Smorgasboard.

It took way too many tries to get this shot!

In lieu of going through my pictures and posting them with the hope that blogger won't mess up, here's a link to the Picasa album. If that doesn't work, let me know! It was an excellent trip, but I really need to take more pictures!

Today's was Farmer's Market Day...$27! This will be the last one for a few weeks, until we're settled in the new place. Two week hiatus. Ouch.
*10 peaches
*6 ears of corn
*watermelon
*cantaloupe
*pint of mixed cherry tomatoes
*cucumber
*2 eggplants
*6 poblano peppers
*2 green peppers
*2 yellow onions

And last but not least, say goodbye to:

Oh Bessie, you'll be greatly missed for your carpooling to bowling and your sporty spoiler.

And hello to:

Oh...new car. I'm still working on a name for you. But I think you're a boy.

This is my "new" 2005 Honda Civic LX. It's not the best picture, I'll try to get some better ones! I got it on Thursday. So yay, and finally! I'm going to miss my van, but it was getting to be a pain. People were already looking at it at the dealer before we even got the plates onto my new car. I hope it finds a good home. *tear* I have to take it over to the dealer on Monday to get detailed, and then it'll be CLEAN and mine :-)

Farmer's Bounty!

Last week's farmer's market haul: $25
*2 eggplants
*1 lb green beans
*1 zucchini
*1 cucumber
*1 overfilled pint of baby red potatoes
*4 ears of bicolor sweet corn
*1 large yellow tomato, 4 yellow cherry tomatoes, 1 heirloom striped "roma" tomato
*LARGE bunch of basil
*1 pint blackberries

This week's farmer's market haul: $17
*2 large red tomatoes
*1 lb tomatillos
*1 red onion
*1 white onion
*1 bunch of scallions
*2 generous handfuls of green beans
*9 peaches
*1 bunch cilantro
*5 jalapeno peppers

I LOVE IT. It's worth getting up early on a Saturday to get all that fresh produce. My friend from work and I are making this a regular event. We might even try to find a U-Pick farm to get fresh berries!

Finally, A Trip Post!

So my mom and I were in Maryland for roughly 8 days. Sunday was the first of those! It was pretty boring, but RELAXING. Until we tried to drop my sister off at Georgetown in the middle of Washington DC. Then Sunday was hellish. All ended well though, and despite getting turned around MANY times, we ended up back at my Aunt and Uncle's house. We ate at the Congressional Country Club for dinner (I had amazing fried calamari and delicious prime rib), and basically called it a day. They literally live around the corner from the club, so it was a crying shame that the outdoor pool was closed for the summer.

Monday was one of two shopping days. We went to Target (Rockville MD) and my mom and I were both impressed that it had a 5 story parking garage and 2 store levels (including a cart escalator!). We also went to a Bed Bath and Beyond that was certainly beyond--it had an entire section of stuff you'd typically get at CVS (shampoo, hair dye, lotion, body wash, etc). The moral of the story is that the Maryland/DC area is totally different from Ohio. Chico's was also a stop on our outing. What fun that store is--they have 4 sizes, 0-3. I'm a 0! Heh. Unless I want sleeves that are long enough, then I need a different store. I got a really cool necklace and earring combo that I'm trying to find reasons to wear ALL THE TIME! As Kindred Spirits was another stop. I didn't get anything, but they had a lot of neat jewelry and little gifts. Whole Foods was the last stop on our outing, and it was awesome. It's certainly bigger than the Whole Foods that's up the street from me, and it made me a teeny bit jealous. My new aim is to find a bigger Whole Foods in Columbus (as there is only one other, I need to go visit it).

Tuesday we went to the National Zoo! We started the day off watching a baby elephant get his spa treatment. Then we saw the pandas!! I wasn't able to get very good shots of them, because the baby refused to turn around and face us. Very cute though! Other highlights included meerkats! baby goats! orangutans!

Tuesday was my favorite dinner day--Bethesda Crab House! What an experience! I was a little leery of it since it's not crab legs, it's whole crabs with all their...stuff...still inside. In the end it was AWESOME. I honestly cannot wait to go back. It was delicious and fun. What more can you ask from a meal?! We also went to Gifford's for ice cream, and I finally found the replacement ice cream to one from a local shop. Peppermint ice cream, yum!

Wednesday was day 2 of shopping. My mom made the mistake of mentioning that I needed something to wear to a wedding I'm going to in September, so that was the main shopping goal. The first shop we went to was Lucy--I bought a really cute knit racerback dress in magenta. We had Japanese for lunch and I experienced my favorite sweet potato cooking method--tempura! Delish! Then we popped over to the mall (specifically Nordstrom's and Macy's) where I got a basic little black dress for any occasion and a black "bubble" dress for fun occasions. I also got jewelry to wear with the LBD for the wedding, so the last thing I need to find is a shrug or little jacket. It was an exhausting day though--8 hours of shopping. Not my cup of tea, but once in a blue moon is okay.

Thursday we recovered. So tired! I also worked on reading The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. My aunt suggested I read it, so I did while I was there. It was a great book and had a very interesting premise.

Friday, mom and I went to DC. We mastered the Metro! We started off at Madame Tussaud's, which was a blast. It left me wanting to go to one of the bigger Madame Tussaud's though! After that, we just wandered around and ate lunch at the Ronald Reagan Trade Center (or some name like that, heh). Then we went on the DC By Foot walking tour, which was great and I highly recommend it! We went at a relatively easy pace and our tour guide found plenty of shade for us. We walked right up to the Washington Monument (but not inside), learned some trivia about the Captiol, learned about Jefferson Memorial (too far away to walk to!), walked through the WWII memorial (my favorite), walked past the Vietnam wall and smaller monument, and ended on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Very informative, and certainly better than trying to do it on our own. My mom and I also walked over to the Korean War memorial, and revisited the WWII memorial. Then we walked up to see the White House, where we saw his helicopter take off. We managed to fit a lot in without feeling overwhelmed. I'm definitely making plans to go back, so I can do more stuff!

Saturday we went to Mount Vernon (after retrieving my sister from Georgetown), which was very pretty. What a great location for Washington's house--right on the Potomac River. I'm also always a dork for homes from the past, so that was very cool. Washington's tomb was cool too, I want to go back to see that again (too many people right in front of it!).

Sunday was our last tourist day. Fittingly for a Sunday, we went to the National Cathedral. Absolutely gorgeous architecture! Gorgeous stained glass! There's an observation gallery on the 7th floor and you can see the whole area surrounding--all the way to Washington, where the Washington monument looks like a tiny speck! We went on the tour and learned a TON of information about the different chapels and the cathedral itself. I want to go back after learning how to take better stained glass pictures in the dark. That night we had Thai for dinner, and it was great! My first Thai experience, and it was definitely a good one.

And Monday was our travel home day. It was a great, relaxing, fun trip. I loved hanging out with my 11-year-old female cousin all week (my 13-year-old male cousin spent the week brushing up on his golf skills to be able to make the high school golf team). I can't wait to go back!!

I'll put up another entry with pictures. It was enough just to type this out!! Thanks for reading!

Yes, I am alive.

I'm back from vacation (have been since Thursday!), but I've been a little lethargic in addition to getting back into the swing of working all weekend. I'm not ready for the whole breakdown yet, but I wanted everyone to know I'm still here!

In all, it was a mighty good break--from Columbus, from work, from general stress.

Look for an update somewhere around Wednesday!

Ready for Vacation!

Or...almost ready. I haven't actually packed OR thought about what I'm taking. All my clothes are clean though, so that's a start. And I know what types of clothes I need to take (answer: all types).

I am ready for the sightseeing though! We're going to be close to DC, so I decided to look up all the things that we could do there. Washington has a pretty cool website with a list of things to do in DC (and the general area). I really want to do the "Bike and Roll" tour, where you rent a bike and ride around on a guided tour of DC (or at the very least National Mall). I have to convince my mom on that one though. There's also a very cool sounding FREE guided walking tour (DC by Foot) that I am most definitely doing. Of course, there's always the Smithsonian. And a trip to the National Zoo is a must (it's FREE!). At some point we're also going to the Bethesda Crab House, where you order your crabs, they cook 'em up and dump 'em on the table, and you whack 'em open with mallets. I'm very excited about that!

All in all, I'm now very excited for the actual TRIP, and not just getting away from life here for awhile. I don't remember much of the first bunch of times I've been to DC, so I'm hoping to make this one memorable. And I'll take lots of pictures!!

Yay/Nay

Yay for finally knowing that we'll have an apartment come August. Granted, it's the end of August and will lead to a few very stressful days of moving, but we have a place to live! Hopefully we'll have a couch and dining room chairs soon too, but I'm not too up in the air about those items. However, a bed (or at the very least a mattress and frame) are a top priority for me right now.

Nay for putting the car search on hold due to financial woes. I thought I had managed to find the perfect car for a good deal ('05 Honda Civic Ex with 18,000 miles for $14,495), but the details wouldn't work out with paying for it (and insurance). Blah.

Yay to going to Maryland in about a week. I'm hoping for some crab (as I do on all vacations). Nay to working the next 8 days out of 9. Here's to hoping I make good money by doing so.

Sadness

Rest in Peace--Lauren Elizabeth Brian.
May 20, 1985-June 28, 2008

Just One More Thing to Deal With...

I spent some time at home this past week due to some horrible pains. My pain was rotten enough to prompt an ER visit on Sunday morning, but after 4 hours of not being seen at OSU ER, my mom and grandma picked me up and carted me back home. After going to the ER there, an ultrasound on Monday, and a follow-up visit on Wednesday, I was told I probably have endometriosis. It's only firmly diagnosed via surgery (a laproscopy), so for now it's a waiting game to see if I have as much pain next month.

I was happy to be home in spite of the circumstances. I spent time with my sister making jewelry from a kit that I gave her for her birthday. I went a little crazy with it--4 pair of earrings, 3 necklaces, and 1 bracelet. It was fun :-) Sadly I missed out on going to Cedar Point with my work friends, which was a huge total bummer.

Everything else is going along. We're still waiting to hear about our apartment, but hopefully we'll be moving in mid-August. Work is fine, much slower than normal. I need to get out and celebrate summer--I'm thinking of heading down to the pool one morning to lay out and read. I need some sun, dood! My brother got a hamster, so now there are two of them in our apartment. His is a girl and she is pretty darn cute and fluffy! The car search is going nowhere, but I really need to get a start on it. I don't want to be a grown up!

This is my life...of course.

I'll start off with a few good things, and move onto the crappy. I'm finally completely finished with undergrad, unless something comes up in applying for Optometry school. It doesn't really feel real; I'm sure come September when I'm not taking classes, then it will finally sink in! Work is still work, except a little hotter since summer started. The A/C in our building doesn't operate too well since it's old. Luckily, the customers don't notice nearly as much as the staff does. I visited home this past week, which was fun and relaxing. I also visited my boyfriend's home which was also fun, albeit a bit less relaxing (we spent Sunday building a grill for his dad--fun times with 4 boys!).

So speaking of that trip (to Cincinnati), we drove back Sunday evening. Now, I knew that my A/C wasn't working, so we drove most of the way back with the windows open. About 20 miles from Columbus we shut the windows and turned on the A/C just to get some air flow in the van. As we got off the highway, we both realized that the van was making a horrible roaring noise. We shut off the A/C, which did nothing. We pulled into a gas station, quickly shut the van off and opened the hood (as if either of us would have SEEN anything). A passerby asked what was
wrong and I told him. He had me turn the van back on and upon hearing it, told me that the clutch on the A/C was stuck. That in turn would break the serpentine belt if allowed to continue, and then all chaos would break loose. So, I had to call AAA (thankfully we have it) and finally at 10:45pm Sunday night my van was towed to the nearest Tuffy Auto Service Center (and the tow truck guy drove us home!) Monday morning my boyfriend and I walked to Tuffy (the van is the only transportation for myself, my boyfriend and my brother) and let them know what was up. Meanwhile, my family came down and picked us up so we could still go home as planned.

So...my van needed a new compressor and the works for the A/C, a grand total of $917.50. OUCH. We're starting to think that maybe it's time to trade in the van and look at a new car for me. I'm scared of that process, because I love my little van a lot. It's only 8 years old, but it's slowly starting to go. Sam thinks the transmission will conk out next, which is uh, NOT GOOD. It's a situation I really don't want to be in :-( Especially because of looking at finances, I would be much better off with a car instead of a van or SUV. I want a bigger vehicle because that's what I've driven since I started with my temporary license. The only cars I've driven are a Ford Taurus (big) and a Buick Century (bigger). Ack. I'm not ready!!! But I also don't want to be stranded if my van finally bites a big one. Again, cars suck!

Fluff and Stuff.

Tomorrow I turn 23 (23!). Sheesh. I'm not sure how time has flown so quickly since high school!! I'm taking one last class, and the final for that is on Thursday. That will officially bring to an end my undergraduate career. Then onto the next obstacle--applying for optometry school. Fun!

In other news, I'm finally hanging out with people from work. We went bowling on Sunday evening, followed by Sunday Funday at a local bar (in celebration of one coworker's birthday). It was a lot of fun, even though I was the DD (I was sick with a stomach flu thing on Saturday, so I didn't feel like risking drinking!). I really like most of the people I work with, and that's all a girl can ask, right? Yay for new friends!


And now for studying. Then tonight, crab legs for my birthday! Yum.