Things to be thankful for:

“I feel a very unusual sensation – if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude.”
Benjamin Disraeli


my hometown - oh how it has made me so thankful for beauty and great people
dogs - they bring joy to this earth, they are always happy to see you and that is so cool. i'm particularly  thankful for chip
mom and dad
my roommates -  they make a dorm feel like home & that is hard to do
chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream - it is the best dessert 
my brothers and sister (in-law) - sam and dan were/are so gracious with me and have taught me how men should act; carrie is so thoughtful and is going to change the world
morgan - he is so gracious, loving, forgiving, trustworthy, accepting, honest
traveling
friends (old and new) -  these people keep sanity and hilarity in my life
plants - they give us so much without getting much in return
classes and professors - they continue to ask important questions & challenge me to think
for those people who take the time to ask question and listen
tea and coffee - they bring ritual to my mornings
and so so so many more. . .

artist (and art) i like

Piet Mondrian 

Diebenkorn

Caravaggio

Applebroog

living on a tight budget

so this summer i made the executive decision not to get a full time job, so i could spend more time traveling with my family, take a class, and be a part of several weddings.  i babysat twice a week so i could pay for gas. needless to say i came to school broke and i don't get my first pay check for being an ra (resident assistant) till a month into school.

so i have been forced to be very thrifty these past few months.

i checked out several of my text books from the library and bought a few off of half.com.  half.com has saved me so much money!!!!  the website that has been the most helpful is southernsavers.com.  jenny, the creator of the page, makes a list of every sale item in grocery store & pharmacy in the south, as well she lists every coupon (printable and paper) you can use on the products.  it has saved me so much money.  for example, i bought crest  toothpaste and listerine mouthwash for $1.40 & got $4.50 in ECB (extra care bucks) back, so it was like CVS paid me $3 for buying toiletries.

if you go to college of charleston it is definitely worth reading her section on CVSing because you are probably a poor college student and frequent cvs because of its prime location on campus.

Amiina!

I love these girls. 


They are Icelandic and have last names that I will never be able to pronounce (ie. Sumarliðadóttir & Ársælsdóttir).  I would  best describe their music as epically relaxing.
They are coming out with their new album "Puzzle" soon!!!  To ease the pain of waiting they generously put a free track on amiina.com to download.

Who can deny beautiful free music?
Not me.

So download and enjoy.

losing some wisdom

so i feel like it is a necessary part of most teens/college kids summer plans to get their back molars removed at some point.
today was my day.
it was my first time under & boy was i freakin out at 5.30am.
after an hour i was walking out of the office with no recollection of anything (and they let me keep my teeth!!! pictured above) . . . which made me excited.

it wasn't so bad especially since my mom has been right beside me making sure i take my pks and apply ice.
the fridge is stalked with jello, pudding, yogurt, apple sauce, and chai protein shake drinks. we'll see how the next few days progress hopefully without dry socket or infection, but so far it has been much better than expected.

newness coming soon

so there will be new additions to this site soon!
sorry for the lack of updates since seattle. i have been lazy, but was reencouraged by miss isabelle's faithfulness to my blog. thanks isabug.
my dad and i are going on a trip this week. we leave for the outerbanks, jersey, philadelphia, and nyc.
so i will write from the road.

also i have started on a cabin and will be keeping a photo-journal of the project!

heading home

i leave for charleston in 3 hours.
the trip was filled with lots of coffee, great vegetarian cuisine, and lots of time to catch up with old friends.
it was wonderful seeing bekah and carly. its been about three years since we lived in England together. they let me crash on their couch one night and filled me with wine and homemade bread. carly gave me bangs! yesterday, bekah showed me around downtown ballard, which is a very eclectic town and definitely worth visiting.
jessie was a wonderful host and graciously took me in for almost the entire week.  we visited all of her favorite local joints (in the bowl, gorditos, gypsy coffee, zoka) and spent hours catching up while walking all over the city.
downtown was not my favorite place, but the little towns that surround it are the gems of the northwest.
i loved ballard, wallingford, and capitol hill.
it was a wonderful spring break, but i'm glad to be heading home to seventy degree weather.

himalayan blackberry

day 4: himalayan blackberry, college of charleston, and the locks and ladder
i met up with the college of charleston alternative spring break.
they have been working with a plant nursery and a forest restoration group.

we went to discovery park and uprooted hundreds of invasive himalayan blackberry bushes.

we visited the dam in ballard & saw boats go through the locks & the fish ladder so salmon can travel through the dam.

for dinner we had bubble tea and more pho.
after a long bus ride home i made it back to jessie's.

a good time with old friends

day #3: gyspy coffee (round II) and an afternoon with old friends
jessie and i woke up and enjoyed tea and video games

mike (jessie's boy), jessie, and i went to gypsy coffee for a second time.
we played scrabble (mike won by 9 points, sadly).
we went across town to ballard and met up with carly and becca.

they are old friends that i met at l'abri.

we ate pho, the infamous asian soup.
after short walk we were at the doorstep of carly and becca's house.
it is an adorable basement loft.
we drank coffee and ate dark chocolate and enjoyed a great conversation.

scrabble and coffee

day 3:

a long walk to jessie's all-time favorite coffee shop, gypsy coffee.
we played hours of scrabble and then caught the bus to a burrito shop across town.

followed up by an evening of school work and procrastination at zoka's coffee roaster.

the rainy city

yesterday was day 1 in seattle (update):
cloudy and cool.

morning coffee at http://www.zokacoffee.com/ which is one of jessie's frequent coffee stops and conveniently a block from her house.
we explored downtown seattle and pike's place.

lots of fish and flowers.
we packed our lunch and picnicked over looking the puget sound and snow-covered mountains.
we thrifted in capitol hill and enjoyed some delicious vegetarian asian food.

the evening was topped off with knock-off sour patch kids and sex and the city.

a trip to seattle.

in exactly one week i will be boarding a plane to fly across the united states,.
i will be landing in seattle to meet up with various people.
my friend and roommate from last year.  students from my school.  old friends from l'abri.
i don't really have any plans yet other than bumming around the city and visiting their coffee shops.
i will probably end up blogging about some of them. its a little cliche, but that is the point.
so if you know of any other interesting things to do in seattle let me know.