The Beauty and the Mess

This icon is a picture from Hollywood Beach, Florida, where I spent almost every Saturday when I was younger. My best friend Kristi and I would "surf" and play in the sand and walk on the boardwalk all day. I'm missing the ocean a lot lately. I was looking online for things to do in New Hampshire, and there's a whale-watching tour that guarantees a whale sighting! I'd be so happy. :) Evan thought it sounded cool, too, so maybe we can go.

I am finally forced to admit that I've become addicted to Quizno's. Turkey Ranch & Swiss on rosemary bread. It's what's for dinner. Er, lunch. Plus, they're the only restaurant I know of that has Vanilla Coke on tap.

I'm spending the next three nights at my parents' because they're going out of town and didn't want to leave my brother alone. I don't mind staying out there- it's nice and quiet and I can do laundry. Unfortunately, my mom had plans for Kevin and me, which I can't do because of flute practice and my hair appointment. Now she's irritated, but at least I can spend all of tonight with him. Evan is coming out to the house so we can watch American Idol together. I'm sure Kevin will be glad to see him. They're buds. Oh, and tonight is Evan's last class of the semester! It's already Study Day week. Where does the time go?

It's still kind of weird at the house without Bun.

You know, I got a neat star guidebook for Christmas and I've only tried to use it once. I want to take that to New Hampshire, too- we can probably see a lot of stars there. The thing is, how are you supposed to use it? It's dark when you're looking at stars! Do you take a flashlight, or just memorize the map of the thing you want to look at before you go out there? What do amateur astronomers do?

My Internet connection is driving me completely insane. It stops and starts working on a minute-by-minute basis. They're still cleaning out viruses or something. I was hoping to catch up on the friends page before I left, but I might not get to it all now, so if I don't comment much, I'm sorry. I'm very close to banging my head against the monitor.

I went out to my parents' to look at Mars (or, as Evan called it, "The Dot") last night. It was a comedy of errors. My dad and I didn't know where to look- we had been told it would be almost the size of the moon. Someone was seriously misinformed. When we finally found the little bright dot, it was climbing so fast that our viewings lasted about thirty seconds before we had to find it again. It was hilarious. We were all clustered around the telescope. My dad would focus it, and yell, "Okay, GO!" and somebody would look at Mars until it was gone again. "There it is...it's going...going...there it goes." Eventually it went behind a cloud, and that was the end of our once-in-a-lifetime Mars encounter. Afterwards, Evan and I entertained ourselves by taking turns looking in the end of the telescope while the other looked in the viewfinder.

I feel slightly better today. Medicine is good. However, Public Service Announcement: The warning label on Allegra that says "May cause dizziness" is NOT a joke. I was washing dishes this morning when the whole room suddenly turned upside down. It was fifteen minutes before I could walk straight again.

I get to see my sister tonight and tour her dorm room, which I'm very excited about. I like visiting Nashville.

Well, I hope all of you have a very happy Labor Day weekend. I'll be back Tuesday with lots of pictures- of the wedding, Lake Erie, Canada (!), and hopefully anulyra and me! Yay.