Sooo busy

I'm so busy but life is good.. :-)

And, my laptop charger exploded white liquid everywhere. Now I have to buy a new one. AGAIN.

So I'm writing this from the library at school. The squirrels are more rabid than I remember. They are making weird chirping noises and darting out of strange places. I think I may have even heard one of them growl at me. Yesterday was the first day of summer classes and as I crossed across Franklin St. into campus, I passed Tyler Hansbrough. I guess if you have to go to summer school at least there are big basketball players to look at!

It's all good in the hood

I woke up at 7am this morning and I'm going to sleep before midnight tonight. Is this true? Could it be? Am I actually, for once, on a normal schedule? This is a miracle. I have somewhat maintained this quasi normal schedule for weeks now. I can't believe it! I used to sleep at weird hours during the day and stay up all night, but this new schedule is good for my health! It helps my skin and even allows me to get things accomplished. Like this morning when I spent 3 hours cleaning the entire house before going to work at 1pm. And I even found my camera cord so now I can transfer pictures to my laptop. So here are pictures from Duke Gardens last week..





Kelsey has since had a haircut. Her first!

Happy Birthday, Jamie!

In the words of Jessica Simpson... "Well, 23 is old! It's almost 25 which is almost mid-twenties."

I want to make it worth the fight

The other evening I saw a movie called The Bucket List at the lovely $1.50 theatre in Raleigh that always smells like Fritos. Even after the fire and renovation it still stinks, but it’s so cheap that one pretends to not notice the aroma. This movie was about two older men who found out they had cancer and only had 6 months to a year to live. They set off to enjoy the last few months of their lives by doing all the things on their “Bucket List,” a list of all the things they wanted to do before they died. So I was inspired to make my own:

1. Go skydiving
2. Internationally: visit London, Paris, Rome, Spain, Ghana, Pakistan, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, China, The Fiji Islands, Egypt, Dubai, Toronoto
3. Nationally: visit Las Vegas, NYC, Alaska, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Niagra Falls, Disney World
4. Go deep sea fishing
5. Buy a real designer purse
6. Tell someone the story of my life, all details included
7. Be a member of Oprah’s audience
8. Ride a camel
9. Go parasailing
10. Write a book (or short story) about my life
11. Go white water rafting
12. Inspire someone
13. Get into really great physical shape
14. Learn to scuba dive
15. Live in a different state, or possibly a different country
16. Be debt free
17. Graduate from college
18. Obtain a Master’s Degree
19. Go on a road trip with no destination
20. Volunteer in a developing country
21. Volunteer for something amazing here in the US
22. Get married on a beautiful beach
23. Learn to sew
24. Eat sushi in Japan
25. Adopt a child
26. Selflessly help someone in need
27. Love, truly.
28. Take a leap of faith
29. Be comfortable in my skin, and proud of who I am.

Weekend Fun

This Saturday evening rolled around and I was sitting in my bedroom staring at my closet thinking about arranging my shirts in order by color until the late night news when I could get my daily Texas polygamous wives interview update. I love that shit. And I was going to eat some disgusting 33 cent Ramen Noodles for dinner. I even had the water boiling when I said to myself, I said, “Self, this is inappropriate behavior for a Saturday evening!”

So what did I do? I contacted Jamie and we contacted Tabbatha and together we went to Sunset Grille. Well, Jamie and I actually arrived before Tabbatha and had a classic moment. One of those moments where you realize that some things never change. I realized that we were sitting there in the car staring at the bar/restaurant, thinking about going in, but waiting for Tabbatha to lead the way because we are both challenged when it comes to social situations… especially ones where a lot of people stare at you. But I’m trying so that’s great! Anyway, it was a simple evening, but a wonderful one nonetheless. At one point I laughed until I cried so I always think that’s noteworthy. The subject that caused this laughter is not so noteworthy.

And I especially love going to the restroom to find a drunken ghetto girl clad in leopard print tights (that I'm sure were meant to be worn under something, not as pants) and hot pink stilleto pumps proclaiming that she is about to pee in the sink.

Craaaazy

There is nothing exciting to report. I did get a haircut finally. Now it’s short. I didn’t expect for it to be so short. But it’s a good thing, I think. The ends were so unhealthy and discolored but now it’s short and brown and okay. I’m so used to having long, straight hair but I need to get with the times. I feel like now I would dedicate more time than ever before to actually styling my hair. I can’t get over how I want bangs but I know I’m not that cute with bangs. Bangs are so cute if done right! No bangs for me, though. I feel like shorter hair makes me need more makeup. Is that crazy? I don’t want to look boring and homely.

I love it when you go to the hair dresser and they tell you all about your hair. Like today. Did you know that I have very thick hair? The hair strands themselves are not thick, they are “fine,” but there are so many of them which make my hair thick. And since my hair is fine it becomes tangled very easily. And I need to start using a heat protector since I blow-dry my hair every day. But for the most part, it’s nice. Thank you, Sir.

I paid too much to have my hair cut at Salon Blu in Brier Creek. I needed to have it done today because of my crazy schedule. The guy who cut my hair used to work at The Body Shop and I loved that he described Satsuma as “it’s like one of those push-pops being shoved up your nose” and the old formula mango body butter as a “grease pit”.

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was Kelsey's first birthday! She is a lover of sweet potato Gerber baby food, stealer of all of my kisses, palm tree pony tail wearer, laptop keyboard banger, babbler supreme, sharer of her chocolate cake, and the adorable baby niece of mine!

Showdown Shutdown at the Alamo

We lost to Kansas tonight in the semi-finals by 18 points. Yes, 18 points. This was such a crazy game. We were down by 28 points before halftime and even closed the margin to four points at 54-50, only to end up losing by 18 points.

So I’m watching the news and students are actually crying. Are you kidding me? With nearly $2 million spent BY STUDENTS ALONE (a big portion of our tuition is solely for sports) on athletics each year, I don’t want our basketball team to win, I don’t hope our basketball team wins, I expect them to win. And if they don’t win, I expect them to only lose by 5 or so points in a semi-final game. I don’t expect humiliation of this sort.

But, when it is all said and done, you have to admit that they’re just a group of young guys with amazing talent, and if they’re able to carry UNC that far into the tournament, well that’s alright with me. Go Heels!!

And here I am with Tyler Hansbrough.



I saw him in Spencer’s Gifts at Southpoint Mall in Durham. I only had a camera phone. He’s sure to go into the NBA but I think he’s returning for his final year next year. Maybe we’ll win the championship game then. There’s always next year, right?

And I'd just like to add that Roy Williams is so cool. I wish he was my dad. He was wearing this gorgeous sweater when I saw him at the gas station. He was so nice. I wonder if he will adopt me.

Beautiful

We let the balloons from my grandfather's birthday party go. He had talked about letting them go last week.

My little cousin Gracie had the honor.




And this is my brother..


That pendant is a silver turtle. My mom gave it to me Saturday. My grandfather loved turtles sooooooo much.

March 10, 1920 - March 13, 2008

My grandfather passed away Thursday evening and I'm still trying to process everything that has happened over the past week.

I was right by his side when he died and it's the most amazing story. It's refreshing to know that you can live a long, amazing, adventurous life and die peacefully with those you love most right by your side.

I will never be able to honor my grandfather enough. When he died, I think that everyone was so perfectly placed. It seemed like everyone was in the right spot, at the right moment. He was content, told my mom and her sisters that he loved them, and even said goodbye. The only problem I am having over this is that I have begun to realize that someday I am going to have to say goodbye to my parents and other special people as well. He always seemed so invincible to me. I honestly thought that he would be here forever... and see me graduate, and get married, and have kids. He was the strongest, most amazing person I knew, and that is an understatement.

I don't know if it has all sunk in just yet, becuase like I said, I'm still processing.

Stage IV

Sunday was the birthday party and that was fine. But now he's in the ICU. It all happened so fast.

Maintenance

I want nice eyebrows. Like, a little bit of an arch would be hot. Right now I am doing the eyebrow maintenance myself and I know I couldn’t accomplish a somewhat-arch on my own. That would definitely have to be done by the hands of a professional. But I get so nervous! I knew this girl in high school that had really tiny thin eyebrows and it scared me forever. And then I knew a lady who painted hers on. And another girl who once plucked so much that they were only one inch long. Those three bad eyebrows just kind of haunt me. I need to have a serious discussion about this and maybe photographic examples need to be involved. I like my dark, thick, normal person eyebrows. I just want more shape. Is this something that can be created or are the girls with the nice eyebrows just lucky and were born like that? I don’t think so.

My hair was turning weird golden brown again so I applied some more of the $6 brown hair color and I am so pleased. I have very dark, healthy looking brown hair now. I think I’m going to have to keep with this re-coloring upkeep for a while. I was annoyed by the length because I can’t afford a special haircut right now but lately I have been using a hair straightener to make it wavy, not pageant queen curly, but wavy and it looks nice.