He went to bed and bumped his head and couldn't get up in the morning!

[As a preliminary aside, does that song secretly refer to something else? The way London Bridges is about the plague or whatever, is the rain song really about more than rain?!]

So, it rained all weekend long. And according to the forecast, it will rain all week except for Wednesday. Now what is that all about? Did I move back to Tacoma or what?! I mean, I know we're in a drought and we need all the rain we can get, but couldn't the rain and general gloominess spread out a little? Because I'm pretty sure my African violet is supposed to get sunlight every once in a while. And I wouldn't mind some myself.

Weekend Review

Friday: Read, ran, worked on thesis, went out with the video store gang.

Saturday: Slept in, worked on thesis some, played Scrabble.

Sunday: Read, worked on thesis, went to church, and now ready to read and work on thesis more. Including all day tomorrow.

I am such a nerd.

I just heard someone on the radio (NPR) mention an upcoming story about "music about modes of transportation" and I got super excited.

Misc.

I've been making a ton of smoothies. This morning I made one with a banana, strawberries, pina colada yogurt, and orange juice. So good.

I have a new neighbor (or multiple neighbors?) who shows up around 11 every night and is obnoxiously loud while out in the breezeway. I wonder to myself, is she obnoxiously loud on purpose, or does she not realize we can all hear everything she says? Says and yells.

Yesterday I went for a walk from school over to Pullen Park. They have a carousel and little train and water with paddle boats in the summer and it was a beautiful day, so I'm glad I made that walking decision and checked it all out.

I'm coming down to the wire on this whole thesis thing. Ugh.

Um, we have a wildlife situation...

The other night in Richmond I was headed out of the house around 9pm when I heard a noise by my car. Without getting too scared about serial killers lurking over the fence I quickly realized there was a little bird rat-tatting at the window from inside the detached garage. I went back inside to inform Grandpa about the bird situation, since they really seem to like living in there. Grandpa simply told me to go open the garage doors and let him out, but when my aunt saw the look of horror on my face ("Me? go out there alone? and deal with a wild bird?") she told my ten-year-old cousin Sunni to go out and help me (aka hold my hand). So we went to the garage, Sunni leading the way and me creeping slowly behind. There was the little bird, still rat-tatting at the window. I opened the garage doors and it started to fly around, but it didn't fly out. It sat on the bike hanging from the ceiling, it rested by the window, it flew into the mirror and pecked at its reflection, but it wouldn't leave! Sunni picked up a stick and headed toward it, but the bird just kept flying around. I hid outside the door and peaked in through the fingers over my eyes. I happened to be holding a newspaper in my other hand, so I told Sunni to replace her stick with a broom, and together maybe we could wave at it enough to make it leave. But the bird kept flying around and I kept running back outside to hide. Eventually my fear rubbed off a little on Sunni, and we both hid outside, but she bucked up quickly.

"Okay," she told me sternly, "we just have to get up our courage and go in there and DO THIS."

"Okay," I nodded in agreement.

We took a collective deep breath and went back inside armed with the paper and broom. We waved waved waved and yelled "shoo! go outside! keep flying! that way that way!" And finally it flew outside, but just barely. As soon as it was gone I yelled "hurry! Close the door! Turn out the light! Let's get outta here before it comes back in this side door!" So we hurried and shut the doors and ran back inside the house.

Wildlife situation: under control.

Easter Weekend Review

Friday: Read, ran, cleaned, packed, drove to Richmond, snacked, went to see Diary of the Dead.

Saturday: Slept in, went to Edo's Squid for lunch, went to see Horton Hears a Who, went to aunt's house for mac n' cheese and hangin out.

Sunday: Up early for church with Grandma, home to make my mom's rolls with Sunni, dyed eggs, ate huge meal, hunted for eggs, napped, more hanging out and watched I am Legend.

a pleasant coincidence

I just sat down in my comfy chair with a cup of coffee and my warm blanket to begin reading Alan Taylor's William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic for class. This book won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize in American History. I get most of my books used on Amazon or Half.com, so the first thing I noticed was the little price tag that says $17.95 placed over the original price of $17.00. Er, I hope I didn't actually pay $17.95. Anyway, I read the back cover of the book, then I looked for a bibliography but ended up reading the acknowledgements at the back of the book. (I like to see historians thank all the librarians and archivists at different institutions and imagine that some day historians will be thanking me in their books...) Next I opened the front cover and read the short blurb about Alan Taylor himself.

And then...then I turned the page and there was a handwritten note in blue ink reading: "For Andrea, with my best wishes & best of luck for your research, Alan Taylor, 5-8-97 Albany."

Why, thank you very much Professor Taylor!

I love jokes.

And these are my favorite kinds of jokes. Yes, I'm taking these directly from a forwarded email, but I don't even care because they're funny! So enjoy.

o What is out on the lawn all summer and is Irish?
Patty O'Furniture.

o What do you call a fake stone in Ireland?
Sham rock.

o When is an Irish Potato not an Irish Potato?
When it is a French fry.

o What does it mean when you find a horseshoe?
Some poor horse is going barefoot.

o Why did the elephant wear his green sneakers instead of his red ones?
His red ones were in the wash.

o Why is a river rich?
Because it has two banks.

o Why did St. Patrick drive all the snakes out of Ireland?
He couldn't afford plane fare.

o What do you call a diseased Irish criminal?
A leper con.

o What do you call a leprechaun's vacation home?
A lepre-condo!

o What do you call a leprechaun with a sore throat?
A streprechaun!

o What do elves learn in school?
The elf-abet!

o What's an Irishman who keeps bouncing off walls called?
Rick O'Shea.

Almost 25 and still getting Easter baskets.

Even though the package showed up looking like this:


















Nothing was harmed and it is still awesome!

















Thanks parents.

No green thumb here.

At the beginning of last semester I decided to get a plant. I picked an easy one- African violet. It was pretty and I put it in a cute self-watering pot. I opened the shades to give it light. But it stopped flowering, and has not flowered since. Maybe that's the way African violets go, but I wanted a flower, not a green thing. It's like my dislike for cats- I prefer dogs who give me attention and make me feel good about myself. Instead of giving me pretty flowers and making me feel good about myself, my African violet has really let me down. Or maybe I've let it down, but whatever. Today leaves started falling out of it. They still look green and plump and all, but they just fall out. My grandparents will read this and shake their heads at my poor plant-owning abilities. Yet even as I complain I don't really care enough to figure out the problem- get a bigger pot? More water? Less water? More sun? Plant food? It's all too much trouble.

keepin' stock in stock

I have discovered lately the need to keep chicken and/or vegetable stock, well, in stock. (Okay, after typing the first sentence I got confused and checked my pantry to see if it's really called "stock," and my store-bought cans are called "broth," but I assume those are the same, and if they're not, um, that's embarrasing.) This is because I like making vegetable soups. We all know my favorite is butternut squash soup, but I have also made cauliflower soup and tonight I made carrot soup! It was no butternut squash soup, let me tell you, but it was still good. I also ate some asparagus and two biscuits. Pretty good dinner I would say. However, the thing about cooking at this point in my life is that too often the act is synonymous with procrastinating.

blue skies

It's sunny and warm out. That makes me extra excited. Even if I'm not even going outside of my apartment today, I still appreciate all the daylight and warmth. "Hey Spring, let's be friends okay?"

Pictures!

saw lots of sights

So my New York trip is almost over. We checked out of the Carlyle today and Ryan flew home, so that is sad. I miss him already. We had a pretty good time.

Let me think...I think I last updated on Wednesday. So Thursday we walked through Central Park and visited the Natural History museum, which was pretty awesome. Then we went to Soho and Ryan bought some clothes, and then we wandered around there and Chinatown for a really long time until some friends met us for dinner. Then Friday we slept in, visited the Met, went to the ginormous Macy's (Ryan did more shopping), and went to MoMA. Oh, then dinner in Little Italy. This morning we got up and visited KMart so Ryan could buy a cheap suitcase to carry all of this extra clothes back home, and then we had to check out. He drove away in a cab, and I took the bus across town to meet my friend Keith for lunch, which was great. It's so fun to see these good friends and even though we haven't seen each other in a few years we jump right back in as if no time has passed! After lunch I stopped by the Carlyle one last time to get my bag, then took a cab to Celia's house in Brooklyn. That's where I am now. Her dad made chicken for dinner, just like old times in Santa Fe. Tomorrow we plan to visit the Whitney Biennial (which I saw last time I was here!) before I fly back to Richmond.

So that's that. I'll post a few pictures when I'm home- Ryan was our official photographer and I think we got some fun ones.

Signing off,
Andi

more updates on our fabulous time in New York

This will be quick, because Ryan is not amused with my blogging as we sit here in the "business center," but today was pretty exciting.

We walked around Times Square.

We ate a Reuben and pickles at the Carnegie Deli.

We visited F.A.O. Schwartz.

Ryan bought a soda from Rupert himself at the Hello Deli.

We saw Wicked. It was great.

We came back to the hotel and got slightly dirty looks walking through the "Gallery" in our jeans.

But when we came back for dinner dressed in a sweet black suit and black dress, they were more impressed. Ryan had fish, I had a delicious veal chop, and we had dessert. We also got a special appetizer "compliments of the chef" thanks to Ryan's status as the "internal guest of the year."

Two and a half hours later, we were done with dinner, and after this short trip to the "business center" to chat with you all, we're headed back up to our fancy room.

So this is how the other half lives...

Ok guys, Ryan and I are in New York and staying at the Carlyle, most likely the fanciest hotel I will ever stay in in my entire life. I got in yesterday several hours before Ryan and stopped by the hotel to drop off my bags. Right away the ladies at the desk were very nice, and they knew I was Ryan's sister and he was bringing me for my graduation and yadda yadda yadda. They had a fancy room picked out for us way up on the 30-something floor with an amazing few of Madison Avenue and Central Park and the rest of the city. However, the room was so small that the two twin beds were pushed together to make one big bed. So instead we have a much bigger and just as nice room over-looking Madison Avenue, but down on the fourth floor. They brought us a tray of fresh berries and chocolate covered strawberries, and we've both already made use of the big white robes.

Anyway, after I dropped off my bags and had my personal tour of the place, I went walking forever and ever. Finally with very tired feet I headed back to the hotel for a short nap, then Ryan arrived and right after that my friend Celia arrived! So we sat in our room admiring how fancy it all is. Then we headed to the East Village for dinner and walked around a little, and then it was home to bed. I'm feeling slightly sick so my body gets tired and achy pretty quickly with all this walking, but hopefully I'll get back to normal soon.

Ooh, and here's the most awesome part...on our way back into the hotel last night Ryan and I stopped by the cafe downstairs to peek in because...get this...Woody Allen was playing the clarinet! So I looked at him for a few minutes, but Ryan wasn't interested because he sees famous people all the time at his hotel in Santa Fe and has become snooty about it.

Today we got up and headed way down to the South Street Seaport and Battery Park, but really just walked around a lot and didn't actually go into anything. Except for the huge discount clothing store that was full of Europeans buying fancy clothes. Ryan bought a suit because he wants us to eat at the restaurant here at the hotel but he needs a jacket for that. Seriously, we're not nearly fancy enough for this place.

Anyway, I'm in the business center now using the free internet, because using wireless from our room costs $15 a day! You'd think the fancy hotel would give free wireless... So I'm about to go back up for a short rest, then we'll probably go out and eat with Celia and her sister.

Sorry this post was more like a mass email than an exciting blog...maybe I'll have fun pictures to post when I get back.

Tata for now!