Books and T-shirst

It's been a great but busy week. I went to Chapel Hill for a couple of days to hang out and see Tim, who's been abroad all year, which was wonderful. It kind of made me wish I was there for the summer! But I'm also really excited about camp. We start tomorrow, which is crazy. It's such a huge change, I feel like my summer is either ending now or only beginning. The past two years of M-Staff have been completely opposite of each other but both were blessings in their own ways. I can't wait to see how this summer ends up; I think it's going to be awesome. 

I spent some time cleaning my room more and getting rid of some books I didn't want. The piles of books were getting out of control, and I knew there were some that I didn't want or need to keep. The basic criteria I was using was whether I would a) recommend this book to someone else and/or b) wanted to read it again one day. I figured there would be twenty or thirty books that I could give away; I ended up with one hundred and fifty. I had one hundred and fifty books that I didn't want. That is completely ridiculous. I'm so glad they are gone and I promise never to let it get that bad again. 

Here's the ones that were going:

My bookshelf looks so happy now! It's crazy to actually have extra space - I ended up putting extra notebooks on that shelf. 

Also, speaking of awesome things, Katy and I screen printed dinosaur t-shirts while I was in Chapel Hill. I was then inspired to create a llama one, of course. I love the way it turned out. I pretty closely followed this tutorial to figure out how to do it.

Family Beach Trip 2012

Last year we stayed in a hotel. It had one room. There wasn't quite enough personal space, nor enough sleep since my parents wake up very early. This year, we got a condo. It was wonderful.

 I got to sleep as late as I pleased, we had a kitchen and there was still a pool to sit beside. Really, it was awesome. I did almost nothing except read two books, three halves of books (finished one, started two) and a couple dozen sudoku puzzles.

Ashley finally read the entire Harry Potter series - about time. Now she's started Eragon, which I loved as well. I'm so proud of her!

This was a sad year for jellyfish though; I must have passed a hundred washed up on shore every time I took a walk down the beach. 

Ashley & Michael

Got back from the beach this afternoon! It was so much fun. Ashley's boyfriend Michael was able to come with us this year, which was really nice - they're awesome together. 

I took some pictures of them to commemorate a year and a half of dating. 

More beach pictures later on!

Grama's House

Today has been great. Went over to Grama's house to have lunch and play some cards. She was having her washer, dryer and refrigerator looked at as part of her warranty so we met James, a pretty interesting service man. He's a Carolina fan! :) 

We're both pretty equally good at cards, but she totally creamed me today at Phase 10. She was so pleased she even wrote the date on it and said she was going to keep it forever. Hmph.

Eh, whatever. I beat her at Uno. 

Friends

I love my friends. Seriously. 

100,000 miles

Back from the beach, it was so much fun. :)

I realized in the grocery store parking lot today (after going to the dentist and finding out I have a cavity) that my car is getting old! I missed it's birthday by five miles! It made me wonder how long we've been together. My parents bought it for me to use as I was going off to college, and it has reliably taken me to and from school and camp many times. There have been many good times; here's to many more! Thanks for everything, car! 

Also HOW DO I HAVE A CAVITY? Probably all the soda I drink - I take such good care of them though, otherwise. Hmph. 

Kite in the Clouds

Headed to the beach today! I can't wait. But we are missing a couple people from our trip last year, which is really sad. They're off having adventures around the world though, so I don't feel that bad for them. 

I've been hanging out with puppy-dog all day yesterday and today. 

And I finished a new painting!

Rain

Rain, rain, go away! It has been the dreariest first week of summer vacation ever. I'm going to the beach tomorrow and I hope the weather is better! 

My dad has more or less finally transitioned to his new workshop; it's really nice.

I remember this stool from fifteen years ago. It used to have stuffing, but the mice have stolen it all!

Maybe it's not such a dreary day after all. 

Birthday Party

The weather was beautiful, the street was lined with cars and there was plenty of cake and ice cream to go around. It was a celebration for Granddaddy Barber's 80th birthday, and there were dozens and dozens of people who came by to wish him well. 

My dad grew up next door to the Barbers. As children, my sister, cousin and I would often wander up to the Barber's swing set when we went to Grandpa's after church. We would head up there as we grew older whenever we were in the neighborhood; there's always hugs, cookies and a cold drink for visitors. Granddaddy has been fighting cancer, and his journey is slowly reaching it's end. 

What a blessing this man has been in my life. He's an incredible person. 

I would consider all the Barbers my family; Sarah is my oldest friend (seriously, I met her the day she was born). We've gone to the beach with the Barbers for several years, though it's been harder since we're in college. 

Here's this branch of the clan (it's three photos, so ignore the weird stuff at the top). 

Thanks for everything. With love, Lady Di. 

Monopoly

I really do like board games. Monopoly isn't my favorite, it tends to drag on and on, but I had a lot of fun playing with Katy. And it made it a million times better that it was Lord of the Rings themed - a couple years ago I found the game at Goodwill for about $2. 

It was Legolas versus Gimli. 

In the end, the superior dwarf reigned supreme. 

Home

Whew. Well my sixth semester of college is officially over. All my stuff has been moved from my apartment back home, and now my room's a mess. Go figure. Something to do tomorrow!

It's crazy weird to think that this year is over. I only have one more semester to go! It's been such a good year, living with Katy and Patrick/Kavya (alternately). To end it on the right note, Katy and I played epic Carcassonne, LotR Monopoly and watched a scary movie. Seriously good ideas all around. 

Here's a spoiler alert from our game, I'll put more pictures up tomorrow after photobucket stops being a jerk.

Dinosaur baby quilt

Here's another quilt that I've been dying to show everyone, but since it's a gift I had to wait! 

I made this dinosaur themed baby quilt for a mentor of mine who just had a baby. I haven't met the baby yet but I hope I will soon! They're going to be such wonderful parents; I'm so excited for them!

I ended up using a patterned fabric for one side and appliqueing a dinosaur with a speech bubble and a heart on the other. It's not a very big quilt, maybe a little bigger than 24" x 36", but for a baby that's alright.

I went around the edges three times in different colored thread to bind the quilt. And there's that - pretty simple, all things considered!

So close

Whew, the last few days have been crazy, and I'm not quite done yet. We finished classes on Wednesday, which is such a wonderful thing. It really felt like we would never be done. I ended up going home on Wednesday with my car piled full of stuff from my room here. I took home half of my clothes, all of my art and a lot of other random things. That meant that my room at home looked crazy since I dumped so much stuff in it, so I ended up spending half of Thursday working on a project and the other half cleaning my room. It looks awesome now (I sent a huge pile of stuff to Goodwill). I came back here on Friday, had two exams on Saturday and now it's Sunday, and I'm so close to the end! I only have a paper and an exam left, both on Tuesday. I'm so excited for the end of junior year. 

It is strange to think of leaving though. No more apartment. Only one semester left in my undergraduate career. It's fantastic in a lot of ways - I'm pretty tired of the school routine - but it's also terrifying. I can hardly believe that after so many years, I'm about to reach another milestone. Though, in reality, I'm not done yet . . . still going for my MSW. Ah well, that will be as different from undergrad as undergrad was from high school. Summer's going to be wonderful . . . now I just have to get there!

Rugged maniac

I didn't run it, don't worry, but today I went with Andrew and my cousins to spectate their participation in the rugged maniac race. It was interesting. The worst parts were the lines. Everywhere there were lines. 

We started and ended the day in lines waiting for the shuttle to the race site. Crazy long.

The rugged maniac, if you don't know, is held in Asheboro and is an insane 5k with a lot of obstacles. Among a lot of other things, there's fire and a mud slide. 

I think they had fun though, even if everything they brought was covered in mud.