gone for good

i put my disc.man.pod on shuffle for 9 hours

during the drive from ks to wi

the eclectic range kept me on my toes all day

as i rounded the corner on i-94 for the home stretch from madison

this is what played

go back to your hometown

get your feet on the ground

and stop floating around

how fitting

maybe it was a coincidence

maybe it was something else

hard act to follow

since when did my friends start going to institutions like

Colombia and Johns Hopkins?

i had to say goodbye to a very dear friend of mine today

it was...

bittersweet.

difficult.

comforting.

i'm not good with goodbyes

but i saved my tears for when i got in the car

and the waiting room at jiffy lube

(i'm not counting the tears that dripped onto my lettuce wraps when we had lunch yesterday)

2006 - when we were babies

letting me faux hawk his hair

was a favorite pastime

tackling me in the snow around mu campus

also a past time

not a favorite one

this how he got me to stay in kansas

love ewe

"be good to your brother, he's all you're going to have when we're dead"

...words of wisdom from my loving mother

Happy Birthday Brother!

SO excited to see this man in 5 days!

and so jacked up to show him around kansas city and lawrence

and so grateful he's going to put his engi-nerd skills to work

when loading the moving van full of all my oddly shaped stuff

encouraging my love of crafts at a young age

little did i know...

20 years later he'd be making me paint his house

"what are you talking about? i've found a baby before"

did i mention he's a doctor?

love you.

oh what a thing to do; and you were all yellow

fearful of picking a paint color that looked like puke, i played it safe and my end table turned out more yellow/goldish rather than mustard. and there is a fine line between mustard and gold. not sure what to do. i might just have to learn to embrace it. or make another trip to visit the cute handy man in aisle 3 at home depot!

what i was going for

mustard/amber...

new hardware for my desk

what i got...

yellow? gold? lemon?

.

..

drowning my yellow sorrows at Yummy's with the roomie!

.
.

second shift

i've always been a night owl. trying to get me ready and out the door by 7am in high school was a nightmare. for one semester in college i had an 8am lab every wednesday. but i only signed up for it cause i was friends with the TA. other than that, nothing existed before 10am (and even that was a stretch) this past year i've been working second shift at the coop (2pm-10pm) saturday to wednesday. it sounds like a dream for a non morning person, but it made for some interesting life adjustments. besides not having the "normal" weekend days off my only qualms with the schedule are that i can only make dinner plans twice a week (good thing kansas doesn't have 'happy hours' otherwise i'd be really upset) and my thursdays and fridays are jam packed with errands because lord knows i'm not going to get up and do them before 2pm.

the new schedule has also brought new sleeping patterns. what used to be a productive midnight to 9ish is now 4/5am to noonish. it's strange to think that i'm setting my alarm (for 1pm just to make sure i'm up) just as other alarms are going off to start the day. so while others are sleeping soundly in their slumber, i'm stirring with my schedule

it's the wee hours of the morning... what do i do?

read in the peace and quiet

write emails to transcontinental (and transatlantic) friends

catch up on hgtv

pack for the move back home

organize my itunes

create meals for tomorrows lunch so i don't buy an $8 sandwich

cross off movies on the netflix queue

pretend i have interesting things to say on this blog

oh yea... and more crafts

.

this is what i was working on from 1am-3am

.

i'm so hesitant to paint this end table

but i need some color in my room

too much brown and beige

too much wood

slowly incorporating

mustard

eggplant

rust

leaf

but for now...

it's 5:20am

time for bed?

waiting for my real life to begin

you know what i like more than puppies and pancakes?

limbo

no, not the game

limbo... the state of being

it's more of a love/hate relationship. but like an old high school boyfriend over christmas break, i keep finding myself in its company. and there's nothing you can do but shrug your shoulders, laugh quietly to yourself and enjoy the ride.

once again i find myself in transition. the soon-to-be conclusion of my kansas chapter and the beginning of my supposed-to-be minnesota chapter with a christmas break limbo in milwaukee. still not sure how long the lake front limbo will last. so i'm just going to go with the flow and do my best to catch all the curve balls. some phrases that have found their way into my daily conversations include:

we'll find out

it'll be fine

i'm not sure yet

i guess this is happening now

... interspersed expletives and fist shaking

luckily

i can always count on this man

for a memorable night out and reassuring/rational conversation

my philosophy

i am a ben folds fan. it's a cult. and for those of you who know how seriously talented and innovative that man is and what an amazing show he puts on EVERYTIME... you know how easily it escalates into cult-like status. however, i've lost touch the last 2 or so years and i recently found out that he did an a cappella project with universities across the county. simply labeled, university a cappella, i bought the album via itunes (from a gift card i got for singing at mark & alicia's wedding. isn't that such a creative idea!) so the university groups submitted videos to ben to choose from. these are some of my favorites i've been rockn' out to, but didn't get chosen

'annie waits' university of texas version is so great and full of energy.

'you don't know me' from colombia university - seriously hoping matthew becomes bff's with everyone in the group.

'not the same' from the university of colorado-boulder, just brilliant.

i'm not blog-savvy enough to post the actual videos right here, so until i figure that out, just click the title and it'll lead you to the a cappella magic! enjoy!

rock chalk what now?

i've been living in lawrence, ks for the last year, home of the university of kansas jayhawks. please don't ask me what i'm studying or what part of campus i live in. i am not a student. lawrence is a cute town, somewhat like madison in its political views, energy and influx of undergrads, but without an isthmus, captial city atmosphere or amazing music scene. it's hard for me to call these last 16 months a mistake and i teeter on calling it a regret (you might catch me calling it a regret on 96 degree humid days). every other day is a beautiful struggle between delight and disappointment.

let me clarify. i do a horrible job of living for the moment. always dreaming and scheming of what i'm going to do next. that being said, it was my "plan" to be in minneapolis back in the spring of 2009. so when i have a bad day here in lawrence i can't help but wonder how different (possibly how much better?) my life would have (should have?) been if i were in mn.

however, this land-locked chapter of my life is coming to a quick close seeing as though i gave my official notice today at work! 3 more weeks and i'm a free bird! milwaukee for the month of august then...

my frozen tundra

my tabula rasa

my limitless self

minneapolis.

my backyard september 1st

...untill then, i will collapse in defeat of my newly rekindled love with ben folds

morning glory

this is what i saw when i opened my eyes this morning...

what a great view

i pupnapped owen one last time last night for an old school sleepover. we went for a night walk around the neighborhood, watched RENT, ate whirly pop, shared a blvd wheat and cuddled till we fell asleep. all in all, it was bliss. (even the part about waking up at 7am because HE's a morning dog and needed to get his day started...)

and if owen were at summerfest, he would make sure to check out...

guster

kellie pickler

the moody blues

the jeanna salzer band

steve winwood

o.a.r.

the roots