A Day in the Life

The internet isn’t functioning at work today. After my initial panic at this fact I am now trying to brainstorm what I can possibly do, and so I’m writing this blog post in a word document to be transferred online when I get home. Also my phone is low on battery and I don’t have the charger with me so I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’ll probably end up falling asleep at my desk for the greater part of the day. Contemplating going to a caribou and opening up a bunch of articles that I can read without internet… Whine this is gonna be so boringgggg

Photobooth selfies at work: feeling 100% sane

Yesterday Natalie confirmed that she wanted me to come roadtrip back to school with her in LA. I’m excited, but also a little bummed because I don’t think I’ll be able to go to New York to visit people now. My mom was very wary about the idea of a 19-year-old and 20-year-old driving cross country, but then she reminded me of the lovely fact that at this point in time when she was 19, she was planning her wedding and would be married in a month. After getting past that realization, it was decided that I would be allowed to go, given that we plan out beforehand how much we’re going to drive each day, what activities we’ll be doing, and which hotels we will be staying at. The basic route goes from Minneapolis, to Iowa, to Nebraska, to Colorado, to Utah, to Nevada, and finally California. I was planning on looking up activities along the way today, alas I have been smited by the internet jerks. Ones we’ve already discussed/thought of: Las Vegas, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, something in Des Moines? What is there to do in Nebraska? We need guidance! Travel books! Now I’m wishing I brought a book to work, how good of an idea would that have been. Also a nail file. String for friendship bracelets. My room to clean. A pillow.

Just niped some paper from the copy machine so at least I can draw or something now? For 7 hours? It’s 9:15 AM now, I will update periodically throughout my day with how I’m coping. This is definition #firstworldproblems.

10:02 AM: HoCho’s gone. Semi napped for like 20 minutes and now mailing checks. Actually doing something for the company I’m working for! And dragging the job out for as long as I can.

10:29 AM: Finished mailing the checks and caught up on filing. I just realized it was the 31^st of July and had a minor spasm. How??? I thought it was like… the 12^th of July. This month is rapidly disappearing which means that summer is rapidly ending and then school blech. I now am going to play with Luna for a bit and then update my iPhoto faces stuff. That should take me a while I would imagine.

11:35 AM: Okay this faces stuff is actually pretty fun. Apparently all of my friends look the same because it just cannot keep em straight! Also it keeps bringing up randos in the backgrounds of pictures, especially from this one album I have of pictures from a show. I refuse to tag people I don’t speak to! Eventually I’ll have some inventory to do on clearance items but I’m waiting for Gerry to finish sticker-ing what things are clearance.

1:26 PM: After doing inventory for a long while and then running out to pick up Jon’s lunch, and a sandwich that he very generously offered to buy me, I have returned to my desk and WHAT HO! Discovered an Ethernet cable!! And this:

http://thefw.com/olympic-diving-funny-faces/

And also that my profile on Facebook automatically switched to timeline. I’m not pleased. I had been holding out so long! And now I have the added project of finding a cover photo. Curses. Time to eat my gyro yum. I think I may continue to do faces on iPhoto because it’s actually really entertaining.

1:49 PM: At some point while I was doing inventory, Gerry left for the day and so I have the office space to myself wooo. Also Jon gave me a $10 caribou gift card that he got from a client because he doesn't drink coffee!!!! Crazy person!! I am so pleased. But still mad at Facebook. We shall overcome!!!

1:58 PM: NO, I don't want your number. NO, I don't want to give you mine and, NO, I don't want to meet you nowhere. No, don't want none of your time. I don't want no scrub, a scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me, hangin' out the passenger's side of his best friend's ride, tryin' to holler at me. I don't want no scrub, a scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me...

2:18 PM: Sups full from lunch. Bubble Town level 6. No Scrub still playing in my head, intermixed with songs from Salem.

2:30 PM: Level 9. Maybe time for a short desk nap.

2:56 PM: I've been alternating between Family Feud and semi napping and thinking about how freezing it was. Then I remembered that I'm the only person in the office and can turn off the air conditioning. I'm stupid.

3:01 PM: Wait, Gerry just got back. I guess he wasn't leaving for the day? Now the air conditioning's off... I hope he doesn't turn it back on.

3:30 PM: Apparently the ethernet cable I was using, when disconnected, disconnected the internet for everyone else... whoops. Luckily no one else really uses the internet because they have real things to do. However, going along with that, we figured out how to get the wireless working again! And so everything is back on track.

3:41 PM: Get me out of here. It is time to leave. Antsy antsy antsy. 

3:54 PM: Packing on up. Planning on heading home and relaxing for a couple hours before rehearsal tonight, 7-10 oufff

London 2012

The olympics are on! Too bad I missed the majority of the opening ceremonies due to rehearsal. It was sad but I still got to see the lighting of the torch and Paul McCartney! We've had the games on for the past few days, but it's hard to watch with my mom (especially swimming) because she gets really intense and yells at the TV.

Leotard. In love.

Desperately need to paint my toenails... to do this week

Anyway, this weekend was a blessing; last week was a muck of work/Salem/work/Nugget/work/House/work. It was exciting for me on Thursday when I got to leave work at 2:45... because I had a dentist appointment. That was my only outing/event week, minus when I was social for like two hours on Tuesday and went swimming at Natalie's house. Like, how sad of a person do you have to be when you look forward to the dentist? Mockery of a sham. I feel kinda like my whole summer has been this way, though. It's just work all day, and then in the evenings I either have rehearsal or am too tired to meet up with friends and fall asleep on my couch. The mess in my room has been piling up and I never have the time/energy/commitment to clean it. I've been okay about working out, but this week I haven't been doing every day like the weeks before and so the laziness is catching up to me. I did manage to go for a run on Friday, but as tonight is my only night this week without rehearsal (we open on Saturday!) I'll probably just nap when I get off of work. I also want to find new audition material, both monologues and songs, and try to master it this summer, but that hasn't happened yet. I haven't been on the lake yet or to a bonfire or made a s'more or done any of the usual Minnesota summer activities. Like, I say that I'll just do this stuff later, but then the next thing I know it'll be September and I'll be back in school thrown into what I know is going to be a challenging fall quarter. Maybe I'm just whining because this summer hasn't really been fun or exciting, but I feel like I haven't even accomplished anything either. Yes, I'm making a good amount of money at work, and I will be in a show, I've only missed two ballet classes (for rehearsal and then painting this weekend), but that doesn't seem like enough to me. I guess this summer is teaching me that what I find most important is professional fulfillment, and I'm just not getting that. There are plenty of people who would be happy to get paid for doing little to nothing at work, but it makes me think that I'm cheating the company out of money that they need, like they gave me this job as a favor to a family friend and while at certain times I'm useful- like when the phone's ringing- for the most part I'm a drain on resources. Also I'm mad at the government for taking almost $200 out of my last paycheck.

Okay, there's a rant that makes me sound like a really angry person, but I'm not really angry, it's more of a mild annoyance that's in the back of my mind. And I'm not thinking about my strugs this summer all of the time, just times like this when my mind is wandering. But the weekend was good! And there are still a lot of fun things to look forward to. This morning I made a chai tea in our Keurig, and it's actually surprisingly delicious. I didn't have any cavities at the dentist and the technician said she saw a huge improvement in my gum health. I'm on level 13 of Bubble Town for the third time and will get to 14 today if I have anything to say about it.

Awkward and taping

Nugget loves painting. And look at those edges! Works of art!

We spent this weekend painting my sister's new apartment, and it's starting to come together nicely. We finished the bedroom, and edged the main living room/kitchen. The bathroom will probably be edged today, and then we'll try to roll the big room sometime this week. Also, painting takes a long time. Or not even painting, but taping. I spent the entirety of Saturday just taping- what?? But we got King and I Thai for dinner on Friday because it is one block away from Allie's place (!!!!). It was so good. We got the cream cheese rolls and pad thai and feasted. And to celebrate our work for the day we got McFlurries for dessert because McDonald's is the only/closest ice cream place open at 10 o'clock. Sunday I spent edging, then peaked at 4:30 to go to our four hour tech rehearsal at the Rarig. The space is really nice, big, but our technicians were kind of rude. Understandable since some of our people in charge were not listening to their instructions, but still. It was nice to see our space and how lighting is going to work and everything, but just a draining, rough experience, as most tech rehearsals are. We were also a few minutes over the Fringe time requirement of 60 minutes, so this week we'll really need to tighten up timing because if you go over the time at all they bring up the house lights on you- not a great way to end your show. Chex mix and bars for dinner after the rest of my family had a delicious meal at our family friend's house of pork, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and fave buns. Whatever. The best news of all is that we get to keep Nugget for another couple of days because her owner is working late at the Twins games for the nest few nights! Yay!!!

                                    Living Room/Kitchen                                Bedroom

Bathroom

Goosebumps

What an exciting couple of days at Terradek! I have made two presentations/catalogs on powerpoint for Auroralight and Kichler, which took a surprising amount of time for both. Screen shot-ing, formatting and labeling, oh my! I just finished the second one about a half hour ago, and am just waiting to get another... in the meantime, I have been given 10 businesses to call and confirm that they received our purchase orders, which is my least favorite thing to do ever. I don't know why, but I just really dislike talking on the phone, especially to strangers. It just makes me uncomfortable to not see the person I'm talking to? Who knows, but I'm thinking of putting that off until after lunch. Thus procrastinating by writing this post.

ombre nails- my latest attempt to be good at nail art

Rehearsal has been going pretty well the past couple of nights. We finished blocking, and open in about a week and a half. It all looks/sounds good, except for this one song that just does not fit at all. It's called "It Ain't the Devil's Magic," and is sung by Bridget Bishop, the floozy harlot of Salem, right before she's convicted for being a witch. Issue #1: it's a hoochie-coochie jazzy strut-type song, so musically it just doesn't fit with the eerie legato line of the rest of the show. Issue #2: the men are in the background dancing and singing about how hot Bridget Bishop is, and the dance is just bad and tasteless. Issue #3: no one knows why this song is being sung! It doesn't make sense or fit with the story. Basically, it's not a good song and should be cut. Hopefully that won't be the only part of the show people remember...

I've been feeling the ultimate laze-fest recently. This morning I could not get out of bed, and grabbed the first maxi dress I could find. I still haven't really figured out how this drop waist fits on me, because my torso's a little too long for it to be a normal drop waist. Not like it matters here since I'm once again bundled in my huge sweater- my reign over the A/C has come to a close and I'm reminiscing about those 4 days when I didn't get goosebumps at my desk. Anyway I'm going through the whole work out vs. watch tv argument in my head. I have a little under 3 hours of free time after work and before rehearsal: I can spend about an hour working out, half an hour showering, and an hour plus relaxing and getting dinner, OR I can shower quick then pass out on the couch with Nugget right when I get home, which is really, really tempting. I also desperately need to clean my room, but that keeps going on the back burner. I just learned we only get to keep Nugget until August 1st because her owner finally got out of jail :(. We still don't know what he did... can you sue for custody of animals? I wish.

Quiche

What's shakin' bacon? As of Thursday afternoon, I have the whole office area to myself. Gerry was in LA this weekend with the fam to visit his daughter, who is working on the traveling company of War Horse. So Jon's in the warehouse and I'm in the office like a boss. I've had a very productive couple of days here of cleaning/dusting, and now playing Burger Shop 2. Good.

I came across this article in The Atlantic which I think is really worth a read. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-can-8217-t-have-it-all/9020/
It's by Anne-Marie Slaughter and titled, "Why Women Still Can't Have it All." She talks about her experience with having a high-power, high-stress career and how she has balanced, or not balanced, that with her family life. Granted, she is talking about a very specific group of women who are very powerful and talented, and generally wouldn't have to worry about money, however I think she touches on a number of important issues. Mainly, how unbalanced our society still is today when looking at careers of men versus those of women. Women are still expected to be more nurturing, and put family above all else, while men are put in the place of the breadwinner, who is more focused on duty. I have a lot to say on the matter but I think I'll save it for another time/place. Hillary and I were discussing this and thought it would make a really great documentary: looking at women from all walks of life and examine how they are able- or unable- to have it all. Possibly a new project for next year?

I got this BCBG paper bag waist skirt for like $15 at Nordstrom Rack aka one of the greatest stores on the planet. The earrings were a gift, and this Tiffany necklace was my 16th birthday present. Once the "e" charm fell down a sink drain at my friend's house and I spent hours trying to fish it out. Eventually I called my mom crying and she came and we were able to save it. Who knew that jewelry can be so sentimental?

Friday night after work I went to see All Shook Up at Minnetonka High School. My friend Nate is in it as Dennis, which he played when he was in high school (he's now in the MT program at CCM). This was my senior year musical, so it was fun to relive/compare. I went with Natalie and my great aunt Meg, who's friends with Nate's mom. It was a solid show with a lot of strong voices, but I couldn't help thinking that our Breck one had been funnier and better acted for the most part. I stayed over at my aunt's house that night and we were up until like 2 watching this movie "Gia" about the supermodel from the 80s. It had played on Lifetime, but since it had Angelina Jolie in it we guessed it wasn't conceived as a Lifetime movie. This girl basically shot to the top in the modeling world at 17, and was dead by 26. The next day, my aunt and I sat around talking for 4 hours before I had to go to our Salem CD recording. It was a little stressful because they were running late, so I won't be recorded on two ensemble songs since I had to leave right at 6 so I could get home and ready for the Beirut concert. I went with my sisters and Kate's boyfriend Blake. It was at the Cabooze and really lovely and relaxed. They had an accordion player as a part of the band, which ruled.

Yesterday was spent pretty lazily for the most part. I made this quiche for breakfast for my fam (actually, it was more like lunch since it wasn't done until 1:30ish...). Noms. Then Allie, my mom, and I went to Slumberland to look at beds for Allie's new condo. She's closing on it today! Ahh! Anyway we tried a lot of comfy beds, and I fell even more in love with Tempurpedics. Allie ended up picking a nice Beautyrest mattress set and wood bed frame with leather panelling. She ended up with a really good deal since they're having an Anniversary Sale right now. My mom has been thinking of getting rid of the California king sized bed that Allie has been using, and of my bedroom furniture and twin sized bed that I've had since I was 4, and getting me a new big girl bed and mattress. Maybe with a little convincing I'll be able to get that Tempupedic (it has a 25 year warranty!). After that we tried the new frozen yogurt place by our house, CherryBerry, which was real good. Jimmy John's for dinner with House and Nugget. I painted my nails and attempted to do ombre, and I think it worked but I have to get all the debris off of my fingers before I post a picture.

Oreo Pie

Last night I decided to play hooky from rehearsal since 1) we weren't even originally called for Tuesday night, it was an added rehearsal and 2) I hadn't missed any practices yet. So Natalie took me and Sara to Bloomington to go through her old neighborhood and play mini golf. We went to Baker's Square for dinner, waited for foreva for chicken fingers, but then had the most delicious pie ever. The Baker's Square that used to be closer to my house closed a few years ago, so it had been awhile since I'd had their pie, and it is aMAZing. After that we were all a little comatose during our golf session, and the guy who was running the booth where you buy your golf balls/clubs probably thought we were ridiculous humans. Oh well.

Lawl they both hit their balls in the water

Coming to save the day

Champs

Tonight I don't have to go to rehearsal until 7:30, so I'll have a little chance to relax post-workout with Nugget. It's also storming on and off today, so maybe I'll get to leave work early? Dare to dream

Nugget

We have a nugget staying with us until further notice! Her owner is in jail for an unidentifiable amount of time for an unidentified crime. Apparently he was in the car with a girl who got pulled over for a DUI, and there was a warrant out for his arrest. It's all very dramatic, but we get this little bundle for at least a couple weeks!

The past few days have kind of been a blur of work, nugget, rehearsal, and House. Saturday I managed to get out of the house for most of the day. Started with ballet, which I was really not wanting to go to because I was feeling so so lazy. Since I've been doing this eccentric workout plan for the past week my body has just kind of been aching all the time. I think it was also hurting in combination with the run I went on last Monday, which was probably the first run I had gone on outdoors ever; I'm more of an elliptical fan than treadmill/runs. So after that day I decided to stick to what I know and do Zumba for the cardio part of the workout. Overall, the eccentric strength training, where you hold each move for longer than you would normally to try and maximize results more quickly, has been working for me. I've lost about 3 pounds in one week, so I'd say that's pretty successful.  Hopefully by the end of this week I'll make it to my goal weight, or pretty close.
Anyway after ballet on Saturday I met up with my friend Sara, it was her birthday, Natalie, and Sara's boyfriend Lucas. This is the second time that he has visited but I didn't get to meet him before. He's about to be a junior at Dartmouth and is from Brazil. He's spending his sophomore summer at school, which is why he's able to visit relatively often. We got a coffee then Sara and Lucas had to run off to do other birthday festivities, so I went to Nat's house for a bit. We had a dinner planned at Chino Latino because my friend Noelle had 3 friends from school visiting, as well. I wore my Michael Kors heels for the first time and didn't hurt myself. It was super delicious, as always, and we didn't get a ticket after parking illegally in the Lund's parking lot. Pretty solid score of an evening. To top it off, we hit up Sebastian Joe's for some much needed oreo ice cream.

Work yesterday went surprisingly quickly up to about 2:30. I was making some fixtures in the morning until I ran out of washers. Then through the rest of the day I filled some boxes, did some inventory, organized some invoices, labelled some file folders, etc etc. After 2:30 though it was brutal. The last hour is always the slowest.

Nugget says "Hey"

Last night we had the Fringe-for-All instead of rehearsal. 30 shows get a 3 minute preview at the U of M Rarig Thrust, and for ours we sang the song "Evening Prayer" from our show. The thing is, each show can only have 10 people backstage, so what we did was have the 3 soloists on stage, and everyone else sat out in the audience. We flash mobbed, sort of, by just standing up from where we were sitting and singing. It worked out well, from what I could tell. We were all sitting in a clump on the side of the thrust so it looked like we could've been on stage. My mom was sitting in the center of the audience and said everything sounded good, which was a relief because last minute they said we couldn't use our CD and had to sing acapella. There were a few other gems that we saw, even though we left at intermission to get dinner. A few examples: a belly-dancer who had very clearly just started belly-dancing, a show about a young LA thirty-something getting cancer that was very poorly written and the woman's butt was falling out of her shorts the entire 3 minutes, and at one point some mermaids came running screaming onstage with blades for a show, cleverly enough, titled "Merblades." There were a few that I legitimately enjoyed, including "Class of 98," a time travel comedy, and "Rip," an adaptation of Rip Van Winkle. All in all, a very enjoyable evening.

It's the Lupus

I was talking to my friend Hillary today about how lately I've been really tired a lot of the time, but I have no idea why. Sure, I have to get up at butt o'clock for work, but it's not like I'm particularly active on the job. Usually I'm asleep by 11 or 12, so what's the problem? Maybe I have African Sleeping Sickness, like in that episode of House, which I just watched because Allie and I have decided to start from the beginning and go through all 7 seasons that I have on DVD. I don't know what the problem is, or if there is a problem, all I know is that I'm a hypochondriac and convinced that I have Lupus or MS.

Today I was working in the warehouse reorganizing some stuff, and therefore had to wear "up-to-code" shoes; I hope these count. They're shoes we used to keep in our costume bin at my old house (where we kept all of our old dance/halloween costumes and some vintage clothes from my mom) and I  decided when we were moving to work them into a real-clothes wardrobe. Also apparently I'm really into the grey-navy combo this week, as I have worn it two days in a row. Shows how good I am at picking out clothes at 7 in the morning.

Last night some of my friends and I went to dinner at Minikhada Country Club because my friend Zoey is leaving for Italy on Friday. She's a voice major (dramatic soprano for opera) at Manhattan School of Music, and is going to study for a month outside of Bologna. It was the first time I had seen her this summer and now it'll be another month until I can see her again. Crummy timing if I have anything to say about it. 

Dog Poop

Well here's what happened: I wrote this whole post yesterday, hit save and closed it to add photos when I got home from work. BUT it all deleted and in fact did not save. Boo technology. I am going to try and recreate it with some updates as well.

Friday was my friend Natalie's birthday, and to celebrate we went to Nickelodeon Universe after work. I had been boycotting Nickelodeon Universe because I was a huge Camp Snoopy fan, but the time had passed and the new rides are pretty awesome...

Hittin' up the NU

Also Natalie's mom Kitty got us cupcakes from Yum that were Patti Cake on the bottom and chocolate mousse on top. So so good.

Saturday was spent driving to and from downtown, firstly for my ballet class, and secondly to go to an Idina Menzel concert- the tickets for which Natalie got for her birthday. I'm in a Beginner 2 ballet class, since I thought I should start off slow after not taking dance since I was 8 or 9. Nope. This class is not at all what I would consider "beginner." A good chunk of the class takes many different dance classes at Zenon, and many have taken this class before. It's been an unexpectedly nice challenge, because I really don't want to be the worst one in the class... And I don't think I am. Improving!
That night was the Idina concert, and the poor thing was so sick but decided to go on anyway. She ended up sounding great anyway, and only skipped one song. Also, she's really funny, which I wasn't necessarily expecting. Overall enjoyable way to spend the evening.

Zara skirt, Urban Outfitters corset, Tiffany necklace, ring from Mexico silver mine

Sunday we went to Ikea to scope out furniture for my sister's new condo (she's closing on the 23rd!). It's right off of Loring Park in between downtown and uptown and is pretty great. She's getting really excited for decorating and furnishing. However, going to Ikea mainly reminded me of my lack of apartment next year. The latest on the apartment front is that Evanston Place was too expensive. So then Maia and I looked into another building which is a block down the street called Park Evanston, and basically I'm a little obsessed with it. With 4 people, or even 3 people, it's very affordable. The apartments are about 100 sq ft larger than the EP apartments. There was a doorman. Washer/dryer in the apartment. Walk in closets. AKA perfection. The whole thing just fell apart kind of, with the fee for pulling out of the housing contract, and I'm not entirely convinced that the 4th roommate ever really wanted to move off campus. Now my mom's trying to get me to find a place where I could live with Maia possibly, a 1 bedroom. She's really into the idea of an apartment and hates the dorms because: they're loud, they're crowded, the facilities aren't great, and I'm always sick in the dorm. True life.

Yesterday Max pooped in my office. It wasn't great. We also set up our new tv that we got from my grandpa and it is gigantic. Like, monumental. I also went for a run outside and am now wondering what on earth I was thinking. My thighs and lower back are so achy blech. And yet since I have decided to do this two week shape up type program, I will have to find some other cardio I can do with the strength moves because lord knows I will not be running every day. Hopefully Zumba counts because that's my jam.

Post 4th

Happy 5th of July! Busy week with lots o' American pride and things. The kicker has been this ridiculous heat we've been having all week. The heat index has been 100° or above since Sunday, with humidity at 70%. It's disgusting. I've barely been able to go outside without choking on the sauna air that is the outdoors. They claim the heat is going to break after tomorrow with a storm which would be much appreciated. 
In work this week I've had the job of making lighting fixtures, which was actually pretty exciting. I got to use tools, including solder, and did not injure myself! The steps including cutting lots of cables, splitting the cables at one end and attaching a lead onto each split cable. Then I soldered the leads closed so the wires were covered. Then to put the actual fixtures together, there's a process with screws and clips and washers and voila! Light fixture!

My work station, so legit.

Over this week at work we've also had TWO dogs in the office because the De La Vega clan has gone to San Antonio for a couple weeks, minus Gerry. So he's been bringing in Max, who rules. I've been watching the dogs whenever Gerry or John has to leave the office for a bit, and Luna and Max together are the silliest.

Rehearsal has been going okay. It's a little draggy-on some days, especially last Monday because 10 people were missing and we couldn't stage certain group pieces without everybody there. I still don't know what my part means, only that my name is Martha Carrier, who is best known as the "Rampant Hag" described by Cotton Mather. GITIT. I know, everybody wanted to be the Rampant Hag, but that's my part and nobody else's. She actually sounds like a really interesting person from the colonial era, and was kind of a bamf. 

Now onto 4TH OF JULY aka one of the best day's of the year. I went to an all-girl's camp for 8 years over the 4th, so I don't really remember what we used to do for the holiday when I was little, but it was always really fun at camp. Everyone dressed up in crazy red, white, and blue and we would go to our normal activities for 2 blocks of the day. We had the cabin decorating contest, which was a really big deal and got really heated. In the later years, we weren't allowed to use any store bought items, and so creativity was a big deal. My cabin won the contest once, and got second another year from what I remember. We had the most delicious cookout and our 4th of July dance in the evening (which got moved in the later years to other dates sometimes... weird) and then had campfire. They used to do fireworks on the lake, but new laws were put into play with permits or licenses, so they stopped doing that. Instead, we would have root beer floats and do a candle ceremony. Anyway, what has come out of this is the tradition that every year my friend Natalie and I dress up and play 4th of July tennis. This year, it was just too hot, so we just dressed up in our tennis outfits and made a cake instead.

 You can't see in this picture, but the cake was actually 2 layers with fruit and frosting in the middle. SO good.

We play sports.

I made these red, white, and blue strawberries for an extended family dinner on Tuesday. They didn't quite look like the picture but they were pretty darn delicious.

After making the cake, we went swimming for a long time, which was lovely in the heat, and then Natalie's dad grilled for us. I went home to watch the NYC fireworks with my mom and sister because they were too hot to go watch the Lake Minnetonka ones outside. My only complaint is that they kept filming the people watching the fireworks, instead of the actual fireworks. What?

Update on apartment drams:

    1) Apparently the fee for pulling out of a housing contract began on July 1st, not on the 8th like we thought. And its $500. Nope. Not a fan.

    2) They quoted us incorrectly for the apartment we were looking at so it's about $80 more per person plus utilities. Nope.

    3) There's another apartment available with the same layout on the floor below. It'd be about the same price as we were originally quoted, but the lease starts in August instead of September, and goes through next August instead of next June. Next summer wouldn't be so much of a problem because we could find jobs or internships in Chicago, but I can't get back to Evanston until September this year so I would probably be paying for a month that I wouldn't be living there.

I don't really know what's gonna happen, but we need to decide soon because I either need to talk to my roommate or just live in the dorm. And since talking to my parents about it I would so much rather live in this apartment. Even if the apartment was more expensive than housing (which it's not), we would save a LOT on food costs. I was sick about 50% of the time last year just from living in the dorm. The facilities of the apartment are a lot nicer than the building I would otherwise be in next year. There are just a lot of pro's and fewer (original) cons.

Also I still need to get a camera! Any 4th of July sales still happening? Womp