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i.heart.marble.runs.

While i may not have mentioned it here, i've become seriously addicted to building marble towers. My little friend T has a few boxes of these fantastic quadrilla marble run kits, and after a brief period of avoidance (i admit, i was slightly intimidated), i've now fallen head over heels in love. Not only do i love planning out and building these towers, but all three kids (3.5, 5.5, 7.5) can quite literally spend hours entertaining themselves. This is definitely one of those hard-to-tire-of toys that can be rebuilt in endless configurations. I think my "play" teacher would approve.

back.to.school.

School started back up on september 2nd, and the most exciting part was seeing my friends again. After spending a significant amount of time together each week, i was going through child life friend withdrawal for the past four months! In terms of school stuff, the classes themselves will be interesting, but the internship is the real learning part. Due to a scheduling change, i now have classes three nights a week; tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. This means that my internship hours will happen monday nights, many friday nights, and a lot of weekends. This weekend, for example, i'm working saturday from 2pm to 2am, and sunday from 6pm-2am. While the late nights might make some people yawn, my night-owlish tendencies will complement it nicely. It's also the time when it's busiest. Plus, i'll have time to work during the day (for $, as opposed to the free work i'm doing at the hospital). To date, i've "worked" two shifts in the emergency department (ED) and love it. My supervisor seems like a perfect match for my learning style, and i've already picked up several tricks that will be useful once i have a real job. This internship will nicely round out my past internships in radiology and inpatient care, and give me a fairly broad range of experiences. Perfect!

cape.cod.

My parents and sister were down at the cape for a whole week. Unfortunately, kevin and i had to work, so just joined them for the weekend. Luckily, the weather was beautiful, and we had a fantastic time! As should always be the case, our first stop (after settling in) was the beach.

After a swim and some sun, we walked home and found this little guy hopping around the yard. Bunnies have always been one of my favorite things about the cape. Hi peter!

That night, the kids were dropped off at the (no reservations and long wait) restaurant in order to secure a table. We had a couple of drinks, and won $10 on a scratch ticket that paid for most of our drinks. Score!

Sunday morning brought more great weather and golf for my dad and the three of us. Of the four of us, our dad was the only one who'd ever played golf before. That meant he was the lucky duck who got to teach us! He was a great sport even though we were, eh, challenging students! With a little nurturing, kevin could give our dad a run for his money.

The temperature was a little cool for the beach, so we opted for a trip to the wellfleet flea market which takes place in the drive-in parking lot. After some dinner and a few games of yahtzee, cribbage, and cards, kevin and i made the drive back to boston. Luckily, the way back was an expected 1.5 hours- not the three hours it took us to get there!

champ.a.damper.

KillerB posted this on the hose. Jen and i just watched it and were both laughing so hard we cried. I had to post it here too.

big.shirl's.big.party.

Ever since the fandango puppets came out, shirley wanted to have a puppet making birthday party. Her husband asked if she was five, but still she persevered, and this was the year. If you couldn't already tell, it was a huge hit. Below, jessica and shirl work hard on their puppets.

I started early, so was able to make two puppets. The girl was my first attempt. I think she came out well, but she was definitely a primer for my creative juices. I love my pimp, particularly his chest hair, gold chain, earring, and toothpick. What a stud.

Here we have them all lined up, ready for a picture.

After filling myself to the brim with the delicious treats, we played some guitar hero. I hadn't played in forever, and remembered how much i love it. People came and went throughout the afternoon and evening- here's the group that was left at 7pm.

So much fun! Great food, great drink, and great company! Happy birthday big shirl!

beatles.

The b's went back to hong kong on august 6th- one day after they left last year. This time was much easier for everyone- in part because it had been done before, but also because they will be back for christmas. Regardless, i wasn't happy about it, so was glad to have an activity to do with my sister that evening. Earlier in the day, my mom had called and offered us tickets to see paul mccartney at fenway. Fantastic! I remembered seventh grade when my parents went to see him. I was jealous, particularly of the t-shirt my dad picked up. So, we took the bus down and found our seats behind home plate. We made a quick stop at the food stand where we opted for the $4 ice cream instead of the $9 beer. Soft serve twist in a cake cone- my favorite.

Soon the other seats filled up. We had an assortment of characters surrounding us. Notice the family in the bottom right- they all have orange ear plugs. We also had several older patrons who entertained us with their singing and dancing.

It started to get dark, and we could see the stage better. I can't stress how cool it was to see him and hear all the beatles songs in fenway park- definitely better than a typical concert hall or something.

Here are the remnants of the fireworks. They shot out from the stage, and the top of the roof. I like the citgo sign in the background!

Now that kevin has a grown up job and lives in the city, we got him to meet us afterwards for a drink. Here's a picture of the two of them- both looking their best.

So mom, thank you very much for giving us these tickets, and dad- thank you very much for giving them up. We don't think you would have liked it very much anyway.

house.stuff.

During their few weeks stay, the b's bought a vermont house. Super exciting. Since they plan to head up there when they're back for christmas, a. spent her entire two weeks buying furniture, linens, and other house stuff. Since i wasn't working for much of her stay, i tagged along with her and the girls. On one trip to jordan's for mattresses, e found this comfy therma rest. It wasn't out with the rest of the beds, but in its own little room complete with artwork, a tv, and a soothing starlit ceiling. The other two joined us, and as we all discussed how comfortable the bed was, a "sleep technician" asked if we wanted the presentation. We spent the next ten minutes in a dark room with a soothing voice/video presentation selling us on the therma rest. There was even coordinated bed movements. I almost fell asleep.

bee.

Even though i'm back in the states, i haven't felt like i've had much down time. The b's have been here the whole time (they leave tomorrow, boo), so when i haven't been working, i've been hanging out with them. This coming weekend kevin and i are driving down to the cape to meet my parents and julie for the weekend. Kevin and i will be there just for saturday and sunday, the rest of them will be there for a week. The following weekend i'll be in nyc. If evil hadn't skipped out, it could have been a good chance to meet up with the hose folks to give killerb his prize from china. As it stands, i'll be seeing "billy elliot" (which is supposed to be fantastic) with my aunt, and potentially heading to the hamptons on sunday for a two day visit with friends. Before i know it, school will be starting, and my internship will take up any remaining free time. If i hadn't spent two months bumming around in asia, i might be overwhelmed.

relationship.trouble.

Though it's a little premature, i've been spending a lot of time debating between cars. My favorite little jetta, vivian, has been giving me some trouble recently, and i'm hoping she can hang in there until september of 2010 when i'll be in a better position to buy a new one. Vivian only has 80,000 miles on her, but is 9.5 years old and it's starting to show. Though i've loved her, i haven't loved the cost of fixing a vw, and have been feeling pressure to make my next car more worry free. This means a more "generic" car, ie- a honda, nissan, or (mechanic pete's favorite) a toyota. I have nothing against these cars, and find their reliability and low cost of repair very comforting. However, i wouldn't be excited about one of these, and would see it simply as a way to get from one place to another. My relationship with my jetta, problems and all, has been exciting from day one. I love driving her. Love how she looks, feels, pretty much everything about her. It makes me sad to think about settling for a car that wouldn't give me the same feeling. Plus, in a real relationship, aren't we supposed to choose true love over the safe choice?

That being said, i wouldn't go for another vw. My current car of choice would be a saab. Specifically, a 9-3 in either fusion blue metallic or carbon grey metallic. Though it would cost me more in the long run (and the short, i'm sure) i think it would be worth it. Plus, according to pete, the saab is less trouble/cost than the vw, so it would feel like an improvement to me no matter what.