I'm Not Voting

I didn't vote in the last election (because I was in London).
I won't vote in this election (because I am in Kenya).

I know, I know...Every vote counts...

By the looks of all things Election '08, I'm really glad I'm not in America right now.
I can't imagine the commercials and billboards and conversations if I am finding these


on Twitter and Myspace.

I'm not un-American...I'm simply uninterested in politics (mostly because I'm not smart enough to understand them)...so, please don't berate me for my lack of support...

We Are The Members Of The All-American League

Last night, we watched A League of Their Own.
I love this movie...I've seen it at least 25 times, but for some reason, last night, I almost cried four or five times while watching it. I don't know why...it just choked me up a bit.

So, I say, "This movie is really getting to me tonight. I've almost cried a few times."
And, to my surprise, Chris' response is, "Me too! I just didn't want to say anything because I thought you would laugh at me!"

Then, as the movie was ending, we were interested to learn more about Women's Baseball. So, of course, we googled it. We read all about their 11 years of play and even learned that they are taking a cruise for their 2008 reunion.

I asked, "Is there anything about the first African-American female to play? Wait, what year did Jackie Robinson start?"

So we looked up Jackie Robinson and found that he began playing in the middle of the women's baseball league craze. Logically, that would have opened the doors for African-American women, right?

I got on Wikipedia and clicked baseball color line to see if there was anything about the first female. Then I found a link to African-American Firsts. I clicked there and read through that list...mayors, baseball coaches and owners, first inter-racial TV kiss, but no women's baseball.

I did the next logical thing: I twittered my question...and then went to sleep.

I woke up this morning to my answer:
Thank you, TS, for helping increase my baseball knowledge.
Shame on you, Google and Wikipedia, for not yielding the results I needed.

These Are The Things That Interest Me

Okay...so, I'm laying on the couch, reading Harry Potter and the lights go out.
So, I turn on my cell phone flashlight to continue reading...and then I hear Daina say, "Hey...they found a new prime number today. It's 13 million digits."

My response: "That's amazing. That's seriously exciting to me...but how can 13-million digits not be divisible by anything?"

So, I couldn't wait to have my turn on the internet to look up this article.

Note: I also looked up the end of Yankee Stadium...that was interesting. I would love to see the news reel on the final day, so if someone could post that when it happens, I would be grateful.

All this to say, if you know someone who is super nerdy and kinda hot...send him my way.

Mustache Week 'Oh Great

I love facial hair more than the average American girl should.
Imagine my sadness when I found out I missed

Mustache Week '08 at home!
Here's a photo...how much would I have loved to be home with this fine specimen of manhood?!
I will make it a point to be home for Mustache Week '09!

Small Luxuries

I am realizing more and more about myself through this trip in Kenya.
In the last week, I've been making (in my mind) a short list of things I love...small luxuries that I took for granted in America, but now seem to be things that I would almost say are "non-negotiable" for my life in America.

* Magazines: I love reading magazines: Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, Entertainment Weekly, People...I miss them

* Window shopping: I don't need to buy...I just like to look. Last night I looked at Urban Outfitters.com, now I'm on Anthropologie.com...I don't need any of this stuff, I can hardly afford anything at Anthropologie, I just miss looking around the store at all of the pretty things. (This applies to Target, too)

* Bookstores: Again, I don't need to buy, I just miss the smell of new books.

* Starbucks: Fine, judge me. I just like sugary coffee...

* Big, comfy couches: Right now I am sitting in two chairs pushed together to be a couch...we have a couch, but it's super hard...I would love, love to be sitting on my over-stuffed purple couch right now.

* Carpet: I like to lay on the floor...I love to spread out my stuff and even nap on the ground...we have a painted cement floor here and I still lay on the ground, but not as much since it's not-so-comfortable and kinda dirty...

* Texting: I love texting...and I totally, totally miss being able to text people during awkward situations or boring meetings...

* Phone Internet: I love to look things up...and I have to remember to come home and look them up without my phone Google...I know, what an inconvenience.

* Alone Time: Most people see me as an extrovert...but I am definitely becoming an introvert. I am so much more recharged by quiet, alone time than I am by large groups.

* Dresses and heels: I have worn jeans and a T-Shirt pretty much everyday since we've been here...I do have one or two skirts that are thrown-in to the mix, but still with T-Shirts...I have come to notice that I am sad not to have dresses to wear...oh, and another but tennis shoes and flip-flops.

I'm sure I'll think of more...this is just a start.

My Nana Died Last Night

Weird.

I have been told my entire life that she wasn't going to live for very much longer.
When I was four, my mom told me that I should "kiss Nana because this will probably be her last Christmas". It became something we said, not something we actually believed. Until now.

Weird.

I remember "Nana kisses"...her lips puckered so much that it was practically a fish-face...

I remember getting cards from her and laughing at how many times a sentence was underlined...or my Christmas card last year that had EVERY WORD underlined...she really meant that card.

I remember talking at the top of my lungs and her still only barely being able to hear me. I can picture my Papa's face over her shoulder...he and I laughing at the joke that she didn't get...

Weird.

I remember when she and Grandpa moved out of their house and we went to "claim" things...I took the cuckoo clock (which has so many memories that I'm not sure how I was lucky enough to get it)...I also took the love birds, which I am constantly made fun of for, but now seem like such valuable items...I also remember putting her fake boobs (she had a double-mastectomy) in my shirt...first as bra padding, then as shoulder pads...funny.

I remember eating food at her house for Christmas dinner...gnocchi...which, though the years we began to refer to as "n-yucky" because she had just lost her touch...hours of sitting at her house with promise of a McDonald's drive-thru on the way home since we hadn't eaten enough to make us full.

I remember going to her house and being asked at least a dozen times if we were hungry...and, even though we would say we had just eaten, she was already making a sandwich.

I remember drinking a Coke at her house...and it was slightly off...then, looking at the can, we realized it was from the 1980 Olympics (oh, and this was in 1999).

Weird.

I read my aunt Sarah's blog tonight and it said, "My Last Letter From Nana" and I thought, did she die? Being on the other side of the world, I'm not as easily reachable for important news (texts don't make it to Africa). There was no way she had died. She was never going to die. They've been threatening me with her fake-inevitable-death since I was a kid.

Weird.

I guess I really thought it was never going to happen.
I definitely didn't think I would be so sad when it did.
She was 95. She lived a long, long life.
She has so many stories...and such a great legacy...
Weird that she's not around anymore.

I call dibs on the scrapbook that has the photo of her and Grandpa with the chained-up bear.

My Amazon.com

Here are a few things I've recently added to my Amazon.com cart.
I suppose it's unrealistic to assume they would ship to Kenya...but it will be waiting for my purchase when I arrive in CA.

Grey's Anatomy Season 4
Heroes Season 2
Smallville Season 7
LOST Season 4

Such a great first month home, right? Lots of re-watching (with iced nonfat caramel macchiato in-hand)

The Most Handsome Man In the World

Seriously.

Mosquit-Oh no!

Last night, as I lay awake trying to decide between being eaten by the mosquito I could hear in my ear and sweating to death under the covers...I remembered a story about mosquitoes.

The summer before 6th grade, I went to camp. This was the same camp at which I got homesick, threw up in the tent (and my counselor told me to go outside--not sad or helpful--since she had just been broken-up with by her boyfriend Jeff Maguire), the next morning I was sick again at breakfast and met Katie Edwards in the bathroom (and she's been my best friend ever since) also, the same camp that I did not wear a bright yellow sweat suit (even though Katie is convinced I did...that was Autumn from my cabin and I can prove it from the camp photo).

Anyway--the mosquito part.

Last night, I remembered sitting at the breakfast table listening to a girl from my cabin tell a story. But, I wasn't actually listening because she had a mosquito on her face and all I could do was watch it--I didn't even tell her.

I thought, as I lay there last night, that I wish I could remember her name so I could "publicly" apologize...then, I thought, if I didn't tell her, then it probably happened to me and she didn't tell me...So forget it, mosquito-faced girl, I'm not sorry.

Did You Know?

That you can help a kid eat, be educated and stay healthy

for just $10 a month?

I know that sounds like a gimmick...a commercial...but seriously...

10 people each giving $10 a month...that's a lot of money, right?

Pray about it.
If you feel like you'd like to help...let me know.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. "
~Anne Frank

No Better Way...I Know...

Who says I can't watch TV on DVD in Africa?
Nobody.

So, I've watched the entire first season of "One Tree Hill" and I'm about 3 episodes away from completing the first season of "How I Met Your Mother".

Up next?

Season 2 of HIMYM
Alias (the complete series)
and then (if there's time) 24 (the entire series)


I know this is not a very interesting post...I just miss this blog.
It's weird to think that things will be reversed in a few months...

I Love Wizard Rock

I can't sleep, so I'm shopping iTunes.
I was searching Oliver Boyd and the Rememberalls (because who doesn't love songs written about Harry Potter?) and came across an album called "Wizards and Muggles Rock for Social Justice"

No promises for what the CD holds, but it seems fun to me...

Some of the song titles:
"Potterwatch"
"Part Werewolf for Hire"
"Maybe Kreacher Will Bring Me a Sandwich"

Some of the band names:
The Moaning Myrtles
Draco and the Malfoys
Gred and Forge
Tom Riddle and Friends (which I was hoping they would be Tom Riddle and the Heartbreakers--how funny would that be?)

Websites I Subscribe To:

As I am logging on to the-slowest-internet-in-the-entire-world (said quickly, as one word), to check my email each day, I have noticed the amount of sites that I get weekly emails from...and I can't wait internet minutes (or MBs) loading the pictures and links (does that make it an html email? flash?--I'd actually like to know this)

I thought it might be "interesting" to make a list of these subscriptions...

*ToysRUs
*Daily Candy (NYC, London, LA and Everywhere--so, four each day)
*Barnes & Noble
*Borders Rewards
*Disney's El Capitan Theatre
*Costco News
*AEG Entertainment
*Ticketmaster
*House of Blues
*Charity Auctions
*Target.com
*Amazon.com
*Slice
*Epic
*Crave
*Travelzoo
*Apple
*Staples Rewards
*Disney Movie Rewards
*My Coke Rewards
*Crate & Barrel
*CB2
*Northwest Airlines Weekly Reports
*Simply Youth Ministry
*Bliss Beauty E-Mails
*Sephora
*Sitemeter
*Oriental Trading Company
*Youthworker eJournal
*Bibles by the case
*Live Nation
*Overnight Prints
*24 Hour Fitness
*Steve Madden
*Fonts.com
*Gap.com
*Venere.com
*Cookiesbydesign.com
*Angel Smythe updates
*Mike Vitale updates
*The Arena Connection
*Room Service Home
*Tribune Newspapers
*One.org
*Transparent Productions
*ShopIntuition.com
*Continental Airlines
*Shea Homes
*Beach Bums
*BarbieCollector.com (wow, that's embarrassing)
*LA Times
*Babies R Us
*Jenny Craig
*Lip Scrub
*Reservation Rewards
*Advanced Healthcare Shop
*Kodakgallery.com

Oh, and my favorite: ApologetiX Fan Club (jealous? You can join here

That makes about 56...and I'm pretty sure I'm missing a few.
Yikes...that's way more than I thought it would be (I was thinking it would be about 20...)

My Goals: An Update.

Here's a picture of my progress on my list of 25 Things to do while I'm 25. I'll tell ya, living in Kenya is slowing this down quite a bit...but HERE'S what I've done. HERE'S what I'll do soon. The others may have to wait until I'm 26...boo.

1. Make a mosaic table
2. Have my very first Christmas tree, stockings, and Christmas morning at my own house
3. Get some students to think about their community and the world around them
4. Learn to speak a foreign language (in progress)
5. Visit London
6. Watch a movie in an LA Cemetery (Cinespia)
7. Relax
8. Make a trifle
9. Take dance lessons
10. Be a good small group leader
11. Go indoor sky-diving
12. Learn to use a sewing machine
13. Ride in a helicopter
14. Spend the night at Montage
15. Go to baseball games at Fenway Park and Wrigley Field
16. Watch 3 full series of TV on DVD
17. Learn to play the guitar
18. Work with Habitat for Humanity
19. Buy a pair of Christian Louboutins
20. Apply for graduate school
21. Learn to cook (well, I can cook some things...I'm still learning)
22. Visit Kenya
23. Be a good friend
24. Get a full-body massage
25. Visit the Grand Canyon

Things I Totally, Totally Love:

The Twilight series
Veronica Mars
Logan Echolls
Harry Potter
Getting E-mails from friends back home
Naps
Completing a full sentence in Swahili
Kenyan kids being really excited to see me
My friends named Katie
Warm showers
Coke
Tivo
Button-up sweaters
Scarves
Movies
Laughter
Easy friendship
Blogging
High-speed internet
Kissing
Dishwashers
Chipotle
Motorcycle Bodaboda rides

I'm sure there is more...this is just what I can think of off the top of my head...

What do you really, really love?!

I Put My Pants On One Leg At A Time

...But evidently, I always step in right leg first...
Yesterday, I stepped in left leg first, and it was actually really weird...

Wouldn't have thought so...but it was.

Try it, see how it is.

Three Hours

That's how long I've been trying to download Gossip Girl from iTunes.
Any chance you'd like to Tivo all of the shows I'm missing, burn them to DVD and send them here with my friends?

Or even just save them until I come home?
Yikes, I love TV.

1950's Album Covers

These are so cool...Tony: have you seen this site?

Sorry I haven't been posting on this blog much...hopefully you are subscribing to or visiting my Kenya blog, too...