Goooooo Blue! One More Time!

This past Saturday/Sunday, my family went on vacation for the first time in four years.  (One short vacation every four years really is what we average, but as you will see, we cram so much into those two days we’re happy to stay at home for a while.)

We got up super early and drove five hours across the state to go to a football game at the college my sister and her best friend want to go to.  They’re both juniors right now; Sara is hoping to make the majorette line in the band, and one of the motives of this trip was to see said band and majorettes.  We drove around the campus and the college town, trying to take it all in..

There was an ulterior motive, which I guess was not so ulterior as my mom came out and said, ‘Let’s try and find reasons to make Sara and Abbey not want to go here.’

I go to a small, private college with no football team or greek life, so this large, state school football culture was completely foreign to me.  Tailgating?  What is this tailgating?

I wondered what it would be like to be one of the thousands standing and cheering in the student section.  (GSU!  Fight! Fight! Fight! and Whose house?  Our house!)  Or in a few years, one of the graduates with my baby in its GSU onesie or GSU socks or tiny GSU cheerleader uniform.

I missed band for a few minutes, until I felt the sweat soaking through my t-shirt and shorts and imagined wearing that wool uniform in the 95 degree heat.  And then I wondered, if it was 95 degrees in September, what was it during band camp a month ago?

It was such a good game!  So close!!  Won by a field goal in the last minute!  I have finally grown to love and more-or-less understand the game of football.  For the first 15 minutes, I am very into it.  After that, my interest usually wanes, but not so much this time.  There was so much going on around us, including the crazy intense yelling fans.  My favorite things that were shouted include “Sit him down!  Sit his *** down!!”, “C’mon, you’re playing a bunch of Yankees!” (the opposing team was from Albany, NY), and “I smell blood!”..It was definitely an experience like no other.

I can’t see myself there, and I know that my school was the right choice for me..But I think it might be a good fit for Sara and Abbey..They like to have fun, and they would.  They like to make fun of people, and they would have plenty of opportunities.  Yeah, I would worry like crazy about their crazy selves, but I think they would be okay.

Sunday, we  headed an hour down the road to Savannah.  I didn’t take any pictures in Savannah, for a couple of reasons.  1.  I didn’t want to look any more like the ubiquitous tourists than I already did.  2.  Since I’m going to be living there in a year, I’ll have loads of photo opportunities.

Oh, didn’t I tell you that I’m moving to Savannah?  Only partially kidding.  I really probably will apply for jobs there, and depending on how the job hunt goes..who knows?  I love, love, love this city.  (Plus, it would be really convenient for Sara and Abbey to come stay with me on weekends and have somebody they know closer than 5 hours away..)

So the girls and the mother and I spent a whirlwind 2 or 3 hours walking the squares, River Street, and so on while the brother (celebrating his 18th birthday–oh my goodness, my baby brother is 18!) and the father visited the nearby Air Force museum (Wesley wants to join the Air Force after he graduates this year).  Seeing as it was Sunday morning, not many shops were open, but we did manage to get some candy (pineapple rock candy=my new favorite), and we visited Cafe GelatOhhh!, Savannah’s only gelateria (according to its brochure), where I had some gelato that was as good as Italy’s!!!  Which further cemented my resolution to move to Savannah after I graduate.  When I live in Savannah, I am going to go to Cafe GelatOhhh! until I’ve tried all of their flavors of gelato and all of their paninis, which all sounded really, really good.  And I am going to have to run, run, run it all off around the squares.

I’m really going to have to run after I start using my souvenir:

Of course, once I move there, I’ll get to eat at her restaurant, but until then, Paula Deen’s cookbook will be a good substitute.  Here are the recipes I’ve marked that I want to try so far:

I have to buy a lot of butter..

After the boys picked us up, we headed out to Tybee Island to stick our feet in the ocean for a few minutes.  I do the beach very well with a full day and some preparation, which we didn’t have; the girls did fairly well, with bikinis but no towels; my parents were wearing jeans and tennis shoes…The last time I went to the beach with my family was the summer I was 10 and we went to Charleston.  I remember us walking on the beach one night; it was the only time I’ve seen my dad wear shorts in public.

After that we loaded back up and headed home..and drove…and drove..and drove..My brother wanted to eat at Steak ‘N Shake for his birthday, and it was 8:00 before we found one, nearly in Atlanta..We pulled into the driveway around 11, and I can’t account for everybody else, but I know I rolled into bed for 12 hours..

So–marathon entry for a marathon couple of days..I’m wore out just from writing/reliving it all..

Lazy Hazy Crazy: Summer Reading 09

In the past, I’ve been pretty good (to say the least) at keeping lists of the books I’ve read..This summer, not so much.

Oh, I read.   I just didn’t keep track of it.  I read (in no particular order):

• Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery, completing the Anne of Green Gables series (my favorite is still Anne of the Island, which I reread)
• O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society–I really enjoyed this book!
• I read a children’s book about Carl Sandburg, and then visited his house (more on that later), and then fell head over heels for his poetry.
• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson–an extremely moving book..
• I got on a sad book kick at an inopportune time, resulting in my sobbing over Each Little Bird that Sing by Deborah Wiles..
• And then The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  I sobbed my eyes out, and I pretty much never cry while reading..
• Impossible by Nancy Werlin tried and failed to produce tears
• Part of my bridesmaid present was Set-Apart Femininity by Leslie Ludy, which sent me on a Eric and Leslie Ludy bender.  I read When Dreams Come True, When God Writes Your Love Story, Authentic Beauty, When God Writes Your Life Story, The Bravehearted Gospel, and Meet Mr. Smith.  Powerful stuff.  I need to read God’s Gift to Women.  And they have some new stuff coming out early next year–excitement!
• I reread The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.  Wow.  Just.  Wow.
• I flipped through a book of wedding customs at work (the children’s dept at the library) and was asked to read some to the rest of the workers.  Which resulted in one of several proposals (or propositions, more accurately) that I received this summer..
• Read a bunch of Andrew Clements books.  Very good “school stories” for the 9-12 y.o. set.
• I felt very studious and overacheiver-ish when I read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller and Book Crush by Nancy Pearl.
• I reread Pride and Prejudice and a favorite from my piano competition days: Broken Chords by Barbara Snow Gilbert–kind of a perfect teenage book.  Makes me want to fall in love with a boy who plays piano.
• Kind of a perfect teenage book I discovered: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
• And another: My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger–very sweet..Baseball, Mary Poppins, musical theater, young love..sounds like a winning combination for a YA book to me..

As one of my teachers says, life’s too short to stay with a book you don’t like or a man you don’t love, so there aren’t any flat-out bad books on this list.  Right now, I’ve kinda run aground, reading-wise.  I think it’s time to start utilizing my college library and the inter-library loan system again..I’m thinking of rounding out my Ludy experience and exploring P.G. Wodehouse.  Do you have any suggestions for me?

Lazy Hazy Crazy: Summer Pt 1

J, everyone’s favorite cousin, got married this summer, to A, one of the sweetest girls I know.  Not ones to play favorites, J and A wanted all his cousins to be in the wedding.  (Sometimes I wonder who J’s favorite cousin is..probably Sara..)

My shoes are the ones on the bottom..pretty, but the most gosh-awful uncomfortable things I have ever worn..My feet bled by the end of the day..

Making the bride beautiful..

The groom’s cake was a pirate ship!

The cousins, lined up by age..Some version of this picture is going to be the Christmas card this year, I think..

Their first dance as husband and wife..

A shower of rose petals..

There are more pictures on Facebook, if you’re my friend there, including several priceless gems featuring Sara being..well, Sara..

it’s only the second day…

but school is already kicking my tail…

So I know that I promised some posts about summer, but I really just don’t have it going on tonight.

So instead, you get dark, blurry self-portraits.

This is, I think, going to be the official uniform of Fall 09: cardigan, tee, fab jeans, comfy mocs.  [old navy, gap, gap, old navy.]  Hair in a ponytail with bangs swept straight back until it all grows out about three inches.  Vintage bangle.

Today’s look: the lovely lady lumberjack cardi [target], black knit dress (awesome birthday present a year ago)[old navy], and red mary janes from Wal-Mart of all places.  I promise my limbs are not orange in real life.

 

My 36 page pdf just finished downloading..I’m going to go see if I can read it..

Last First Day

Today was my last first day of school as a student..Summer is over, and I was oh-so-not ready to go back to classes..paperwork..stress..

One of my goals for this year is to cut out avoidable, self-induced stress.  Really, it’s ridiculous how bad at staying on top of things I am sometimes.

I also want to get healthy.  Eat my fruits and veggies, work out, get lots of sleep..

Staying connected with friends I don’t see everyday was something I failed at after living off-campus last year.  Gotta work on that.

I don’t want to look back on my college experience years from now and have any regrets.  Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself to be perfect.  Sometimes I am just not a nice person.  There are a couple of people in my life, I just can’t look at them without thinking an “uncharitable” thought, as Anne of Green Gables would say.  I really want to keep everything in perspective.  I need to pray.  A lot.  About all of this.

I am just in this very reflective mood tonight, which is good because goodness knows I have a lot of reflecting and self-evaluating coming up in the next few months..We’ll check back in at Christmas and see how my goals panned out.

Did I say that I want to make straight A’s?  Because I do.  Did I mention the whole perfectionist thing?

I think the next few posts will be recaps of the moderately interesting things I did over the summer.  There will not be many, as my summer was not very exciting, but I’ll see what I can come up with..

Points of Interest

• I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing; kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles. ~Audrey Hepburn    Love that.
• My friend Nikki is getting married, and she started a blog!  I’ve kinda been on this wedding kick lately, and I love looking at ideas of what other people are planning.  (Also, Nikki, how is it possible that you’re getting married?!  Weren’t we just in 5th grade last week, reading “Jacob Have I Loved” and writing really melodramatic short stories?)
• If you don’t read Design*Sponge, you are missing out!  I’m filing this away in the wedding category of my brain..And I am almost done with my version of this..pictures soon!
• Things that amuse me about that picture up top: my little sister is barefoot, I am wearing heels, and she’s still taller than me (for those who don’t know me in ‘real life’, I’m 5′8″–not exactly short); one of the spaghetti straps on my (very cute, very cheap) dress snapped in the car and was held up for the entire wedding rehearsal+dinner by a paperclip (in a blazing hot church; the cardi had to go); the woman at the nail place the day before assumed we were sisters, asked which one was older, and did a double take when I said I was–”You??”  yeepp..4 years..
• My sister went to the dermatologist a couple of weeks ago, and they removed a mole on her chest to test (turned out to be pre-cancer cells and they’re going to get the rest of them, so no worries)..so the next day at band practice you could see the bandaid with the tank top she was wearing.  She told one person she had gotten laser heart surgery, another that she’d had to get a rabies shot because her dog bit her, and she told the band student teacher that she’d gotten a tattoo.  He believed her.
• More Design*Sponge love: this entry about Little Women, one of my all-time favorites..Which March sister are you?  When I was younger, I was a Jo/Beth combo, but over the past few years I’ve been growing more like Meg and less like Jo..Need to reread the book and rewatch the movies.  And I would absolutely love for my future house to look like Orchard House (crossed with Meg Ryan’s apartment in “You’ve Got Mail”, with a healthy dash of Kate’s English cottage in “The Holiday”).
• I got my hair cut this morning..it’s short and I’m not sure if I like it, but my dad said that he liked it, which is a major, huge deal and definitely should override my opinion (my haircuts have been..an issue..over the past 21 years..to put it delicately..)
• I am going to go make salsa and granola, and finish sewing the binding on my quilt, and work on my yo-yo pillow, and watch The O.C.

Behind the Scenes

I think that if I knew Francesca Battistella in real life, we’d be friends.  So many of her songs express exactly what I’ve been feeling lately.

This post has been rattling around my mind for the past two months, and I still don’t know exactly what to write.

Goodness, that sounds dramatic.

So here’s the deal.

I want my life to be completely focused on Jesus.  I’m not very good at making that happen.  This summer, it’s really been something I’ve been working on.  And I think that the number one thing I’ve learned is that it’s a constant, never-ending, can’t-let-up quest.  Because when I take my eyes off him for a moment, I’m Simon Peter, slipping under the water and back into those old, bad habits.  But God is good, and so forgiving and patient.  So I refocus my attention on him, shake the water off my face, and keep walking.

Thank you for putting up with my long absences and visiting me here.  I’m going to try to start posting more; I’ve got so much I want to share with you.

Check it out!

The Persephone Post linked to me! This entry, specifically.  Love it.

Soo..I’ve been cutting back on my internet usage and social networking, hence the long absences.  I may be back soon.  Or not.  We’ll just have to wait and see..

This is a sickness

Not the huge piles of summer clothes or all the shoes that I finally wedged into my closet.  Not the massive amount of food I’ve eaten today (who am I kidding, for the past three days).  Not the length of time since my last post on here.  No, na-no.  I’m talking about the stacks of books I unearthed when I moved the clothes and shoes and bags and miscellaneous school papers.

Do you remember what my bookcases used to look like? (aka the most popular post in applesandonions history)

And then I ran out of room and had to get this little bookcase?  (remind me to tell you about the science fair project I did on baking bread this semester)

Well.  It’s time for another trip to the antique mall.  The state of (part of) my children’s book collection:

No, I don’t have kids.  But I am a really good ECE major.  And my classroom library is going to be AWESOME.

And a peek at the big bookcase:

that’s pretty characteristic of how the rest of the shelves are looking–cluttered.

And I know that in a year (Oh.My.Gosh.One.Year.) (Everytime I think “I am a senior in college now” I get this really weird feeling in my stomach) I will have a place to put all those children’s books, but where am I going to put them until then?  And where am I going to put all of the books I am going to buy between now and then?  Because my amazon.com wish list is 4 pages long and growing.  And actually I was thinking about going and ordering some books tonight.  I know, I KNOW.  I shouldn’t, but I really should.  I’m student-teaching 4th grade next year, and my teacher said I should think of suggestions of books for us to read.  See there–Totally justified.  And, library books give me the heebie-jeebies.  (Please, no comment on the fact that I have been working in libraries for the past three years and I want to be a school librarian.  That has definitely contributed to my shuddery-old-book feelings.)

Erm, so yeah.  Me.  Pretty dillusional.  And addicted.  Told ya I had a problem.

my room smells like dirt

here’s why:

wow, take blurry pictures much?

I commandeered my sister’s windowsill while she was on her band spring trip this weekend, too, but I don’t have any pictures of it yet.