i was just sitting here thinking about how incredibly lucky i am to have you three as sisters. you are all so beautiful and talented and kind and hilarious and i love you so much. i can't wait to see you in nashville!!! (2 days!!)

I'm Done!

Today I turned in my last essay of college, and gave my last presentation!!!!!!





 

(That's what I look like, big happy smile and hands in the air. Tee hee.)

April 2010: amazing

This past month has been insane. To think that three weeks ago today I was turning 18 in Rome. And a week later my senior prom. And then a week later Rites of Spring. And a week later (today) I just had my last real day of school. Commence brief synopsis of each:

How I can briefly explain Europe I have no idea. Each moment was worthy of description, and I'm frustrated knowing that I can never do it justice (why I've continued to stall explaining it). Gondola rides in Venice, 7000 feet in the air at Mt. Pilatus, sitting on the edge of a lake at night watching the swans and drinking a beer in Lucerne, looking out from Juliet's balcony in Verona, looking out at all of Florence from the top of the bell tower, seeing Michelangelo's David, starting a dance party in a random square of Florence by a street performer (not quite sasquatch music festival quality, but still epic), pretending to speak Italian, NOT being able to speak Italian, going to a disco in Florence, delicious pasta everywhere we went, roaming the colosseum in Rome, chocolate chocolate chocolate, the Spanish Steps and Trevy Fountain in Rome, Nikhita smushing tiramisu in my face after being sung Happy Birthday in Italian, gelato gelato gelato, seniors going out to a bar with Dr. Thompson on our last night and having an amazing conversation.

Prom was really enjoyable. Andrew was a really fun person to go with because neither of us could dance to save our life, but both of us have the types of personalities that we do anyways. After we went back to Cara's house where we just sat by the fire outside for a long time and ate marshmallows.

Rites of Spring! Day One was wonderful. Cold War Kids and Phoenix yay! Though when Drake was setting up, a zillion people stormed from nowhere. It got to the point where I think I could've taken my feet off the ground and still stayed in the air because I was crammed so close to the people next to me. Day 2, didn't happen. Not only were there extreme thunderstorms that delayed them opening the gates until around six, Passion Pit decided to cancel at around 4 in the afternoon due to "illness." Everyone was so upset, and we decided that it was no longer worth battling the thunderstorms if Passion Pit wasn't going to be there. Oh well.

Last real day of school today. Tomorrow is Spring Day (although I have tons of work to get done since I have to take stuff early due to missing next week for AP exams). Monday-Thursday next week I have an AP exam everyday and Friday leave for Georgia! The next week I'll have an exam on Tuesday and Thursday. Meaning, that Monday Wednesday Friday are the only even possible days of school. But I have enough absences built up that I can skip them. The only thing is coordinating finishing some assignments because Econ is still giving us homework (lame). So I might just drop by part of Monday if I need to get anything done. Asides from that though, I'm done. Weird.

I love you family. See you soon! (I love saying that and knowing its true)

High Violet.

Get really excited about The National's upcoming album.  If you want to cheat (like me), you can listen to the entire thing on NY Times.  I mean, it's amazing.

Preview.

Today is a gross day outside (rain for five minutes, then sun, then humidity).  It's Ellyn's birthday so we are going to dinner tonight to celebrate.  This past weekend was a lot of fun.  Kristin came into town from Nashville on Friday, and Friday night we all went to an engagement party for Anna Caroline and Austin.  It was thrown by an older couple at Redeemer, and their house was gorgeous...giant gazebo outside, wrap-around porch, lights strung up everywhere, and a garden area where the party was held.  Saturday morning we left for our final Nantahala trip!  We went rafting as usual, and it rained the entire way down.  My fingers turned white from the cold.  It was kind of ridiculous.  We still had fun though, and our rafting guide was a lot more crazy than our past ones.  (Remember that the Nantahala River is the tamest whitewater maybe ever, so when he told us to paddle full-speed toward a rock so that we would bounce off and spin around going down a rapid, we were all game.)  Haha.




(So it cuts off the whole picture, but just click on it because our faces are priceless.)

After rafting we dried off and warmed up, which felt so good.  It continued raining pretty much the whole day, so instead of a camp fire we went to dinner at some random restaurant that was beside the river.  It was pretty good.  We hung out at the cabin the whole night, talking & playing Phase 10.  Rain or not, we love that time together so much (being crammed into a tiny room altogether).  A.C. and I shared a twin bed, obviously.  Heehe.  Oh yeah, and this year we decided to make t-shirtz.





Thursday is my last day of classes ever...what.  Friday afternoon Olivia, Caroline (Austin's sister), and I are throwing a kitchen shower for A.C. at Olivia's house.  It will be fun, hopefully the weather is pretty that day so we can be outside on her porch.  Friday night, Poplar is throwing a party for Ellyn's birday...woohoooo.  I have two exams and two final presentations between me and the real world.  Crazay.

Rebecca, post pictures from Europe and prom and quit acting like you're busy graduating from high school and stuff.  Lindsey (and Becky), I'm excited to see you two in a couple of weekends!  Rachel, umm let's buy plane tix to D.C.!!  I love you guys and miss you like crazy. 

MK

1 week left, WHAT?

So, I am sitting here in Holmes Lounge. I am sad because I failed at communicating with my advisor and didn't get to sign up for classes yesterday... and had to wait until today. I sent her three emails and never saw that she responded cause I am not used to my new outlook email system, so I tried to just randomly stop by her office but she was never in. Now I might not get into the best classes..... mehhhhhh. my fault.

On a happier thread, today is the Indian holiday Holi. here it is celebrated by a massive waterballoon/mudwrestling fight. It should be awesome. 

Classes are finishing out pretty well. I have a final project for each of my art classes left to do. I have one anthro test left. One paper for bioethics. And one paper for writing one. Besides all of this I have no legit finals!

I haven't gotten used to the idea that there is only one week left of school, and then three reading days in which I will turn in/finish all these projects (finishing before most people even start exams), and then I fly down to Georgia for Mary's graduation. I cannot wait to see you all. 

Lindsey

new leaves

hi sisters! i am about to go to bed but just wanted to say i love and miss you all a ton. i had a good, busy weekend but i'm about to start another really busy week at work. only 10 days until the seniors leave and my work will be a lot less crazy, so i'm just counting down the days until that! i am looking forward to have more free time to cook more meals, do more outdoorsy stuff, and do more social stuff with different people.

one thing i'm really proud of that i have been working on is exercising... i have been running 3x a week and last time i ran for 3 miles without walking at all! i am going to use the month of may to try to build up to 6 miles. also, courtney and i have been going to hot yoga once a week together, which has been good for my muscles and also my friendship with court.

becky, i expect a post all about your trip! i'm sorry i haven't talked to you yet since you've been back, i want to hear all about it. also, you looked BEAUTIFUL in your prom pictures, please post more!!

lindsey, hope washu is still awesome and i want to see more of your art! oh, and i only have 2 episodes left until i've seen all 7 seasons of buffy... haha.

mary, i can't wait to book some plane tickets and see your pretty face up here in dc. i will call you soon so we can buy them! is it weird that school is almost over? i hope you and the poplar girls are enjoying the spring weather and the time together.

i love you all bunches and bunches and bunches. i have so much to fill you in on, i can't wait until we're all together in one place again. i guess the next time will be for becky's graduation? i'm looking forward to it. you are my loves and i think about you all the time.

<3 biggest sis

pointing me in a crooked line

some stuff for your eyeballs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb9eL3ejXmE&playnext_from=TL&videos=PCtXKKeDa-A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-7mQhSZRgM&playnext_from=TL&videos=JA7dVFNN3sg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiHXASgRTcA&playnext_from=TL&videos=4h2ZoY4FKcs

This week has been my first week back at work after spring break. It has been okay so far, some good moments and some stressful ones. It is a busy week for me the way the schedule falls, with my three hardest teaching days falling all in a row and in the middle of the week (usually they get split up by a weekend). Also, lots of extra meetings, interviews for new teachers, math contest, etc which all take up a ton of time.

But I am re-energized from the break: I have been a little bit more motivated to get stuff done, and I'm working more quickly and easily than I did before so that's good. Also, the weather has been amazing - we skipped spring and went straight to summer up here in D.C., and it's so gorgeous!

Tonight Courtney and I went to hot yoga, and it was really fun but I'm exhausted now. Going to bed soon.

Ooh, by the way, I am singing the Indigo Girls song "Closer to Fine" at the Flint Hill variety show on Friday with another teacher - it should be fun! :)

Wednesday.

It is officially hot in Athens.  Spring was rather nonexistent, and the days get up to the 90s, degrees-wise.  We're spending lots of time on the porch, which I'm loving. 


so good...


My Easter weekend was relaxing, and filled with pretty weather that I, sadly, didn't take full advantage of.  Ellyn and I held down the fort at Poplar, both Alison and Becca went home.  We celebrated our friend Zach's 23rd birthday at Terrapin Brewery and dinner at Cali n Tito's (authentic, delicious Mexican food).  Saturday morning we had a big breakfast of sausage biscuits, scrambled eggs, and homemade strawberry muffins with homemade strawberry glaze (the last being my contribution).  : )  Everything was great.  Jimmy, Asher, Ethan (Ash's bro), Robyn, and Eli joined us, and we probably sat around the table for two and a half hours...longest breakfast ever (in a great way).  That afternoon, Ellyn and I sold our souls to Gossip Girl and watched 7 episodes....woops.  We felt lame after that (understandably), and so we decided to go hang out with friends.  Easter Sunday, Ellyn and I went to lunch at Clocked, a good Athens diner...I got a falafel burger.  We went to evening service at Redeemer, and Becca and Alison got in later that night.

Priya (Cambodia friend) and I have been hanging out a lot more lately, and I love it.  Every Tuesday we have cake date, which is exactly like what it sounds.  This Monday, Priya and Dr. Lewis and I are getting together to paint at Dr. Lewis's home.  I am excited to spend time with Dr. Lewis, it'll be fun.  Our whole group is also trying to plan a Cambodia reunion sometime in April.  We want to go to a Cambodian restaurant outside Atlanta.  I've been so nostalgic for Cambodia, I miss it.

Ellyn left tonight for Las Vegas because her brother is getting married this weekend.  Alison is probably going to Auburn this weekend, so it'll just be me and Becca.  School is crazy busy, so it'll be a good time to catch up on life.  Group projects are the bane of my world, btway.



Love you kiddos.
MK

ahhhh!!! this is my friend!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_uY2Evh7dY

Last Post as a Kid...

I know its been too long, I fail, I'm sorry. Anyways, this picture kinda sums up what's been going on lately. Weather is getting better, and with it, my mood. My friends and I have taken to lying in our front yard on warm days. I'm still waiting till every day is warm, cause we still have some cold ones randomly thrown in. Senior year is starting to chill, minus spanish. My only homework is spanish and reading various novels for Huddleston. I'm getting so close.... I'm so ready. Guess what concert is coming Sunday? Joanna Newsom. Guess which concert is only 18 and up? Joanna Newsom. Guess who will be eleven stinking days away from being 18 on Sunday? Grrr.... Although, I'm still relatively concert-content from the Tally Hall/Jukebox the Ghost/Skybox concert Monday night. It was really happy, I want to be back there.




This was from our DI tournament a few weekends ago. And yes, that is burlap I'm wearing. In case I hadn't already told all of you, we're different dolls: Cara - a windup doll; me - voodoo doll; Mariam - bratz doll; Kelsey - barbie of course; Carolyn - Raggedy Anne. It went pretty well, but we don't think we got as many points as we deserved. Hopefully we'll improve for state.





Here's me in my prom dress, since I know you all wanted to see how it actually turned out. Ignore the fact I looked icky that day please :), just look at the dress. Violin has been going fine, just a big time commitment. My hour lessons started leaning towards hour fifteen minutes, which started leaning towards an hour and a half. and my hour group lessons are looking more like 2 hours now. its a little exhausting. Guess what? In a week, I'll be walking about Lucerne (six days till the plane). I need to pack. I'm so incredibly excited, its amazing. I'll take tons of pictures, and post as soon as I get back. Love you sisters, ciao.

i am a daffodil

"imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia."

PERFECT john green quote that encapsulates how i've been feeling lately.

i'm on spring break, WOOHOO!!!! been watching basketball a ton. yesterday was sunny and beautiful and i walked around in shorts and a tshirt and picnicked outside. but today i mostly just did chores and paid bills and sorted files and got insurance and took my car to the dealer and other grownup stuff that sucked. tomorrow i am going to talk about mere christianity and watch LOST with john. wednesday i'm going to UVa's campus with john, and friday i am coming home to nashville. i am sure i will write more soon.

love you sisters! lovelovelovelove

Stolen tandem bicycle.

Hey galz.  So I am returned from my last spring break vacation ever.  What.... It was really great though.  Ft. Laudy was sunny and warm, although it still got chilly in the nighttime.  We drove down and stayed one night in Valdosta, and got to Asher's Aunt Sharon's beach house on Saturday.  Sharon was great.  She is way cooler than I will ever be in my forties, and she couldn't have been more welcoming.


The SB crew: Al, Jimmy, Ell Bell, Ash baby, me, Boofie 

Sharon's house was a five minute walk to the beach, so we had beach days on Sunday and Monday.  We had gone grocery shopping promptly after arriving in Ft. Lauderdale, so we planned out our meals for the week and ate like kings.  Or Americans....either way.  Hehe.  We did so many random things: we had a pizza party with Asher's grandparents and relatives one night.  We went to a ridiculous Guido bar called Blue Martini where I literally felt as though I was watching an episode of Jersey Shore.  We saw Alice in Wonderland on a cloudy day.  We woke up at 5:30 to go see the sun rise one morning (and got Krispy Kremes). [Sidenote: this was Asher's idea, and a fail.  It was freezing cold and we all wanted to stay in bed.  Pretty, but not as great as the concept of watching the sunrise.]  We went to Miami and walked around, had high tea for Becca's birthday with her family, and had a 1 am dance party on the beach on a night that we joined up with some of our Athens friends that had been camping in the Keys and came to stay a night with us. 




The tandem bicycle of our neighbors that we admired all week! (Becca & Jimmy borrowed it our last night in Florida)




The boyz that joined us.




There are more pictures on facebook.  All in all it was a really good trip.  There is such a closeness among our group, everyone is so loving and it was just good time to be together and enjoy one another.

I love you all!

MK

We're Off!

Spring break begins after my two classes today.  Fort Lauderdale here we come!!!!  Becca, Ellyn, Alison, Asher, Jimmy, & myself.  Call me I will be on the beeeeeeach.



Pictures and real post to follow.

MK

It's been so long, but it has felt so short. This semester has definitely trumped the last. I actually have some friends, and after you have a few, its easier to get more. I have some friends in ALL my classes. it's great.

My classes are as follows:

• biomedical ethics - really interesting philosophy stuff, we're starting to get into abortion!
  
• writing 1 - this is the one class that's required of all wash u students. i'm in it with phoebe which makes it soooo much more fun. also my class is full of tons of super friendly people so discussions are enjoyable. we're starting on a study of a "cultural text" which can pretty much be anything (favorite movie, book analysis, technology, anything!) anyways... phoebe's is on dr. horrible and mine is on the project for awesome on youtube. it's great to research something that we're actually interested in. also, we write our stuff together in the computer lab and usually just stay up to 3 in the morning laughing about and critiquing each others work :]
  
• cultural anthro - awesome cause the teacher is hilarious. he is mr. adams ish.
• 2d design - super demanding time wise, but the projects are stretching me!
  
• drawing - super not demanding, but enjoyable. i'm in it with taylor sarah hiding in my art supplies

I like all of my classes. so for the most part i don't mind doing any of the work! it's a great feeling to enjoy what you're doing. i feel like making more lists.  here's another bullet list of fun things i've been up to:

• finger painting with roommates
• our room got a netflix account ... so far we've watched ten things i hate about you, mary kate and ashley our lips are sealed, she's the man.
• my bible study group are some of my favorite people. it's on thursday nights. my leaders have started coming an hour before and letting me buy them dinner at ursas with my extra 250 meal points
• 
  
• learning guitar
• trips to noodles and co and ihop
• hiking
•  snow!!
• midnight trips to get brownie sundaes
• filling hundreds of water balloons for a big fight in april that everyone in the dorms gets involved in! i'm on the team of fillers that has won (filled the most) for the past 3 years. we've already done 2500 balloons!!!! if we win (like losing is even an option) we get to start the fight. 
• getting more than 7 hours of sleep every night!
• watching olympics with my church group
• enjoying all the videos on this site 

On a different note, I really don't feel like my old self in ways. i'm not involved in many things at all :( i want to be... but i think i'm scared? all the future roomies do tons of stuff. sarah is a chi omega, uncle joe (peer counseling), rphe (student staff), cycling club, lead of a play. phoebe is involved in directing skits, a chi omega, another lead in a play, bible study, applied to be an orientation leader, college council. munira is on the exec board of ashoka, is a delta gamma, works part time, applied to be an orientation leader. i am in a bible study, and i'm a student. :( a lot of my confidence in high school came from the things i got involved in. i kinda just feel like a smily immobile blob. :( also, i don't really think id be friends with munira if i wasn't her roommate. she always talks about herself. and i'm fine with being the "quietest" of the bunch of girls, but its hard to handle being viewed as "the boring one" of the group. i feel like i'm less interesting as a person.

overall, i actually enjoy the school weeks a lot more than weekends. i love going to dinner with my friends and hanging in the common room to draw or write papers. i love my classes (especially the art ones). 

GOOD NEWS: sarah found out she is an rphe this morning. this is a position as residential peer health educator... basically she's gonna talk to the frosh next year about sex and alcohol stuff. because she's student staff- we get to pick where we want to live next year! we might get this awesome suite in liggett (adjoins to koenig which i'm in now) that has all these huge windows and a massive common room! they're super popular, but student staff gets first pick!

also... we're getting a stir fry, a mongolian grill, a pizza place, taco bell, a new veggie place allllll new on campus next year. WE HAVE THE BEST FOOD at like ANY college! i had a gyro for lunch. 

I just talked soooo much about me. Sisters. i miss you all so much. Mary, I hear you are in Brentwood this weekend. Enjoy your week at the beach! Rachel, I'm so glad you had family come visit you in DC. I just stalked your recent photos. Becky, i'm excessively happy about seeing you in a week. i wish i could just hang out with you all for the rest of my life. you are my main source of happiness :]

lindsey kanodle 

Whitney Gras.

i

Hello dear sisters! I believe I am overdue for a post....life seems very busy this time of year. In keeping theme with all of your snow pictures, I thought it best to share my pictures of the measly snowfall that we got in Athens. It was actually a good amount, enough to blanket the ground for....one night. But we made it count: we had lots of people over to our house that night (Friday of last week) and a 7'11" snowman was built (we measured it), and everyone stayed warm inside our house by having a dance party of sorts. It was rad.

I enjoy this a lot. Disgusting (not all of them...errr)

Since then the weather has warmed up a lot, and I am longing for sunshine and spring break in Ft. "Laudie". BEAAACH. Mmm. But yes, the past few weeks in school have gone by quickly, I've had a lot of tests and a paper and group project.

As you know, Whitney came down to Athens on Thursday and stayed until this afternoon. Her epic weekend visit was titled "Whitney Gras" and I would like to believe that we lived up to our own expectations. Haha, it was a lot of fun. Our activities included (but were not limited to):

Thursday- good Mexican restaurant for dinner, painting/wine drinking at our house for girl's night.

Friday- Mama's Boy for breakfast, Gossip Girl watching after classes, driving to Atlanta for Becca's "wedding"...aka Heidi Elnora fashion show in which Becca beautifully modeled a gown at the Bill Lowe art gallery, back to Athens & then to Highwire (our favorite bar where a lot of our friends work).

Saturday- lunch date (Whit & I) at Trappeze (a restaurant & bar that we equate to "Cheers"...."where everybody knows your name"), window shopping in downtown Athens, India night- a show with Indian dancing and colorful saris, & Easter Island show (our friend's band)

Sunday- church, lunch at Transmet (bbq chicken pizzaaaaa)

I laughed so much this weekend. It's how we get when we are all together.

Also, I got my hair cut on Thursday! For the first time, I went to an actual salon (bob salon) in Athens. Rather than taking sheers to it myself, I felt like it was well-deserved. It's in a pony tail in the picture, but it is a "long bob". I like.

We did not take many pictures of having Whitney in town this weekend, but once I upload them to my computer I will post any fun-ish ones.

I love.

Zelda

I'm sorry that I didn't post these sooner! And now they look particularly pitiful compared to Rachel's, but still, I hope you enjoy. It really was a lot, though you can't necessarily tell here, because this was after it had started melting (because I was snowed in at the Contini's for the bulk of it, so I had to wait for it to melt some before my car could unfreeze from their yard!).

So, about a week and a half ago, I ordered a Nintendo 64 off ebay. And ever since it came on Monday, that pretty much sums up my life :). I've been playing Legend of Zelda, and it has been so much fun. Last night, for example, I set up my tv that I got from Stelmz at the beginning of the year on the end of my bed, plugged in the N64, and bundled up under my covers and played till 1:30. Basically, your kid sister is really cool.




Last Saturday, at the ice rink sports complex, they were having a fundraiser for Bruins athletics from 9-midnight where you could get in for $10 and use pretty much anything. So we went and ice skated for around an hour, and also played lots of rounds of Laser Chase. It was actually pretty fun.

Friday night I went to go see Valentine's Day. It was okay, but I expected it to be better for having such an all-star cast. Last night I babysat, and that's what I'll be doing again tonight. I guess single babysitters are in high demand on Valentine's weekend. Prom season is starting at BHS, I really don't understand why people start planning months in advance. So overrated. But seriously, all of my friends already have their dresses, which is so ridiculous to me. Ah well. Anyways, I love you sisters, I hope you have a good Valentine's Day!

snowpocalypse

the gorrell's house after the first snow


this was the pile of snow outside one of courtney's neighbor's house. they had plowed it all into a pile at the end of the cul-de-sac, so we decided to use that mound to build an igloo.


here's courtney, michael, and their friend sarah in the igloo


here's a picture from inside the igloo looking out


and here's me sitting in the snow :)


i'm not sure if you can tell quite how much snow there was from this, but when it was all said and done we got upwards of 20 inches in the first snowstorm (friday-saturday) and another 8 or so in the second snowstorm (tuesday-wednesday). i didn't have school this whole week. i am going out of my mind with boredom... not having school makes me realize how few friends i have up here, and it's really lonely. i've just been in my apartment by myself since monday, watching buffy the vampire slayer and getting fat. i'm sorry i didn't call you guys but when i'm in this mood it just makes me not want to talk to anyone which just makes things worse.

i love you all and i can't wait to see you soon. miss you miss you miss you.

24 Things that make me think of Rachel:

1.     1. Oversized sweatshirts
2.     Rocket Summer
3.     Ragu
4.     Lovely white-toothed smile
5.     Any intense opening piano solo, like Sonata Pathetique
6.     Harry Potter 3 and her silly khaki safari hats
7.     DFTBA
8.     Libraries
9.     People who sing unknowingly
10. The color green
11. Target
12. French horn melodies
13. The Avett Brothers
14. Hula hoops
15. Any mention of London
16. Journaling
17. Burning your hair and showing too much cleavage
18. Eminem
19. York peppermint patties
20. Mathletes
21. Joss Whedon shows
22. Puzzle piece necklace
23. Gibbons
24. The proper hugging technique

 

It's not a February jumping.

Hey all.  Things here are going along, going along.  It's been good.  This week is the first round of exams in a couple of my classes, I had one Monday and have another on Friday.  I'm definitely behind on reading, I've just been using my time poorly.  Catch up:

1. My friend Waud (Elizabeth Waud) is engaged.  
As of Saturday night, her and Geoff are engaged.  I'm so so so excited for her, but my honest first response was laughter.  Oi.  At least now there is a shift in our group, from the race to be engaged first (between the girls in serious relationships) now to the race to be engaged/married last (the rest of us).  Heehee just kidding...kind of.  She wants to get married in June (so does Anna Caroline).  I am so  glad I am not in this game.  We're taking bets on who is next.  Your votes?

2.  The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is excellent. 
Go see it.  Hannah came into town Sunday afternoon and stayed a couple of nights.  We saw it last night and I was entranced.  Becky I know you will like it.  It was interesting to think about how the film would have been different if Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell hadn't stepped in to finish after Heath Ledger's death.  All of the actors did really well, except for Verne Troyer...I can only equate him to Jackass.  Tom Waits plays the perfect villain.

3.  Of Montreal, tomorrow night.
They are playing both tomorrow night and Thursday night at the 40 Watt.  I cannot wait.

[Mmm the show was so good.  They played a good mix of new (Skeletal Lamping) and old, and ended with Jackson Five's "I Want You Back".]

Okay I'm tired of numbering things.  Athens is the same- we've had no snow at all, unlike each of your cities.  We are amidst plans of a Spring Break trip to Ft. Lauderdale.  Mmm warmer climates.  Rachel, Happy early Birthday!  I wish so badly that I could see you and celebrate with you.

-MK-

Reddish-Brown

I've been doing poorly at school lately. But it's okay, because I got my transcript the other day, and I'm still one! And I found at that the number two's (or I'm pretty sure she's the number two) GPA is .03 behind me, which should be just large enough for me to be able to hold on to it. Just thought you guys should know. I've had a four day calculus exam throughout this week. First two days went really badly (free response). Today I actually did okay though (multiple choice). I hope tomorrow goes okay.


We have a strong chance of snow Friday. It should start snowing Thursday night. By Friday mid-morning we have 100% chance of precipitation. It would be wonderful to get out Friday, I have a lot of things due.



Life is good I suppose. I'm happy for the most part. All of my friends are happy too. 63 days until Europe. There are lots of good concerts coming up in March that I want to go to, although not all of them are in town... we'll see about those... And I don't really know who I'll convince to go with me to Joanna Newsom. I wish I had more time to play music, but I've been fairly busy lately. Each day though I am thankful to not be outside playing lacrosse, as my wonderful exteammates are doing currently. That tends to put me in a good mood. Maybe I'll miss it when games start, but for now, I'm perfectly content.

peanuts

beginning of another week. hope you are all doing well!! :)

love,
biggest sis

NOT THE MAMA!!

I have so much to tell you all! But since it is already late, and I'm tired, I will edit this post tomorrow and really catch you up. But here is a crazy childhood memory to make you smile :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGfeDMJU0_w&feature=related

I’m currently in route to st. louis with mom, grammy, and taylor. Grammy and mom are being very chatty and talking about family and stuff. We’ll probably be there in a couple of hours. I’ve been reading the seventh Harry Potter. Taylor’s been sleeping (waking him up to leave at 1:30 this afternoon was pushing him out of his normal schedule :P)

 

Hrm…. I’m kind of excited about going back, kind of just nervous. It’ll be good to see my friends and get settled in. After this week of new things I will be fine. My very first class is on Tuesday at one and it’s a drawing studio from one to four with taylor. What a good way to start off.

 

This past week has been very low key. Mary left, and Becky went back to school, so I have mostly just been hanging around the house, catching up on what not to wear (the new hair stylist is awesome!) and hgtv house hunters. I started a blog for my artwork so you all can stay caught up on my projects and whatnot. It’s 23drawings.blogspot.com. I’ve gone ahead and filled it with my high school projects…

 

Um, on Thursday I made a trip over to utk to see mccallie. I took dad’s white car and met her around 4:30, after her classes had ended.  It was really fun. We ate dinner with her friends and hung out with her roommate and suitemate. All very fun. The following day I hung out with Scotti and Rachel Radford while Mccall was in classes. I liked being there a lot. Mccall’s good friend and suitemate Molly was really cool. We also made a cover of tik tok (I know its shameful) with mccall being the banjo and me singing. It’s oooober embarrassing. Check out Amanda’s facebook wall. After getting back Friday night with mccall (she came home for the weekend to get her car from the shop) we hung out with dejong and taylor. One night we drove out to some park far away and stargazed J and then another night we reminisced about old computer games and tv shows. LIKE DINOSAUR!! What a GREAT show!!

New things.

I was thinking about where to begin with updating y'all on my life.  Not sure so I'll just dive in.  School started back last week, I like my schedule because I have 3 classes back to back MWF and 2 classes back to back T/Th.  I have a class with Dr. Lewis (Cambodia professor)!  By yesterday, I was already feeling burnt out.  Goooood.  But I'm enjoying campus and already being nostalgic of walking around UGA.  It's way cold (even though I am the most south of all four of us....I'm also a wimp).

(okay, so you'll notice the top of the dishwasher there is no tile...they had to do that to take out the old one, and instead of re-tiling it they are going to install a butcher block! aka wooden cutting board surface woowoo)

Life at Poplar, a few things are going on.  It doesn't really feel that different without Olivia here, it honestly just kind of feels normal in a weird way (it has been taking me a long time to fall asleep...something about having another body in the room just always helped me).  And I like how my room is set up now.  It's such a big room to have all to myself!  Our landlord Michael Littleton, who is a hippy and he and his wife are swingers....he's a really strange person, has been showing the house to potential tenants for next fall.  Weird.  He de-briefed with Ellyn, Alison, Becca, and I after 3 groups had come to see the house, and asked us if we thought any of them had the potential "right vibe/energy/aura" to be Poplarians.  This is my life.  WE GOT A NEW STOVE AND A NEW DISHWASHER!!!!!  I'm so pumped, our dishwasher had broken a bit before Christmas break and the stove was crap.  Now we have a swank new dishwasher and the stove is retro and old and is a double oven!  Super cool.  Hehe.

(my room, sans Olivia and her bedroom items)














(Lindsey, your painting of Ta Prohm hangs in my "reading nook")

(I do like how the door serves as a bedpost, it lines up well)










I saw It's Complicated the other night (Meryl Streep and Steve Martin), it was cute and I really wanted to live in Meryl Streep's home in the movie.  PS there is this blog that I happened upon that I am obsessed with called Design*Sponge .  I think you guys will like it too, it's just cheery and talks about decorating and home and food and other stuff.  Domesticcc.

I had another couple of therapy sessions with the Psychology Clinic, also.  It's still weird talking about my feelings and feeling like everything that I say is either convoluted or contradictory.  I feel like a crazy person, but I do really like my therapist, he's very encouraging.  But I'm going to be doing a CBT type program (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).  All of it is going well, I'm glad I'm doing it, but I've realized how little I let myself talk about (and even feel, to some extent) my emotions and my negative thoughts.  It's an adjustment for certain.  2010 will be a ridiculously change-filled year for me, keep me in your prayers please.  I need y'all.  And I thank you guys for being irreplaceable and strong and everything that you all are.

I miss you guys like crazy.  I want to be with y'all again.  Rachel, we are thinking about either roadtripping to D.C. for Spring Break or going to Asher's aunt's house in Ft. Lauderdale.  We're torn, but I will keep you posted.  Oh also, Vampire Weekend's new album came out today, I'm beginning to check it out.

MIA's latest. She rulez.

Love you all,
MK

Blogging at School...

Again its seventh period, and I realized that I won't have another opportunity to post for the next three days, so I realized I needed to now! Today after school, Kelsey and I are leaving to go work for this event for her dad's work this weekend. I'm so excited! We're missing school tomorrow, get to stay in a hotel, do fun jobs and eat good food, and best of all, get paid for it! I come back early Sunday morning, and I won't even have to be stressed thanks to MLK day monday. I'm glad because these past two nights have been a bit stressful, I've had lots of tests and quizzes and essays and all that. School is going well though, I'm trying really hard in Spanish, because I realized that this is it. It's my last semester with Doc Tom, and I'm starting to feel like it's now or never.
I'm also stressed about other college stuff. Mrs. Eggleston came up to me and kinda insinuated that I should try to find another letter of recommendation, b/c Mr. Stelmaszak's aren't helping people. I don't think its going to hurt me, but when it comes down to tight scholarship stuff she said I should try to find another asap. Right after, she saw Mrs. Powell in the hallway and asked her, because I saw Mrs. Powell right after and she already knew about it and said she would, so thats good. All of this went down in a matter of about 5 minutes, around 30 minutes ago. Just a little added stress to my day. But, I'm not going to be here tomorrow so I won't be able to give Mrs. Powell anything until Tuesday, which is not so wonderful. Stress stress stress. Yikes.
Anyways, I'm just going to let myself enjoy this weekend because there's not really anything I can do about it now. So, I guess my life has been pretty blah lately, but I'm happy.
Rachel, I'm sorry to hear that you've been so busy, just know that we're thinking of you and very proud of you. Kwin, what's been going on in your life, I'll call you sometime this weekend? Lindsey, have fun at UTK.
Love you sisters!

whistle while you work

hi sisters! no one has blogged in forever so i thought i'd go for it. i am putting off doing some teacherly things for the evening. although i don't really know if you can call it "putting off" since i just got home at 7:00, was on the phone with a parent for half an hour, ate dinner, put on pjs, washed my face and brushed my teeth and am JUST NOW sitting down for the night. my days are so busy, it sucks.



one thing i've noticed that i don't like about my current schedule is the lack of sunlight in my day. it has been below freezing here since i got back, and the sun sets so early. i can't wait until the days start getting longer, and warmer, and i can run outside and get my daily allotment of vitamin d.

what's new with me? work work and more work. i got my virginia driver's license this past weekend, although it hasn't come in the mail yet. vanderbilt won against florida this weekend in basketball, which is exciting! i think we'll be really good this season and it's exciting to have something to root for. i had to write a college recommendation letter this weekend, which was WEIRD. i thought i would be able to get out of it since no student wants a teacher they've only had a semester to write one, but this girl was a transfer student who was new this year.

becky, how is college stuff going? i guess you're doing fafsa and all of that. lindsey, how was your bunko party? is it nice to still be home? does it feel like last year? mary, how is your last semester? does it feel weird to be taking your last few classes, or good? i miss you all so much and i'm sorry there's never time to call. i'm hoping that i will get back into the swing of things soon but this past week has been really hard and felt impossibly long. this three day weekend can't come soon enough. (who am i kidding, spring break can't come soon enough.)

i am getting mentally bogged down with the class i am teaching, because i am unhappy with the book and i'm not sure how to structure the class differently to promote more independent thinking from my students. also, i think that many of them can handle more rigor in the class, but i don't want it to be "hard" in the wrong ways. semester grades are due next week, along with comments for students with low grades, so that will be a TON of work and probably kill my weekend. oh well.

i'm really hoping that next year will be easier. i don't understand how this year is wearing me down so much when i just have one prep (2 classes) and learning center. the sad thing is i am working so hard and i feel like it's for very little gain. i swear i worked less than this when i was student teaching and i was a WAY better teacher. oh well.

anyway, overall things are good with me but i've already started dreaming of summer when i can rest and have time to truly explore the city.

how are things with you all, sisters?