Bookie Updates

So the engagement list for the sumer of '08 has gotten a little longer. Yesterday a good friend from school got engaged. Super exciting! Their wedding is going to be the most nontraditional event, ever, and I loves it! Like I loves them!

So the tally:

M.D. Married May 17th
K.G. Engaged May 19th
L.H. Engaged May 25th
L's Sister Engaged in June (I meant to update then but I forgot to and then I forgot the exact date)
J.B. Engaged June 29th

Um...Pardon?

So a person I went to school with in Gloucester sent me a message on Facebook that reads:

"So, my mom was reading the Gloucester Gazette and saw that you and Steve had gotten a marriage license. I suppose a congratulations are in order...."

Now, I haven't talked to this person since 11th grade English AP... and I have not applied for any marriage licenses unless I've developed an alter-ego that takes control of my body and some how managed to get Steven to sign some paperwork... Indeed, a very great super-power to have... I am Marriage Girl? The facilitator of things that currently seem impossible?

Anyone know about this? Anyone got a copy of the most recent Gazette Journal? Anybody else having a good laugh with me?

Small town gossip. I love it. This is even better then the one about me converting to Hinduism.

You can't even buy this much publicity. :D

I love my kitty daddy cause hez my sugar daddy.

This weekend was fabulous! Even though it was far too short... but that cannot be helped. It got me thinking about a OTH episode in the third season where Peyton goes to visit Jake and talks about how the day before she has to leave feels like Sunday. You know that feeling you get on a Sunday that school starts tomorrow so the whole last day of the weekend is ruined thinking about how the weekend is over. That's kind of how my weekend was, only I was trying not to think about it. Steven is fabulous, as always. I dropped Oliver off at the pet-sitters on Friday and he had a great time, he has a little girlfriend now named Cleo. He is not a fan of dogs, but we will work on that some more since Steven and I will eventually be getting a dog.

Saturday Steven, his mother (M.J.), and I went shopping. Basically, I went to see Steven just so I could mercilessly torture him... ;) He hates shopping, but he was a trooper! We started off the day at Ikea, my favorite place for fabulous modern furniture. I have really needed a dresser so I picked one up:

I still need to put it together after I take it piece by piece out of my car...

I got some lamps and an awesome deal on compact flourescents, 3 packs of "60W" for $1.99. This is why I love Ikea.

After Ikea we went to the Ralph Lauren Outlet and I got an oxford shirt for $24! That's pretty unheard of. I love Ralph Lauren but I normally cannot afford his clothes. I'm gradually picking things up when they are ridiculously on sale. So far I have this new shirt and a skirt I got for $15 last summer.

Steven and I went to the movies Saturday night after getting some slushies at 7/11. We went to go see Wall. E. I HIGHLY recommend that everyone go see it! Pixar has outdone themselves again! So cute, romantic, and environmentally aware. Steven and I both love kids movies! This is probably because we're both still kids at heart. To be honest, I love that about us.

This morning we were going to go play Putt-putt but the place was closed... bummer! We will have to go next time I'm in town, whenever that is. Since there was no putt-putt, we got lunch at a cute little pizza place. We got the white pizza, our favorite.

This weekend was so much fun! I really miss Steven. I miss how goofy he is and how goofy I am when I'm with him. I also love how much crap we give each other. I know, it's a weird thing to love about a relationship. He gave me crap when he found out I refer to him as Oliver's daddy. Well...he is. What's mine is his, right? And I gave him crap about how lonely the ring finger on my left hand is. My favorite discussion about that:

Me: I love my new shirt!
Him: Well if you love it so much why don't you marry it?
(a few minutes pass)
Him: It's almost like I love you, or something.
Me: Well if you love me so much why don't you marry me?

I am aware this is a low blow, but good times.

This Wednesday is our 10 month anniversary! And I'm so excited! Want to know what he got me for 10 months? That super cute dress I've been wanting, as well as some money to get him a tie that matches it. Have I mentioned lately how madly and completely in love I am with this boy? Not just cause he spoils me, but because he makes me believe I deserve to be.

Well... I dare ya!

So both Sarah and Caitlin tagged me to do this survey. In a way I really was double dared into this, laughs. But I do love a good survey. ;)


Here goes:

Question 1:
What are the 5 things on your To Do List?
1. Put together my new dresser from Ikea
2. Finish hanging up things in my apartment. I haven't done it yet because I need some hardware for the job and I'm super afraid of messing it up.
3. Return some stuff at Target
4. Find directions to the vet I'm taking Oliver to tomorrow.
5. Find Steven's Birthday present

Question 2:
Name 5 Snacks You Love
1. pudding
2. pineapple
3. fruit of any kind
4. chocolate
5. ice, I like to eat it for the crunch

Question 3:
Name 5 Things You Would Do if you Suddenly Became a Millionaire
1. Buy or build a few houses
2. Decorate those houses fabulously!
3. Hire a personal trainer
4. Get a new wardrobe
5. Take Steven all around Europe

Question 4:
Name 5 Places You Have Lived
1. Gloucester, VA
2. Sweet Briar, VA
3. Blacksburg, VA
4. Somewhere with Steven when I graduate
5. Somewhere else with Steven when we decide to move again.

Question 5:
Name 5 Jobs You Have Had
1. Daycare with toddlers and infants, twice
2. Dishwasher
3. Waitress and line cook
4. Barrista
5. Sales Associate at Pier 1

Question 6:
5 Things People Don't Know About Me
1. I pretty much worry about absolutely everything, all the time. Without people to tell me that I'm doing fine, I pretty much fall apart while giving everyone the impression that I'm fine.
2. I get the worst cabin fever when I'm left alone, I love to have people around me or projects to do.
3. I've lost about 50 pounds since my first semester of college
4. I'm a visual learner.
5. only Steven will know what this means, but: bathrooms, they're special places.

Since Caitlin and Sarah both tagged me... I tag Sonja and Steven.

Sorry I've disappeared!

I know I've been a bad little blogger just disappearing like I did. I've had so much going on. Mostly Oliver stuff. He's quite a handful. We're still working on cords. He needs to learn that he can't play with electrical cords for his own safety. He's also going through this phase of claws. Since he is so small he digs into things when he walks, that includes me. We're working on that too. We're also working on switching to solid foods because he's old enough and soft food adds up in cost. I'm also concerned about him getting every thing he needs nutritionally from fancy feast. Solids are proving difficult since he doesn't really like them. He sniffs them then starts digging on his placemat like he does in the litterbox... as in "Mom this stuff smells like crap"... but we're working on it. If I leave it out he will nibble on it: baby steps. That's the fluff-ball update.

On the romance field, I get to go see Steven tomorrow after work. Oliver is staying with a friend from work who has animals and who I trust with him. And I'm driving 4 hours to see my honey! Ugh! SO EXCITED! I miss him like crazy!

The picture is of the cutest dress I found that I want to get for Caitlin's wedding. I have been practically stalking stores trying to find a cute summer dress. This one is at Target and is by Issac Mizrahi. Now... a little history about me and Issac. He gets me every time! All of this clothes have the vintage cuts I crave and look fabulous in and his sizes are perfect for me, and by perfect I mean that I never have trouble with things fitting in one spot and not the other. I put his clothes on and they fit like a glove, they're flattering, cover all the wobbly bits, hug all the sexy bits, cover my huge chest, colors are always great, and they are just down right perfect for me. This particular dress is $39.99. Even though it's a line for Target Issac also always drains my pocketbook. Sigh. One day I'll wear the real deal that says Issac Mizrahi without the little line under it saying "for Target." One Day. Have I mentioned that the man is completely fabulous? I saw him on an interview with Oprah about 5 years ago and I was like... I would totally work for this man or just hang out with him. And I'm all about supporting easy-going, fun people. I don't have the time to deal with assholes. Anyone who is nice has my business forever.

My History of Costume class I finished this week got me nuts about old designers... I need to find a place that has fabulous vintage shops. Someplace like Europe, laughs. Most places around here run in the 80's vein of uh... "fashion." I'm talking about a place I can find vintage Chanel, or Dior.

Ew...

Something I have always hated is how teachers exaggerate on the syllabus. Always stresses me out and makes me think: "there isn't possibly enough time to do any of this stuff, that must mean I have to get it done today before the class starts, I can't do that, I'm going to fail." Every semester I start off with a feeling of complete and utter doom.

For instance, for my new online class about Humanities and the Arts, my teacher writes via e-mail that there will be 10 projects. And I'm thinking...crap, I've got to start doing poster-boards again, clay models, and houses built out of ice cream sticks. Who has time for that anymore? Only to find out at the end when he outlines things is that by "projects", he really means quizzes with short answer/essays and true false and multiple choice questions, 9 of those and 1 paper I have to write after I go to an art exhibit... His exact words: "Assignments include short-answer and essay questions. You will find fill-in-the-blank questions, true/false questions, multiple-choice questions, and questions requiring you to write out either short or longer essay answers waiting for you on most assignment pages."

What Prof. Saffle doesn't know is that I've been to every large art museum in the state numerous times and I'm always the kid the curator loves because I was once an extreme know- it- all, and I could probably write this thing in my sleep, however I think I'm going to use it as an excuse to go up to DC and see Steven on a weekend... got to see the national Museum of Art, one more time.

Way to freak me out Prof. Saffle. You were just as intense and pointless when you filled in for your wife's Brit Lit class I took sophomore year. I just hope he isn't teaching any of her classes when I take Children's Lit with her this semester.

This class will probably take more thought then I want to put into it. Oh well. I'm sinking, hopelessly, in the Olympic- sized pool of academia at the moment. Somewhere I missed when it went from the kiddie pool, to the wading pool, to the water- aerobic section, to the deep end you can only dive in. I've never been a good diver. I need to find a second wind... like yesterday.

Welcome To The World Oliver Linux!

The first night is over with, thankfully! Little Oliver is doing fine, and finally warming up to me and the apartment. He has been purring all day long, it's so cute when he walks and purrs because he shakes! He is currently taking a little nap in his pet carrier...and I'm relieved for the break, to be quite honest. I've been pretty nervous about the whole litterbox situation because he didn't use it until 10 this morning! Last night I fed him and gave him water and spent most of the night carrying him to the litterbox just in case. He would simply walk out of it. Until Oliver is big enough to jump up and off of my bed I don't want him to sleep with me. He is so tiny and my bed is so tall! He couldn't get out of it if he needed to in the night. Last night was so difficult to go to sleep! I put him in the bathroom with his pet carrier and his litterbox and said goodnight. And he started crying at the door, so I broke and let him out... and then put him back in there again because I knew if he was with me I'd spend the whole night worried about if he needed to go to the bathroom! I waited for him to calm down before I went to bed. He kept crying for about 5 minutes and eventually calmed down. I set my alarm for 7 am so that I could check on him. 7am rolled around and I got up and checked on him, and he was awake and alert, and ready to play... I was ready to sleep. So I fed him again, and did my litterbox thing, put him in there right after feeding: nothing. So I took him to bed with me and set my alarm in 30 minute increments and every 30 minutes we both woke up to go to the litterbox. Nothing. I got up at 9 to get in the shower and get ready. He cried the whole time I was in the shower. Then when he could see me again, he was fine! As I'm cleaning my face and brushing my teeth Oliver went over to the litterbox and went tinkle! Oh I was so happy! Sonja got here at about 10:30 and we gave Oliver some more food. After he ate that little stinker went right to the litterbox! I'm very relieved that he is actually litterbox trained. I was really concerned about it! I can't leave him alone when I go to work unless I know he can find it alright, and he can. He's so smart.

So far Oliver is scared of pretty much everything. My shoes, the air conditioner turning on, noises outside, my toes, his toys, everything. He has gotten better then last night though. He figured out that he can bat a ball and he is starting to realize if he wants to play rough it's better to do that with something stuffed instead of with me. He isn't used to being alone yet, and I understand that. He's doing really well right now, he's in another room and he is sleeping. It's the first time today that he hasn't either followed me around or sat right on top of me. While he's sleeping I really need to work on and finish a paper!

Random Thought...OK So I Just Ate Some Cheese...

If I was a food... I think I would be cheese.

I'm cheesy, melt quickly, age well, and I'm good with everything.

If you were a food, what would you be?

Lenore? How Ironic.

Tonight was one of those rare COLD summer nights we occasionally get in VA. It's about 70 degrees so I decided to take the opportunity to go for a run. I was bad and couldn't get up super early this morning. I've been working so much that I've just been exhausted. I even took a 2 hour nap this afternoon after work. My jog was ok, I went for 2 decent sized clips, nothing grand or anything. I'm still just trying to learn my neighborhood so that I know where the best places to go are. So far what I've learned is that every single street is a giant hill, in both directions, from my apartment. Why do I live in the mountains again?

When I get a chance to jog I love to look at the houses. Tonight I went to the more seedy streets completely on accident. I probably won't be going there again. Can you really trust people who use road cones to put fake flowers in and line their yard with them? Oh my.... just kidding. But really... I saw that tonight. It made me put on my Tim Gunn face.

I was running along when I came to the cemetery on Roanoke St. Since it has paved roads that looked relatively flat I decided to run through the cemetery. Bad idea. Not because there was anyone there, or I fell in an open hole, or I was afraid of a zombie attack (if they ever do attack I would hate to live in the houses behind the cemetery... although I'm sure the rest of the time the dead make great neighbors compared to college kids), going to the cemetery was a bad idea because I got completely distracted!

One of the weird quirks I inherited from my parents is a morbid love of hanging out in cemeteries. This may sound odd, but I was really forced into this when my parents would just stop the car at a cemetery at very random times. Normally, we'd stop if we were in a cool new town we had never been to before, or old cemeteries we knew family were buried in, sometimes ones where we didn't know anyone, historical sites, and cemeteries where we were actually attending funerals and then just killing time. Since I have a lot of older relatives I have spent a lot of time in cemeteries due to deaths in the family. In my youth I spent a lot of time wandering around at funerals and during outings with my parents. Mom used to work at churches and used to send me out to play whenever I went to work with her. For some reason most churches put the playground near the dead people... so imagine my 6 year old self skipping around tombstones or chasing a ball, or riding my bike. Mom and Dad would often just leave me alone and go wandering off. That used to scare the crap out of me, not going to lie. Eventually, I got over it.

Tombstones are really interesting to look at. You can see different trends in tombstones. Some of the tombstones I saw tonight were cracked in half! I used to practice my math by seeing how old someone was when they died. You can find some really awesome names too. People back in the the day had some pretty interesting combinations. Such as, tonight I found a gentleman who was named Pearl and his wife was named Luzana. Yeah. I found a Lenore too, as in Nevermore by Poe.

You can learn a lot about the old families of the town too. In this particular cemetery almost every other name was Price. I will have to try and count them one day. So... I'm thinking the Price's have been around here a while because one of the big roads in town is: Price's Fork. A few of the tombstones had names that are also buildings at Tech, like Slusher. Another interesting trend is how people handled infants. I found it odd that none of the ones I found were named. I'm used to the cemetery back home where the first members of my grandmother's family are buried. There all the children have names, most of them, and all of their tombstones have white lambs on top. My family, the Thrifts, are right up front because they actually helped found the church at Woodscross Roads and their original homestead is still there right where Woodcross Roads meets Fletcher Rd. My great-grandparents built it and I love that old farmhouse.

There were a lot of birds out and about and I saw my first lightening bug of the season! I have discovered one thing I do like about the mountains: no swamps or open water for mosquitoes and horse-flies to breed. There are some mosquitoes, but not nearly as many as back home. I can actually go outside without getting attacked by horse-flies. I hate those things. I remember last summer whenever Sony and I would try to run! We put on bugspray and started running, we had our legs pumping and our arms waving the whole time trying to swat the bugs! It was extremely humorous to watch since we looked completely insane! It's very nice not to have to deal with the pests.

All around it has been a very serene night. The moon is full and gorgeous, the night is cool, and all it needs to be complete is the smell of honeysuckle and it would be a great night. I really miss the summer nights back home. One of the things the country is good at is the nights. Just laying around outside talking with friends while the bugs dizzily flew around the lights of the porch... or nights at the beach, or in the car with the windows down just singing to the radio with your best friend. Driving just to escape home. Days in Williamsburg and one day of the summer spent at Virginia Beach. I miss country summers. I don't know how to do mountain summers. So far they just don't seem as magical.

But maybe the magic of the summer is just beginning. After my lazy, 30 minute walk through the Roanoke St. cemetery it was getting late. The sun eventually started going down, the street lights came on, and I followed the lightening bugs home.

I Like To Showcase Talent When I See It:

(Image Property of Caitlin's Designs)

I just wanted to give my friend Caitlin some double exposure for her AMAZING monograms. I'm so pleased that she has a website up and running for it, and I wish her the best of luck making this a lucrative endeavor! She has quite a natural talent for color, pattern, and style and her designs are simply gorgeous! She already has a very wide selection of styles!

Check out the website for Caitlin's Designs to see all of her amazing outlines, and while your surfing around take a look at the Planning Blog she has for her wedding to hear about it in her own words (No worries Caitlin, James doesn't even know my blog). Her wedding is sure to be the social highlight of my year and I cannot wait!

I have also already booked her for a few years from now: as should you.

He's SO mean to me... ;)

(The title is totally an inside joke between Steven and I)

He really DOES read my blog. :D

I just thought everyone should know that my love has honored me with his presence on my blog! Even if it was just a comment of "Darcy, Bah!" it made my day...

I'm also determined to launch a sneak attack where I gradually keep indoctrinating him with the name Darcy so that when that son eventually rolls around... he might not hate it so much, or by that time I'll be sick of it... :/ I might need to revise my strategy... or maybe that's his master plan... hum...

I doubt my graduation speech will be so glorious:

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination
by J.K. Rowling

Speech Details
2008 Harvard University Commencement, June 5, 2008. Copyright of J.K. Rowling, June 2008

NPR.org, June 5, 2008 · President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates,

The first thing I would like to say is 'thank you.' Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honor, but the weeks of fear and nausea I've experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world's best-educated Harry Potter convention.

Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can't remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.

You see? If all you remember in years to come is the 'gay wizard' joke, I've still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.

Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and this.

I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called 'real life', I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.

These might seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.

Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.

I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.

They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents' car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.

I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.

I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticize my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticized only by fools.

What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.

At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.

I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.

However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person's idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.

Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.

Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.

One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working in the research department at Amnesty International's headquarters in London.

There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.

Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government. Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave behind.

I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.

And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country's regime, his mother had been seized and executed.

Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.

Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard and read.

And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.

Amnesty mobilizes thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.

Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people's minds, imagine themselves into other people's places.

Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathize.

And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.

I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the willfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.

What is more, those who choose not to empathize may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.

One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people's lives simply by existing.

But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people's lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world's only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden.

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children's godparents, the people to whom I've been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I've used their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.

So today, I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

I wish you all very good lives.

Thank you very much.

Copyright of J.K. Rowling, June 2008

Sometimes I am far too sentimental.

Whenever I move I always get a tad emotional, most of the time for no reason. When I gave away my futon this week I got a little sad, and I hated that futon because it was so uncomfortable. I was mostly emotional about it because it was a present from my parents and I always feel ungrateful when I give things to charity that they gave me, even though I don't need them. Today was my last day at that horrible apartment and I'm a tad melancholy about it. I guess it's because I did put a lot towards that place, but I'm trying to think about the fact that I'm going to be done with that horrible situation. It really was a horrible apartment, I'm sure when I come back into town a few years from now it will be condemned. It needs to be condemned now, it's falling apart and bug infested. Cave crickets are so gross! I have numerous stories about earwigs, gross ones that I won't share you with. On my way out of the apartment with the lady from my old management company, a spider in the corner had caught itself an earwig and it was stunning it right above the back door before eating it. Now that's symbolic of the whole experience I had there.

Almost done with this mess.

Well, I had my move-out inspection this morning. It went alright. Things were in way better condition then when I got there. However, a screen was torn that I didn't know about and a light bulb actually blew during the inspection... how lame. Those should be the only things that I'm charged for, hopefully. The utilities will be turned off 5 days from now, and then I will be done with my crazy roommate experience. Praise everything holy! Seriously, I think I'll be throwing a party, even if I just have myself over, or get myself something nice, it will be grand. I'm still not right from it all, I was burned super deep by the whole experience. I still believe that everyone has the ability to do good in the world, I'm just learning that not many people do. All I can do is be a good person even when people kick me when I'm down. It's who I am, and it may be a naive perspective, but only by believing that we can actually change can change actually happen.

I'm a huge fan of a lot of a lot of Ghandi's teachings. My favorite quote is by him: "Be the change you want to see in the world."

I try and I try.

Here I Sit In the Indian Style

I have always had a very bad habit of sitting on floors. From Elementary school to High school I always did my homework on the floor of my parent's living room. I used to spread everything out around me and work my way around the circle of work. Now I'm in my own apartment, and while I own furniture, instead of sitting on it, I've been sitting on the floor. I have a desk to work at, but I prefer using my meditation pillow to sit my computer on. I've still got all my homework spread out around me. Old habits die hard I guess. I will probably always be rolling around the floor, one way or another.

Drumroll Please!

So I FINALLY picked a name for a boy cat that I actually like. I'm not really a fan of boy names in general. This is why I should have like 5 girls and 1 boy, laughs. I originally liked Tumnus but I think it is too difficult to say. A name should be simple since I'm sure I'll be yelling it a lot for the first few months. "Get off the counter" "Stop scratching" etc.

So:

Boy: Oliver Linux
Girl: Sophie Bennet

I watched Oliver and Company for the first time today...and it totally made me cry a few times. I was leaning towards Oliver anyway and the movie sealed the deal for me. That whole opening scene when no one wants him.... I was like "I want you!"


I would take in anything that needed loving if I could. Kids, animals, anything abandoned. Right now it's just not an option for me so I have to use self control.

Linux is actually an operating system for a computer. Steven's favorite, as a matter of fact. When we first started dating it was pretty much all I heard about: "Linux has added this and that" and "look at this." It is really great because it's an open source program. And open source is really cool and pretty much the way of the future for programs... yeah, I've become interested in computer stuff, and I actually have played some video games. Portal is totally boss, you've got to play that. But I really like the name Linux, heck I'd even use it for a kid's middle name. I'm a total dork. As much as I want to, I can't just name everything after my favorite literary characters. However, Darcy IS going to be the name of my first son. No if, ands, or buts. I love that name just like I love the mysterious Mr. Darcy. But if I have to compromise I also like Bennet Arthur....Bennet being the last name of the family in Pride and Prejudice. And Arthur as in King Arthur. Since Steven's last name is King I'm really surprised no one is named Arthur. Imagine your drivers license saying King, Arthur! Yup, big dork, that's me...hehe.

It's Been A Hard Days Night

So this morning I got a wake up call at 8am. And I was glad of it. The night before, I was on the phone with Steven talking about how I was planning to get up and go for a run. That has been my plan every morning this summer... but at about 8am my bed just feels so comfy. Well this morning Steven calls me to wake me up and keep me accountable. To my surprise, I actually got up. Probably because he left me with "tell me all about your run later," so I had to get up and go. He is so amazing.

The whole reason I want to get back into my training program again is to keep up with is Mother. She is amazing, and so in shape! She blows me away. When I first met her I was actually running pretty regularly trying to work up to a 3K. Then I stopped. Every time I visit she asks me to be her running buddy. The last few times I have gone to visit 1) I threw my back out, long story, but it resulted from wearing bad shoes at work, and 2) we were so busy with her son, Patrick's, confirmation that we didn't have time to run. I was very glad for the distractions because I know this amazing, 40+ woman is going to totally school me distance wise (I'm a sprinter...my body likes that WAY more) and then she's going to ask me to play some tennis. ::tired face:: I love tennis! I wish I was better at it. She was on her college team and actually used to teach tennis.

There are a lot of things I want her to teach me:
1)How to quilt. Her grandmother taught her, and I have always wanted to know. I think passing down crafts is important. She made a quilt for each of her sons and they are so amazing and specialized. I would love to get a crafted quilt and I would love to make some for my children.
2) The family tortilla recipe. I want to get in on that. I found it once when I was cleaning Steven's room (he hid it from me and the whole family is supposed to keep it on lock-down. It better be my first wedding present, laughs) but I didn't look at it (how good am I) and I just kept organizing around it (yes, I clean his room).
3)How to make these amazing oatmeal butterscotch cookies! I baked them for her once when she prepared the batter, but I don't know the recipe. Major points cause they are Steven's Aunt's favorite cookies.
4) I want to know her secret of keeping it all together. She raised three boys, and she raised them spectacularly! On top of that she works full-time in a very highly competitive field and is pretty high up in rank. And she still his time for her passions... I swear, she's wonder woman.
5) How to improve my backhand. I have a horrible backhand, it's quite embarrassing...

Oh man... she sends me the best cards too. They always brighten up my day!

Anyways, long tangent...

My run was short, I took it really slow so I didn't hurt myself. Running has become a way for me to learn my neighborhoods. I just walk and run and see the sights.

Today I found:
An Elementary school I didn't know about
Cute 50's style craftsman houses just down the street, and they all had buckets to collect rainwater from the roof connected to the gutters... I loved it.
A HUGE German Sheppard that lives on the next block, it totally freaked me out
A nature museum that is currently under renovation
A street named Bennet St., the Janeite in me had a LOL moment
and A huge hill I never want to drive down

Pretty good for 8:30 am. And now I'm super tired.

I broke down...

...and went on a quest to get a copy of Persuasion with Amanda Root as Anne Eliot. I found it at Barnes and Noble on sale for $10 (score). Now, it is no secret that I am a HUGE Jane Austen fan, (huge is putting it lightly) but after checking this movie out from my local library I have watched it 4 times. 4. I have an inkling that once I finish writing this I'm going to watch it again. That would make 2 times today. Why am I so obsessed with this movie? Because it is so brilliant, poignant, and down right captivating. When I read the book I read and re-read Captain Wentworth's letter to Anne, over and over and over again. The first time I read it I cried because it was so brilliantly written and is one of the great, great, moments in the story and the language is SO beautiful and Wentworth parallels Anne's conversation with Captain Harvel perfectly! Persuasion might be over-taking Pride and Prejudice in my line-up of best Austen novel... Heck, they're all amazing (however I do have some doubts about Mansfield Park). That letter is just so beautiful I have to find it and share it on here. Enjoy: I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means
as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half
hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone
for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own,
than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago. Dare not say
that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death.
I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and
resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought
me to Bath. For you alone I think and plan. - Have you not seen
this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? - I had not waited
even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you
must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant
hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I
can distinguish the tones of that voice, when they would be lost on others.
- Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice indeed. You do
believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe
it to be most fervent, most undeviating in

F.W.

I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow
your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look will be enough to decide
whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.

I'm in raptures...

Whoops...

I inadvertently made a giant wine slushy. Last night I wanted some wine so I put a bottle of my favorite Chateau Morissette Sweet Mountain Laurel in the fridge to chill it quickly... and then I completely forgot about it. Until tonight: when I opened up my fridge and the bottle was completely frozen. The expanding ice even pushed the cork out!

My bad.

Amanda:

want.

Boy, I can dream can't I?

Haha.

So far the only room I'm happy with is my bathroom.

My bathroom is pretty much gorgeous! I love to just go in there and look at the fabulousness and dream about when the rest of my apartment will look as great. Next room I'll be content with is probably going to be my room. It's a hot mess right now though. I'm in the process of going through my clothes, re-working my closet organization, and trying to figure out what I can put in there. Throughout the rest of the apartment I'm having to deal with the fact that all of my furniture is hand-me-down and none of it is my style. I'm more edgy, modern, sleek, with clean, straight lines and right now I've got country, country, country! It will be a trial of will not to go to Ikea and buy everything they have the next time I go visit Steven. I have to wait until I can put down roots to get coordinating furniture and the ability to paint. Oh I want to paint so bad!

If the headboard is rocking, we're probably breaking something.

Over the weekend I made myself a headboard. My dad helped with most of it and I covered and attached it. It was a really simple and inexpensive project.

Supplies:
Pressboard- at Lowes this is 7.99 for the thickness we got. I think 3/4 of an inch. I wanted the headboard to be 54 inches tall. I based this measurement on a headboard at work that I like. Since I wanted it to be so tall we had to add a little board that extended it because pressboard only comes in 4X8 sizes.

Bolts and washers- all the bolts we got came to a few dollars, under $5.

Foam- I used an old twin size mattress topper I had from when I lived on campus. I cut it in half and stapled it around the board. I trimmed the extra and put that on the bottom so the wood wouldn't damage my floor or the fabric I got to cover it. The foam didn't cover the board completely, just the top part is covered.

Staple Gun

Fabric- It took me a long time to find fabric that was long enough since I didn't want any seams in the headboard. My bed is only 54 inches long so a standard 60 inch bolt of fabric worked perfectly for my needs. If I ever make a headboard for a larger bed then I'm going to have to play with seams and fabric directions. But I've got some ideas for that. The fabric was about $14 dollars, the most expensive item.

And I like the teal. Steven hates it. But I think I should be allowed to have color before I move in with him and everything is black and white. I also hold the opinion that it will grow on him.

The final product:

As promised, here is a picture of the screens I stretched. They are keeping it real in my hallway.

Reaching the finish-line.

I am almost done with my first class of the summer: History of Costume. I've done all the reading now I just need to do:

1) 8 more quizzes that, in theory, I could do today.

2) 8 page research paper. I'm off Saturday, so I think I'm going to write it then.

Amanda does not wanna. Her apartment is still a wreck, so she thinks she's going to work on that some instead. So then she can blog about all the crafts she made for her apartment, with pictures.

Get excited. Laughs.

What is this?

So just for kicks I was looking at information for the Yorktown beach. And it turns out that there is no fee to rent the beach for a wedding... Yorktown beach is probably my number one choice for a wedding site. The beach and I are kindred spirits. I love being out on the water and I love the ocean air. Not to mention it is an area I'm very familiar with, there is parking, and it's fairly close to the airport and numerous hotels as well as lots of touristy stuff for guests to do afterwards. There is a fee for using the new spiffy reception building that they have there, but the fee is really pretty reasonable.

Just more wishful thinking. I know so many people who are planning weddings or who just had them, so let me have my fun imagining a wedding I'm not really planning or that isn't happening for a very long time from now (as far as I know). Although... I could probably be ready in a week since I know exactly what I want. That's kind of sad.

Amanda est extrêmement solitaire

All moved. I've still got tons of stuff to do to get this place fabulous. It's supposed to rain this week so I'm hoping it will cool things down enough for me to get motivated. My poor AC unit can't take this super heat. Unless maybe I put it down to 60... all I want is 75 and it gives me 80...still better then 90+. I'm trying not to think about my electric bill for next month... I'm also trying not to burn candles at night and fix all my meals in the dark... But I am unplugging everything at night but the fridge and the AC well everything is mostly unplugged except my computer and my router. I'm just stressing about the few hundred dollars I'm going to be paying every month. This is life. Can I be 10 again? Please?

It is really lonely living on your own. I'm always alone these days. But the feeling really set in today. Thankfully, I get my cat next weekend. I'm the lady that lives alone with her cats...in college. Never saw that coming. Things will get better once the school year starts. And once I get the apartment looking well enough for company. That might take some time. My furniture filled up my old apartment, but now things look a bit scarce. Whatever, I'm only going to be here a year. I'm trying NOT to accumulate stuff so that moving is easier. I'm going to be moving a bit farther then 2 blocks come spring. I don't know where exactly, but wherever Steven is. As of right now that could be:

1. Northern VA- Where he's from and where is family is. I love the area, it is great for a growing family and I love his family so I would have no objections to living with them. It is also close to DC, so tons of fun is just around the corner. It is 2 hours away from my hometown and that is just close enough. NOVA gets my first vote since it is familiar, yet different for me. I do worry that it would be dangerous to him. So I'm really willing to go anywhere. His dreams are the ones I want to support since I don't actually have any at the current moment.

2. California- His dream of dreams, he has always wanted to develop video games in Cali. I want to support his dreams, so I would uproot myself for him. It's just scary moving away from what I know. And what I know is being southern, whether I like it or not. I am at times very characteristically country.

3. Europe- The dream I have had for as long as I can remember, but what I feel is now a very unrealistic goal for us. Steven's mother (who I adore) appears to be really pushing the European envelope. The November elections will probably decide this one for us. In our opinion, if McCain wins we have to move, but those are our political qualms. If he goes I at least hope he waits for me since I'm the only one of us who has crossed the pond and who has experience getting around over there.

Only time will tell.

But give me some lovin,' I'm so bored and miss my man!

Stranded at the Drive-in

Not really, I just wanted to quote from Grease. On Saturday night I went to my first drive-in movie with Steven (I totally forced him to take pictures) and my best-friend and her boyfriend. We saw the new Indiana Jones movie and it was ok. For me, it seemed oddly cast, extremely vague, short, and choppy. I really wasn't feeling the whole alien thing, I rarely do. For me Indiana Jones movies are about relics like the lost arc and the holy grail and not ancient Mayan alien skulls. There wasn't much mystery to the movie for me, it was really predictable and differed a lot in the way that Indiana normally figured things out. In the old days, he spent most of his time trying to figure things out, occasionally getting clues wrong, etc. Following his thought pricess helped keep you guessing. In this one he was simply: "oh that, obviously means.... such and such." For me, the movie turned out to be ridiculous, but I loved being outside on a summer night watching a movie for the pure nostalgia of being at a Drive-in.

3 days was not nearly enough.

Steven headed back home today. Major tearfest there, but I'm just going to focus on how happy I'll be when I get to see him again. I'm almost completely moved! I still have a lot of unpacking to do, but that's alright. It will use up a lot of my free time. So far I like my new apartment except for the fact that my AC is having some malfunctions. It hasn't been working and it has been freaking hot! It has been about 95 degrees all weekend... moving... with no ac. I thought that I would try to get it running tonight since the sun is down and the unit won't be working so hard to get things cool. The mechanic is supposed to come here tomorrow. Air is only coming out of the vents right by the unit and not so much in the living room and the bedroom. I would just like my AC to work since I'm going to be paying an arm and a leg for it. It's so hot that I really need it. So I'm going to have to get mean with the fix it guy. He came Friday at 5 and said he couldn't fix it until Monday...and the impression I got was that he was not the brightest crayon in the box. "Well air's coming out!" Yeah, air that's as hot as the room... that is about 95 +. Ugh. Wish me luck with getting that done and getting the lights turned on in the halls. For some reason my building is the only one that doesn't have lights on at night... I know this because I checked. Got to get rough with management. Like always. Cause I don't want to fall when i come home at night, or get mugged in the dark or something.

The. Ills. Of. Looking.

at Hallmark cards while on my period!

I should NOT be allowed within 30 ft. of a sappy card during the time where I switch from a rational being to one who starts to cry while standing in an aisle at kroger whenever she starts reading a new, heartfelt Father's Day card.

Not one of my prouder moments, to be sure...but Daddy needed a card because we're celebrating this weekend when my parents are in town. I totally cheesed it too. I blame it on the hormones.

I have also vacuumed Steven's room 3 times since Tuesday. I want his room to be spotless! Like an "oh, Amanda can really take care of my/our things" thought, that's what I want him to have. Cause I can and have. I'm just excited to see him! At the same time I'm sad we only get 3 days together. Not enough time. I'll have to call his boss about this.... ;)

Wishful Thinking Captured On Film

This Picture Says:

Dear demiurge of marriage in the sky,

Pick me next! Please and Thank you.

Love,

Amanda

I Highly Recommend It!

A friend lent me a copy of The Penelopiad and I finally picked it up and read it during the course of an hour. This novel presents the traditional myth of Penelope and Odysseus recalled by Penelope from Hades. It also addresses the murder of Penelope's 12 maids who form a chorus throughout the book. The tale is very witty and humorous, if you have a basic understanding of Greek Myth. However, it does have a slightly morbid twist that you eventually come to enjoy. In the end the reader is left wondering if Penelope was really as virtuous as we are led to believe by Homer's Odyssey. The Penelopiad is a very quick read (196 pages), but it is well worth the energy. It is great if you're looking for a fun book to pick up and enjoy instantly. If you're nuts about Greek and Roman myth, like I am, then you will revel in the plot!

Pollen. Must. Die.

That is what I have decided since I am in the midst of the worst allergy season ever! Stupid Blacksburg and it's phantom weather/pollen growth. I have been so miserable. At the beginning of the Spring I got an anti-histamine. And that stopped working a few weeks ago. So I got an anti-histamine/decongestant. Which worked brilliantly for two days until yesterday when I didn't get to take the pill until mid-afternoon. By then the pollen already did its damage. Five minutes on webmd proved to me that I have allergy induced PINKEYE! Not contagious, but it is very irritating and all I want to do is itch but I can't and I've got funky discharge that seals my eyes shut....grrr. My stuffy nose is back too, thank you very much worthless decongestant!

All on the day that my honey comes back into town. Unable to see or breathe I'm going to be looking fierce.

Kill me.

No...kill the pollen.

Stretching. Canvas. Is. Pretty. Fly.

I did my fabric DIY project about 3 weeks ago but every time I have tried to load pictures it takes forever or I get a weird error. :/ Sorry for the delay! It turned out really cute. I finally got the pictures to load but without photoshopping them. I'll post pictures of the final product once I get them on my walls. I at least wanted to post the directions on here in case anyone was interested in a cute inexpensive wall decor project.

Here you go:

I found the stretcher bars at the local craft shop Mish- Mish, which is the most amazing art store I have EVER been in. I could get lost in there.


I started by connecting all the bars to make a frame. Really easy since all I had to do was slide them together. They turned out to be 12 inches by 27 inches.


Next I laid out my fabric. I started with my least favorite pattern just in case I messed it up somehow. I cut the fabric around the frame leaving enough fabric to be able to staple it to the frame.

Then came the stapling. I had to ask my best friend, the art major, for the best technique. She suggested doing opposite sides and then corners. This worked pretty well. I couldn't stretch it really tight, but since I'm not painting on them that isn't really a problem.

What's going on in Amandaterra?

(I apologize for the picture I only got a few crappy pictures before my batteries died)

This is my last week of boredom...hopefully. Tomorrow at approximately 10 pm Steven gets here to help me move! So excited about that, obviously. A whole month without him has been unbearable. Friday morning my parental units roll into town at 9 am. Mom and I go to the apartment office to sign my lease at 10 am. Then moving commences! I've got the whole weekend off from work. So exciting! Steven and moving, does it get any better? I think not.

Monday was our 9 month anniversary of being a couple. Congrats to us! We're just 3 months away from the one year mark. To me it feels like we JUST started dating! Time flies when you're having fun, right? Or is it time flies when you're in love? Either statement applies. Steven surprised me with 12 red roses...again. I had to go on a little adventure to downtown Christiansburg to get them because I missed the FedEx truck. He spoils me, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve for his visit this weekend. Have no fear. I'll let you know what those tricks are later just in case he has actually started reading my blog...pictures to come.

I'm just crazy about that boy.

And I think everyone will be happy to know that he calls now. I feel completely un-neglected.

On my adventure to Christiansburg I found the Starlight Drive-in. A real life drive-in! Ever since I saw Grease as a kid I have always wanted to go to a Drive-in. Hopefully, I can drag Steven to the drive-in to see the new Indiana Jones movie that is currently playing. I'll take my camera along if we go. I have to document that! If only my life were a musical (and Steven liked musicals) then I could break out into song just like John Travolta: "Stranded at the Drive-in, branded a fool. What will they say Monday at school. Sandy, can't you see, that I'm in misery." Ok... I have to find my Grease soundtrack now...

I'm just so antsy for my honey bunny to get here. All I'm going to do is sit here and twitch until he does!