A foggy morning run on a country road.

When I walked outside the cabin this morning, I could barely see ten feet in front of me. Kate, Dad and I went on a run down South Creek Road, which we have deemed the "England road," because of how much it looks like it belongs in the Yorkshire Dales.

It's a gravel road surrounded by fields, and it definitely has a certain mystique. The fog this morning added to that, and the run was an adventure in itself.

First, we saw the cows. They always stop and look at us when we run by. Next are the old barns. Around the curve in the road and up the hill a really pretty horse and will come to stare at us.

At the end of South Creek Road, we took a right onto a paved road that I can't remember the name of. It was there that we picked up our fourth running companion, a little dog that I named Tiger, Kate named Rufus, and Dad named Bobo (It liked "Tiger" the best.) I won't lie, I was afraid of it at first. While running in Golden Valley, there is a 97.55 chance you will get chased or barked at by dogs. I always think they are going to bite my heels, even though they never have. Anyways, Tiger starts running alongside us. After a while we told him (him?) to go home. But, he ended up running the next two miles with us! That's pretty far for such a small dog. I could tell he was getting tired toward the end -- he kept stopping to drink from puddles in the road. When we ran by his house again, his owner came outside and said he was about to go for a walk himself. He seemed surprised the dog had run that far with us, and he said he was about seven months old. He's kind of hard to see in the picture (to the right) but it's because he's so cute and lit-tle!

Hopefully tomorrow's run will be as exciting as today's.

In other news,

This Christmas break is flying/has flown by. Since we've been in Rutherford County, we've watched six movies (over two days). So far, we've watched White Christmas, Elf, The Holiday, Mrs. Miniver, Napoleon Dynamite and Stardust. I'm sure we'll watch at least three more before I go home on Monday.

Speaking of that, I'm really excited about driving home on Monday. It will be the longest drive I've ever done alone. I've made play lists enough for the entire trip. And I'm stopping to see (chipmunk) Helen! Driving is pretty much my favorite.

Lastly, I'm getting a new phone. It's green and it's a flipper and I'm really excited about it!!

See you all soon,
Love, love, love!

My top ten favorite things about Christmas:

1. Visiting people
2. Wrapping gifts
3. Giving gifts
4. Opening gifts
5. Christmas lights
6. Luminaries
7. Candles in church
8. Singing Christmas carols
9. "A Christmas Story" playing on repeat
10. The fact that I still have a hard time falling asleep because I get so excited

Ode to the bison, and to freedom.

I have freedom for three whole weeks! I am planning to maximize that time doing lots of interesting things. In fact, in the 11 hours since I finished my criminology exam, I have been doing just that! I sold my book for $43.50 (yess!) so I went straight to Crossroads to spend it. I bought some more Christmas gifts and craft supplies to make Christmas gifts. I watched Gilmore Girls (hooray!) then, I spent the evening eating bison meat (I swear I was never an adventurous eater before college) and hanging out with Helen and Alison. I followed Helen halfway home and we drove down this windy road with lots of stars and pretty pine trees and I felt like I was somewhere else; somewhere nicer.


I hope all of my days off are this exciting. Here are some things I am planning to do:

-More crafts!! I got SO close to finishing this pretty yellow scarf last year but got sick of knitting. I need to re-learn and finish that.

-Read lots of books -- that I haven't already read. Every time I go to the library, I see books like The Giver and The Chronicles of Narnia and remember how great they were back in elementary and middle school so I check them out again. I swear there is a magnet pulling me to the juvenile/young adult section. Someone needs to go with me and pull me away from there!

-Plan/go on an exciting road trip. This will be to Durham if no where else. Alison and I will go to visit chipmunk Helen when she gets her wisdom teeth out and we will turn it in to an adventure. If my car magically fills itself up with gas I will drive to the beach, but that isn't likely. Maybe I can make Julia go with me to the Haw River again. Forced trips are fun, too!

-Visit with people. So many times during the semester I see people and barely have time to say hello to them. The same goes with people that don't go to State. I want to hang out with you. For more than five minutes.

-Start running/exercising. I need to stop being a lazy ass. Really.

-Clean out my closet. Literally. I need to be realistic. If there are clothes in there that I haven't worn since high school, I'm probably not going ever wear them again. If you are high-school-Maggie-size, you can look through them and see if you want anything.

That's a pretty good list I think. More to come!

This is unneccessary.

A few things I observed today:

• A Wolf Line bus! In MY neighborhood! Okay, it was a C-Tran bus. But I THOUGHT it was a Wolf Line bus. Wishful thinking.
• I can study so much better in the Cary Public Library than in D.H. Hill. How can that be, you ask? I'm not sure, but it might be the fact that it lacks a Hill of Beans coffee shop, hundreds of my friends and computers with iChat.
  
• High school students kind of skulk around after school and look super emo. Did I do that? I hope not.
  
• I woke up with red hair this morning. What?
  
• Some cookies I try to make turn out like soggy pancakes instead.
  
• I can listen to the same three songs for hours on end without getting sick of them.
• I can't drive anywhere without my gas light coming on. How fun.
  
• It's weird taking showers without shoes on.
• I'm going to get bored of Cary quite quickly, I think.
  

The various places I would rather be & things I would rather be doing

Even with two exams tomorrow, it's hard to focus. Maybe I have a death wish, but studying just isn't all it's cracked up to be. I really will study though... soon.

There are tons of places I'd rather be right now, so let's take some mental vacations:

1. At some point in my life, I'd like to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in Alaska. Ever since we studied them in Astronomy last year, I've been dying to go. Plus, I've always had a fascination with Alaska. If I have a daughter, I'm planning to name her Alaska Jane. (No, I'm not joking).

2. I will go to Peru at some point. If I am on my deathbed a haven't gone, somebody please pick me up and carry me to thend I airport. I'm planning to join the Peace Corps when I graduate, and I would love to spend that time there. Machu Picchu looks AMAZING!

3. Freeport, Maine is my future home. Since high school I've planned on moving there. I'm not really sure why, maybe it's the L.L. Bean store. I want a house on the coast and I want it to be cold in the winter. With snow. None of these 78 degree days in December. I don't want to break a sweat two weeks before Christmas.

Things I'd rather be doing:

Playing Quidditch
For those of you who haven't read it yet, check out the link above. I'm so excited about this. I'm seriously considering trying to get a team started here. Who's interested?

Cleaning toilets at Trailwest
I never thought I would say that. The summer I spent doing that, though, was the best ever. I miss it so much, and the people there. I was so lucky to have lived in Colorado that summer!

Shopping at H and M
I just know that someday, God will bless Raleigh with and H and M store. I'm waiting. Impatiently.

Ok, I think I've procrastinated enough.

Fall semester 2007: The highlights

Thinking back to August, I don't really remember much about it. This semester has been a blur of colors, sounds, and 70 point test scores in every class.

Let's go back in time and look at some of the highlights of the semester (or, at least the ones I can remember.)

Remember that time... When I decided to Study Abroad? And I filled out all the applications? And I changed my mind eight times about where I wanted to go? I'm not exaggerating -- I literally changed my mind that many times. Here's the list in chronological order: Ireland, Whales, Northern England, Ghana (what?), Spain, Mexico, London, and finally, Costa Rica. I feel like I'm missing one. Anyways, I one day decided not to do it at all. I sure am glad I stayed here, because what could be more exciting?


Remember that time... I went to Wilmington with the Howies for the cross country meet? I didn't wake up until Julia called me to tell me her parents were five minutes from campus. I almost ran out the door without pants on. It was a fun trip, as always, though!

Remember that time... My family drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the mountains and the leaves changing, but it was so foggy we couldn't see two feet in front of us? Great vacation, guys!

Remember that time... Tabitha, Helen and I went to see my friend's show and a little 15 year old mosher full of anger ran smack into Helen and almost knocked her over? I'll never forget leaving the Berkley Cafe with Helen shouting "He should have respected his elders!! I'm OLDER than him! He didn't even apologize!!"

Remember that time... Alison and I put marshmallows in the microwave, put chocolate syrup on them, and gave them out pretending they were "Japanese delicacies?" We almost fooled them. Almost.

Remember that time... I decided I wanted to run a 5k road race and didn't train for it? But I ran it and pretended I had?

Remember that time... That same day when I spilled 1.5 boxes worth of Strawberry Burst Cheerios on my keyboard and all over my room? Then, the Cheerio parts stayed in my keyboard and I couldn't use my space bar? Then, I decided it would be a good idea to use my hairdryer and blow them out of there and I melted my keys together? So this sketchy Dell guy meets me in the Bragaw parking lot to fix them and asks if it stopped working on it's own and I say "No..." and stare off into space?

Remember that time... I was the only one left in Bragaw the night Thanksgiving break started and I wanted some ice cream so I went to the C Store? And since those lazy bitchez won't ever help me bag things I always try to with my free hand and struggle for five minutes while an impatient person waits behind me? And this time I accidentally grabbed all the bags (there were at least ten) and I got embarrassed, wrapped the icecream inside the bags, and left with all of them?

Remember that time... That I had a Spanish exam on Friday and a paper due tomorrow and I spent my evening writing this blog instead? Oh yeah, I remember that.