Jenga!

I'm taking a study break to inform the world that I beat Nathan at Jenga last week. It was phenomenal! (He's usually rather competitive, but he doesn't seem to be too put out by this loss. I'm still enjoying the victory though!) Here's a picture of the tower a few rows before its collapse. It definitely toppled into a burning candle that was not-so-strategically placed behind said Jenga game. Hopefully the residual wax won't cause too much of a problem for future games!


Now back to the regularly scheduled program....pharmacology!

Bangs

It's not the best picture ever, but it gets the point across! Somewhat on a whim, I got bangs today. I haven't had bangs since I was in the 6th grade! I just felt like a change. Turns out I've felt like a lot of changes lately...new hair color, glasses, bangs. Maybe we're done for a while! Anyways, I think I like them, but I'm still adjusting & I reserve judgment for the time being. Let me know what you think! Here's another picture. Also not fantastic, but yeah...

The "M-word"

Are there any words that you just cannot stand to hear? Whether it's the way they sound or just the connotation, I have several such words. The most important of which is m-o-i-s-t. (I can't even bring myself to type it!) I seriously cringe every time I hear it; it's like a reflex. I can't handle that word! Many of you know this & are probably laughing at your computers right now as you remember how ridiculous you think I am for this quirk, but I don't care. I beg you all, please, please avoid the "m-word" at all costs! Or you can just spell it out when there is no suitable substitute. I know I'm pretty crazy...I'm OK with it!

There are others that for whatever reason send shivers down my spine. Sever, clot, flaccid, to name a few. I know I'm not the only one in the world who feels this way about certain words! My cousin actually pointed out the phenomenon when we were a lot younger & I think sever and clot were her original "taboos". Anyways, do share if there are words you can't stand. It really fascinates me, and I'm curious if it's just me & my cousin!

PS. I apologize to anyone who may or may not have gotten excited at the title seeing as there's another "m-word" that's pretty taboo as well! ;-)

Halloween & Shoes

Here's a picture of my Halloween costume. I was a princess! :-) And since the dress was yellow, I decided I was Belle from Beauty & the Beast. Originally, this would've gone over great since we were going to go to my ward Halloween party for the Primary kids. But we didn't go, so it was a bit of a stretch! Anyways, I think I looked pretty.

I mentioned a few posts ago about my shoes breaking. Well, they haven't been fixed yet, despite multiple efforts, but I've come to terms with it enough to at least post pictures of the damage.

You can see that a jewel is missing, which thankfully has been replaced through the miracle of superglue. The offending piece of metal is also pictured above. Apparently, it's a pretty tight saudering job; so tight that the shoe repair man wouldn't attempt it. A friend said it seemed doable, however, so I'm encouraged to get a second opinion. I really wish I could say that I'm purposely being melodramatic about it...unfortunately, I'm pretty much really this devastated. I love these shoes!!!

Oh, Electra!

I think I'm going to have video cameras installed in my house solely for days like today! Electra managed to find her way back into an old vent pipe that was supposed to be covered up & inaccessible to mischievous felines. She came out COVERED in black soot! This does not go over well with my white couch & light-colored bedding. A bath was imperative.

Yes, I bathed my cat today, and I would give almost anything to be able to relive the experience! The range of emotions was the best part. At first, I was ticked that she'd gotten back in there & determined to punish her with a bath. Then, I began to realize that this was going to be a painful process for me, too! Soon, the hilarity of the situation was too much to bear & I found myself laughing at my poor kitty in her distressed state. I was busting up laughing at her even as she clawed at my arms, chest, face, hair, etc. in a vain attempt to escape. Ah! If only there were pictures! Alas, all I have to show for the experience is the shredded skin on my wrist & a fluffy, fresh-smelling cat.

The cameras would also have come in handy tonight when Electra misplaced the lid to my ice cream container. I set it on the stove while I enjoyed some delicious chocolate chip cookie dough straight from the carton, only to return to find it missing. Like, seriously missing! I searched high & low, yet ultimately was forced (yes, forced) to eat the rest of the ice cream. Waste not! I think it ended up being nearly 1/3 of the 1 1/2 quart carton.

Yeah...makes you want a cat, doesn't it? ;-)

Nathan & Me

We took these pictures the other night because we thought we looked funny. Turns out, we look pretty cute together despite the ridiculous outfits!

So we had gone to dinner with my friends & I wore a skirt because it wasn't terribly cold. I did have the sense to wear a cardigan at least. Apparently, it gets colder when the sun goes down! We were FREEZING when we left the restaurant! So before leaving Nathan's, I grabbed a blanket & wrapped it around like a towel to cover my poor legs. Nathan had left his car at my house with both of his "good" hats in it, so he had to wear this one, which I think is hilarious, especially with that jacket! We were quite amused with ourselves & felt the need to document the event.

This is Nathan's favorite picture of me to date. I pretty much hate it, but what else is new? The hat was at the Gap & it was suggested that I try it on. The result was clearly deemed picture-worthy & is what shows up whenever I call Nathan. Maybe if I were standing up straight...


Side note: Nathan's new phone is awesome-- he took these on its 3.1 megapixel camera & emailed them to me. I need it! It's the Google version of the iPhone, basically, and it's fabulous! Most especially because it's a T-mobile phone & cheaper. Here's the product tour from HTC, the geniuses who made such a beautiful piece of technology!

6 Insignificant Things

Shantelle got tagged to write about 6 insignificant things about herself & since I never get tagged & she left it open, I figured I'd tag myself! :-) And it's only 20 minutes until "The Office," which is not enough time to start listening to another lecture, so I need a diversion. Please excuse the seeming self-centeredness of them all starting with "I." It is a list about me after all. Here goes!

1. I talk to my cat. And when I'm on the phone with Daddy he tells me to stop because it makes me sound crazy. I think he's worried that I'm going to be that girl. Oh well. Fact is, I've been talking to Sanguini for years & he's definitely less interactive than the cat, so...I'm gonna say it's a step in the right direction! Who knows, by next year maybe I'll have moved on to talking to real people! And at least she doesn't talk back...

2. I have yoga pants on under my jeans. This is because I had to go to school & was planning on going to a yoga class afterwards. I wasn't too terribly keen on waltzing into my small group session in spandex capris, so I pulled some jeans on over them. I have yet to do the yoga, however, so here I am!

3. I had instant maple & brown sugar oatmeal with a pear in it for breakfast this morning. The instant oatmeal thing has pretty much revolutionized my life. The pear was an afterthought & was eaten today primarily because it got injured yesterday in the grocery unloading process. Loss of pear to the iminent rotten demise was not an option! Anyways, kind of an odd combination, but it was delicious.

4. I broke my favorite shoes the other day. It was a tragedy. I'm kind of still too upset to talk about it, actually. Maybe once they've been brought back to life I'll tell the story & post pictures of the carnage.

5. I've been wanting to rewatch "The Matrix" for like 3 weeks now. Nathan has it & it's been taunting me. Part of it is probably that it's one of the few that I can read from across the room...but yeah, I need to watch it again. It's a fabulous movie. But I can't recommend it because it's rated R. Bummer.

6. I love chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Pretty self-explanatory. I think I'll go have some right now!

That was surprisingly difficult to do, actually. And even still Nathan claims that none of these things are insignificant! Though in the grand scheme of things, I have to say that they are indeed of little to no consequence in my life. Except maybe the shoes...

...off to focus on "The Office," which incidentally I still don't find riotously funny like the rest of the word, and massage my poor legs that have yet to recover from running on Monday. Yeah...

Six Flags & Hair

The stake paid for the Young Single Adults to go to Six Flags on Saturday & Mama talked me into going. Thanks, Mom! It was her birthday, so I especially enjoyed the roller coasters as my present to her. ;-)

However, we do have a test this Friday, so the above picture is an "action shot" of me studying while waiting in line for Superman. I'm a dedicated student, what can I say? Though it's probably more accurate to say that I'm dedicated to taking advantage of free social events that involve roller coasters & bus rides! I did learn all about some anti-viral drugs & got a good start on the adrenergic ones. And I rode Goliath! Still not really sure how that happened because once I had a chance to step back & realize exactly how high it is, I completely chickened out for round 2! I was given no time to think or argue the first go-round, for which I'm grateful; it is a fantastic roller coaster.

The picture above is all effectified to look prettier, but here's one that shows my new hair color better. It doesn't usually look quite that red; the sun was hitting it, I think. Also, here's a before shot (from the Braves' game in May) that I found lurking on my computer.















(photos courtesy of Nathan)

Ode to iTunes

I'm a newbie in the iTunes world. I just barely converted this Spring (after much goading from my dear father)! It took me about 4 hours to literally convert all my music from Windows Media Player format to iTunes format. And at that point I only had a small fraction of my CDs on my computer!! I probably spent another 3-4 hours this summer shoving the rest of my CDs onto my hard drive. All this effort & I don't even have an iPod! (hint hint wink wink nudge nudge parents) Just kidding, I really don't neeeed one...

Anyways! Today it's been made 110% worth it. The most recent iTunes update included a magical tool called Genius, which really is quite genius! In addition to suggesting songs for you to buy from the iTunes Store (yeah, that wasn't too hard to anticipate), you can select any song from your library & at the click of a button Genius will generate a playlist of similar songs. It's fabulous! No longer am I bound to the same playlists that I know inside out, backwards, and forwards! Nor do I have to shuffle a single artist for "confined variety" of listening pleasure! No, I am free.Besides, it's incredibly amusing to me that the (now) universal (among iTunes users at least) symbol of genius is the quintessential diagram of an atom with electrons zooming around a nucleus. Except they always seem to forget the nucleus...guess it's more aesthetically pleasing that way.

Belated Hair Picture

Take a moment to look at the consistency of posting. Now, can you tell that school started back? Anyways, that's no excuse for being so late in posting a picture of my new hair color!


As many of you know, I have talked about dying my hair on & off for quite some time (like years). I finally did it! Well, to be more specific, Jen, my fabulous neighbor, did it. Not the best picture in the world, but you can tell somewhat that my hair is now a slightly auburn brown color. It's semi-permanent and already starting to come out, especially where I had highlights (sad day!), but I'll probably keep it up for a while. At least while I can justify the expense!

I apologize for the lack of a "before" photo, but my hair's been the same since, oh, senior year of high school so I imagine that y'all've got a picture somewhere to look back at for comparison!

Mama Loves Me

My lovely mother came to visit me this weekend & we had a BLAST! Most of y'all have probably already heard the play-by-play, but I just couldn't resist sharing it with the world. Too bad there aren't pictures...though the funny ones would probably not be suitable for the internet. Haha, that peaked your interest!

No, there were no scandalous activities, but we did go see Iron Man at the dollar movie. First of all, ANY movie at the dollar movie is fabulous simply because it's so cheap! Even when our lovely Masters Cinema down here charges $2 instead of $1...but yeah, Iron Man. Robert Downey, Jr. is freakin' hilarious! I really didn't expect to laugh as much as I did, but I'm not gonna argue. Plus, the beautiful "new-ish" Audi is in it & that's worth the money in and of itself. The whole movie could've been on mute & I'd've been OK just because that car drives around really fast a couple of times.

We then stuffed our faces full of delicious fried shrimp & crab legs at Rhinehart's, a beautiful little hold in the wall seafood restaurant/bar that makes you want to take a shower after you leave. Hey, you do whatcha gotta do for great seafood!

Side note: Mama, if you're reading this, that spider that I wanted you to dispose of, you know the creepy one with wriggling antennae? It's staring at me from atop my printer at the moment. Definitely not dead yet...

After a Friday night full of What Not to Wear & the like, we went shopping on Saturday. Target is amazing. (Except that they're perpetually out of stock of heel grips, but that's a gripe for another day!) We had great successes at Target & a lovely lunch at Chick-fil-a before getting pedicures & going to the grocery store. A totally girly day, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Mama made omlettes for dinner-- FANTASTIC! Yes, I'm still raving about the omlettes. The Sound of Music was on TV so Mama got to shed a few tears at "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" & the day was complete.

Sunday was the usual church, lunch, pack up & leave affair, but it was also quite enjoyable. Needless to say, I took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon before FHE!

So I have gotten zero studying in thus far this Labor Day weekend, but sometimes you've just gotta let your hair down & play with your mommy! I'm dying my hair brown this weekend after the test, so stay tuned for pictures. Now it's definitely study time, however. Ciao!

Learning to Lean

I'm pretty sure that most of y'all who read this regularly are aware that my family's going through some trials at the moment. Particularly, my brother Ben. I have no intention of delving into the specifics here, but I do feel like it's a good place to sound off, so to speak, about everything.

Mostly, I go through phases of anger/frustration, indifference, and occasionally acceptance. You would think that if I've managed to accept these burdens before, I should still be accepting of them now. Unfortunately, that's just not the case. I mean, I'll be in a good "trust in the Lord" phase & then I get fed up & revert to anger, closely followed by frustration. Of course the logical part of my brain knows that this is the influence of the Adversary, but the rest of me just feels like I've been dragged behind a semi for the past 15 months! Emotionally, that is.

And then I become desensitized. While these are the times that I feel the most "normal" & like I can handle the rest of my life (medical school's no picnic), I come out of it feeling infinitely worse than ever because Mama & Daddy don't get to just tune it all out when it gets to be too much. So I feel guilty that I'm not "in the trenches" with them, in spirit at least if not in person. Cue breakdown.

You know the thing about it though? It seems that all of us are going through similar cycles & thankfully they don't tend to line up! So when I'm in a bad place & really upset, Mama and/or Daddy are being strong & can help me. Also, I'm learning to rely on my Heavenly Father for strength & comfort. I'm blessed to have so many people in my life who are great examples in this respect, in and out of the church. It's a hard lesson for me, to be sure. I'm not good at asking for help & even if I do, I often don't really exercise the faith necessary to receive those blessings. (And that goes for faith in other people as much as in Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ.) But I'm learning & trying every day to do better.

Thanks for your help, even if you didn't know you were giving it!

St. George Island

My grandparents love us very much. As a result, they have been taking our whole family to the beach for the past 15 some odd years! I still can't believe it's been that long. Anyways, it's quite the operation to find a suitable house for 10 people & actually get us all down there! For the past several years, my brother's friend Ben has joined us, which is good since Ben's the only grandson among granddaughters! (Yes, they're both named Ben.) We've been going to St. George Island off the coast of Florida near Apalachicola and we love it. We're usually too busy relaxing to take tons of pictures, but here's a few to give you an idea!

The picturesque view from the dining room. Sitting at the table looking out this seemed, to me, to be the epitome of tranquility & bliss. It was hard to get the picture to do it justice...




Sea turtles nest here each summer. While we're quite familiar with the "light out for sea turtles" mantra, this was the first year we'd actually seen fresh tracks & nests. Very exciting!




Family swim time! What you can't see are the mega water guns that Ben & Ben are hiding underwater. Claire's helpfully pointing out a potential beach-walking target for their Stealth Attack. Sadly, none of us actually had the guts to shoot at unsuspecting strangers. Though Mama & Nancy fell victim a few times! Notice the distance they've placed between themselves & the rowdy childrens.


Ma being positively perplexed by the remote control. In her defense, the batteries died by the end of the week so it's entirely possible that it was not behaving properly at this moment in time!




Beautiful & delicious roasted vegetables courtesy of Emi. We like to take pictures of food in our family...especially when it's so colorful!





Cousin kitchen loafing. Notice how Mama & Nancy are in constant motion while we're on standby to help out as necessary. The appropriate soundtrack to this picture is Fox News making a valiant effort to overpower our chatting. I know open kitchens are all the rage, but there are serious acoustic issues with such a floor plan! On another note, Claire's holding a paper towel in preparation for...

...this! Apparently, she was trying to get it over her head without breaking to make a sort of collar. She almost made it, too!





Claire contemplating what went wrong with the paper towels. Or wondering why they won't release season 3 of Pete & Pete on DVD. Both very much worth pondering. She turned 18 a couple weeks ago...Happy Birthday, Claire!



Brother Ben totally passed out from a long day of beach activities. Isn't the sunglasses tan hot? ;-) Hey, it's inevitable, we know.





Fuqua was also quite sleepy. Too sleepy in fact to put on pants! Thankfully, neither he nor my brother read my blog, so my life is in no immediate danger!






Well, that's all folks! As we've gotten older, the future of the family beach trip has become more & more uncertain. We have reservations for next summer though, so it seems we'll go at least one more year. Depending on when I decide to take the boards, I may or may not be joining them. We'll see. Cross your fingers!

Daddy's Hand

Warning: Some images may not be suitable for the squeamish. Parental discretion is advised.

So a few posts (& about a month) ago I described the Hand Incident of 2008 starring Ken Wehunt & an old hay baler. Here's the pictorial account:

The middle joint of this finger got fractured from the pressure.

Apparently, this was quite the impressive stitch job considering how it started.

Thankfully, he's healing very well. The stitches are out & most of the dead skin fell off at the beach, so it looks good! Physical therapy was an adventure...they're still very sore. Thanks for all y'all's prayers & concern!

Meet Electra

She is my new kitten! Isn't she adorable?

A 4th year at MCG found her outside her barn & emailed the school to try to find her a home. I caved when I saw the picture! She's 8 weeks old, litter-trained (thankfully), & every bit a calico mischief-maker! The family that had her for a few days started calling her Electra for her habit of tearing through the house like she got electrocuted. And she totally lives up to her name! Man, that late-night crazy kitten thing is hilarious! A bit annoying after a few minutes, mostly the attacking of everything that moves including me, but still fun! She was chasing her own tail earlier...then she fell off the couch. Hilarious!

Everyone's asking about my guinea pig, Sanguini, & how it's going to work out. So far, they've been introduced twice without incident. She is very interested in prowling around his cage, however, & occasionally reaches through the holes to try to swat him. He seems completely nonplussed about the entire situation. He doesn't run away, nothing! If anything he's been more active since Electra's been here than before! She did learn to jump into his cage last night, which I decided wasn't such a good plan, so I made Sanguini a roof. I'm convinced that they can be friends. Though I admit it might take him giving her a good strong nip to get the message across! It's a work in progress.

I've wanted to get a kitty for a while now. In fact, Daddy tried to talk me into giving Sanguini away last fall in exchange for a kitten. But alas, I've had him for almost 3 years now so I'm attached. We're buds. He's staying. Still, it seemed like the right time to take on another 4-legged friend & thus I read the fated email. And so...come meet Electra!

Let the Games Begin!

And of course by games I mean preparations for school starting in a week. But hey! All the same to me! I absolutely LOVE buying school supplies & would probably replace every single bit of them every year if it weren't completely wasteful & financially irresponsible to do so! Thankfully, pens do run out of ink & spiral notebooks run out of paper, so some repurchasing is quite justifiable. Needless to say, I will thoroughly enjoy my errands today! AND I get to go to Bath & Body Works (with a coupon) to stock up on the few items that I still buy there. It's going to be a beautiful afternoon!

In other news, I apologize for the serious blog neglect that I'm guilty of! Upcoming posts will (hopefully) include an interpretation of the new Coldplay album, beach pictures, & some sort of multimedia coverage of my trip to California! Though, that might take longer than the term "upcoming" implies, so don't hold your breath. For now, I'm off to Target!

California Dreamin'

I thought a separate post was in order to share the planned itinerary for my trip to California. I leave in the morning (at some horribly early hour) & return next Wednesday (which also involves waking up at a ridiculous time). I'm going to visit my friend Will & his family, with an added bonus of getting to drop by Marshall's for a night!

Thursday: I fly into San Francisco around lunchtime. Will & I will then embark on the fastest tour of SF that anyone has ever attempted! Here's the Google Map I made (yeah, I'm a bit anal) showing the proposed route through the city. We'll have about 4 hours to drive the green line & have some sense of having seen San Francisco. Wish us luck! We'll meet up with Marshall in the evening for dinner & then stay at his house overnight because he's awesome like that. :-)

Friday: Another early start to take Marsh to the airport & visit Will's friend in Hayward. We're hoping to go to these Japanese gardens & have some delicious brunch action before heading down to Arroyo Grande. Apparently, there's a pool party we're expected to attend that evening...

Saturday: Blessed & well-deserved relaxation! There's been talk of going into San Luis Obispo & maybe to the coast in that area...pending fire-approval of course.

Sunday: Church action. This'll be the second week in a row that I get to go to a singles' ward! Though I actually really miss the noise during the Sacrament...it's hard to concentrate when it's so quiet! ;-)

Monday: Whatever we want to do & FHE in the nighttime, which will also consist of whatever we want to do because Will's in charge!

Tuesday: We wanted to drive up the coast to Monterey, stopping by Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP, but the fires changed those plans. Bah humbug. We're still planning to go up to Monterey though to see the aquarium & golf courses. Should be a lovely day!

And then I will be taken kicking & screaming to the airport Wednesday morning. My two travel days are going to be killer! I've gotta leave at 6:15 in the morning & with the time change it'll probably feel like 2 or 3am when we get to bed. Then on Wednesday we'll have to leave Will's around 6am (Pacific) & I get back to Atlanta at 8:30pm (Eastern). Granted, that won't feel as bad, but still. Something's telling me that I'm going to have to start drinking Coke again this week...either that or keep Goody's headache powder in my system 24/7!

Anyways, that's the plan! I'll try to take some time at the beach the following week to post pictures, etc. because I'm sure y'all are as excited as I am now! :-)

Happenings

Clearly, I've slacked off a bit with the blog lately. I apologize to all of y'all who hang on every word & anxiously await new posts! ;-) I wish I had fantastic stories of things that have kept me away, but alas...not so much. So what have I been up to? Well, let's see...

I was summoned to Alpharetta on the 4th of July, 3 days sooner than planned. Daddy hurt his hand on Thursday (see story below) & decided through his painkiller haze that it was imperative that I come home. So my "leave Augusta for 3 weeks" to-do list was pared down & shoved into 3 hours instead of 3 days! It's always nice to come home though. We had a pretty laid back 4th: Chinese food & The Boston Pops on TV. It was just too hot to venture out to brave the crowds & see fireworks "live."

So yeah, Daddy's hand. The Reader's Digest version is that his left hand got smashed between the bush hog & an old hay baler that they were trying to get out of the ground. His middle finger is fractured with a pretty deep cut that they stitched up easily enough, but his index finger is a mess! They said it looked like hamburger meat before they somehow managed to get it all back in order & stitched up. I think Daddy's more upset with himself than anything. He's always so careful! Anyways, thanks to some fancy stitching everything seems to be healing nicely. If we could only get him to take his painkillers like he should everything'd be peachy!

That's about the extent of the excitement around here! I've been doing my yoga DVD in the mornings & I absolutely love it! My favorite is a segment called "No Impact Aerobics." I'm amazed that I can have a great, effective workout pretty much staying in place in the living room! I feel better, too. My headaches aren't gone by any means, but they've lessened considerably with this & other techniques that I've picked up in the last couple of weeks.

I packed today for California. My infatuation with San Francisco has diminished ever so slightly with the ordeal of packing for 3 seasons in a small suitcase! I will admit that the experience was made more difficult by my taking 8 pairs of shoes...but I need them! ;-) We'll see I suppose. I'll be sure to let everyone know if I actually end up wearing all 8 pairs in 7 days!

Kitchen Décor!

My kitchen is finally on its way to becoming decorated! Yay! I got help hanging a corner shelf above my table. Hooray for no-longer-wasted space! I went to go take a picture & realized that I don't have a digital camera. :-\ I have a video camera, but that's just too much work for a shelf. Once everything's decorated & clean I'll bust it out and give everyone a virtual tour!

In the meantime, I'm left no choice but to attempt to describe my new find. Daddy & I found this shelf at Queen of Hearts antiques in Alpharetta. (I'm officially in love with that store, btw.) It's technically supposed to sit on the ground, but since when do I use things the way they're supposed to be used? So we thought it'd work perfectly hanging in the corner above my table, which it does! It's a black metal contraption with 3 shelves & the whole thing folds up flat, which is awesome! It's got a curly sort of design which matches the style of my table remarkably well. Oh, I wish y'all could see it!

Now, on to the task of decorating it...anyone up for clearance shopping at Bed, Bath, & Beyond? ;-)

Back in the CSRA

I have returned to Augusta & back to the world of online communications! I was in Atlanta last week and, as y'all probably know, I tend to disappear when I'm up there. For better or for worse, right?

Anyways, I had a great time. I had the amazing opportunity to shadow Pam's dad who is a radiologist at Gwinnett Medical Center. It was fantastic! I had positively no idea that there was that much to radiology! I'm pretty much sold on it as a profession. Everyone was really nice & more than happy to teach me some valuable tidbits over the 3 days that I was in the department. I'm just sad I couldn't stay longer!

I also had a chance to hang out with my parentals, watching SYTYCD & movies, getting Hardee's biscuits & eating them while listening to Coldplay in the parking lot, etc. (Because that's how we roll.) I really do enjoy being home & miss them when I'm not. It must have something to do with being so far from home for so long during undergrad. Augusta's the perfect distance: about 2.5-3 hours. Too far to be expected home every weekend, but close enough to visit when I want to. We figured out this last trip home that my car gets (drum roll please) 45 MPG on the highway!!!! Can you believe it?! That definitely made me feel better about how many times I've been/am going home this summer.

For the next couple of weeks I'm just chillin' in Augusta, hopefully hanging out with some of my awesome friends down here! ;-) There will no doubt be a plethora of postings since I largely have nothing better to do. TTFN!

My New Friend, Yoga

As many of you probably know, I've dealt with daily headaches for quite some time. Yesterday, my doctor pretty much told me straight up that getting rid of them is 110% up to me. Great! No, really. I've known for a while that I need a new way to deal with stress. (Storing it in my neck & shoulders is not so ideal.) My doctor suggested yoga, which I've enjoyed the few times I've done it, so what the heck? I found a place in North Augusta that has a convenient drop-in class schedule & is reasonably priced. (The Wellness Center at MCG has classes, but the timing doesn't work out for me this summer.) And I got some clothes & a yoga mat at Target today, so I'm all set!

I'm really hoping that this'll work out for me. It's not so much fun to deal with a headache every day & it's definitely not something that anyone should have to do. Now, I'm a lazy bum at heart, so it might take a while to get into a routine & even longer to see big results, says doctor lady, but I'm determined this time. Besides, now it's on the internet that I'm committed, which means I'll stay motivated if only so I can post about how great I'm doing! ;-)

Niagara Falls

Our trip to New York also included a visit to Niagara Falls & surrounding funness. Here are some pictures that can only hope to convey the magnificence! In efforts to do so, there are about twice as many pictures as in the Palmyra post. You may need more than one sitting to get through it.

Mama & Woody present 20 Tartan Lane! (They used to live here. Well, not Woody. He wasn't born yet.)






Whirlpool of Death! I was not convinced of its power at this point. I think "tame" was the exact adjective I used. Apparently, it eats large trees for breakfast & spits them out weeks later.





Overlook of the beautiful Niagara River as it exits the gorge. This is a pretty typical Daddy face, by the way. So mischievous!






Sunset over Lake Ontario. It was quite the event! ;-) What you can't see is the .2 degree wind that was whipping off that lake like there was no tomorrow. Mama braved it to get this shot.








View across the mouth of the Niagara River to Fort Niagara. This was taken in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, my future home. No joke.





Woody presents Niagara Falls! Daddy got the Woody idea from the gnome in Amelie.






Oh my goodness there's a waterfall behind me! In case you were wondering, I was really there.






American Falls. These next few pictures are from Mama & Daddy & Ben's trip a year or so ago. The water is so much bluer than it looks here!





Horseshoe (Canadian) Falls. Over the last 10,000 years, the waterfall created the gorge & continues to erode a foot a year! Note the mist. It's some serious mist.





The brink. Ridiculous amounts of water plunge over the edge every second. I was mesmerized!






Maid of the Mist. This almost does the experience justice. But not quite. It's pretty intense!






I love my cone-headed mother! She's gonna kill me for this...







...and I'm just gonna press my luck a little further! Mama & me on the Maid of the Mist. She's enjoying the spray.






Daddy & me on the boat. I'm an equal-opportunity parental embarrasser!







I'd like to draw your attention to the "No Smoking" sign. Really, I think if you managed to light a cigarette on that deck then you should be allowed to smoke it. But that's probably just me. This is the Cave of the Winds deck below American Falls. I saw a commercial for Thompson's WaterSeal the other day & learned that apparently this deck is protected by the same! Whoever came up with that idea deserves a "Goodonya" for sure!


Mama on the Jet Boat. Notice it's the domed version because getting drenched in 40 degree water just isn't our style. And it was still way fun!






It was quite loud. The tour guide lady was talking inside our heads via the headphones. What I couldn't understand is why she kept asking us questions when we didn't have microphones. How were we supposed to respond? Not sure. Daddy said we looked more like aviators than jet boaters. I agree.



Whirlpool up close & personal. You can't really see the hole to the left that it's coming out of, but that wave is like 15 feet high! I now understand why it's seriously illegal to run this rapid. To the tune of a $100,000 fine!




My lovely parents. Thanks for an amazing trip!

Murphy's Law

Everything that would tip the scale to make a particular day a bad one always seems to happen! Never is it the things that would make the day a good one. Or at least it seems like never...warning: severe whining ahead!

Anyways, today is the day that I had set aside to clean out Sanguini's cage, make several doctor's appointments, & renew my financial aid application (yes, I'm pushing it timewise, I know). Doesn't sound too bad, right? I mean, asking Uncle Sam for incredible amounts of money doesn't rank too high on my "fun list," but I've braced myself for it. I prepared. The day was just going to be rather ambiguous. Neither good nor bad.

Then, I notice that Sanguini has blood in his urine. I noticed this last time I cleaned out his cage & investigated possible causes, namely kidney stones or a UTI. (Same for humans, btw.) Anyways, I figured I'd pay attention & see if he was uncomfortable before rushing off to an expensive vet appointment. He seemed fine, so I forgot about it. But when I noticed it again, I decided that it would be best to take him in. Thankfully, there's a vet close that sees small animals & they had an appointment for Thursday morning. That'll be $40, plus any lab fees or medications. Not a horrible blow.

Prompted by this unplanned expense, I took a look at my checkbook & realized that I failed to record a $50 withdrawal. Well, crap.

Resolving to sort that out later, I proceeded to make my doctor's appointments. I don't have coverage for the eye doctor, so I knew that that appointment was going to cost me, but I've put it off too long as it is. Judging by another specialty appointment at MCG, I'm estimating about $250 for that one. My yearly "girl" appointment will be at Student Health, but I'm not sure if all that's covered 100% like a regular office visit. I also need prescription refills & I didn't pay the $100 Student Health summer fee because I wasn't sure I'd need to, so I'll have to do that. Again, crap.

At this point, I started to worry about being able to make ends meet. Granted, I have a credit card that I could carry a balance on, but that's not ideal. I also have money in the stock market that I could take out, but that would effectively involve taking a bullet to the chest since the market's taken up sky diving lately. And, yes, there's always the "Daddy, I love you" trick, but I've already done that enough. Still, something's telling me that the change in the bottom of my purse isn't quite going to see me through until August when I get a financial jump start.

And I can't help but remember about this time last year thinking, "This'll be plenty to last me the year & throughout the summer. No way can I spend that much!" All this on the day that I have to type in the exact value of that financial jump start. Joy. Can I go back to bed now?

Meh, it'll all work out. I was just feeling a bit overwhelmed & wishing that I was financially independent. That dream's going to have a wait a while, I s'pose!

Back to the Beginning

My parents & I recently visited the Church history sites in and around Palmyra, New York. It's not my aim to sum up in their entirety the events that took place here, but instead to share some of my thoughts & feelings. The Church website is a much better resource for the history. The trip was really special for me & I thought I'd share some of the highlights in pictures. Sorry, it's a bit lengthy. Enjoy!


The Smith family's home where Joseph lived when he first began searching for the true church here on earth. It was to this home that he returned after the First Vision in the Sacred Grove.

The Palmyra Temple as it looks out over the Joseph Smith Farm towards the Sacred Grove. A temple worker told us that this gap in the trees miraculously opened one day, allowing a clear view.





A view of the farm. (By the way, Daddy took all these pictures. His composition is better than mine by far!)






An outbuilding. I think it's the one where they made barrels, whatever that's called. Either that or it's the barn. The Church has done a fantastic job recreating what these buildings would've been like in Joseph's time. After seeing how hard they worked, I can only say that they must have slept well at night!



The Sacred Grove. We were there in the late afternoon & the lighting could not have been more beautiful. I couldn't help but think that it was probably similar to what Joseph experienced, with the sun in the east of course. And I do not wonder that he picked that place to talk to Heavenly Father. So peaceful.



Me outside the Palmyra Temple. We were fortunate enough to be able to do baptisms for some family names. (Thanks, Mom!) As he welcomed us, the temple president drew a parallel between the work we were doing & the overall work of the Church in these latter-days. He pointed out that this is where it all began, as well as where it would begin for those for whom we were being baptized. It was a special experience to say the least!


Hallowed ground makes for some pretty flowers! That's something I always notice: how beautiful the landscaping is on the temple grounds. And how well everything grows!





The print shop in the Grandin Building where the first copies of the Book of Mormon were printed. This tour really put into perspective the significance of that job & how the Lord truly will move a mountain if necessary to accomplish His purposes. In this case, of course, it was the Erie Canal among other things that had less geographic impact.


The Hill Cumorah, namesake of our little hill. The view is better from this one though. Not to mention the whole plates being buried there, et cetera!





Peter Whitmer farmhouse. I must say that I felt the Spirit most strongly here, where the Church was organized. It was the last site we visited & the sister missionaries were so sweet. I'm glad we decided that we had time to drive down. Even though it's not the original house & it's "just a farm." (Yes, I said this. But so did Dad!)



Overall, it was a great trip & one that I highly recommend to anyone interested in knowing more about Church history. We stayed at the Palmyra Inn, essentially the only accommodations in the immediate area & it was nice enough. Also of note is the place where we had arguably the best Philly cheese steaks & meatball sandwiches ever. It's called Nima's, and it's literally half a block up the street from the Grandin Building. They bake the bread fresh daily, making it an absolute must. That is, if you're into that sort of thing!