Craziness!

So it's the last three weeks of summer.  The end of junior year feels like it happened awhile ago, but at the same time I can't believe it's already the middle of August.  Here's what is on my agenda for the rest of the month:
-read as much as possible (soon to come: a list of what I've read this summer)
-buy a few things for school
-exercise a lot
-beach it

The big news of this post is that finally, after 20 years, I have gotten my ears pierced!  It was a pretty random decision, but I'm excited to enter this new chapter of my life.  Not so excited about dealing with them for the next six weeks...oh well, a sacrifice for fashion.  And you can imagine how cool I looked walking around the mall with my Claire's bag :)

Also, I just bought a clown fish pen drive.  So so cool. 

If you didn't see the NYTimes magazine today, here's a cool project being done to benefit the relief efforts in Japan: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/21/magazine/mag-21Look-paper-cranes.html?ref=magazine

Finally, here's a song I have recently discovered - Don't Stop the Party by the Black Eyed Peas (I'm always a fan): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9LH_y159sg&ob=av3e

Peace out, enjoy the rest of the month!

August!!

I have a lot of stuff to get done today, so this is going to be a short post, but here are a few things of note:

1.  It's August!  I am getting really excited to head back to Vermont soonish, but in the meantime, I'm trying to soak up as much sun as possible and enjoy having free time.

2.  Speaking of soaking up the sun, I think this photo shows how successful my summer has been so far.

3.  I'm usually not a huge Colbie Caillat fan, but I do like this song a lot...very happy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU5o6M7S5nQ&ob=av3e

That's all for now.  My family is off on a little vacation next week, which will be great.  Keep on the sunny side :)

hi

It's a beautiful day in Falmouth.  Luckily, the heat wave has subsided, so it's in the 80's rather than the 90's (or over 100...).  I'm hoping it stays this nice for our vacation in a couple weeks; hiking and biking are much more fun when it's sunny. 

I just finished a really interesting book about the E. coli outbreak in 1992/1993.  Over 700 people got sick from eating tainted hamburger meat at Jack in the Box, the oldest fast food chain in the country.  Four children ended up dying, and it was a major turning point in food safety.  I hadn't heard of Jack in the Box - missing out on the East coast - and I don't eat hamburger, but it's scary to think that so many people got sick.  Anyways, it's called Poisoned and I would highly recommend. 

This week I discovered Spotify and Google+.  I feel so up on current technology :)  Not sure how I feel about them quite yet, but I will keep you posted. 

Peace out, hope everyone's enjoying the last weekend of July!

"Favorites"

It has been brought to my attention that I have a lot of favorite things.  So, here's a list of some things I think are swell:

Foods
-cotton candy
-sea dog biscuits (two chocolate chip cookies with ice cream in the middle)
-fudge
-chocolate covered blueberries
 i also like non-dessert food, such as:
-spinach lasagna
-shrimp scampi

Things to do
-go to the beach/swim in the ocean
-puzzles
-sleeping in late

Music
-too many to list, but basically i have a lot of faves
-ke$ha haha

It has been so so hot in Maine recently, which is great at the beach and not-so-great sitting in all the construction going on around Portland.  Alas, can't complain since it's infinitely better than two years ago when it rained almost every day. 

I'm currently reading "Sisterhood Everlasting" by the author of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.  It's rather addictive, and SO surprising (and sad).  Also, just found out that Border's is completely going out of business, so no more long trips to browse in South Portland.  What a bummer. 

Basically, life is great, and I can't believe there are still almost two months left of summer.  I'm already so relaxed and have been loving reading, getting sun on the beach, seeing friends (and working too I guess...).  It's a lovely world. 

A happy group of frog musicians from Quebec.

happy fourth of july!

So it's officially July.  It really feels like we were just watching the fireworks last year.  Time flies.  The good thing is that it now feels very summery outside.  There are also tons of dragonflies. 

I'm going to go enjoy the weather, but first here's a funny little op-ed piece from today's nytimes: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/07/04/opinion/20110704_OPART.html?hp

Have a wonderful holiday and (short) week ahead!

end of june

Our trip to Canada was very interesting...Québec is an entirely different place in June (rather than February)!  We went to the Musée de la Civilisation in the city, which usually has good exhibits.  This time, there was one on different world religions and another on food.  The food exhibit was pretty thought-provoking and cool to look at.  It's based on a book called "Hungry Planet" that came out in 2005 and shows photos of how much food families around the world consume in a week, including costs in US dollars.  Here's a link with some of the pictures: http://www.foodmatters.tv/_webapp_482785/What_The_World_Eats_-_Shocking_Photos

We saw some cute little towns farther north along the St. Lawrence.  There were great views of the river, lots of lupines, and I experienced a new side of the area.  I complained about driving 8 hours north for a vacation, but it was good.

I'm getting excited for fireworks this weekend at the Sea Dogs game and the Portland show on Monday.  Should be great!  Though I can't believe it's already July...where is the summer going?

Lastly, here's a little canada haiku:

canada was fun
pretty sights and lots of french
(but not the mail strike!)

oh canada

We're headed to Canada on a little family vacation tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to it, but I'm not too psyched about traveling somewhere colder than Maine.  Oh well.  Hopefully it won't be too dismal and I will remember my french. 

I still can't really move from doing an ab workout on Sunday.  Even pipetting hurts my arm, how sad.  But I guess it's just a necessary part of "gettin' huge" for the fall.  Success is a decision.  I know it's a long way off, but I'm still excited for lovely fall rows on Lake Dunmore. 

The other day I finished "The Last Lecture."  I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an inspirational read.  I really admire Randy Pausch's life outlook.  It's easy for someone like me to keep on the sunny side: I have nothing major to complain about, and I would consider my life to be pretty awesome.  But even when faced with a terminal diagnosis, Pausch chose to do his best to make his last months rewarding.  Warning: you will probably cry.  A lot.  I did, but it's worth it, and it truly makes you evaluate your life and attitude.

Off to enjoy the sun!  Have a great week.