Picture post!

It's a rainy day, I haven't blogged about life's happenings in a while, and I have acquired quite a fabulous collection of fotos from the past 2 months or so . . . so here are some pictures. Enjoy.

Birthday eve: Fun with the exercise ball

Birthday eve: TOO MUCH fun with the exercise ball

Birthday eve visit from Matt Street. 

My birthday cake before it was baked

We tie-dyed the cake, icing, chip dip, and shirts. 

A piece of the cake

Every time we cut a new piece, it was a brand new surprise. So delightful.

We didn't want to dye each other.

The party wouldn't have been complete without Fruit Stripe gum (and the tattoos, of course)

Our Nacho party! We ate nachos and watched Nacho Libre. I lahved it.

We have a pretty large living room, and we didn't even really have room for everyone who came. It was the bayyst!

Josh and I made Nacho masks! Love this boy so much. He's fanTAstic!

Debra modeling the cape and mask. 

Anaconda squeeeeeze!

"Summon your eagle powers!"
"What do you think I am doing?!"

They are my . . . recreation clothes.

I had a really bad day a couple of weeks ago so Debra bought me some smiley face balloons. For reals y'all, I have the best roommates ever.

First prank of the Halloween season: Doughnut mountain by our door. 

. . . and in Maddie's bike basket. 

Conquering the pile of doughnuts. 

. . . Conquering the pile of doughnuts. 

Oh yeah, I forgot, they also left some milk. Mmmm. 

Remind me why I posted this? Oh yeah, because it's hilarious.  AND super flattering.

Sometimes Debra and I are hotties.

Other times we're in the air.

(Photo credits go to my dear sweet Madelane.)

In other news:

Last Friday night, Debra and I got bored and decided to go buy a couple of pet fish. We bought an Oranda (we named him Ron Weasley, since he has an orange head) and a Black Moor. We named that one Othello. (Tee hee, right?) Now, we picked Ron because he was very friendly in the tank. We put our finger up to it and when all the other fish swam away, Ron followed our fingers. He liked us! So he was a keeper. Othello won our hearts with his awkward shimmy-swim. He was kind of the runt, too, so of course he was cuter than the others. After we got home and put them in their bowl, Ron started spazzing out (I think it was because of his reflection) and swimming backward all the time. We kept a close eye on them on Saturday, but all we could see was that Othello seemed very happy and Ron did not. With further observation, I realized that Othello's head was heavier than the rest of him, which made him have to wiggle his fins in that really funny way to keep from having to swim with his head straight down. Great, I thought, we got the quirkiest fish! They won't be boring! Well since life with these fish couldn't be boring, we came home from church on Sunday and Othello was dead. That's right, we only kept him alive for a day and a half. He had sunk to the bottom head first, with the rest of his body straight up. Heavy headed Othello. It's too bad, because I liked him the most! We decided it was Ron's fault, so we renamed him Iago. Mostly I just call him "the fish," but whatevers. I just hope I'm a better parent to my real children someday.

Fall is here and it is oh so wonderful! Of course, it's no North Carolina autumn, but it's still great. Pumpkin spice hot chocolate has changed my world. I still haven't had enough free time to read for fun; I have given up on finding time to read Mockingjay and The Book Thief. I just can't justify reading for fun when my school work isn't done, and it never gets done until ridiculous hours of the night. I am craving a fun read, though, and I know once I pick it up I won't put it down. So Thanksgiving will be glorious.

My parents have finally found a house! I'm not sure how many of you were aware of the situation, but they had moved out of the house and were uncertain of where they were going to live. With Daddy's health and the finances the way they are, everything was very stressful and slow-moving. All the unknowns were killing me. I really just wanted to fly out there and help them, but all I could do from here was pray. But guess what? Prayers are answered for dang sure! I am so grateful for it, too.

I did an observation at the English Language Center the other day and it was such a good experience. It reconfirmed my decision to go into TESOL and reminded me why I loved the idea of it so much. Sometimes when I'm getting caught up with my classes and homework and the stress of everyday life, it's easy to lose sight of why I'm going through all of it. It was a nice reminder, and I am so excited to start applying the things I'm learning.

Maddie and Debra and I joined a dinner group. We meet Monday through Thursday every week, and there are about 10 of us. This means that apart from weekends, each of us only has to cook once every 2 weeks or so. And yet we still get awesome meals! I think it is one of the best decisions I've ever made. Aside from the fantastic food, the people in the group are just wonderful. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I LOVE MY WARD.

I got locked out of my house a couple of weeks ago without my shoes or phone. Luckily I have very kind neighbors! I was able to go over to the rental office and borrow a key so that I didn't have to pay 35 dollars to have someone come and open it for me. I used my watch as collateral and felt like I was in some sort of multi-million-dollar deal of some sort.

I am going through another Motown phase and every time a song by Stevie Wonder comes on my Pandora station I just can't help but grin for the rest of the day. And dance a lot.

I finally saw Toy Story 3 and cried my eyeballs out for the last 15 minutes.

Joey and I are going to see Ingrid Michaelson on Tuesday.  (!!!)

Life just gets more and more beautiful every day, that's all.