Carbon Copy

Umm... Adorable!

I flipped through the Restoration Hardware catalogue at work the other day, and I just can't get over these. Sure the idea is cute, but really it's the name... SMITTENS! So clever.

A Southern Season

No trip to visit Mike and Amanda would be complete without stopping by A Southern Season. I love this store. I don't even know how to describe it. It combines a gourmet market with a stationary store, a Williams-Sonoma, and a cute boutique. It's overwhelming. And they have this wall of imported chocolate bars... mmm... I wanted to take pictures of its awesomeness. After I took the first one, a clerk came up and told me pictures weren't allow (now that's a sign of a good store). I snuck a second one of the jams because I just couldn't help it. But this time, the flash was off.

Response to Pink Room

I can't keep myself from reading Oh Happy Day, even though it frequently makes me feel dissatisfied with my pedestrian, run-of-the-mill life. Jordan always posts such cute things, like this retro pink kitchen.

Well, in this case, I actually have a tangible grasp on this cute post. Kind of. My very own sister has the beginnings of a retro pink kitchen.

Yeah, I know I'm still living vicariously, but maybe not forever.

This Just In...

While I was in North Carolina, I got to go with Mike and Amanda to the ultrasound. (Amanda curled her hair special for the occasion. ) We couldn't tell the sex of the baby at first because he/she was turned over on the wrong side, but after some pushing and handy detective work by the ultrasound nurse, we discovered... it's a boy!

I have loads of pictures from my trip, but I also have loads of writing and reading and grading to do over the next couple weeks. I will do my best, but for now here are some pics of Amanda's growing tummy.

Birthday Celebrations

The best thing about having your birthday on a Sunday is that it opens up the whole weekend for celebrating. On Saturday, I boilered it up at the football game (as already mentioned) and then in the evening got together with all my favorite Purdue friends for dinner at a Turkish restaurant, followed by ice cream at the Silver Dipper.

Here are the Spankes:

Kevin really enjoys his ice cream:

Michelle, Cristen, Erica, and Tom were there, too, but they were on the other side of the table.

On Sunday, Michelle kindly woke me up with the smell of pancakes. Later, Jenn made her famous pistachio cake. Mmm...

I invited a couple friends over to partake.

And amazingly, I blew out all the candles with one breath. (It was probably because we didn't have all 28 on there.)

Mmm... cake.

We played Life afterwards. I won. I really hope, at the end of it all, that I'm a winner at the game of life.

Boilermakers Vs. Hoosiers: My One and Only Football Game

Apparently people go to football games all the time, but so far in my college career, I have not attended. That all changed last Saturday. Erica, Cristen, and I gussied up in our boiler gear, fought the crowds, and cheered along with the best of them.

I splurged for my birthday and bought a brand new Purdue sweatshirt just for the game.

Cristen and I met up with Erica on campus and went to the Purdue Research Foundation tailgate tent for a deliciously catered meal. Then we followed the crowd into Ross Ade Stadium, picking up some pom-poms along the way.

We scrambled for some seats on the bleachers. We ended up in the midst of IU fans and mixed families. Here was the problem. I know nothing about football. The only way I know when to cheer is by following the crowd, so by sitting in such close proximity to Hoosier fans, I was completely confused. I couldn't just cheer, I had to see what color sweatshirt the people cheering were wearing.

Here comes the team!

Yay!

We all know that the real reason Erica, Cristen, and I went to the game was for this:

The World's Biggest Drum!

We got all caught up in the excitement.

Back to the game.

If you're a really rich alum (or a fanatic fan), you can buy expensive skybox seats.

It's not a football game without a foam finger. Luckily, Erica gave me one for my birthday. She's so thoughful.

Oh look! Touchdown!!

We were ahead the whole game. That's because Hoosiers suck.

Ok, sometimes I would look over and see Cristen texting.

And then turn to my right, and there's Erica texting!

What is this world coming to when we can't even go to a football game without texting. (I totally did it, too.) I can assure you, though, that we all put our phones away during the halftime show. The marching band did a tribute to cartoon theme songs.

Oooh, there's Purdue Pete! He's so dreamy!

As much fun as the game was, the temperature left a little something to be desired. The double layers and hoodies, gloves and hats were fun at first, but slowly the chill crept in.

Another touchdown!

Yellow pom-poms ripple across the stadium.

And the sound is deafening. Here's a video.

Go Boilers!

Throughout the whole game, every maternal instinct the three of us possess was evoked by the sight of this little boy and his dad. First of all, how can you resist those adorable cheeks! Then, the way the dad would lean over and explain the game to his son and point out what was happening was just too adorable. We felt a little creepy taking so many covert pictures, but we just couldn't help it.

We left after the third quarter. It was just so cold, boilers were ahead, and we wanted to beat traffic. Plus, Erica had some more tailgating to do. Just so you know, Boilers won. And the oaken bucket stays at Purdue where it belongs.

Here are some pictures I stole from Erica:

Mix CDs

I love making and giving mixes, but really my favorite thing is getting mixes, especially from Kylie. She just sent me a fantastic one. It came at the best possible time, so I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

Asobi Seksu: Thursday

I'm From Barcelona: I'm From Barcelona

King Creosote: Jump at the Cats

Morning

I see this every morning on my way to class. For some reason, I really like the way it looks. While I'm very happy about my 10:30 teaching time slot next semester, I must say that I'm kind of going to miss being on campus early in the morning and catching the sun rise.

Cox's Pub: Take Two

On Wednesday we took advantage of Spanke's canceled class to hit up Cox's. This time, though, I boilered up and got up the nerve to sing. The difficulty is finding a song I feel I know well enough. Apparently I don't know "Across the Universe" as well as I thought. Turns out singing in the car is not quite the same thing as standing in front of a microphone. Luckily, even if I wasn't drunk, I took comfort in knowing most of my audience was.

Spanke totally showed me up with his rapping.

The Miller Lite girls showed up and passed out these incredibly tiny thug hats.

Erica took some awesome pictures, but I forgot to get them from her last night. Maybe I'll add those later.

Bulletin Board

So I know I've been living in my new apartment for over three months, but I just barely took the time to put my bulletin board together. These are the pictures I look at while I wait around for the Internet to work or photos to open up on Photoshop.

Read on for more details.

I love this picture. It was taken on the day of my mission farewell (I think). I've been carrying it around with me for a long while.

Roo, or as Erica likes to call her, Claire-Baby.

Mamers and Mike. (Amanda taught me the fine art of self-portraiture, so blame her for all the self-portraits I'm constantly posting.)

Matt and Izzy at Whitefish Lake one summer.

Mikey and I on a trip to Denver back in '98, I think. We were being superheroes.

Sixteen-years-old, best friends, and I'm pretty sure we had just dyed our hair.

I love this picture of me and Tom in DC. And above it is Kimberly and I all decked out in western attire (and missionary nametags).

Miss Kris and I at Tony Grove a couple falls ago.

And finally, a fortune I got just last week when we had Chinese food for girls' night.

meh

I just haven't had a lot to say lately. I've been swallowed up by annotated bibliographies and lesson plans and work. I haven't even really gotten started on my own research for my upcoming papers. Seriously, i don't know what i've done this semester. It's gone by so fast.

In less than two weeks, I turn 28. That's old. B ut I get to celebrate my birthday twice! Once here with friends and then again with the Nicholases when I go visit for Thanksgiving. During my visit, I get to go with Mike and Amanda to the ultrasound where we find out if i have a new niece or a nephew. yay! I'm thinking it's a girl. I thought it was a boy, but turns out I was wrong about the sex of my best friend's baby, so I'm probably wrong about this one, too. Thus, girl.

If it's a girl, I'm totally buying her this costume for Halloween sometime. In fact, I should just get it for Claire.

Sometimes...

you wear nylons and red high heels to church and feel pretty sophisticated.

But then after walking from the church to the parking garage, your nylons wrinkle around your ankles and you feel like a little old lady.

More Fall Pictures