Carbon Copy

Cuter Overload!

Cristen and I once thought of a great new website, cuteRoverload, as a play on one of our faves, Cute Overload!, but we never knew just what would be cuter. After spending the weekend in North Carolina with my wee little nephew, Peter, I now can say what is cuter. He is!

Peter never quite got used to me. He prefers his mom and dad, but I didn't take it personally. At Christmas, I will emerge as his aunt. Right now, Peter likes to sleep and eat a lot. But he also really likes his mobile.

We went on a couple of outings, like to the mall and to my favorite NC store A Southern Season. He looks so cute in his little carseat.

But mostly he slept and ate.

That's why I had to snap lots of pictures while he was awake. Peter's very alert. He loves to look out of the window and stare up at the ceiling fan.

Peter makes such cute little cooing noises. He also gets the hiccups a lot. Here's a little movie that shows him doing both.

But the weekend wasn't all about Peter. We also made strawberry jam, and Mike taught me how to make my favorite, a delicious strawberry rhubarb pie.

Amanda also introduced me to Boba (or Bubble) tea. It was really pretty.

The weekend went by much too quickly.

Adirondack Adventure Day 6: Final Morning

All good things have to come to an end, I guess, but I put this off as long as I could, opting for the late afternoon flight out of Albany. This gave Erica and I time to go on a walk around Ti. You'd think we'd take a tour of Ti right away, right? I don't know why, but we didn't. We saved it for last. Erica promised it would only take half an hour. She was right. It'll probably take me longer to write this post. Still, it has some beautiful buildings.

For instance, this was Erica's high school.

Geesh, if I had gone to high school here, I wouldn't have learned anything. I would've daydreamed the whole time. Here are some more pretty buildings.

And here's North Country Community College, where Erica's illustrious post-secondary education began.

What I love about Ti is that even just walking around town feels like you're hiking.

A long time ago when I first met Erica and we were talking about Ti and the different points of interest along the byway, I told her that there was a riverwalk closeby, right? And she rolled her eyes and laughed. That's a point of interest? Apparently that was where all the high school kids would go to get drunk (and other things). But it looks pretty nice right now.

Erica also drove me out to Roger's Rock and Ti Beach.

Even after seeing that not all byway poi's are as exciting in person as they seem online, Erica humored me by driving the byway (for the most part) down to Albany. We had seen the Lakes portion, and now I wanted to see the Locks. First stop, Whitehall and Lock 11.

Lock 11 wasn't so nice, so we thought we'd stop by Lock 9 in hopes that it was prettier. It was actually kind of idyllic. Men were fishing, a boat was coming up the canal, but since I had a flight to catch, we couldn't wait to see the locks in action. We just had enough time to take a few snapshots.

After lunch at Steve's Place, Erica and her mom dropped me off at the airport. I hate saying goodbye at airports.

Adirondack Adventure Day 5: History Lesson

Sunday, as a day of rest, was dedicated to visiting historical forts. When I first met Erica and found out she was from Ticonderoga, the first things I asked her about were Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Not that I'm a wiz at American History. In fact, I haven't had a history class since my junior year of high school. No, I knew about them because they are points of interest on the Lakes to Locks Passage All-American Road, and I know my byways. So of course I wanted to see them. Plus, I happen to like history.

We first drove up to Mount Defiance for, you might have guessed, a view of the lake and Fort Ticonderoga.

And then we went up the road to the real thing.

When we got up there, though, we found out that it cost $12 for me to visit the fort, and we decided it wasn't worth it. So we moved to the next stop on our agenda, crossing the lake on the ferry into Vermont. I was pretty excited about the ferry ride. I remember going on a much larger one in Seattle when I was fifteen, but just barely.

And after about 9 minutes, we were in Vermont. It's hard to explain how things changed, but all of a sudden, we really were in New England. It just felt different. There were fewer trees, the mountains were more distant, and there were cows.

We stopped in Middlebury for lunch and to wander around a bit.

Then it was back over the bridge into New York and to the Champlain Memorial and Lighthouse.

Amazingly, the lighthouse was open! This has never happened in all the years Erica lived in Ti. So up the rounded staircase.

And we could see all around!

Right next to the monument are the ruins of Crown Point. Just so you know, if you want to save five bucks, you can park across the street and just walk in to the ruins, but Erica and I believe in supporting historical sites, so we paid. Plus, it looked like rain.

I don't know what it was about Crown Point that I loved so much, but it was one of my favorite places. Maybe it was the stormy weather, maybe the dandelions poking around the ruins, or maybe just the ruins, but I loved it.

Adirondack Adventure Day 4: McGill and Mont Royal

The next morning, Erica and I ate breakfast and took a walk around the main section of McGill before checking out of our hotel.

Then we found our way to Mont Royal. It wasn't hard. It's a big mountain in the middle of the city. We hiked it, too. Kind of. I mean, we parked half way up, but we still walked/hiked about a mile around the mountain to get to the observatory and the cross. The tulips at the observatory were beautiful.

You might recognize this pavilion from the movie The Whole Nine Yards.

But we mostly just wanted to see the view.

And then hiked a little higher to see the cross.

There was a different viewpoint on the other side of the mountain, so we thought we'd check out the view from there. We got a view of somthin - this guy.

Ugh.

We kept seeing this immense dome separate from the downtown area and wondered what it was. We also saw pictures of the Oratoire Saint-Joseph on a postcard and wanted to see it. (Tip: I always look at postcards to find places to visit when I'm in a new city. I also stop in the museum store and look at the prints to find out what paintings I want to see.) Turns out, they were the same thing and even more impressive in person. In fact, our photos just couldn't capture the immensity of it.

It also meant A LOT of stairs. I was not pleased at the prospect, but ultimately decided the view would be worth it.

We later found out there were escalators.

But that didn't keep us from having to climb down this scary steep, rickety, wooden stairs.

We took heart when we saw little old ladies on their way to mass climbing them.

One more picture and we were on our way out of town:

Before we left Canada, though, we had to stop for souvenirs.

And amazingly, the border into the US was completely clear and took us less than 5 minutes to cross. We were all prepared to play geography games while we waited. Before heading back to Ti, we stopped off in Plattsburgh because Erica promised me the best sub I would ever have and I wanted to see her Alma Mater, SUNY Plattsburgh.

The History Building, where Erica took her classes:

And the sculpture she saw and hated every day:

Throughout the trip, I was so pleased that we were so far up north that most of the trees were still in blossom because I missed the spring trees due to my thesis.

We weren't the only ones taking pictures. Apparently, it was prom night! All the lovely couples were there (with their parents) also taking pics.

Erica took me up to Clinton Community College, which used to be a cliffside hotel overlooking Lake Champlain.

And we stopped briefly at Ausable Chasm to look over the bridge at the falls.

Another Trip

Well, I gave it a valiant effort, but I didn't quite get all my entries in. I'm leaving for North Carolina in the morning, so I'll have to finish them on Monday when I get back. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Adirondack Adventure Day 3: More of Montreal

Erica and I ended up going on a walking tour of churches in Montreal. There were just so many pretty ones, and it was easy to see their spires, domes, and towers and ask "What's that?!" and walk over towards it.

But we saw other things along the way, like this building at McGill (we visited McGill again the next day, so more pictures to come).

And Erica pointed out the old high school (was it really high school? I don't remember for sure) hang out of her guy friends:

That is, until they ran into their math teacher there.

I liked how this building was made more modern while still maintaining the old architecture.

Let me tell you something disappointing. The Canadian dollar is gaining value. The last time I was in Canada, the exchange rate was about .82 to a dollar. Now it's more like .92. People! Our country is in serious danger if the Canadian dollar becomes equal to ours! Plus, it really messed up my shopping plans.

Here's an equestrian statue that reminded me of that Billy Collins poem, "Statues in the Park," in the New Yorker that Tanker had me read once. I'm gonna paste it here because it's good.

Statues in the Park

I thought of you today
when I stopped before an equestrian statue
in the middle of a public square,
you who had once instructed me
in the code of these noble poses.
A horse rearing up with two legs raised,
you told me, meant the rider had died in battle.
If only one leg was lifted,
the man had elsewhere succumbed to his wounds;
and if four legs were touching the ground,
as they were in this case-
bronze hooves affixed to a stone base-
it meant that the man on the horse,
this one staring intently
over the closed movie theater across the street,
had died of a cause other than war.
In the shadow of the statue,
I wondered about the others
who had simply walked through life
without a horse, a saddle, or a sword-
pedestrians who could no longer
place one foot in front of the other.
I pictured statues of the sickly
recumbent on their cold stone beds,
the suicides toeing the marble edge,
statues of accident victims covering their eyes,
the murdered covering their wounds,
the drowned silently treading the air.
And there was I,
up on a rosy-gray block of granite
near a cluster of shade trees in the local park,
my name and dates pressed into a plaque,
down on my knees, eyes lifted,
praying to the passing clouds,
forever begging for just one more day.

Here's one of the domes that caught our eye. As we approached, we found it belonged to the Marie Reine du Monde Basilica.

This monument was found in the park across the street.

We wondered who MacDonald was, and where were the statues of Champlain, Cartier, etc.?

On the other side of the park is St. Georges Anglican Church.

We slowly made our way towards Vieux Montreal. We found Notre Dame:

But didn't even think to go inside. We were starving and intent on finding some place to eat. I kept thinking we'd come back to it, but we didn't. Later, we saw a picture of the interior on a postcard and were mad that we didn't go inside because it looked beautiful.

I kept trying to figure out where the building was in the picture I had stolen from the Internet and posted earlier on this site. I thought I found it near the park, but it wasn't quite right. As we got closer to Old Montreal, I saw the real thing:

We ate at a little, expensive restaurant on the terrace, and it was getting cold! I won't say it was the best dining experience ever, but it was still better than that turkey sandwich in New York City. The buildings were all lit up afterwards.

We decided to take the Metro home because our feet were tired and it was all uphill back to our hotel.

We found the Metro Station, walked in and had to figure out how to use it. There weren't any machines to buy fares at, so we went to the teller. I asked, in English, how to purchase a ticket, and she replied, "Eh?"
"A ticket? How do we get a card?"
"No, no credit cards."
I thought I was going to have to break out my dusty French (which I secretly wanted to do, but was terribly embarrassed by), but I tried one more thing. "The fare? How do we pay the fare?"
"$2.75"
So we got the ticket, but she didn't tell us what to do with it until we couldn't get through the turnstyle and she had to poke loudly on the glass next to a little container where we apparently had to drop the ticket she had just given us.

Adirondack Adventure Day 3: Montreal's Botanical Garden

We arrived in Montreal around noon, ate lunch in a little pizza place on Rue St. Denis (guess what - they really do speak French in Montreal!), and then headed for the Botanical Gardens. We weren't interested in any of the plaques that told us about the plants and ecosystems and stuff like that. We just wanted to see pretty flowers. It was a leetle early in the season, but it was worth it.

These photos are all from the greenhouse, where lush abounds.

The Botanical Gardens was split into different sections, such as the Chinese, Japanese, Alpine, and First-Nations Gardens. I'm not sure which part this one was in, but it seemed very English Garden-y to me.

I was walking around the garden, innocently taking pictures, when I stumbled upon my life in sculpture. Yes, folks, here it is... The Lover's Bench. Two Lovers and the third wheel.

These pictures are from the "useful garden," which I'm glad they included. Too often we think about gardens as merely decorative and forget how beautiful the everyday ones are, too.

I think this waterfall was in the Alpine Garden.

And some pictures of the Chinese Garden.

They also have an Insectarium at the Botanical Gardens. Who knew bugs were so pretty?!

Can you spot the ants on these branches?

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Utah was even represented because of the symbol of the Beehive. (Our Lovely Deseret!)

There was a lot more to see, but we were still sore and tired from the hike the day before and anxious to see what else Montreal had to offer. The lilacs hanging over the gate made our exit just as pretty.

Adirondack Adventure: Intermission

On our way up to Montreal, we stopped to look at Lake Champlain near Port Henry.

Adirondack Adventure Day 2: The Great Outdoors

The last time I went hiking was in 2004, in Austria, and I got tricked into it. I didn't know we'd have to hike to AlpenZoo. Erica had prepped me for a hike this time, and imagine my surprise when, despite the perfectly acceptable excuse of threatening rain, I still wanted to go. I mean, it was the Adirondacks! I had to do some hiking. Settle in because this entry is going to be a hike through about fifty narrowed-down pictures.

Before we got to Goodnow Mountain, we stopped by a waterfall.

And then Erica took me up to the site of the Tahawus Mine, which was abandoned in the 1950s. We stopped at the old furnace.

I never got a picture of the abandoned buildings, but I was shocked because they were real buildings with foundations, electricity, plumbing, etc. When Erica told me about it, I thought it would be just temporary houses. It looked like they were recreating at least one of them and making it more into a historic site.

Normally the gate to the actual mine site is closed, but this time, it just happened to be open.

The no trespassing sign didn't deter us. We just wanted to see the lake that covered the mine shaft.

And of course, there was all the iron slag from the mine's heyday. The great thing about traveling with an environmental historian (and a local) is that Erica could tell me all about it.

After our mine detour, we stopped at the foot of the trail for some lunch.

And registered. The cute little cubby for the registration book was worth going on the hike all by itself.

We climbed these steps and we were on our way up to the summit of Goodnow Mountain!

Because of the rain the day before, we rolled up our pants. Mine wouldn't stay, though, so I had to revert back to middle school and peg them.

(That still didn't really work. I ended up rolling them up into capris.)

Pictures!

We took a pretty leisurely pace, and luckily, since Erica's a smoker, she needed a breather almost as frequently as I did. (Plus, smoking break!)

What I don't like about hiking is that I get so focused on the path and getting to wherever I'm going that I forget to take a look around and enjoy what I'm actually hiking through. I tried to do that more during this hike. I really wanted to give hiking a fair chance. It was all part of my post-graduate school active lifestyle that I want to adopt.

Whoa, wait! What was that? A toad!

About three-quarters the way up, we came across a shack. The first owner of the mountain used to come up here. But apparently he came on horseback.

And just a little further, you get a motivational overlook to let you know what's ahead of you.

I tried to convince Erica that the overlook was good enough, but she wasn't buying it. She knew what was up ahead.

Finally! We reached the summit.

Umm... not such a great view, Erica. Which is why we had to climb to the top of this fire tower.

We rested at the top for a bit, though. Had a little snack. Looked around a bit.

At the top, we got the real deal. A 360 of the surrounding mountains.

We took pictures of ourselves to prove we made it!

Plus, I was feeling totally triumphant. I had conquered the mountain!

Then we had to go back down.

This guy came every year for a long time. I wonder what happened after 92.

I noticed things on the way down that I was too preoccupied to observe on my way up. Like these awesome mushrooms.

And a salamander!

Erica had packed two cold Diet Pepsis in a cooler, and the thought of it waiting for me down in the car spurred me on during tough times. It was a delightful reward!

Was the day over after the hike, though? Oh no. We still had more to see. First, a quick stop at Buttermilk Falls.

And the final stop of the day, the site of the Adirondack Wind Energy Project (AWEP), the subject of Erica's studies for the past year and her massive thesis. It's on a private road, but Erica had permission to drive up to it. And then, we found that a gate to the old Granite/Sapphire mines was open!

And, as you might expect, there was another amazing view:

And the old mine building:

Finally, on our way down the mountain, and pretty much during the whole trip, I couldn't get over the brilliance of the spring leaves. No pictures I took could truly capture the color. But of course, I tried.

That night, Erica and I partook of some well-deserved couch-potato-ness and watched horrible season finales before packing for our trip to Montreal the next day.

Adirondack Adventure Day 1: Arriving

My trip to visit Erica started off with one of the nicest airport/airplane experiences I have ever had. First of all, I hardly had to wait at all. Jenn and I timed the airport drop off perfectly. I got through security and ten minutes later I boarded a plane to Detroit. This was may first experience at the Detroit Airport. I don't know about the rest of it, but the Northwest terminal is beautiful and shiny. A tram drives noiselessly by above you and they have lots of real restaurants. Even the McDonald's looks nice. But I didn't have much time to look around. My layover was less than an hour. Did I mention I had seats right up front? This made boarding and deplaning super convenient. Each leg of the flight was less than two hours. I finished my book, read some articles in the New Yorker, and played some Yoshi's Island to pass the time. And then I landed at the Albany airport in the midst of a very rainy afternoon. The weather was off and on all weekend.

Erica and I stopped in Sarasota Springs for lunch. I had a student last semester from that town, and I kept hoping I'd run into him because how random would that be. I didn't, though. Then we did a little shopping. No matter where you're at, it's always nice to stop at TJ Maxx because you never know what they will have. This time, I found a snappy new pair of brown Diesels for under $40. And I picked up some great tees at the Gap Outlet. Needless to say, I had to leave a bag of stuff for Erica to bring back to Lafayette when she drives home next week because I didn't have room in my suitcase.

Then she took me around Lake George Village, where you can see the southern tip of Lake George.

If the weather had been nice, and if it had been post-Memorial Day Weekend when, apparently, everything opens (and the weather gets nice), we could've taken a trip on this riverboat.

OR we could've played some mini-golf at the awesome Around the World minigolf course.

(The Paul Bunyan figure represents Canada, of course.)

So I came a week too early. I had better things to do than contend with Memorial Day Weekenders from the City or, worse, New Jersey. I had a pair of cats to see, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint. I never did get a picture of Rudolpho, but here's Molly:

She's pretty bookish. If it's not the encyclopedias, it's the Atlas.

Plus, we had to find out the answers to some very important questions, like who was America's Next Top Model, who got kicked off of American Idol, and of course, whose haircut was sheer genius. We also watched the Weather Channel quite a bit because we had big hiking plans for Thursday. Luckily, the weather was kind. But more of that later.

Patience Is a Virtue, They Say

I just got home from New York and, after watching the season finale of the Bachelor, am currently downloading 399 - yes three-hundred-and-ninety-nine! - pictures from my trip to New York. I'll be documenting each day in painstaking detail, but it'll take me a while. Plus, my glamorous life has me jet-setting to Durham on Thursday to visit Mike, Amanda, and Peter, and in between all this I still have to somehow finish packing up all my junk in preparation for moving back to Utah next week. So please, be patient. I promise, the pictures are worth the wait.

I'm Off!

Or at least very early tomorrow morning I will be. I can't wait to climb these mountains:

(Picture unabashedly stolen from this slideshow.)

Practice my French in the cafes here:

And, of course, finally meet the famous Molly!

Guess I better go pack. I'll be back on Monday night, and I just might have a couple pictures to post.

Master Copy

No, it's not a new express copy place a la Kinko's. Master Copy is my new title, as of yesterday. I now hold a Master of Arts in ... whatever. My diploma doesn't specify. It gives me a great amount of flexibility. The day was full of fluttering gowns and marching, and of course, picture-taking.

Jenn and I took a quick self-portrait (not even my idea, I'll have you know) before donning our caps and gowns.

And then I dropped mom off at Elliot Hall of Music and met up with Cristen, Tom, Meredith, Jenn, and Kyle where we took unflattering pictures that I won't post (seriously, that hood choked us and, as Tyra would point out, hid our necks - totally unflattering). But I feel that for posterity's sake, I should at least post one picture of me in my attire, so here's one that Meredith took:

We lined up, and I was number 2! Katie Bi was one person behind me, so I had someone to make fake polite conversation with while waiting, and then we started marching. This is my favorite part of graduation.

Here's a short video of what it sounded and looked like to promenade, with the bells pealing Hail Purdue and the band playing.

It wasn't Pomp and Circumastance, but they played a nice little victory tune as we marched up the steps into Elliot Hall.

A lot of girls wore shoes like these:

For about two minutes, I thought about wearing my three-inch wedges because they are cute and dressy, but then I remember all the walking I would be doing and decided on my decidedly less dressy flip-flops. After hearing all the girls complain, I was glad I decided to be practical.

Inside Elliot Hall:

After sitting down, I discovered that Meredith was directly behind me, and then Cristen was hidden behind Ernest (aka the Student), so we said Hi and chatted while everyone else continued to file in.

Pearls and Kirsten found each other, too, but my favorite person in this picture is the bystander. He looks awesome.

Jenn, Mere, Cristen, and I all texted throughout the ceremony. By far, the most texts were about how much we wanted this red robe.

At one point, the ceremony was very dramatic because of the music provided by the Glee Club. It sounded a lot like the end of Star Wars: the Phantom Menace. Check it out. They made great use of the screen. During Rev. Davis's "thought," the screen had serene clouds floating past and later there was a reflection of leaves. Billowing flags made and appearance and tear-jerking pictures of Purdue that evoked no response in this hardened heart. But after President Jischke's talk on American Exceptionalism, err, the American Dream and how we can all achieve it, I got to walk across the stage, shake hands, and receive my generic Master of Arts diploma. Thus, Master Copy, if you please.

A Visitor

My mom is coming to visit for my graduation. I'm picking her up in Chicago today and playing tour guide. She's really disappointed that Oprah isn't taping a show, but I'm hoping that visiting the Art Institute, shopping, and eating stuffed crust pizza will make up for it. She'll be here for a couple days and then I leave for New York, so other than a post about graduation (maybe), I probably won't be posting until I get back from visiting Erica on the 22nd.

A Trip Up North to South Bend

I didn't want to leave Indiana without visiting Notre Dame up in South Bend (although, Tom informed me this morning that Notre Dame is actually in the city/town of Notre Dame and not South Bend after all, but we enjoyed our visit nonetheless). So Cristen and I dropped my car off at the shop to get the tail light and horn fixed. I decided five pull-overs (three in one week!) was enough. I wanted that tail light to work! And I figured I might as well have them fix my horn at the same time since it barely squeaks and only every once in a while. I gave the fellas at B&M Electronics my keys and off we went.

We drove up through some small towns with great signs, like this one for Whirlwind Ministries:

And after about 2 hours, we found ourselves in Michigan. We had overshot the mark. The plan was to stop by a Frank Lloyd Wright house in South Bend and then another between the first one and Notre Dame and then visit the campus. It would've worked so perfectly, but it still worked out well, just in reverse.

Here's what I knew about Notre Dame before visiting:

1. Rudy
2. Regis went there
3. They have a gold dome
4. Fightin' Irish
5. Lisa Bentley (who played the viola with me in junior high and high school) went there.
6. There's a Jesus that looks like he's making the sign for a touchdown!

We stopped off at the first building we saw to visit the little girl's room. As we walked inside, I wondered if there was a Regis Philbin building on campus. Lo and Behold, we had walked right into the Regis Philbin Studio Theater!

It was pretty nice, too. I thought it was a church from the outside. See what I mean?

Afterwards, we headed toward the stadium to visit "Touchdown Jesus." Did you know Notre Dame Football is so famous that they have a little museum dedicated to the Legends of Notre Dame Football?

We were going to visit it to see if they had an exhibit about Rudy, but it was closed. We walked around the stadium looking for Touchdown Jesus and tried to imagine what it would've been like to hear the crowd chanting Rudy's name.

We walked around the corner, and I found out that Touchdown Jesus isn't a sculpture after all, but a painting on a building. I admit, I was disappointed in him. I had pictured a freestanding Christus along the lines of Rio De Janiero or at least the Lady of the Rockies in Butte, Montana. Still, he was impressive.

Something really strange about Notre Dame that I'm just not used to after going to Purdue is that they actually have buildings for the ARTS!! I didn't see one engineering building, not one! Instead, they have a REAL museum, not just a little gallery in the Stewart Center. It was closed (because Monday), but still, it was nice to have it there.

They even have sculptures around campus!

And a real quad!

You can tell, I really liked the campus. I guess it helped that it was the perfect sunny, warm day. We walked over to the gold dome and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart just as the bells rung out for mass and a swarm of bees (ok, students dressed in yellow and black) came out of the building and posed for pictures.

Here's some evidence of Notre Dame pride. Reminded me of BYU and golden helmet stickers. ;)

Here's the Basilica:

I really liked the doors.

They had this nice little relief of a soldier's head, among others. I overheard a tour guide telling people that the doors were built after World War I.

Behind the gold dome and the basilica is a beautiful little park with a pond (including swans and ducks!) and a grotto.

This kids were so cute. They knew right away that the grotto was sacred ground and became soft and quiet as they got closer, and the little girl in the red dress put her finger up to her mouth. They made me smile. These tulips also made me smile. I loved how they looked in the sunlight.

Our last stop on Notre Dame's campus was to the bookstore to pick up a Fightin' Irish t-shirt. Even the bookstore looks like a church there. The store directory has an uncanny resemblance to the tablets upon which God carved the ten commandments.

Cristen and I ate lunch at the Chocolate Cafe in downtown South Bend, which is right across from the College Football Hall of Fame!

We didn't go.

Instead, we went in search of Frank's houses and snapped a few pictures of downtown along the way.

Did you know that Cellar Door is supposed to be the most beautiful phrase ever? I learned that from Donnie Darko. And here it is, in South Bend, Indiana.

We could tell the FLW house immediately. I can't imagine what it would be like to live in an FLW house and have people always driving by to look at it. It's no wonder they had the shades pulled. When we got there, another man was walking around with a camera taking pictures, too.

The other house was on the south side of town, so we had to go through the fast food and chain store district to get there. I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to get this billboard.

Smart tires? Brain tires? oooh yeah... bald tires!

Here's the other house:

And yes, the same man was spotted across the street wielding his camera. His plates were from Illinois. I wonder if he's on some Frank Lloyd Wright tour. He looked kind of professory, though, so maybe he's writing a paper. Ah, for a second that made me nostalgic about my old dreams of becoming a professor.

"The End of the World As We Know It" Bowling Party

Friday was a big last hurrah before Erica left for New York, breaking up (perhaps forever!) our little group of friends. We celebrated with dinner at LBC (for old time's sake) and then bowling. Bousquet totally pulled a Katie by pretending to go bowling and then going home instead. Not cool, Bousquet. I was hoping that since Bousquet didn't come, the others would let me use the bumpers, but they didn't. My score totally suffered. I won't even post it, it's so embarrassing. AND it was cosmic bowling, which made it hard to take pictures, but beyond these disappointments, it was a great night. Here are a few pictures:

I also picked up my cap and gown (with hood) on Friday! Here's a quick sneak peak at the awesomeness of this attire.

The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get

Ok, I know I've already posted three times today (what can I say, school's out!), but I can't resist posting this little gem of a YouTube video. I remember catching it one day after school and thought it was brilliant. It came up on in conversation at Nine Irish Brothers the other night (ok, I brought it up and now I can't remember why), so I thought I'd see if I could find it again. I love YouTube for just this reason. Enjoy Bill Nye's rendition of a Morrissey classic. (I used to have a Morrissey bumper sticker of this phrase. I wonder what happened to it.)

Missed Opportunity

I am watching the news while I eat leftover Chinese from last night, and get this, I missed out on applying for Deal or No Deal! Apparently, there was a casting call yesterday in Indianapolis. This makes me so mad! I would've rocked that show.

This has taught me a lesson, though. If I really want to fulfill my dream of going on the gameshow circuit (you know, jeopardy, wheel, d or nd, price is right, 1 vs 100, identity, and even are you smarter than a 5th grader?), I really need to start getting organized.

Huzzah for Tanker!

Happy Birthday to one of my dearest friends!

He doesn't like this picture, but it's one of my favorites.

Nine Irish Brothers

On Saturday, I took time off from writing my thesis (or at least, thinking about writing my thesis - ha!) to meet up with friends at Nine Irish Brothers to celebrate the brief return of BJ to Lafayette. BJ was looking pretty skinny. Apparently he's been running a lot, but I'm going to blame his recent switch to vegetarianism. According to a horribly-researched paper by one of my students, vegetarianism inevitably leads to anorexia, so that must be what's happening here. ;)

BJ, Tom, and Cassie:

I didn't take too many other pictures that night. Believe it or not, but I sometimes get shy with pulling out the camera. But Cristen did persuade me (easy to do) to take a sassy self-portrait with her.

Poor Bousquet. People are always harassing him for a picture.

I spent a lot of the night trying to avoid these two, who are professors on my committee. I did not want them to ask me about my thesis.

But the best news of the night was that Tom and Cassie are engaged!

Also, it was Tom's birthday! He's one of my favorite people. He and Cassie are moving west to Reno, so I plan on visiting! They will have to scope out all the good buffets and casinos.

No More Homework, No More Books

No more teacher's dirty looks! Well, maybe not the no more books thing because I like to read and I'm actually excited about being done with school because now I can catch up on my reading. Wait, what was that I just said - done with school. Done. That's right, I'm all done with school, possibly forever! (But probably not.)

I just handed in my thesis. Now I just have to grade papers. I guess that's kind of like school.