I got them at Sears, but this was the only picture I could find. They look really adorable on me :)

Polycarbonate lenses, anti-reflective (the good one, not the plain coating), and definitely NOT transitions.

I'll have them in a week.

I have spent one fiftieth of my life with Ilan :)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Found in a drawer at Sterling University Glades, these XXL blue and white checkered pants, held up by drawstring, are the most notorious piece of clothes I've owned. They've been worn by everyone, from friends who spilled something on their own pants, to visiting siblings, to old boyfriends. They are magic pants, able to be worn by any person needing them.

They've been through much since they were discovered in 2003, and currently sport several holes, a few bleach stains, and are quite ragged around the ankles.

Community Pants, you belonged in Gainesville and you lived in Gainesville. There is nothing more reminiscent of Gainesville than you. You were happiness and sadness. You were a life experience.

You've been in a seldom used drawer for many years now. You take up room that needs to be reserved for new memories, or at least new clothes.

The time has come for you to go. You will be gone, but not forgotten.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

My party was so much fun! Thank you to everyone who came, I really loved seeing each and every one of you. Really.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry


Delia made me a ridiculously gorgeous and very tasty cake. I just ate some for breakfast. I don't even like cake! But this was amazing. Chocolate cake with layers of mint chocolate cookies, york peppermint patties, and mint icing. Seriously, it was awesome.

I had about 38 people total, including a couple I hadn't seen since *high school*, my sister who drove in from ATLANTA, and Eric and Laura, who met at my house, who came in from Jacksonville!

It rained in the middle, but everyone stayed in good spirits, and moved inside. Most of them anyway. The rain stopped after awhile and we all went back out, but my campfire singalong turned into some sort of guitar battle that I barely witnessed, since I was back and forth constantly. My legs hurt so badly by the end of the night.

The fire was beautiful and perfect, and kept burning and didn't go out until it was put out purposefully. Thanks especially to Clayton and Tommy for being such diligent fire tenderers, and Andy for being the grillmaster.

We had burgers, hot dogs, and all variations thereof. I had almost exactly the right amount of food, I think there were just a few uneaten turkey hot dogs, and two veggie burgers that didn't get cooked. We also had people bring chips, veggies, cookies, and some ridiculously delicious mac and cheese that Doug made, that we ended up eating near the end of the party, when there were about 6 awesome stragglers left.

My mommy and daddy were there the whole time, which was very nice and surprisingly not embarrassing or weird or anything. I guess I'm getting old enough that it's normal or at least okay. I also had MANY thirty-somethings, several forty-somethings, and another fifty-something, so there was a nice spread.

My daddy complimented my backyard, which was probably the best compliment of the evening. He wasn't thrilled when I bought this house (Daddy's girl didn't need Daddy's approval...) but it was really nice to hear that he liked it now. My backyard did look great! Weeds cut low to look like grass, firepit, and wonderfulness. I really do have a great backyard for parties :)

Ilan stayed longer than he had intended, but I hope he still had a good time. He hung out with the lawyery people and grownups, and met people he hadn't before, but I could tell he was still so super stressed about school. I can't wait till this semester is over :-/

I got many gifts, including a rosemary plant (which I've seriously looked for at Lowe's so many times and never found) and balloons from Sara, Andy and Pierce; balloons, flowers, shoes, a Puerto Rico massage, and things I left in Atlanta from Vivi; a book from George (that he left inconspicuously on my shelf); a gift card from Bobby and Jen; a gift card from Justin and Brittany; a card with a piece of paper in it from my parents; a beautiful Tiffany ring from Deborah (she gave it to me early); a gift card from Bethany; HARRY POTTER CLUE from Eric and Laura; an amazing and wonderful cake made for me by Delia; and a beautiful, very well done, time consuming, amazing picture of pictures made for me by Blake. I really really really love it, you are amazing!

A huge thanks to everyone who helped me clean up: Mommy, Delia, Doug, Sara, Andy, and especially Tommy! You guys are the greatest :)

Today is my actual birthday and I am officially 25. Ilan and I are celebrating on Tuesday when we both have time to actually relax and celebrate, because we will officially be off for Thanksgiving :)



Hopefully pictures are to come. I didn't take many, but lots of people did, and I am excited to see them!


( The list of attendees: )

Today's workout: mowing my lawn for an hour.

I like workouts with a purpose. So much better than my stationary bike. Plus, this is one less thing I have to do before Sunday.

I also cleaned out, swept, washed, scrubbed, tore, and did everything I needed to do on my porch before starting to tile it. And then I realized my tiles match the walls. I don't want my porch to be all beige. I am not an all beige person. So new tiles it is. Sigh.

I am grossly sweaty. Shower time.

I love Bar Mitzvah parties. So much fun! This one happened to be sports-themed, and everyone decorated and wore hats. That's why we look so funky.

Deb and I danced for like four hours straight. Mazel Tov to Alex and the entire Fingeroot family (except Jack, who once told on me during a Passover seder for sticking out my tongue. Dang 6-year-old.)

There was so much food today but I was very good. Yay me.

I am going to be very sore tomorrow.


Me and Deb with our flowers in our hair (She looks Hawaiian and I look Spanish)


My pink bug hat


Mommy and Daddy boogeying

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I walked in my back door and accidentally left it very slightly open. Padfoot whined for the next five minutes at the door, wanting to be let in.

Let's look at the facts:

• The back door opens IN. He could have easily pushed it open.
  
• The back door has a dog door in it, through which he goes ALL THE TIME.
  
• When I called his name, he immediately jumped through the dog door and came to me.

I love my dog. I really really truly do. He is cute, funny, friendly, lovable, and just a bit dumb.

--

I was planning on vanishing my bench today, and now I'm not so much. I might re-organize my sunroom instead. The good thing about doing that is the lack of getting dressed and going somewhere. I don't necessarily want to be lazy, I just don't want to go anywhere.

I'm so sorry guys, I don't have the awesomeness I'd need to participate this season. I'll still read entries, but I can't participate :(

Good Luck!

Quick introduction, as I really should be doing homework:

2nd Year LJ Idol Participant. I did pretty okay last year, but became so engulfed in school and work that I wasn't able to keep on cranking out the entries.

So, for you, LJ Idol, I quit my job.

I'm kidding, I didn't do it for you.

I did however quit my job this past May, and am currently back in school full time. I like to think of myself as an "older" student (such students tend to perform better in their classes), but I'm only 24, and I tend to look younger, so that doesn't work so well from a professor's perspective.

I also have a house, a boyfriend, a dog, a great friends circle (many of them currently pregnant and shaped like circles), and overall-- a pretty awesome life.

Enter flaws: Anxiety. I have this nice mix of perfectionism plus not being perfect. If you can't relate, you're probably not human. I guess if this is what makes you human, I must be superhuman.

Other flaws? Hm.. I have a few chicken pox scars on my forehead from 6th grade. I don't think I have any other flaws.

Strengths: humble

I'm doing LJ Idol again :)

Who's with me? I know edith_jones is doing it, What about teenonfire4lord? blackfroggy?

Is there anyone new that wants to join? It's really fun! I'd like to see some of the other really good writers on my friends list doing LJ Idol, like lizblizz and ellie_kay!

My condolences to Stacy (negativeneve) and Roy, whose six-and-a-half year old dog, Layla, died today, assumedly to a tumor in her throat. She was beautiful and gracious, the model of the black dog group we had in Gainesville. She will be dearly missed :(

Stacy with Diesel and Layla


Me and Layla

Phi Sig was a bust because I was already too far in school to join (you need three semesters left).

Today, I joined Golden Key. I was invited because I was in the top 15% of my class. Hot. Anyway, $70 to be able to put it on my resume, and be able to apply for their scholarships seems useful. They also do a lot of community service that I'd like to get involved in. So it's all good :)

--
Gay!Matt is in town and we're hanging out tonight. I am so flipping excited. I love Gay!Matt! :D
--
I am not drinking Trop50 anymore. It makes me sick to my stomach.

Padfoot has some seriously beautiful curls happening. They look delicate and soft and beautiful. I am so jealous (I have approximately the same thing going on, though). He and I took a nap together earlier. We're adorable.

I love Ilan. He is such a doof. A perfect-for-me doof :) Last night was pretty much awesome. Can a night get better than It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia + California Chicken Grill? I think not.

The one downside is that my face is completely raw, because kissing a ruggedly handsome scruffy man for hours can feel a bit like sandpaper after awhile.

I'm ordering Frontline with my reward points from my Amazon card. Whee. I love free things.

Oh, and I invested in Elbit, Google, and Apple. Not a full share of any of them. $20, $50, and $40. Maybe I'll figure out how to do this, for real, and get rich from trading stocks. Who knows. It doesn't hurt to know how to play the game.

Things I did today:

• Class, obviously. And started writing my speech for said class.
  
  
• Installed a Pür water purifier on my kitchen sink faucet. So much better than just the pitcher. It and I fought for a long time, apparently it's lefty-tighty righty-loosey. I mean, not really. it's just that the thing I was turning was the hole, not the screw. Ugh. Oh well. It's done now, which means it was worth it.
  
  
• Put up a small three-hook fixture in my bathroom to hold hair stuff. It was necessary. And it's pretty. And it matches.
  
  
• Hung a shower caddy in my bathroom to hold my super heavy bottles of shampoo and conditioner -- if I put them in the pockets on my shower curtain (best invention EVER), it makes it too heavy, and makes my tension shower rod fall down.
  
  
• Almost bought a white ferret. I would have named him Malfoy. But it was a girl, pet upkeep is expensive, and I can't afford it.
  
  
• Found out that dude next door really DID disappear, except his car is back and apparently abandoned.
  
  
• Left a mean message for the management company about said car, and stack of mattresses/falling apart furniture outside the house.It's gross and disgusting and I don't want it here.

Requiescat in Pace, Patrick Swayze.

Me, all sweaty, after today's gardening fun (you can see the house that is no longer occupied by idiots behind me):



Picture from before I bought the house. Recently, it's been more barren than this, but this was my only "before"


After!


The liriope runs in front of the driveway, too. I think I'm going to put solar lights in between them.



Left side:


Right side:
</a>

This is due Friday. The assignment is 1000 words on "Interior or Exterior Space" -- and to be as creative as we want with that topic. I chose to be fairly literal, and write about a space that was enclosed, but exterior.

We'll workshop this in class an awful lot-- and this is just a rough draft-- but I'd appreciate opinions. Names have not been changed to protect the innocent or the guilty.



( Magnolia School’s Playground )

Poll #1452301
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22

You're waiting to get to the cashier at your grocery store. You're

Geography: My parents are from/ I was born in/ I live in

No idea what I'm going to do for a minor. I'm a little pissy at the Computer Science people right now, and don't even particularly want to think about it. Yes, I know I'll have to. I was ditched from my C++ class and got rid of my other online computer course.

Instead of thinking about stuff for my minor, I'm putting my energy into begging professors with openings for spots in their Adv fiction classes.

And, I'm signing up for a one-credit Stretch and Relaxation class. I had Aerobic Dance first, but this will likely be more helpful to me. Plus, I'll have free time before it to go work out at Leach.

I also signed up for a Theories of Composition class that sounds insanely interesting.

So if I don't choose a minor this term, I'll at least have gotten out of the way the English elective I'll need (the CLEP didn't count because it had to be 3000/4000 level:(), the Intermediate Foreign Language, the Speech, and at least one of the Adv writing workshops. If I can get another one, awesome.

Which leaves just the classes for my minor. I wonder if you can take four different psych classes with no pre-reqs in one semester?

I'm having a Bradford White Water Heater installed tomorrow morning around 8:30. It doesn't make sense for me to get a tankless - even though they might be cheap to buy they'd have to redo a bunch of electrical stuff to install. And I don't have $2800. I just don't.

The guys I'm going with have good ratings. Both Home Depot and Lowe's recommended them. They quoted me a much lower price ($450) and were really nice about telling me exactly what was wrong, what needed to be fixed, etc.

The truth is, my water heater is 29 years old, and it needs to be replaced. It could be fixed for $150, but it'a not going to solve my problems, just prolong them. The tank is about a third of the way full of calcium. The guy banged on it a little and I could tell exactly what he was talking about. Plus, the money I'm going to save electricity wise will probably make up for the new heater in less than a year.

This is probably also just a good investment in my home. I wouldn't buy a house with a 29 year old heater (though apparently I bought one with a 27-year-old one). Never again.

I knew parking garages filled up early, but I didn't think I'd need to leave my house more than two hours early. Seriously. Because today I left two hours early, and the garage near my class was full. Why then, do they let people into it? There was a long line in front of me that had to turn around, and a longer line behind me that would have to. Can't they monitor when the garage fills up so that people don't have to waste TWENTY MINUTES going through the maze? I parked in the garage near my second class, so not all was lost. I never thought I'd want to see more parking garages. How many trees am I willing to give up for educational convenience? More than yesterday.

So now I'm sitting in my Latin class and I've realized I forgot my notebooks in the car. I'm going to have to go by there before my next class. Hopefully the two sheets of slightly-crumpled notebook paper will suffice for this morning. For whatever reason I don't want to take notes on my laptop. Unless almost everyone is doing it. I don't want to be that person. I hate that person. Besides, I can't afford distractions. This class is going to kick my butt. I haven't taken Latin in eight years.

This building is very old and seems to lack A/C. Gross.

I'm strongly considering dropping C++. I really don't feel like working as hard as I'd have to in there. But that just means I'd be putting it off for next semester, which puts three programming courses in one term, and I don't think I'd be able to handle that either.

Oh, and it'll be about $650 to replace my water heater. It's 29 years old. Better to replace than have fixed.

And I just got about 20 bug bites while in my laundry room reading stuff to the guy I think I'm going to use.

--

I am crawling into bed and going to sleep.

My water wasn't getting hot, so I checked my breakers, and it was set to "on" but was red. That means the breaker tripped, right? I moved to off and back to on, how long should it be before I have hot water? It's been about fifteen minutes.

High enough to exceed program requirements. Not high enough to brag about. It's pretty much what I expected for someone who feels she's gotten dumber since high school, and didn't study for the test at all.

I didn't get to see my writing score at all, which I'm confident will be better than either the English or the Math. I'm not sure how works with program requirements, but hopefully a library program will want to factor in that score.

Weird thing: for the first time ever, I didn't finish a section. Normally I finish with time to spare. In this case, I had ten questions left to go and three minutes to do it. Hello, Christmas Tree.

I'll not worry about it for now. If my GPA starts to drop (like, below a 3.0) and I need a higher GRE score to compensate for it, I'll study, and I'll take it again.

And next time, I'll also know where the testing center is. I knew where it was this time, too. Three days ago, I got an e-mail with the address and directions. Except, it wasn't there. It put me in a generally bitter mindset.

Stacy drew my life story! It's awesome, check it out :)

He beats her. "Why is she still with him?"
She was raped. "Yeah, right." ; "She was asking for it."

Why is this? Why is our automatic annoyance toward the victim?

If a male was raped or being beaten, would the blame still be shifted?

Are there other situations besides rape and abuse where this happens?



I have lots of thoughts on this, I'd like to hear yours.

For Debbie (to watch this one is necessary):



For Sara:



For Lauren:

Melissa Abrams


( FINAL STORY )

2 page short story critique
2 page short story critique
2 page short story critique
2 page short story critique
2 page short story critique
5 page Critical Theory paper (due Thursday in class)
Othello assignment
Shakespeare Extra Credit
Study for Critical Theory Final Exam (Thursday at 10:30)
Study for Shakespeare final exam (Thursday at 3:45)
Revise Short Story (due Thursday at midnight)


-Call CB about doing my lawn. See if they do hot tubs. BEG if they do hot tubs.
-In the next week, finish filling out Roth IRA paperwork that they will send.
-Decide what to do about insurance for 1/1/10 (by November, but the sooner the better)
-Get ready for Deborah's homecoming
-Get ready for Ilan's move! Make house very pretty!
    -plant new azaleas where the dead ones are
    -clean hot tub
    -plants for out front?
    -dust/sweep/mop/tidy
    -pedicure? (anyone wanna come with?)
-book vacation and/ or sell vacation to use points through end of year.

I had a pretty major anxiety attack today.

I have so much stuff to do. Quite overwhelmed. I took my anxiety medication and hopefully will feel better very soon.

The semester is over on Thursday. Here's what I need to do before then:

2 page short story critique
2 page short story critique
2 page short story critique
2 page short story critique
2 page short story critique
5 page Critical Theory paper
Othello assignment
Shakespeare Extra Credit
Study for Shakespeare final exam
Study for Critical Theory Final Exam
Revise Short Story

This is just a first draft. All criticism welcome.

I should point out to everyone that criticism isn't just the bad stuff :-P


( plastic daisies )

Before the brown thumb of death:
Golden Pothos and Basil
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry


The Golden Pothos is outside, I didn't take a picture, here's the basil & some other stuff

On my windowsill
Random bamboo plant thing, leaves of night blooming cereus, rosemary (will rosemary grow from sprigs?) , and basil.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry


To my food:
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I finally gave in and emailed my professors about not being able to finish assignments this weekend and not being in class on Monday. It's something I really really didn't want to do but at this point it's pretty necessary. There's no way. I hope my e-mails were coherent. I have been having a problem with coherence and I forgot to feed Padfoot last night and this morning, what kind of mommy does that?

:(

I remember that earache a year ago. Maybe you do too. And seriously, its not anywhere near that bad. I don't have to scream in order to not be dying, like I felt before.

But it is really really awful. Lots of pain, both ears. Swollen. Nose totally stuffed. Hard to breathe.

(as said on Facebook):

I'd like to thank my Fiction Technique professor for the motivation to have done the following things: Re-organize my linen closet, scrub my shower, replace my air filters, create holders for hair bands and random jewelry, rearrange my living room, move furniture into my office, clean out my sunroom, sort through and donate old clothes, sweep, mop, and dust. There's so many things I can do instead of writing!