally and I'm insanely excited to move in with them and spend the year getting to know each other. Maybe I'll finally find a couple girls that I actually get along with. I might even hang out with girls instead of guys for once! I might be getting ahead of myself, but I'm very optimistic about our cluster. I'll be sure to keep you updated on meeting the rest of the cluster-mates and getting to know them all. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and check back soon for another update!

~ April Baldock