hootie

i got an email today that said i get two free tickets to hootie and the blowfish, no purchase necessary, no further obligations. i'm not even sure if i want to go. i haven't listened to hootie and the blowfish since eighth grade. but i've got tickets! if you want them, make me an offer.
today is a big day! i get to go hang out with lizz, one of my beach project students, this afternoon in the city. she just got back from ooooooooooklahoma. then i'm having dinner with becky, fellow beach project staff, and then i'm picking up my montannie annie at the greyhound station! she's staying with me til friday before she heads up to nyu for law school. smarty pants.
right now though, i'm still at work. adios.

updatesmas

breaking news... there are episodes of friends i've never seen. whoa. in order to rectify this, khadija and i went to target yesterday and purchased season 5 with my birthday money. this will hopefully fill in the gaps in my repertoire. (ruth, how could we have let this happen?? how could we have missed the one with the yeti?)
other disheartening news: my tan has faded to 52% of its original potency, despite regular moisturizing. disappointing. pennsylvania, boo.
okay. i've been here since 8:30. we had a community day today... everything was free! it started to rain now though, which effectively ends any sort of yard-selling function. so, i'm out. adios.

back at it

hello all. i'm currently in my office at church, officially back to work. i'm giving being back in pittsburgh mixed reviews. i'm coming off such a wonderful experience at the beach project (i love and miss you all), and the transition period has been only so-so. feel free to call for a more detailed explanation.
in other news, my apartment is more organized than ever. my new roommate emily is wonderful, and she's really making some vast improvements. i'm figuring out where everything goes again, and soon i'll be able to put away all the dishes without help. hooray!
that's all for now. my ninth graders are knocking at my door.

last week. boo...

hello everyone. this is our last week of the project. i'm pretty sad about it, but i don't want to waste any time writing about it now. so, here's a picture of everybody! everybody! enjoy!

a luau!

hello all! i've just returned from a weekend in grand rapids to celebrate my parents' 30th anniversary, as well as both of their 50th birthdays. it was a wonderful time. we had a luau and i got to see a lot of family, friends, and supporters. there were leis, a lê, and mai tais! i'm really glad i got to spend this weekend with my family. (thanks again for flying me home, mom and dad!) i also had a little walk down memory lane, reliving my childhood as i showed chris my old stomping grounds. we went to the house where i grew up and looked at my forts and my alfalfa field where i used to go snowmobiling and the place where i crashed my bike. then i took him to all my old schools, from preschool through college, and we played on the merry-go-round and walked around campus and had a lovely day. i'd like to tell you more right now, but lizz and i are ready to go to the beach again now. feel free to call for a better update, but please not during the day cause i'm fresh out of minutes until august first. thanks y'all.

happy days

hello all. just a quick update. first of all, thanks to all for the birthday wishes! sorry i missed most of your calls. i was out and about. :) it was one of my favorite birthdays ever. on friday night, we had a birthday dinner at the house, with a total of 39 people, which was craziness. the candles on my cake blew themselves out before they got to me, but i've had two more chances already. (birthday week 2.0 commences!)
chris was here to visit this weekend, and we went to brunch at this cute coffee shop, and then spent the day at the beach. we drove down to cape may and checked out the lighthouse, which was very very very high in the air, and out to dinner, and sightseeing. it was fantabulous. good times were had by all. ;)
today my prayer partner from the church we're working with had scott, one of our male staff, and chris and i over for dinner after church. it was both scott's and my birthdays this weekend, and my prayer partner's grandson's on tuesday. so they had a big birthday celebration for us. there was one cake with one candle that we re-lit three times and sang the song for all three of us. it was funny.
this isn't probably very entertaining for you, and i'm too tired to make it more so. so please enjoy this picture of me with my pirates flag. go bucs!

on the having of birthdays

first of all, today, july 7th, is my baby sister stephanie's 20th birthday! happy birthday, stephanie! i wish i was there to celebrate with you. we'll have a party in two weeks.
second, happy birthday to mr. nathan hibma yesterday. hope it was happy. sorry robin and i disappointed your birthday fantasy.
and third, i've just remembered three things that i desperately want for my birthday NEXT saturday. they are the following, in no particular order:
1. the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice, the one with Colin Firth.
2. Settlers of Catan. it's a board game, and it's awesome. i also want the expansion pack for 5-6 players.
3. the PostSecret book. it can be purchased at barnes and noble or by visiting this site.
yay!