Adios Amigos

Waking up at 4 am tomorrow morning to head off to Bald Head Island for the week, back sometime Saturday night (8/2).  Not bringing a computer so expect a large update at the end of the week. 

When I get back i'll know who my roommate is for sure! And where i'm living next year! Yay! Right now there appear to be some complications with this so hope for the best :) 

Arrivederci, Toodleloo and Ciao. 

People in Maryland Do No Know How To Drive.

Yes, that's right. People in Maryland are incompetent drivers. Never ceases to amaze me the kinds of tricks people try to pull on the road. Oh well, stupid people, just stay outta my way that's all I ask.

Sarah and I went to lunch with Ariel today at Cosi's. It was our first time going there-- unfortunately it is located right next to a Chipotle so whenever we get in the vicinity we just end up going to Chipotle instead, what can I say.. they have amazing burritos. But with burritos both last night and the night before I was in the mood for something else. It was good to catch up and hang out-- we both only have a few more weeks until we're back at school (or going to school for the first time!) Afterwards we headed over to Target to pick up pictures Arie had dropped off. And what would be an outing without a few awkward encounters.. I believe we had several. Nice going on dumping ALL the chips on the ground, boo :)

(aren't they just so attractive?)

Burrito Night #2

Went out to dinner tonight with Megan and two of our good friends from middle school, Lauren and Carrie. Even though we still live within 5 minutes of each other, because of redistricting Lauren and Carrie went to Atholton High School instead of River Hill so we hardly ever saw them. We do get together every once in a while to catch up-- and eat some burritos!

(left to right: Carrie, Megan, me, Lauren)

(we may have had some trouble counting money...)

Happy Birthday, Eric!

Happy Birthday, Eric!

Yes, we have no bananas.

Houston, we have a problem.
THERE IS NO FOOD IN THE HOUSE.

No cheese.
No eggs.
No bread.
No crackers.
No ice cream.
No fruit.
No beans.
No hummus.

Okay, so we are going on vacation on Saturday and we need to clean out the kitchen... but I think we took this not buying food too close to our trip thing a tad too literally. Ooops :)

Looks like I might be eating oatmeal for lunch. Hope we have some raisins!

Down Came the Rain and Washed Emily and Alison Out

Last night definitely required some rainboots.

Unfortunately-- for my safety-- no pictures were taken of this event.

Alison works until 8pm some nights so the two of us and Hunter decided to go over to Chipotle for dinner. The weather forecast had been calling for "flash flooding," a "tornado watch" and thunderstorms all day and there hadn't even been a drop of rain so we just went anyway. Hmm, note to self: next time listen to the forecast :) The drive over was when the thunder started but it was really far away so I didn't really think much of it. Got there, ate some tasty burritos and then.. down came the rain. It looked like hurricane type of rain just sheets of it and everything got really windy. Upon seeing this our original plan was to run out really quickly (while avoiding lightening) to get to our cars. Yeah, not such a good plan. We made it out the door and the rain was whipping around so fast we all just turned around and ran back inside. I think something like 15 minutes passed by and the rain and lightening weren't slowing down at all so Hunter just ran out and got Alison's car and then drove me to mine (thanks hunter :) Rest of the drive home was midly intense but got better the closer I got to Clarksville. I just had to pretend that someone was taking my picture hundreds of times or something and try to ignore all of the lightening. I really wish I had gotten a picture of a lightening bolt but that would have just been plain stupid (see mom, i DO use my brain while driving!)

Paint, Paint and more Paint

My parents are in the process of repainting their bedroom/bathroom. It's the last two rooms in the house that still have the original builders paint (sshhhh). This weekend they prepped the room, sanded, taped, etc  and then my mom has been doing most of the painting during the week with a little help from the peanut gallery (mostly Sarah...I've taken the role as the project photographer hehe). Oh yeah and then my dad comes home late and night and repaints whatever mess we've made :) -- just kidding it needed a second coat anyway! My mom is currently in the closet painting these little pesky shelving things and I thought they looked neat so I took some pictures. 

Oh yeah, my mom would probably like if I mentioned that this is NOT, in fact, how messy their bedroom/bathroom usually looks.. only temporary :) 

"Wait... Look at these!"

Yesterday I went out to dinner with two of my friends, Corey and Jenni, at the mall, we ended up not being that hungry so we decided to try on obnoxious clothing instead. (I don't have any of the pictures of us trying on clothing... they were on my friends camera) Sarah also happened to be at the mall with her friends so when they left she just tagged along with us. Of course, when at the mall there is a mandatory stop at the pet store to play with a puppy :)

trying on hats

jenni & corey

the cutest puppy ever :)

he was sooo adorable!!

Pottery Stop

Last Saturday Jen and I went to The Pottery Stop to paint mugs for each other. It's basically just this place that you go, pick out whatever you want to paint and paint it! Then a week later you go back and pick it up. Too bad I don't have any pictures of us actually painting the mugs-- our hands were too messy :)

hamburger mug that I painted for jen

inside of the mug Jen painted for me

both mugs together

Summer Potluck Shenanigans

Carolyn and I got the bright idea last week to plan a picnic with a bunch of friends.. so thanks to facebook, it actually happened! We just invited a bunch of our friends to get together at a local park and have a picnic.

fruit salad courtesy of megan

tasty food

jenny chopping the watermelon with a giant knife, it's rather unfortunate that i did not have my camera handy as she was chasing the watermelon down the hill.

Carolyn eating some fruit.

Shela & Megan

Pasta salad that Alison, Sarah and I made

Alison eating

Weekly Update

Don't worry I haven't completely forgotten about updating this thing! We're all still alive n'kickin, eating veggies and what not. Everytime I sat down to update this week there was always something else that needed to be done and it kind of just got away from me.

Let's see, I think picture updates will be the easiest to catch up quickly.. (if you click on the pictures, they will get bigger)

Liz and I went to Centennial Park to walk and go picnicing!

Megan & I made ourselves dinner... sushi and cake!

We talked to Eric in Tokyo over ichat! (the picture quality on this one is not the best... but you can tell that it's him!) During the conversation we could see cars and what not passing in the background.. it was way cool.

Sarah braided my hair.

I braided Sarah's hair-- first braids I've ever done!

we ate margaritas (without alcohol-- don't worry) & quesadillas.

Now for the parts of the week when I did not have my camera handy-- Alison came over and we watched gilmore girls (like always :), my mom Sarah and I went out on a college shopping excursion to get some towels & such... and a GIANT jar of peanut butter mmmm, we also went out to lunch after that and I had the spiciest pasta ever (seriously I should have had a camera at that particular moment, i'm pretty sure my face was turning bright red), went to the doctors, Jenny and I wandered around the mall and visited Liz at Bath and Body Works!, and Alison came over again to discuss a possible second film (so be on the look out!).

Last night after dinner Sarah and I got the idea that we wanted to swim some laps at the local gym pool instead of go on our usual nightly bike ride. It's rather unfortunate that I did not have a camera on me at this particular moment in time. After we got home our whole family watched The Pursuit of Happiness-- if you haven't already seen it, give it a try! It's actually pretty good.

Who knows what I'm doing up at 7:30 on a Saturday morning-- oh well, so much for sleeping in. This afternoon we might be going over to our neighbors house to stop by a party they're having and then later this evening we're going over to the Mariano's for Amanda's 26th birthday party-- quite the busy weekend schedule, huh?

Don't Leave Your Shoes In the Kitchen

Laundry Baskets, Apple Pancakes & Fried Shrimp

Okay to start off with, this post is going to have nothing to do with fried shrimp. I simply do not eat fried shrimp and I never intend on doing so, therefore there would be no good reason to post about it.. however, I needed a third item to title this post to make it sound better and it was the first thing that came to mind.

Anyway, now for the parts of the title that actually do have meaning. Laundry baskets. The days are quickly passing by and in just under 40 days I will be packing up and leaving for Rochester. Actually, I hope to be packed up SOONER than 40 days because I don't really like to leave things until the last minute. My mom left this morning to drive down to DC to visit with her friend from high school so Sarah, my dad and I went down to Rockville Pike for a breakfast/college outing. Ate breakfast at this place called the Original Pancake House and let me tell you they have some mighty tasty pancakes. Sarah & I shared an Apple Pancake and a Dutch Baby (which are good but not quite on the same level as the ones from Walker Brothers). Afterwards we walked over to look for a winter coat for me at REI... which conveniently won't be in stock until September, a month too late to be helpful. Ditched that idea and went over to the Container Store to look for some stacking boxes for under my bed. Ended up finding a nifty collapsable laundry bag.

(isn't it neat? Sarah's favorite part is the collapsing feature which she proceeded to test out numerous times on not only this but other items in the store)

Alison's coming over in a few minutes so I should sign off and go hide our glassware :)

Scanning My Life Away: My Love for Digital Cameras.

Yesterday my dad and I went out and purchased a scanner.. guess what fun thing I got to do today?! SCAN. Yes, that's right. I'm scanning ALL of our photos in from forever ago, everything from before we were born to baby pictures of sarah & I and right up until we got a digital camera. Phew. That's a lot of pictures. I've been scanning since 9:10 this morning with only a 1 hour break...

Speaking of 9:10 this morning... okay so Alison slept over last night and we decided that it would be a good idea to go to the gym in the morning before Alison went to work. Set the alarm for 6:30. Well, that time rolled around... and then 7, 7:30, 8... you get the idea.. Finally ended up waking up at 9:05.. oops she was supposed to be at work at 9. :) I think our main problem was that we were sleeping in Sarah's bed (she's at Penn State for a volleyball camp with my mom). For those of you who might not know, Sarah's bed is giant and poofy and deliciously comfy so Alison and I take full advantage of it everytime she's away. Luckily afterall these shenanigans Alison got off to work only a few minutes late and everything was okay and we ended up going to the gym at 2 instead. Supposedly you're able to lift your own weight?? Our main reason for going to the gym was to test this theory out. Let me just tell you right now, neither one of us is even CLOSE to benching our weight. It's rather unfortunate that I did not have a camera at this particular moment in time because it would have made for some great pictures. Oh well.

In conclusion, I LOVE DIGITAL CAMERAS because they load right to the computer, I need to learn how to wake up to my alarm before August and I am incapable of benching my body weight. I'd say it's been a successful day.

Computer, Art House & Bike Riding

I got my computer back! Wooohoo. It's got a new battery, keyboard & side thingamabobs and it's doing just fine. I love that everytime I send it off it comes back with a clean screen :) How very thoughtful of them.

Anyway, just hung around today taking care of a bunch of little things. Contacted someone at RIT and found out that I can most likely be in the Art House next year! Yay. I originally thought I had missed the deadline (which i did) but I'm still able to be an off-floor member, which is what I wanted anyway. For those who don't know, the Art House is a special interest house that they have. It's just a group of people who are all interested in similar things, you dont even have to be an art major. They have weekly meetings and an annual trip to Toronto I believe. One of the benefits is that you get unlimited access to the stuff... meaning drawing rooms, printer, etc. It will be pretty spectacular in the winter when i have tons of drawing homework so I don't have to lug all my stuff across campus. So I hope everything works out with that.

Last night Alison and I got the idea that we wanted to go bike riding so we pulled out our old bikes... with REALLY flat tires and fixed them up. It was really dark by the time we got everything together so we ended up only riding around my street for about 20 minutes. Tonight my dad and I went on a bike ride/walk (i rode, he walked) around the neighborhood. I forgot how much I like flying down the hills... "We're at maximum speed, Grommit!"

Time to go read. I got a bunch of new books at the library this weekend. :)

The Big Bang

I was listening to music and I started to realize I had to keep turning it higher and higher to be able to hear it... oops, shoulda realized.. there are CHAINSAWS outside :) Guess that would be the problem. Anyway, there are a bunch of guys in bright yellow running around our backyard cutting down this large tree that fell in the storm. Of course, being me, I ran to grab my camera... sorry the pictures are a tad blurry, I was trying to be sneaky about them and it's through a screen.

Happy Birthday Carolyn!

Yesterday was Carolyn's 18th birthday so a few of us went over to her house for some shenanigans. She made pretty freaking amazing chocolate & carrot cakes :)

Happy Fourth of July

(float from our church)

(lawn chair dads, probably the best part of the parade)

(lawn chair dads in motion)

(crazy cartoon guy from the game stop)

(megan, me & sarah after the parade)

(on the way home this float pulled out of the fire station to let a fire truck out and it just kept going down the road, so we followed it home :) i thought it looked kind of silly)

1am Pancakes

Alison came over last night and we made some tasty pancakes at 1 in the morning. The pictures will pretty much speak for themselves.

Oh yeah and uhm... my parents were unaware of this situation so this will be the first they hear about it... sorry guys! :) I promise we cleaned up after ourselves & we were really, really quiet!



Then to top it all off, we made pancakes again this morning :) We're pancake making fools.