Rise and Grind

The crappy internet here at my second home (the Main Library) has done it again and deleted my last post but I have made the executive decision not to throw my new and improved computer against the wall and just write it again.  Mondays usually go a little like that for me (good day bad day kinda stuff.)  This Monday happens to be beautiful out but I'm obviously at the library not taking advantage of it.  This weekend was a good one.  While it was not as productive as I would have liked I was surrounded by my favorite people (including but not limited to the NC crew) just sharing laughs and making memories.  It was a sad weekend because it was officially Peter's last weekend in Champaign for a long long time.  No need to fear, we will be throwing a going away party for him on Wednesday night and if you are in Champaign feel free to stop by but we will really miss him around here.  At said party, Olivia will be sporting the newest addition to her wardrobe (courtesy of Aunt Bertille) that reads, "I'm related to Peter Lutz and Maris Witry."  The premise behind this shirt is that our family honestly believes that Peter and I are the most popular two on campus (haha) and Olivia will move up the social hierarchy much faster if people know we all share the same blood.  I think it is a great shirt and will be quite the hit on Wednesday night.  Last night was Nolan's 17th birthday (yay for R rated movies, cigs, and lotto tix!) but seriously I can't believe he is 17!  I asked what he picked for his birthday dinner (tradition in our house is that you get to pick what you want for dinner that night, his used to be hotdogs and Mac&Cheese but you will see he has come a long way.)  He picked beef brisket, garlic mashed potatoes, and bacon salad with red velvet cupcakes for dessert (yeah I was sorry when I asked too..)  My mom and Aunt Cathy are planning on coming down Thursday so give them a wave if you see them then and as for today, get out there and enjoy this weather!

Its Always Rainy in Champaign

Yesterday could have been qualified as a record storm.  It does not even do it justice to call it raining, it was teaming.  Watching the helpless people without umbrellas sprint down the street was extremely amusing and I can only laugh because I was once one of them but thanks to my mom I have a beautiful cheetah print umbrella that has protected me for a year now.  I really is always rainy in Champaign.  I remember telling my mom freshman year that I didn't realize central Illinois had a monsoon season.  I guess we should just appreciate the warm weather (although today could cause heat stroke) while we have it because, as it turns out, central Illinois also has the capability of turning into the tundra (seriously where is that wind when its 95 degrees out?)  I am done with class for the day (BOOYAH), there are ribs for dinner at the Kappa house which I will be heading over for (DOUBLE BOOYAH), and I found out that with our cable package we get HBO (TRIPLE BOOYAH!)  I saw a penny heads up on the ground earlier and so far (aside from sweating through my shirt-not such a rare occurrence, and being locked out of my apartment-it could be worse) I'm having a most excellent day.  I'm about to go recruit freshman to join the Kinesiology Student Association and I have to buy my books still but my junior standing and apartment living has been treating me well so far.  Hope your hump day has been just as successful.

Back to School

It is hard to believe but school starts tomorrow.  This summer flew by and I thoroughly enjoyed not having any work to worry about but I'm excited to start school (if I keep telling myself that maybe it will become true.)  I always get a little nervous on the first day of class but my Mondays are not bad so I'm not worried. I just got back from Quad Day which I always enjoy a little too much because I love all the free stuff and people watching.  We officially have one week under our belts in the new crib and it has been treating us well.  We have had a lot of visitors and we want you all to come over and check it out!  Yesterday was the official move in day for the building so there was a lot of traffic up and down the stairs.  We were all hanging out in Peter's room (the couch) and someone's dad walked right in to our apartment thinking that it was his child's.  He stared at us as we stared at him for what felt like the longest five seconds of our lives and then he finally made a super surprised face and shut the door.  Naturally, we laughed for close to 10 minutes because we have all made the same mistake before and know the feeling.  Last night we watched A Goofy Movie and Peter had way too much fun (he was able to say every word and sing every song.. classic.)  This is also a pretty momentous day because I'm officially declaring this my one year anniversary of this blog!  Thanks to Lizzy I started writing it and now, one year later, I'm still writing.  Sure I've taken a couple hiatuses (what form of that word do I even use?) but overall, it has been an amazing experience and I have to admit even I laughed when I went back and read ones like the time I fell off the treadmill or had to scrape mortar off of bricks.  I hope to continue to keep up with it and thanks for reading!

Apartment Living

Sorry for the delay it has been due to lack of internet but we can thank the cool cable guy and my checkbook for fixing that!  My room is still not completely put together but it is getting there.  Our kitchen is extremely organized and clean thanks to Courtney and we've actually been able to make meals and host parties and clean dishes.  Our porch has lights on it (typical), we have rock band (thanks to Allison and Pat), and we also have a bookshelf (for DVD's obviously not books) thanks to Mrs. G.  Molly, Courtney, Peter, and I (we're still waiting for Emily to return and give the apartment her magic touch) have enjoyed many moments together doing everything from losing a key to having the toilet overflow.  Olivia is now in Champaign and her room is super cute but boiling, ours is pretty warm too (we're a little cheap for air) but with the door wide open we're getting by.  We were also hoping that by having our door open we could meet our neighbors but apparently we need a jello mold to do something like that.  I think my balcony is my favorite place in the apartment and if all of you visit (which I sincerely hope you do) you will understand why.  We still need some chairs for it but this whole place is a work in process.  I really enjoy being back in Champaign and reuniting with all my friends, this week has been a blast!  A blast aside from the rush part obviously.  We are practicing for rush and while its not going to be as bad as the actual thing, but it is exhausting.  I'm just getting used to sleeping in a room by myself in a full bed.  Considering I have had a roomie and slept in a twin bed my whole life, it is a big adjustment but who am I kidding, the whole thing is.  I'm both looking forward to school and dreading it at the same time but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.  For now, I'm enjoying my life with little to do, hope you're feeling the same way.

Driving

Since my accident a couple years ago, driving has not been my favorite activity.  Long story short, I was blocking all traffic eastbound on Touhy (probably screwed up a couple people's commutes...)  It was about 7:30 AM so when I got to school, lots of people (which turned out to be more than I had anticipated or hoped for) had seen me but it blew over by a little later that afternoon (PHEW.)  Ever since that day I have not taken a left turn off Touhy onto Western and left turns, in general, still irk me.  This however, did not change my one rule while driving with the rest of my family.  If I am the oldest in the car, I have to be the one driving (I don't know why but I can't stand to be in the back while Nolan or Olivia drives-it's an OCD thing.)  Today, Olivia and I were coming back from the dentist (don't have to go back for a whole 6 months WOO!) and she asked why I sit so close to the steering wheel, a question I'm sure you have all contemplated as well.  As it turns out, I'm 5'2" (5'3" on a good day), which means I have super short legs causing me to sit really close to the wheel.  The other reason is that I drive with the middle of my foot because my toes are not nearly as dexterious as you would think.  I have much more control with the middle of my foot and it is just more comfortable.  This may be detrimental if I ever get into another accident, being so close to the steering wheel and whatnot, but in a roundabout way, it's preventing an accident.  Usually I don't enjoy driving but when I'm at school and deprived from a car for months at a time, a couple joyrides are good fun.

Caffeine

I like to tell people that caffeine doesn't effect me much (before like 7 pm that is) but that only rings true in the past couple years.  The first real run-in with caffeine I had was Amy's 10th birthday party.  It was a Sunday night in January and we went to Medieval Times to celebrate.  We spent the night feasting on chicken wings and soup, screaming at the top of our lungs for the red knight, and drinking lotsssss of Pepsi.  At first I was somewhat unaffected by the Pepsi but as the night went on I became more and more wired which involved screaming even louder for the red knight (I'm sure the people surrounding us LOVED me.)  Being the extremely shy child I was I'm sure Mrs. K was more than shocked at my bold behavior.  I was chatting incessantly and way too hyped up on our drive home around 11.  When I got home I went to bed but sleep never came.  I spent the night staring at the ceiling (which was about a foot and a half from my face because I lived on the top bunk) for hours on end.  Long story short, I didn't sleep much that night.  School on Monday was a little rough and although I learned that lesson the hard way, it was totally worth it.  I now know that Coke trumps Pepsi in every instance so I'll never run into this issue ever again.

Kickball

Back in the day we used to go to my dad's college friends houses.  There were always the first awkward 10 minutes where kids from all the families were told to "mingle" and become insta-friends.  Usually it didn't even take that long to pick up right where we left off about 6 months before.  In typical fashion I could be found with the adults eating hors d'oeuvres for the first half hour and then proceed to hang out with the rest of the kids.  One particular time we went over to the Lemenager's house.  We all used to love going out there because they had a trampoline and a swing set and we always played soccer (they thought Olivia and I were awesome for some reason.)  This summer night there were a couple families which meant lots of kids.  Being the competitive people that we are, we decided to organize a kickball game.  It was going pretty well (my team was winning, obviously) until it was my turn at bat.  The ball rolled in at the perfect angle, I geared up and gave it my all.  My all, however, was a little too much.  I hit the pitcher directly in the arm and he fell to the ground.  At first I tore off towards first base because we all thought he was laughing and by the time I was rounding second, we realized he was crying and clutching his arm.  After careful debate we decided to tell the parents what had happened and he was shuffled off to the emergency room.  Word came back that it was just a hairline fracture which wasn't so bad.  I still felt awful and every time we have gone back to their house, the boy who's arm I broke has had "previous commitments" which made me feel even worse but his parents just laugh it off.  Hard to believe that all 70 pounds of me could break a kids arm but it won me some street cred for a little while.  I wonder what he told people happened...

Cooties

Last night I took Michael and his friend to the movie Captain America.  It turned out to be a good movie (a little tense at moments) but I enjoyed it.  We saw it at the Pickwick (I think we definitely helped keep it open yet another day by attending.)  The only problem with the experience was that the boys did not want to sit with me in the theater, my only guess is that I have cooties (thought I got rid of those a long time ago).  So I had to sit by myself.  This wasn't THAT big of an issue because Chris Evans, the main character, is a babe so me seeing it alone wouldn't have been too outrageous but there was a pretty eclectic crowd at the theater.  There were two people on a date, an extremely old couple, two 30 year old men (weirdest pair for sure), and us, so the fact that I was alone was a little bizzare but what are you gonna do?  Today, we were walking Sophie (it took close to half an hour to put her collar on because she hates it so much) and apparently I did an awful job of putting it on because we were barely across the street when she managed to phanagil out of the collar and take off down the street.  Michael and I have been working out this summer though and managed to catch her in no time.  The biggest news of the day is that Olivia is now 19!!!  I can still remember the birthday where I got her a single bottle of ketchup as a present (she loves ketchup..) She didn't have to work today and she picked potato soup and chicken for her dinner (at least its not Mac & Cheese like it used to be.)  If you want to come over for dessert that is TBA but come on over, the more the merrier!

Back to Reality

We are finally back from Door County which is bittersweet.  I would love to still be reading on the beach with the best family in the world but duty calls.  My firm belief in the fact that "everything is funnier in church" rang true as a truly tone deaf woman took the stand and sang on our first night there.  I'm proud to say that we made it half way through mass before the breakdown (the only people not to laugh were my dad, Uncle G, Nolan, and Katie-props to them).  In my family, we have this sickness where its hard for us not to laugh at someone that has just gotten hurt or is doing something embarrassing without even being aware of it.  Back to my story, I made it to verse 2 of the song before i was shaking with laughter.. as the refrain came, I concentrated (HARD) on the ceiling and took very deep breaths.. it didn't work too well.  Verse 3 had me literally crying I was laughing so hard and I was sweating bullets.  If I had been close to my mom I probably would have had to leave the premises but like I said, everything is funnier in church.  We spent the rest of our (and by our I mean 2 sisters, 1 brother, 2 parents, 12 cousins, 4 aunts and uncles, and a partidge in a pear tree) time in Door County reading and doing puzzles (2 of my favorite things to do and I dare you to call me a loser for saying that)  We could have hosted a book club on Unbroken so many people read it but it was the best book I have read in a long time and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good read.  We did take a time out for Wilsons (I got Caramel Collision and Peppermint.. yes we obviously made 2 trips.)  We also made it to Pirate's Cove for probably the worst collective round of mini golf in family history.  I'm going to blame my poor performance on lack of practice with my teammates Courtney, Corby, and whoever we deemed worthy of joining us.  There's always next year.  We were all a little sad we didn't run into Max and Phil up there but we made up for it with performance night over at our house.  My little cousins (Nora, Catherine, and Caroline) brought up their Wii and the Glee Sing-a-Long as well as Just Dance 2.  We left the singing to Caroline (at age 3 she knocked "Don't Stop Believing" out of the park.)  Peter and Brian also entertained us with an animated version of "I Wanna Be Like You" from the Jungle Book (Disney songs also made it on the trip.)  But since the majority of us can't sing to save ourselves, we resorted to dancing.  We went up in pairs and danced our butts off and I probably added about 10 years to my life due to excessive laughing.. my favorite performer was again was Caroline.  She danced to songs like Tik Tok and Satisfaction, throwing her hair and workin her hips.. if it puts it in perspective, she still gets excited when she poops in the toilet...  When we were all danced out we resumed reading and watching the show No Reservations (I used to think Guy Fieri had the best job but I stand corrected, Anthony Bourdain has the best job ever.)  The week flew by and on Sunday we made the trek back home and had to head back to work.  Monday I went to the doctor (eeek) but I haven't been in like 3 years so it was long overdue.  I only got 2 shots and the nurse was super nice so I'm just glad it's over.  This week is just Michael and I, Laura is at camp, and we have been pretty bored together (I feel really bad for him.. I'm only interesting to a certain point).  I think being an only child would really stink, but thats just me.  Today we gave Sophie (their dog) a bath.  I forgot that she was going to shake mid-bath so we got a little wet but when we got her out of the tub finally she rubbed up against me causing my once white shirt to turn see-through.. nice, I know.  While we were drying her off, she started dry heaving (apparently the trauma of  bath was too much for her) but we managed to avoid tangible puke, a plus in my book.  As of today I am now officially the primary on my savings account (woot woot! no more Chase workers on ass!)  On our way home fromt the bank, we spotted a dresser that would look super cute if sanded and painted so we decided to grab it.  As Olivia and I were attempting to lift it towards the car the owner walked out and gave us a hand, he even went back inside and grabbed the handles for us!  He did, however, fail to mention that it had water damage and reeked like none other.. oh well, there's always next time. Other than that, nothing is new just prepping to move into our new apartment, again if you have anything to donate it would be much appreciated!