Tying up loose ends

"brand new notebooks" (page 2)

Ahhhh, school supply shopping. Little more makes me happier. I just love walking into a Staples or Office Depot/Max and taking in that fresh paper scent. I really could spend hours (and hundreds of dollars) in those stores. I figured this was an appropriate thing to be happy about as I prepare to journey to D.C. in order to participate in classes and intern at a program through Georgetown University. It is definitely yet another season of new notebooks and novel experiences.

These past few days were spent at Dillon's lake house in Southern Massachusetts in honor

of the long Memorial Day weekend. What a great treat! We spent the weekend canoeing, kayaking, swimming, hanging out with Dill's parents, grandma, and aunt/uncle, having cookouts, and just having a regular good ol' time. As I gear up for the ensured insanity of my D.C. program, it was nice to have a little time to relax!

Spending the day on the lake

The canoe that Dill constructed himself

The puzzle Dill, his father, and I (mostly the men) spent time tackling

Hanging out with the birdie who's 20th birthday is today (the 1st)!

Yesterday (I spose I should say that since it's past midnight), Dill and I drove back into Burlington and I discovered that I got my room back from my subletter! Whoo hoo! I won't have time to totally unpack before I leave, but it'll be nice to get my stuff into one space.

I met up with Margaret, one of my roommates from the first half of the Belize semester, in the evening and we went downtown and had dinner with one of her friends and then hung out with her subletter on her porch on Isham. Tomorrow, I'm going to do a bit of room cleaning/reorganizing and then help Margaret move some stuff into her apartment. Haylley, who's subletting from Marian, is getting back from Texas tomorrow, and hopefully Margaret and I will be able to meet up with a couple other Belize people who are back in the area. What a busy day!

The rest of this week will be filled with shoving my possessions in my unfinished (in the organizing sense) room and helping other friends move in as well as get myself ready to move on out for my next adventure. Life might be crazy, but at least it's never boring!

So many creemees, so little time

"the ketchup that collects at the lip of the bottle" (page 3).

Now if you know anything about me, you know that I am OBSESSED with ketchup. I put it on everything. Well, almost everything (no, i stray away from its addition to things such as ice cream and chocolate). This thing to be happy about somewhat perplexes me. I really don't enjoy the ketchup that collects on the lip of the bottle, especially not the stuff in the cap--It collects and gets kind of gooey, which is not the type of ketchup I enjoy. But I guess it's all just personal preference. I mean, does she just enjoy watching the ketchup collect on the lip of the bottle? Or does she enjoy eating it? Christ. Why is this book so complicated?!

Well, after a lovely week away from Burlington, I finally got BACK to lovely Burlington, which was excellent. I really missed it! I also finally got to hang out with some people who I haven't seen in forever, which was great. I forgot to mention that I had lunch with Trav earlier this week, so it was great to see another Belize buddy!

When I got back Sarah had finally returned home and later in the day we went to the beach. This seagull spent an incredible amount of time trying to get into some muffin-sort of plastic packaging, which is near and dear to my own heart. Sometimes you've just gotta have the goods.

We made some excellent dinner, heavily seasoned with complete seasoning, and then I dropped Sarah off at her dinner event like any good mother does. I met up with Amanda for creemees at Burlington Bay, a classic summer event, and as we were there we watched a HUGE storm roll in. It was insane! We watched sky go from calm and clear to clouds rolling in with huge lightening bursts. It was definitely the worst storm we've had since last summer (when it hailed...twice!)

After some hangout time withe Amanda at Redstone Apartments, I came home and

literally thought I was going to die from the heat. Man, you lose your tolerance FAST! People won't believe that I just lived in Belize for 4 months with the lack of heat tolerance I've developed.

Thursday, Sarah and I went and did some serious work clothes shopping. I finally have all the "young professional" clothing that I need for D.C., thank God. After catching lunch with a friend I went to the beach at Oakledge Park with a group and did some fantastic grilling and frisbee playing. No, my frisbee skills have NOT improved from last summer. Then I biked to Bradley Street to celebrate a friend's birthday and was lovingly given a ride home by Sarah, Isaac, and crew on their way back from Sex and the City 2, which apparently is not all it's cracked up to be.

Yesterday I slept in and then went to Recycle North (or REsource, as it is now called....not a fan) and did some major bargain shopping which involved me getting a whole shopping cart worth of kitchen stuff for $10. Damn, I love that place. Later in the day, Sarah, Isaac, and I hiked (or as Isaac says, "strolled") up Mount Philo, which was great because it was right when the sun was starting to set.

Vermont is such a gorgeous state. I kept up my reputation as the sweater, because even as the sun was going down I continued to emit copious amounts of liquid. Mmm, mmm, mmmmhhhhmmm. I decided to take this tree picture in honor of the multiple pictures like that that I have of me in Belize.

Sarah and I came home and made a lovely dinner and then went out for CREEMEES. Like I said, this

becomes a staple of my Nurlington summer. I can't help it--I think that Burlington Bay puts crack in their creemees. Dillon arrived after getting a little confused as to where exactly Sarah and I were, and then we came home and I tried to make a packing list for D.C. Oh dear. Fitting my life into a suitcase...AGAIN.

Today, Dill and I are off to his family's lake house in Southern Massachusetts for the the holiday weekend, which should be a lot of fun. It's

going to be a weekend filled with lots of food and canoeing as well as family

time :-)

Next week I'm getting ready to take off for D.C., as well as helping Miss Winter

move into her apartment and hanging with Haylley when she returns. Now if I

actually get in any sleep is another matter all together....

Catching Up

"the position of your head as you bite into a taco" (page 1)

Okay, so if you know me at all, I'm sure you weren't expecting me to pick normal things to be happy about. Well, rest assured, you will not be let down. Let's explore this one. Imagine someone's head as their biting into a taco--A little lopsided, titled back a little incase any disasters occur with falling-apart tacos (if you stuff them like I do, this is a major problem). And then things get subjective. Just about everyone is more comfortable tilting their head to one side as opposed to the other when the do such a motion, so which are you? Be honest, who didn't just hold up an imaginary taco to figure out which way the prefer putting their head? I happen to go to the right, personally. I guess now it's up to us to deduce why exactly this is something to be happy about. Because people look funny when they are sitting there trying to not make a mess of themselves? Because each person has a particular way of going about it? It's up to you to decide. Hey, I said that I would put these tidbits out there, not that I was going to give you the answers to happiness. I didn't say this was going to be easy.... 0:-)

Well, as usual, my life is never sedentary. My life Stateside is borderline more insane than my life in Central America. As per usual, my return flight from Belize encountered an array of problems, but in the end the passengers prevailed and I arrived back in the States a little after midnight in the wee hours of May 3rd. good ol' Dad was up and waiting for me at the airport. I had a nice 5 days at home where I got to relax at home and "debrief" as my life flip-flopped once again. Kendall and I, as usual, were nutso and went out to Wendy's for ice cream looking as such:

Then came May 8, the day to go back to Burlington! Gee, was I excited. I hadn't been home in almost 5 months. I arrived home on a delayed flight (how surprising), and there was Mr. Dill Pickle waiting to pick me up! Being reunited, of course, was fantastic. We went home and I chatted with Marian and Sarah before hitting the hay at some absurdly late bedtime.

Here is what I was up to for the first week and a half of being home:

Dill and I after volunteering at Lund Family Center's Mother's Day Bike Ride (an event put on by the non-profit where I interned for 9 months before leaving for Belize). It snowed that morning and it was May 9th!

The trio is finally reunited once again :-D

Catching up with my high school buddies, Megan and Kaitlin.

The Belize reunions begin! This is Winter, Caitlin, myself, and Matt at Caitlin's birthday celebration in Burlington.

More Belize reunions: Winter, myself, Sara, and Emily trying to adjust to New England temperatures whilst spending the night on Jared's island camp in Hinesburg on Lake Iroquoi.

Sara, Jared, and I decided to head out to her grandparent's condo in Stowe and hang out for a couple nights. (I have no idea how to turn off this underlining madness)

Sara and I did a bit of adventuring around the beautiful area surrounding the Stowe ski resort.

Sara came with me on the fateful journey to Moe's so I could once again be reunited with my greatest love in life.

After all this loveliness, I decided to head to the Granite State, AKA New Hampsha, to visit Miss Winter Heath. She was visiting in Burlington so I drove her home and stayed for a few days. She and I did so many activities!

This is Winter's cat, Chuck Norris. He evidently loves me.

Winter schooled me in the ways of tie dye so we could preserve our La Ruta Maya shirts that were yucky from the blood, sweat, and tears we lost during the canoe race.

Chutter's! The longest candy counter in the world. New Hampshire's claim to fame now that the Man in the Mountain has crashed into the lake below.

Ah, yes, maturity.

Outback of the house where Winter grew up across town.

Myself, Winter, and her friend Michelle enjoying the finally wonderful New England weather.

Picnic-ing in the backyard

Winne and I overlooking Littleton.

Win with the family's truck, Big Pimpin'.

Winter's friend Kori, myself, Winter, and Winter's little sister, Taylor, all enjoying a campfire and some s'mores.

Win and I on the chairs we bought yard sale-ing that we're going to repaint.

How we kept ourselves occupied the whole time I was there.

Yes, we did seriously wear these all around town and document it.

After this bonding period in New Hampshire, I headed down to Westminster to visit my lumberjacking boyfriend. We had some good times in the middle-of-nowhere Vermont. It is redeemed by its beauty.

Me overlooking the local beaver pond.

Dill and I on our adventure through the woods.

We tried to get as Vermont-redneck as possible. I think we did pretty well!

Dill taught me how to drive a tractor!

Pulled pork pancakes....Don't knock it 'till you try it!

Flowers that Dill Pickle brought me....Happy girlfriend!

Today, I'm finally heading back up to Burlington. Sarah and I are gunna catch some rays and I'm going to spend the next few days catching up on my life in a variety of ways. I'm looking forward to getting on top of my to-do list again!

A little background....

Before I begin updating you on the current happenings of my life, I figure I should give a little background on how I got here. It goes like this:

Once upon a time, I was a baby.

I was born in Virginia and lived there for 10 years. This is Ginny. I've known her for approximately forever.

And even though incidents like this happen, she still puts up with me.

This is Mum, my grandmother. She was the best. She was like my 3rd parent for a long time. I miss her quite a bit.

When I was 10, we moved to Georgia. This is where we lived.

The five years we spent in Georgia turned me into a Southern girl at heart. If I have it my way, that's where I'll return soon.

Just a few cultural items...

Even though it's hard to explain to these Yankees, it's where I belong :-)

When I was nearly 16, my family up and moved to Vermont. Helloooooooo culture shock!

Hanging out in Emma's basement in 10th grade

Even though it was rough at first, I had some pretty good times finishing up high school in this crazy state. Clearly, normalcy is not my thing.

MMU's prom, senior year

Essex's prom, senior year

Just some sumo-wrestling with Elise

Then, in June 2007, I graduated from high school. CRAZY!

And although it wasn't exactly my plan, I ended up beginning a stellar college career at Groovy Uvy.

Just introducing myself as the normal person I am on TREK 2007

Ariel and I moving out of our dorm room at the end of sophomore year

The summer after my freshman year, my parents thought it would be cool to move again. Not really, it was actually out of necessity. But either way, they packed up their stuff and moved to Minnesota. So I guess my family did the child-separating-from-family-during-college thing a little backwards. Here are my parents and I at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, outside of Minneapolis.

Since I wasn't feeling too keen on living in state where I knew all of 3 people (my parents and little sister), I spent the summer after my freshman year as the adopted child of the Sikoras in Georgia :-) They're one of my second families.

Andrea and I at the top of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee

Here's some of my immediate family. These are my 3 siblings.

Me, Kendall, Jon and Monika

This is Kendall reading to my fat cat, Prince.

Our family is expanding; I've got a nephew on the way! Here's his hot mamma.

And here he is! He's due in July :-D

This is the apartment where I live now. Note the cow duvet. This was moving in during May last year. Right now my subletter is still in my room, but when she moves out, I'm planning on doing some major room re-organization.

These are my 2 roommates. I've known them since the first day of school. We just keep living together because we can't seem to get sick of each other. It's an excellent arrangement :-)

Sarah, Marian, and I

This is me and my lumberjack boyfriend, Dillon. We're a little insane, but I find it makes us work well together.

An important fact to know about me is that I spent the last 4 months of my life studying abroad in Belize. It was quite a random occurrence in my life--I was planning on graduating a semester early, but instead heard about the program, applied, got accepted, and decided to go in a 9 day period. No time to rest on one's laurels here! It was quite an amazing, life changing experience. Couldn't be more glad I went! There, I did things like:

Sleep outside on islands.

South Water Caye

Participate in 170 mile canoe races.

Make some of the bestest friends :-)

Climb ancient Maya ruins.

Caracol

Attempt to bike ride over 100 miles, fail, and then hitchhike back to town.

Me and Trav guy

Watch sunsets wrapped in sheets.

See lots of fishies!

These are the two crazy cats I lived with the first half of the semester, Dani and Marge.

And these are the two ladies who dealt with me for the second eight weeks :-)

Oh the things that Emily and Winter put up with

By golly, I love this group.

Our group on a dock in Guatemala, sans Matt

And there you have it! Now, for those of you who were unsure about my past, you officially have some serious insight into where I've come from. I'll write more about my current endeavors tomorrow.

Normally I'll begin my entries with my daily dose of cheer and discussion, but I thought clearing up my life took precedence in this beginning entry. So now I am faced with choosing the very first thing that I share with you to be happy about. I have 14,000 to chose from, and I feel like this is a crucial moment, because this decision could influence people's opinions of this here blog of mine. I think I found a good one summer is beginning:

"an alarm clock that would tell you when to wake up--and why" (page 10)

Who WOULDN'T want that, particularly in the summer when it's too hot to feel like doing anything worth doing.That would make me happy! Imagine if your alarm clock not only went off at 6:45AM, but also motivated you to get out of bed by reminding you that today's pay is what's going to buy that new rug you wanted or is going to get you closer to taking that next adventure your planning. Heck, I wouldn't even mind if my alarm clock made stuff up to get me out of bed--Once I'm up and running, there are few things that can slow me down.

WELL, I hope that y'all are please with your deeper understanding of my life, as well as the first joyful tidbit I have shared. Enjoy this gorgeous weather!