moo.

I continued the cow hunt today. Actually, I went downtown to get some cannoli for my brother from Mike's Pastries. He loves them, and since he's been helping me out recently, I thought he deserved them. While I was down there, I decided to try and blend in with the hoards of tourists, and take some pictures of the cows. Normally I don't like playing the tourist bit, but since I'm going to be a real tourist soon, I decided that it was a good time to take some baby steps. It wasn't so bad actually. Granted I wasn't wondering around looking at a map and talking in another language like I will be in Europe, but I did do a lot of waiting for people to get their kids off the cows so I could take a picture. I looked for Evil Twin #2's favorites, but didn't have any luck. I'm not quite sure where they could be either. I figured they'd be down by the harbor ferry/aquarium, but not so. I'm not giving up though, I can do it.

good.thoughts

Due to my most fabulous brother's help in calculus, I not only think I'll make it through, but actually pull off a B/B+. This is a much better prediction than my initial guess of a D. While I won't even mention what I got on the first test, the second was a 13.5 out of 15, and the third was a 14.8 out of 15. Only one more to go- this sunday. *k's* coming in to help me when I mix up my derivatives and antiderivatives. Good thoughts...good thoughts.

fortune.cookie.two

Here's the fortune in my fortune cookie:

"A cautious person leaves no stones unturned."

And for those of you who are still trying to learn chinese; squid = you-yu. Now we're up to two words. A few more and we're ready for a trip.

new.tv

While folding laundry tonight, I got hooked on a new tv show; Design Star on hgtv. There are 10 designers who live together and compete in challenges. (Think apprentice, top model, etc.) This week they had 24 hours to design and redo their living quarters. My favorite was the brown and orange bedroom, although I also liked what they did with the patio. There was this wacky lady, ramona, who painted some crazy miss utah mural on the wall, and found a vacuum in someone's garbage which she spread plaster over and put outside as a sculpture. Kooky, kooky. While I'm happy to have something other than the sox's to watch, I'm sad that I'll miss most of the episodes while I'm gone for a month. I'll have to catch up once I come back.

my.new.nickname

Here's the whole scoop on the much anticipated camping trip. Took the ferry to george's island saturday morning. Hung out there and checked out the cool fort for a bit. Pretended we were shooting cannons off at the bad guys, and sister *j* scared the crap out of me two times while I was gingerly descending the VERY dark and foggy stairs to an underground room. (Which I swear had bats in it!)Then took the inner-island ferry to grape island (that's a photo of it up there). Set up our tents and the tarp over the picnic table, and then it started pouring. We played some cards (*k* and *j* kicked butt) and then did some hiking around the island. The beaches were pretty sweet- all slate rock and mussel shells. (Pics over there of *k*, *j* and our dad walking the beach, and my foot with the shells.**) We worked as a team to get a fire going. *j* found an old dock up on the beach that we then tore apart for wood, and I dug a fire pit area and built up a wall to protect it from the wind. We had to build it below the high tide line, but luckily, the tide schedule worked perfectly in our favor. We got a great fire going, and made foil packets for dinner (hamburger, potatoes and onions wrapped in tin foil and stuck under the coals for 10 mins) and then s'mores for dessert. Then we sat there and watched the tide drown our fire out (pic of *k* on the rock watching it drown**). More card games, and then we called it a night. Slept pretty well despite the downpours and thunder/lightening at 4:30am and 7am, and woke up dry thanks to my fabulous tent. On sunday we took a wild edibles tour. I ate some curly dock(?) leaves and something else. I also got a new nickname from my siblings; "short legs". Just to clarify for you readers who don't know me, I'm 5 foot 9, which is pretty tall by normal standards. However, I happen to be the shortest kid in my family. *j* is 5 foot 11(but has freakishly long legs compared to her torso length), *b* is 6 foot 4.5 and *k* is 6 foot 5. There's a photo of *j*, *k* and myself up on a big rock.** This is where the name first came about. It was, "Hey *j*, short legs is going to try to hop up here. Ha ha." It continued from there, and became the snickering as I stepped up a very large step, and the surprised "Hey! Short legs made it!" So yup, I'm now to be known as short legs.

**Note- the promised pictures are not included because blogger stinks right now, and won't add them even though it seems to think it is. So you only get the picture of grape island for now. If things start working right around here, I'll add them later, but it's been four days with no luck so far.

cow.hunt

*ac* and I walked around boston finding as many cows as possible. Today we came up with 41, but I know there are lots more. Tomorrow I will try harder. I'm hoping to reach the 100 mark pretty soon. It appears that there are 119. I wonder if I'll be able to find them all. I'm not sure what my favorite is so far. Maybe the "moo-rathon runner on cow-moo-nwelth ave" or "olive". Look here to find yours, and I'll see if I can locate it.

*sigh*

Grrr...I have a new post all set up, but can't add pictures for some reason. I go through all the normal steps, but when I click the "done" button, nothing happens. No picture appears. Hmmmmm.
On another note, *ac*, *mc* and I had dinner tonight. It was just like old times. *ac* made gazpacho (yummy) and strawberry shortcake (double yummy). Then *mc* held a photo session in which 25 photos were taken of the three of us. It was quite a process since the camera had to be propped up on a placemat, on a chair, on a table. Regardless, we ended up with some great pics which I can't share since the add photo feature is out of commission today. Technology.

ghost.ship

When the ferry just left long wharf, we saw "old ironsides" which was out for some special occasion where it would shoot of some cannons or something. It was so foggy out that it looks like a ghost ship. Eeek.

rooms.to.let

I'm having visitors! Tomorrow, my friend from san diego *ac* is staying over, along with another friend *js*. *ac* will be here monday and tuesday nights too. I'm really excited. I only see *ac* a few times a year, but we always have such a great time that I wish we could get together more often. I'm currently working on getting her and her husband to move back to the boston area. Another visitor is an old college roommate *nk*, who is staying here for the first week of her medical externship at tufts, where she'll be for a month before going to brown, and then umass medical center in worcester each for another month. She's in her fourth year of med school and she's a smarty. I haven't seen her in a long time, so I'm happy she'll be here before I leave for the big trip. My sister's also staying here since she's working nearby for the rest of the summer, so I'll always have someone to keep me company!

Rather.innapropriate.if.you.ask.me