Let me count the ways

Casey Balint gets me.

She doesn't judge that the only hockey I like is the philadelphia kind
She knows that i AM college football
She appreciates that by "worldly'' i mean "western european"
She rarely tires of my 039242942 daily emails
She thinks its okay when i wear sweats out - sometimes she does it too
We plan our social events around who each other is disliking at the moment or for eternity
Its okay when i want Jamba Juice for dinner
She's the only other person that i can stand to watch bowling with
She knows that you can not watch the superbowl on a puppy
Birthday shots at 11am are fine with her
I think about her everytime i see a canadian or a UBS in zurich
Casey Balint won't even get mad that i used the least flattering picture of the two of us i could get my hands on for this blog - because, she gets me.
She's my favourite thing about North Brunswick

La Dolce Fa Niente

je vais vomir, i mean, mourir

we're back. those were the fastest six days of my life. of course there will be a million pictures and anecdotes to follow but for now - the top five things i learned about taking a three year old on roman holiday

1. pack snacks - lots of them
2. you can bring the "naughty spot" to st. peter's if you have to
3. they don't care about bernini's fountains...at all.
4. pizza is an acceptable dinner, for six straight days
5. they puke... after the turbulence.


ps. everyone cried in florence except for me. i'm the crier. wtf.

Ciao!

I'm off to Rome / Florence. Ciao!

great.

So this afternoon I woke up from my very european nap to find that I had been "let go" (read: vindictively fired) from my job via EMAIL. Apparently no one could have mentioned this to me last friday while I was in the office for eight hours or on the phone to me in real time. Great. Now I'm in the market for a job - four days into my eurovacation. Cute.

Swiss Pics

roaming

gnomes

could be the absolute top of earth. so. many. hills.

swiss botanical gardens

fancy fontana

we could be anywhere.

Flughafen

Airport. The only german word I've managed to retain thus far. Finally, a proper post. But first, why is it that I am able to get the Flyers 'Guins game streaming live in Zurich ONLY to have Philadelphia get their asses handed to them 5-0 in regulation? This hurts me.

Okay the good stuff. The powers that be have been threatening "torrential rain" for days, so we've stuck close to home, though we haven't really had more than a sprinkle or two. Yesterday we went downtown to Zurich proper - checked out a really steep park, some expensive jewelry, some swings, some hills. etc. We also went to the most bad ass flea market on earth where, among other sweet finds, we purchased the roaming gnomes. Get ready.

Today we went to the botanical gardens - its like the rain forest in Switzerland! Its huge! It was all foggy and humid and fabulous. My pores were like, "ahhhhhhh." Approximately.

Erin comes in tomorrow and then we're off to Rome and Florence (!) on Wednesday. It'll be the first time I've been back since study abroad. I'll probably cry. Per usual.

Pictures will follow, as soon as I learn how to work Rick's computer.

Guten Tag

I am here! And I'm also covered in cake because my three year old neice managed to throw a chocolate desert across the grocery store. Wilkcomen to europe with babies. sigh.

Tomorrow!!

The following pictures are new from Zurich and in honor of the fact that I'm leaving TOMORROW. rejoice. See you guys from across the pond <3

Procrastination Party

Well, I'm still a few pages from the finish but I've been on a total procrastination party because I just can not focus. In the past twenty four hours I have:

- moved out of my apartment early because I couldn't sit still
- gone through my entire wardrobe and donated bags upon bags to the veterans
- cleaned the upstairs bathroom of my parent's house
- purchased a backpacking pack, returned it, and bought another
- arranged my shoes by order of height and price, never color
- seen two movies
- downloaded a plethora of indie-bands I had never heard of, and revisited some old favs
-went to Newtown, saw my Juh and finally met her new boyfriend

and now in a final attempt to stave off writing for a few more minutes I'm sharing some pictures from Megan's "thank-god-grad-school's-done-lets-black-out-and-forget-everything-i-learned" party last week.

and now, the finer points of Niebuhr, Rauschenbusch, Ramesy and King. Shoot me.

HELP!

HELP! I'm five pages from finally being done and I've got some serious writers block! ahhhhhhh

Inked

I took megan the other day to get her first tattoo, which got me to thinking about my first tattoo. The artists name was john and his wife held my hand. I was in Greensboro at the time, they were ultra southern, ultra religious and ultra hilarious. It was probably my favorite tattooing experience to date. I'm now in the market for another, because it's like crack. So i figured I'd share with you what I've got befeore adding to the list.

My first! By John in Greensboro, NC. I was so excited I could hardly stand myself. A highschool friend drew that up for me - I guess I was about 19. Look at that hair! I was so cute


A latin prayer, done in Haw River, NC. I was 20


The most recent - Thanksgiving of this year in Somerset NJ. The worst pain I've ever experienced, I'm sure

All Points West

I have to go to this. Its a three day festival at Liberty State park in Jersey City - I could resign myself to JUST the saturday show if necessary. Any takers?

Sap(ling)

I get sad on the last day of classes. I'm aware it means summer is an arm's length away and pretty soon I'll be tan and finally be able to work enough hours to pay my bills, but I always feel like I'm going to miss my classmates. This hit me particularly hard today on the last day of my senior seminar on the psychology of religious terrorism. There are about seven of us in the class, and everyone is brilliant and thoughtful. It was a pleasure to roll out of bed every Monday at 8am to be there with them. And as I've said before, and will say again, Dr. Jones is brilliant. He's the smartest man on earth and I'd be his disciple if he'd only let me. So as we all parted ways today, I couldn't help but feel like I'll be missing them the next time someone says something absurdly off point in another class, or the next time I read a Jones interview or article in some distinguished publication. They'll be graduating next week, while I'll be surrendering myself to at least another semester in this place (its the price you pay for transferring AND going abroad), and I hope they will looked back fondly in their caps and gowns and remember the insanity that was Jones' seminar, how terrified we were of him at first, and how we all made it out alive.

Also, to my Eloners who are receiving their saplings in the coming weeks. You don't know how lucky you are.

Ten Days

Yesterday was Cate's birthday. Out of three, I've missed two. Not good odds if you ask me, but it's not my fault that someone's always abroad. We're international, it's how we roll. In ten days I'll FINALLY be in Zurich. I can't wait to see my babies. These are brand new from the Longstreets. Enjoy them as much as I did.

this is what happens when you mix wine and yoga


a very catie birthday


my babies !

Ugh

There is so much wrong with this, I don't even know where to begin

An Outline

I stumbled upon the following at LifeofJustin.com and thought it appropriate because, well, they're questions worth answering, and any little exercise requiring me to focus of the future can't be that bad with graduation pending.

1.) If you could do anything you want to tomorrow, what would it be?

Wake up early and drive down the shore, solo. Ideally, it'd also be 80 degrees out.

2.) What are your core values?

Loyalty, to a fault. I'm also a huge fan of honesty, sincerity, and justice - the social kind.

3.) What are your special talents?

I can talk to anyone and have a knack for making people feel comfortable. I'm also motherly far beyond my years.

4.) What do you do better than most people you know?

I pride myself on my work ethic, which I feel like sets me apart from most everyone my age - that I happen to know, anyway.

5.) What were your dreams as a child?

I always wanted to be just like my dad when I was a little girl - however since I wasn't blessed with any math or science skills whatsoever Aerospace engineer was out.

6.) What is the thing you are most proud of accomplishing in your life so far?

Two parter. I'm proud that I left Elon. Not because of Elon itself - it was fine. But because up until that point in my life it was so unlike me to rock the boat. But leaving was the best choice for me and absolutely made me who I am today. Going abroad to Italy is the other obvious choice, I'd say moving to a foreign country not knowing anybody is worthy of pride.

7.) What will you regret not doing in your life if you continue as you are now?

Staying in the Jerz forever. I fully intend to be back here someday, i love it. But if i don't get a chance to really see america (i've seen plenty of europe, thanks), i'll feel like i'm missing out for sure.

8.) What do you want people to say about you after you are no longer living? What is your legacy?

I want to leave behind great hair! No, great memories, a full passport and about a dozen phds. I want to know a little bit about everything, and I don't even feel bad about it. I've always wanted people to play Norman Greenbaum's Spirit In The Sky at my funeral, for obvious reasons.

9.) What do you want to do when you retire?

Hopefully I'll have traveled everywhere I want to go. I long to buy a boat and run charters out of south Florida.

10.) Outside of parents who influenced your life more than anyone else; who had an impact on your life and what was it about that person that meant something to you?

My sister. Not is she brilliant and beautiful but she knows exactly who she is and what she wants out of life. We should all be so lucky.

Okay so now that I've sufficiently spilled my guts - you should do the same.

Blogs to come:

- Megan's "OH CRAP IM DONE GRAD SCHOOL" Party Pics
- The Bravery in Allentown, why Casey and I travel outside of NJ - I'll never know
- So long Forth Year, bring on the Fifth.

Overloaded

I spent alot of time today wallowing in my own despair. Don't ask. Irregardless, whist wallowing Erin suggested this. Now, I am happy.