amidst it all, i turned twenty-three...

Nothing peeves me more than an inability to update my blog ... especially in the two weeks that I fail to find time to update my blog ... my life changes dramatically (again!)!! I can't find my camera cord amongst the chaos I currently call life (its probably vacuum sealed in a bag somewhere like the rest of my belongings...) and I hate blogging without pictures to add effect. Although, I have a to-do list a mile long and the three devout readers (Grams, Auntie Linda and Kara) are currently in LA with me, I decided the top thing on my list would be to update my blog on the entire month of September where amidst it all, I turned twenty-three...

thank you roomies-for-life for an extra-special bday celebration!

harriette potter.

For the past month, I have been living under the staircase rather Harry Potteresque like
in this fabulous home with three fabulous roommates - Sydney, Rachel and Nicole! They are all nurses at CHLA and I went through the residency program with Syd (which is how I got to know her)! While I have flown back East three of the four weekends this month, I have had so much fun living with them in the few weeks I have been home! They remind me of being in college when I lived with my 3 best friends for 4 smashing years! My days under the stairs has been the perfect in-between phase transitioning from living with my besties to moving in with a boy! I'm getting an extra strength dose of girlieness before I am stripped of 3 extra closets to chose from (Mitch and I don't really share the same size or style.), deprived of wine-sipping, theatre-going girls nights (Mitch is more into a beer-guzzling, sports-filled kind of Saturday night!) and I am soon to be removed from all quasi-decent shopping (Winnipeg isn't quite the most fashion forward place in the world.) All the inside jokes and reminiscing of college life made me want to go back .... so I did just that the weekend before last.

swagger of a college kid.

I was on the phone with Kara a couple of weeks ago and she was saying how she was going to Gainesville for the weekend for the UF vs. TN game... our biggest rivalry! I have been trying to figure out a way to get to a game this year anyways before I move North so when she reminded me that the weekend before last would be the perfect time to go, I booked a flight and hopped on a plane 3 days later! I had a free flight from when I willingly gave up my seat on a plane in an effort to prolong returning to LA on one of my vacations recently (in which I ended up getting my seat back and keeping the voucher so the effort was lost but the free flight made my return to LA a little more tolerable! I digress...) It had been an entire month since I had seen Carly (keep in mind I have seen her almost everyday for the past 5 years, including when I was Italy.. she was there too and when she lived in NYC for the summer ... I went and visited her!) so you can imagine my excitement when she picked me from the airport and I got to spend the entire weekend with her and Meg! I got to see her new job and then we headed to Gvegas for the weekend! In true collegiate fashion, we stayed in her sister's "luxury dorm" for the weekend and had a blast being back on our stomping grounds! While gameday was even more exciting than I remembered it to be, the club scene was not. We attempted to go out (with a slight touch of sun poisoning from tailgating all day in the Florida humidity!) but after an hour of being "in da club" we all looked at each other and unanimously agreed that it was not nearly as exciting as it used to be so we headed back to our blow-up mattress and had way more fun in our 2-night slumber party! Reliving life in Gainesville would not be complete without a playdate with Kate... so I spent all morning Sunday doing just that!

playdate with Miss Kate

The highlight of my weekend was getting to spend Sunday with Kate! I went over to her house early in the morning where she showed me her new cat, Abigail, that she picked out all by herself from the animal shelter. Then we went on a treasure hunt in our dresses and found acorns and fungus. It was super exciting to hear just how smart she is pointing out the smallest details along the road while informing me that she often stays up late watching the news with Mum and Dad! She is more beautiful than ever, still has that little button nose and even still twirls her hair when she's tired. She talked a lot about her friends at school and at ballet class. Rhonda and Kevin are doing wonderful as well busy planning the remodeling they are doing to their home and looking up answers on the internet, per Kate's suggestion, to questions they don't know the exact answer to. She still has that witty silliness about her that being so intelligent allows her to have. I miss having them in my daily life but my morning with her brought me right back to that little place inside me that will always be a kid.

trash the dress.

One of Carly's last days in LA we spent "trashing the dress". We had a lot of fun galavanting around the metro station, in a fountain, down train tracks, etc. with our friend/photographer Mindy.

nation's capitol.

For Labor Day Weekend, Mitch(ell) met me in DC to spend the weekend with Megan and Danny. We had a fabulous time! Friday, we metroed into the district and saw all the monuments and memorials. The one thing I learned about US history is that I know nothing about it... and I would be completely content if I never do. We met Danny for lunch and then spent the evening drinking flights of beer in Georgetown. It was perfect.

wino.

I saw a wino eating grapes and I was like, Dude! You have to wait!

- Mitch Hedberg

After spending Friday in DC and the weekend in Virginia Beach, we spent Monday tasting delectable wines at a nearby winery in Maryland.

run like a rockstar.

Rock n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon 2009