I miss you, Sonic! (Back to school)

Long time, no post! Sorry, life got a little out of control this week with the start of a brand new quarter. I survived, but I'm in desperate need of sleep.

My very last Cherry Limeade before I ventured back up to Olympia. A little birdy told me there was a Sonic in Tumwater, but they just closed! That's what I get for getting re-addicted to Sonic over Christmas break. I miss it terribly already.

Along with being back on campus, I also...

• had my first Theories of Personality class - I think this is going to be a really interesting class, and it only meets once a week! We also get two Monday nights off because of holidays, so that's even better! There is a group project (and we all know the luck I have with those), but I've decided that it will be a successful project no matter what.
• did something really scary! - I'm in a writing program this quarter which is probably the scariest class I've ever taken. I feel incredibly intimidated by everyone in the class, but I know there's a writer deep inside of me so hopefully she'll resurface sooner rather than later. We have critique groups in this class and....I don't want to talk about it. 9 more weeks to go! (This is the class that has the torturous 8 hour long Saturday sessions, ps)
• finished week 1 of HM training - well, sort of. My 3 mile long run turned into a short 1.5 mile run, but other than that I did a decent job I think. Today I received an email about a 10k being hosted on campus in February, which I may have to take part in! That could be an excellent way for me to stay motivated because right now the cold and gloom just aren't doing it for me.

So those are the 3 big things that happened this week. I also had 2am Wal-Mart trips, a girl's night to see Sherlock Holmes (not bad!), a crazy adorable meet-cute, a night with my parents, the best pizza I've had since Rhodes, a brand new roommate (and the sad news that another roommate left us!), and lots of reading and writing for class.

Oh yeah! I turned my hair purple, too. Apparently the hair dye reacted badly with the previous brand I used and it ended up a big burgandy/purple/DARK mess instead of the pretty pomegranate shade it was supposed to be. OOPS!

How was your week? I'm not sure how many of you live there, but I heard about snow in Florida, which is absolutely insane! 

The Life & Times of Costello

Sat hello to Costello, the newest member of my technologic family. He's a pretty blue iPod Nano that I got for Christmas from my dad. Apparently Amazon included this as a special gift with some of the books my dad had ordered.

Okay, so by now I'm sure you've noticed that Mr. C is resting in a bowl of rice. Oh yeah. I got dressed for my run yesterday, and I decided to try something new since I don't have an armband to hold an iPod this small. There's a little zipper pocket on the back of my running pants (tights/leggings/whatevers), so I figured I could put him (or it, if that's weird for you) in that pocket and zip it enough for just the headphone cord. What a great idea!

It worked fantastically for the first three minutes, until I had to go to the bathroom. Yeah, you know what's coming next. I pulled my pants down and as I did so I had the thought that hmm this could go very badly. And then -- plopsplash! Oh yeah, that happened. I spin around and almost fall over because my pants are down at my ankles. This bathroom is like 2x3 feet so it's not like I had far to fall.

 I looked down in the toilet and the damn thing had turned on! It's just chilling in the bottom and playing some LMFAO. Seriously. So I hesitated for about 1.3 seconds before I plunged my hand into the toilet bowl and pulled the dang thing out. Ew ew ewww.

Next came the 24 hour rice bath slumber party and I guess it worked because Costello came with me to the gym today! The exterior speaker, the one that lets you play music without the headphones, doesn't seem to be working, but that's the only problem I've had so far! (Crossing my fingers & toes) I haven't tried the video camera (why'd they put one of those in an iPod anyway?), but really I'm just concerned about being able to listen to my trashy classy gym jams like Ke$ha.

So I leave you with this: Costello, I love you but please don't jump into the toilet and start playing music! I promise it doesn't sound any better than it would on land. 

Also, I'm back at school and my first class starts tonight! Woohoo!

2010: Do one thing. And then do one more thing.

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I was planing on doing a year in review post, but honestly 2009 was not my best year and I just don't want to think about it right now. I don't want to sound ungrateful because nothing terrible happened during the year, but it just wasn't that great of a year. 2008 was by far better, and I'm hoping that 2010 will top every other year in the past.

So instead of looking back on the past, I decided to do a little brainstorming for the future!

Here are a few of my goals/plans for 2010:

Run a half marathon 
Find a race - DONE! 
Create a training program - DONE!
Run, run, run!

Study abroad in Italy 
I can't wait for this! I picked out a program and all that's left to do now is wait until they post the dates and the application materials. And then when (if) I'm accepted I'll have to choose a topic for my independent research project.


Spend the summer in LA
As we get closer to summer I'll have to find an internship, which could be quite a challenge this year. I guess this is where networking skills come in handy?


Have a reunion by December 
90% of my closest friends are long distance, which can be really hard. I'd love to be able to go on a trip with friends from school somewhere fun, or even just fly to Memphis to visit them. I did that last time though, so it's their turn to fly to me! ha


Graduate college by summer of 2011
Okay, so this is a 2011 goal, but I don't care! My mini goal for this year is to finish my junior year in June. I'm beyond excited to be this close to the end of school.


Read 24+ books by December 31, 2010
I'd also like to become an eclectic reader, so they'll have to be 24 very different books. What are you planning on reading in 2010? I need ideas!

I  also want to…


Learn some Italian before I spend a semester abroad
I got an amazing Christmas present from one of my best friends...Rosetta Stone! I have levels 1, 2 & 3 for Italian and hopefully I'll be able to stay on top of things and work on them this year. I'm really nervous about spending 5 months in a country where I don't speak the language, so hopefully this will help!

Go to church
I have no religious background whatsoever and I can count on one hand the number of times I've been to church. I'd like to spend some time this year exploring religion.


Cook one new recipe a month
This should be fun! I haven't decided how I want to do this, but I'd really like to turn it into some kind of fun project for the blog. I know the whole Julie & Julia thing is way overdone by now, but it sounds like so much fun!


Go to at least one: book club, knitting club, running group, cooking class, swing lesson, salsa lesson, spin class, yoga class


Take better care of myself 
I'd say I do a pretty good job of taking care of myself right now, but I could always do better! My two big things are flossing and wearing sunscreen 24/7.


Write
This scares me. A lot. For some reason it has entered into my head that I'm not a write and that I cannot write. I know this isn't true, I used to write so much when I was younger! I'm taking a writing program for both winter and spring quarters, so hopefully I'll be able to overcome all of this blocked thinking. 


Go somewhere FUN for spring break
I've never done this! Somewhere warm and sunny with good food and cute boys. Probably can't be found anywhere near the Northwest, and I'm okay with that.

Whew! Lots of stuff. I'm excited for summer and the second half of the year, but the next few months just feel like they're placeholders to pass the time. I hope these goals will help change that!

What are you doing for your New Years Celebration? I'll be home with my parents, probably watching The Hangover and whatever NYE stuff they have on TV. One of these years I'll be in the same city as some people I know so I can go out! I don't mind staying home, but it'd be nice to see the other side of things too.
Do you have any goals for next year?

Grown-Up Things

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I may be 19, but I sure don't feel grown-up. It's weird, I always thought that after my 18th birthday I'd become all adult and mature. Yeah, totally didn't happen. I'm fine with that though, because I really do love going to Disneyland for my birthday. But even so...

Here are some of the 'grown-up things' I can't wait for:

I'm excited to graduate college! I've been in school since I was at least 3, so it's been quite a long time! Elementary,  junior high, high school, online classes, proficiency exams, online college classes, community college classes, REAL college classes...I've tried it all! One day I'm going to have to do a post explaining it to y'all, because my schooling experience has been SO insane. This is the 4th college I've attended in 3 years, and I don't even have a high school diploma! I actually tested out of high school when I was only 15. Crazy, right? That's a long and complicated story for another time. But for right now, I can't wait to be done with school so I can move on to a career!

Cooking! I'm so excited to cook for myself (and eventually a family). I have a feeling that for at least the first few years after school I won't feel much like cooking after a super long day at work, but at least I'll have the skill in my back pocket. I made eggplant parmesan for dinner this week and it was delicious. It only took me two grocery trips and four extra hours. Hey, we can't all be Julia! I'm not sure what I'd do without the internet, because I can't tell you how many times I've googled crazy things like 'how to chop a tomato without chopping off your fingers'. I'll get there one day.

Along with cooking, I absolutely can't wait to live by myself. And along with that, I'm actually really looking forward to being responsible for my own messes. Mommy, you were right. It's really gross when you don't put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher. And it's even worse when you let them stack up in the sink for a week. I was a messy child. Living with roommates for the past year and a half has made me the biggest neat-freak ever. You should see our kitchen right now. It's an absolute disaster. And I promise, none of it is mine! I don't even have any dishes in my room! I really can't wait until I can have my own bedroom and living room and kitchen that I can clean and organize however I want, whenever I want. (Let's see how long that actually lasts.)


And speaking of living areas, I get my home-decorating fix via HGTV. But when I grow-up, I'm going to decorate the shit out of my house! I'm going to paint the walls pretty colors, and have comfy furniture and pretty artwork. And of course, I'm decorating for the holidays! It starts in September with the fall themed decorations, continues through Halloween, goes back to the fall theme plus a cornucopia for Thanksgiving (poor Turkey Day, no one decorates for it!), and then we're going ALL out starting the day after Thanksgiving. It's going to be fabulous for sure. And of course, for the rest of the year it's going to look absolutely precious and colorful and maybe beach themed? Don't even get me started on this! (Let's also see how long this lasts. I'm a former messy child, remember?)

Okay those are my five things! I guess I'm just trying to say I can't wait to be a domesticated career woman? Lauren Conrad meets Martha Stewart meets Oprah? I'm going to have to think a little bit more on that one.

Running Recap (Or Not)

I haven't been running this week. Monday and Wednesday were packed with last minute stuff for school, and preparations for our huge project presentation on Thursday afternoon.

And well, Thursday was quite the adventure! Somehow, I managed to give myself a concussion while doing yoga! Yeah, I've got skills. We were trying to do handstands supported against the wall and I guess my arms forgot that they needed to hold me upright for that and - BAM! - head meets floor.

I can't drive for a few days, and the doctor also said I shouldn't run until all of my symptoms go away. We'll see how long that takes! I've still got a wicked headache, but hopefully it will be gone soon.

My very first ever 5K is next Saturday! I'm sooooo not ready.

My parents came and picked me up yesterday morning, so I'm at home for a few days before I head back to school for my evaluation conference which will be the official end of my quarter.

I'm hoping to be back full force both with running and the blog in general in a few days! My Google Reader has over 100 unread posts, so I've got a lot of catching up to do!

I'm cold!

It's been cold here lately.

I thought this was pretty bad.

Luckily I had an ice scraper in my car. (This was at 4pm, btw)

In an attempt to stay warm, I baked lots of cookies for far away friends.

And we also made snowflakes. (Before and after our 'how to make snowflakes' google sesh)

And what happens as soon as I accept the fact that it's cold?

Yeah.
Did you know my walk to class is fifteen minutes long?
Longest fifteen minutes of my life.

And then this happens...

That would be the front seat of my car. You'll notice the open center console. Oh. Yeah, yeah that's glass. Thanks so much for breaking my ENTIRE window. Can you just pick the lock next time? That'd be grrrrreat.

Not only did they steal my GPS (RIP Mrs. Peacock, I'll always remember your impeccable British accent and the respect you had for my fear of u-turns), but they also took the box of holiday Yankee Candle air fresheners that was in my glove compartment. I guess they weren't a fan of the beach scented trio.

Luckily, my car escaped the Penis Bandit that struck a few days ago. That would have been quite embarrassing to explain to the window repair people.

Isn't college AWESOME?

12 Random Things

• I really miss southern boys. Actually, make that southern gentlemen. We don't have that here in the Northwest, at all. It's all for one and one for all! Woman powerrrr! I'm all for female independence and empowerment, but come on!

• I'd take a stereotypical southern boy over a mountain man any day.

• I miss having boys open the door for me, or pulling out my chair. Okay, the pulling out the chair thing has happened maybe ONCE in my life, but STILL.

• Memphis taught me to love BBQ, Sonic, Chik-fil-a, and Elvis. Okay, I've always loved Elvis.

• I pick up accents VERY easily, especially Southern accents. People frequently ask me if I'm from the south! Weird, isn't it? A friend of mine once described my accent as a "southern valley-girl". I wonder what I'll sound like after I spend three months in Nawlins!

• I can do a wicked Jamie-Lynn Spears impression, as well as Sarah Palin.

• I prefer a dry rub over wet. I'm talking about RIBS, people! Minds out of the gutter!

• Skype is amazing, even if it does make me feel like I'm on a 15 second time delay for the rest of the night. I spent an hour talking with two of my best friends, and it was almost like I was back with them! We made plans to reunite this summer, which I'm very excited for! And yes, they're both from the south, and yes, I probably have a twang right now.

• We've now entered week 10 of fall quarter, which means we're THISCLOSE to being finished! I just have a few more things to go (group presentation and prospectus, seminar, and a paper) before I'm all done. And then I have a week to twiddle my thumbs before my very first evaluation conference. We don't get grades here, we get evaluated!

• Which means instead of getting a B instead of an A, you'll earn 12 instead of 16 credits. We can't let this happen. I don't anticipate losing credit over anything, but it's still a little nerve-wracking.

• I register for classes for winter quarter in a few hours! I'm hoping to take a writing program, as well as a psychology class and ballet. Yeah, I'm cramming as many credits as I can because I'm SO ready to be D-O-N-E!

• 5K is 10 days away! Hopefully the only snowflakes around here are the ones my housemate and I cut out tonight.

(As you can tell, I'm a bit scattered right now but I'll be back to normal after this week...gotta love finals!)

Coming Attractions

Currently, I'm on campus here:

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(Minus the green, since we've now entered the rainy season the Pacific Northwest is famous for.)

In June I will be here:

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And in September I will (most likely) be right around here:

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Currently, I'm taking lots of artificial sunshine (vitamin D), trying to fit in, running to stay sane, and doing lots of homework.

In June, I'll be a rockstar intern, eating my fair share of In-n-Out and Pinkberry, reuniting with friends, and back in my favorite place ever. (And complaining about traffic, freaking out about earthquakes and wildfires, and wondering why I decided to work in the entertainment industry.)

In September, I'll be all alone (not really) in a foreign country, attempting to learn Italian, eating LOTS of pasta, and riding Vespas with cute Italian boys named Paolo (come on, I know you saw the Lizzie McGuire movie!).

It's gray and rainy, and we've entered our second to last week of classes for the fall quarter. I have a ton of work due this week as well as the next, and most of it is part of a group project I've been working on all quarter with eight other people. I've learned that I work really well in groups -- as long as I'm the one in charge. We've really struggled from day one with working together rather than individuals, and there have been a lot of issues. I'm so grateful we're almost done!

Thinking about what's coming up in the future has really been helpful to keep me motivated lately. I can't wait for sunny days in LA and eating amazing food in Rome!

Do you have any summer plans yet? Where have you always wanted to visit? I love hearing all the exciting things people do during the summer, as well as travel stories!

PS: Ran in my new shoes for the first time yesterday! I absolutely loved it. I had very little pain in my arch, and absolutely no other problems. It seriously felt like I was running barefoot! I ran 1.75 miles on the treadmill.

'Tis the Season!

The day after Thanksgiving for most people is a time to wake up insanely early and stand in line to do some hardcore shopping. In our household, we like to sleep in. For as long as I can remember we've always begun decorating for Christmas right after Thanksgiving.

When we moved from Los Angeles we finally had to say goodbye to our huge artificial tree. Last year we were out of town, so we didn't decorate for the holidays...or buy a tree. For a Christmas freak like me, I was definitely bummed out. We did get TONS of snow though, which is something you don't see with a California Christmas.

This year though, things will be different.

My dad and I headed over to Target the day before Thanksgiving to see what they had to offer in the tree department, and we ended up coming home with this little beauty. Neither of my parents are really interested in seasonal decorating, so they've always let it be my project. I love it!

I've never had a prelit tree before, or one with white lights. Isn't it pretty though? And so much less work. Not to mention it's about half the size of our old one, which means half the time and half the scratches from trying to 'fluff' the branches.

And here it is, all decorated! I love the color, it looks so realistic compared to some fake trees I've seen. The cashmere tips really make the difference, as pretentious as they may seem.

I had to choose carefully which ornaments to use this year, but luckily I had room for most of my favorites.

I made this ornament when I was in Brownies. That seems like such a long time ago. You can almost still smell the cinnamon.

There's just one thing missing.

A star on top! Our old tree topper is the size of the whole top half of the tree, so I think we'll have to improvise on that. But hey, I'm not complaining. I'm just happy to have a tree this year.

Plant a what?

Plantar fasciitis.

Two words that strike up fear in any runner. (I don't know if that's true, I just made it up. But it sounds scary!) Don't ask me how to spell fasciitis, let alone pronounce the dang word! All I know is that if that's what the issue is with my foot, it's miserable. I mentioned yesterday that I had some arch pain, no big deal. Yeah well, it's not gone and it's getting a lot worse. As in if I take another step the arch in my foot might explode worse. Not cool, dudes.

Now, I'm not 100% certain that's what my deal is, but I'd go with about 94%. Ouch ouch ouch! I've been icing it, but I haven't noticed any difference. Yay for limping around! How the heck have I managed to do this when I've only been running for 6 weeks? It better not have been the treadmill because I was so excited about finding an alternative to running in the yucky weather!

Mi madre and I are going to visit a real running store when I'm home for Thanksgiving, so hopefully they'll be able to tell me if my sneakers are worn out. Hopefully they are, and that's the issue, and then things will be totally awesome right in time for my first 5k in December. If not...I'll probably cry.

I've never had a sports injury though, so this is a teensy weensy bit exciting for me. Totally twisted, right? I did sprain my ankle once when I was really little, but my grandparents were watching over me while my parents were out of town, and it happened during a birthday party for a set of twins I knew. Their parents are both doctors and I was so scared they were going to have to amputate my foot or something! I was terrified I'd get in trouble too, so I didn't tell anyone. What a wild imagination I had in those days.

I'd like to do day 3 of week 6 for my C25K plan tomorrow, but I don't know if that's a good idea right now. I think I'll wear my sneakers all day and see if the support helps my arch at all. If not, I guess I could always attempt some cross-training on a bike or something. Either way, I definitely want to go visit the nice, clean 24 Hour Fitness and pretend to be all tough with my 8lb dumbbells.  Heck yes!

Falling into Fall.

Isn't that a great quote? It was written on the chalkboard of one of my classrooms last week.


As you can see, it's definitely entering fall here.

And with fall, comes fall-esque outfits...


vampy fall manicures...



lots and lots of baking...

(we have some very forgetful roommates, which means it's time to break out the passive aggressive notes!)

and of course...

BRUSSEL SPROUT TREES!
Okay, I don't know how "fall-y" those are but isn't it crazy looking? I had no idea they grew on stalks...I always thought they were underground or on bushes. My dad and I picked those up last Sunday and unfortunately (ha!) I wasn't able to stay for dinner. I heard they were quite...interesting.

Here in WA we've been getting a lot of rain this week. I wonder if this is a sign of times to come? I'm working on thinking positively about the dark months ahead, and this is all I've come up with so far.


Rainbows.


And rainboots.

Calling Mother Nature!

First off, they're doing construction on the apartment building next door, and it's been an epic fail from day one, I'd say. Yesterday they managed to hit a pipe and we were without water for about eight hours. That was LOTS of fun! Today they started my morning off with what sounded like a tribal drum circle. Drum circles are awesome, but not so much at SEVEN in the morning.

Today's my run day, which I'm really excited about. I'm not quite as excited about the downpour that's happening right now. What do you have against me, Mother Nature? I don't care, I'm running anyways! I guess I'll just have to wear my rain jacket and pray I don't kill my ipod. It'll definitely be an adventure.

Oh and that paper I was working on last night? Yeah, I got nothing done. I went to bed with two or three word documents open, and some quotes and ideas written down, but that's about it. I woke up this morning at 8 and one hour and 990 words later...I'm ALL DONE!

My fingers are tired!

We have a problem.

Something has taken over my life. I can't get through the day without thinking about it, and it's been keeping me up at night. I don't know what's left to do...



Except eat the entire container!

Seriously, this stuff is GOOD. I think I've finally found my replacement for Ben & Jerry's Apple Crumble. I think it's only around until November, which makes it perfect for a fall favorite.

Hot apple cider was one of my fall favorites, until I tried the Caramel Apple Cider at Starbucks. It was just...not great. I think I prefer hot apple cider that's just...apple. This had too many different flavors mixed in to one, and it made me really sick. Nothing like being stuck in traffic for an hour when all you want to do is curl up in a little ball. I feel much better today though!

In fact, I SHOULD be finishing my paper that's due tomorrow at noon, but in true Natalie fashion I'm procrastinating to the max. I like to think of it as letting the ideas meddle in my mind for as long as possible. Then when I actually do sit down to write it takes no time at all! Have I told you guys about the time I wrote a 10 page research paper in 90 minutes? Yeah, it happened. I sat down to write at 8am expecting it to take me all the way until the deadline at 4 to finish, and I was done in a flash!

I'm a big fan of mind maps and detailed outlines, and in this case I had an outline that was about 7 pages long, and an entire table full of post-it notes with quotes from my sources and my own thoughts and analysis. Am I the only crazy one out there? Maybe we really DO have a problem!

Freak flag? Totally waving it right now!

I don't know about anyone else, but I love seeing how people organize things in their homes. I especially love seeing the clever ways people come up with to keep track of all of their beauty supplies! I don't have, or honestly even wear, that much make-up, but I do have a collection of a different kind.

As you're probably gathered by now, I have quite the collection of nail care items. Most of them are polishes, but I also have my fair share of treatments, top coats, decals, and manicure tools.

I sort of fell into the world of nail polish when I was really little and my mom gave me her shoebox of old polishes. Since then I've been building my own collection. Last year I kept everything in stackable storage containers from the Container Store, which worked really well. Over the summer I actually ran out of room, so I moved on to the big leagues:



an IKEA Helmer. Ohhh yes.



An entire filing cabinet IS necessary. I'd heard of other girls on the MUA boards discussing these, and I decided it was time to get serious. Okay, and I thought it was really cute.


Top drawer! Greens, blues, purples, golds, yellows...pretty much anything that isn't pink or red.


My favorite drawer. Reds, oranges, and pinks. You've probably been wondering what's up with the writing on the lids. No? Too bad, you're hearing about it anyway.


This drawer, which is always a mess, has not only my topcoats, tools and lotions, but also the difference between normal and obsessive. Yeah, I have swatches on color wheels of each color. And yes, there's also a matching spreadsheet. Mmhhm, this is totally not normal. Want to take it one step further?


The Franken-drawer! Full of tons of different glitters and random polishes for those times I feel like being a mad scientist.

And there you have it! Yours truly is a walking, talking nail salon. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to redo my pedicure.

Three Things.

Classes have finally started! In fact, I'm almost done with week one. So far things have been going really well, and I think it's going to be a great year. The workload has been super light compared to what it was last year, but once we begin our HUGE research projects there will be a lot more work involved.

My parents are taking an awesome roadtrip (and they even brought the cat with them!) and I'm kind of jealous that I'm missing out on it! For some reason they must enjoy driving across the country because this has got to be at least the 5th time they've done it in the past few years.

I went to a meeting tonight for girls and their parents interested in joining Girl Scouts and I signed up to volunteer! Which means I might have my very own Brownie troop! How crazy is that? I'm really really excited though, because I absolutely LOVED being a Girl Scout. I was involved for more than seven years and my mom was our troop leader for the majority of that time. We had such an amazing troop, we had so many patches and badges that we had to add extensions to our sashes! Hopefully I can be half as good of a leader as she was. :)

This has been the longest and busiest day so far, but I really wanted to give a little update on things. I have some really cool posts coming up too, with some for the girls about nail polish and organization and some for the boys about football and stuff like that. And if you're a boy that likes nail polish or a girl that loves football, I'm down with that too! It's all good.

The Ex-Chronicles

Photo by PrincessRica

These are the stories of the boys of my life. Not all of the boys, just the ones I've dated. Not all of the stories either, mostly the basics. It was interesting to think back to these relationships, and in my reflection I learned a lot. My mind is still racing and I keep remembering things and people I've left out. I want to keep this relatively short though, so those will have to wait. I can already think of two I've left out, and I can't believe I forgot them. We never dated though, so they fall under a different category. That said, they're no less important than these four.

I'm wondering if I'm a serial monogamist? I have gone from one relationship to the next. I've never been able to go out to a party and make out with a boy and then forget about it the next day. At the same time, I'm not one to have long ongoing crushes that I know will never turn into anything else.

From seventeen to nineteen, four short chapters, four boys.

Take Two.

I'm baaaaack! It's been so long. True confession time: I get performance anxiety when it comes time to writing blog posts. Weird, right? I overanalyze things and obsess and it just does not go well. That's probably not so weird, but it's definitely a pain in the ass. So from now on I'm going to quit worrying about it and let my freak flag fly (thank you Crosby, Stills and Nash). Which means? Uh well, I'm not sure yet. We're just gonna keep it real.

So what have I been up to?

DOTS

We went to the beach this weekend. Wait no, we went to the COAST. We've decided that's what we must call it from now on. Like every other time we've visited the Oregon coast, it was cold and gray. It was misty and windy the whole time too. It's a strange feeling to be bundled up in a sweatshirt and a blanket while you're sitting on your hotel room's balcony watching the ocean. I escaped a sunburn though, so that's a plus!

I slept in a Murphy bed for the first time! You can laugh, but when I heard that's where I'd be sleeping I was so nervous it would fold up on me! But it definitely didn't, and it was probably the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in. I loved it, and it had built in reading lights. So cool.

Entourage is BACK! Eric has become a playboy, but we all know that won't last long with Sloan in the picture again. She's so pretty, like seriously! And he's still my favorite, but that's not news. Vince got his driver's license finally, and it looks like all the boys are growing up. Love love love it.

Vanity Fair's newest issue is out and I picked it up yesterday at the store. I really like this magazine, it's kind of like a blend of Newsweek, Vogue, Time and Glamour. Or something like that. I feel like a grown-up when I read it, but it's still got enough celebrity gossip and investigative pieces to keep me happy.

I'm pretty sure I've seen every episode of both Seinfeld and Scrubs.

Lily-Mae needs a new case. Okay not really, but if my reasoning for this were something like my pink iPhone case clashes with my new pink wallet you'd probably never speak to me again, right? So yes, I need a new case for my phone. I'm looking for a turquoise one! Easier said than done, but I'm hoping I'll find a good one soon. Either turquoise or teal. Aren't they almost the same color anyway? I'm not sure if I want to stick with the rubber or try a hard plastic case instead. So many choices!

I like updating in bullet points. I'm not a writer. Okay, when I was younger I wrote a novel. Totally serious. It was 100-some pages long! It's still saved on my old laptop. And you'll NEVER guess what it was about! Too embarrassing to tell, though I did write a college admissions essay about it. I guess it worked, because I got in. :)

Quiet on the Home Front.

Things have been very quiet around here lately. I've just been plugging away with my summer class and getting all of my work done. At this point I'm about a week ahead! Yeah, I really am THAT bored.

In the next few weeks I'm going to start dong some volunteering around Portland, which I'm really excited for! During the school year I did a LOT of volunteer work, both through my sorority and on my own. I loved it, especially all of the things I got to do with kids. Let me tell you, tutoring two kindergartners for half an hour each is definitely not as easy as I thought it would be! Oh sure, the first 15 minutes go by quickly and we're all having a great time with our flashcards and letters. And then once we reach the halfway mark it's alllllll downhill. They turn into monkeys! Adorable monkeys, but still. I'd say it was definitely the hardest hour of my week, but it was also one of my favorites. I haven't found any tutoring opportunities since school is out of session, but hopefully I can get back into it this fall.

A few times I've caught myself seriously reconsidering my decision to transfer, which is not good. It's hard to feel like you've made the right choice with something like this. I think it's been especially difficult for me lately just because I miss everyone. That and I've had a LOT of downtime so far this summer, which leaves plenty of time for thinking - which can be good AND bad. I have to be careful with my reminiscing, it's too easy to get caught up in all of the good things, and I have to remind myself of the reasons for my decision. I think things will be fine once school starts again and my days are packed just like I've gotten used to. :)

I promise very soon I'll have more exciting things going on in my life! I did make some amazing strawberry lemonade bars that were delicious. Oh, and I've finally gotten around to dong some strength training. I love it so far! Who knew I liked lifting weights so much?

A visit to the relatives. Wait, what?

I want to start off with a recommendation that you all check out this post on my mom's blog Reptitude. We had quite an adventure a few nights ago when I helped her with the Wreck This Journal project. We had a blast and almost got in big trouble!

My dad had the day off work today, so I talked him into going to the Portland Zoo with me! For some reason I thought it would be a great day to go, even though it was over 90 degrees and really crowded! We had a really good time despite all of that, and as a reward for him we went to Voodoo Doughnut Too, which is the 'sister' shop of Voodoo Doughnut. They have some CRAZY doughnuts (maple bacon bar, anyone?) and they're very well known here in Portland. If you're ever in this neck of the woods I recommend you check it out!

Okay, so back to the Zoo! The parking lot was full, so we ended up parking at a church and taking the zoo shuttle. Or rather, the zoo school bus!



I was pretty excited to relive my glory days of elementary school. I loved being the last one on in the mornings and the first one off in the afternoon.

There was quite a bit of construction going on, but we were still able to see a ton of animals.



I have a thing for Chimpanzees, so I was really excited that they were out and playing.



They're so much fun to watch, and they looked happy. I learned that there is a chimpanzee sanctuary in Bend, Oregon called Chimps Incorporated. They focus on conservation and education. If I was better at science I'd love to study this type of thing. Ever since I was little I've loved chimpanzees and gorillas and I wanted to be Jane Goodall when I grew up. If only I was better at science!



We also saw the giraffes! Well, a giraffe. I'm not sure if they have more, but this was the only guy we saw today.

The most intersting part of our trip actually ended up being the bat cave!



It smelled awful but they were so fun to watch! They crawled around Spiderman style and two of them even looked like they were playing tag.


They look so furry too! Bats used to creep me out, but these were almost cute. Almost.



I also made a friend who had rockin' sunglasses. I'm pretty sure my dad just likes to make me pose for embarrassing pictures, so I'll leave you with this one and save you from the pictures of me pretending to be a monkey. :)

One last thing, there's another video up on Youtube if anyone's interested. I did one on what's in my purse, which seems like it's a really popular topic right now!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a safe 4th of July!