off the topic of pool parties

Shopping, Cleaning, Penne Rigate

sunday

Today i rushed off to church and just made it in time for the missions team report. Unfortunately there was technical problem with the slideshow and i couldn't read any of the captions. :( Then i shopped and came home and had a very boring afternoon mostly, though i got a few things done. And Mom came over and that was very nice. Now i feel like it's soooo late but it's not so late, really. I made crepes today.

**kaeta

Despite post-mission-trip travel worries [see a need; meet a need; DIE], we made it safely back to Detroit. Nicki had already left for her high school reunion and i basically spent the evening just getting settled again at home. I had a lot of mail. One of the items was my Japan scrapbook, yay! Also i got a postcard from Yukari and a letter from Nom. Most of the rest was junk.

**already

Although in some ways it seemed like we were in New Orleans forever, Friday came very quickly. My group demolished a shed.


My camera wasn't really working properly or rather i wasn't operating it properly so nearly all the videos i took were actually videos of the few minutes before or after what i intended to record. It rained rather hard in the afternoon and we took shelter under a leaning fence. This was not a particularly good shelter so we were very wet and dirty and cold by the time we went back. For the evening, we had our meeting in the park as we had most of the week. We played silly games (as we had most of the week, again), and sang and had communion. I enjoyed watching everyone.

**back to work

On Thursday we gutted a small building behind a house that had been used as an apartment.

In the evening Hannah and i had a tea party before heading out for the Pastor's tour of the city. For some reason i was really excited when we saw Lake Pontchetrain.

**fleur de lis

Wednesday was our day off. We drove "an hour and a half"* to the beach. We saw a porpoise! It looked rather like a shark to me, though. There were also many houses on stilts.

After a few hours, we headed back to New Orleans, showered, and went down to the French Quarter for dinner. I had crawfish etoufee, Lanka had the "Taste of New Orleans" sampler, and Hannah got pasta alfredo. That's as far as i can keep track, but everyone else had something similar; perhaps jambalaya or red beans and rice.

But here we introduce our drinks:

After dinner we went to Cafe du Monde for coffee and beignets. I enjoyed our time.

*three hours

**boba time!

**thanks Yoona

Day 1 in New Orleans. I got assigned to the "VBS," as they were calling it, which was not a VBS but a daycare; or, as David put it, "a chaotic kind of day camp." It was not what i had imagined doing in New Orleans. I could have had a better attitude though, and i did try. The part i thought i could have done better was after working there all day. I think i complained too much and managed to get myself switched. Then i felt guilty... It would have been more honorable if i had just asked to be switched, rather than complaining about it till someone else asked for me. (And that wasn't really what i was intending to do, anyway.) Anyway. I did learn this:
LEMONADE! COUNTRY ICE!
SIP IT ONCE! SIP IT TWICE!
LEMONADE COUNTRY ICE SIP IT ONCE SIP IT TWICE
TURN AROUND TOUCH THE GROUND
FREEZE!!

**to the airport

foxy loxy

Today we had success is finding tiles, then went to Ann Arbor for the art fair. First we had lunch at Zingermann's, because i had never been there. It was good but way too much food... and i forgot to take a picture of my meal. But i did happen to take a picture of this cheese.

friday

a day of shopping, bleach and paint.
(we also had breakfast at ihop and lunch at bethany's einsteins.)

baby sat

I babysat today. There was a lot of this going on:

Yes she is wearing a genie costume.
We also played Uno, ate mac and cheese, played Barbies, jumped rope, and looked through Charissa's yearbook so she could show me all of the kids in her school.

at last

CHURCH OF DOOM part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7

watch out weregirl

I have a short list of people i need to call for various reasons, and it makes me sooo wish all of my correspondence could be done by mail. It's way more fun to write a letter than to use the telephone. Yuck yuck yuck.

Anyway today was mostly a stay-at-home day. I did my laundry, cleaned my room, drank tea, wrote letters, etc.

secret garden

today we found the white dress, the sailor dress, the white shoes, the cod, and the airplane movies.

hooray for havana!

Heath Bar milkshakes are so yum.

But i forgot to take a picture of the rest of the meal, which was also so yum. I was too excited to eat it, i guess.

Today i went grocery shopping. I got some coffee. Gramma and i paid the bills. I stopped by to my sister's work. Her customers smile just looking at me. Petticoats just make peoples' days, i guess. Gramma was happy when i came home because Daniel had stopped by. He played his guitar for her on the porch and brought some homemade jam.

art in the park

I just ate all the chocolate covered cherries Hannah gave me as a souvenir of her trip. They were really good but i probably shouldn't have eaten them all at once like that...

Today i went to church and then afterwards, got coffee with Lanka, Brianna, and Hannah. We went to the coffee bean, which was busy at the counter, but nobody was sitting inside. Or outside, for that matter. It was such a nice refuge from the crowded streets of the art festival. And also nice just because i like it when there are no people. I had a delicious americano.

We are geese. To clarify, i am not for sale and Brianna is not likely to kiss you.

They had some quotes posted around the streets about art, one of which read something like "art is either imitation or revolution." Is that a good quote for this kind of event? Isn't it sort of pointing out the lack of actual art?

Anyway there were two cute clothes booths of note, which were really somewhat similar. Rather neohippiegypsy but i am always won over by POCKETS in skirts; and the one also had APRONS, and skirts with aprons attached. Cute stuff; easy to make deshyou. I mean.... oh, nevermind. I am trying to make Russian the new trendy language but i can't remember how to say "probably" in Russian.

saturday

Saturday was a very busy day. I haven't seen any pictures yet and my camera is...??? Hopefully somewhere... Anyway in the morning i helped wash windows at the church, and then i attended a Loli picnic, and then i ate half of a pizza and watched bits of Murder on the Orient Express, then we went downtown and saw the friends' very nice apartment and also the famous apron, and then we went to Mirah. I only knew one song but she sings nice. And requested no smoking hahaha that was nice too.

friday the 13th

Today i ate lovely delicious sushi... it was so crowded though we couldn't even say hi to Nobu-san.

I didn't take any pictures but i hear some other people did.

And being such an ominous date:

Detective play

kira♥♥♥

adventures of a teenage weregirl

Washed windows this morning. It was very nice weather.

hunting in a zoo

Coffee

and Coke.

I'm bout to blog you

Lanka and Brianna



they are the youth.

Monday back to town

and a nice walk by the crazy garden with the toys.

Sunday

We went on the lake for a long time. Eric's dad flew a kite. This is the day i got sunburnt.

7-7-7

Wakeboarding, swimming, steak, more fireworks at the neighbors'. Lots of fireflies out these days.

Friday (day of exclamation points)

Grocery shopping!
More coffee at Bearclaw!
Gazpacho!!!

Thursday

Dried some flowers.
Finished Hannah's Marie Antoinette book.
Floated.
Salmon for dinner.
Watched Green is for Danger.

July Fourth

I called my mom in the morning and she wished me a happy Independence Day. I asked what she was doing and she said "Oh, just being independent."

We went over to her house, stopping at Bearclaw Coffee on the way. Yay! The one by her house is a little hut, very Anchorage style. Eric got an Americano and i got something frilly. I can't remember what. I don't like the sweet drinks so much but sometimes i am compelled.

Mom showed us her pictures from Germany and gave me a super cool Schokolade cookbook. It's all chocolate dessert recipes, so yum!!! They're all in German.... but even though i have never studied any German, they're easier for me to translate than the recipes in my Japanese cookbooks, and i minored in Japanese. Oh well. Sometimes it is like reading katakana though. I don't know what i'm reading until i say it out loud. Zucker. Kakaopulver. Maraschinokirschen. But often i still have no idea. Speisestarke. Schattenmorellen.

We saw a turkey in her yard.

She gave us tea and friendship bread and fruit salad, and later coffee and some old clothes. I had a nice visit. When we left we drove somewhat aimlessly, at least that was my impression -- but got to where we were going quite directly, or so i discovered after looking at the map later.

We went on the boat to watch fireworks and it was like the pirate world. It was so nice out there though.

Fajitas!!

¡Que tan deliciosas!

I took a walk etc.

Since there's nothing much to tell today here's a picture of r.b. and me.

p.s. i also finally got around to watching the Nana movie.

forever to me

After church i got a powerbagel and a coffee, then went to see Laura at work. Then i went to the bank and went home. After being here for a little bit, i decided to go to Meijers for some boxes. I also bought some foodstuffs, and a skirt and a t-shirt. I spent almost $100. Sad. Gramma will probably give me some money for the food though. Although a lot of it she probably won't touch...

I just ate the most delicious ice cream sandwich ever. And before that i had a lovely salad of variety tomatoes and basil from the window box. Once tomatoes go in the refrigerator they're kind of gross but before that they are so delicious.