(don't) show me your feet

NOTE: This post took me like two days to write because first of all it's kind of an embarrassing subject and second of all I had to hunt down these pictures and then format them a bit. But I felt like it would be worth it.

I have very conflicted feelings about feet so I thought I would try to explain them here where I have the space. First of all, I totally get when people are grossed out by them and don't want anything to do with them. I'm sometimes one of those people. I don't want anyone to touch my feet and I am constantly worried that if I go barefoot I will get athlete's foot, tetanus or a squishy worm all up on me which is NOT cool. I don't like other people's feet, either, and I really would prefer if everyone wore converses every day.

HOWEVER, I have two habits which seem to contradict these sentiments which is where some of the confusion arises. Firstly, I love flip-flops. Specifically, I love those really cheap flip-flops from Old Navy and I have approximately 12 pairs of them in different colors. This is mostly because I like convenience and I don't believe in spending money, and they last almost forever and you can get them for like 2 bucks. So sometimes people think that because I wear flip-flops almost exclusively for about a third of the year that this somehow indicates that I like looking at my feet. Not true.

Secondly, I like to take pictures of my feet. Now this has caused several people to say that I have a foot fetish and I am going to rectify that mistake right now. This has NOTHING to do with actually liking my feet or thinking that they look good (though I do think they look better than other people's feet but this isn't saying much because some feet are super disgusting). This goes back to the early days of the internet when it wasn't safe to take pictures of yourself, before myspacing became a thing, and yes I am pulling out my indie side on this. (But seriously I was here before people thought it was cool.) Anyway, I wore a lot of toe socks in middle school just because it was different so naturally if I had to take a picture of something and it wasn't going to be my face, it would have to be of my socks. Note that this is my SOCKS and not my FEET, though they were generally covering my feet. (Also, just so you know how cool I am, I wore toe socks with sandals on several occasions because I am just that cool.)

Now for a brief look into the lolziest of all of my blogs, the one I maintained throughout high school, and of course lots of Facebook reminiscing:

2006. This was probably the first picture which started the trend. I just thought it was funny, I was taking a picture of myself anyway and then I decided that my socks looked pretty baller so I took this picture. Who knew what would come next...

This is where my feet hid almost every day. I just thought that it was insightful. I always want to know where people make their witty comments from, and this is where mine originated back in the day. (Now of course I'm sitting in bed all day with my laptop.)

2007. One of my favorite pairs of toe socks. This is also one of my earliest Facebook profpics (the oldest according the fb, but I deleted some older ones). Lolol. Obsessed with internet security. There are some more in old facebook albums which aren't as cool as this one and honestly I don't know what I was thinking taking them. So weird of me.

Summer 2007 (from my first Facebook album). Hanging with the Griesemers...not enough feet to make a star because Chelsea wouldn't join us lolol.

(Several missing years - I think I may have normalized for a bit.)

On the left, Danyah-Marisa Spring 2010 Velociraptor Photoshoot. We are so beautiful. And our feet were so high from the ground once we got in that tree. This was just an instinctual shot. On the right, Jamie's 20th birthday dinner, Danyah and I wore converse, obviously a picture ensued.

End of freshman year...this was a good idea according to everyone there. (Note Megan Jamie Andrea and me lolz.)

Now for some more random pictures I have taken of my feet in the past yearish, just to show you how prevalent this trend is. There are several more pictures which you've probably already seen if you've ever looked at my photo albums on Facebook. But after all that's said and done, please, don't think that I love feet. And please don't show yours to me. Also, the title is in reference to Gaga because I am so so so cool.

froyo > frogurt

I have several things to say about frozen yogurt. First, it is delicious. Second, it is so expensive. Third, it fills such a niche in our society today in that it serves the same function as ice cream but is healthier, which is perfect for our body-conscious culture. It works so well as a social event because everyone loves it and most people don't feel bad consuming it. Fourth, please don't ever call it frogurt as that makes you sound like a tool; it is froyo or frozen yogurt thank you very much. Fifth, I am very curious as to why it is suddenly a thing. I remember growing up that there was always a TCBY across the street from one of our local movie theaters that I never once went to. That's not to say that I didn't have the desire to go, but we always just got ice cream or frozen custard and that was that. So why has froyo experienced such popularity in the past year, especially considering the recession?

(Pro tip: Google trends is a great way to procrastinate and learn about correlation at the same time; just don't confuse any of it for causation.)

Well, it seems like it has something to do with the recession, actually. Though I haven't found any causation or even correlational data to support it, there is something to be said for the claim that people eat more desserts during recessions (or during hard times in general). And that linked story makes a great point that the self-serve aspect of many of these stores makes it easy for people who want to save money feel like they are doing so by only serving themselves a small amount of the delicious concoction to purchase.

Ok, enough analysis. Now let's talk about me again. So I first had frozen yogurt almost a year ago when my new friends Willski and Tayror discovered a Berrybody in Williamsburg. But wait, you are thinking, that didn't open until the fall?! You are correct in your confusion - but this is because there are two of these stores in Williamsburg. The colonial location opened in the fall and has been the bane of my wallet ever since. But the first one is located on John Tyler Highway, about 4 miles from campus. Anyway...I tried it and I was in love.

My second froyo experience, after multiple visits to Berrybody, was with Sweet Frog. Now, I had been hearing ALL ABOUT this place from my suitemates who probably went a combined 20 times since the time that it opened in New Town this spring (sadly replacing Maggie Moo's). So I had some very high expectations. It was self-serve and had multiple flavors so I was very excited. And I have to say that I was disappointed. I went with my roommate during finals and it was...decent. But it was more like frozen custard and less like the delicious tart treat that I had come to expect. The flavors made it seem more like ice cream and it was just too sweet. Though it was nice to be able to try different toppings, these too diluted the powerful though simple impact of tart froyo with strawberries.

Finally, in nova I have now tried Pinkberry, Josie's and Yolly Molly. All of these were positive experiences in general. But now I am going to rank my favorite froyo locations so that you all don't have to try every single one of them like me (there are still several that I have to try, but now at least I know what I like).

1. Yolly Molly (Fairfax Town Center). Now maybe it's just because I had it this afternoon, but this is what I would like every froyo experience to be like. It is self-serve and you pay by the ounce. There are good fruity and chocolatey toppings. There is a great tart flavor but there are also some unusual flavors if you want to mix it up (like peanut butter and a fantastic pomegranate). And there was absolutely no line! They also serve coffee and smoothies and seem like a very nice little cafe for such a cursed location (I have seen like seven different ice cream shops there).
2. Berrybody (Prince George Street). I would say the best quality in terms of taste and texture (taste was about the same as YM), but you are limited in your choices. You get one of three sizes and flavors and then you get three toppings. This is actually probably a good thing, because too many flavors/toppings doesn't give you a unified theme or experience and it's kind of all over the place. It would be like mixing bacon and cake batter and s'mores and apples and french fries. Obviously these are all fantastic tastes, but together it is a little sketch. So anyway, overall an A-. Also there is not a lot of seating options, but that's really nbd. Also, overpriced especially since you can't do it by weight.
3. Pinkberry (Fairfax Corner, though there are more nationwide). Solid performance, though not as yummy as Berrybody. There are several flavors, but you can't control how much of each you get. You can get as many toppings as you like, but again I see this as kind of a negative thing. But they are very good toppings! On the very negative side, this is quite the hotspot, there is always a line and there are never available seats. Quite good for business, quite bad for patrons. Solid B though - you can't go too wrong with froyo.
4. Sweet Frog (New Town, also now Greenbriar). Maybe it's just because I wanted to try too many flavors, but I wasn't that impressed with the taste of any of them. Nicely done by weight, definitely cheaper than Yolly Molly (I don't know much about the prices of any of these but I think it's a fairly significant difference). Definitely good, but a little too sweet and not enough tart for me, hence the ranking.
5. Josie's (University Mall). Don't let the ranking really deter you - really, all of these are delicious! But compared to the others this was basically the same and kind of out of the way. I would say it was essentially the same experience as Sweet Frog, though I like the cup/bowls better here (plastic). Lots of flavors, self-serve, several healthier options. Good good good. Just not outstanding. Mid-range price, too. Though the chairs are little orange blobs that are a bit strange.

So that's my take. Obviously I value the delicious tart flavor and I haven't really paid much attention to the prices because I know that it's never really worth it to pay $4-8 for a single serving of dessert, but whatever, it's summer, it's hot, it's a treat. I should maybe just try to not get any tonight.

things that live in my room

• me, on breaks from school.
• a ladybug on my ceiling. something about my room attracts ladybugs like nobody's business. they are always on my walls and around my windows, just chilling. I have learned to live with them. this is actually a big deal - if you have ever been around me for more than an hour at a time you will have realized that I can spot bugs like NOBODY'S business. I am so good at finding spiders. I can hear flies from across buildings. if there is an insectoid in the general vicinity of me it is a race to see which will happen first: I will spot it or it will attack me. and I always win. I also have a very rational fear of a ladybug getting stuck in my ear after this happened to my brother. but for some reason I am ok with this red blob living next to my fan, staring me down, because I guess I know that if I don't do anything to it, it will leave me alone. hopefully.
• half of my sister's clothing.
• my old computer which now runs on linux. my dad asked me if I was ok with this transition and I said sure, but I forgot that my ipod was synced up with that itunes library and I started over with the one on my laptop, so now I can't get any new music on my ipod because I don't want it to lose all of the great music it has now (which is to say all of my draco and the malfoys and like some coheed and cambria...it is a very eclectic representation of my middle/high school tastes). but it has a cool linuxy screensaver now, and I imagine I could use it if I felt like learning some new interface.
• one of those cardboard boxes from the book release of the deathly hallows that was used to hold the books and which I got fo' free from the book store just by asking for it. what a great and useful souvenir! it is just sitting on my floor and holding other old things in it.
• an office calendar from 2009. it is still on my bulletin board because I don't have anything new to put up there and also it is a little bit hard to get to now that I have a third bookshelf in my room halfway covering it. speaking of which, on this third bookshelf I have so many notebooks and papers from high school.
• candles. I have so many random little candles that I can't move myself to get rid of even though I kind of hate candles. I am so scared of matches and lighters so I hate that aspect of them, but they aren't even the kind with great smells, so what is the point? I just think they are dumb. so please don't get me any little candles because they will only collect dust. this is the number one thing that I plan on saving money on when I am older. I will not buy frivolous decorations like candles. I will only receive them as gifts which I will slightly resent.
• ten THIRTEEN pillows. does this sound excessive to you? I think I probably need a maximum of four pillows, two on each side of my bed. but I am ok with this since I have no headboard so instead I have a mound to lean back on.
• a purple beanbag. why I thought that I needed one of these is now escaping my memory, but I really wanted it at some point in my life. all the cool kids had bean bags. but now they just seem so low to the ground and not that comfortable.
• several cans of paint for the redecoration of my room. this is exciting. but I'm not sure which colors are going where so stay tuned for stories of this ongoing venture.
• my clean laundry. this is the first time in probably eight months that I have done laundry and not immediately put it away. I retrieved it from the basement on monday and thought, Marisa, let's be smart and save this for tuesday morning so that I have something to do on tuesday. this seemed like a brilliant plan, since it would have been a waste to stay up late and do it. but then I slept in because I could and then I was hanging out with the ginge all day. I got home and thought again, Marisa, I could finish folding this tonight, or I could watch glee. so I watched glee and gave Katie advice on cleaning her room. and then I ran into the same problem: I thought, I could just save this for wednesday morning! who doesn't want to have a task to do in the morning? it is the best. I would feel so productive. it was a great plan. and then, wednesday morning came and I slept in. and then I was hanging out all day. I could have done it at night but then I had to watch modern family. and then I just decided to save it for this morning. which leads us to today, right now. I thought, well Marisa, old friend, it is now well overdue for this laundry to get folded. but then I realized I hadn't updated my blog in like two whole days. and I also slept in and I still haven't even gotten dressed. so I think that I will probably have time this afternoon. we will see.
• a bat. just kidding. BUT, a bat WAS living inside my window during finals week. this was one of the first stories my dad told me when he came to pick me up. apparently it was a baby bat and, according to several members of my family, was rather cute. it slept between the outside glass and the screen. so then at night when it left my mom opened the window and closed off the outside glass panel so it couldn't get back in. I'm glad it wasn't there while I wanted to sleep, but I would still like to meet him. I try to be friends with the creatures in my room.
• EXCEPT FOR SILVERFISH. these bugs are like my nightmare. they infest my room in I would guess august every year. there will be only one at a time, but once he is killed his brother will take his place, haunting my walls. they are so fast and so creepy and I am afraid to kill them because I think they'll just run away and hide in my walls or my clothes if I try to approach them. so I have to get a parent to take care of them, but they may run away before I can locate a parent. I am not friends with any silverfish, ever. I am not looking forward to this inevitable attack. silverfish, please stay away. you are just as gross as sprickets.
• finally, the last thing I will describe since I know most people will have already lost interest in the things living in my room, is the sticker on my bathroom door. it is an AP sticker from I don't know when, and it has outlasted its usefulness now that I have all of my scores and my sister has taken all of her tests. for those of you who didn't do APs, this is the personal label that we were issued each year in a booklet that identified us so that all of our different exam scores were attributed to the person who took them. it's just like a barcode with some numbers under it. I am sitting here trying to figure out whose it is and from what year it hails...since I used up all of my stickers senior year, it could be from junior or even sophomore year but for some reason I think it's my sister's, but that would make it from last year, and I wasn't here when she took her AP exams unless it was that one time I visited home during finals. but whatever, it is completely irrelevant to life but it is just chilling on the center of the door. maybe I will ask my sister.

ps I felt the need to not capitalize my sentences here because this is a list, though I feel like a terrible person for it in retrospect. this is supposed to be a serious blog, but I feel like capitalizing things in a list takes myself too seriously. I think it is funnier this way and I hope you appreciate my distress. I have also used weird comma splices etc. and you should know that this also distresses me mildly; just keep in mind that I know my grammar rules and am purposely ignoring them. now I sound super pretentious. whatever. the internet really is killing me. I just felt like I should comment on this because in a year I will either be like blah blah blah no punctuation ever yayyyy, OR I will read this and be appalled at myself for succumbing to internet pressure.

accomplishments

Yesterday:

• completed the viewing of 9 episodes of the office, starting off from when the semester began and finishing the entire season. so good.
• successfully facebooked five people at once, chatting with two people with the same first name without getting them confused.
• planned so many epic hangs for this week alone.
• numerated and prioritized all of my goals for the summer, color-coordinating them and setting deadlines to encourage my timely completion of them.
• did my laundry, again. I swear it is like every time I turn around there is more laundry to be done.
• didn't forget to take my vitamins.

Today:

• became champion of disney villain monopoly with only six properties to my name.
• filled my tank with exactly $60.00 worth of gas.
• made my own tea.
• avoided all fruits and vegetables (minus some pineapples on my pizza).
• found the BEST BLOG EVER.
• realized that a song I like was about the economy, score!
• remembered my tumblr lolol.

rockbridge

Rockbridge is this awesome camp that my intervarsity chapter, as well as chapters from other schools in the virginia/carolina area, gets to go to right after finals for a week. I was somewhat required to go last year for training as a new small group leader and I enjoyed it so much that there was very little doubt in my mind that I would go back this year. I wasn't sure exactly which track I should sign up for, since part of me felt like I should learn what the evangelism track had to say, but when I saw that there was a new track called identity transformed, I knew that was the one for me.

To give you some further insight than what you need to know, I am almost always conscious of my "identity" or the way that I usually think of it, my personality. I think about it a lot in terms of character development and the way that I interact with others, since that's the main way that as an author you can convey what's going on inside a person. It's something I have pontificated in poems dating back to ninth grade and which has shaped my views of literature and entertainment for as long as I can remember having analytic thoughts of such things. I don't think that this makes me particularly unique, but I will say that from what I've gathered from others I probably think about this more regularly than normal people. I am constantly searching for characters with real depth who care about the core of their identity - what makes them tick, if you will. I mean, I like those people in real life too, but characters are easier to deal with without getting onto the messy subject of me and I can self-analyze without someone else probing my life.

So I signed up for this track and then I finished my semester and moved back home for three days then went to Rockbridge. First of all, I had a fantastic time and I love my community and I missed those who weren't there. All that aside, I learned a lot of things that I had been hiding from myself. I won't get into all the details because I think I could articulate it better in a conversation, and I don't really want random people knowing all sorts of weird things about me, but there are a few takeaways that I'd like to share and which I didn't think would be succinct enough for chapter sharing time.

We did a lot of cool studies using Colossians, Genesis, and other books to look at the original plan for humanity and then the idea of putting off our old selves and becoming hidden in Christ, or putting on a new identity in him. So at the end of the week we wrote false identities on post-it notes and tore them up and wrote our true identities on another post-it to keep with us. The false identity I chose - one which I sort of believe about myself but which isn't what I'm supposed to really identify with - is that I'm abnormal. I think that this is a pretty loaded word so I'm going to explain what I mean. I've always felt a little like the odd one out, and though that's a fairly common sentiment it goes back pretty far for me. I mean, I'm the middle child, the only blonde in my family, the one who just wanted to go in a corner and read upside down and eat salads and just in general be kind of weird. I wanted to wear toe socks with flip flops just to be controversial and I like Justin Bieber because it is so cool to call him a little kid and hate him but it is so much more fun to be difficult and like him. Like I've said before some of this is a conscious effort to be different. But being different and being abnormal are not quite the same, so it's a sort of negative thing to be abnormal...as if I wasn't made to overly think through things and sort people by the colors of their personalities or alphabetize my cd's. As if these neuroses were unhealthy and as if there was some clear definition of normal which I just didn't measure up to. It plays into my feelings of being awkward transitioning from homeschooling to public high school and the twang of pride but also isolation when people say good for me for being an econ major. It's not like any of these experiences are completely and utterly unique to me, but combined they make me feel a bit abnormal.

The second thing is that sometimes I feel unhuman. I sure hope other people feel like this too. But sometimes I feel unemotional, and sometimes I feel like I know more than everyone else (though then I step back and realize it's all in my head and I need a reality check), and sometimes the abnormality just dehumanizes me. I can become less human or more than human in my head. This is obviously bad. If I am less than human then I do not deserve grace. If I am more than human, then I am elevating myself and my ego is way overblown. When I think this way, I deny the basic needs of humanity and essentially I deny my need for Christ. But this week God showed me that I absolutely have the same emotional needs as everyone else, and I saw this in a variety of ways. Just as personality theory taught me, I have a need for achievement, a need for affiliation and a need for power (though I think this one is not a super big deal for me). (See David McClelland's need theory.)

I have all of these human constraints and it makes me feel like I'm doing an econ problem, but I have to maximize my utility of life function subject to my humanity. Obviously hiding myself in Christ puts me on a higher utility curve because he's not human. When you take whatever you want to strive for and you try to get to it through your own means, you will do it very badly. I may make a lot of money or surround myself with decently nice people, but I still need achievement and I still need affiliation and I still need meaning and I still need direction, I still need love. God provides me with all of these things in a way that no one else can, especially myself. But to let him do this I need to recognize my humanity and allow others to fulfill my need for affiliation because he never meant for us to go through life on our own.

(See larger image, created by yours truly, but only really interesting/understandable if you know about consumer choice.)

So my new identity, the one I'm choosing to adopt, along with clothing myself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12), is that I am the unique but very human creation of the God of the universe, not a mistake, not misplaced. Although I am unique I am not abnormal. Although I am human, that is precisely the way that God created me and it is not my fault but I am not complete without him either. I need God just as much as I need other people, and I can't live without either in just the same way that I can't live without food. One of the ways that I see God's love is through his children, through the love that we demonstrate to one another, and though it is not perfect it is way better than human attempts at love which we see in movies as showing up at an airport or remembering a trinket. It is the kind of love that sacrifices, and Christ was the ultimate sacrifice, giving his life for me though I am so far from perfect or even "good" that it goes beyond my comprehension that he would do such a thing. Our sacrifices are much smaller but the Christian community, and specifically the intervarsity chapter at w&m, is one of sacrificial love, something which I have not seen matched in other settings. And finally, I am precisely where God wants me to be - in the family he created, with the friends he put in my life, on the campus he wants me to be at right down to the room I'll be living in next year. I am so excited to see the fruit to be born in the fall - though this summer is not a mistake or a time to be thrown away, either.

So that's a bit of what Rockbridge was about. Also, grades and jobs and relationships and everything else that is broken in my life don't define me. And God mends these things and creates new and better things.

moving home

There are a lot of changes when you move home from school, no matter how long the length of your different stays. There are lots of benefits and lots of annoyances, ie, there are pros and cons! Which as you should know are one of my favorite kinds of lists to make.

• Pro: yesterday I had old oreos for breakfast...today I had pecan bread french toast and hot tea, and it was already cut up for me!
• Con: my roommate called me this morning and was cleaning our bathroom, and I was sad.
• Pro: I had fried rice for dinner and there are lots of brownies and chocolates at my disposal.
• Con: there are so many chocolatey temptations and no outlets for exercise.
• Same: I got to sleep in.

• Pro: last night I got to start watching Friday Night Lights with my sister, a so far entertaining diversion of my time.
• Con: I didn't get to be interrupted while watching tv by my roommate laughing at a video she was watching.
• Pro: I kind of have a car again!
• Con: I have to share said car.
  

• Pro: free laundry!
• Con: there is no elevator for the transportation of said laundry.
• Pro: my mom did half my laundry.
• Con: I didn't get to run into any Landrum friends while doing laundry.
  
• Pro: I don't have to worry about my laundry getting stolen or dirty overnight.
• Same: I do my laundry at all hours of the night.
  

• Pro: I got to go to the Cheese Shop with my dad yesterday...
• Con: this was only after moving approximately 16 containers either to the car or to the attic.
• Pro: I got to hang out with my dad all day.
• Con: this was still after moving all of those boxes...so I was very tired.
• Pro: I got to organize my belongings into appropriate containers.
• Con: I had to say bye to my Christmas tree for three months.

• Pro: there is no mildew in my shower.
• Con: there are lots of my sister's empty shampoo bottles.
• Pro: no one was waiting for me to get out of the shower.
• Con: there is no room in the medicine cabinet for any of my things.
  
• Same: I had to get toilet paper because the roll was empty.

spring 2011

is over. As in, I am moving out tomorrow and am mostly packed up and ready to leave this whole semester behind! But not without first blogging.

JANUARY:

we had that pizza party like the first day everyone was back and I spent like $42 in flex (I still have $16 left...pizza tonight? or see what kinds of gum are leftover?). it was legit. then I went to my first classes and discovered walex wasn't in my class and was really sad. and then we had the iv leadership day and amanda and katie and I all wore blue plaid! then everything started back up and I actually made it out to late night prayer and it was exciting. taylor and I had pokemonz time. summer reunion dinner started. e-team met and we decided it would be feasible to have saturday brunches together.

FEBRUARY:

I went to like one family dinner. fasa culture night was super legit and diana didn't break anything. I went to the bcm house for the first time for the superbowl; I tried candied bacon and fell in love, but I didn't stay for the second half of the game. ashley and I actually went to the rec center. taylor and I made pokevalentines. we had multiple game nights and I was such a good great dalmuti. I had a night of mayhem followed by packaging food for stop hunger now and then asian potter which turned into watching a very potter musical with jamie and natalie (we still need to watch the sequel!). I joined the historian committee! there were several iv girls events around valentine's day and I developed an intense love for justin bieber which culminated in the watching of never say never in an empty movie theater (except for me, jb's bffl, my twin and jb's future wife). I finally went to the musc with helen. marigene and I got lots of coffee. we watched the first young indiana jones! I was agatha for campus golf lol nbd. I stayed at escort forever just to see chrisdao. I studied at swem once. I made failcakes for marigene's surprise party and then we club swemmed. I finally saw tangled and we had the first LEGIT meeting where everyone decided this was a good name.

MARCH:

I asked for s'more s'mores and I got them. I went to camden and learned to do the opposite of what kelliann wants and that not everyone is like thornton and that helen is very inappropriate and that julia can eat anything with peanut butter and that ryan purposely raises expectations to disappoint them and that lucille can fit way more goldfish in her mouth than I can. and of course that God can use anyone and that good can come from bad places (nazareth...). my small group got to make dinner for worship team at sarah's house and then I followed my casserole to the lock-in. I learned about ecumenism. I faced my fear of throwing things at iv unplugged. I had a very dramatic hair cut but I actually got to donate my hair. I got brunch with hannah and we watched scrubs, kind of. I learned that cheese>chocolate at dani's house and about what makes me angry at speed dating. I learned about slaves in historic williamsburg. I had the best registration ever with megan and katelyn. I left camden reunion dinner early to go see BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY and I got to see abby tie a bow tie several times.

APRIL:

I got to bring kennis to apo formal and sing disney songs with catherine and katie and then ate so much pizza with my suite. I became friends with julie at sectionals and learned that weeing is sometimes not appropriate. I went home and got to see the cherry blossoms and watch I shouldn't be alive with melanie and jane eyre with chelsea. we had small group outside and then thought of secrets at postsecret and then were those kids and had our composites taken. I got to go to arthi's radio show debut and then chapter retreat where medina and I bonded like chemicals. I revisited childhood by watching the court jester with lj. then DRESS WEEK/big appreciation week started, only one of which was seen to completion. I got to go dress shopping with natalie and grab coffee with haset and got qdoba twice in one week. I had the best king and queen's date ever and got to chat up a bunch of admitted students. I experienced my first im game (from the sideline of course) and discovered the best muffins ever. I learned to skip readings for the first time and how to make use of the sara center. brandon and I spent ten hours looking at google docs. megan and jamie and I sent our hopes and dreams into the sky a la tangled-inspired lanterns. I got a horseshoe crab shell playing bigger and/or better. medina and I had our first work day experience, and it was quite a bit of work. I slept through the first half of screen on the green but finally saw true grit. we had an awesome twin appreciation week and celebrated the end of it with abby. benton, ashley and I had an impromptu harry potter party. I made cookies, a cake, cupcakes and then 6 more cakes in one week. I got sick right before pancake house. but then experienced the awesomeness of pancake house! we finally had an iv sophomore class bonding event over amazing delicious fantastic ice cream.

MAY:

I got to be photographed by dani and maggie. I studied lots but lots less than I should have. megan and jamie and I started an awesome tavern tradition. we had a mayhem family photoshoot and a lunch bunch reunion dinner. I finally tried sweet frog with abby and then made an apple pie for walex's half birthday, which he didn't even remember. then I got to see carbon leaf with awesome people. I had two overlapping beach days and took over 100 photos...intense. then I got to have plaza azteca with jamie, taylor and ellen! jamie and I unintentionally matched for three days in a row. I got to help out at the iv senior banquet and I was not ok with people leaving. then I made bacon and cookie monster cupcakes which were adorable. finally I got to see emily and started blogging again and got nawab with sarah! and then a successful ice cream adventure later, langton still left his tie in my room.

the end. summer!!!