home again home again...sad face

so..craig was here and is gone. he was supposed to stay longer but it started blizzarding in maryland and they were scared he wouldnt be able to get home later this week, so his trip was cut short. and todoay we are celebrating kimberleys sweet 16! wow. time goes faster as you get older i guess. crazy.. she drives this year.

so she went into the city with some friends and mom and dad went along too, to stress, and me and erika stayed home to shovel the driveway and do birthday decorations! EXCELLENT.

im sad craig had to leave early and didnt get to be a part of this, but he has like major surgery and stuff he has to go to at john hopkins. mmm lovely.

poor craig.

i think kim is having fun.

the driveway is really snowy.

me and erika also shoveled the neighbors, just to be nice. because they are old.

i got kim lavender soap and a handmade polish pottery bowl thing from a vegan cafe in MD.

i think she liked them.

we have been getting lots of snow. i love it. snow makes everything beautiful.

Happy Sweet 16 little sister!

I love you!

bus rides

I am a second semester college freshman! I made it. and have no plans of dropping out!

guess what?

im on a bus. and on the internet!!! wow i love technological advances.

guess who else is on the bus... headed to nyc...CRAIG.

pah!

he is still coming even though i told him my parents are going to make him sleep in the basement. (even happy gets to sleep upstairs...poor craig)

it is a 6 1/2 hour bus ride. so far we have had a pretty intense photo shoot. and checked email.

ALSO... it was recently my birthday!!

and i had a fabulous birthday!

craig made me stay up until midnight. and then ben wasser called and we put him on speaker and he sang me happy birthday with craig. and then craig gave me a beautiful necklace handcrafted by this awesome lady, and the pendant was made by this tribe in africa and its just a perfect gift. Then i had two exams, and then tons of people wished my happy birthday, and my ex room mate gave me presents!! paint tray and burts bees lipgloss! awesome! and then me and craig got really dressed up and went out to dinner and drank really nice wine.

Wednesday had more finals in store, but then we packed up and headed out!

and spent the night at craigs house (where his mommy and daddy had MORE birthday presents for me) ...LOVE THEM. his mom and dad and also the presents. i got this adorable little childrens book, which is so sweet and so ME. and then also art pens and metallic markers and a watercolor pad, and organic soap! and it made me so happy! its like they've known me forever. so then we packed up and slept, and took showers, and then headed out, and now we are on a bus to NYC. and i am SUPER excited to be going there to see friends and everything. especially with craig. i think the plan is.. caroling tonight/ tree decorating, and then NYC tomorrow, party tomorrow night (Kims birthday by the way). and then NYC again on sunday!

I hope you are all in the christmas spirit!

Cheers

gingerbread houses

you can tell its a liberal arts honors college when you all get together to make ginger bread houses and you hear:

"mine is going to be miniature... low income housing. section 8."

"now i need two gummy bear guys... they're married and gay. they live in california."

"oh no my house collapsed...hurricane allie. oklahoma."

girl: lets put m&ms on the roof!

boyfriend: NO we need to stabilize the foundation and then create a garage on the side.

girl: i thought it was a church...

boyfriend: psh... a church with a garage and some kick ass cars made entirely from chocolate..!

girl: oh..

C Men concert!!

so...the SMCmen... our guys a cappella group, had a concert last night!!! it was amazing! ahhh.

i tried to post videos of some of their songs but idk if it will work... we'll see. it was so cute, their theme was SM-CNN and they were all supposed to be news reporters of something. anyways it was pretty adorable and the place was packed. embarrassingly enough, craig had saved me a seat in the very center of the front row. but i was happy to be there because people were sitting on the floors and in the aisles. i swear, every time st marys has a big event, we break so many safety codes its ridiculous.

AHHH

my life has been shaken.

today i got home from sociology class, got off the phone with my dad... and sat down to study math. and then...

knock knock

laura: hey come in!

anna from down the hall: hi! this is asia, shes here to look at your room

laura: oh hi! ...why?

anna: well this is it asia, you should live here... shes the only semi normal person on that list.

laura: hey im normal! look around this place...im not like that girl who wears animal tails strapped to her waist every day.

anna: shes right.

asia: cool. so ill go talk to res. life.

laura: wait... what? i am so confused. what is going on?

anna: asia is moving in with you.

laura: is megan moving out...?

anna: idk ask her.. ive heard things

laura calls megan.. no answer.

laura calls craig.

laura: hey did you hear anything about megan moving out..

craig: no... why would she be moving out?

laura: i have no idea

asia: so im going to go on over to res life now...

laura: uh... okay

anna: tell craig megan is moving out because hes an asshole. haha

laura: craig megans moving out because your an asshole

craig: IM NOT! im so nice...

laura: i think she was joking craig

anna: i was joking

asia: bye!

Girl from three doors down: ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT MEGAN MOVING?

anna: YES...

girl from three doors down: oh yeah, well shes moving to a suite...

laura: wait.. how do YOU know this and I dont?!

girl: i dunno...? shrug. she didnt want to tell you because she really likes you alot.. thats what she told me.

laura: oh my god. how come im the last one to know this... haha?

anyways so apparently megan got the opportunity to move into a lacrosse house, took it, and didnt want to tell me... so now i am getting a new room mate. which is exciting!! and crazy. and stressful.. its good im pretty flexible with stuff like this, because finals/birthday/christmas time is a stressful time to find out that your room mate is moving out.

so then i went to a math review session, and Fall festival, and craigs concert (and Ross's concert... it was cute they wixons like dominate the music program here... the audience consisted of me, ross's girlfriend, ross's friend, and mrs wixon), and a photojournalism gallery opening, and now im going to res life, and then home to take a shower and then go back out... to ANOTHER one of craigs concerts. (having a talented boyfriend is very time consuming).

this is what my math class looked like after everyone realized what we were learning today wasnt going to be on the final...

Math class.

So this is my last math class EVER!

earlier today i had my last art history class ever!

now i just have a few final papers and some studying to wrap things up.

math final at 5 pm on sunday...

sociology and...

picture stories finals on my birthday.

Art History final on Wednesday the 16.

then i am officially a second semester freshman!!

math is boring and i am really full.

the library

i like that our library is so chill. everyone always walks around in socks.

i also like that its right across from the great room for easy access to food.

i'm almost finished with my art history paper!!

i unfortunately got assigned another one yesterday though, which takes away some of the fun of being finished with the original. boo.

adventures at trinity church part three

so yesterday i went to church... with craig.

and we walked up to the church and it was so cold my hair froze, and then we got there and there was no one there, so we thought maybe we missed it or something, until some chaplin guy came up to see if anyone was randomly standing around looking stupid and frozen, which we were, and told us that church had been moved to the parish hall because of renovations or something of the sort.

so we got to the parish hall and Dan Swain was there!! who is this random friends of craigs from Seamen (our a cappella group) with his girlfriend so we all sat in the back together. and i sat next to dan and had to warn him that i frequently accidentally burst out into laughter in the middle of the service. dan said that this was a bad idea that we were sitting together.

so anyway, we did pretty well until the pope guy prayed about the "BEAT DOWN of the devil" which craig whispered sounded a lot like a professional wrestling commercial.

and then from there things just kind of kept going.

and then we went up to get communion and Dan had never done it before, so what normally happens is that you walk up to the alter in the front of the church, the pope guy gives you the little cracker, then you dip it in the wine glass and then you put it in your mouth and get blessed and then leave the alter.

dan was given the cracker, but it in his mouth, started chewing, then realized he was supposed to dip it in the wine glass, so he had a minor freak out, and took the cracker back OUT OF HIS MOUTH, and almost dipped it in the wine glass, but the pope guy suggested maybe not... and then his girlfriend, and i started shaking trying not to laugh while also attempting to look holy, while at the alter in the front of the parish hall.

all in all... it was a great second sunday of advent!

Laura's Christmas List!!!

here it is... the long awaited... much anticipated (but not as much as the Lo's christmas letter)...christmas list!

Organic Teas (chai, green, herbal...)

Rain boots (size 7... or 8... because they have to fit my short fat feet... color: black or brown)

(http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Foutlet%2Fproduct%2F797769&h=ced8f6cfe1ec0759a9d5f6221510113a

or these...

http://www.rei.com/product/799209)

Shampoo/ conditioner

New “fun” books to read

Highlighters and post it notes

Laundry detergent

Knitting supplies (organic yarn in pretty colors: browns, greens, blues, yellows)

Pearl necklace

Rain jacket (http://www.rei.com/product/785279 ) color-green or black or blue

Running jacket medium/ shirts (http://www.rei.com/product/788603)

Yoga tank top medium

Yoga mat (blue or green)

Women’s silk boxers from V.S.

I-pod speakers

Christmas Cookies

HURRRAH! now i am REALLY HAPPY! AND ITS ALMOST CHRISTMAS!

so.

yesterday evening craig came over and was all dressed up, and guess what he brought me?!!

THAI PEANUT NOODLES! so we are some thai noodles and then went to go see the dance show, which was extremely loud and interactive. The audience sat in our tiny tiny theatre and yelled to their friends who jumped around in spandex on the floor because we dont have a stage. we evidently also dont have enough seating, as many audience members sat on the floor/stage. my favorite part of the show was when rachel sholte's who is my very short, happy, white, friend danced a traditional african dance. it was really amusing.

so then craig and i went to Ross's christmas party!!! which was super cute. they still had all their halloween king Arthur's castle decorations up, so it was like a ...king Arthur's castle christmas party! there was alot of jingle bells that everyone had to wear and classical christmas music playing and beer pong and there were alot of seniors standing around in really nice christmas apparel! they also had a whole bunch of sugar cookies/ decorations which made me really happy... because who doesnt like decorating christmas cookies?! I made this really awesome camel which was wearing pink and black knee socks and had an extremely elaborate saddle, and Ross got really excited and started saying that i should have an exhibition at the Hishorn. which made me really excited, so then i proceeded to make craig the ULTIMATE christmas cookie. Craig kept losing beer pong games and telling me how much he really loved my awesome cookie decorating skills. i didnt want to drink at all because i had my race the next morning. so i left craig there with his christmas butterfly cookie and went home pretty early and went to bed.

Then i got up this morning, and drove out in the drizzle with a couple of my friends to solomans island...

oh gross i think i just dropped fish food in my popcorn by accident.

LESSON TO YOU ALL... never eat popcorn while feeding your fish.

SO anyways. then i ran my first ever 5K this morning!! (applause here) FOR ARTHRITIS. I sure hope all you people out there with ARTHRITIS APPRECIATE ME!!!

the fact that i finished made me SUPER HAPPY. because i ran the whole time!! and it was really long, and i thought i might die (several times). of course i have nothing on the real runners of the family like chris lo, who last i heard, was averaging like... 200 miles a day or something.

but anyways, i got an official number to pin on me and like a little cardboard timer thing to tie on my shoe (also we all got jingle bells to tie on our shoes... but then we all started running and they fell all over the road and added a new element to the whole race) and then i ran and ran and didnt actually die. PLUS I GOT A FREE T-SHIRT. except its not really free because you have to pay to race. which is ridiculous. people should have to pay you to run that far.

so then i was really excited and i called my mom:

laura: HEY MOM I JUST RAN A 5K!

mom: thats nice.

laura: YEAH THE WHOLE THING!!

mom: did you win?

laura: there were 600 people there mom.

mom: so you didnt win?

laura: ...no...

mom: oh well.

Then i went home and i said goodbye to craig, who was hung over, and was off to baltimore for the day to go play with an orchestra there for the day. then i took a shower (which felt AMAZING) and printed out mapquest directions to get to this nearby (okay... relatively nearby...) historic plantation where i had offered to volunteer for the day. so then my friend drove me over there and i did childrens crafts from 12 until 6 in an unheated tent in a pond! it wasnt really in a pond but it was raining again today (big surprise) and we were kind of in a valley, so everything was pretty flooded. BUT i still had a good time and made many pipe cleaner ornaments and candy cane mice! you would be surprised at the things kids make... like christmas bunny rabbits ornaments! It was actually a really neat event, it was like mainly hosted for the children of the community and there were lots of girl scouts and christmas cookies and caroling and cute crafts and such. and they gave me free mistle-toe to take home!

When we got to the part where i was allowed to leave, it occured to me that i did not exactly have a ride home per-say... because craig was still in Baltimore and because... I STILL DONT HAVE A CAR, so i was driven home by some random lady named linda who was happy she got to leave early, who told me her entire life story up to date (its like a 45 minute drive)...and guess where she met her husband? E-HARMONY.

AND GUESS WHAT ELSE? IT STARTED SNOWING.

of course its not sticking or anything, what with there being like four feet of water covering all of southern md at this point. however none the less there is frozen precipitation falling out of the sky.

and now i am home, and to tired to go eat dinner, so im eating popcorn and probably working on my sociology paper before i pass out. THE END.

OH AND ALSO. the girls next door have taken to playing recorder/ whistle. it is really weird. recorder as in, like the ones we learned to play in second grade, with like a grand total of five holes and the sound of shrieking horribleness. her room mate accompanies her on something that sounds very much like a rape whistle. who are they doing this? it is really strange... this is the third time i have heard them "practicing." they play great classics like "hot cross buns" AND "happy birthday" these are the only recognizable songs i have identified.

WOW!

look! i found this awesome website! you can pick what kind of christmas music you feel like listening to, and then it compiles a whole list thing you can just play off line! i love it.

http://www.accuradio.com/holidays/

thursday: work on my essays for sociology and art history. work on my drawing assignments for picture stories. work on making christmas cards. go for a run. work on door decorations for dorm. go rock climbing.

friday: class, class, go for a run, finish up on my sociology paper. work on christmas cards. go see dance show. go to christmas party at Ross's house...

saturday: get up, go run 5K, brunch, go to historic scotterly plantation, volunteer doing childrens christmas crafts and sell hot chocolate. get home late.

sunday: church! appointment at writing center. hall meeting. organize all the assignments i have due on monday.

extra week.

then finals... and GO HOME!!! (plus my birthday) i have two finals on my birthday. oh well!

lame

so im currently sitting in the trophy room at our school!

it is the SINGLE most depressing thing in the entire world.

there is a total of like 30 trophies. and as craig put it... "they are all about the size of those plastic trophies i got in third grade soccer."

on a less depressing note:

I GOT MAIL! its because i haven't checked my mailbox for ages, but it still makes me happy!

LOVE!

Also. it is raining here. i literally woke up this morning and was like "hey!! its not raining!" but then i took a nap after class and guess what? IT STARTED RAINING. ugh. there has to be an explanation for this! it never rained in N.J. so maybe.. there is like a rain standard. and because it doesnt rain in nj everyday, it means that it has to rain in other places, like little depressing st marys, where it rains like EVERY DAY. ugh. im so tired of rain!

but at least i got mail!

oh also did i mention? the lights in the great room (our cafeteria) went out yesterday during dinner. it was pretty exciting.

i want a plastic keyboard cover for christmas.

i like that its "christmas break" here. not "holiday break" like it is in NJ

generally happy

so yesterday, of course, on our first day back, it was freezing and raining and windy.

but today is beautiful and sunny and there was indian food in the caf, so im pretty content with life. our dorm is having a hall decorating competition, and our hall is doing "the twelve days of christmas" on doors. me and megan are "five golden rings." we are rather excited and are planning something with lots of glitter. i am also plotting what to get people for christmas on limited funding. it makes things alot more interesting actually. i like being poor. which is good, seeing that making alot of money is not usually associated with teaching art and english.

im also happy because i managed to land a job over christmas break! SCORE.

we have alot of work to do in these last two weeks before break, papers, tests, finals... all that stuff. also there is a dance show i really want to see, because i have friends in the show! i want to join dance club! also kind of crew. hmmm. 5:00 practices.. hmmm. im still thinking about it.

well i hope everyone else's day is filled with glitter, dancing, indian food, and christmas cards.